Jesus New Commandment for His Followers

Introduction

We had the final home basketball game on Friday at Castle Rock against heated rival La Center...

At first I was disappointed in the behavior of some of the adults involved in the potential fracas, but the more I reflected on the night, I think God reminded me: this is why First Baptist Castle Rock is here. Lost people need to be found.

When I think about it that way, I’m excited because of the amazing opportunities we have in this community!

I’ve only been here a bit over three years now, and honestly I’ve had more ministry opportunities in this community than my previous twenty-two years combined.

Truly, First Baptist Castle Rock, the harvest is plentiful! (But, you know how the rest of that quote from Jesus goes, right?)

In the midst of such opportunities, what are we to do? Jesus tells us in the follow passage.

Body: John 13:18-35

Verses 18-20

Context: Jesus refers to what He just said about a servant is not being above his master and receiving a blessing for following the master’s example of service. The point being, not all of you are a servant and will receive a blessing. Why?

Because one will betray me.

“He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me”...

From Psalm 41

This psalm focuses on the traitor Ahithophel, who hung himself after betraying David (2 Samuel 16:15-17:29)

It was shocking to people living in the ancient world that someone who ate a meal with you would then betray you...

The lifting of a heel refers to either trampling on you, or getting kicked by a mule...

Look at verse 20...

The point Jesus makes here is that, in betraying Jesus, Judas not only rejected Jesus, but in doing so would reject God.

I see this as the first call for Judas to repent...

Verses 21-29

This troubling news brings a darker cloud over the gathering.

The disciples are troubled, wondering who it is that will betray Jesus...

Notice that the disciples don’t immediately go, “Hey, I bet he’s talking about Judas!”

Judas was not a Snidely Whiplash character, twirling his mustache as he concocted his evil plot. In fact, he was trusted by the other disciples enough that he was given charge of the money bag. Not to mention, he was sitting in a place of honor, near Jesus.

Then John, calling himself “the disciple who Jesus loved” tells of how he discovered it was Judas.

But, the rest won’t find out until a few hours later.

Jesus is troubled because of Judas’ unwillingness to repent and turn from his wicked plan...

We never see any malice towards Judas from Jesus. I believe this is because Jesus had compassion on this lost soul and would that he would repent, despite knowing that he wouldn’t.

JC Ryle: “…sorrow is not less acute because [it is] long foreseen.”

Jesus was well aware that Judas’ unwillingness to hear, believe and repent would lead to the business end of a rope, and it pained him.

Verses 31-33

Now that Judas is gone, Jesus begins the most important section of teaching to the disciples in John’s Gospel.

These are his last words to them before His crucifixion, so they are vitally important.

Despite what was about to happen, God would ultimately be glorified by the terrible events about to unfold.

God being glorified is a major theme in this section, one we will explore deeper as we continue in the weeks to come.

But, they weren’t ready yet to know how God would be glorified. That understanding will come later.

Verses 34-35

Even though they might not understand everything that was unfolding around them, they are left with a clear command: to love one another.

Side Note: if you run into things in Scripture you don’t fully understand, start with what’s easy. Do that and then move forward. God has a way of revealing more to us when we are busy doing His work.

So, the clearest command is to love one another.

It’s interesting that this is called a “new commandment” because the OT clearly teaches that loving one’s neighbor as himself or herself is God’s command to people.

So, how is this command new? And, what are the timeless implications of this new commandment?

Big Idea:

How is Jesus commandment to love one another a new commandment?

It is a new commandment because of its target: one another.

The OT taught that people are to love their neighbor as themselves.

But, by this time, the religious leaders had trained people to start determining who was their neighbor and who wasn’t. If someone wasn’t considered a neighbor (like a Gentile or someone a person didn’t like), then they were free to not love him or her.

While this is a wrong understanding of the command to love your neighbor, Jesus makes a more focused statement here. They are to love one another, within the body that would become known as the church.

To answer a question some are probably having; no this does not preclude the call to love one’s neighbor as yourself. In fact, Jesus says that is the second of the great commands.

The point is, then, that within the church, followers of Christ are to go the extra mile to love one another.

But why?

Because they would need each other for strength;

We need each other today as well...

Because they were about to undertake an overwhelming task;

We still carry-on that task for fulfilling the Great Commission…it cannot be done alone...

Because they would be rejected by their friends, neighbors and even family;

Most of us will lose someone because of our faith in Christ…what stands out, however, is that what is gained is often better than what was lost...

Because this was the example that Jesus left.

Which brings us nicely to our next point...

It is a new commandment because of its example: Jesus sacrificial love.

Jesus says here: “…just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”

So, the question is, how did Jesus love you? The answer is sacrificially.

He just washed their feet…even Judas’

He loved Judas and offered him a chance to repent...

He embraced the horror that He knew was coming in order to rescue His people from their sins...

We could go on and on about Jesus sacrificial love, but Jesus tells us here that we are to follow that example.

I had another opportunity this week to meet with our Shepherd-to-Shepherd group...

I walked away from this week with this thought: Discipleship is more about obedience than knowledge. While most of what we call education today is knowledge based, true discipleship is obedience based. It’s not how much you know, it’s how much you do because of what you know.

With that knowledge, here’s my question: what do you do with what you are learning? If the answer is nothing, or very little, then you didn’t really learn it.

Sacrificial love puts knowledge into action.

It is a new commandment because of its impact: others will know we are His disciples.

One of the most terrifying phrases a pastor can say to the congregation is: we are going to start a new evangelism program.

Because, for many of us, we correlate evangelism with confrontational evangelism strategies...

Or, we are afraid we might be asked to do one or more of these:

“Door-to-door” cold calls;

Answer questions you don’t know the answer to;

Tell all your non-Christian friends about Jesus and risk losing their friendship;

Street-corner evangelism;

Now, don’t get me wrong, all of these have their place. But, the majority of people in our congregations are introverts and these are the actions of extroverts.

They have their place and can be effective, but, believe it or not, these forms of evangelism aren’t the most effective.

Jesus tells us here that the greatest way for people to know we are His disciples is when they see how we love each other. (There are many levels to this.)

First, the greatest form of anti-evangelism is when the church, who claims they love each other, doesn’t.

This is where we must remember that love is an action. It’s not enough to say we love, if we don’t show we love.

And how do we do that? Again, sacrificially. Putting the needs of other believers within the body of Christ before our own.

Side Note: The easiest job in a church is to be the critic. I guarantee as I dug down into this point, there are some that are thinking of examples of churches they have been in (or maybe even here) where the congregation wasn’t loving. I did it while I was writing this.

But, I want to challenge you with the following three statements:

We need to be quick to show love and slow to point out the lack of love in others. (Be the change you want to see...)

Don’t judge an entire congregation by the behaviors of a few. Every church has rascals. But, in my experience, the majority are not rascals. And part of love is that we love the rascals and the non-rascals.

Try to find the good. You’d be surprised by what some in this congregation do that you never see. I’m a great fruit inspector…but, I’m learning to assume the best about other believers, and then being surprised if I find out different. Not naive, but giving the benefit of the doubt.

Second, people in our world today need to be loved.

Our world is becoming increasingly unloving. The church needs to be a harbor away from the turbulent seas of the world where people can come and be loved.

Important Point: Love doesn’t mean acceptance and tolerance of sin. The most loving thing I can do when I see a brother or sister embracing that which the Bible condemns is to tell them to stop...

Loving parents discipline their children…loving churches follow church discipline as well, laid out for us in Matthew 18...

The world doesn’t handle issues this way, and so often they never overcome the issues.

The church must be different.

The church must be a place where it’s okay to not be okay. Where sinners can come a receive healing and grace. Where we specialize in newness of life.

We are a Gospel-centric people, which demands Gospel-centric living...

Gospel-centric living is compelling to people...

When the church doesn’t love each other, it is repelling to others...

So, think about how you personally are loving other followers of Christ. (Deal with your own eye first!)

What would others say about a follower of Christ if they saw how you love the church?

Is your life compelling or repelling?

If everyone else loved like you loved, would our church be better off or worse off?

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.”