Series: God’s Best for One Another
Part 1: Love One Another
John 13:31-38
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - Aug. 30, 2009
*How should we treat one another in God’s church? -- How does God want us to treat each other?
-The fact is that God has an intense interest in how Christians treat one another.
-We know this because God talks about it over 60 times in the New Testament.
*The heart and soul of how we should treat each other is found in the commandment the Lord gives us here in John 13:34. Here Jesus said to His followers: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
*God’s best for one another is to love one another.
-God’s best is for us to keep on loving one another with agape love, God’s kind of unconditional love for us.
*Over the next 5 Sundays we will look at how to love one another.
-We will see many of the specific ways God wants us to put our love into practice. We will look at our actions and our attitudes.
*But today let’s look into the Word of God to see some of the crucial reasons why we should love one another.
1. Christians, we must love one another, because this is God’s fervent command for His church.
*The Lord’s fervent, passionate command for His church is for us to love one another.
*Consider the circumstances when Jesus gave us this command:
-The time for the cross was almost at hand.
-In vs. 31, Judas had already gone out to betray the Lord.
-In vs. 38, Jesus will tell Peter how He will deny His Lord.
-The agony in the Garden of Gethsemane and the Lord’s death on the cross are just hours away.
*In a moment like this, the most important things rise to the surface. King Duncan explained: “Now is the time to make sure the disciples understand the basics. And nothing was more basic to Jesus’ ministry than the message of love.” (1)
-So in vs. 34, Jesus said: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
*Try to picture the Lord’s passion as He spoke these words to His disciples.
*Our International Mission Board is working on a project called “The Last Letter.” It’s actually an old tradition of soldiers and missionaries who as they boarded a ship, wrote their family and friends a letter that they think might be their final communication.
*Karen Watson was one of our missionaries who wrote a letter like that. She was one of four IMB workers who were killed on March 15th of 2004. The vehicle they were riding in was ambushed in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
*Karen was 38, and had been a Christian for about 8 years. She loved the Word of God and the work of God with a great passion.
*Here is Karen Watson’s Last Letter:
Dear Pastor,
You should only be opening this letter in the event of my death. When God calls there are no regrets. I tried to share my heart with you as much as possible, my heart for the nations. I wasn’t called to a place; I was called to Him. To obey was my objective, to suffer was expected, His glory my reward, His glory my reward...
The missionary heart:
Cares more than some think is wise
Risks more than some think is safe
Dreams more than some think is practical
Expects more than some think is possible
I was called not to comfort or to success but to obedience...
There is no Joy outside of knowing Jesus and serving Him. I love you and my church family.
In His care,
Salaam (Peace), Karen
*Karen Watson’s letter reflects the same kind of passion Jesus had when He said: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
*We must love one another, because this is God’s fervent command for His church.
2. And love one another because this is God’s firm command for His church.
*There is nothing wishy-washy about Jesus’ command to love one another. This is not a suggestion. This is not God saying, “Oh, by the way my people, you might want to think about loving one another.” -- No. This is an absolute, rock-solid command from God. We know this because of how many times God emphasizes this in His Word.
*Ladies, do you ever have to emphasize things to your husbands? -- I know you do!
*Parents, do you ever have to emphasize things to your children? -- I know you do!
*“How many times do I have to tell you.” That’s one of the top 10 Mom sayings in the world! “How many times do I have to tell you to shut the door, to clean up your room, to stop picking on your brother.”
*Here is something God tells us over and over again in His Word: “Love one another.” Jesus repeated this command three 3 times in just 2 verses:
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.”
*That’s not all. We see this command for Christians at least 16 times in the New Testament.
-For example, in Rom 13:8, Paul said, -“Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
-And in 1 Thess 4:9, he said, “Concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.”
*Peter tells believers, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart.” (1 Peter 1:22) “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’” (1 Peter 4:8)
*God’s Word stresses this command 6 more times in the letters of John, -- places like 1 John 3:11: “This is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”
-1 John 4:7: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
-And 1 John 4:11: -“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
*We must love one another, because this is God’s firm command for His church.
3. And love one another because this is God’s finest command for His church.
*In vs. 34, Jesus said: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you. . .” Jesus was talking about a whole new dimension of love here. It was new in the sense that this kind of love had never been seen by man, but they were about to see it on the cross. (3)
*This agape, God-kind of love was unconditional and sacrificial. It was infinitely beyond what the world had ever seen.
*Jeffrey Ebert will always see a picture of this sacrificial love in his mother. It happened many years ago when Jeffrey was 5, and they were in a horrible wreck.
*This was long before cars had seat belts and air bags. Jeffrey’s family was driving home that night on a two-lane country road. And Jeffrey was sitting on his mother’s lap, when a drunk driver swerved into their lane and hit them head-on.
*Jeffrey said, “I don’t have any memory of the collision. I do recall the fear and confusion I felt as I saw myself literally covered with blood from head to toe.
*Then I learned that the blood wasn’t mine at all, but my mother’s. In that split second when the two headlights glared into her eyes, she instinctively pulled me closer to her chest and curled her body around mine.
*It was her body that slammed against the dashboard, her head that shattered the windshield. She took the impact of the collision so that I wouldn’t have to.
*It took extensive surgery for my mother to recover from her injuries. In a similar, but infinitely more significant way, Jesus Christ took the impact for our sin. (4)
*So Jesus is both the model of our love, and the motivation for our love. Jesus loved us with the finest love. Now He commands us to love each other the same way.
*Listen to Jesus again in vs. 34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
*John stressed this again in 1 John 3:13-18:
13. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.
14. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.
15. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16. By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18. My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
*Pastor Joey Nelson explains: “Love more than any other thing is sacrifice. God so loved that He gave; He laid down His life…
*Unconditional love is a laying down and giving up of one’s life. God’s love caused him to give his best for us. True love is not revealed by empty words but through deeds and real sacrifices.
*People give gifts and money to express their love but no one would give their only child to die for the sins of someone else. God gave the greatest donation possible for the salvation of mankind.
*Love then, as modeled by God, is the giving of self, and is synonymous with sacrifice.
-Love always pays a price.
-Love always costs something.
-Love is expensive.
-When you love, benefits accrue to another’s account.
-Love is for someone else, not for me.
-Love gives; it doesn’t grab.
*Sacrificial love is silence -- when your words would hurt.
-Sacrificial love is patience -- when your neighbor’s curt.
-Sacrificial love is deafness -- when a scandal flows.
-Sacrificial love is thoughtfulness -- for other’s woes.
-Sacrificial love is promptness -- when stern duty calls.
-Sacrificial love is courage -- when misfortune falls.
*The mother who sits up all night nursing her sick child does not call it hardship or sacrifice, but love.
-The husband who stays with an ailing wife as her health continues to deteriorate does not call it a sacrifice, but an honor and a privilege to stand by and love the one who made his life possible.
-The wife who gives and gives and gives, so her husband can accomplish a lifelong dream does not call it sacrifice, but love. (5)
*Church, this is the kind of love God commands us to have for each other, the finest love.
-Are we there yet? -- Are we even driving around in the neighborhood?
*Do not be discouraged, because we can get there. Christians, we can get there because Rom 5:5 tells us that “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
*We can get there. And we must get there. We must love one another, because this is God’s finest command for His church.
4. And love one another because this command is the true flag of our faith.
*Song of Solomon 2:4 tells us that His banner over us is love.
-And here in vs. 35, Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
*Think of all the words we tend to plug into that verse:
-“By going to church all will know that you are My disciples.”
-“By being baptized all will know that you are My disciples.”
-“By studying the Bible all will know that you are My disciples.”
-“By clean living all will know that you are My disciples.”
*And of course, all of these things are important. But they are not the flag. They are not the banner. Here is the banner God calls us to raise: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
*So, what kind of flag are you raising?
*We have an American flag here in the auditorium, and it’s in good shape. It looks fine. But as you drive down the road, sometimes you will see a flag that looks tattered, torn, worn out and dirty, -- unfit for use.
*His banner over us is love. -- How does your love flag look?
-Does it look fresh and clean like it’s supposed to?
-Or does it look unfit for use?
*God worked in my life in many ways to get me saved. He used hardship and even a miracle to get me to Louisiana. He used Mary to keep me here until I trusted in Jesus. He used Georgia Savoie to invite me to church.
*Bro. Savoie preached the truth about Jesus Christ. And for the first time in my life I really heard the good news about the cross.
*On top of that, Georgia asked us to be in the young adult choir. Even though I wasn’t a Christian, she asked me to be in the choir! And we had a blast in choir.
*One weekend we went on a choir retreat, and that night we sat around the fireplace while people gave their testimonies. Mary and I were the only people on the back row, because Preacher and Georgia knew that I didn’t have a testimony.
*Jimmy Posey was one of the last people to speak. And he started to cry over his twin brother, Jerry, who was not saved at the time. For the first time in my life, I could see the flag of love raised high in his heart. I could really see it.
*It was like a light went on for me, and I remember thinking, “This is real! -- What the Bible says about Jesus is true.” I realized that those people had something in their life that I did not have. And I wanted it. That night I received Jesus as my Savior and Lord, because I could see the banner of love.
*Can people see it in you? -- Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
*Today we will close with a test for Christians: On a scale of 1 to 10, how much am I loving other believers the way Jesus wants me to love them?
-Don’t think about the ones you love the most.
-Think about the ones you love the least.
*What are you willing to do about that?
-We can start by talking to God about it in just a minute.
*And if you don’t know Jesus yet, we hope you can see His love in us. But even if you can’t, please believe this:
-Jesus loves you.
-He died on the cross for your sins.
-He rose from the dead.
-He is your only hope for forgiveness and Heaven.
*Jesus will save you if you turn your life to Him, and open your heart to trust Him as Savior and Lord.
-You can do that right now as we go to God in prayer.
1. ChristianGlobe sermon “So, You Want To Know About Love?” by King Duncan - John 13:31-38
2. Sources:
“My Last Letter” - Wed. Aug. 5, 2009 at 6:34 AM - http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2009/08/my-last-letter.html
Karen Watson: A woman ‘sold out for Jesus’ By ERIN CURRY - Baptist Press - Published March 25, 2004
3. Adapted from “The Pulpit Commentary - The Gospel According to John” - Vol. 2 - p. 196 - Edited by H.D.M. Spence and Joseph S. Exell
4. Jeffrey Ebert in Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of Leadership. (Bible Illustrator for windows - Topic: Atonement / Index: 304-305 - Date: 7/1998.1145 / Title: Christ’s Blood, Not Ours)
5. SermonCentral sermon “Real Love” by Joey Nelson - John 3:16
