How many of you are familiar with the old country music singer Tom T. Hall? Raise your hand. You know, you're giving away your age, probably, but old guy.
Well, many years ago, he had a song that was popular. I don't know if you'd call it a hit or not. It was called I Love. It started off like this. I love little baby ducks, old pickup trucks, slow moving trains, and rain.
I love little country streams, sleep without dreams, Sunday school in May, and hay. And after every stanza like that, he had this little chorus, and I love you too.
Lisa dared me to do that.
And one member of this church told me, I would give good money if you would sing in church.
Good money is a hundred dollar bill right here when I walk out today. Okay?
That's a silly song, isn't it? It really is.
But there's a lot of truth in it.
Haven't you said things like he sings about, I love the mountains.
I love the beach.
I love this and that.
I love dogs.
I love whatever.
And then, as we talk about loving this and that, we look at our spouse, we look at someone special in our life,
and we gaze into their eyes and say, I love you.
We use that word love in a very trite, trivial way a lot of times, don't we?
And I guess that's okay most of the time.
When we hear someone, because of that, when we hear someone talk about love,
we don't really sit up and take notice, do we?
Because the word's just thrown about, talked about, sung about all the time in ways that are not really meaningful.
So it's okay not to pay attention when people are just talking about love in general,
but it's not okay when Jesus is the one talking about love.
When Jesus spoke about love, he was always serious.
Never in a trivial way do you find in the New Testament, in the Gospels,
where Jesus talked about love in a flippant way.
He was usually, or always, talking about it in the context of relationships.
Relationship with God.
And relationships with people.
A good example comes when Jesus answered a question on one occasion.
It's found in Matthew chapter 22.
It'll be on the screen.
He was asked, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?
And he said to him,
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the great and first commandment.
And a second is like it.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.
Well, the Apostle John heard Jesus say that.
In fact, most likely Jesus said that on more than one occasion,
talking about the essence of the law is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,
and love your neighbor as yourself.
John took it to heart.
John wrote about the importance of love in his gospel, the gospel of John that we have in our New Testament.
He really talked a lot about our love for God, but especially our love for one another as Christians,
in his first letter, what we call 1 John in the New Testament.
And then John is the one, he's the only gospel writer,
that tells us about the new commandment to love
that Jesus gave them just before he was arrested and crucified.
It's in John chapter 13.
And if you would, turn in your Bible there.
It'll be on the screen, but it'll be something to mark in your Bible if it's not already marked.
The new commandment that Jesus gave, a new kind of love he's given to his followers.
John 13, beginning in verse 34.
A new commandment I give to you, 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.
It may seem a little strange if you're just reading through the gospel of John, you come across this.
Jesus says,
The new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.
When you've probably read, you know,
Jesus talked about the importance of loving God and loving your neighbor.
But really, if you look at the context, it's not strange.
Jesus is about to wind up his earthly ministry.
Later on that night, he's going to be arrested, tried, the next day crucified.
What Jesus is doing is preparing his disciples for his departure.
And he's telling them how important it is that they, his followers, his disciples,
that they love one another, that they stay united.
They stay together.
You know, this is the new commandment that Jesus issued, not just to them,
but Jesus knew it would be recorded.
It's the new commandment for us as followers of Jesus to love one another.
And we're talking this morning about our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Jesus issued a new commandment about the importance of us loving one another in the church.
Being united to one another like a real family in our church.
I want us to look at these two verses at the new way Jesus calls us to love one another.
And as we go through this, you think, am I loving my brothers and sisters in Christ in this church?
Family.
Like Jesus did.
Just look first.
Jesus gives us a new focus for our love.
Our brothers and sisters in Christ.
That's the first phrase.
Love one another.
And he's talking to his disciples.
The focus of that Old Testament commandment, love your neighbor as yourself.
The focus was on your neighbor.
Now, when Jesus issued that or reminded them of that commandment,
as they heard it, read it from their Old Testament, from the law of Moses,
the Jews understood that very simply.
Love your neighbor means love your fellow Jews and love them only.
Love people who are just like us, they thought.
But that was never what God intended by the commandment.
The way we know that is because Jesus told the story about the good Samaritan.
And the bottom line of the story of the good Samaritan is we, as Jesus' followers, as his people,
we are to be a neighbor to anybody who comes across our path that has a need that we can meet.
Jesus told his disciples, told everybody who heard that day,
your neighbor is anybody in your life that has a need that you can meet.
And we should demonstrate neighbor love by helping them, trying to meet their need if possible.
But you know, it's not just Jews in the first century who thought in terms of just loving their own kind.
Don't we just naturally think the same way?
Think about it.
We may not say it.
We may not have really just dwelled on it so much.
But we tend, don't we, to love people who look like us, who think like us,
who live life the way that we live.
But Jesus issues a new commandment that has a new focus.
Love one another, meaning all you brothers and sisters in Christ.
Think about this.
When we became Christians, we became a part of the family of God.
That's how the church is referred to in several places throughout the New Testament.
We're part of the family of God.
And the family of God is made up of all kinds of people.
Male and female.
Rich and poor.
Black and white.
Northerners and southerners.
Tigers and Gamecocks.
Gamecocks.
Just look around this room.
We're all different, aren't we?
We have different opinions.
Different personalities.
Different interests.
Just look around.
Everybody's different.
Some people are just playing off.
I mean, there's some weird people in this room.
I know some.
But that's the way it is in your family, isn't it?
You've got to.
You have a big family gathering.
You've got some people there.
They're your blood kin.
Deep down, you love them.
But some of them are just as weird and odd as they can possibly be.
If you think, I don't know who that is in my family, you're it.
Because everybody has it.
And if you don't think anybody in this church is sort of odd, weird, or strange, then that means you are the one who is odd, weird, or strange.
Now, how do we develop loving relationships with all of our brothers and sisters in Christ and really be a united church family?
Well, we start by not focusing on our differences.
We don't focus on our differences.
We don't think about the oddness and weirdness of other people.
Because that will always keep us apart.
If you just always think about someone, about how different they are, how different they talk, where they're from, it's totally opposite of you.
If that's all you think about, you'll never really draw close to them, be able to.
What we need to do, first and foremost, is to focus on our most basic, common denominator as Christians.
And that should be, must be, really, our love for Jesus and our desire to please Him.
I mean, if you're a Christian, you love Jesus.
You want to please Jesus.
You know, I know that I don't love Him as much as I should.
I certainly don't please Him as I should.
But I do love Jesus.
I want to be a faithful follower of His.
I do want to please Him.
And as Christians, that is a common thing that we have.
That kind of love for Jesus.
So, in spite of our differences, if we'll first focus on that, this common love for Jesus and desire to please Him,
we can find some unity.
We can find some unity.
We can find that common ground.
And we can live together and work together and enjoy life together as one church family.
Let me ask you, as an individual, don't think about other people.
Think about you.
Are you enjoying that kind of love with your church family?
Are you as a church enjoying that kind of unity because you're bound together by your common love for Jesus?
Now, let's think about what this love that Jesus is talking about does not mean as well as what it does mean.
Loving one another does not mean that you cease to be different.
Loving one another does not mean that you cease to notice how you're different.
You can't do that.
There will always be, in any kind of gathering, even in your extended family, in all seriousness,
there's always going to be different kinds of personalities, different kinds of interests,
different kinds of opinions and so forth.
That's true of the church.
If we talk about loving one another, I want you to be clear.
Everybody in this church will not be best friends.
Think about this.
Even Jesus had an inner circle.
Peter, James, and John.
Think some of the others sort of presented that.
Jesus told Peter, James, and John, I want you to come with me and left the rest of them behind.
I mean, wouldn't you?
It's natural.
It's normal.
We're not going to all see everything eye to die, and that's okay.
Everybody's not going to be best friends.
Put it more bluntly, you won't have warm feelings for everyone in this church.
But you can love them.
You can accept them as your brother or sister in Christ.
Here's another thing.
When Jesus is talking about love, loving one another,
he's really talking more about actions than emotions.
Later on in this passage, this is Jesus in the upper room with the disciples.
John 13, 14, 15, and 16.
Jesus, as he talks with them, as he instructs them,
he's going to say things like,
if you love me, you'll obey me.
Because Jesus defined love more in terms of action than emotion.
There's no doubt that the disciples truly felt loving emotions toward Jesus.
But that was not sufficient for Jesus.
He said, if you love me, do what I say.
There's other passages he's talking about,
we truly love God, we'll obey him.
That's what God wants us to do.
That's how we live out our love.
Such love we're talking about now.
Action love.
That requires that we care about each other.
We're not best friends.
We're not just warm, fuzzy feelings for everybody in this room.
But we care.
And when we love out this,
we care enough to notice when people are going through a rough time.
Or people have certain needs.
And if we have the ability to step up and meet those needs,
love will compel us to do so.
Love will compel us to step in there,
that person that is your brother or sister in Christ.
You don't have a long relationship with them.
You don't have a very close relationship.
But they have a need.
They've got something going on in their life that you,
by God's grace,
you could help them if you would.
So let me just ask you this.
Are you allowing your differences
to keep you at a distance
from other members of this church?
Or
is your common love for Jesus
and your desire to please Him
by loving like this,
are you allowing that to draw you closer
to other people in this church?
Are you allowing it to draw you closer
as a church family?
Is it happening overall?
This passage also tells us
that Jesus gives us a new model for our love.
Love like He loves.
He says,
just as I have loved you.
Love one another just as I have loved you.
The Old Testament command
was to love your neighbor as yourself.
You were the model
for that love,
the way you love yourself.
By the way,
the Old Testament command,
love your neighbor as yourself,
is not a command to love yourself
because
we do that.
Normal people love themselves
and the idea of that,
we take care of ourselves.
We look out for ourselves.
We take relatively good care of our body.
We feed ourselves.
We go to work.
We have money.
We have things.
We buy things for ourselves.
What Jesus is talking about
or what the Old Testament law is talking about,
love your neighbor as yourself.
You care about yourself.
You meet yourself,
your own needs,
the best you can.
Do that for other people.
That was the idea of the Old Testament law.
But here,
Jesus says,
love one another
just as I have loved you.
He's the model for what our love should look like.
I want us to look at two ways
Jesus models how we can love one another
or should love one another.
Number one,
Jesus models a humble,
serving love.
John takes the first 20 verses
of chapter 13.
That's where we are right now.
The first 20 verses describe
Jesus' great example
of humble,
serving love.
He washed his disciples' feet.
Now notice what Jesus said
after he finished
in verse 14,
chapter 13.
If then,
your Lord and teacher,
if I then,
your Lord and teacher,
have washed your feet,
you also ought to wash
one another's feet.
For I have given you an example
that you also should do
just as I have done to you.
Jesus truly humbled himself
to do that, didn't he?
He was their Lord and teacher.
He was above them.
He was their superior,
yet he chose to get down
on his knees
and wash the nasty feet
of his disciples.
And keep in mind,
Jesus knew that within a few hours,
Judas would betray him.
Peter would deny him.
And all of them,
all of them,
would abandon him.
Jesus truly humbled himself
to do what he is for the disciples.
I mean, you think about it.
If Brian's nasty feet
really had to be washed today,
I would at least think about it.
But if I thought,
after this is over,
he's going to tell me,
I don't have any use for you.
Don't ever bother me again.
I ain't washing your feet.
That's why,
isn't that how you feel?
That's normal human nature.
But Jesus does not demonstrate
normal human nature.
He humbled himself
before these men
who were not going to stay with him.
These inferiors.
He washed their feet.
Now, if we're going to love
one another as Jesus loves,
we can't ever think of ourselves
as over superior to anyone
because we really aren't.
All of us,
all human beings
are created in the image of God.
That makes us all
of equal worth and value.
In the church,
we're brothers and sisters in Christ.
we're on the same level.
So we cannot ever consider ourselves
to be above
going out of our way,
being inconvenienced,
do some humble acts of service
for one another.
I want to encourage you this morning.
Think about beginning that
in your home.
to be in the church.
You know, home
is where we really should be
practicing what it means
to be a Christian person.
And I want to encourage you
as parents,
as children,
as brothers and sisters,
we're to love one another
as Jesus loves the church.
At first,
that means humble,
practical acts of service.
I want you to also know,
just real quick here,
Jesus met a real need.
He didn't just do this
out of the blue
for no reason.
I'm sure Brian
doesn't need his feet
washed this morning.
I'm sure he took a shower
at least two or three days ago
anyway,
if not this morning.
But Jesus,
Jesus and his disciples,
they wore sandals everywhere.
Roads were dirt.
At times,
they were dusty.
At times,
they were muddy.
So wherever you went,
when you got there,
your feet would be dirty.
Well,
the disciples should have
washed Jesus' feet
immediately.
They should have washed
their own feet.
They got ready
for the evening meal
as they were going
to do with Jesus.
But they didn't.
So Jesus did what needed
to be done.
He washed their feet.
Now,
if we're going to love
one another
as Jesus loves us,
we've got to get involved
in one another's lives
to the point
where we notice needs.
we can see
in someone's life
there's something
going on.
They need some help.
We've got to notice
the needs
and then we've got
to do what we need
to have to do
if we're able
to meet their needs.
So let me just ask you,
how observant are you
of the people
in your Sunday school class
or other small groups
you're in?
It's not going to happen
much in this kind of gathering.
This is a worship service.
We've come together
to praise God,
to pray together,
to study His Word,
but we don't really get
to know one another here.
It's going to be
in small groups.
It's going to be
away from the church
doing things together.
We've got to notice
we've got to care
and we've got to act
because we're going to love
what Jesus calls us to love.
Now,
Jesus doesn't just model
humble servant type love.
He models sacrificial love.
Jesus repeated
this new commandment
and gave the ultimate example
of sacrifice
in chapter 15 of John.
We're in 13.
Move over to chapter 15.
Look at this.
Jesus said,
This is my commandment
that you love one another
as I have loved you.
Greater love
has no one than this
than someone
to lay down his life
for his friends.
Jesus loved us
enough to lay down
his life
for us
when there was nothing
about us
that should compel him
to do that.
From motivation of love,
Jesus chose
in obedience to his heavenly Father,
but he chose
to die on the cross
as our substitute.
He suffered the wrath
of God
that we deserve
because of our sin.
Jesus died on the cross
as our substitute.
He paid the penalty
for our sins.
And by doing that,
Jesus satisfied
God's justice.
The penalty for sin
is death.
And Jesus died
for our sins.
He died so that we
wouldn't have to.
He satisfied God's justice
so that we
could experience
God's forgiveness
and know
the love of God
as our heavenly Father.
If you're not a Christian,
I want you to understand
that Jesus died
on that cross
to save you
to pay the penalty
for your sins.
And if you will
confess your sin,
repent of your sin,
turn from your sin,
and trust Jesus
that He died for you.
He paid the penalty
for your sins.
And commit your life
to Him
as your Lord.
He will save you,
forgive you,
make you a child of God.
Put the love of God
in your heart
so that you can
love other people
like Jesus loves.
If you are a Christian,
you have experienced
the benefits
of Jesus' death.
You've experienced
the benefits
of His sacrificial love.
Now Jesus calls you
demonstrated.
Do like I have done
for you.
You know,
most of us,
we're never ever
going to be called
to give our life
for another person.
Most of us.
The majority of us.
But,
we are called
to demonstrate
sacrificial love
for other people.
I want you to look
at something
that John also wrote
in his first letter
that talks about
self-sacrifice,
self-giving.
It's in 1 John chapter 3.
John writes,
But if anyone has
the world's goods
and sees his brother
in need,
yet closes his heart
against him,
how does God's love
abide in him?
Little children,
let us not love
in word or talk,
but in deed
and in truth.
We can't even think,
shouldn't even think
of ourselves
as loving people
if we just close our eyes
to what's going on
in their life
and refuse to get involved
when there's something
that we could do
to help them.
Following Jesus'
model of sacrificial love
will sometimes require us
to give of ourselves,
give of our money,
give of our talent,
some of the abilities
that we have
to meet the needs
of a brother or sister.
We can do that.
Are you in the habit
of demonstrating
sacrificial love
in your home,
first,
and in this church?
Are you living out
what Jesus said
when he told us
to love one another
as he loves us?
What you see next
in verse 35?
Jesus gives us
a new purpose
for our love.
He says,
and the idea
is to demonstrate
that we are Christians
and be a positive witness.
Jesus says it like this,
by this all people
will know
that you are my disciples
if you have love
for one another.
Jesus' commandment
for us to love
one another
is given
so that
if we'll do it,
it'll have
such a positive
impact on people,
it'll make a difference
in their life.
If we truly love
one another like Jesus,
people will know
that we are Christians
by our acts of love.
He's saying
that our love for him
should be attractive
to other people.
Attractive love
is used by God
to draw people
to himself,
to draw people
to churches.
You know,
when you people
come here to this church
and get involved
for a few months,
what will they observe
about how you relate
to one another
in the various
small groups
that are here?
You people come in,
they don't really know you,
but they're in your
Sunday school class,
they're in some small group.
What will they observe
over time
about your love
for one another?
Will they see evidence
tangible evidence
of what you're doing
in one another's lives,
how you're sharing
life together,
or that will they
just see a bunch
of different people
who come together
for superficial fellowship
and then just go
on their way
when they leave here
and forget about
one another?
Let's make this
more personal.
Do you,
as an individual,
try to help new people
feel loved
and accepted
in this church?
do you try?
Do you put forth
an effort
to help them
feel like they belong?
They're a part
of the family.
Lisa and I
have learned
what it's like
to join a new church
where you know
very few people
at all.
Prior,
for the last
40 years,
when we've gone
to a new church,
I was a pastor
and it's very easy
to get to know
people,
people want to
get to know you,
it just happens.
You don't have
to do anything.
It just happens.
But when you're
not the pastor
and you just go
into a church
where you don't
really know
anybody,
you know very few,
it's just
way hard.
You feel like
a stranger.
You are an outsider.
We know
what it feels like
to be that way.
Never really
knew
what that was like.
Being a part
of a church family
doesn't happen
quickly.
And it certainly
doesn't happen
automatically.
It takes time
and effort.
I want to say
to you,
if you're a visitor
or you're a relative
of a new member
here,
you've got to
do your part
to feel at home.
You've got to
get involved.
You will never
feel a part of
this church family
if all you come
to is the worship
service.
You've got to
get involved.
In small groups,
you've got to
even get involved
with people.
And then you've
got to be
patient
and give it
time.
Because relationships
don't just
birth and blossom
overnight.
Now, if you're
a long-time
member,
some of these
old members
I was referring
to a while ago,
I encourage you,
make a real
effort to get
to know
new members.
There's been
people at
Village Church
since we've
been there
that have come
up to us
and just
introduced
themselves,
tell us what
they do.
We've met
people who are
retired like us
and they want
to know,
you know,
where are you
from?
And they tell
us about
themselves.
They make
it a point.
And they've
helped us
to get to
know them,
break down
some barriers,
some fears.
I want to
encourage you,
long-time
members,
you have a
responsibility
before God
to welcome
new members
into this
church and
to help
them.
belong.
Feel like
this is my
church family.
Now,
loving one
another like
Jesus is
not something
that comes
naturally to
us and
it's not
easy.
The last
thing we're
going to
look at is
Jesus promises
that God
will give us
what we need
to do.
We can love
one another
as he loves
us.
Fourth,
Jesus promises
us new power
to love,
the power of
the Holy Spirit.
Jesus went
on that
same night,
John chapter
14,
beginning in
verse 15,
he says
this,
if you
love me,
you will
keep my
commandments
and I
will ask
the Father
and he
will give
you another
helper to
be with you
forever.
Even the
spirit of
truth,
whom the
world cannot
receive,
because it
neither sees
him or
knows him,
you know
him for
he dwells
with you
and will
be in you.
ever since
the day
of Pentecost,
you read
about Acts
2,
when a
person becomes
a Christian,
the spirit
of God
comes to
live within
them.
The spirit
of God
lives in
you and
me if
we're
Christians.
Now Paul
explains how
we're empowered
by the Holy
Spirit.
He says this
in Romans 5,
he says,
God's love
has been poured
into our
hearts through
the Holy
Spirit who
has been
given to
us.
God's love
has been poured
into our
hearts through
the Holy
Spirit who
has been
given to
us.
If you're
a Christian,
you can love
others as
Jesus loves
you because
the Holy
Spirit,
the spirit
of God,
the spirit
of Christ
will enable
you.
I love
what Paul
says in
Philippians
2,
13 about
God giving
us the
desire and
the ability
to please
him.
I want you
to look at
this.
For it is
God who
works in
you both
to will,
to want,
to desire,
and to
work for
his good
pleasure.
We can
love one
another in
our church
family if
we want
to because
the Holy
Spirit living
within us
will help
us.
He'll give
us the
desire to
love.
He'll give
us the
ability to
do things
to demonstrate
our love
if we'll
obey him.
You know,
we're never
going to love
one another
perfectly like
Jesus loves
us.
No one can
love like
he loves
exactly.
But if we
make it our
goal, our
desire, we
pray, we
ask God to
help us, we
put forth
effort, we
can love
one another
by the
power of
the Holy
Spirit to
some degree.
All of
us.
And I
want to ask
you now,
will you make
that commitment
this morning?
Will you
ask God to
help you to
love your
brothers and
sisters in
Christ first
in this
church?
To love
that Jesus
has shown
you.
Will you
also ask God
to help you
to love
the people
in your
house, in
your home?
That same
kind of love,
a sacrificial
love, a
serving love.
I want to
close by
reading the
best description
of Christian
love ever
written.
It's in
1 Corinthians
13, beginning
in verse 4.
Paul writes,
love is
patient and
kind.
Love does
not envy
or boast.
It is not
arrogant or
rude.
It does not
insist on
its own
way.
It is not
irritable or
resentful.
It does not
rejoice at
wrongdoing,
but rejoices
with the
truth.
Love bears
all things,
believes all
things,
hopes all
things,
endures all
things.
Love never
ends.
That's how
Jesus loves
us.
I encourage
you now,
ask God to
help you
to show
that kind
of love
to your
family and
your church
family every
day.
let's pray
together.
Father,
we need
help to
love like
Jesus
loved.
But we
know from
the promise
of your
word that
you have
given us
all we
need in
the
indwelling
Holy Spirit.
You have
poured your
love into
us through
him.
So we
pray now,
Father,
convict us
of our
sin.
Help us
to be
truly
repentant of
indifference,
of unconcern,
of a lack
of love.
Help us,
Father, to
make the
commitment that
by your
grace, by
the power of
your Spirit,
we will put
forth the
effort to
love, to
meet needs,
and really
work on
doing what
we can to
make this
one church
family,
brothers and
sisters in
Christ.
Show us all
how we should
respond to
you.
Help us not
to put it
off, but
to respond
to you now
in obedience
and go all
and put it
into practice.
Put it into
practice in our
church family as
well.
It's in Jesus'
name that we
pray.
Amen.