Love One Another
Notes
Transcript
Text: John 13:34–35
There are certain things that people should be able to recognize about Christians.
They may not understand everything we believe. They may not know the difference between justification and sanctification. They may not understand church membership, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, or biblical doctrine. But according to Jesus, there is something about His people that should be visible.
There should be a recognizable love among us.
Jesus said in John 13:34–35:
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
That statement comes at an important moment in the life of Jesus.
This is not Jesus speaking to the crowds on a hillside. He is not addressing thousands of people. He is speaking to His disciples on the night before the cross.
Jesus knows what is coming.
He knows Judas will betray Him. He knows Peter will deny Him. He knows the disciples will scatter. He knows that within hours He will be arrested, falsely accused, beaten, mocked, and crucified.
And in those final hours with His disciples, Jesus tells them what life together among His followers must look like.
“Love one another.”
That command provides the foundation for the series we are beginning today called ONE ANOTHER: Life Together in the Family of God.
The New Testament repeatedly describes the Christian life with the words “one another.”
We are told to welcome one another. Bear one another’s burdens. Forgive one another. Encourage one another. Serve one another. Pray for one another. Teach one another. Admonish one another. Be patient with one another.
Christianity is deeply personal, but it is never intended to be private.
When Christ saves us, He does not simply bring us into a relationship with Himself. He brings us into a family.
The church is not simply a gathering of people who happen to attend the same service at the same time.
We are brothers and sisters in Christ.
We belong to one another.
And according to Jesus, one of the clearest evidences that we truly belong to Him is the way we love one another.
So today I want us to look carefully at these two verses and notice three truths Jesus gives us about Christian love.
Jesus begins by saying:
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another;
THE COMMAND — LOVE ONE ANOTHER
THE COMMAND — LOVE ONE ANOTHER
Notice that Jesus calls this a commandment.
He does not say, “I have a suggestion for you.”
He does not say, “Love one another when it comes naturally.”
He does not say, “Love the people you like.”
He does not say, “Love the people who agree with you.”
He commands His disciples:
“Love one another.”
That immediately tells us something important.
Biblical love cannot simply be an emotion.
You cannot command an emotion.
Feelings come and go. Some people are easy for us to be around. Others require more patience.
Some relationships are natural. Others require work.
If biblical love depended upon how we felt at any given moment, Jesus could never command us to love one another.
The love Jesus describes is more than affection.
It is a settled commitment to seek the good of another person.
That love may include emotion, but it goes far beyond emotion.
Biblical love acts.
It serves.
It gives.
It forgives.
It bears with weakness.
It tells the truth.
It remains faithful when relationships become difficult.
And that kind of love is especially important within the church.
There is sometimes an unrealistic idea that church relationships should always be easy.
But think about what the church actually is.
Christ brings together people from different backgrounds, different personalities, different families, different generations, different experiences, and different opinions.
Some people are naturally outgoing.
Others are quiet.
Some people process things quickly.
Others need time.
Some people like change.
Others become nervous when you move the coffee pot.
And then God places all of us together and says:
“Love one another.”
That requires grace.
The church does not demonstrate Christian love because everyone is naturally compatible.
The church demonstrates Christian love when people who would never have chosen one another become family because Christ has chosen them.
That is part of the beauty of the gospel.
Our unity is not built upon having the same personality.
Our unity is not built upon liking all the same things.
Our unity is built upon Jesus Christ.
Paul describes the church as a body.
A body has different parts, but every part belongs to the same body.
In the same way, every believer belongs to Christ, and therefore we belong to one another.
That means Christian love cannot remain theoretical.
It must become practical.
It means we notice when someone is hurting.
We pray when someone is struggling.
We rejoice when someone is rejoicing.
We grieve when someone is grieving.
We make room for people.
We listen.
We forgive.
We serve.
We refuse to allow small disagreements to destroy relationships Christ died to create.
And sometimes loving one another means doing things that are inconvenient.
Real love is often inconvenient.
It costs time.
It requires patience.
It interrupts schedules.
It may require us to set aside our preferences.
But Jesus did not say:
“Love one another as long as it is convenient.”
He simply said:
“Love one another.”
But Jesus does something else in this verse.
He does not leave us to define what that love should look like.
He gives us the standard, the pattern. Jesus continues in v. 34
34 just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
THE PATTERN — AS I HAVE LOVED YOU
THE PATTERN — AS I HAVE LOVED YOU
That changes everything.
Jesus does not say:
“Love one another according to your own definition of love.”
He says:
“As I have loved you.”
Christ Himself becomes the pattern.
If we want to understand Christian love, we look at Jesus.
And remember what has just happened earlier in John 13.
The disciples entered the room for the meal, and none of them apparently wanted to take the position of a servant and wash the others’ feet.
So Jesus did it.
The Lord of glory took a towel.
He knelt before His disciples.
He washed their feet.
That includes Peter, who would soon deny Him.
That includes the other disciples, who would soon abandon Him.
And it appears that Jesus even washed the feet of Judas, who was preparing to betray Him.
Then Jesus says:
“As I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
Christlike love serves.
It does not ask:
“What am I getting out of this?”
It asks:
“How can I serve?”
That is a completely different way to approach church.
Consumer Christianity asks:
“Does this church meet my needs?”
“Do I like the music?”
“Do they have the programs I want?”
“Do I like the way things are done?”
But biblical Christianity eventually asks a different question:
“Where can I serve?”
“Who can I encourage?”
“Whose burden can I help carry?”
“Who needs prayer?”
“Who needs a phone call?”
“Who needs someone to sit beside them?”
“Who needs to know they are not alone?”
That is the love of Christ.
And Jesus’ love is not only serving love.
It is sacrificial love.
Within hours of speaking these words, Jesus would demonstrate the fullest expression of His love at the cross.
Romans 5:8 says:
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Jesus did not love us because we deserved it.
He did not love us because we were easy to love.
And He demonstrated that loving us by giving Himself for us.
That is the standard and pattern Jesus gives the church.
“As I have loved you.”
Now that does not mean we can die for someone’s sins. Only Jesus could do that.
But it does mean that Christian love carries the shape of the cross.
It is willing to sacrifice.
It is willing to give.
It is willing to put someone else’s good ahead of personal convenience.
That kind of love is difficult because our natural tendency is to protect ourselves.
We want our way.
We want our preferences.
We want to be understood.
We want people to treat us the way we think we should be treated.
But Jesus calls us to something greater.
He calls us to love as He loved us.
That also means
Christian love must include forgiveness.
You cannot have meaningful relationships without forgiveness.
The closer people become, the more opportunities there will be for misunderstanding, disappointment, and hurt.
That is true in marriage.
It is true in families.
And it is true in churches.
Any church filled with real people will eventually have conflict.
Someone will say something they should not have said.
Someone will misunderstand something.
Someone will disappoint you.
Someone may even hurt you deeply.
The question is not whether those moments will happen.
The question is what we do when they happen.
Do we hold grudges?
Do we avoid people?
Do we talk about them rather than talk to them?
Do we replay the offense over and over?
Or do we remember how Christ has loved us?
Later in this series we will spend an entire message talking about forgiving one another, but forgiveness belongs inside this command from Jesus.
If we are going to love as Christ loved us, grace must characterize our relationships.
That does not mean ignoring sin.
Biblical love is never the enemy of truth.
Jesus was full of grace and truth.
Sometimes love requires difficult conversations.
Sometimes love means correcting a brother or sister.
Sometimes love means warning someone who is heading in a destructive direction.
Christian love does not ask:
“How can I prove I am right?”
It asks:
“How can I help my brother or sister walk faithfully with Christ?”
That is a much different spirit.
And there is another important part of Jesus’ statement.
“As I have loved you.”
Before He tells us what to give, He reminds us what we have received.
That matters.
We do not manufacture this kind of love through human effort.
We love because we have first been loved by Christ.
First John 4:19 says:
19 We love Him because He first loved us.
The gospel becomes the source of our love for one another.
When I remember how patient Christ has been with me, I become more patient with others.
When I remember how much Christ has forgiven me, I become more willing to forgive.
When I remember that Christ served me, I become more willing to serve.
When I remember that Christ showed grace to me when I did not deserve it, I become more willing to show grace.
Our love for one another grows as our understanding of Christ’s love grows.
The more clearly we see the cross, the harder it becomes to hold tightly to pride, bitterness, selfishness, and resentment.
At the foot of the cross, we are reminded that every one of us stands there by grace.
None of us came to Christ because we were better.
None of us earned a place in His family.
We were saved by grace.
And people who have received grace should become people who give grace.
So Jesus gives us the command.
Love one another.
He gives us the pattern.
As I have loved you.
Then He shows us what this love communicates to the world.
35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
THE WITNESS — BY THIS ALL PEOPLE WILL KNOW
THE WITNESS — BY THIS ALL PEOPLE WILL KNOW
Notice what Jesus says.
He does not say our love makes us disciples.
We are not saved because we love people well enough.
We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
But love becomes evidence that something real has happened in us.
Jesus says:
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples.”
Our love for one another becomes part of our testimony.
The world should be able to look at the church and see something different.
Not perfection.
But something different.
They should see people forgiving when the world says, “Get even.”
They should see people serving when the world says, “Look out for yourself.”
They should see people bearing burdens when the world says, “That is not my problem.”
They should see people staying committed to one another when relationships become difficult.
They should see older believers loving younger believers.
Younger believers honoring older believers.
Families caring for singles.
Singles caring for families.
Strong believers helping weak believers.
People praying for one another.
Serving one another.
Encouraging one another.
Walking with one another through suffering.
That is a powerful witness.
Imagine someone walking into The Ridge for the first time.
They may not understand everything that happens during a worship service.
Maybe they have never been in church before.
But what if they see people who genuinely care about one another?
What if they see someone walk across the room to welcome a person sitting alone?
What if they see someone quietly praying with a hurting family?
What if they hear people speaking with grace rather than gossip?
What if they see people serving without needing recognition?
What if they see generations of people worshiping together and caring for one another?
They may not understand all of our theology yet.
But they can see love.
And Jesus says that love says something about Him.
That makes the way we treat one another a gospel issue.
We can preach the truth from this pulpit, and we must.
We can defend sound doctrine, and we should.
We can sing biblical songs.
We can teach Scripture.
But if we are unkind, bitter, divided, unforgiving, and cold toward one another, something is terribly inconsistent.
Truth and love belong together.
A faithful church must be strong in doctrine and strong in love.
We should never choose between the two.
Truth without love can become harsh.
Love without truth becomes sentimental.
Jesus gives us both.
And when truth and love are joined together, the church gives the world a visible picture of the transforming power of the gospel.
This does not mean everyone will believe because Christians love one another.
Jesus does not promise that.
But He does say our love identifies us as His disciples.
That means the relationships inside this church matter far more than we sometimes realize.
The way we speak to each other matters.
The way we handle disagreements matters.
The way we care for the hurting matters.
The way we welcome new people matters.
The way we serve each other matters.
Because Jesus says:
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples.”
So let me bring this down very personally.
Ask yourself:
Do I simply attend this church, or am I learning to love the people of this church?
Those are not exactly the same thing.
You can attend a church for years and still remain disconnected.
You can come in, sit down, listen, leave, and never truly enter into the lives of the people around you.
But the New Testament vision of the church is deeper than attendance.
The church is a family.
And family means relationships.
That does not mean we will know everyone equally well.
It does not mean every relationship will be equally close.
But it does mean we refuse to live as isolated Christians.
We learn names.
We notice needs.
We pray for one another.
We serve.
We encourage.
We forgive.
We make room in our lives for other believers.
We become willing to be known and willing to know others.
That is what life together in the family of God begins to look like.
And over the next several weeks, we are going to make this practical.
We are going to talk about what it means to welcome one another.
What it means to bear one another’s burdens.
What it means to forgive one another.
What it means to encourage one another.
But underneath every one of those commands is the command Jesus gives here:
Love one another.
Without love, welcoming becomes politeness.
Without love, burden-bearing becomes obligation.
Without love, forgiveness becomes mechanical.
Without love, encouragement becomes empty words.
Love gives life to all the other “one another” commands.
And Jesus gives us the measure:
“As I have loved you.”
Church, that is a high calling.
We will never fulfill it perfectly.
There will be moments when we fail.
There will be moments when selfishness rises up.
There will be moments when patience runs thin.
There will be moments when relationships become difficult.
But when that happens, we do not abandon the command.
We return to Christ.
We remember His love.
We receive His grace.
And by the power of His Spirit, we learn again to love one another.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
There is one final truth we cannot miss.
Before you can love like Christ, you must first know the love of Christ.
Jesus did not come simply to give us a better example of how to treat people.
He came to save sinners.
The greatest demonstration of His love was not washing feet.
It was going to the cross.
At the cross, Jesus bore the judgment our sin deserved.
He died in the place of sinners.
He rose from the grave.
And everyone who turns from sin and trusts in Him receives forgiveness and eternal life.
Maybe you hear the command today:
“Love one another.”
And you realize that kind of love is not naturally in you.
That realization should point you toward Christ.
Because Christianity begins not with our love for God, but with His love for us.
God does not say:
“Love enough and maybe I will accept you.”
The gospel says:
God has acted in love through His Son.
Christ died for sinners.
And you are called to repent and believe in Him.
When Christ saves you, He begins changing you.
He teaches you to love what you did not love before.
He teaches you to forgive.
He teaches you to serve.
He teaches you to put others ahead of yourself.
And He places you into a family.
Church, this is what I pray will increasingly characterize The Ridge.
Not simply that people would say:
“They preach the Bible there.”
I pray they do.
Not simply:
“They believe sound doctrine there.”
We must.
But I also pray people will be able to say:
“Those people genuinely love one another.”
Because when biblical truth produces biblical love, the church becomes a powerful testimony to the grace of Jesus Christ.
So as we begin this series, let us hear the command of our Lord again:
“Love one another.”
Let us remember the pattern:
“Just as I have loved you.”
And let us remember the witness:
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
May Christ make us that kind of church.
A church grounded in truth.
A church shaped by grace.
A church where burdens are carried, sins are forgiven, the lonely are welcomed, the discouraged are strengthened, and the people of God genuinely love one another.
Because that is what life together in the family of God is supposed to look like.
Let us Pray:
