SERVANT LEADERSHIP: PART 3 “Love is the Law!”

John 13:31–35 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. 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.”

RECAP

Jesus has demonstrated one of the most meaningful examples of servant leadership known in the Scriptures in Chapter 13.

This passage is the beginning of the Upper Room discourse

Starts in Chapter 13…runs through Chapter 17

There is a pretty strong case that a good bit of this teaching happened after they left the supper and were enroute to Jerusalem

TIMELINE

He is hours away from the incredible event of Calvary

Where he,

Jesus Christ, the one true Messiah, God’s only begotten son

who knew NO sin

would become sin for us

that we might be able to BE RIGHTEOUS

who was innocent

would die for the guilty

who was perfect love robed in flesh

would die for all the haters and rebels who would come to Him by faith, and trust Him for their complete and total salvation!

We are mere hours from the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on a Roman cross where He will hang, bleed, and die

so that we might live

OFTEN TIME PEOPLE HAVE TRIED TO THINK THROUGH A QUESTION LIKE THIS:

“IF YOU KNEW YOU ONLY HAD 1 WEEK TO LIVE…WHAT WOULD YOU DO?”

WHAT ABOUT 3-4 DAYS?

WHAT ABOUT 1 DAY?

HOURS?

What would Jesus do?

What did Jesus do?

He ate with His disciples.

He humbly got low to serve them in a way they would never forget.

He served His disciples…prayed for His disciples.

He taught them, led them, demonstrated what it looks like to do loving, compassionate, truthful ministry in the midst of lurking evil (Judas was sitting right there; already had the note in his heart…then the Devil sang the tune that made it resonate loudly).

What did Jesus do?

He continued to live on Mission and serve those who were serving on mission with Him.

What would you do?

Consume?, give?, spend time with those you love deeply?

May I humbly suggest that we all take a moment to figure out how big the GAP is in our lives from this moment today…to the person we want to be…and how we want to finish; and live life BACKWARDS with FINISHING WELL in mind.

Back to the text…

Judas has just gotten up from the table. He has left the meal.

Jesus speaks:

John 13:31–33 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. 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.’

1. GOD IS GLORIFIED THROUGH JESUS’S LIFE

John 13:31 “31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.”

The phrase “Now”

points us back to the scene that has just unfolded

Jesus Glorified God as He served them

taught them

ate with them

confronted evil

Jesus is glorifying God and His plan is in place AT THE VERY MOMENT THAT JUDAS’S FEET ARE HASTENING TO FIND THE HIGH PRIEST AND HIS HENCHMEN TO

“Son of Man” - He is reminding this of this incredible title that He has that points to His fulfilling the role of MESSIAH as Priest, Prophet, and King for all time and eternity.

Then he points to GLORY.

It’s helpful to see the BIG PICTURE!

He is framing what HAS HAPPENING, WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW, AND WHAT WILL HAPPEN under the banner of GOD’S GLORY!

23 times in the Gospel of John we find a form of the word glory.

5 of those are right here in verses 31–32

There are lots of really good definitions for God’s Glory.

These were helpful for this particular passage:

“God’s honor; His excellent reputation”

We see that in Christ.

ANOTHER THAT IS AT WORK

“the visible expression of His excellent character” / “the revelation of His splendid activity”

Piper says, “I believe the glory of God is the going public of his infinite worth.”

Jesus is this!

When we see Jesus, we are seeing God!

Jesus has demonstrated this.

He has called His disciples to follow Him in this.

AND HE KNOWS WHAT IS COMING NEXT - THEY DON’T.

I am convinced that the more:

we look at Jesus

and study His Word

and spend time in prayer

and worship and serve together with the church

WE (regardless of our temperament) will GLORIFY GOD…WE WILL MAKE PUBLIC HIS INFINITE WORTH - WE WILL SHOW A WORLD WHAT DEEP COVENANT LOVE looks like.

JESUS IS ABOUT TO CALL THEM TO HOW TO DO THIS THE MOST EFFECTIVELY.

HE KNOWS WHAT’S COMING NEXT:

Great suffering. The mockery, beating, rejection, and “murder” of God’s Son is in view. (It has saturated our reading in the past 2 weeks as we have worked through the Gospels together in our reading plan)

So how does THIS KIND OF UGLINESS GLORIFY GOD?

D.A. Carson writes, “The supreme moment of divine disclosure, the greatest moment of displayed glory, was in the shame of the cross”

Jesus is loving in a way that we cannot.

He about to do something that no one else can do.

There was no place we can look in Scripture and more clearly recognize THAT GOD is worthy of all honor and glory than to look at the cross.

It is the highest revelation of God’s glory to mankind.

We’re learn of God’s excellence on the cross.

We see God’s holiness and love, righteousness and mercy, justice and grace, sovereignty and humility, wisdom and patience.

If you want to know about God, you must look at the cross!

A CROSSLESS CHRISTIANITY IS A GODLESS CHRISTIANITY!

1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV

2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

John 13:33 “33 …, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’”

JESUS IS GOING WHERE THEY CANNOT GO. (V33B)

He is NOT talking about Heaven here…but the WAY that He alone will pass through death.

He will go to the cross alone - as God’s only Son.

He alone could pay the penalty for our sins that would satisfy the demands of perfect judgment.

God is glorified through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

The disciples have only seen JESUS’S LIFE.

Their relationship with Jesus is changing.

Their relationship with one another is about to undergo a complete overhaul.

SO WHAT WILL JESUS TELL THEM?

WHAT WILL HE SAY TO PREPARE THEM FOR THIS DRAMATIC SHIFT?

Look at verse 34 & 35 with me:

John 13:34–35 ESV

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.”

2. GOD IS GLORIFIED THROUGH JESUS’S LOVE…in and through us

Love Demonstrated (vv1-30)

Love Demanded (31-35)

Here is something for you to consider?

How would anyone in Jerusalem or the surrounding area back in Jesus’s day, know that a person was a disciple of Jesus?

Let’s think back to this particular event’s timeline.

In John 13.

It’s NOT A TRICK QUESTION: When Jesus was here on this earth, people would watch these people claiming to be Jesus’s disciples.

If these people followed Jesus around from place to place and listened to his teaching, then they were one of his disciples.

Pretty straight forward.

while Jesus was here on this earth as a man.

But they are about to experience his departure.

Now what are they going to do?

How will anyone recognize them as his disciples if he isn’t around?

Jesus says, I’m making you new and calling you into a family that operates by love.

3x in two verses Jesus says, “one another.”

The “one anothers” are his disciples.

The world around them,

their extended families, friends neighbors

the neighborhoods and regions they will dispatched to

WILL SEE THEIR LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER

John 13:35 ESV

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

Jesus is leaving.

He is leaving them…

BUT HE IS NOT LEAVING THEM ALONE.

HE IS LEAVING/SENDING THEM TOGETHER!

as a family

with an example to follow

a Lord to obey

a life to live SENT ON MISSION for His glory

BORN AGAIN BY LOVE

This call to love one another rang loud in Leviticus

Leviticus 19:18 ESV

18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

But the NEW commandment is rooted in how CHRIST HAS LOVED THEM.

This is MORE than just “not being vengeful” to others…or NOT stealing from them or murdering them.

This is rooted in self-sacrificing, esteeming others-more highly than yourself, KIND OF LOVE.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 ESV

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Here’s some great advice that will go a long way with you LOVING ONE ANOTHER WELL.

Assume the BEST about your brothers and sisters in Christ.

RUN to serve them and try to lighten their load.

How many heartaches, and bad internal monologues could we have avoided…if we assumed the best about ONE ANOTHER.

Love each other with a 1 Corinthians 13 kind-of-love.

Love each other with a towel-grabbing servant’s eye kind-of-love.

While we are following Jesus all the way to Heaven, let’s follow His example and commands along the way.

CONCLUSION

You and I were made to glorify God and enjoy Him forever…

BUT WE CAN ONLY DO THAT THROUGH JESUS CHRIST

Trusting His sufficient sacrifice on Calvary’s cross to pay our sin debt.

Repenting of OUR way of running our own lives right into the ground…

Receiving His grace and forgiveness and His leadership

If you haven’t done that - Are you ready to today?

If you have done that - do others know?

So we GLORIFY GOD with Christ as the CENTER of our lives - He is the HUB.

When Jesus saved us, He put a NEW LOVE in us. We GLORIFY GOD AND EXALT JESUS BY THE WAY WE LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

And here is a note on the final few verses (a quick exchange with Simon Peter about his passion and denial), Jesus says, “You cannot follow me now, but you will follow me afterward.” The Resurrection changes everything! /

WE GLORIFY GOD ON MISSION TOGETHER - WHEN WE KNOW, LOVE, AND OBEY JESUS TOGETHER - AND MAKE DISCIPLE-MAKING DISCIPLES, TOGETHER!

LOVE IS THE NEW LAW BECAUSE CHRIST HAS SHOWN US A NEW AND LIVING WAY!

WHO WANTS TO LOVE LIKE JESUS THIS WEEK?

What kept you from that last week? today?

What warning lights are flashing that CHRIST MAY NOT BE THE HUB OF YOUR LIFE?

Who are 2 people you can engage differently this week, as you long to glorify God by the way you LOVE YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS?