Sermon: Sunday, 9th March, 2025
Speaker: John Johnstone
Scripture: John 13:33-34
On Friday, I reposted our church’s 7-part vision statement. I want us to take a break from our studies in Romans in order to focus on our vision statement. The last (but not least) of our aims is: ‘To grow closer as a loving church family, through mutual support and practical care.’ If we want our church to be as God glorifying and God pleasing as possible then it must be a church full of practical acts of love. This should be an obvious feature of church life, clear for all to see. Jesus says: ‘A new command I give you: Love one another.’ (John 13:33) This is not a divine suggestion or invitation from God. He’s not asking us: ‘Please love each other’. It is a divine command. This is something that we all must be doing. And it is something I believe we are doing. But we must not be resting on our laurels. We must not relax. The truth is, for us to excel in this arena as a church is extremely difficult. In fact, it is impossible. That is, it’s impossible for us to love one another the way God wants us to without his supernatural help. And yet unless there is evidence of love in our hearts for one another, we cannot possibly be true disciples of Christ.
What is the context into which Jesus gives us this new command? Well, it is just hours before he goes the way of the cross. He is about to endure great physical agony and even more than that, spiritual agony, as he himself becomes accursed in order to pay for our sins. He has so much to think about. And yet, here is Jesus taken up with the needs of his disciples rather than his own needs. This is in itself a tremendous window into Jesus’ heart of love. Of course, at such a significant time, knowing that he is about to leave his disciples, he is not going to teach or focus upon secondary issues but primary ones. Jesus will home in on what is crucial. And what is crucial for Christians is that they actively display love for one another.
Many years ago, we did a series looking at the ‘one another’ statements in the New Testament. There are around 50 such statements in the New Testament. However, the command to ‘love one another’ is repeated 12 times, far more than any of the others. After loving God, this is the most important command which God gives us.
1. Is this a new command?
Why does Jesus call a command to be loving a ‘new’ command? After all, surely the first 4 commandments in the Decalogue teach us how to love God, and the 5th to the 10th commandments are given in order to teach us what it means to love one another. If we want to love others then we must tell them the truth and respect their property and be faithful in our marriages and honour our parents and guard the sanctity of life and so on. Jesus summarises the 10 commandments in terms of love. ‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.’ (Mark 12:28-31)
And even in the Old Testament we read: ‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.’ (Leviticus 19:18) So, in one sense this is not a new command! Why then, does Jesus call it a new command? There are two Greek words for ‘new’. One means completely new, but the other meaning (and the one used here) means giving a new dimension to something which is already there. It means a fresh expression of something.
I believe that’s why Jesus calls this command a ‘new command’. The coming of Jesus Christ into this world did indeed bring a new dimension to the meaning of love. Jesus’ love surpasses loving our family or even loving our neighbours; it includes loving our enemies. It is a love for those who simply don’t deserve it. And the coming of Jesus into the world raised the standard of love as never before. Nothing before or since has exemplified the costliness of love as the cross of Christ. Jesus washing his disciples feet was an act of love; but it was but the prelude to a much greater act of humiliation and service at Golgotha. This is a new command.
It is a wider command, encompassing not just Jewish neighbours but neighbours world-wide. It is a command which now has a perfect example for us to model ourselves on; higher levels of intensity and costliness and self-sacrifice, eclipsing anything which had ever been seen before. It is a new command in that it needs new power, the power of the Holy Spirit, if we are going to carry it out.
James Montgomery Boice: ‘The power is the power of the Holy Spirit, the life of the Lord Jesus Christ in each believer. Without it we cannot love as Christ loved; for such love cannot be achieved by human energy.’
Following this, Boice helpfully underlines the way in which Jesus perfectly embodies true love. Using the famous description in 1 Corinthians 13, Boice says: ‘Jesus is patient and Jesus is kind. He does not envy, he does not boast, he is not proud. Jesus is not rude, or self-seeking or easily angered. He keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. Jesus always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres. In other words, Jesus is our great example of love. God is love and Jesus is God. It is also a humbling exercise to take this famous section of 1 Corinthians 13 and insert our own names in there. John is not rude, self-seeking or easily angered. This reminds me of how unlike Jesus I am, and how much I need the power of the Spirit in order to become more like my Master.’
2. What is authentic love?
If we are to be a ‘loving family’ in this church what does this look like? The last thing we want is a vague line in our vision statement which we read and then forget about. This needs to be lived out. This has to be practical. What is the standard of our love? What is the benchmark? If we ask someone to do work in our homes, whether an electrician, plumber or plasterer, we expect a high standard. Does Jesus have high standards for the way we love one another? ‘As I have loved you, so you must love one another.’ (John 13:34b) Wow. The standard could not be higher. The bar has been well and truly raised. We are to love one another in the same way that Jesus has loved us. That begs the question, how was that?
Jesus love was gracious. He loved those who did not deserve his love. It was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us. Jesus didn’t just teach ‘love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’ but he did just that. ‘Father forgive them…’ A few days ago I was reading of Stephen, the first martyr. As Jesus had loved with such grace, so Stephen follows in the footsteps of his master. How does Stephen die? Praying for those who had stoned him: ‘Then he fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he fell asleep.’ (Acts 7:60)
It’s relatively easy to love those who love you back. God’s standards of love are far beyond that. ‘Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.’ (1 Peter 4:8) We all sin against one another in church and in our families. The question is, will we love and forgive one another at those times? Will we say, yes, you hurt me badly and deeply and many times, and what you did to me was serious and wrong. But I am going to respond in love. Here’s the honest truth – we cannot love with such grace without prayer – praying to ask God to fill us with this supernatural gracious love. But note this: this kind of love covers over a multitude of sins. This kind of love brings healing we never thought possible. This love is the love Jesus has given to you. Don’t you want to reflect that love? Don’t you want to love those who don’t deserve it? This is what Jesus commands.
Jesus love was gracious but it was also sacrificial. It cost him everything, quite literally. His love is shown by giving his life for others and dying in their place. The parable of the good Samaritan reminds us of the costliness of love. The Samaritan risks his own safety, spends his own money and uses up his own time in order to help another. Love is a costly business. It is self-denying. It looks beyond our own legitimate needs seeing the needs of others and meeting those needs, even though we have needs of our own. When was the last time you loved someone who didn’t deserve it? When was the last time you loved someone so that it cost you a great deal? Pray for such a love. Genuine love is gracious and cross-shaped. It extends well beyond loving those who we get on well with, to those who get on our nerves and try our patience.
3. What does Christ-like love prove?
V35 ‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’ Christ’s love shows that we are genuine Christians. We are not fake. “Christian” is more than a label for us. What will persuade other people that we are genuine about following Jesus? Jesus is crystal clear. Love is the most powerful witness: there is so little gracious and sacrificial love in this world. And yet, is this not the kind of thing everyone is looking for? People long for a community where there is forgiveness. Where burdens are shared and where there is unconditional love.
This kind of love turns the world upside-down: if people come into our church and after a few months they see resentment, hear gossip, see people more interested in how they are treated than they are in loving others, then this will do enormous damage to the church. This hypocrisy will repel people. If we are preaching about being reconciled with God but cannot get on with one another then no one will listen and rightly so.
The world’s love is seldom gracious and sacrificial, and so if we can listen to Jesus’ command and practice it, albeit imperfectly, then we will stand out and make a huge impact. People will realise that we know God and follow God because his love radiates out from us. ‘No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.’ (1 John 4:12) God is invisible, but if we love one another graciously, we in the church are like visual aids, demonstrating the reality of God to the world!
4. How can I take this sermon into the week ahead?
Part of our fallen human nature is that all too often we see ourselves as the centre of the universe, and everyone else are the satellites who revolve around us. We need to get far away from this kind of thinking.
First of all, we need to get to know one another better, which involves spending time with one another. We cannot love, support and care for one another if we don’t spend time together. As well as knowing one another, we need to notice the needs of others. So, we are not the kind of people who just talk about our own problems (though it is good to share). We have tea and coffee after the service, and it’s not all about us. We are asking others how they are, and if we can help them then we will. Are you a noticer? Or are you so blinkered by your own aches and pains and needs that truth be told, you seldom think of others? These same principles apply in our families, with our spouses and our children. In those relationships, you are asking yourself, how can I be a blessing to them?
JC Ryle: ‘Of all the commands of our Master, there is none which is so much talked about and so little obeyed as this. Yet if we mean anything when we profess to have charity and love toward all men, it ought to be seen in our tempers and our words, our bearing and our doing, our behaviour at home and abroad, our conduct in every relation of life. Specially, it ought to show itself forth in all our dealing with other Christians.’
Terry Johnson: ‘We’re commanded to love not because it’s easy, but because it isn’t….. do you want to be this kind of person? How does it happen? By the work of the Holy Spirit. This kind of love is the fruit of His presence in the life of a believer. He will make you a loving person. He will obliterate the selfishness and pride that keep getting in the way. He will transform your heart and fill it with compassion, charity, grace, and genuine care. This is the promise of the gospel.’
So, what is the most practical thing you can do if you want to become a more loving person? Keep praying for a heart like Jesus’ heart!