The Law of Love-pt.2
John 13 • Sermon • Submitted
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· 4 viewsThe love of God is infinitely different than the love of man. We need to know the difference.
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Introduction
Introduction
Remember why last week that I mentioned to you that Satan is most concerned with assaulting the love of God.
Here were my reasons.
Love is the greatest commandment.
4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Love is the essence of the nature of God.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Love is the foundation of the church.
14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Love is the foundation of evangelism.
35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
v.34
v.34
“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.”
The expression of love by Jesus Christ here is beyond description.
The entire time that He was ministering to these men, He was loving them.
For example:
He gave them the privilege to follow Him in order to make them useful for ministry:
Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
And He *said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.
Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them.
Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.
He revealed truths of the kingdom:
Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.
“For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.
“For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
He performed miracles in order to establish their faith:
Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away.
After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.
But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary.
And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea.
When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear.
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
When they got into the boat, the wind stopped.
And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!”
He rebuked and corrected them for their lack of understanding:
And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread.
And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring any bread.”
But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread?
“Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up?
“Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked up?
“How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
He sternly condemned them when they were terribly wrong:
From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.
Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.”
But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
But, it appears that Jesus showed the greatest love to these men by one act, an act that He repeated daily which tells us of its’ priority-He taught them:
The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach,
until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.
To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.
Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me;
for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
How could teaching be an act of love?
John 6:28-40 “Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who come…”
Romans 10:6-15 “But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?…”
In our relationships, is it loving to tell someone a lie or truth?
Certainly, when you are dealing with realities that can save a person from God‘s wrath, it cannot be loving to withhold from them truths that will do just that - save them from the wrath to come.
Further, when dealing with the fact that sin remains in us and constantly tries to bring us down to sin again and harm us, it cannot be loving to withhold th truths that can free us from that.
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
It is very important to understand that if we are His disciples, we are also “loved” the same way!
NOTE:
This is why the local church is so vital.
It is the place where the means of “love” are carried out.
They are not really carried out in the world.
They are only carried out in the home in a limited way.
They are not really carried out in the workplace.
They are not at all carried out on the hunting trip.
The assembly of the saints and the work of ministry is the instrument of love whereby Jesus ministers love to His saints as He works and moves among His people.
11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:
To the degree that we love one another, we love Jesus Christ.
It is a measuring rod for our true love for Christ.
5 “And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;
5 καὶ ὃς ἐὰν δέξηται ἓν παιδίον τοιοῦτο ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐμὲ δέχεται.
34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ 41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
We will examine this more closely when we look at love being the foundation of the church.
But, just know that Satan’s assault on the truth and on the relationships of love between the saints is without end and he will do whatever it takes to destroy love between God and His people.
Therefore, my job is to orient our time together around the doctrine of the love of God and to do what I can to explain it, example it, and expect it from us as a church.
In doing this, we will insulate ourselves from Satan and his schemes and we will mature as a body of believers (Ephesians 4:11-13)
11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
For today, we will begin with the first reason why Satan hates the love of God:
It is the greatest commandment:
OT =
18 ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
18 לֹֽא־תִקֹּ֤ם וְלֹֽא־תִטֹּר֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י עַמֶּ֔ךָ וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ אֲנִ֖י יְהוָֽה׃
Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (29 אָהֵב)
ʾāhēb frequently describes love between human beings. The love of father for son is exemplified by Abraham and Isaac (Gen 22:2) and Israel and Joseph (Gen 37:3). A slave might “love” his master and wish to identure himself to him for the rest of his life (Ex 21:8). This is the word used in the rule “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18). “Love” of the stranger is also incumbent on the faithful (Deut 10:19). Samson had apparently told Delilah that he “loved” her (Jud 14:16; 16:15). Ruth “loved” Naomi her mother-in-law (4:15), Elkanah “loved” his wife Hannah (I Sam 1:5), and Rebekah “loved” her son Jacob (Gen 25:28). Hiram’s “love” for David illustrates international friendship or irenic politics between the two (I Kgs 3:1). Notice that nowhere is the love of children toward parents mentioned. Rather, they are to honor, revere, and obey. (This is interesting). People may love things concrete or abstract. Isaac “loved” savory meat (Gen 27:4); others are said to “love” oil (Prov 21:17), silver (Eccl 5:9), and gifts (Isa 1:23). The Psalmist “loved” God’s commandments (Ps 119:47). law (v. 97), testimonies (v. 119), and precepts (v. 159). Men can “love” evil (Ps 32:3 [H 5]), or death (Prov 8:36), vanity (Ps 4:2 [H 3]), cursing (Ps 109:17), or a false oath (Zech 8:17). Or they can “love” good (Amos 5:15), truth and peace (Zech 8:19), salvation (Ps 40:16 [H 17]), and wisdom (Prov 29:3).God has commanded man to “love” him (Deut 6:5). and the Psalms contain testimonies of obedience to that commandment (116:1; 145:20). Conversely, God “loves” men, especially his people Israel (Deut 4:37; Isa 43:4; Mal 1:2). The Lord also “loves” other things, such as the gates of Zion (Ps 87:2), righteousness and judgment (Ps 33:5). and the holy temple (Mal 2:11). In a few places the verb introduces an infinitive. Jeremiah (14:10) accused the people of loving to wander, while Isaiah charged them with loving to sleep (56:10). The verb itself is sometimes an infinitive, as in Josh 22:5 and Isa 56:6. At least once it is a gerund, “a time to love” (Eccl 3:8). (Emphasis mine).
Consider the context of this verse:
Leviticus
Leviticus
Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy Theological Concerns
In the book of Leviticus, a view of the world is presented that is centered on God’s holiness. God in his holiness is set apart, which is one of the core meanings of “holy.” He cannot come into contact with anything that is not holy. This includes human beings, who, at their creation, were in God’s image (Gen 1:27) and had an intimate and personal relationship with him (Gen 2). Through disobedience, humanity lost this relationship with the holy God (Gen 3
The sense of Leviticus is the holiness of the God who rescued Israel (from Egypt) in order to keep His covenantal promise to them.
However, the people were to, because of the nature of God, view their relationship with Him, and with each other, to be as holy as He is holy.
Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy Commentary
An awareness of God’s special relationship with Israel also permeates this chapter in the expression, “I am the LORD your God,” which occurs seven times (19:3, 4, 10, 25, 31, 34, 36), in addition to the shorter divine self-identification “I am Yahweh,” which occurs eight times (19:12, 14, 16, 18, 28, 30, 32, 37). The longer form of this expression opens the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:2; Deut 5:6). This is not only a statement of relationship, but also of exclusivity: “I and I alone am your God.” It is the positive statement of what the first of the Ten Commandments states in negative form (“You must not have any other god but me”), implying a statement like “Because I, Yahweh, am your God, you need no other god” (Exod 20:2–3). Because of the exclusive relationship Israel had with God, the people are reminded of their primary covenant commitment a total of 16 times throughout the chapter, from beginning to end.
Therefore, the whole book gives instructions to Israel about how to be holy under penalty of death or punishment.
Without this book, the commonwealth of Isteal would end up like all the other nations even more rapidly than they did.
‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
לֹֽא־תִקֹּ֤ם וְלֹֽא־תִטֹּר֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י עַמֶּ֔ךָ וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ אֲנִ֖י יְהוָֽה׃
Part of the Law of Moses was this passage.