·
Illustration of seven men who were
posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
·
They all died for fellow servicemen. They
showed love for their fellow soldiers by giving the ultimate sacrifice. They
laid down their lives for their friends. These men were radical in their love
for their fellow soldier and they showed it in the deepest most meaningful way.· What if a soldier were to give his life for the enemy though?
· There is one man who did just that. He sacrificed his life for people who were his enemies. Jesus said “Greater love has no man than to lay His life down for another” and not only did Jesus do this – He laid down His life for those who were enemies. Those who were opposed to Him, hating Him and hating God.
· This is the kind of love we are called to have for each other and this is how we will be known as true disciples.
Main Idea:
Loving one another as Jesus has loved us is the radical sign of a true disciple.
1. Jesus’ disciples are commanded to love one
another “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another”
· Jesus gives us a new commandment to love one another. The Old Testament command was to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus is now commanding His disciples to go far beyond loving someone like yourself. Jesus is saying that we need to love like Him.
· We are being called to a sacrificial, others-preferring love. The kind of love being called for by our Lord is to go above and beyond and to love someone more than you do yourself.
· Jesus commands us to give ourselves, our very lives for one another and to die for your friends if need be.
· This is a rare love indeed but it is not to be a rare love amongst the church.
· But this kind of love will clearly be noticeable and this is just what Jesus is talking about.
· However, there are barriers to us carrying out this command.
· It goes against the desires of our flesh. By default, humans corrupted by sin only want to get and be served and accumulate and acquire and protect our own.
· We’re selfish and we want to get from others instead of giving to others expecting nothing in return.
· We’re lazy and it requires effort in being aware of needs, making relationships and then taking action to practically serve and show love
· We’re self-focused and we don’t look for and consequently don’t see the needs of others
· It’s risky – it requires that we open ourselves up to disappointment when we don’t get loved back
· It hurts when others not only don’t love us but reject us or perhaps even leave us or deny us.
· Loving like Jesus, means our hope cannot be in being loved here on the earth as we deserve or want.
· Another barrier to loving like Jesus is comparison to other people. We compare ourselves and often assess ourselves favorably in comparison. But Jesus sets the standard as loving like He loves us, not loving better than our fellow man.
· Loving like this means we must have a deeper motive than just feeling good about ourselves – because loving like this sometimes won’t feel rewarding to us
· It is only possible when we are confident in the love of Jesus and so amazed by His love that we want to love other people like He loves us and have them experience even just a hint of His love.
· It means we love other people because He first loved us.
· We find this command here in John, after Jesus had just washed His disciple’s feet when they should have washed His feet.
· Peter was embarrassed and objected and told Jesus “You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Then Jesus tells him that He has made him clean and He tells the disciples in verse 14, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.”
· Jesus gives them an example of serving and loving one another. All the while, Jesus is aware that Judas, whose feet He had just washed, will betray Him and so Jesus says “but not all of you are clean”
· You see, Jesus even loved and served Judas, whom He knew was about to betray Him. Jesus gave Him every chance and loved Judas up to the very end.
· Just after this, when they were at the Passover meal, Jesus hands Judas a morsel and tells him, “What you are going to do, do quickly” and then Judas departs to betray Him.
· So Jesus begins to explain that He is going away in just a little while and where He is going, they cannot come.
· Then, Jesus, having just told them He was about to die, gives them a new commandment.
· He is laying out for them – for us – what He expects of them while He is away.
· So, who is the “one another” Jesus is talking about?
· It most certainly includes your spouse and children, but it is the “family” of the church. Those who are fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
· For all of us, we are being called specifically to love the people in your local church and to love those Christians around you and in your life.
· But it begs the question, what does loving one another look like?
· So, how did Jesus love us? What does “just as I have loved you” mean? What does it look like to love one another just as He loved us?
· “Just as” – in the same way, in the same manner, as a mirror image of, etc.
2. Jesus’ disciples are commanded to love like He
has loved
·
Jesus sought His disciples when they weren’t
looking for Him. He instructed them. He was patient with them. He didn’t get angry when they were clueless or
should have known better.· He had a deep and genuine concern for His disciples and He did what was best for them.
· He was gentle, He was kind, He was long suffering. He bore with them and their failures.
· He washed their feet. In humility, He considered them as better than Himself. He didn’t count equality with God a thing to be grasped but instead, He humbled Himself and not only became man and put up with man but loved man so much that He patiently taught man and then stooped to wash the feet of His disciples.
· The Master, the Rabbi, their teacher, their Messiah and Lord, took the position of a lowly household slave – the lowest of the household slaves or servants and washed their feet.
· They didn’t deserve it. They didn’t earn it. But He saw their needs and loved them practically and spiritually both.
· John, who was reclining at the table right at Jesus’ side when He said these things made the connection.
I John 3:16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
·
We don’t know what love is on our own. We are
confused about love as a society. The world misses the point of what real love
is so much, even though the world can see that the “Medal of Honor” type of love
is something great, most people don’t know true love.
·
Deep down though, everyone wants to know true
love.· Scripture tells us what true love is: “By this we know love, that He (Jesus) laid down His life for us”
· The pure and true and lasting, all-satisfying love of Christ is meant to be so prevalent in our lives and our souls that we are willing to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters - because we have His love and nothing else can compare or compete.
· Is Christ’s love great to you?
“The more we recognize the
depth of our own sin, the more we recognize the love of the Saviour; the more
we appreciate the love of the Saviour, the higher His standard appears, the
more we recognize in our selfishness, our innate self-centeredness, the depth
of our own sin. With a standard like this, no thoughtful believer can ever say,
this side of the parousia (return of Christ), “I am perfectly keeping the basic
stipulation of the new covenant” – D.A. Carson
·
We were rebelling against God. We weren’t His
friends.· Our sin was hideous before God. We rightly and justly deserved His wrath for our fallen nature and then even more for our own sins and disobedience.
· But God so loved us that He sent Jesus, His only beloved Son, to come and live and die for us.
· Jesus gave His disciples, (and He gave us as His disciples) an example for us to follow. The difference is that unlike us, Jesus didn’t fail in any way, He wasn’t sinful and He didn’t give into temptation.
· But more than just being an example, Jesus did everything because He loved us. Jesus humbled Himself to become a baby and submit to time and the constraints of humanity so that He might come to rescue us and deliver us, to save us from our sins and reconcile us to God – things that only He can do.
· He lived a perfect life because He loved us. He resisted temptation to sin and suffered in our place because He loved us.
· He endured punishment and rejection, hardship and torture all because He loved us.
· Then, Jesus, who could have easily commanded even just one angel to deliver Him from His trials, willingly went to be crucified, having done nothing wrong, so that He might bear the blame for the sins of the world.
· He faced the wrath of God and was nailed violently to the Cross for us, forsaken by His Father and He died in our place – all because He loved us.
1John
4:9-11 “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God
sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God
but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to
love one another.
·
The model for our love and the motivation for
our love comes from Jesus Christ’s own love for us.· Maybe you had a bad relationship with your parents and maybe you didn’t have any good examples of love from them. In fact, you might have had some rotten experiences.
· Jesus came to redeem you and me from ourselves and from being limited by what our parents didn’t do right too.
· Jesus came and loved us like no one else ever has and He rescued us and He promises to completely forgive all of our sins if we confess our sins and only trust in Him. He promises to make us clean and redeem us and make us new and give us His Spirit – all because He loved us.
· And then He says – now, because I’ve loved you, go and love the other people who have been saved by my grace in the same way.
· You are part of a new family. He has given us new brothers and sisters to love like He has loved us. We are part of His family and we can call the perfect holy God, whose presence bears no sin our daddy.
· Oh what love! And now, we are free to love in the same way.
· Our hearts were hard, dead in sin. We didn’t know how to love but now, He has set us free from that past. He has delivered us from being enslaved to our past and our bad experiences and He has enabled you to love like you’ve never known before.
· Jesus gives us this new commandment
· Jesus loved His disciples, because He was enabled and empowered by the Holy Spirit – and we need to love in the same way – reliant on the Holy Spirit
· Even at His darkest hour, just before He was arrested and in anguish, when He needed their comfort and support and care, He didn’t get it from them. But He was giving and comforting and instructed His disciples all the while.
· Jesus’ love for us flowed out of His communion with the Father
· Jesus loved us first – He sought us out and loved us actively without us seeking Him
· Jesus loved in real life relationships as well. Jesus loved personally. He got close to people and they denied they even knew Him when the rubber met the road and they all deserted Him when he needed them the most.
· We need to seek to love each other actively, in real life relationships and personally. We are to let people in our lives and love them in a way that allows them to be real friends but doesn’t punish them when they desert us.
Hebrews
10:24-25 And let us consider how to
stir up one another to love and good works,
not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but
encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
·
Alexander Strauch, in his great little book,
called “love or die”, refers to the church as “God’s school of love” and I
think he has it right.· We learn to love by loving one another in this school of love.
· This task to love one another and to consider how to stir up one another to love is not the task of just the gifted people in the church
· There is no class of people who are particularly or uniquely gifted to love.
· These commands to love one another are not just for pastors or leaders or particularly mature people.
· Every Christian, regardless of age, status, background, preferences, gifting is called to love one another and every Christian is indwelt with the Holy Spirit to enable us to love.
· We have all been given the gift of love and are commanded by Christ to love one another
· We cannot claim any excuses or reasons for a lack of love for one another.
· If we love as Jesus did, it rules out making excuses because we didn’t get the respect that we deserve. It rules out not loving because people don’t really understand us or misread us or misinterpreted what we meant. The same was true of Jesus.
· We can’t make excuses about people not reciprocating our love and so insulate ourselves and protect ourselves from loving each other.
· We can’t claim that it’s OK for us not to love people because they are hard or unlovely – that is precisely the type of people that Jesus sought out – the ones who didn’t deserve Him and couldn’t do anything for Him in return.
· Jesus loved us selflessly. Jesus loved us without expecting a benefit in return. Jesus loved us sacrificially. Jesus loved us unreservedly. He held nothing back and loved us all the way to being betrayed, beaten, whipped, left alone, friendless and denied by probably His best friend.
· This Jesus Christ kind of love isn’t easy.
· Jesus love for us is the motive for our love for others. Jesus love for us is the example for our love for others
· We learn what love looks like and we learn to love in the church and then we are to take that love outside the walls of the church.
3. Jesus Disciples are known by their love for
one another
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
·
What is one of the greatest gospel witnesses
we can have? It is loving one another.“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
“Love is a principle of
action rather than of emotion. It is a purpose of honoring and benefiting the
other party. It is a matter of doing things for people out of compassion for
their need, whether or not we feel personal affection for them. It is by their
active love to one another that Jesus’ disciples are to be recognized” J.I.
Packer
·
In order for people to know we have love for
one another, it needs to be seen, whether we feel personal affection for one
another or not (usually, if we love this way, we will develop personal
affection)· This implies our love will be evident, it will be tangible, it will be real.
· We can’t just say we love one another. It must be demonstrated and evident in order for all people to know that we are His disciples
· It must be the Christ kind of love that we display for one another.
· Our love for one another is a visible demonstration that we are His disciples. Our love for one another is a reflection of Him and we are to be like Him in the world
· John tells us there is a way we can tell objectively if we are disciples or not.
1 John 3:14-19 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;
·
Our love for one another is how we can know we
are His disciples and how others know we are too.
·
Loving one another is meant to be an assurance
that we are of the truth – we aren’t fakes, even though we blow it, and this
love for one another is meant to reassure us that we are His disciples.· Illustration: Imagine if we had a big church building, with lots for room for child care and activities, music rooms, kids events, a youth center and a singles coffee house area. If we had a big stage with room for an orchestra sized band, that would make music that would rival Carnegie hall. Imagine we had weekly classes on various areas of growing in Christ and in our knowledge of His Word, taught by one of our 10 gifted elders. Imagine we had discipleship classes and meetings, small groups, mercy ministries, a food pantry, a clothing ministry and workshops for those needing to learn life skills.
· What if we had all of these great ministries, and we were making a huge impact on our community in evangelism and outreach?
· What if all this were the case but we didn’t have love for one another?
· Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that we would be like a noisy gong – like that obnoxious gong in the old gong show when someone would perform badly and be ushered off stage.
· We would be a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal. In fact, if we didn’t have love, we would be nothing.
· Now, some of the things we were imagining could be good and honor God. But they would be no good if we lost our first love and if we weren’t loving one another.
· In fact, in the Revelation of Jesus to John, Jesus said to the church in Ephesus – a church that was doing well in every other aspect - a church that had their doctrine right and was growing, that they had lost their first love and He was about to spew them out of His mouth.
· Their works were good but their love had grown cold and the savior was not pleased with them.
· It was like when you go to drink a sip of the best hot-chocolate you’ve ever made and it is lukewarm and has that gross film on top now – when you sip it, it doesn’t taste good – you want to spit it out.
· There is a danger of being lukewarm that we must be aware of and watch out for in our love for Him and in our love for one another.
· Jesus doesn’t just want the actions, He wants our heart and He wants all of it lived for Him.
· If we do not love one another in a self-sacrificial love, we are in danger of becoming lukewarm.
· So how do we diagnose our hearts?
· Ask yourself when was the last time you gave of yourself sacrificially, because you wanted to love Jesus, in response to His love for you?
· When was the last time you took the hard way out of a situation because you wanted to love God more than doing what was easy?
· Do you say no to your desires for self-gratification because you want to love Jesus?
· This is what Jesus meant when He said if you love me, you will keep my commandments.
· When did you last give of yourself – your time, talents, energies, gifts, finances to care for and love another person?
· If an unbeliever saw your interactions with other Christians, how would they see your love for the other Christians demonstrated, beyond mere words and lots of smiles and awkward hugs or fist bumps?
· Would they see it in your regular practice of loving hospitality in your home?
· Would they see it in making meals for each other?
· Would they see it in watching someone else’s kids for them?
· Please don’t hear this message as primarily corrective – that is not the intention at all.
· In fact, one of the consistent things I hear from visitors or people who are new to the church is how much you demonstrate the love of Christ for each other.
· You are actively practicing the One-another’s of scripture in loving each other and it is noticeable in a hundred different ways.
· There is a family in the church who has hosted another family for months rent-free in their home because the dad of the other family had a bad accident and was injured, disabled and couldn’t work
· There are countless singles who serve by taking care of families’ children for them for free – what a loving and practical way to care.
· Any given week, there are meals being made, errands being run and care in our local body.
· People are mowing lawns, doing chores, meeting with people for Biblical counsel, paying other’s bills when they are in financial straits – the examples are everywhere.
· But let us continue to grow even more and more and let us not fail to seek to love one another like Jesus loves us, because of Jesus’ love for us – because we are ever tempted to drift into complacency.
· I know of the temptation to complacency and lukewarm-ness, because I’ve felt the tug of complacency on my own heart.
· I’ve felt the desire to just settle down and take it easy and relax and just coast.
· But by God’s grace, I’ve begun to see that I need to rekindle my first love. To stoke the fires of my love for Him and to love one another – both in response to his love for me and to grow in my love for Him.
· What would people around you see?
· What would unbelievers see if they could hear the way you spoke of your brothers and sisters in Christ or saw the way you treated them?
· Would they hear bickering and complaining, and gossip that we pass off as “constructive criticism” and looking for what someone else thinks about someone else or the way we do things in the church?
· Examine your own heart. Is there backbiting, intolerance, resentment, bitterness, distrust or criticism of one another or a deep concern for the other’s well-being?
· Do people know you love one another not because you tell them but because they can see it?
· They will know we are Christians by our love.
· Maybe you find that you’ve been convicted of a lukewarm affection for Jesus seen in your lukewarm affection for your brothers and sisters in Christ.
· Here is the great news – Jesus didn’t just warn the church in Ephesus that He was going to spit them out. He invited them to turn and He made a way for them, because He loved them.
Revelation
3:15-19 "'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that
you were either cold or hot! So, because
you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my
mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have
prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable,
poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to
buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments
so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be
seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline,
so be zealous and repent.”
·
God is so merciful to us and out of love He
calls to us to repent and be healed and clothed in Him.
·
For others, you may not have grown lukewarm but
the call to you is to continue on loving just like you have been.· Don’t grow weary in doing good. Remember Christ’s love and let it continue to inspire you and amaze you and motivate you to love like He has
· May our love for one another shine so clearly that the world will know we are His disciples.
Potential Application
Questions
1.
What are some areas in your own life, where God
is calling you to grow in love for one another personally?2. Why is the command to love one another difficult for you?
Matt
talked about some barriers to loving like Jesus (we’re selfish, lazy, it’s risky,
it hurts, comparison, etc). What are some of the barriers you recognize in your
own heart?
3.
How has Jesus loved us? What kinds of examples
do we see in scripture of His love for us?4. What makes the love of Jesus for us so great?
5. What excuses do we make in not loving one another (no one loves us like this, they don’t reciprocate, we’ve been misunderstood or mistreated)? How did Jesus identify with the same temptations and yet not sin?
6. 1 John 3: 18-19 says, “let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;” – how are we loving or seeking to love one another in deed and in truth?
7. Do you believe He loves you personally? Are you amazed by His love? (if so, how?) If not, why not? (do we see our sin as really undeserving of any good from God and yet fully deserving all of God’s wrath? Do we see His sacrifice as great?)
8. Are we guilty of any “love offences”? Do we participate in group/collective criticism of others or the church, “acceptable” gossip, back-biting, slander, bitterness, resentment, anger, etc.?
9. Is there anything God is calling you personally to repent of?
10. How should the grace and Love of Jesus and the Father motivate us to change?
