March 28
Bible Reading: John 13:31-35
John 13:33-34, “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.”
In anticipation of His impending suffering and death, Jesus gave His disciples a new commandment that was to govern their relationships from then on. The glorious nature of this new commandment was such that it brought a new word into the church’s vocabulary — “agape”. Vine’s Expository Dictionary calls agape “the characteristic word of Christianity” and notes that it was used to “express ideas previously unknown.”
The “old” commandment was: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). But as with any of God’s commands, there is a tendency for man to look for loopholes. Just as the man seeking to justify himself had asked, “And who is my neighbor” (Luke 10:29)? Most of us do not find it too difficult to love (in a “love your neighbor as yourself” manner) those who reciprocate. The standard is not that high. But the new commandment is no longer, “love your neighbor as yourself,” and instead love “just as I have loved you” (John 13:33). Jesus’ command elevates love to a previously unimaginable height, for God showed His love for us “while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:7-8).
“God is love” (1 John 4:8). Love in innate to His being and personality. Jesus, in His sacrifice on Calvary, manifested that which is inherent to God. Apart from His sacrifice, and the Spirit’s work in revealing to us the truth of it, we would forever lack the capacity to comprehend God’s kind of love (1 John 3:16). The world throws that “love” term all around and uses it in sorts of questionable ways, but Jesus has defined true love for us. What does true love look like? It looks like the God-man dying on a cross for our sins. It looks like sacrificially putting the needs of others ahead of one’s own (Philippians 2:3). It looks like Jesus.
How loving of a person am I? That’s kind of a trick question. If I am so foolish as to measure my capacity to love by how others are doing, I might not fare too badly in my self-examination (2 Corinthians 10:12), but others are not the standard. He commands us to love others just as He has loved us (Ephesians 5:1-2). God points us to the cross and says—look there to My Son, remember what He has done for you, walk in that same manner! The challenges of this endeavor are too big for any of us. Apart from the Spirit’s empowering and instructing presence, we could never hope to love this way (John 15:5, 12). But He has indwelt us that His fruit might be born in us (Galatians 5:16, 22).
As Francis Schaeffer once said, Christlike love is “the mark of the Christian” (1 John 3:10, 4:7-8, 4:20-21). To love as Jesus loved is to bear the mark that points to Jesus and the greatest act of love this world has ever seen.
“The church is to be a loving church in a dying culture.” — Francis Schaeffer
THEY’LL KNOW WE ARE CHRISTIANS BY OUR LOVE
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord;
We are one int he Spirit, we are one in the Lord;
And we pray that all unity will one day be restored.
Chorus: And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand;
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand;
And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land.
We Will work with each other, we will work side by side;
We will work with each other, we will work side by side;
And we’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride.
All praise to the Father, from whom all things come;
And all praise to Christ Jesus, His only Son.
And all praise to the Spirit who makes us one.
LookingtoJesus 