Jesus Set the Tone

John 13:34–35 ESV

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

Introduction

Recap

Last week we started a new series called “Love is the Standard”

And through it we starting looking at the new commandment that Jesus gives to the disciples in John 13

where he called us to love others as he has loved them..

And by this, people would know that they were his disciples.

Identity

Last week we looked at where Jesus said that love is to be our very identity as believers.

and we saw that the type of Love Jesus both lived and commanded was Agape love..

John uses the word agapet

the verb or action form of the word agape..

Agapet

This is the highest form of love in scripture..

Its an unconditional,

sacrificial,

chosen,

action filled love for others..

And we saw how Jesus made it a commandment for believer

a required love..

And that love of Jesus within us and through us is to be a defining factor in our lives.

That others can see and know that we are his.

It is a love that is to be our identity

This week

Were going to pick up where we left off last week

and build off this concept of loving being Jesus command

it being our identity..

and were going to look at the standard that Jesus sets for this love..

Jesus set the standard be which we are to love others is the way in which he loved us..

Jesus set the example

Look at verse verse 34.

John 13:34 ESV

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.

Jesus tells us we are to love others..

and then gives the standard by which we are to do so.

that standard being the love in which he has exemplified through his loving of the disciples.

Walked and lived

At this point in the story

Jesus has been walking with the disciples for roughly three years.

They have lived with him…

Done ministry with him..

Eaten with him..

Listened to him teach..

Been disciplined by him..

and in all ways done life together..

Departure

and now as he is getting ready to face the cross ..

he takes the opportunity to instruct the disciples one last time.

And he says listen..

Reflection

I want you to look back on the last three years..

and the way in which I have loved you ..

the way in which I have dealt with you in relationship.

and I want you to take that and use it as the example

for how you are to love others..

US

Can I tell you today, the standard for the way in which we are to love others is not our feelings..

Its not determined by our wants and desires..

Its not ever determined by how they receive that love or act towards us..

The standard by which we are to love others is the WAY in which Jesus as loved us..

The way he exemplified Love in the gospel story..

This is the commanded standard for our love..

Jesus love..

Jesus said.. Love.. As I have loved you..

so how did Jesus love the disciples?

How did he exemplify love?

Ways Christ loved us

I want us to take a few moments and look at the way Jesus loved through scripture..

The gospel records his words and action that we can reflect on..

The first is this..

The love Jesus gave was Unconditional

Jesus love had no boundaries or confines

In john 3 Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, And in his conversation he shows us the boundaries of God Love for the world and his love for all..

John 3:14–16 ESV

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Did you see that?

Whosoever..

That anyone, everyone…

If you are a person..

the love of God has been given for you to accept..

John

John reiterates this in his opening of the gospel of John where says..

John 1:12 ESV

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Did you see it again?

All..

Anyone..

whoever..

Paul

Paul will also tell this to the corinthians when he writes in:

2 Corinthians 5:14–15 ESV

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Jesus demonstrated an unconditional love for all..

All

He showed love to:

Matthew the Take Collector

Mary the Adulterer

Thomas the doubter

Simon the zealot

He loved :

the Poor

the Rich

The healthy

the sick

The religious

The gentile

He ate with them

spoke with them

healed them

taught them..

EVEN THOSE LIKE JUDAS WHO WOULD BETRAY HIM

JESUS SHOWED LOVE…

THE LOVE JESUS DEMONSTRATED HAD NO BOUNDARIES OR TYPE..

HE LOVED EVERYONE THE SAME, EVEN IF THEY DID NOT ACCEPT THE LOVE HE GAVE.

Us

And can I tell you this morning..

We are commanded, not asked, to do the same..

To love all people the way Jesus loved people..

To demonstrate agape love toward them..

regardless of who they are, how they are, what they are, or when they are..

We are called to love unconditionally.

In love Jesus spoke the Truth

But before you think Ive become a liberal theologian..

Christ love was not all cherrys and rainbows…

It wasn't always plesent

In love Jesus spoke the truth..

And at times the truth is difficult..

Pharaisees

Remember the pharisees?

Matthew 23 is an example of Jesus speaking the truth to the pharisees

The religious leaders who should have been leading the people to God..

And in love.. he gives them 7 woes..

listen to one of them..

Matthew 23:25–26 ESV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

that doesn’t sound very pleasant does it..

Its definitely not what culture in 2026 would say love sounds like..

but it was a correctional love..

a necessary love

a love that cared more about their soul and eternity than their feelings..

but the pharisees where not the only ones..

disciples..

Jesus also spoke hard truths to the disciples..

In luke after the storm he told them this..

Luke 24:25 ESV

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

To peter, who told him he would not die he spoke hard truth..

Matthew 16:23 ESV

But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

and there are just a couple of examples of his correction for them..

but they are necessary corrections

He told the disicples they will suffer

he also told them their future

John 15:20 ESV

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Matthew 24:9 ESV

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.

He said they must deny themselves..

Matthew 16:24 ESV

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Discipline is love

these truth are necessary for the disciples to be and become who God needed them to be ..

And the bible tells us these thigns are love..

Hebrews 12:6 ESV

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

Proverbs 13:24 ESV

Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

US

Sometimes love has to say hard and unpleasant things..

And when it does..

its not the time to cut people out of your life..

its the time to lean in and listen..

because if those people didnt love you they wouldnt correct you..

If I as a pastor know you are living in sin and dont say anything to you..

I have failed in loving you..

If you as a mother or father know you children are living in sin and dont share the truth..

You have failed in loving them..

That does not mean you need to be mean..

Wait for god to open the door

and then speak with confidence ..

you dont have to beat people up with the bible..

but love speaks the truth..

In love jesus humbled himself to the world..

Jesus demonstrated humility towards others..

Earlier in this passage of the last supper..

we read this passage..

John 13:2–5 ESV

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Jesus humbled himself before the disicples..

Servant

it was the job of a servant, not the master, to wash the feat of those that came into the house..

YET Jesus lower himself before his own followers.. to wash their feet..

a humbling experience..

Love jesus had no problem lowering himself to the needs of Others..

In fact.. he specifically told us that this was part of his purpose..

Matthew 20:28 ESV

even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus did not count himself better than other..

in was willing to be below others to serve them..

he was willing to lay asside his honor, title, and glory to do so..

Paul

Paul late wrote it this way..

Philippians 2:5–8 ESV

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus gave up his throne..

To come and serve..

and die for creation..

JOHN 3:16 tells us that LOVE was the reason he did so..

Us

We are called to humble ourselves like Jesus did..

to wash feet like Jesus did..

maybe not in a literal way..

but as we take of the towel of servitude for others..

and count them as more important than ourselves..

we love the way Jesus loved..

And the next point falls hand in hand with this..

in Love Jesus took action

In love Jesus acted..

John 15:13–14 ESV

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.

Jesus didnt just tell people he loved them..

He showed the world through his sacrifice..

Remember what Philippians 2:5-8 just said?

He literally left heaven..

laid aside his glory..

took upon flesh..

humbled himself to his creation..

He healed

fed

taught..

suffered

and died

in love

JESUS DID NOT JUST SAID HE LOVED..

HE SHOWED HE LOVED

AND LOVE THAT DOES NOT ACT IS NOT TRUELY LOVE

1 John 3:16–18 ESV

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 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? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

US

The call to love for us..

is a call to action..

its the called to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters..

its the call to spread the gospel..

its the call to be hands..

to be feet..

to go..

TO ACT..

AND IF WE ARE TO BE THE PEOPLE OF LOVE GOD HAS COMMANDED US THEN WE HAVE TO ACT..

AND THIS ACTION WILL MOST LIKELY COST US SOMETHING..

Because

Jesus’ love was Sacrificial

in love Jesus sacrificed

It cost him his very life..

This is the greatest form of love possible..

John 15:13–14 ESV

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.

Jesus gave is all for all

in love he gave it all..

in love he was persecuted..

mocked..

tormented..

beaten..

he gave his effort..

he his will..

His life..

all in love..

us

If we truely love as called called us to love..

its going to cost us something..

and we have to be willing to make the sacrifice..

It may cost our time..

our money..

our effort..

our comfort..

our freedom..

our title..

There is a cost associated with real love..

And we have to be willing to pay it..

altar call

This is the kind of Love that Jesus demonstrated for the world..

that he exemplified for the disciples..

and the kind of love he has called us to live out..

For us..

But I want to remind you as we close today..

This love was not just for the world..

It was for you..

For me..

Its personally..

John

Look what John will later write in 1 John

1 John 4:9–11 ESV

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

John 1:12 ESV

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

In love Jesus dies for you..

but this love must be received..

Romans 10:9 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Have you received the Love of Jesus?