Patrick Pierre - Teaching of Jesus

God bless you. Today we're going to talk about loving one another. In the Gospel of John, chapter 13, verse 34 to 35, Jesus said, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. What does that look like? Live doubt. Well, just to give some context, earlier in that particular chapter, chapter 13 of John's Gospel, verse 1, 2, 4, and 27, the Scriptures tell us that it was just before the Passover festival, and Jesus and his disciples are in an upper room sharing a meal together. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and to go to the Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he had loved them to the very end. He had washed their feet, and Satan had come and began to prompt Judas to betray Jesus and now had filled him. And the Scriptures go on to tell us, in the same chapter, in verse 31 and 32, as soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him. And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will soon give glory to the Son. And then in verse 33, Jesus, in the most endearing way, tells his disciples, Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. Imagine, for the last three years, he was their world. Their whole lives revolved around him and his ministry. Nothing else mattered. And now he was saying that he was going away, and they have a little time left to spend together. Their hearts were suddenly saddened and troubled, according to chapter 14, verse 1. The word troubled means to stir or to agitate. It's like water coming to a boil.

It means to cause one inward commotion, to take away his calmness of mind. It's to strike one's spirit with fear and dread, to render anxious or distressed. It's to perplex the mind of one by suggesting doubts. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt agitated, like there is a commotion going on on the inside of you? Have you ever been suddenly struck with fear or dread or rendered anxious or distressed? Have you ever come to a point where you felt perplexed and battled doubts? Welcome to their world. I think of a time when my mom, some years back, passed. She had been sick. She had dementia. We had her. She had dementia over about four years, and suddenly she was in the hospital with pneumonia. I remember I'd seen her on a Tuesday, and by that Friday, she had passed. I remember when I got the call, what I began to feel on the inside. Suddenly I felt sadness, great sadness, of course, and then I felt agitated. There was a commotion going on on the inside. There was fear. There was suddenly a feeling of being perplexed, wondering, man, did I do enough, or should I have seen her one more time, or did I tell her I loved her enough? I remember feeling doubt, wondering if the hospital staff had properly taken care of her and done all they needed to do, or had they neglected her in some kind of way. All of a sudden, these thoughts began to flood my heart and my mind, but something began to change. I remember when we had the viewing, the wake, I was feeling all these emotions, but then suddenly something began to change, and it all began to change when the church started showing up. You see, my family weren't believers. I was the only Christian in my family, and suddenly now the believers began to show up. Folks from the church began to show up to the wake, to the funeral home there.

I remember how I felt quickened. I felt encouraged. I suddenly felt peace and it just began to flood my soul as the people of God just showed up and I'll never forget that feeling. You know, in order to counteract everything that was going on on the inside of the hearts and minds of Jesus's disciples, Jesus gave them a sort of remedy, if you will. It was designed to reassure them of his love and his care. As a matter of fact, this remedy would remind them of his love for them repeatedly ten times over. What am I talking about? How so? Well, through their fellow disciples, through each other. What kind of love is this? In Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18, God's law tells the people to love one another. Here in John chapter 13 verse 34, Jesus said this, that he was giving them a new commandment. He set a new standard of love for his followers. Jesus commands his disciples to love one another as he had loved them. The word love used here three times is agapeo, which means to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly. Jesus was saying to his disciples, the same way that I welcomed you and have entertained or spent time with you and have been fond of you and have loved you dearly is the same kind of love that I want you to express towards one another. The disciples were to love one another with the same sort of love modeled by Jesus. This love is a self-giving, it's a sacrificial love which seeks the good of another. I like this quote by Donald C. Stamps. It says this, thus the relationship between all believers must be characterized by a devoted purposeful concern, which sacrificially seeks to promote the highest good of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Christians must befriend each other in trials, be careful of each other's feelings and reputation, and deny themselves to promote each other's welfare.

This is how the remaining 11 disciples would even survive in Jesus's absence, by loving and supporting one another. What made this love new was that it was based on Jesus's sacrificial love for us. When Christians love and support each other, it enables them to survive in a hostile world. I like what another commentator had to say. As Jesus was the embodiment of God's love, each disciple should embody Christ's love. In verse 35 of John chapter 13, he informs them that this love will set them apart from everyone else. It would be the distinguishing mark that would let the world know that they were his friends, his followers. Such love would draw others to the Savior as he is lifted up. In 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 22, in the NIV translation it says this, now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply from the heart. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 1 and 2 says, imitate God therefore in everything you do because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. In 1 Corinthians 13, 14, 1, it says, let this kind of love be your highest goal, your highest pursuit. Everything else will pass away, you know, everything else will pass away, but this love, this love lasts in the end. John 15 verse 13 says, there is no greater love than to lay one's life down for his friends. And in 1 John 3, 16 and 18, it says, this is how we know what love is. Jesus laid his life down for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. Dear children, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth. Barnes notes, this was a new expression of love, and it showed the strength of attachment which we ought to have for Christians, and how ready we should be to endure hardships, to encounter dangers, and to practice self-denial to benefit those for whom the Son of God laid down His life.

Folks, love is a choice, not just a feeling. What does this love look like, lived out? In the following verses in the Old Testament, it shows practical ways which one would love and care for those around them. In Leviticus chapter 19, verse 9 through 10, it says, when you harvest your crops in the land, don't harvest the grain along the edges of your fields. Do not pick up what the harvesters drop. It is the same with your grape crop. Do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines. Do not pick up the grapes that fall on the ground. Leave them for the poor and foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God. In other words, help the poor and needy among you. This is what love looked like back then. In verse 11 of the same chapter, Leviticus 19, it says, do not steal. Do not deceive or cheat one another. In other words, you can love by not stealing and robbing each other. In verse 12 of the same chapter, it says, do not bring shame on the name of the Lord your God by using it to swear falsely. I am the Lord. In other words, don't swear falsely. Don't lie to one another. Another way in which you and I can love one another. In verse 13 of the same chapter, it says, do not defraud or rob your neighbor. In other words, do not take advantage. Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay. Do not defraud them or rob them of what's due them. In verse 14 of the same chapter, it says, do not insult those who have physical disabilities. Do not insult the deaf or cause the blind to stumble. You must fear your God.

I am the Lord. And then it says, do not twist justice or show favoritism. In verse 15, do not twist justice or in legal matters by showing favor to the poor or being partial to the rich or powerful. Always judge fairly. Do not slander anyone. Verse 16, do not spread slanderous gossip among your people. Do not stand idly by while your neighbor's life is threatened. I am the Lord. Verse 17 of the same chapter says, do not nurse hatred in your heart. Verse 18 says, do not seek revenge. And it goes on and on. One commentator put it this way. He said, love is more than simply warm feelings. It's an attitude that reveals itself in action, in action, folks. And then the following verses in the New Testament show practical ways in which we can love and care for those around us. First Corinthians 13, verse four through seven, very familiar passage. If you've been walking with the Lord for any amount of time, love is patient. It's being patient with one another the same way the Lord has been is patient with us. It's being kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable. It's making sure we take time to decompress when things are building up on the inside of us. It's taking time to release those things to the Lord so we don't take it out on our brother or sister, our spouses, our children, on those in our lives, if you will. It keeps no record of being wrong. It does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices when the truth wins out.

Love never gives up. Folks, this is the love of God, the love that he shows us. And yet the Lord calls us to show this kind of love to one another. Love never gives up. It never loses faith. It is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance. In other words, this love never fails. It lasts forever. Folks, this is an enduring love. This is the kind of love that lasts. Now humanly speaking, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. Hallelujah. For it is God who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. God is the one who works in you and is willing to work in you and I by the power of His Spirit to change our desires so we desire what He desires, amen, so that we want what He wants, to do His will. He will work in us both to will, but then not only that, but to do, giving us the ability to do what honors Him and what glorifies Him, to do what's right, amen, to do what's right towards our neighbors so that we can encourage them and strengthen them and so that they too are drawn to the Savior, hallelujah. I pray today that the Lord will encourage and strengthen you as you choose to follow Him and to love like Jesus loves, amen,

the same way God has loved you. May the Lord bless you as you take time to study His word for this love will affirm us, it will reassure us, it will preserve us, it will bear witness to the love of God and remind us continually of His care for us. God bless you.