Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] John, chapter 15 is where we're gonna be today. So open your Bibles and jump in with me. Chapter 15 is where we're gonna be starting in verse 12. If you are new here, welcome. We're glad that you've chosen to join us. We're gonna spend time in God's Word this morning diving into this passage from John 15 that kind of walks us through Jesus command, as you see in your outline, a command to love. We've been going through John for over a year, almost a year and a half now. And this passage is one that should grab our attention. So let's just read it. I won't say a whole lot about it, let's just read it. Jesus is here. He's talking to his 11 disciples. They've just stood up from the table at the Last Supper. They might even be walking off to the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane. And we're gonna pick up here as Jesus continues the conversation that he's been having with his disciples. He said in the beginning of verse 15 that he says he's the true vine and my Father is the anybody, the vinedresser. You can see that in verse 15, verse 1. Then he calls us to abide. Can you say abide with me? Abide. And he says abide over and over in the first portion of. We looked at this last week, verses 1 through 11 of John 15. The tail end of that he says abide in my love. And that word abide means to cling to, to stay close. Two to stay near to the love of God, to hold tightly to him. You can go back and listen to last week's message on abiding or staying close with Jesus. Verse 12. Jesus continues what he's talking about this whole abiding or staying close to him.
[00:01:40] Look with me. Verse 12. Jesus continues on in what he's saying to his 11 disciples. This is my can you say it together? Commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this. It's a well known verse that someone lay down his life for his friends.
[00:02:02] You are my friends if you do what I command.
[00:02:07] No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends. For all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose, let's say it together, you, and appointed you. That you should go and bear fruit, that your fruit should abide. There's that word Again, abide, so that whatever you ask in my Father's name, he may give to you these things. I command you so that you will love one another. Not a very long passage, but one packed full for us this morning. Let's pray together and then we will dive in. Dear Jesus, we are grateful. We have just sung of your great love for us.
[00:03:00] Not a love that is far and distant, not one that is just in name, but one that you've shown to us by coming into this world. And not just that, but by living a life like we live, taking on flesh and blood, so that you could experience the challenges that we do, going to the cross, dying in our place. What a great demonstration of your love beyond what we could even imagine. You, who were perfect and holy, coming and dying a sinner's, a criminal's death.
[00:03:38] And you, because of your power Rose, showed us that sin does not need to be something we are in bondage to any longer. And this morning we rejoice in that. We find great, great joy in this passage here, Lord, where you call us to love one another. Well, I pray that you would we scratch off any of our hearts and our minds, any presuppositions that we have, as we have heard this line many, many times in our walk with you in the life of the church, even as we read. But this morning, Lord, that you would help us see this text anew afresh, that our hearts would be engaged in Jesus name, Amen in the world that we live in. Saying that you are a Christian to someone can bring about various responses, can't it?
[00:04:30] Someone might assume that you are laid back, passive and willing to accept anything. Someone might have a negative reaction, assuming that you're judgmental, hateful of anyone that's not like you or you think you're just better than anyone else.
[00:04:48] Someone else, they might be a bit concerned because they respected you and then they realized that you're probably a conservative who loves Trump and you're against some people's rights and you don't care about the poor.
[00:05:03] Someone might hope, and I just say that because that's real, right, friends?
[00:05:08] Someone might hope that you have an in with God and that you might pray for them, for some ailing relative that they might have.
[00:05:18] Someone might respond with anger, not because of anything that you've done, but because they are reminded of another Christian who hurt them in their past.
[00:05:29] There is one mark of a Christian that Jesus wants for his people, and this one mark is one that he wants to stick out above everything else, something that People would notice in an obvious way, not in a subtle way, what mark is this love?
[00:05:48] But even as I say that, as we say that this morning, you're probably thinking, this do it. That word evokes so many different assumptions, many of which aren't actually what Jesus meant when he said we're to love one another. So how do we even begin to interpret this word love?
[00:06:11] For some, love means accepting people for who they are and not asking them to change for others. Some might define love as this. Love means sacrificing for someone else.
[00:06:23] Another person might define love as this way. Love means having romantic feelings for someone or being strongly attached to someone. Someone else might say this love simply means being committed.
[00:06:36] Love means liking or someone a lot, maybe just a lot more than just liking them. That means I must love them.
[00:06:43] So what is this love that Jesus is talking about? What is this love that we speak of, and what is it supposed to look like in the life of a Christian? That's really the question. So we'll answer that question, what does this love actually look like in the life of a Christian? A little later on. But it's helpful for us now, before we kind of step into this text, for us to have some sort of working definition of what love is. And there was already a spoiler. Pastor Les read 1 Corinthians 13 earlier.
[00:07:13] This definition, though, is not written to husbands and wives, although it's appropriate if a husband and a wife are both following Jesus, for that to be a way they demonstrate love. Who is 1 Corinthians 13 written to believers. So all of those statements, those definitions, those defining words of love is not to be between a husband and a wife, wife only there, or between two close friends, but simply between one Christian and another as he's calling us to love. And I would press that even further to not just say that one between one Christian and another, but one Christian and everybody to love the other. So what is this love? We can define it. As we heard earlier, love is patient. And it's important that we kind of hold onto this definition because we'll reference love a lot through our time here. This kind of love that we're talking about is patient and is kind. It does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. You can say these things out loud. You might know this. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the love, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things endures all things. Love never ends. In your outline, you see three questions that we're going to ask and answer. The first question that we will ask is this. And you can write this in, is why? Why do we love? Why do we love? And very simply, Jesus is very clear in this passage. We're not going to kind of walk through this in the order that Jesus spoke it. We're going to kind of break it down in these three questions which will speak to all of the things in our text today. Why do we love? That's the question there. Firstly, maybe most simply, Jesus starts off, look in verse 12 with me. He says this. This is my commandment. So why do we love? Because it's a command. Jesus offers a command. He gives us a command. And that is good enough reason for us as we start. This is my command that you love one another. In verse 17 is actually a bookend in what we look at. There's a paragraph end, if you will, one side and the other side. Verse 12 and verse 17 has almost the same sentence. These things I. What's the word? Command you not suggest to you. Not only command to you. If you like the person and you happen to be in your row at church, or if they sit in your Gospel community, or if you go to lunch with them every once in a while. That is when you love them. That is when this command applies. But rather, this is my command. No qualifications. It's not a suggestion. It's just a key mark of the Christian, a key trait that shows the world we belong to Jesus. Now, as I say that, maybe you want to write this down somewhere and you can have a conversation about this in your Gospel community. Or think about this statement.
[00:10:09] To ignore or to excuse the call to love is to ignore or to excuse Jesus.
[00:10:17] To ignore or to excuse the call to love is to ignore or to excuse Jesus, particularly the authority of Jesus. There are many attributes that a Christian strives for, but love is what brings them together. It's the glue to try to obey the commands of Jesus.
[00:10:34] The commands of Jesus, the command he lays before us and ignore the other commands is simply an impossibility. Now, as you know, we often have excuses for why we shouldn't love, don't we?
[00:10:49] I know I should. What's the next thing I'm gonna say, but. Cause we've all said that.
[00:10:55] I know I should, but it's hard. I know I should, but they don't deserve it. I know I should, but I need a day off.
[00:11:04] I know I should, but if you only knew what they did to me or what they said to me, then you'd understand why I actually don't need to.
[00:11:14] I know I should, but they don't align with my religion. I know I should, but we don't share the same values. I know I should, but they voted differently than I did.
[00:11:26] This, friends, is why Jesus makes this call to love. Not a suggestion, but rather a command. Because he knew that we would have excuses. I know I should love them, but she's like, I know that's what someone's going to say. So before we even get into the excuses, we'll just lay this out as a command, not love one another. This is good, this is a nice thought. People will like this, but this is a clear command. There's other reasons though as well, that we should love one another. As it is with many of the things as we follow Jesus. And one perhaps more important than what we often consider not loving out of guilt, but loving because we're in relationship with Jesus. The motivator for our love is vital. So why else do we love? Because we're friends of Jesus.
[00:12:19] Because we're friends of Jesus. Look what he says in verse 14, you are my what Friends if you do what I command.
[00:12:30] Now as we read that, you might think that can sound kind of manipulative.
[00:12:36] I mean, imagine somebody else saying that to you.
[00:12:39] You go to work, you're hanging out with your family, it's a sibling or a relative, and they say, you know, if you loved me, you would do what I want. Have any of you heard that before?
[00:12:51] And somewhere inside of you you're like, but can't I love you and not do what you want? Can't that also be true? And so as we even look at this verse 14, you are my friends if you do what I command. Is Jesus being manipulative?
[00:13:07] Now there is an appropriate, rightful way to interpret this and there is an inappropriate way, there is a heretical way, and there is a Christian way. If you look at the word there you are my friends, if you do what I command, that word. If, if the person does what Jesus commands, here's the heretical way, then we'll be friends. What we're doing is we're exposing a works based salvation.
[00:13:31] This can sound quickly like working your way into God's family. One has to work their way into friendship with Jesus. And if you don't work hard enough or obey enough, he'll, as we use the term today, he'll unfriend you.
[00:13:46] You will lose Your salvation. Now, we laugh about that and we even joke kind of about that term as we use, like the unfriendly befriending someone. But we happen to do this as Christians, don't we? We work and work and work to stay in right graces with God, hoping that if I do enough right things, if I obey enough, then I can stay friends with Jesus. But friends, that's heretical. Because what we're saying is this. Jesus love is dependent on me always being perfect.
[00:14:20] His relationship with me, my security and my salvation is bound up in my own works. And that's dangerous. Here's what Jesus is saying, and verse 13 alludes to this as well. It's not on the screen, but alludes to this as well. And here's a better way to interpret the word if, and maybe actually a more accurate way to interpret this word if in our English word, it's this. Since you have obeyed my commands to follow me, you are my friends and can personally experience my salvation. He's laying out an order for them. He's saying, because you obeyed me and followed me, you are now my friends. And because you are now my friends, you will obey my commands. That progression is important. It's not this. Obey the things that I have or do, the things that I tell you to do. And if you do them, then I'll decide if we can be friends or not. And then I'll decide also if I will love you, but rather, you loved me, I loved you. We now are friends, no longer enemies. We're no longer far apart from each other. And because of that, since you have loved me and obeyed me, you now will continue to walk in my commands. Here's what we're seeing. It's this verse 13, important to understand and connect here. Jesus laid his life down for mankind. Jesus desires people to trust him and move from being his enemies to his friends. And when that occurs, life change happens. So how do we love other people? It's by this, by staying in relationship with Jesus as we do that. And verse 1 through 11 already told us this. Stay in relationship with me. Stay close to me, and you will, because of your relationship with me, you will love other people.
[00:16:14] Verse 15. This is unique for all the disciples. Look with me there. He says this. Or verse 14, I should say, starts off, he says, you are my friends if you do what I command. And then he says, verse 15. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends. Now for all the disciples, they would have paused here for one particular reason.
[00:16:39] The rabbi disciple relationship was not one of friendship. It was one of teacher and student. And so now Jesus is saying, no longer am I gonna treat you as I'm the teacher, you're the student. I keep some of my information for myself. And you need to stay at arm's length, kind of away from. We're gonna have this boundary between us where we don't interact too closely. Jesus is saying, no, no, not any longer. We're going to be in a close relationship. And this shift is vital in the life of the Christian and unfortunately, one that many of us struggle with. Jesus, though he be our teacher, doesn't want to stay at a distance from us. Isn't that good news?
[00:17:20] He wants us to move close to him.
[00:17:24] For the religious person, they know about God. But for the Christian, here's what he's saying. You know me, we drop the word about and that's that difference we talk about between religion and relationship with Jesus. Here's the thing, before we look at point C, Jesus has invited us, you and I, into a close relationship with him. So why do I love other people? Because Jesus is my friend. Why do you love other people? Because Jesus said, I don't want this gap to exist anymore. I loved you first. I'm gonna step into my relationship with you. And because he's done that with me, perfect, holy, sovereign Almighty God has done that with me. The not perfect, not holy, not sovereign Duba, I can love other people too. Are you with me?
[00:18:17] So why do I connect with people beyond just hello? Because Jesus did that for me. Why do I show other people that I care for them? Because Jesus did that for me. Why do I befriend people that are not like me? Because Jesus did that for me. Point C in your outline, you can write this in.
[00:18:34] Why else? Yes, it's a command. Yes, it's to reflect Jesus because we're friends of Jesus, but also to reflect Jesus love. Look at point C with me. To reflect Jesus love. Look what he says. He says, I have chosen. I have loved you as I have loved you. It's I've done this for you, and now I want you to do this for others. You did not choose me, but I chose you. When we consider missions work, a missionary might leave their home. Any of you know a missionary who's left their home before? Maybe you've left your home before on a mission trip.
[00:19:12] Missionary might leave their home, would leave their home, would leave their friends, would leave their comforts Leave their personal life so that they can go the purpose of sharing the gospel. Now the people they go to, they interact with might ask this question, why? Why are you here? You came from the great country of America. You had it all. You talk about your friends and you talk about your, your food that you were able to eat and your cars that you drove in and the beds that you slept in. You talked about the comforts of your life. You left all of that so you could come and move here, even like long term missionaries. You left all of that so that you could come to this desert that I live in, or this jungle that I live in, or these mountains that I live in. Why would you do that? Why would you leave all of those things? They might ask and the missionary might respond like this. Because Jesus left everything for me. He left the comforts of heaven for me. He left the beauty of heaven for me. And so because he did that for me, that's why I want to do that for you now. The person might respond and say, okay, but you didn't even know me. And on top of that, I didn't even like you after you moved here for like five years. Like we weren't even friends. I pushed you away. I slammed the door in your face when you came knocking to tell me about Jesus over and over again. You kept coming back and I kept slamming the door in your face and you kept showing up. Why?
[00:20:53] Why would you do that?
[00:20:57] And here's how the missionary might respond.
[00:21:01] Because Jesus did that for me.
[00:21:04] I slammed the door in his face over and over and over again. And he kept showing up for me.
[00:21:13] And also because of the relationship I have with Jesus. And I know the love that he has for you. It's worth it for me to keep getting the door slammed in my face because he loves you and wants to be in relationship with you. I know his love so closely that it's worth it for me to leave all of the comforts of home. Because I want you to experience the same kind of love that I have with this Jesus. This is shifting, friends, between duty, mission, work. And I love Jesus. And so I'm showing up in the person's life next to me. Because Jesus loves you, friend. That's why I've showed up here year, day after day, week after week, month after month. Because he loves you that way. We call ourselves Christians. There's a root word there. What's that? Root word?
[00:22:02] Christ. And thus we exist to be little Christs to a world that doesn't know him. As we Consider this reflecting of Jesus to a world. The most powerful connecting force between mankind and God is love.
[00:22:18] If you and I want to reflect Jesus love, or love like Jesus, we see that love, not duty, not shame, not guilt, not pride, not fear, not anger, should be our greatest motivator in life. What I love about 1 Corinthians 13, the first part of that says that you can do all of these great things, but if you have not love, what is it? Pointless, Worthless.
[00:22:50] Motivating us is love. We see this true of Jesus. I'm sorry of God. Even in the Old Testament, if we were to step even away from the person and work of Jesus, we look even at just God's love for his people. Look with Me Deuteronomy, chapter 7, verse 7 and 8. Just a glimpse here of God's love. It was not because this is speaking of the nation of Israel. It was not because you were more in number, that is you were greater than any other people that the Lord has set his love on you and chose you. For you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord what loves you.
[00:23:30] That's why he was willing to do these things. What motivated him to pick us to choose people was because of love. So why do we love? Because we are Christians. Yes, that is why. So as people consider. I remember at the beginning we talked about some of you might tell somebody, I'm a Christian, the different things that come to their mind because we are Christians, our identity then should speak to our actions. This is true in all fields of life, isn't it? If I'm a teacher, what do I do? What's the action that comes because of my identity? Teach. If I am a welder, what do I do? If I'm a doctor, I help heal people. If I'm a scientist, I study. If I'm a speaker, I speak. If I'm an author, I.
[00:24:14] If I am loved by God and abiding in his love, then I love.
[00:24:20] When we abide in Jesus, we will love other people. Point D on your outline is this. You could write this in to demonstrate and participate in transformation. I Love this. Verse 16. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you. And maybe circle that word appointed in your Bibles or on your screen or whatever you're looking at. Circle that word appointed you. I loved you. I picked you. And then I appointed or I sent you. I gave you a purpose. I gave you a mission that you should go and bear fruit, that is, while you abide in my love. So that whatever you ask in my Father's name, he may give it to you. Two things. Why do we love other people? One, to demonstrate. That's one of the words you wrote in there. To demonstrate this transformation.
[00:25:10] This is the power of sharing your testimony. How many of you have shared your testimony before with someone?
[00:25:15] Shared that God has changed you. That's what sharing your testimony is. Here's where I was before Jesus. Jesus showed up in my life. And here's how things are.
[00:25:28] When you can say to someone, I've been changed by God, they'll likely expect to hear about how you are changed. Here's what you might say. Jesus loved me. He saved me from the bondage of my sin. Because of this, I know him personally. And not just that, because of my love, I demonstrate my own transformation. But I can also participate in somebody else's transformation, can't I?
[00:25:53] When others see the power of God working in you, they might want that. Have any of you experienced that before? They see your life or they see the life of a Christian, and they say, that's different. I like that. I'm just gonna pick this out and pick on Chuck here, because he shared this in testimony a couple weeks ago. One of the things is, you stepped into church, you saw the love between people, and you said, that's unique. That's different. You can go back and watch his testimony later.
[00:26:22] People rarely run to Jesus because you judge them or because you criticize them into the kingdom, but because you loved them into the kingdom, because you showed up, you showed that kind of love. So you can go to the next slide there. Just looking at this question, those four things, we'll look at the next few pretty quickly here. Why do we love? Because. Yes, it's a command. Because we're friends of Jesus. Because it's a reflection of the love that Jesus has for us and to demonstrate and participate in the transformation of ourselves and for others. But how do we do this? How do we love? That's the next question we'll just ask and answer here. You could write this in. There's only one point there that you could write in there. It's this. With Christ as our example, look what it says. Verse 13. With me, greater love has no one than this. That someone lay down his life for his, for his friends.
[00:27:17] Now, at first glance, maybe some of you picked this up. First glance, you might say this. Wait a minute. Isn't there greater love of someone if they die for their enemy? Wouldn't that be a greater love than if someone died for Their friends, right? Have any of you considered that? I mean, looking at greater love is knowing this than someone lay down his life for his friends. True, but wouldn't it be even greater if someone died for their enemy?
[00:27:45] And if that's maybe what you thought when you read this, the answer to that would be, yes, that is true. And that's not Jesus point. Jesus point is this. He's saying, as a friend to someone, the greatest demonstration that you can show to them as a friend is to die for them because we are friends. The greatest thing that I can do for you is not to buy you lunch, which is great. It's not to give you a car, it's not to come and give you a hug. All of those things are great. The greatest thing that I can do is to die for a friend. The original consideration that I mentioned is also true. Jesus did die for his enemies, didn't he? Who were his enemies?
[00:28:27] All of us. Romans chapter 5, verse 6 through 8 speaks about us being weak and Christ dying for us. Verse 12b. The last part of it says this, that you would love one another as I have loved you.
[00:28:41] Jesus spoke these words to the disciples in this upper room. And you get this picture that Jesus is saying, friends, please don't forget this. Please don't forget this. Please don't forget this. He has this repetition that he inserts into this text. Love one another. Love one another as I have loved you. Love one another. But as I asked at the beginning of the message, what is this love? As we saw, the definition of love can have all sorts of different meanings from person to person. How do we define it? Yes, what was our working definition?
[00:29:13] Where Was that from? 1 Corinthians 13 we had that working definition, and that is true and helpful. But what if we wanted to put some skin on that? What if we wanted to put some skin on the. Love is patient. What does that look like?
[00:29:29] It's this. What does it look like to put skin on that definition? It's simple. The correct way to do that is simply to look at the person of Jesus.
[00:29:40] He quite literally was love in skin.
[00:29:45] Just as Jesus is just, so must our love be. Just as Jesus cares for the welfare of mankind, so must we. Just as Jesus shows common grace or common love to mankind, so can we. Just as Jesus love is quick to forgive and slow to anger, so must we. Just as Jesus lowered himself from his rightful place so that we could experience a deeply personal kind of care and devotion, so too are we called to give up the authority, the position that we can rightfully sit in so that we can show love to others.
[00:30:27] This may be my title, this may be my experience, this may be my whatever it is up here. But love says, like Jesus, I'm willing to come down to your level.
[00:30:39] Just as the demonstration of Jesus love was inconvenient and uncomfortable, so too must our love be. Maybe that means I'm driving down the road and I see someone on the side of the road and I check the time and I think, I only have five minutes. This is going to be an inconvenience. Love might say I should stop.
[00:31:00] I could stop and help this person. I could give them something, but I'll be inconvenienced. I might be a little late. Isn't that what love looks like sometimes? Being a little inconvenienced? Just as Jesus forgave the unrepentant so that so too we can forgive like him. Just as Jesus did not compromise truth so that he could love, so too we can rejoice in the truth of a neighbor even when they believe other things from us. I was driving down Main street yesterday or a couple days ago and I saw this not bumper sticker because it was on his window, whatever they call that decal or whatever. And on it it said literally a couple days ago, I'm not making this up, said love1, said love1 another on it. And underneath had all the little coexist signs which I'm just driving down and I look at it and I was like, that's appropriate, I'm gonna bring that up on Sunday.
[00:32:00] And here I did look at that.
[00:32:02] Here's my point, is this belief of how do we love one another, as that statement had on the little sticker on the window, can also be interpreted by some as be accepting of all of this. It's all okay, that's what it means to love one another. All of that is fine. Now true, we can be in relationships with all of those people, be friends with those people, but it doesn't mean that we have to say all of you are right, that's not what that means. Or even at times other people have done something that's wrong or that hurts us. Maybe write this down somewhere as we consider this point in whole.
[00:32:41] Love does not mean ignoring the consequences of others sins, but it does mean that we treat them as worth more than the sum of their sins.
[00:32:52] I'll say that again. Love does not mean ignoring the consequences of others sins, but it does mean that we treat them as worth more than the sum of Their sins. Look at all the things they've done wrong. To me, one might say, and love doesn't say, I just have to ignore it all and treat it like it didn't happen. But it's saying I'm gonna love you as worth more than the sum of all the things that you have done wrong. Even to me. Keep in mind Jesus love took him to the cross because the consequences of our sins still remained. He didn't say I love you and so the consequences of your sins are gone, but rather I love you. And so get this, maybe write this down somewhere. His love does not ignore our sin, but it makes a way so that we don't have to be in bondage to it. That's what he did on the cross. He wasn't saying, I love you so I'm gonna make all of your sin go away. He says, I'm gonna love you and I'm gonna make a way so that you don't have to stay in bondage to it. Yes, the consequences of your sin you and I know we still have to deal with, don't we? But you don't have to stay in bondage to that. In you can love someone and disagree with them. Ask yourself this question. How would Jesus treat this person? Jesus was in relationship with people he disagreed with.
[00:34:11] Jesus was in relationship with them. He hung out with them.
[00:34:16] The last thing I'll say you could jot down before we look at point three is this.
[00:34:21] Jesus smelled like those he loved and he retained the aroma of heaven.
[00:34:29] Jesus smelled like those he loved and yet he retained the aroma of heaven. That's what it means to be a Christian who loves is you are my friends. I will come and hang out with you. We will talk about the things that you believe and that I believe, even though they may differ. I will get to know you as my neighbor, as my co worker. We will spend time together and spend give ourselves opportunity to talk about things that we disagree with.
[00:35:00] And through this relationship they see Jesus in you.
[00:35:06] The last thing I'll say about this, we'll look at point three. I know I just said that is there's great danger in us saying as Christians, I can only we don't even always say this, but we do this in action. I can only have my Christian friends so I don't get tainted by the sinners out there.
[00:35:24] But that's not what Jesus did. He was a friend of sinners. And this moves us to point three. Who do we love? Who do we love?
[00:35:38] We might answer this question very Quickly, because you all have been reading the same text that I have. This is my command, that you love who one another. That's literally what the text says, Love one another. As Christians we see from First Corinthians 13, we are called to love. Like, that's clear there. And then we saw our working definition today. To be patient, to be kind with one another, to rejoice in the truth. The early church demonstrated this kind of love that Jesus was talking about. There were people in Jerusalem and all over the known world who they were saved. They stepped into the church, and then here's what it says in Acts 2. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions and gave to anyone who had need. One of the beautiful things that marked the early church was how they took care of each other. They came alongside one another and said, oh, did you lose your job because of your faith? Don't worry, I will help. Are you hurting? Are you struggling? Because maybe a spouse was thrown to the lions. Here I am to fill in the gap. I am here to love you as another brother or sister in Christ. So maybe, and I hope you didn't, maybe on the next outline, maybe you already wrote in one another, but that's not what's going to fill in the point. Because the phrase one another, maybe it's just for me, but maybe for you as well, the phrase one another is a little bit too generic for me.
[00:37:10] We don't need more generic concepts when we thinking about loving one another. We need specific. We need clear. Here's what Jesus is saying, even in a more pointed way than loving one another. And this is what you could write in who do we love? Sinners.
[00:37:28] Sinners you will never need other than Jesus, need to worry and work hard to love a perfect person. You know why? There's none in your life. You have no perfect people in your life that you're gonna have to work really hard to love.
[00:37:49] So when he says love one another, that's literally what he's saying, love sinners.
[00:37:55] And that's what Jesus did, didn't he? You think? Earlier on in this Gospel of John, Jesus shows up at this well as he's traveling from the southern part of his country to the northern part of this country, and he meets this person who is by herself at this well, who's all alone because she's been ostracized by her friends, by her family. She has no one but her to walk over here. And the person she's living with, she shouldn't be Living with Jesus comes up to her and begins to have a conversation with this, what's the word? Sinner.
[00:38:29] Jesus shares a story when he says that you're to love your neighbor. And someone says, well, who is my neighbor? And we see in that story of the Good Samaritan, that one, the person who should be showing love didn't.
[00:38:44] The priest shows up, the Levite shows up, and then the third person who shows up, we could say Samaritan. They would say, the sinner. The sinner showed up and then showed love. We see later on another parable Jesus shares of a son who says to his dad, dad, I would like money from you. The money that's rightfully due when you die, but you're not dead yet, so can I still have the money? That was rude. That was very rude. And yet the dad gives him this money. The son had sinned, he had walked away. Not only that, he spends all the money and he comes back. And the father could say, so I'm supposed to love one another, but you know what? He took half my life savings. I mean, if there's any reason not to love someone, he took half my life savings. But what does he do? He welcomes him back.
[00:39:42] And most pointedly and most presently, in relationship with Jesus and his disciples. We have Jesus getting on his knees before his friends, and he moves from one to the next. And then he comes to the one who's going to betray him with a kiss.
[00:40:02] And he doesn't skip over his feet and move on to the next person's feet. I mean, if there's any reason not to love someone, that seems like a good enough reason, he's going to betray me. He knows he's hating me right now. He doesn't even like me. And yet Jesus showed love towards this great sinner, Jesus, hanging on the cross before a bunch of people who have yet to trust in him and recognize the power of what he's doing. He says, father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
[00:40:37] Love the people not like you. Love the people who believe differently.
[00:40:42] And maybe that's a neighbor who's a Muslim or a Mormon who's an atheist. Maybe that means having dinner with them and saying, let's talk. Because there's probably lots of things you have in common. It's not, oh, my goodness, they believe something else. They're not Christians. Am I allowed to share a table with someone who doesn't believe the exact same thing as I do? Love the people who are willing to vote for a rival sports team than you and not just berate them because their team lost. Maybe it's spending time with those other people. And maybe you're here today and you're thinking this how then do I love someone who I don't trust, or who has hurt me or who believes lies? How do I love them?
[00:41:27] Loving someone means that we will forgive them according to what Jesus lays before him. But it doesn't mean that we have to stay in close relationship with them all the time, especially if they're not safe, healthy people. But loving others, particularly sinners, because you know, that's the only people that we have to love other than Jesus. Loving sinners isn't easy. It isn't always simple. It doesn't always make us feel good. But it is a command of our Lord. And that should tell us something. And this, that it's worth us figuring out how to do this, how to integrate this kind of love into our personal lives, into our workplaces, into our families, into our friendships, into our marriages, into our parenting, into our into our relationships with the people across the street from us.
[00:42:16] Who do we love?
[00:42:18] Sinners.
[00:42:20] Let me conclude here what I asked this question last week. At the conclusion, maybe you want to write this question down, or maybe you could just write down some answers to this question. What do you today want to do church with what you have read and heard in this passage? What are you going to do with this? We hear a lot about this loving other people thing, but Jesus was pretty clear about it here. And maybe you might ask yourself this question. Is there someone in my life that I profess to love, but I actually don't practice the love is patient and kind with?
[00:42:56] Is there someone in my life that I profess to love, but I actually don't practice this kind of biblical love?
[00:43:02] Maybe it's this. Jesus calls me friend in this passage. He calls me close, not a servant who's far away.
[00:43:13] Is that a view that I have of Jesus, one who wants to be close to me? Why or why not?
[00:43:20] Another question you might ask yourself is when was the last time that I showed love to someone in a way that inconvenienced me? Ooh, maybe I'll have to sit with that question too.
[00:43:33] And for those here maybe today, that have never trusted in Jesus love, here's a promise for us today. Jesus love for us is what motivated him to step into our world. He didn't step in out of duty. He stepped in out of love. He didn't have to step into our world, but he said, I want to. I Want you. His love is steadfast. His love is faithful. And he promises to be, even for us, not for us who are Christians, who struggle with. I know I'm messing up, and I'm not doing this right. And I'm not really sure. Is Jesus gonna unfriend me? Is he gonna not wanna be with me anymore because I've done too many things wrong? Here's what Jesus promises us here today is this. My love is greater than anything that you could imagine. And I know you, 100% of you. You are fully known, and you are fully loved by me. And here's what that means, is no matter how many times you mess up and mess up and mess up, he keeps saying this, come back and come back and come back. Just like the prodigal son, you've done something that you think is unforgivable. So maybe Jesus will let me kind of come groveling back to him, and he says, no, I welcome you with open arms. And when we let that love of Jesus impact our lives, the natural response is this. We will love one another, because there's nothing else that anyone could do that's worse than what I've already done in my relationship with Jesus. And still his love persisted.
[00:45:04] Still his love persisted.
[00:45:06] Trusting in Jesus. Love is what changes us, rather than doubting, does he actually love me? And when we love like that, people will see, people will notice. Notice what it says, the last thing, verse 17. I'll just read this again. You have your Bibles in front of you there, these things, I command you so that you will love one another.
[00:45:28] He does this because, as we see earlier on, when we love one another, people will know that we are his disciples. And he will be glorified in that. Let's pray together. Oh, Jesus, we are grateful for your love for us. No matter how far we may stray or wander. Prone to wander, we know. And yet you persist in your love towards us. And today, Lord, we see in this text, you're calling us up, you're calling us out. You're saying, love in unique ways. Love in ways that make you uncomfortable. Love in ways that step outside of your normal rhythm of life, whatever that may look like. Lord, you're calling us to that kind of love. So help us to be receptive, help us to listen to you, to see the value that you place in us loving each other. Well, for the misconceptions that we have or the excuses that we have in our personal lives, in our public lives, in our life with you, that we would see that love truly is transformative.
[00:46:35] And as we go on in our day today through this week, Lord bring to mind to us how we can truly demonstrate a supernatural love to one another. In Jesus name, amen.
