A New Love

Welcome / Introduction

Good morning, church! It’s a privilege to open God’s Word with you this morning. This passage we’re looking at this weekend has genuinely challenged me this week, and I’m praying the Holy Spirit uses it to challenge and encourage each one of us.

As a church, we have three discipleship essentials…

Gospel: centering our lives around the empowering good news of Jesus Christ.

Community: participating in a group that cultivates Christ-centered friendships.

Mission: serving the least, reaching the lost, and loving one another.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been walking though a mini-series on our Mission discipleship essential.

Week 1 was: Serving the least…

Week 2: Reaching the lost, emphasis on local missions…

Week 3: Reaching the lost, emphasis on global missions, unreached peoples…

Week 4 (this weekend): Loving one another.

Now… I realize how that last phrase might hit you: “loving one another… yes, pastor, I know that we should love one another… I’ve heard this message before… it’s even a message that the unbelieving world wouldn’t disagree with… everyone knows and thinks that we should love one another…”

I want to challenge you today to lean in and really consider what more you and I can learn from this concept of loving one another…

Have we been missing it?

Loving one another is not a throwaway line.

It’s not a generic “catch-all”-type statement that puts a nice bow on our church’s statement on mission…

Hook/Story

When I worked for a window cleaning company after high school, people always assumed we had some secret professional window cleaning formula… But the truth was disappointing to many homeowners wishing to know the secret… water and Dawn dish soap.

The difference wasn’t the solution — it was how it was applied.

What if showing the world Jesus is more simple than we think?

What if we already have what we need to reach the world for Christ?

We’re going to dive into this missional approach together in our passage today…

Passage

As we read God’s Word, would you please stand with me as we receive it together?

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.”

This is the Word of the Lord, would you please respond with me by saying “thanks be to God”?

Thanks be to God.

You may be seated…

Context

These words are the very words of Jesus…

Here’s the context…

Jesus was with His disciples in the Upper Room having the Passover meal.

He was sharing His farewell to His disciples before being betrayed and ultimately going to the cross to die.

Jesus was preparing His disciples for His departure from them, and was instructing them on what they need to do when He is gone.

Think of it this way: As followers of Jesus, we are the “body” of Christ — the Church… right? The Church is the “Body of Christ”.

As Jesus’ physical body was going to leave, we must now take His place as the physical body of Christ in this world… loving others as He would love them.

As Jesus’ physical witness was going to be gone, He is depending on us — His followers — to be that physical witness of Jesus in the world.

But, this passage raises some questions…

Who is “one another”?

Who are we supposed to love? — in the particular context of this passage.

How is this any different from other passages in the Bible calling us to love others?

How are we to love “just as” Jesus loved?

We aren’t Jesus.

How can we do what literally God Himself has done?

Is this even a fair ask of us? We aren’t God?!

How is this love going to show the world that we belong to Jesus?

Not to mention: How is this a “new commandment”?

In our passage today, Jesus is expressing to us A New Love that we are to embrace and live out of.

This love is different than the world.

This love is unique to those who have Christ in them…

There are three particular aspects to this New Love that we will pull out of the passage and will help us answer our questions…

A New Reach

A New Example

A New Power

According to Jesus, love is the distinguishing mark of a true Christ-follower and, by wearing this mark, the world will see Jesus.

A New Reach — think: “from Christ-follower to Christ-follower”

John 13:34 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another…

The phrase to examine here is the phrase “one another”.

Who is “one another”?

Consider this: Jesus gives this instruction right after Judas leaves the room.

Judas — the one who would betray Jesus — leaves the room in verse 30… in verse 31 it says “when he had gone out, Jesus said…”

Jesus waited to give this new commandment until Judas, the betrayer, had left…

This command from Jesus is issued to true Believers.

Now, this command to love one another doesn’t sound new, this doesn’t sound like rocket science, but consider who Jesus is initially telling this to…

He is telling His disciples a concept that they’ve heard before.

God said in…

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.

Loving others is not only a New Testament concept. Love has been a characteristic of God and a command from God since the Old Testament.

So, how is this commandment “new”?

One of the three ways it’s new is its “Reach”.

The command from Leviticus directs one’s love to a fellow Jewish neighbor.

The covenant community of Israel is the whole context of Leviticus.

The New Reach of this commandment from Jesus is that salvation is available for all who believe in Jesus, and we are commanded to love every Believer in Christ of any class, race, or nationality.

Richard Phillips writes:

John, Volumes 1 & 2 A New Love

Christian love is

Salvation in Jesus Christ is available to any human being — no matter:

who you are,

what you’ve done,

where you come from,

what sin you struggle with…

Simply:

repent of your sin,

believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus, and

trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.

This new commandment from Jesus has A New Reach… it extends as far as the offer of salvation itself… it’s reach is to the ends of the earth… to all who believe.

I’ve really appreciated what Alexander Maclaren (a British Baptist Pastor from the 1800s) wrote this about this passage:

John, Volumes 1 & 2 A New Love

When the words were spoken, the then-known civilized Western world was cleft by great, deep gulfs of separation, like the crevasses in a glacier.… Language, religion, national animosities, differences of conditions, and saddest of all, differences of sex, split the world up into alien fragments.… The learned and the unlearned, the slave and his master, the barbarian and the Greek, the man and the woman, stood on opposite sides of the gulfs, flinging hostility across. A Jewish peasant wandered up and down for three years in His own little country, which was the very focus of narrowness and separation and hostility… He gathered a few disciples, and He was crucified by a contemptuous Roman governor, who thought that the life of one fanatical Jew was a small price to pay for popularity with his troublesome subjects, and in a generation after, the clefts were being bridged and all over the Empire a strange new sense of unity was being breathed, and “Barbarian, Scythian, bond and free,” male and female, Jew and Greek, learned and ignorant,

Our God is a uniting God. In this He shows His love.

He is the One who tears down the walls of division…

When our culture produces hostility, division, and hatred, God’s love produces redemption, reconciliation, peace, and forgiveness.

Salvation is open to all who will believe in His Name.

This new scope of God’s love needs to remind, motivate, and call us to: love always and love anyways.

How can we apply this? Here’s a question to consider…

Is it our habit to simply go to church and look for the same 2, 3, or 4 people to talk to and catch up with?

Are you challenging yourself to meet someone new and get-to-know them?

Or are you simply just comfortable with your own click of people…

The Gospel creates a kind of unity the world cannot explain.

It is the most important thing we could have in common with each other.

The Gospel gives us a unique bond as Believers… even if we’ve never met.

In 2021, my wife, Nicole, and I were in Nashville for a few days. We decided to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame museum and were waiting in line to get in…

Nicole and I both had a strong sense, individually, that one of the guys next to us in line was a Christian.

I had this urge to talk to him and just ask him “do you love Jesus?” — and actually, Nicole did too.

We didn’t.

But, we were thinking about it all day for some reason.

That afternoon, when we were leaving, we just so happened to be leaving at the same time as the stranger from earlier!

I was feeling bold and just decided to ask him if he loves Jesus.

Turns out: YES, he is a genuine Christ-follower, a youth leader at his church in California, and we had a really encouraging conversation about how amazing Jesus is.

True Christians have the Holy Spirit in them… and that how and why you just know someone is a follower of Jesus.

We are genuinely family in Christ — we’re going to spend eternity together and it’s going to be amazing.

Jesus now specifically gives us A New Example to follow…

A New Example — think: “from Jesus to the Christ-follower”

John 13:34 ESV

34 … just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

“just as I have loved you” is the key phrase in the whole passage. It’s right in the middle of it.

Christ-followers are to love one another “just as” Jesus has loved us.

He has given us the example in Himself.

Up to this point when Jesus is telling His disciples this, He has been an example for them as He has lived His life with them for the previous 3 years… so that’s an example, but Jesus is also pointing to the example He will give soon after this when He dies on the cross.

I came up with 6 examples of how Jesus demonstrated love in His life on earth. This can’t possibly be an exhaustive list, but it’s a start and I think it’s a practical way to apply this to your life… Each of these examples could easily be individual sermons in and of themselves, but I’ll try to push straight through them.

Consider which one or two you need to grow in most…

Servant Love

Matthew 20:28 says that Jesus came not to be served, but to serve.

Philippians 2:3 ESV

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Jesus — fully God and fully man — came as a servant… not as an entitled King — even though He had every right to! — but, He came to serve.

So, we, as brothers and sisters in Christ, are to serve one another.

Where is there a need that one of us has?

See the need, fill the need.

This might be the simplest definition of servant love possible.

This could be raking leaves for someone,

grocery shopping for them,

giving someone a ride to church,

cleaning up spilled food or drink in the church lobby.

Are we going to church to serve or to simply be served?

Are we just looking for what we can get out of church, rather than looking for how we can positively be part of the functioning of the church?

The church is not an organization to simply serve you…

The church is a family we belong to and function within together.

We all need each other to serve in the unique ways we’re blessed, gifted, and wired…

There is more of a need than you might think. Church functions don’t just happen on their own… they need the people of the church to serve and do their part as a valued member of the Body of Christ.

Selfless Love

Philippians 2:4 ESV

4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

One more time, Richard Phillips writes:

John, Volumes 1 & 2 A New Love

true Christian love involves a long sequence of little deaths as we set aside our own pride, our own preferences, our own sense of privilege. Jesus laid down his rights for our salvation, and we are to lay down whatever we think we are

Consider something as common as the weekly worship gathering that we take part in each weekend… like what we’re doing right now.

Every single person this room, myself included, sacrifices something of their own personal preference for the sake of the unity of the Body.

Whether it’s a song choice, an element that we do or don’t do in the order of service, the way the room looks, the color lights we choose, what items exist or don’t exist in the room or on the platform, what clothes the pastor is wearing, etc…!

Each one of us sacrifices something from our own personal preference for the sake of the unity of the Body… so we can gather.

It’s the only way we can gather or do anything together at all!

If we decided we wouldn’t go to this church or that church because we didn’t like 100% of everything, we wouldn’t be going to any church anywhere…

Even showing up to church is an act of love.

Your presence here at church encourages people more than you realize.

It’s Mother’s Day, so we’re honoring moms, and I get it: there are some days when you’re just battling your kids to get them in the car on time so you can get to church on time, and you sometimes wonder if it’s just easier and better to stay home and watch it online…

For you, you need the in-person community, of course, but also the church family needs you here. They need the encouragement that you’re here.

Your attendance here doesn’t just benefit you… everyone here is benefited and blessed by you being here.

This is a way to show selfless love.

3. Tough Love

Proverbs 27:6 ESV

6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend…

Jesus wasn’t afraid to address the hard things that needed to be confronted… and He did so lovingly.

Before you get too eager to call out your friend, Jesus said you must first remove the log from your own eye before calling out the speck in another’s eye.

Also REMEMBER: This is holding each other accountable from Christian to Christian…

Christians holding each other up to the standard that Jesus has called us to.

Unbelievers have not signed up for the standard of God.

The unbeliever’s heart must be changed first.

Behavioral modification is not going to win anyone to Christ… The unbeliever needs their heart transformed first.

To the unbeliever: Jesus takes you as you are.

You don’t need to clean up first before you come to Jesus…

He takes you as you are, then by transforming your heart, He cleans you up.

Christians hold Christians accountable — to honor Christ in the way they live their life.

This isn’t about acting superior — it’s about lovingly helping one another follow Jesus faithfully.

We need to do this!

Lead with loving questions… hoping for and assuming the best in the other person…

But, if you see a pattern in a fellow Christian that doesn’t honor the Lord, lovingly address it with them…

We need to lovingly, but clearly call out:

Gossip

Anger

Resentment

Bitterness

Idolatry

Priorities that are out of wack…

I.e., someone is working too much and neglecting their family, or someone is continuing to neglect their walk with the Lord…

I urge you to lovingly, with care, address this with the person — and lead with unassuming questions.

4. Generous Love

Matthew 5:41 ESV

41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

Have radical generosity. Generosity that makes no sense.

You know what kind of generosity makes no sense to world?

Luke 6:34–35 ESV

34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great…

If we’re called to this level of radical generosity to our enemies, how much more are we to have this level of generosity among our brothers and sisters in Christ?!

To lend and expect nothing in return is considered foolish in this world… but, how amazing is this level of generosity?

What a way to show the world that money doesn’t control us… we are simply stewards of the grace we have received.

May we show the world the radical generosity of the love of Jesus by being radically generous! And maybe even being called foolish!

This surely tests what our hearts truly treasure, but what a necessary test it is.

5. Forgiving Love

Ephesians 4:32 ESV

32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Forgive one another.

How many times?

As many times as you have been forgiven… infinite.

If you feel a resistance in your heart to truly forgiving someone, address it immediately.

Don’t give Satan a foothold in your heart to grow bitterness and resentment.

6. Sacrificial Love

John 15:13 ESV

13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Jesus doesn’t just say this, He did this.

This is the ultimate way He showed us His love.

Let me acknowledge: Some of you today are struggling to believe that God loves you…

Look at the cross.

Even if He never did another thing for us, He has already done it all.

We weren’t entitled to His love on the cross for us, and we are not entitled to anything more.

All is gift.

All is grace.

If we’re honest with ourselves, loving as Jesus loved can be hard…

Why is loving like Jesus loved so challenging for us?

A hardened heart cannot love.

Where there is bitterness and resentment growing, love dies.

Examine yourself. See where there is bitterness growing against someone or some circumstance.

Look at the cross and realize you need the love and forgiveness of Jesus just as much as the “worst sinner” you can think of…

When we are fully in touch with our need for grace and forgiveness, and we fully believe and embrace that we have received that grace, we give grace and love to others at a level that’s radical to the world.

We cannot truly love others when we haven’t fully embraced the love that we have received from Jesus.

Believe His love.

Receive His love.

Embrace His love.

This is the New Example of love that Jesus gives us…

And this New Example leads us to our last point: A New Power.

A New Power — think: “from Christ-follower to the World”

John 13:35 ESV

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

This love is missional.

This love is transformational.

This love has POWER to save the lost.

There is one way the world will know we follow Jesus.

It’s by our love for one another.

This love has the power to show the world Christ.

As the Disney movie Frozen would put it: Love is an open door!

Love opens the door.

Jesus didn’t say we’d be known for being “right”.

He didn’t say we would be known even for our gifting, talents, or skills…

He didn’t say we would be known for winning every argument or having all the answers…

He didn’t say we would be known for being perfect or having it all together…

Jesus said we would be known by our love for each other.

So even if you feel like your life is falling apart, you can still show Jesus to the world by your love.

BUT — Can this be actually said about us?

When the outside world is looking in at Christians, do they see love? Or do they see division?

To reach the world for Christ, love is the strategy that never loses its power.

Love is the loudest witness.

Love is the apologetic.

Love is one of the clearest witnesses to the reality of Jesus.

Love is the difference.

———

To loop back to the window cleaning story from earlier…

we already have what we need. We’ve been given the solution… no pun intended.

We love because we have first been loved.

1 John 4:10 says that it’s not merely that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent His Son for us.

God has shown us His love through Jesus — through His death and resurrection.

The only love we can truly give is the love we have first received.

As followers of Jesus, we have already received the greatest gift imaginable: salvation by grace through faith in Christ.

And Ephesians 1 says that, when we trusted in Christ, we were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit… in that moment!

We already have the “ingredient” Jesus says the world needs to see: His love alive in His people.

And according to Jesus, when Christians love one another like this, the world sees something different.

Something supernatural… Something that points to Him.

They see Jesus in you.

That’s how this love has A New Power.

Brothers and sisters… may love define us.

May love define how we speak to one another, serve one another, forgive one another, and welcome one another.

The world will know we belong to Jesus not merely by what we say — but by how we love.

And on this Mother’s Day, I think many of us have seen glimpses of that kind of love through faithful moms and grandmas.

Mothers who sacrifice quietly.

Who serve tirelessly.

Who pray faithfully.

Who forgive repeatedly.

Who keep showing up day after day.

That kind of love reflects the heart of Christ.

Parents, let your children see your dependence on Jesus.

Let them see you pray.

Let them hear you ask for forgiveness.

Let them see that you need grace too.

Grandparents and the older generation: love and invest in the younger generation.

Psalm 145 says, “One generation shall commend your works to another.”

Don’t be a stranger to the younger generation… get to know them, love them, care for them, PRAY for them!

As a church, let’s be known for this kind of love — a love that welcomes the vulnerable, serves sacrificially, and points people to Jesus.

1 Corinthians 13:1–8 ESV

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 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. 8 Love never ends…

It’s not always easy to love like this.

So what do we do?

Abide in the love you have received from Christ.

Receive His love.

Embrace His love.

Rest in His love.

And as you do, His love will overflow out of you and onto others.

Let God’s love for you remind you today that:

You are chosen.

You are not a mistake.

You are forgiven.

You are fully known by the God who made you.

You are fully loved by the God who sent His Son to die for you.

According to Jesus, love is the distinguishing mark of a true Christ-follower and, by wearing this mark, the world will see Jesus.

Pray

Thank You for the love that You have given to us… we couldn’t earn it, and we don’t deserve it…

Help us to love how You loved us…

As a servant of others…

Selflessly… considering others more highly than ourselves…

Giving tough love when necessary… with grace and understanding…

Generously…

Forgiving…

Sacrificially…

May the world see You, Lord Jesus, by this radical level of love that we share as Christians… Your Body, the Church…

That all may come to know You and love You…

For Your glory among the nations,

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.