Love and the Lack Thereof

Who is the worst(best?) villain of all time?

We’re going to tell a story of two different villains in the story of John.

There are three stories in this section, 2 are about disciples and one is about Jesus, but all three point to a reality that you and I can live in.

The Betrayal of Jesus

John 13:21-30.

We’re at a dinner scene here, and Jesus starts causing some drama.

He tells the disciples that one of them is going to betray Him.

They’re all shocked, and eventually John (that’s who we think is the disciple who Jesus loves) asks Jesus and He tells John that the one who He gives bread to is the one; and then He passes it to Judas.

This practice of passing someone bread at a feast was actually pretty common. The leader of the feast (Jesus) would give the best looking bite to someone who was special.

This is Judas’ last chance! Jesus offers this piece to him as a final plea to turn back to Jesus. But, Judas doesn’t commit. He firms up his opinion, and it says that Satan entered him.

He wasn’t possessed! It’s not like he accidentally got taken over! Judas gave himself over to evil so that he might do what he wants

So, Jesus sends Judas out, and it says that it was night (v. 30)

We already know that it’s night! They were having dinner! John says that it’s night because Jesus is the light of the world, and Judas has abandoned that light.

We are more like Judas than we realise.

I get it, Judas is the bad guy that everyone hates, but we are a lot more like him than I think we’re comfortable admitting!

Judas betrayed and abandoned Jesus to die on the cross, but it was my sin that held Jesus on the cross!

What’s sin?

Every time I sin, I betray Jesus again!

That sounds harsh, it sounds extreme, but whenever I sin, Iabandon God and rely on myself to figure everything out. I act as Judas in my life and give Jesus up every day.

And yet, Jesus still offers love!

Jesus doesn’t just leave you in your brokenness! He is always offering this loving arm of grace toward you.

He washed Judas’ feet! Jesus loved him that much! And then Jesus offers the bread as this last tangible offer of grace.

Maybe that offer for you looks like a friend praying for you, or your small group loving you, or the worship stirring something in your heart, or camp changing some of your perceptions of God. Maybe it’s just the feeling of overwhelming peace when you talk to God, but Jesus is reaching out in love to you!

We can end the cycle of looking like Judas by doing what Judas couldn’t: giving ourselves to Jesus and following Him.

Judas couldn’t give himself to Jesus! He couldn’t follow, so he chose to abandon, and it led to his destruction. Don’t be like Judas.

The New Command

John 13:31-35.

Then, right in the middle of two stories, there is a break so that Jesus can give us a new command

We start by seeing Jesus processing the fact that Judas has betrayed HIm.

He says that the Son of Man (Jesus) is glorified, and God is glorified in that.

He’s saying that the betrayal of jesus by Judas has now made the crucifixion a fact. He’s so close to death nowthat nothing could stop it.

In that, Jesus tells His friends that He’ll be leaving soon, and then starts giving them the last things He needs to say, which will go until chapter 18.

Love one another.

Jesus gives us a new command, which is to love one another.

Notice that it’s not just that we’re supposed to love each other, but we’re supposed to love like Jesus loves us!

There’s a couple of things to notice in this.

It’s a call to love “one another”

We can get really in to loving people that aren’t in the church, and then avoid loving other Christians, but we’re called to love them as well.

We don’t sacrifice one for the other!

Through our love, we look different from others.

“It is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us! ‘See,’ they say, ‘how they love one another … see how they are ready even to die for one another.” - Tertullian

The way in which we love our fellow Christians should be so radical that it defies all expectations.

When people see or come to this youth group, I want them to be weirded out by how loving we are!

This can’t happen without God!

You can’t command love! You can’t tell someone to love you, because that’s not how love works! But Jesus commands us to love! How can He do that?

Because His followers are people defined by love!

When you become a Christian, God pours out His inexhaustible wealth of love on you like a fire hydrant filling up a dixie cup

So, God’s love should be so overpowering in our lives that we can’t help but love everyone, so Jesus can command “Love eachother!

What does this look like

Loving the ones that are hard to love

Encouraging others

Nuke Em!

Finding the best in others.

The Promised Failure

John 13:36-38.

This all sounds pretty easy, right? We can get confident and think we’re going to do this who love thing perfectly.

Peter thought the same thing, and then he’s faced with the truth.

I really like Peter; he reminds me of me.

He has the ability to do good things, and then he opens his mouth or does something without thinking.

Peter says that he’ll follow Jesus to the ends of the earth, but Jesus knows otherwise.

So, Jesus tells him that before dawn, Peter will abandon Jesus three times.

We are a lot like Peter.

I know I already said we’re like Judas, but I think that we can see some major similarities between us and Peter

If you believe in Jesus, you’ve probably done the thing that Christians do where we say that we will never do something again. We get really extreme, but then we end up right back to where we started.

In Judas, we see the life of a nonbeliever, but in Peter we see the life of a weak believer.

Peter is willing to talk the talk, but not walk the walk!

We’ll see in chapter 18 that Peter denies Jesus harshly.

Peter does exactly what he said he’d never do.

But, there is a big difference between Judas and Peter: Peter still followed Jesus.

Peter said that he’d never abandon God, and then he did, but afterwards Peter turned back to Jesus.

In fact, Peter died because of his faith. Tradition holds that Peter was executed in Rome by being crucified upside down because of his faith in Jesus.

Be like Peter!

When you fail (and we all will) turn back and give everything to Jesus! (that’s called repentence)

Jesus is offering so much love and grace to you, so receive it, especially when you fail

Questions.

Would you rather have to eat everything blended or frozen?

How is our sin a betrayal of Jesus like Judas?

Have you ever failed in your faith and then felt the love of Jesus like Peter? How did that make you feel?

Readv. 35. How can you love people so well that other people are confused by it this week?