New Year New Commandment

Our Sunday Night Series for this Month is “New Year, New _____”

Beginning Tonight and Continuing Through January…

We are Going to Focus On “New” Things

Tonight We are Looking at:

New Year, New Commandment

The Passage We are Getting This From is John 13:34-35

John 13:34–35 (NASB95)

“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.”

Jesus Tells His Disciples that He is Giving Them a New Commandment

What is the New Commandment that Jesus Gave Them/Us?

“That You Love One Another”

How is that a New Commandment?

Leviticus 19:18 (NASB95)

‘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.

Jesus Taught This Commandment as Being One of the 2 Greatest Commandments

Jesus Also Taught Us to Love Our Enemies

What About Loving One Another is New?

It’s Not the Loving One Another that is New

The New Part is:

“Even as I Have Loved You”

The New Commandment is for Disciples to Love One Another as Jesus Loves Us

That is New and Extreme

But What Does That Mean?

What Does That Look Like?

Let’s Explore the Context to Find the Answer

In Chapter 11, Jesus Goes to Bethany (2 Miles From Jerusalem)

There He Resurrects His Friend, Lazarus

Then in Chapter 12, Jesus Makes His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

And Beginning in Chapter 13, We See Jesus With His Disciples, About to Eat the Passover Meal

John 13:1–5 (NASB95)

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him,

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.

Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

Jesus Knew that This Very Night He Would Be Betrayed and Soon Crucified

He Loved His Disciples All the Way Up to the End

And Because of That Love, He Does Something Shocking and Inappropriate

He Begins Washing the Feet of His Disciples

This was Shocking and Inappropriate Because:

Superiors Never Wash the Feet of Their Inferiors

This was a Menial Task that was Usually Relegated to the Lowest of Servants

And Yet the Master Voluntarily Serves His Servants

This May Not Seem Like a Big Deal to Us

But in Jesus’ Cultural and Historical Context…

What He Did was Unheard of, Even By the Most Humble of Jewish Rabbis

John 13:12–15 (NASB95)

So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?

“You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.

Jesus’ Love for His Disciples Led Him to Wash Their Feet

Then He Immediately Tells Them His Purpose for Doing it

He Did it to Give Them an Example of How They are to Treat One Another

How are We to Love Like Jesus Loves Us?

By Humbly Serving One Another

Just as Jesus Cast Off His Garments to Wear a Towel…

We are to Cast Off Our Pride and Wear Humility

Status Didn’t Matter to Jesus

He is Teacher and Lord, Yet He Served His Students and Servants

What Excuse Do We Have to Not Serve Our Siblings in Christ?

Does Jesus Call Us to Physically Wash Each Others’ Feet?

No, Jesus was Providing a Practical Service

Wearing Sandals and Walking Everywhere Leads to Some Pretty Dirty Feet

Foot Washing was a Practical Service

Jesus Calls Us to Provide Practical Service to One Another

What is Something Your Brother or Sister is in Need of?

Do You Have the Means to Help?

Then Cast Off Your Pride, and Gird Yourself With Humility

Paul Taught the Philippians the Same Lesson Jesus was Teaching His Disciples

Philippians 2:3–8 (NASB95)

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus Has Given Us the Perfect Example

It Shouldn’t Matter How Great or How Menial the Task

To Love One Another the Way Jesus Loves Us…

Is to Humbly Serve One Another

John 13:35 (NASB95)

“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This is How the World Outside Knows Who We Serve…

By Our Christ-Like Love for One Another

When the World Sees Christians Serving and Providing for One Another in Love…

They See the Love of Jesus Working Through Us

That is Not the Purpose of Serving One Another in Christ-Like Love

It is the Outcome

In This Context, Jesus Has Just Told the Disciples That He is About to Leave Them…

And That They Can’t Come With Him

And the Mission He Leaves His Disciples is to Love One Another as He Loved Them

That is the Mission of the Church

And When We Fulfill That Mission, God is Glorified…

The World Gets to Know Our Lord

And the Church is Blessed

John 13 Isn’t the Only Place We See This New Command in John

Jesus Brings it Back Up in Chapter 15, Which is Actually the Same Context

John 15:12–14 (NASB95)

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.”

In This Context, the Point is Clear

Jesus’ Love for His Disciples Led Him to Give His Life for Us

There is No Greater Love Than the Willingness to Give Your Life for a Friend

If That is How Jesus Loved His Disciples…

Then That is How We are to Love One Another

How are We to Love Like Jesus Loves Us?

By Being Willing Give Our Lives for One Another

Application

Being a Christian was Never Said to Be an Easy Commitment

It Entails a Love that is Willing to:

Serve Our Siblings in Christ

And Even Die On Behalf of Our Siblings in Christ

Do You Have That Kind of Love for the People in This Room?

Something Important to Remember is:

Love is Not a Feeling

You Can’t Force Yourself to Have Loving Feelings for the People in this Room

Love is a Commitment

A Commitment that Doesn’t Rely On Feelings

Are You Committed to the People in This Room?

Because You Love and Serve Jesus…

Are You Willing to Love and Serve His People?

Because You Love and are Willing to Die for Jesus…

Are You Willing to Love and Die for His People?

This is the Love Jesus Has Called Us To

We are to Love One Another as He has Loved Us

I Want to End By Calling Your Attention to One Last Thing

John 15:14 (NASB95)

“You are My friends if you do what I command you.

If We are Obedient to the Commands of Jesus…

Including the Ones We Have Read Tonight…

He Considers Us His Friends

And He Showed the Greatest Form of Love By Giving His Life for His Friends

If You Will Choose to Obey Him, His Sacrifice is for You

Will You Place Your Faith in Him…

And Love Your Siblings the Way He Does?