They Will Know By Our Love

How important is our love for one another? Does God truly care about the love or… lack of love that we express toward one another?

To be clear, I’m speaking of the love that is expressed from believer to believer. I’m speaking of our relationships within the church, I’m speaking about the community we have within the body of Christ.

What is it that makes this a body or a community? Our commonality is found in our faith or belief in Jesus. Jesus is what has brought us together.

You are my friends… you are my neighbors… you are people who I like to fellowship with. But what makes us brothers and sisters this evening is our connection to Jesus. We all have the same Heavenly Father. We are all coheirs with Christ. Jesus is what makes a a family of faith. And this family is held together by what? By LOVE.

This morning we talked about the truth that God IS love. God is the source of our love but is also love itself. Love is more than an emotion, more than an impulse, and more than what this world would define it as.

Tonight, we are going to get in these altars and pray… and we are going to center on our need for love. Why?

This weekend, we held a ministry training for Living Free Ministries. This ministry targets the broken, the suffering, the addicted, the afflicted, and the hurting. This ministry will ONLY be successful so long as love… so long as God is at the center.

This can be said of ANY ministry at HWC. What we do… we do in love. Why? Because we serve the God who is love! And it was His love that opened the door for our redemption in the first place.

Tonight I want to look at a passage that helps us understand just how important our love for one another is to God. John 13:34-35. This passage reads, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

In this passage Jesus gives us some very important information. He tells us what to do, He tells us how to do it, and He finishes with why we are to do it. In two verses, He uses the word love four times. In each instance, Jesus uses the word agape or agapoa - the verb or noun form denoting unconditional love - a choosing to love.

Agape love serves as a motivation to act or to take action. It is caring enough to do something - a choice not based off of feelings.

Agapoa speaks of a love which is awakened by a sense of value in an object which causes one to prize it. It springs from an apprehension of the preciousness of an object. It is a love of esteem and approbation. The quality of this love is determined by the character of the one who loves, and that of the object loved.

Now don’t mishear that last sentence. The quality of this type of love… what makes this love so special is the lack of condition. The quality of agapao love is higher when no love is expressed back - that is where the true character or quality of the love shines.

As stated before, Jesus gives the what, the how, and the why regarding love and we are going to look at those three points then go to prayer.

What: The command to love.

How much does God care about our expression of love toward one another? So much so that His Son, Jesus, commands His followers to love one another.

This is not a suggestion. This is not something that is up for debate. This command is truly what sets Christians apart from anything else. At the center of our faith is love. If anything else is at the center… I would argue you’re not a Christian. Why? Because God IS love.

If there is any other motivation, if there is any other reason, if there is ever a lack in this area, we will find ourselves in trouble real fast as a church. In fact, without love, we cease to be a part of God’s church.

Jesus gives a command to His disciples, to His followers, to love one another.

The “what” we are to do might seem simple on the surface… but then Jesus moves into the how this is to take place.

How: As Jesus loved us.

How was it that Jesus loved us? Unconditionally. Sacrificially. Jesus’ love for us goes truly beyond any other love we have ever seen. It is a true and direct reflection of God’s love for us.

This level of love is a choice. This level of love has more to do with the person extending the love than it does the one receiving the love. How so?

The person extending the love looks beyond the unlovable attributes of others. The person extending the love does so as Christ did. The person extending the love does so even if… rather especially when the recipient doe not show the same kind of love back.

Unconditional means just that - love without condition. Sacrificial means just that - a willingness to give what is necessary.

Jesus looked beyond the flaws of His disciples and loved them deeply… even the one who would later betray Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas struggled in his walk with the Lord, but the Lord never struggled in His love for Judas.

Sometimes loving isn’t easy… sometimes loving goes against what we are feeling inside. But love is what we are commanded by Christ to express toward one another.

Jesus set the bar high… and rightfully so. His love was not selective, His love covers all. And as we come to see and value people as Christ values them, this love will come more natural.

Love is what we are to express and Jesus is our example in how we are to love.

Why: They will know we are Christians.

Jesus uses the word disciples here… followers of Christ. They (the world) will know we are followers of Jesus (Christians) by our love (by keeping Jesus’ command to love).

Why is this so? Because like I said before, no other love in this world can compare to God’s love for this world. And if ever single believer took this command to heart… I believe our world might be in a different place.

Followers of Christ are expressions of His love. They will be seen as different… they will talk differently, walk differently, have different attitudes and express love toward the unlovable.

Believers go against the flow or the norm of this world. Where the world projects hate, Christ proclaims love. Where the world works to divide, Christ works to unite. Love compels a believer to act when the world decides to stand still.

Jesus’ love was (is) a knowable love because it is an active love. Jesus’ love didn’t stop at a thought or an idea… Jesus actively expressed His love through ministry and His crucifixion.

When it comes to loving as Christ loved us… talk is cheap. We can talk love all we want but it won’t do any good. The love Jesus is talking about here is an ACTIVE expression… not a passive statement.

And here’s the deal… we don’t love others just so they we are Christians… we love others so the world can know the source of our love - who is Jesus.

We don’t love others to make a name for ourselves… we love others for the sake of the name that is above all names.

Pray to Love.

So this evening, I want us to pray for something simple… yet complex. Simple in the fact that loving someone really isn’t that complicated of a concept. However… becoming completely selfless in our expressions of love… that’s another story.

The world promotes a very conditional form of love. In a sense, a transactional form of love. I give you this if you give me that. But tonight we are talking about love that exists no matter what.

Our world is lacking in love. our culture is lacking in love. In fact, the world is canceling out one another instead of showing any kind of love toward one another. Church… we need to guard our hearts that this loveless mentality does not enter this family. In these last days…we know things are going to be intense. But I pray our love for one another will be equally as intense.

Love is NOT accidental… its a choice. It’s more than a feeling… it’s a following.

We FOLLOW Jesus - our ultimate example of love. And we follow Jesus by faith. Faith goes WAY BEYOND what we feel.

But… sometimes our feelings can get in the way. Sometimes feelings get hurt. Sometimes issues rise up. Jesus promised we would have trouble in the world but He encouraged His followers by reminding them they followed He that has overcome this world!

Prayer points:

Take to heart Jesus’ command to love one another.

Love as Jesus has loved us - unconditionally and sacrificially.

Become an active expression of Jesus’ love to ALL we encounter.