Disciples who Love
Straight to the question: If you could only use one word to describe God what word would you choose?
Would it be Almighty? Omnipotent? Creator?
It’s Valentines Day and the word I am looking for is Love!
The bible tells us simply and clearly that “God is Love.” (1 John 4:8)
Think about everything that he has done for you out of love. Think about all that he has done for all of us out of love! He has done so much for that we could not even begin to list it all!
Let’s look at this verse in context 1 John 4:7-11
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9 God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us.
Our theme for the year is Dynamic Disciples and the focus for our preaching this month is being united into the family of God through Christ.
As disciples we are called to love one another, that is a command that is easier to say than actually do, for us to live in a way that the love of God is fully demonstrated requires real effort in our daily lives.
We were created to express and receive genuine love. The genuine love we desire and long for is the love shown to us by God, through his Son, Jesus Christ.
The love shown to us by Jesus Christ was unconditional love. We are called to also love one another with an unconditional love.
We are also called to share the love of God with those outside the church, those currently outside the family of God, those who are unsaved and heading to a lost eternity without God.
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This morning I want us to consider one of the most important passages in the whole of the Bible. Words spoken by Jesus on the night He was to be betrayed.
Words of Jesus that are a command to us, His disciples, a command which, when obeyed, will help shape us into dynamic disciples and effective witnesses to the truth of God’s love. John 13:34-35 says: So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. John 13:34-35
The command to love each other, love one another is repeated by Jesus three times.
He describes this command as a new commandment.
Jesus had already taught the Twelve a lot on the subject of love, but this is the first time He specifically commanded them to love one another.
Jesus had taught them the importance of loving God. In Mark 12:29-31 Jesus said the greatest commandment of all was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength and a second commandment of equal importance was to “Love your neighbour as yourself”
The Disciples had spent around three and a half years in close contact with Jesus and each other. Yet Jesus still issues this explicit command to them.
Gathered together for the Passover celebration, on the night Jesus would be betrayed and handed over to the Jewish religious authorities.
In chapter 22 of Luke’s Gospel, it tells us that the Disciples were concerned about themselves.
The disciples were arguing over who would be the greatest in Christ’s kingdom.
They were not really demonstrating a lot of love towards one another.
We can at times behave just like those first century disciples, we can focus our attention on things that cause division and disputes.
Let’s be honest, sometimes the hardest people for us to love are other Christians.
Yet even though it can be difficult at times we are commanded to love one another.
We can easily find faults in one another, when we should be striving to forgive each other.
Loving one another may not be the easiest thing God has called us to do, but it is a necessary part of being a dynamic disciple.
The way we love one another is an expression of the way we love God.
Loving God and loving each other is a hallmark of true discipleship.
After giving us the command to love, Jesus goes on to describe how this love is to be manifest: “Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”
It is on the basis of His love for us that we are empowered and enabled to love one another.
Maybe we fail in our efforts to love one another because we fail to love God as we should.
We can struggle to try and love one another in our own strength or we can rely on the empowering of the Holy Spirit to help us.
The list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 begins with LOVE - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control
Why is love first on the list? Probably because without love the other 8 characteristics of the Spirit of God can not be fully present in our lives.
Perhaps for us to fully love, we need to be convinced of Father God’s love for us.
We need to understand that we are accepted and loved by God when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour — right now, just as we are God loves us.
We need to acknowledge and submit to Jesus as the perfect source of love so that we can carry out His command of love.
We are loved with an unconditional love. The way we are to love one another is to the same way that Christ loves us.
How did Jesus demonstrate His love to the disciples? What is the example He set for us to follow?
Think about the love Jesus had showed to His disciples earlier the same evening He gave the disciples the command to love one another.
As the evening meal was being served, Jesus silently stands and then does something that amazed and astonished the disciples.
Jesus assumed the role of a servant. John 13:4-5: Jesus got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around His waist, and poured water into a basin. Then He began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel He had around Him.
The picture I have in my mind is the Twelve arguing about who would be the greatest in the Kingdom, not even noticing it was Jesus who had begun to wash their feet.
Without thinking about what was happening they keep talking about them.
Then someone glances down and realises who had been washing their feet.
Maybe there was a stunned silence,maybe they were a little embarrassed.
Then Jesus reached Peter, Peter was always willing to speak out exactly what he wss thinking.
When others stayed silent, Peter always seemed to have something to say. John 13:6-9 says: When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.” No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”
Jesus explained the act had significance and of course, Peter in his characteristic enthusiasm requested a complete wash!
Jesus was not only willing to demonstrate His love through acts of servanthood, His ultimate display of love was as a sacrifice for others.
A sacrifice for all who would become His disciples. A sacrifice for you and for me, for all who would come to trust Him as Saviour and Lord.
Jesus expained the model of servanthood in John 13:12-17 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.
Christ demonstrated a practical love. He didn’t just talk about showing love, He actually showed love through service. He took action.
Jesus commands us as His disciples to love one another one way of showing that love is by willingly serving one another.
The measure of our love for one another is the measure by which Christ displayed his love for us. “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
Jesus concludes by telling His disciples the result of this kind of love: “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
These are powerful words - Life changing words. The result of disciples loving one another is a witness to the world.
Is your life outside of these walls the same as within them?
Are you more likely to behave like someone who does not know God?
Is there a disconnect in the way you live, the way you love?
As dynamic disciples we are called to share the truth of God’s love and the Gospel Message in love to all the world.
The World does not see what you do in Church on a Sunday.
The world does not see you singing praise to God.
The world does not see you taking communion.
The world does not see you praying.
The world does not see you giving your tithes and offerings to God.
The world cannot see how we express our love of God or our love for one another by what we do when we meet together in a church service.
What the world sees is what we do the rest of the time - when we are outside of these four walls.
The world sees how we live, how we speak, how we act.
Does the world see you praising, praying, serving, giving, loving?
Love is an identifying mark of your faith in Jesus.
When the people of this world look at me, when they look at you, they are meant to see Christ working in us and through us.
We are meant to be living adverts to the transforming power of the Gospel.
Yet many of the world just call us hypocrites, because we can say often say one thing and live another.
We are meant to be living lives that show we are disciples of Christ.
Is there evidence in your own life that you are a disciple of Christ?
Are your actions or inactions speaking louder than your words?
The world needs to see us living the way Christ commanded us to live by loving one another.
A love more than words, a love expressed through action and deed, a sacrificial love for one another,
that is the love of Christ.
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Jesus wanted His disciples to understand and live out this truth. He repeated his command three times in these verses and The Gospel of John also records Jesus repeated this command a number of times throughout that night.
In John 14, while speaking about His imminent departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus reminded them about obeying this command.
In John 15, explaining the intimate relationship between Jesus and the believer, Jesus again commands His disciples again to “Love one another as I have loved you”.
This commandment had a real impact on the disciples.
After Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, the book of Acts records that the disciples of Christ began to impact the world.
3,000 joined them on the Day of Pentecost. At the end of Acts 2 it says that no one was needy among them.
Luke records, the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
I believe that they were able to be effective in their witnessing and evangelism because their love for the Lord and one another was obvious for all to see.
Just one more thing as I draw to a close.
You will remember the last words spoken by Christ to His disciples before ascending into heaven Matthew 28:18-20: Jesus came and told His disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Christ’s command to us, His disciples is still the same. He expects all of us to be active in making disciples of all nations. To be active in seeking the lost, the broken, the unloved.
The way that we attract people to Christ is by showing them that our faith is not just words, the key to reaching the lost people of this world with the gospel, the people of this community, your family, your friends, your neighbours, your colleagues, is by following Christ’s command to love one another.
Love for one another is not an option. Love for one another takes effort. But, love for one another can change the world.
My encouragement to you, my challenge to you this morning is simply this:make it your goal to give others a reason to believe that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life by loving them and loving one another.
