Part 3 - The Way of Love (John 13:31-14:14)

Please turn to John 13.

Let’s pray.

Introduction

For years, readers and have been enamored with the gritty realism and surprising hope in Victor Hugo’s classic 1862 novel Les Miserables, which most of us have accessed only in abridged translations or, more likely, in the musical or the movie.

One of the main character—a former thief named Jean Valjean — experiences something of a divine encounter, which changes the trajectory and character of his life. From the moment he experiences mercy, he commits to live according to a new way, a way that leads to self-sacrifice instead of the way of selfishness. A way of love.

Before long, that way leads him to meet a desperate young woman—named Fantine—who is deathly ill, trapped in a vicious cycle of exploitation and prostitution, and whose only hope for her young daughter, Colette, is for someone to have mercy and care for her.

In the book, the when the young woman dies, Valjean takes great care to dignify her by kneeling down, lifting her hand, kissing it gently, and then rising to do what he promised to do.

The rest of the novel describes how Valjean goes and fulfills this promise, this fundamental commitment, to do whatever is necessary to ensure Colette can live, even if it costs him his own life.

This theme of costly, sacrificial love is so profound and so appealing, that it shapes the way that we think about good stories, and the way we evaluate whether a life was well-lived, or if it was all a waste.

When we turn to the pages of Bible, we quickly learn that Les Miserable stole that compelling theme of the way of love directly from God.

And its that foundational love story, that archetypal core narrative of costly, sacrificial love, and the way of love that we are going to see in our passage today.

In our passage this morning, we are going to see how Jesus defines the way of love, and we are going to see that:

Big Idea:

“The LOVE of Jesus is the only way to LIVE because Jesus is the only way to GOD.”

Outline

Context

We are picking up right where we left off in our series on the Upper Room, from John 13-17.

Jesus has just washed his disciples’ feet and urged them to follow his own example, and then he told them that one of them would betray him, Satan enters into Judas to empower his betrayal, and Judas gets up and leaves the Upper Room.

And now, at this climactic moment, Jesus turns to the rest of his disciples and speaks to them.

(1) Love DISPLAYED (13:31-32)

John 13:31–32 (ESV)

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.

32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.

Explanation

Most important verses of the message

[1] These verses clarify and bring into focus the emotion and urgency of this whole section

[2] And it confronts our unbelief

[3] Gives us the lens through which to understand the rest of the passage

“When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now.”

Now

It’s a small word doing a lot of work here.

If you take the time to read all of John’s gospel, you’ll see that over and over John tells us that Jesus’s hour had not yet come.

But now, now John tells us the very moment that a shift happens, a shift that shows up in the very words of Jesus: NOW. The time has come.

It’s as if Jesus takes one last look as Judas is leaving the room, and at that moment Jesus knows, as surely as he knows anything, that its over. It’s all over for him. There’s no going back.

It’s just beginning of what he’ll face in the coming hours, but in the grand sovereign design of God, who is the Author of History and the God of salvation, Jesus’ bloody, sacrificial death on the cross and victorious resurrection were now a historical certainty as all of the details come together and as Judas goes to set in motion the events of Christ’s Passion by betraying him for 30 pieces of silver.

Illustration

It’s like the first domino that falls in a domino line. What starts out as just one piece falling ends up toppling the whole line. As soon as that first domino falls, its all over.

And so Jesus says “Now, the time has come.”

But in the midst of the now, here’s the heart of God.

John 13:31–32 (ESV)

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.

32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.

What’s the glory of God that Jesus is talking about? He says that now, the Son is glorified, which reflects back to God the Father. But then, God the Father reflects it back to the Son. So that there is this beautiful back and forth of selfless giving, deference to the other.

And what’s the moment that the radiant, full, powerful, life-changing and world-changing glory of God breaks out and goes public?

The now. The cross. The suffering. The sacrifice. The love.

Here, we see (1) God’s LOVE displayed

This is going to set the tone for the rest of the passage. This is what’s on Jesus’ mind as Judas is leaving the room, and the words that follow reflect the most pressing burdens of his heart. These are the things that rush to the top of his head and the words that come to his lips as he is compelled to leave his disciples with these last words, these words that he needs them to hear, he needs them to understand, he needs them to remember and hold onto.

And what is it that jumps to the very top of his list: it’s that the glory of God is most clearly seen in the love of God.

What he needs his disciples to cling to more than anything else in this moment is the reality of his LOVE, shown most clearly by His sacrificial death on the cross.

Application

God’s LOVE!

His disciples in the Upper Room are not the only ones who need to hold onto the Love of God.

This is for you and for me.

Application #1 - (unique salvation history: the Cross is the clearest revelation of the love of God)

Application #2 - (unbeliever, this is very powerful and attractive concept, we want to hold out the value of love, but we need to connect it to the ultimate expression of love, self-sacrificing love on the cross; a God who dies for his enemies)

Application #3 -(individual Christian; we need to press in and forsake our small thoughts of God’s love)

(2) Love COMMANDED (13:33-35)

John 13:33–35 (ESV)

33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’

34 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.

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Explanation

As Jesus realizes that everything that was prophesied was being set in motion, he looks up to his disciples and tells them what they should make of everything that is about to happen. He says that he will be leaving them, and that while he is gone, they need to carry on his love, as the second part of verse 34 says: “Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”

Jesus’ point is not that loving one another was somehow a new command from God — the Old Testament is full of texts about loving others, even your enemies, like Exodus 23:4-5

Exodus 23:4–5 (ESV)

4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him.

5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.

So, its not that Jesus is saying that loving one another is something new in the Bible.

But what He’s saying is that you’ve never seen love like this before.

You’ve never seen a love like a God who takes on flesh and who dies for sins that are not his own to restore your relationship with God forever.

You’ve never seen that kind of love, but that is now the kind of love that will set Christians off from the rest of the world, if we will be obedient. This will point the world to Jesus as we begin to look like Jesus in our love.

Quote

“The new command is simple enough for a toddler to memorize and appreciate, profound enough that the most mature believers are repeatedly embarrassed at how poorly they comprehend it and put it into practice: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

D.A. Carson (1946-Present)

Illustration

If the love of Jesus is the ROOT of your tree, then love for others will be the FRUIT of your tree. If there’s no love for others in the fruit of your tree, that tells us that the love of Jesus isn’t the ROOT of your tree. And if the love of Jesus isn’t your ROOT, the love of self is. And if the love of self is your root, you don’t have eternal life. You’re not God’s child. This is serious.

1 John 3:14–18 (ESV)

14 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.

Application

Application #1 - The world will know we are Jesus’ followers if we love one another in our MARRIAGES.

Husbands, that means embracing the JUST AS ethic of love; that means you’re the first to die to yourself and lay yourself out for your wives and kids. And that means lots of tangible things like dishes and mopping and scrubbing and laundry and making lots of sandwiches. And it means when you get home from work you continue to pour yourself out to make sure your wife can get a break after surviving with the kids all day and just doing everything she can to stay sane. We’re not off the clock; we are on for double duty until our head hits the pillow. That’s how the world will know that we really believe what we say we believe. Brothers, lets live up that high calling with no excuses. And lets hold each other accountable to that standard, to God’s standard.

Application #2 - The world will know we are Jesus’ followers if we love the other members of SOUTHEAST VALLEY BIBLE CHURCH.

This is why church membership is so important! Our tangible commitment to what it means to be a member of our church by spending our time and energy and love in taking care of our church family. And yes, this will have outside application to unbelievers, but we can’t meaningfully have a testimony to the outside world about how transformative the love of Jesus is if we are allowing single men and women to leave church without at least an invite for them to join us for lunch! The loneliness epidemic is real and we will show the world that we mean what we say when our theology becomes our lifeology — when we back up our words with tangible actions that show the world that our church is as precious to us as it is to Jesus, who died for her.

Application #3 - The world will know that we are Jesus’ followers if we show them what it means to love. And maybe they’ll want more.

I think whether you’re a Christian or not, what Jesus says here sounds really attractive to us. But if you’re not a Christian, I’d just like to humbly suggest that if you want to radiate out with love toward others, I think you need to actually experience maximum love before you can share it with others. And I think that if you’ll come alongside us and see the way that we love one another, I think you’ll get a better picture of what it looks like to live a transformed life because of the love of Jesus. And I think, maybe, that’ll help color your objections to Christianity.

(3) Love DELAYED (13:36-38)

John 13:36–38 (ESV)

36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”

37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

Explanation

Right after Jesus says he is leaving and commands them to reflect his love for one another, Peter takes Jesus literally and asks why he can’t go with him.

And then, in his zeal, trying to sell himself, he makes a big sweeping promise to Jesus. “I’ll lay down my life for you. Just let me come with you.”

Sometimes its easy for us to get ahead of ourselves, thinking ourselves stronger spiritually than we actually are.

That’s what’s happening here with Peter.

Jesus knows that Peter isn’t yet strong enough to embrace the kind of sacrificial love he is commanding them. In fact, he knows that most of his disciples aren’t up to the task. He knows that in just a few hours, all of his disciples except John, these men that he had poured into and mentored for 3 years, they would all abandon him in fear. They would leave him all alone, even as he was going to face his darkest hour.

And yet, that doesn’t cause Jesus to give up his mission, because he knows that by suffering and dying for their salvation, He will ultimately reconcile them to God and will unleash lives of sacrificial love as they follow in his footsteps.

And so he turns to Peter and says, “You’re not ready yet. But one day, you will be ready. One day, you will lay down your life for me. But not before I lay my life down for you first, and not before you abandon me first, and not before you experience the radical grace and love of forgiveness first.”

Luke 7:47 (ESV)

47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

Illustration

At the risk of trivializing this, Peter reminds me of someone who wakes up one day and realizes they don’t exercise, and so they resolve right then and there to commit to running a mile every day for the rest of their life.

The problem isn’t really their enthusiasm. The problem is that in the midst of some enthusiasm, they’re not being realistic about their current level of experience or their current level of endurance and strength.

Application

It strikes me that we should all be able to deeply identify with Peter here.

Application #1 - Spiritual overconfidence.

It’s easy to make grand promises to God when things are going well. Are you ready for when it gets tough? Are you overconfident spiritually, thinking of yourself as no longer able to fall into various temptations or weaknesses?

We can experience true change and victory over sin in the Christian life, but Peter’s zeal reminds us that we need to be realistic in our spiritual assessments. We can’t be naive or shortsighted, especially when we are evaluating ourselves.

Application #2 - Parents.

I think we can also learn a lesson from Jesus here. Jesus knew Peter was heading for a big mistake that would take a big toll on him spiritually. And he knew it would hurt. But he knew that it was actually by Peter stumbling and falling that he would learn God’s grace and would learn what it means to repent and be restored.

Sometimes we can be discouraged if our kids make decisions that we wouldn’t make. But rather than assuming one mistake will cripple them forever, maybe we should be more open to look for opportunities to help our kids learn from the mistakes they do make, and learn how to go to the Lord in humility and repentance. Yes, there’s consequences. But let’s show our kids that the Lord will see them through to heaven if they will commit to change, just as he showed grace and forgiveness and faithfulness to Peter.

(4) Love BELIEVED (14:1-3)

John 14:1–3 (ESV)

1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Explanation

After saying he would go away and that Peter would deny him, he can see that this is not the way the disciples thought things would go.

They still, after three years of his ministry, they thought Jesus was here to establish God’s kingdom by overthrowing the Romans and reestablishing David’s throne in Jerusalem in geo-political terms.

And so Jesus, knowing their thoughts, turns to comfort them.

[Application]

And that tells you quite a lot about Jesus’ love, doesn’t it? Even in the midst of Jesus’ distress at what is now coming to fruition — his own sacrificial death on the cross — he is so overwhelmed with love for his disciples that he takes the time to speak words of hope and comfort to them.

“Let not your hearts be troubled.”

Application #1 - When you face your own distress, your own agony, your own burden and difficulty, do you have the bandwidth to still follow Jesus’ example, and love another just as he loves us?

How does He comfort his disciples? He invites them to believe in Him. To hear his words and to trust them. Ultimately, to believe in His love for them, which was showing and proving God’s love for them, and it is by believing in God’s love for them that they will be able to face the difficult days ahead of them.

So what are the promises that He invites them to believe?

“In my Father’s house are many rooms.”

Most straightforwardly, Jesus is talking about heaven, the place where God’s presence dwells in all its fullness.

By saying “My Father’s house,” Jesus is wanting his disciples to think about the Temple, which is the only other time this phrase is used in John’s Gospel, in Chapter 2.

By using that phrase, Jesus wants them to remember what they knew about the Temple. But now He wants them to think about what that was always pointing to all along — the time when they would finally and forever live with God.

His point here is that there’s plenty of room with God. They don’t need to be afraid of the future. They’d one day finally and forever live with God.

“I go to prepare a place for you”

This doesn’t mean that Jesus is going to ascend into heaven and begin a heavenly construction project.

That’s not what Jesus is saying.

He’s saying, “I am going to prepare a place for you by going to the cross to make certain that you will be able to live with God forever. I am going to prepare a place for you by securing your redemption through my sacrificial death on your behalf. What I am about to go through is all to ensure that you can be reconciled to God.”

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

This is really good news for his disciples. Yes, Jesus was going to go away. But one day, Jesus would return and they would be with him forever.

Application

Application #1 - This is good news for all who have lost loved ones in our midst.

This is good news because it means that even though we die, Jesus has already paved the way, he has prepared the way for us to live with God forever, and that means for every believer who dies, they are immediately and gloriously in God’s presence right now. AND when Jesus returns to bring heaven to earth, they’ll always and forever be with Jesus, they’ll be with God. The world will be whole again. The curse will be undone. They’ll never die again.

Application #2 - Comfort one another.

Words and actions of comfort.

(5) Love KNOWN (14:4-11)

John 14:4–11 (ESV)

4 And you know the way to where I am going.”

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

Explanation

Building on what he just said about paving the way for his disciples to be with God and with Him forever, he makes the crucial theological point that brings all of that together: The only way to be with God forever is to be with Jesus.

This is the point that will bring the other threads together:

“The LOVE of Jesus is the only way to LIVE because Jesus is the only way to GOD.”

This is one of the foundational truths of Christianity: there are not multiple ways to God. Jesus is the only way to God.

If we want to KNOW God, we must KNOW Jesus in a personal way.

John 17:3 (ESV)

3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Despite their 3 years of training, the disciples didn’t get it. They didn’t yet connect the dots.

They still thought of God as “out there,” but Jesus wants them to see that God the Father is actually so bound up in Jesus that he could talk about God not just being “out there” in some distant, unseen spiritual realm, in Heaven, but actually “in Him” in Jesus Himself! Visible. Touchable. As real as anything else.

Yes, Jesus was leaving and going to His Father’s House, by which He means to say the spiritual realm of Heaven that is right now invisible to us.

But at the same time, now He’s saying, “Do you know where else God dwells? Do you know where else is My Father’s House? Do you want to know where you can see and encounter and experience the Temple presence of God? It’s me! I’m the Father’s House! If you want to get to God, if you want to live with God, you have to come to Me!” There’s heaven without Jesus. Going to the Father is not just going to a PLACE; going to the Father is going to and through a PERSON.

“I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.”

Application

Application #1 - Apologetics and Objection

This means Christianity is an exclusive religion. There are not multiple ways to God or multiple ways to heaven.

Our culture takes issue with this, at least on the surface.

Many will object saying, This is a very narrow and horrible thing to believe.

But as many philosophers today have pointed out, this is actually a very weak objection to Christianity, despite its popular appeal.

It goes like this: is the problem that Christianity makes exclusive truth claims? Because if that’s the problem, than western inclusivism also has a problem, because the belief that all religions are equally valid and valuable is as much an exclusive belief as Christianity.

Quote

“If you insist that no one can determine which beliefs are right and wrong, why should we believe you what are saying? The reality is that we all make truth-claims of some sort and it is very hard to weight them responsibly, but we have no alternative but to try to do so.”

Timothy Keller (1950-2023)

We all have truth claims. The question is not are we making truth claims, but are the truth claims we are making true? And, to put my own spin on it for us, does your truth claim actually love you enough to die for you?

We need to be crystal clear about the claim that Jesus is making. There is only one way to God. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and he has proven his love for his people by dying on a cross for our sins. And the way we need to respond to him is in verse 1: “Believe in God; believe also in me.”

Application #2 - Those of you who struggle with the Love of God,

I find it so intriguing that this comes right on the heels of Jesus saying that NOW, the time of his self-sacrificing love when everyone will finally see the ultimate expression of God’s glory, and right after He has just commanded his followers to imitate that JUST AS kind of love, THEN he immediately says with urgency that there’s absolutely no other way to God than by believing in Him.

You can approach that skeptically, believing that Jesus must be incredibly narrow minded and cruel to exclude so many people.

OR, if you accept that God loves you so much the He proved it through self-sacrifice, then maybe we should take Jesus’s self-sacrifice utterly seriously.

If Jesus was not the only to God, why on earth would Jesus endure so much suffering, dying for sins that are not his own? If Jesus’ death on the cross was just a good way, but not the only way, I think you have inadvertently diminished the value of God’s love.

If we want to taste and see the love that God has for us — maximum love in Jesus — we need to accept that on the cross Jesus poured out himself for us exactly because there was no other way sinners like us could live finally and forever at peace with the God that we sinned against.

Application #3 - GOSPEL CALL!

Application #4 - Fuel for Global Missions.

If Jesus is the only way to God, this is why we need to make disciples of all nations! Especially to the billions of image bearers who have never heard. The exclusivity of Christ is the fuel for global missions.

(recap) (5) Love KNOWN (14:4-11)

Finally,

(6) Love ASKED (14:12-14)

John 14:12–14 (ESV)

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Explanation

As Jesus begins to transition to the coming of the Holy Spirit, which we will look at the week after next, he again to connect the dots of his love to the way that his disciples should live, this time by highlighting the importance of prayer.

If Jesus has gone to such great lengths to save them from their sin and bring them into fellowship with God, they need to freely ASK Him for help in the days ahead, and they need to believe that Jesus will help them and continue to do great things through them.

It’s interesting to me because he says in v.12 - “Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.”

But then he says, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do.”

This means the the lives of his disciples will manifest the presence of Jesus as Jesus continues to accomplish great things through his disciples.

That’s good news for us, too, because that means we aren’t left trying to do this by ourselves. This means that as we are committed to lives of Jesus-oriented and Jesus-glorifying prayer, ASKING for Jesus to accomplish His perfect will through us, Jesus has promised to accomplish an overflowing number of good works through us.

Application

Application #1 - Prayer Life

If you really believed God loved you and was bursting at the seams ready to meet all your needs and bring us maximum joy forever and that he proved it by taking care of your greatest need, how might that change the way you prayed?

Quote

“Prayer is the natural outgushing of a soul in communion with Jesus.”

Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)

When you pray, you’re not just calling out into the void. You’re appealing to the King of Love, Your Good Shepherd, the one whose banner over you is always and forever only love, if you’re His child.

Big Idea: “The LOVE of Jesus is the only way to LIVE because Jesus is the only way to GOD.”

(1) Love DISPLAYED (13:31-32)

(2) Love COMMANDED (13:33-35)

(3) Love DELAYED (13:36-38)

(4) Love BELIEVED (14:1-3)

(5) Love KNOWN (14:4-11)

(6) Love ASKED (14:12-14)

Conclusion

When we think about characters like Jean Valjean, who spends the rest of his in pursuit of self-sacrificing love, I think its clear now that where see that theme most clearly is in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, who leaves heaven to embrace a self-sacrificial love like no other, like nothing we’ve ever seen before or since. And it’s that love that moves us to love one another.

The hymn that we sang right before the message so beautifully captures what the way of love is all about:

“The church's one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord; She is his new creation By water and the Word. From heaven he came and sought her To be his holy bride; With his own blood he bought her, And for her life he died.”

Samuel John Stone (1839-1900)

Let’s pray.