When he had come out, Jesus said: “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.” 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, even a little while I will be with you. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: “Where I am going, you cannot come”. 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, so you also love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
A Bridge Sermon
This sermon is a bridge.
- It is a bridge between summer and autumn.
- It is a year-long bridge from topical messages on marriage and regeneration and spectacular sins to a new, expanded exposition of the Gospel of John.
- It is a bridge from the fruit of relational servitude to the root of the Servant himself who modeled servitude for us and made it possible with his blood.
- It is a bridge between the small group summer break and a new and stronger participation in Bethlehem small groups.
Let me make a comment about this bridge before we move on to our text. Since we finished Romans at the end of 2006, we have focused primarily on crucial issues that the Elders considered important to us as a church. Now is the time to return to a season of sustained exposure. I wrote Taste & See last week’s article on why that way of preaching is important and why we are turning our attention to the Gospel of John. I’ll have more to say about that next week when we start at the beginning of the book.
Relational Culture and the Gospel of John
Today we jump to the middle of John in chapter 13 because this text bridges what we’ve been talking about in the relational culture of Philippians 2:4— have the mind in you that is humble and considers others more important than yourself and looks not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others: a bridge from that fruit of love to the root of loving oneself, Jesus Christ, who modeled it and made it possible by giving his life for his sheep. If I understand the Gospel of John correctly, in this new series we will never be far from the topic of how we love one another.
John 13:34 is a bridge to focus on the relational culture of loving one another in the Gospel of John. It gives us a golden opportunity as we begin the Fall together, to wave the banner of life in small groups in Bethlehem. If Bethlehem is your local church, you should know that we, who are responsible for your souls, believe that God has led us to guide you greatly through your participation in small groups.
Small Groups: Part of Our Organic Life
Small groups are not autonomous creations in Bethlehem. They are part of an organic life that passes from Elders and pastoral staff to trained small group leaders accountable to the people. Some shepherding happens in large groups like this, and in the classes that are offered, and in the ministry efforts that people join, and in the spontaneous friendships. But your leaders’ plan is for you to be cared for and accountable primarily through the organic flow of small group shepherding.
That’s why we do our best to help you connect in such a group. , and that is why we dedicate this Sunday each fall to that effort. This is how a big church becomes small. This is how an impersonal church becomes personal. This is how a point of proclamation becomes a network of relationships.
It’s not a new idea
It’s always been that way. Small groups are not a new idea. When 3,000 people were added to the church in Acts 2, they attended the temple Y They broke bread in their homes. Soon that number in the church was over 10,000 (5,000 men, plus women and children, in Acts 4:4). The key from the beginning was a combination of large assemblies and small fellowships. There are crucial aspects of Christian obedience that correspond to each of them. I pray that you will respond to our leadership and help us care for you in this way.
“A new commandment I give you”
The verse I want to focus on is John 13:34: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” There are glorious things in verses 31 to 35 that I am overlooking. We’ll be back, God willing. Today there is only time for one verse and one question: What is new in the commandment to love one another?
I pray that Jesus himself will speak in this message about his command to Bethlehem that we love one another. Submerge your mind now in this text with me, and let the mind of Jesus saturate your mind. Thus we are changed. The word of God reveals the Son of God and the glory of God by the Spirit of God, and we are transformed (2 Corinthians 3:18). This is a miracle. If I did not believe in it, I would not be a preacher of this word. It has a power far beyond mine.
Christians are under authority
John 13:34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also love one another.” If you are a follower of Jesus, a Christian, a child of God through faith in Christ, you are a person under authority. You are not yours. You no longer have the last word. Jesus is for you more than Owner of your life, but he is no less. He comes to you with more than commandments, but not less. You are a person whose life is defined by the will of another, namely, Jesus. What he wants you to want.
And what he wants and commands in this verse is that we love one another, that his followers love one another. “A new commandment I give you”; not a new suggestion, not a new idea, not a new possibility, not a new life option, but a new commandment.
What is new about Jesus’ New commandment?
The question that has guided my entire approach in this message is What is new in the commandment to love one another? “A commandment new I give you, that you love one another.” I see two implicit answers in this verse. The key to the answers is found in the words of the second half of the verse: “. . . as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” The novelty of the commandment to love one another is found in the words “as I have loved you.”
I see two ways that the command to love one another is new in those words. First, the commandment is new because it is a commandment of to live the love of Jesus. Second, the commandment is new because it is a commandment of to live of the love of Jesus. The words “as I have loved you” contain a Pattern for our mutual love, and contain a can for our mutual love.
Loving each other is not a new command per se. He was already there in the Old Testament (Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”). What is new is that Jesus is now the model by which we live and the power with which we live. Let’s look at these two types of novelty.
1. Jesus, Our Model: Living His Love
The basis for the first type of novelty (Jesus as our model) is found earlier in John 13. Look at what Jesus does at the beginning of this chapter for an example of what he means when he says, “Just as I have loved you, you also love one another”. John 13:1 and following:
Before the feast of Easter, Jesus knowing that his time had come to pass from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. . . . . 4b he He took off his outer clothes and, taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel that was wrapped around him. . . . 12 When he washed their feet and put on his outer garments, and he returned to his place, he said to them: “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Master and Lord, and you are right, because I am. 14 If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, so that as I have done to you, you also may do.
So here we have Jesus giving us a model of love represented. So when we come to verse 34 and he says, “Just as I have loved you, so you must love one another,” we don’t have to go around guessing what he means by “like.” What I have loved you in the pattern I just gave you a few moments ago. Verse 15 says, “I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, you also may do.” And verse 34 says, “As I have loved you, you also must love one another.” So the pattern of love to follow is clear.
Cast aside status and become serfs
This is how we should love one another in Bethlehem. It implies at least two things. One is that we put aside status, rank, prestige and privilege and take the form of servants, that’s what Philippians 2:7 says, and that’s what Jesus does here. Verse 14: “If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” By virtue of my status and rank and privilege as our Lord and Master, I am not obligated to wash your feet. But I “consider you more important than myself” and serve you.
Participate in practical works of utility
So the first part of Jesus’ pattern is that he sets aside rank and privilege to serve others. The second part of the pattern is that this love involves practical acts of helping. In those days, almost everyone walked. The roads and trails were dirt. There were probably no socks or sidewalks. Everyone’s feet were more or less covered in dirt. Dirty work had to be done. Jesus did it for those who should have done it for him. He established a sense of entitlement. And he served.
The new commandment is that we look at this pattern, that we see our Lord, Master, and Savior do this, and follow Him in it. We live the love that we see in Jesus.
2. Jesus, our power: living from his love
That leaves one more angle on the newness of this commandment to love one another. I called it, not live outsidebut live on the love of Jesus. When Jesus says that the new commandment to love one another is a commandment to love as I have loved you, he draws attention not only to the model of love that we follow, but also about the can to the love we need.
This is where I get this idea from. If you look in the Gospel of John for the closest verbal parallel to the words of verse 34 (“As I have loved you, you also love one another”), the closest parallel is John 15:12: “This is my love.” commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” But here, instead of representing a pattern to follow, Jesus describes a connection with himself that gives the power to love.
So the novelty of…