Burning Love

Burning Love Text: John 13:34-35

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

TM John 13:34-35 "Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other."

Having announced His departure and having insisted that His disciples could not come with Him, Jesus began to lay out what He expected of them after His leaving. Love is to serve as the distinguishing characteristic of discipleship.

Moreover, until love saturates everything the body of Christ does, no outside discipleship will be of any eternal value.

Listen, the world doesn’t need another Christian protester. No, the world needs to see Jesus in you!

I John 2:7-13NKJ Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

John makes a significant word play here- though he doesn’t state what the command is,( he reveals it in II John 5:6) it’s a new, and fresh love shed abroad through the believer’s hearts and energized by the Holy Spirit.

The witness to this world is the love of Jesus Christ! Simple statement: if you hate you’re walking in darkness.

John 13:34NKJ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

Because of Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God love picked up a new fresh meaning.

The bottom line is to love God and love people!

Punch your neighbor and tell them, “If you don’t love me it’s because you don’t know me.”

I once trained horses in my teenage years. It always seemed that a horse with wonderful confirmation usually had a terrible disposition. However, when you could find both in a horse you had a winner.

True love doesn’t mean you are a push over or naïve, but love is full of wisdom, strength and anointing.

I want you to turn to Jeremiah 29, usually a person goes right to verse 11, however in keeping this chapter in context you need to realize that time and time again Israel turned to false prophets for a quick word; moreover, God harshly rebukes them. Now God say’s in verse 11-14 of Jeremiah chapter 29, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

John 13:35NKJ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus’ command regarding love presented a distinctly new standard for two reasons.

1. It was a sacrificial love modeled after His love.

2. It is produced through the New Covenant by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

What does God’s love do? Acts 2:40-47TM

He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, "Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!"

41-42That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.

43-45Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person's need was met.