John- Believe In Jesus And Live!-Part 7- " Pure Love" Series

“Pure love”

John 13:34-35

Ronnie Millsap recorded a song back in the 70’s

Called “pure love”

I used to listen to that song for hours

I loved it, my Dad on the other hand got sick of hearing it

Pure love

Baby its pure love

99 and 44 one hundredths percent pure love

In preparing for today’s message

I read John 13 over and over again

Studying

Praying

Preparing

I read about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples

On the night before his final persecution began

And

I tried to see how I could use passage of scripture in my life

How I could show you how to use it in your life

And

How this passage of scripture could make me better

And

Show me the holes in my own character

I now understand

You see

Jesus went beyond 99 and 44/100th

He was all in

100% pure love

A true servant

Does not look for the glory for himself

They instead look at how they can serve others

In our study today we find Jesus teaching his disciples

His public ministry has come to an end

Due to the increased persecution

And

He is now giving hands on

Instruction to his boys

Preparing them

For the change that is coming

Please open your bibles to John 13

Let me read for you verses 34 and 35

Throw your bulletin in there as we will go back there a couple of times this morning

John 13:34-35

“34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Jesus in a single act of love

Shows us what pure love is

Love each other

As I have loved you is what he tells us

This is where I want to camp out this morning

How do we do that?

How do we love as Jesus loved?

Can we do it?

Is it possible?

This was new teaching at the time Jesus said this

It was actually very revolutionary

But this new teaching did not negate the old

The book of Leviticus 19:18 tells us a bit about love

“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

This ties in so tight with the golden rule from Matthew 7

To Paraphrase

“Do to others what you want them to do to you”

All the way back in the Old Testament we see we are supposed to love others

But Jesus raises the bar

Jesus is good at raising the bar

He sets a higher standard

Because there is no other standard that we should measure our life by

Remember the OT law says

Do not murder

But Jesus says being mad at someone and having hate in your heart is the same thing

He raises the bar

The 10 commandments say do not commit adultery

Don’t cheat on your wife or your husband

But Jesus says if you even look at someone with lust

It is the same as cheating

Jesus raises the bar

He sets the standard higher

Why does he do this?

He does this to show us our need for him

He does this to show us our need for grace

He does this to show us our need for mercy

He does this to show us that we are unable to NOT break the law

We are all sinners

And in showing us that we are all sinners

And in showing us that we deserve judgment

Jesus in his love

Shows us the way to forgiveness and redemption

He shows us how to not have to face the punishment for our sins

So in verse 34 and 35

He does not tell us to love others like we love ourselves

We know that when we love others as ourselves, we usually are successful at showing love

But

Jesus also knows that often times we don’t love ourselves

Shame

Anger

Disappointment can cause us not to love ourselves sometimes

Cause us not to love ourselves sometimes

So if we are capable of not loving ourselves

We are capable of not loving others or showing love to others

He does not tell us to love our neighbors as the Old Testament does

Because Jesus knows

That we sometimes have trouble loving our neighbors

At 10:00 at night

When I am trying to go to sleep and my neighbors start up again with the boomty boomty music

My love level for the neighbors is a little low

I would feel pretty safe in saying many of you may have similar feelings

You see Jesus knows that as humans we often have trouble with love