A New Command: to Love One Another

WELCOME:

Good morning

SCRIPTURE READING:

Isaiah 53:1–6 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

LET US STAND AND WORSHIP!

“The Goodness of God”

Words and Music by Hillsong’

PRAYER OF PRAISE FOR WHO GOD IS

Lord, thank you for your constancy. For never turning Your back on us, for never getting frustrated with us, for forgiving our sins, for allowing us to be part of Your plan. We ask that You would look down upon this gathering of people and fill our hearts with great joy today as we focus on You. Amen!

“What a beautiful Name”

Words and Music by Hillsong

“What a beautiful Name”

Words and Music by Hillsong

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR HEARTS

Lord, give us ears to hear Your voice and eyes to see Your glory. Would you this morning illuminate Your Word and make it known to us? Help us no to make application to others peoples’ lives, but to apply every Word to our own lives. Amen

SERMON

INTRODUCTION:

It is a great day to be in the church and thank you all for choosing to spend your Easter morning with us.

This is the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. One of the most important Christian holidays we have (the other is Christmas).

The resurrection is absolutely necessary for our faith because without it, our faith would be worthless.

1 Corinthians 15:16–17 “For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.”

Without the virgin birth, there is no sinless Savior.

With the resurrection of the crucified sinless Savior there is no sacrifice for sins.

This morning we are going to look at the “New Command to love one another” from John 13 and what that has to do with the cross…

~PRAYER~

1) Jesus’ glory was displayed on the cross for all the world to see

John 13:31–32 NASB95

Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.

Explanation:

Let me begin with some context. For those that have been coming the past few weeks, you will remember last week we talked about Judas. And the last thing that happened in this chapter was Judas left the Upper Room and went out into the dark with his heart set to betray Jesus.

That is what Jesus is referring to when He says, “Now, is the Son of Mn glorified”. Now since the betrayal is in motion, which will lead to the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, which will lead to the trial, and to the crucifixion, and then to Jesus’s resurrection…now all these events are set into motion

The word “glory” is used 5 times in these two verses. It’s not hard to see that there is something God wants us to see here!

What is glory?

The glory of God refers to God’s greatness, God’s power, His majesty, everything in him which calls forth man’s adoration.

In the OT, Moses is speaking with God up on Mt Sinai. And Moses says to God, “I pray You, show me Your glory!”, and God responded by saying, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you” and God passed before Moses while covering his face with His hand.

God’s glory is all his goodness put on display for us to see

This glory that Jesus is speaking of has been manifested throughout Jesus’ ministry, but now it comes to a climax on the cross

When Jesus says that He will be glorified, He is saying that on that cross His divine attributes, His goodness will be on display and it will bring Him honor and praise and glory!

The question is then: How does Jesus’ death on a cross bring Him glory?

I mean, we would think it’s the opposite. In fact many Jewish people say it’s the opposite. Jesus was just a Jew who put on trial, convicted, sentenced to crucifixion, and that is shameful!

The cross glorified Jesus because the cross itself, the sacrificial act of Jesus, the giving of Himself for sinful humans….shows the world the very heart of Jesus..

His death on that cross shows the world what kind of God that He is! The giving of His own life to save sinful humans.

The cross brings Jesus glory because Jesus is the Lamb of God who went to the cross without even opening His mouth, knowing that He came to die, going willingly to His death, not to fulfill some kind of obligation, but because He loved us that much!

John 13:1 NASB95

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

It was that love of Jesus that we see so clearly on the cross. No action could make this more evident than giving one’s life!

John 15:13 ““Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

This one act has completley changed our world

1) The crucifixion of Jesus is the most significant event that has ever taken place in human history.

Nothing since the world was created until now has has had a greater impact on human civilization.

God sending the Son to become human flesh and die on the cross was the central event in human history and that event is what the world’s dating system is centered around no matter of the change the wording or not!

This cross is the climax of Jesus’ glory on earth.

But its not just Jesus that will receive glory, but also the Father who will receive glory: “and God is glorified in Him”

How is God the Father glorified in the cross? Because the Father is the One who sent the Son for the very purpose to die on the cross.

Not only do we see the heart of Jesus displayed, but we also see the heart of the Father displayed

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

What the cross shows us is the very heart of God. What the cross does is cause men and women to adore, love, praise and exalt the name of Jesus..

Application

We live in a world today that does not understand God’s love. We are so quick to think and even say, God does not love me because I have this major thing in my life, and God knows what it is, and He does nothing about it!

Or we look out in to this world and we see suffering, and death, and disease and we say how could God be a God who loves who allows all of this?!

And we measure God’s love by what we think that ought to look like in this world!

But God’s love goes beyond this world. It deals with what this world cannot deal with and that is the problem of sin. And this is the root of the problem of all problems and when we leave this life that is the only thing that will matter.

So for us, Jesus’ love is not evidenced by whether or not He fixes all of our problems. And the evidence of Jesus’ love is not that He gives us what we are seeking from Him. Jesus never promised any of that! What Jesus did promise is that if we believe in Him, then our sins will forgiven because of the cross…

2) The church’s call to make disciples will depend upon its commitment to love one another

John 13:33–35 (NASB95)

“Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Explanation:

“Where I am going, you cannot come”

Jesus is going to cross and then after the resurrection back to the Father. He will die physically, bodily, and be put into the grave. But then He will rise from that grave on Sunday morning.

That’s what Jesus is talking about. That is the reason He came. That is His mission, His purpose, not primarily to teach, or to demonstrate, but to die..

And he tells His disciples, where He is going they cannot come.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another”

Now we read this and say, that doesn’t sound like a new commandment to me…

When we turn to the first few pages of the NT, right after Jesus calls the first disciples, He says to them: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matt 5:43-44).

Then why does Jesus call this a new command? If we are to told to love our neighbor in the OT and then love our enemies in the NT, is this something new?

Look a little closer at what Jesus says, “love one another, even as I have loved you”

It’s a new command because it is a call to a new kind of love. This kind of love is the love like Jesus had for each pf His disciples and as an extension for each one of us.

It takes the call to love and defines it and says the way that you have seen Me love you is the way that I want you to love each other.

How did Jesus love them? I’m sure we could come up with a thousand different answers here but I am going to try to stick to the context of this chapter:

He loved them by laying down His life for them. This cross is in the background of this entire chapter, its whats on Jesus’ mind. And its not that Jesus will be forced to go to the cross, but that he willingly went because He loved them.

This is self-sacrificial love for one another. And we may be tempted to say, don’t expect me to give my life for one another, but Jesus said that is the greatest expression of love

John 15:13 ““Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

And I don’t want us to think that is a ridiculous suggestion for us today. I mean you really expect us to give up our lives for one another?

Ter-tul-lian wrote, “But 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….how they are ready even to die for one another”

This was an early church father in the 2nd century writing about what other people said about the church’s love for each other in those days.

He loved them by serving them. Jesus demonstrated this at the beginning of this chapter by washing the disciple’s feet. He humbled Himself to the place of a servant, and served them as an act of love

We demonstrate love to one another by serving one another and that will not come without humility.

His love for them was constant

John 13:1 “Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”

Jesus did not love them when they did well and stop loving them when they messed up or said something stupid or prideful

He didn’t skip over Judas even when betrayal was in his heart.

He didn’t stop loving Peter even after Peter denied Him three times. In John 21 Jesus approaches Peter and restores him

Peter said, “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Pet 4:8)

And then Jesus says, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Thats it? That’s the characteristic Jesus says which will mark them as one of His own? Its whether or not we really love each other?

What do we often think people need to see in us?

Well we say church attendance is top priority! We need to make sure we show up to church each Sunday because that means we are Christians….nope

Or they need to see that we know truth and so we should make sure we always tell them or share verses on facebook because then they’ll know…nope

Or maybe just look for the people who are good people and live upright moral lives…they must be Christians…nope

None of that…Jesus said it is the way that we love one another. They will know us by how we love one another

Application

And sadly this has not always been done well in the church. I mean the world often sees far more backbiting, gossip, slander, and division in churches than they do love.

The early church seemed to do much better at this than we do today.

I already told you about Tertullian and his writings

The Roman emperor Constantine in the forth century was drawn to the Christian faith because of the way they loved one another. He thought if he could make this the official religion it would help unify the empire.

It was said of the apostle John, that he constantly said to his disciples: “little children, love one another”. When they asked why he always said this, John responded, “It is the Lord’s command, if this alone be done, it is enough”.

And I wonder if the love is not like it used to be because it is how Jesus said it will be

Matthew 24:12 ““Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.”

And then we have to wonder, how much of the world has been turned away from the church because we have failed to keep this new commandment.

How many churches close their doors, not because they do not preach the truth, not because they do not uphold Christian orthodoxy, but because they failed to uphold the Christian standard of love…

Church if we get everything right, and fail to do this one thing, we will fail to let the world know that we are Christians.

And in the church we often think that its by going out and meeting people and getting to know them will convince them to come join us, but Scripture says its what we do in here that has a bigger influence.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should keep ourselves locked up inside these doors. I am saying that genuine Christianity must include love for one another and no matter how convincing we may be out there, if they do not see the real thing in here they will never be fully convinced.

You want to know what Jesus wants for this church more than some kind of big attracting production, more than a great evangelism model, more than these pews filled with people, more than good preaching or singing or food??

He wants us to love one another with a Christ like love

3) The need of the resurrection love before we can ever obey the love command

John 13:36–38 NASB95

Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.

Explanation:

Peter said “Lord where are you going?”

Jesus had just told them that he is leaving. And we know that Jesus was going to the cross to die and that was a mission that only Jesus could accomplish. The cross would lead to the tomb and then resurrection from the tomb and then back to glory with the Father.

Peter does not yet understand these things, he does not understand the cross, he does not understand why Jesus must go and why that is necessary.

So Peter responds: “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.”

This is classic Peter. Self confident. He can muster up the strength to do anything that he sets his mind to. He does not need to listen to the Lord….And anywhere Jesus goes, Peter can go there too.

And Jesus says, “oh really?”. Well I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows you will deny my three times. In fact you may feel that way right now, but within a 24hour period you will haver denied me and cursed me

I want to point out some details here

Peter says he has this love like Jesus has. Remember Jesus says, love one another like I have loved you. And one aspect of that love is that Jesus would lay down his life for the disciples.

Peter says, Lord “I will lay down my life for you!”. I have that kind of love that you have!

What You are calling us to do, I can do that right now

Jesus says, Peter I tell you the truth, ‘you’ll deny even knowing Me three times before morning comes’

But also notice that Jesus told Peter he could not come where He is going, “but you will follow later”

Now how will Peter follow Jesus later?

He will follow Him by also being hung on a cross upside down and killed for his faith in Jesus.

In a text written in the 2nd century, it is said of Peter that he too was crucified just like Jesus.

But the difference is Peter’s crucifixion was that he was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as Jesus.

Bridge:

Now we should ask ourselves what is the difference?

What happened to Peter who this night will not even admit that he knows Jesus, and will curse and swear and deny Him three times.

But later, Peter will not only preach Jesus with great boldness, but truly follow Jesus by going to his own cross and demonstrating self-sacrificial love

The difference is the cross itself. Before the cross, Peter was just a man living in the flesh, depending upon his own strength and power.

After the resurrection, The Holt Spirit was sent down from Heaven on Pentecost, filled the believers and empowered them to live lives supernaturally. And that is what made all the difference.

Jesus tells them in chapter 16:

John 16:7 NASB95

“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

When Peter received the Holy Spirit, His life changed dramatically.

And the love Peter claimed to have in the beginning, he truly did receive after the resurrection of Jesus

Application:

The same is true for us church. We cannot love like this until we too have been filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered from above to love one another like Christ loved us.

I am convinced that the reason this kind of love is so rare in the church is because people cannot give what they do not have.

And there are so many people who try to love like Peter did, yet do so in the flesh apart from the power of God

CONCLUSION:

Maybe your here today and you haven’t been in church in a very long tome.

Maybe you were even hesitant to come, and it many be uncomfortable to you

And maybe you’ve heard this message today and scoff and say, that certainly is not the church I have been to, and you may be right

But don’t leave today thinking that kind of love cannot exist, and does not exist in the church

What creates that kind of love is not one calling himself a believer, but one becoming a believer by the power of God

And you can do that today.

John 1:12 NASB95

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

But as many as received Him. That is receive His authority over your life. Commit yourself to him full and permanently

Believe in Him. Believe in His person, in His work, and believe every word that has been recorded for us.

And you can become a child of God

~PRAYER~