If you would open up your Bibles to John chapter 13, it's page 1070 of your pew Bible.
And while you're turning there, I have a question for you.
What do you want to be known for?
You personally, what do you want to be known for?
Maybe you want to be known for being hardworking, being kind, being reasonable, being fair.
Maybe you want to be known for being athletic or being funny or being a sharp, snappy dresser.
Maybe you're sitting there saying, I want to be known for Jesus.
Do I have an amen?
Amen.
The question is how?
How will you be known for Jesus?
Jesus, Christ the King Church, what do we want to be known for?
Better yet, in light of the new commandment that we're going to read this morning, Jesus says,
just as I have loved you, you love one another.
In light of that, what must we be known for?
We must be known for our namesake, Jesus.
Amen?
But how?
How are we to be known for Jesus?
Well, in a word, it's the word love.
We identify ourselves as being followers of Jesus Christ by the way we love one another.
Our love for one another should set us apart from everyone else.
Our love for one another is an otherworldly love.
But the contrary is also true.
If we don't love one another just as Jesus has loved us, we're just going to blend in with the rest of the world.
And it's going to be confusing.
Because the world will conclude, you're just like everybody else.
What makes any difference?
Why bother with Jesus?
Two weeks ago, we saw Jesus give an object lesson on servanthood.
He washed his disciples' feet.
And he said to them,
If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
So he starts with himself and he gives his disciples an example.
Well, today in a similar way, Jesus commands us to love one another.
He says,
Just as I have loved you, you are to love one another.
This is part of a bigger passage in John 13 through 17 called the Farewell Discourse.
And so this command to love one another is just, he gave it just hours away from his own death.
And so this morning, I am going to be surgical.
We've got a big passage in one sense.
It's chapter, oop, I'm in 1 Corinthians.
13, 21 through 38.
But I'm going to really focus on verses 34 and 35.
And what I want you to see are four distinctions of this love with which we are to love one another.
And here they are.
This love is a required love.
This love is a new kind of love.
This love is a Christ-like love.
And this love with which we are to love one another is an identifying love.
So let me just read verses 34 and 35.
These are Jesus' words to us.
A new commandment I give to you, Christ the King Church, that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.
So let's look at this first distinction, a required love.
Loving one another is a command.
It's required of all who belong to Jesus Christ.
We are to love one another.
And that may sound strange in your ears.
Because we often think of love as an emotion or a feeling.
Anybody familiar with the lady Tina Turner?
What's love got to do with it?
What's love but a second-hand emotion?
Well, this command that Jesus is commanding us is not commanding us to feel a certain way.
This is a command to love one another, which means each of us are responsible to love one another.
It's better thought of love as a commitment.
A commitment to one another.
And that's how we must define this kind of biblical love.
Now, God is love.
That's His very nature.
It's not that He is in a constant state of feeling loving.
He is love.
He commits.
You know, one of the things that I get to do on a regular basis is to marry people.
And we got a marriage of a couple coming up in the next couple weeks.
And one of my favorite things is to walk them through their vows.
And so let me just give you a little section of the vows that I will lead this couple through.
I, groom, take you, bride, to be my wedded wife.
To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse.
It's called a commitment.
For richer, for poorer.
For poorer, commitment.
In sickness and in health.
Commitment to love and to cherish till death do us part.
That is a lifelong commitment.
According to God's holy ordinance.
And thereto I pledge you my faith.
These vows of a marriage ceremony.
Which, it explains the kind of commitment a husband is making to a wife.
And a wife to a husband.
They capture what love is.
Love is at its core a commitment.
So what we need to be clear on moving into this passage on the new commandment is what love is.
Jesus is calling us to commit to one another in a certain kind of way.
So the new commandment is a new commitment.
What kind of commitment Christians make to one another.
And it raises the question that distinction number two answers.
What kind of commitment are we talking about?
In the passage we read, a new commandment I give to you.
That you love one another.
What's so new about loving one another?
If you're familiar with your Bibles in Leviticus 19.18.
Moses commands Israel to love your neighbor as yourself.
So in one sense, the command to love is not new.
It's old.
So what's new about this new commandment here?
Well, there's a number of things that are new.
The first one is we have a new person giving the commandment.
Moses gave the command to love your neighbor as yourself.
But someone greater than Moses is speaking this commandment.
Jesus.
And if you were to go back to John chapter 5.
Jesus says some very interesting things about his relationship to Moses.
In fact, he, Jesus himself said,
Did you know that Moses, he wrote about me?
You see, Moses was a sinner just like us.
Who needed the forgiveness that comes only through the death of Jesus.
What makes the new commandment new is who's giving it.
God incarnate.
The king of the kingdom of life.
The greatest lover of all.
So the first aspect, the first kind of dimension of this new kind of love
is the one giving the command, Jesus.
The second is that this love has a new goal.
A new aim.
A new end.
It's a new kind of commitment with a new aim.
New goal.
Now, before we became Christians,
we exercised more or less a self-serving kind of love.
It was somewhat contractual.
I love you if you love me.
I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine.
Our commitment to others was more often about
what we could get out of a relationship.
But Jesus,
when we see who he is and we believe in who he is,
what happens to a Christian is that Jesus radically reorients our loves.
We no longer live for ourselves,
but for him who for our sake died and was raised,
which means we love one another unto Christ.
A new aim.
A new goal.
Our commitment to one another isn't just for someone else's good.
We are loving someone to Jesus.
Their greatest good.
So the best thing I can do for you,
Christ the King Church,
is love you to Christ.
And the best thing that you can do for me
is to love me to Christ.
In other words,
the best thing that we can do together
is to treasure Jesus above all else together.
The best thing that we can do together
is to functionally make Jesus
the controlling center of our lives.
our one consuming passion,
our all governing reality.
And when Jesus is functioning that way in our lives
because he is that wonderful,
all of a sudden,
lives change.
There's a new kind of love in town.
We're not loving others for ourselves.
We're not even loving others for them.
We're loving them unto Christ.
So this new commandment has a new goal.
Jesus.
Treasuring Jesus is the goal.
When you have a bunch of people
who are making Jesus
the functional center of their lives,
both personally and corporately,
what I mean by that,
as a people,
as a church,
when Jesus is the controlling center of our lives,
the treasure center,
you know what you got?
You got a church.
This new commitment,
the third kind of aspect
is that this new commitment
is to a new people.
One of the things about our church
that I delight in
is our growing diversity as a church.
We have a variety of cultures represented,
a variety of ethnicities,
a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds,
and as we know,
with diversity
comes different experiences,
perspectives,
and preferences.
And with that comes some challenges.
But that's life together.
And when Jesus is the goal
of loving one another,
you quickly kind of lay down your preferences.
You quickly kind of hold more loosely
the things that you value
out of love for Jesus
and out of loving people to Jesus.
I like to think about it this way.
I've been a pastor at a larger church,
and that church,
whom I love deeply,
was by and large kind of a monoculture.
And they were seeking to bring glory to Jesus.
There are a lot of different churches out there
that are primarily one culture,
one ethnicity.
And they are seeking to glorify God.
And that's great.
So don't hear me as saying something other than that.
But here's why I'm interested
in being a pastor of Christ the King Church.
One of the many reasons.
I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ
gets a greater glory
when there is a diverse group of people
coming together to worship Jesus.
It makes no sense.
It makes no sense
from a worldly perspective.
Why would these white people
and these black people
and these brown people
come together?
Because of Jesus.
We're a new people
with new values,
a new aim,
a new king.
And we know that
Jesus is at work right now
bringing a people
all around the world
from every tribe, tongue, and nation
together
under his name.
And so one of the things
I love about our church
is that we get to practice
loving one another
with people from different backgrounds
unto Jesus.
We're a new people.
And so this new commandment
is to us,
the new people of God.
which brings me now
to kind of the last aspect
of this new kind of love.
And often it's
a new to you kind of love.
Here's the last aspect.
And I'm guessing you're feeling this.
I can't do that.
I don't love like that.
I don't want to be around other people
not like me.
I like to avoid people.
I don't like talking to people.
You want me to do what?
You see, this new commitment
also has a new power.
What we're talking about here
is the new covenant.
God's new way of relating
to a new people
under a new promise
established through the blood of Jesus
and with the new covenant,
we know it from like Ezekiel 36
and then it shows up
pronounced way
in Acts chapter 2
that the Holy Spirit of God,
the third person of the Trinity
who Jesus will teach us about
later in the farewell discourse,
he comes in and dwells
each of us
to empower us
to live for Christ
as the controlling center
of our lives.
and you know what
he's going to do?
He's going to empower you
to love
one another
in a way that you have
never loved anybody before.
the first fruit
of the fruit of the Spirit
in Galatians 5.22.
The fruit of the Spirit
is love,
joy,
peace,
patience,
kindness,
goodness,
gentleness,
faithfulness,
and self-control.
These are all fruit
of the Spirit
that has to do
with relating
to one another
and it starts
with love.
The Spirit of God
is seeking to empower us,
Christ the King Church,
because we don't have it
in ourselves.
He's seeking to empower us
to love people
like us
and unlike us
to Christ.
Christ,
that's high calling.
That's worth
giving your life to.
That's worth
saying,
yes,
Lord.
Do you know
what it means
to not love others
then?
If the Holy Spirit
is seeking
to bring this
about in us,
then to not love us
is to grieve
the Holy Spirit.
More on that later.
This new kind of love
is a new to us love
because it comes
with becoming
Christians
and this new commitment
is from a new person,
Jesus,
a new goal,
Jesus,
a new people,
the Jesus people,
a new power
that Jesus gives,
the Holy Spirit,
which brings us now
to the third distinction.
You could call it
a new precedent,
Christ-like love.
We need the Spirit
to love like this.
It's a new precedent.
In Leviticus 19,
Moses tells us
to love your neighbor
as yourself.
Here,
Jesus is saying,
just as I have loved you,
love one another.
We've got a new precedent.
The Jesus kind of love.
How has Jesus
loved his disciples?
Earlier in this chapter,
we saw Jesus
love his disciples
by washing their feet.
In love,
he considered
his disciples
more important
than himself.
It's the way
of humility.
You can't love
someone like Jesus loves
without humbling yourself.
So this humility
is essential
to the new commandment,
loving one another.
To say it crassly,
it's to say it like this.
Christ-like love
is not a me-first love.
Christ-like love
is a you-first love.
It's a commitment.
So you cannot insist
on your own way
and be loving
like Jesus loves.
But there's an even
greater demonstration
of Jesus' love.
And we all know
what that is,
and it's his death
on the cross.
his self-sacrifice,
his giving of himself
so that we could be
forgiven of our sins
and that we could be
granted eternal life
and that we can experience
a relationship
with the living God
that we never knew
we could.
So this death
of Jesus
is the way
that we are
to love one another.
We are to sacrifice
ourselves
for the good
of others.
And remember,
that good of others
is Jesus' joy.
It's treasuring Jesus.
It's a new precedent.
This is a Jesus
kind of love
and he is requiring
it of us.
It's not optional.
There's an example
in Ephesians chapter 5.
It's this new commandment,
Christ-like love
applied to marriage.
Specifically,
it's applied
to husbands
and how they are
to love their wives.
Husbands,
love your wives
as Christ loved the church
and gave himself
up for her.
It's the new commandment
applied
to how husbands
love their ladies.
just as Jesus
gave himself up
for his bride,
the church,
so that the church
thrives.
So we give ourselves
husbands
so that our brides
thrive.
That's the kind of love
we're talking about.
That's how we live it out.
Other places,
this is described
as headship
in the home
and this headship
is not oppressive.
It's life-giving.
So I can say,
based upon the authority
of scriptures,
brothers,
love your wives
and children
unto Christ
by laying yourself down
so that they thrive.
the greatest thing
that they need
is not you.
It's Jesus.
And this is how you set
a Christ-rich atmosphere
in your home,
brothers,
by loving your family
as Christ has loved you.
But this is an example
of this precedent,
this Christ-like love
specifically applied
to husbands.
If we back up
and go back to
John 13, 34, and 35,
this is being commanded
to all followers
of Jesus.
We are to love
one another
with this kind
of Christ-like love.
Now, if you're thinking,
okay,
I'll give myself
for you.
I'll follow my sword.
It sounds miserable.
And there's no question
dying to yourself
is not easy.
Do I have an amen?
But check it out.
Hebrews 12,
speaking of Jesus,
for the joy set
before him,
he endured the cross.
When you're loving
people to Jesus
and you're laying
yourself down
so that people
will treasure Jesus,
do you know what
strange thing happens?
Your woe is me
turns to glory
to Christ.
Now,
I take joy
in watching
the people
I love most
thrive in Jesus.
All glory be
to his name.
And so,
there's no question
that there is
pain
in dying
to yourself.
But it's
not,
the end
is not you
dying to yourself.
The end
is others
thriving in Christ.
So,
we sacrifice
our time
with joy.
We sacrifice
our money
with joy.
joy.
We sacrifice
our comfort
with joy
so that others
would treasure
Christ with us.
Do I have an amen?
Who wants to be part
of a church like that?
I do.
This isn't complicated,
is it?
It's just hard
because you've got
to die to yourself
for the joy
of Jesus.
Which brings me
to the last
distinction
of this
new
commandment
love,
identifying
love.
When we commit
to loving one
another in this
required,
new,
Christ-like
way,
good things
happen.
The church,
Christ,
Christ is magnified,
the church is built
up and strengthened,
and non-Christians
take notice.
They notice
because
these Christians
are experiencing
relationships
with themselves
that God
intended.
That
that's
otherworldly.
It's not
their experience.
Beloved
of Christ,
be loving
like Christ.
You see,
our love
for one another
is an equalizing
love.
And in our
culture,
it's bizarre.
The kind
of love,
this kind
of love
is like
the incoming
tide
that raises
all the boats
in a harbor.
when we
love one
another
with this
Christ-like
love,
everyone
in a church,
they get
built up,
they're dignified,
they are
respected,
they're valued,
everyone.
one.
So when an
entire church
is loving
one another
like this,
we're all
edified.
It doesn't
matter in
your DNA,
it doesn't
matter about
your culture,
your ethnicity,
your history
with the law,
it doesn't
matter your
age or
your sex.
When we
love one
another like
Christ loved
us,
all experience
dignity.
Everyone is
valued.
Everyone is
said,
you are
deeply
loved.
And they
mean it.
Christ the
King Church,
Jesus is
calling us
to be
equal
opportunity
lovers of
one another.
And when
we're loving
one another
like this,
it's a
protection
against
something.
Something we
read in
James 2.
It's called
the sin of
partiality.
The sin of
partiality
preferences
people,
other people
based upon
their wealth
or how
well they're
dressed,
their success
in life.
Or
it doesn't
preference
them based
on the way
they smell,
the way
they look,
what neighborhood
they're from.
And so
this kind
of loving,
what it
does is
it flies in
the face
of the world.
it protects
us from
valuing
people based
upon worldly
standards.
And this
identifying effect
has another
aspect to it
that I just
want to
touch on
briefly.
And it gets
noticed.
It's how we
speak the truth
to one another.
It's how we
talk to each
other.
that gets
noticed.
We use
our words
to love
one another
unto
Jesus.
So we're
very selective
of what we
say
because it
matters.
Sometimes
out of this
new commandment
love,
we will say
hard and
even hurtful
things for
someone's
greatest good
to treasure
Jesus.
there are
words spoken
we know
from the
Proverbs
that are
like sword
thrusts
that are
violent
and damaging.
Those are
unloving
words.
And then
there are
words spoken
that are
surgical.
That they
are intended
to heal.
We see
Jesus confront
people throughout
the Gospels
in order to
rescue them
and heal
them and
grant them
health.
Remember the
story of the
rich young
ruler who
had everything
and Jesus
said,
hey,
just go sell
everything you
got and
follow me.
He's offering
life.
And the
rich young
ruler goes,
wow,
I'm going
home.
Jesus was
speaking a
word,
a loving
word to
him.
When we
love those
unlike us
and like us
as Jesus
loved us
and when we
speak the
truth and
love to
one another,
it gets
noticed.
Something
different,
there's
something
different about
you based
upon your
language choice.
There's
something
different about
your church
and the way
that they are
embracing
everyone.
What is
going on?
we need to
be able to
give a reason
for the
love that
is in
us.
And that
reason is
we have
been loved
by Jesus
himself.
And so
now we
love others
with the
love with
which we've
been loved.
Do you know
what that's
called?
That's called
proof is in
the pudding.
it's what
Francis Schaeffer
called the
final apologetic.
You can talk
about Jesus
all you want
but it shows
up in the
way you love
people.
So our
Christ-like love
for one
another, it
identifies us
with Christ.
Now let me just
take a second
and pan out
because I
want you to
see something
happening in
this passage.
In verses
21 through
30, Jesus
speaks of the
betrayal of
Judas.
Look what he
says in verse
21.
Truly, truly,
I say to
you, one of
you will
betray me.
Is betraying
someone loving
or unloving?
Unloving.
Now look down
at verses 36
through 38.
Peter is about
to deny him.
Verse 38,
truly, truly,
I say to
you, the
rooster will
not crow till
you have denied
me three times.
Is denying
someone loving
or unloving?
Unloving.
So here you
have Jesus
calling his
disciples to
love one
another in the
midst of he
himself being
betrayed and
denied.
Isn't that
amazing?
What a lover
is that?
That's the one
who loves you.
That's the one
who loves me.
And that's the one
who wants us to
love others as
he has loved us.
And so here's the
point of this
passage.
Beloved of
Christ,
be loving one
another like
Christ.
Beloved of
Christ, be loving
one another like
Christ.
So let me apply
this in four
ways.
You ready?
The first one is
me loving you
surgically.
We need to
repent of not
loving one
another.
You just can't
ignore your
unloving sin.
You got to
repent of it.
Are you bitter
towards someone?
It's not
loving.
It's unloving.
Are you
avoiding someone
because they're
a different
color skin than
yours or they
have a different
personality type
than yours?
That's not
loving.
That's sinning.
Are you
dismissing
someone else
because you
think that
they're dumb?
That's not
loving.
That's sinning.
Are you
involved in
sexual immorality
with someone?
That's not
loving.
That's sinning.
Are you
gossiping?
That's not
loving.
Holding a
grudge,
blame shifting?
Are you
overbearing?
Are you
abdicating
responsibility?
These are not
ways in which we
love one another.
These are ways
in which we
sin against
one another.
And these are
things that we
must repent of.
sinning.
These are the
sins that
happen between
people.
And they're
always sinning
not just against
someone else
but against
God.
So in those
moments,
not only are we
disobeying the
new commandment,
we're confusing
our witness to
the world.
And we're
grieving the
spirit.
Anybody ever
attend a shop
class in high
school?
AJ, this is
for you.
Anybody attend
a shop class?
Nobody?
Two people?
Thank you.
You're taught
how to sand
a board.
You sand
with the
grain.
If you sand
against the
grain, you get
scratches.
Yucky.
When we love
one another, we
are loving
each other with
the grain of
the spirit, what
he is wanting
to do in our
midst.
And when we
don't love one
another, we're
sanding, loving,
unloving against
the grain of the
spirit.
That's why
Ephesians 4.29
says in a
passage about
relating to
one another, that
that grieves
the spirit.
You are working
against the
very thing God
is wanting to
do in us.
It's serious
business.
Jesus didn't
save us so we
could sin
against each
other.
Jesus saved
us so that we
would love one
another.
So repent of
not loving one
another.
Is there a
particular area
that God is
bringing to your
mind right now?
That's him
loving you so
that you love
with a holy
love.
Two,
peacemaking is
loving one
another.
We must not
sweep our sinning
against one
another under the
rug.
That's not
loving one
another.
Peacemaking is
when we seek
to make wrongs
right with one
another.
It's conflict
resolution.
It's making
sure that all
is right in
relationships with
other people.
And sometimes
that means owning
your sin for
offending someone
and that sometimes
means going to
someone when
they've offended
you and say,
hey buddy,
that hurt.
And then you get
to ask for their
forgiveness and
then they forgive
you.
Peace,
biblically
speaking,
is not just the
absence of
tension in the
relationships and
many of us settle
for that.
Peace is not
just the absence
of tension,
it's fullness
of trust,
of joy,
of mutual
care.
And Jesus is
the ultimate
peacemaker.
Through his
death, he made
peace between us
and God,
between us and
ourselves,
between us and
others.
And one day,
with all of
creation,
talk about a
powerful display.
We are to
love one another
by pursuing
peace with one
another.
Romans 12,
18 says this,
as far as it
depends on you,
be at peace
with everyone.
And you know
what that follows?
Romans 12,
9,
let love be
genuine.
peace making
is a way we
love one
another.
Is there
someone God
is bringing to
your mind
right now
that you need
to pursue
peace with,
that you need
to love?
Follow the
Spirit.
He's leading
you.
and if you
need help
in figuring
that one
out,
give me a
call.
Two others,
applications,
and they
might be
surprising.
Third
application,
membership
is loving
one another.
Church
membership
is at
its core
a commitment
to love
one another.
Church
membership
is essentially
one Christian
saying to a
bunch of other
Christians,
I am committed
to you,
and the bunch
of other
Christians are
saying to that
one Christian,
and we're
committed to
you.
Committed to
do what?
Together follow
Jesus, to
treasure him
above all
else.
this kind
of
commitment
that church
membership
represents.
It's a
formalized
commitment.
It's,
there's an
accountability
to it,
and it
flies in the
face of our
modern culture's
fear of
commitment,
our modern
culture's
trying to
keep all of
your options
open,
our modern
culture's
view of
relationships
as like
podcast
subscriptions
that you
can discontinue
anytime you
want.
Membership
is loving
one another,
and we have
a membership
class starting
in just a
couple weeks,
and if you're
not a member
of our
church,
we would
welcome you
to come
through our
membership
class,
so you can
find out
who we are,
where we're
going,
and how we're
going to get
there.
And if you
are a member,
are you
seeing your
membership as
loving others,
as a
commitment to
other people,
other Christians
in your
church?
The third,
the fourth
way,
and again,
this might be
a surprise,
is gathering
weekly is a
way we love
one another.
Just showing
up,
just showing
up and being
together is how
we love
one another.
Something sweet
happens when
we're together
Sunday after
Sunday, and
we're singing
truth together,
we're under
God's word
together, we're
praying together,
we're doing
things together,
we're seeing
each other,
we're in each
other's presence,
we love one
another when we
gather.
Let me ask you
this question.
What would you
think of a
family member
who showed
up to maybe
one family
gathering every
ten years?
You'd be like,
oh, we're
related by blood,
but they're
functionally not
a part of the
family.
This gathering,
think of it as
our weekly family
gathering as a
church.
Don't miss it.
Love one another.
So don't think
about your coming
to church simply
as something that
you benefit from.
Think about it as
coming so that
others benefit too
just by you being
here.
How about that?
We'll experience
joy.
Do you know what
the second fruit of
the Spirit is?
Love.
Joy.
Beloved of Jesus,
be loving one
another like Jesus.
It's required.
It's new.
It's Christ-like.
And it identifies
us as belonging
to Jesus.
It's not
complicated,
but it is hard
because you need
to die to yourself.
But it's for joy.
Treasuring Jesus
together.
It's a high and
glorious calling.
So the question
before us
this morning
is not
what do we want
our church
to be known for?
The question
is what does
Christ require
our church
to be known for?
Beloved of Christ,
be loving
one another
like Christ.
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus,
help us
love one another.
We come up
short.
We hurt each
other often.
We drop
into selfish
motives.
Save us
from us.
And would you
pour out your
Spirit upon us
that we would
love one another
in a Christ-like
way.
In your name
we pray,
Jesus.
Amen.
may
!
may