We Will Build Upon Love

John 13:34-35

John 13:34–35 ESV

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, "Do not waste your time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less."

Newspaper columnist and minister George Crane tells of a wife who came into his office full of hatred toward her husband. "I do not only want to get rid of him, I want to get even. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me."

Dr. Crane suggested an ingenious plan "Go home and act as if you really love your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you love him. After you've convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him, then drop the bomb. Tell him that your're getting a divorce. That will really hurt him." With revenge in her eyes, she smiled and exclaimed, "Beautiful, beautiful. Will he ever be surprised!" And she did it with enthusiasm. Acting "as if." For two months she showed love, kindness, listening, giving, reinforcing, sharing. When she didn't return, Crane called. "Are you ready now to go through with the divorce?"

"Divorce?" she exclaimed. "Never! I discovered I really do love him." Her actions had changed her feelings. Motion resulted in emotion. The ability to love is established not so much by fervent promise as often as repeated deeds.

That is familiar scripture for most of us not to mention very beautiful. But we need to back up a little and set the stage and get the back story here. Let’s remember that this takes place at the end of the meal we know as the Last Supper. At the end of the meal, Jesus does something the disciples didn’t understand and had trouble wrapping theirs heads around. Jesus washed their feet. That’s a whole nother sermon. He then reveals that one of them would soon betray Him. And now He drops this nugget in their laps. He starts talking about loving one another. So let’s examine the words of Christ together this morning.

First, Jesus says “A new commandment i give to you.” This isn’t a suggestion. It isn’t a tip. It isn’t a life hack. Jesus says He is giving us a new commandment. Wait, commandment? Like the 10 commandments?

When God spoke to Moses on Mt Sinai in c1446BC, he gave Moses a set of ten guidelines by which the Israelites could live their lives in a way pleasing to God. These guidelines formed part of the solemn covenant agreement (or ‘testament’) between the Israelites and God (also known as ‘The Law’ or ‘The Law of Moses’). In this agreement or ‘covenant’, God promised to bless the Israelites. They, for their part, agreed to follow in God’s ways.

So, it is safe to say that Jesus understands the importance of what He is saying to His disciples. It’s a command from God. No wriggle room here. This means that if we don’t do it, we are out of the will of God. Hint: we don’t want to be out of the will of God.

Pastor, do you think he’s serious about this?

Yep, I do!

Ok, Ok. He means it. I get it.

But, do you?

So, what is this new commandment that He is giving us? Love one another, just as I have loved you. So you mean that I’m supposed to love people the same way Jesus loves me? That may seem pretty difficult, until you put your pride away. Many times our pride gets in the way of us loving like Jesus. I can’t love him, you don’t know what he did to me. I may not know what that person did to you but I know what people did to Jesus and I also know that He asked the Father to forgive them while He was hanging on that cross. But go on and tell me what they did to you. That, friend, is pride. And we all know what the Bible says about pride, right? Pride goes before a fall. Don’t let your pride get in the way of following what God has told us to do. Jesus loves each of us unconditionally, He loves us sacrificially and He loves us completely. This is real easy, then. Do we love those around us like Jesus loves us. Do we love them unconditionally, sacrificially and completely? And that includes everyone. You have to answer that one for yourself. And you have to answer that in order to move forward. Because He goes on to say that this is what will seperate us, His followers, from the rest of the world. Everyone will know that we are His disciples if we love one another.

This is where we begin building. This is what we are building with. LOVE. Last week we talked about Jesus being the cornerstone and why that has signifigance. He is the foundation that we are to build on and love is what we are to build with. This church has strong roots and has faced many obstacles. Yet, it still stands as a beacon of the truth. We are not tearing down and building something new, we are rebuilding what was started a long time ago. We need to be reminded from time to time to return to the basics. The place to begin is with love. This church was so warm and welcoming to my family and to those who came in after us. I believe that is a testament to God’s faithfulness. But here is the harsh reality, we must be intentional in continuing in that love. We can’t let our guard down because if we do we will fall into sin. We must remain intentional in every thing we do, every place we go, and every word we say. So here is the question each of us must contemplate, am I being intentional in all things to the glory of God?