John 13:34-35 ESV
“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.”
Comprehending Love
What is love? Understanding what Jesus meant by the word “love”
here makes all the difference in how we will interpret this passage of
scripture. For, if we have a worldly perspective of this word “love,” we are
going to interpret Jesus’ words entirely different from what we would if we
have a godly perspective of this word “love,” which is agape (God-like) love.
For, there are many people who are teaching that God loves
us and that we need to love one another, but many of these people are teaching
human love which is based in feelings and emotions and in what makes us feel
good about ourselves. They are not teaching agape (God-like) love which
sacrifices our lives and our reputations in order to see others like us go free
from our slavery to sin and to walk in holiness, purity and righteousness.
So, what is agape love? Well, for one it is selfless. It thinks
first about the other person and what is truly in their best interest, i.e. it
considers what is God’s best for them and what truly is the most beneficial for
them in light of eternity, not in light of this sinful world in which we now
live.
Secondly, it prefers what God prefers, which is what is
holy, righteous, pure, faithful, honest, moral, and upright, etc. For, the
believer in Jesus, it prefers to live through Christ and not through our own
flesh. It embraces God’s will for our lives, and it walks in obedience to his
commands, through God’s power and strength. It is love defined by God and by
his holiness, and not by our human flesh. It chooses what God chooses, not what
the flesh wants.
How Jesus Loves Us
In summary, it is loving others like Jesus loved/loves us. For,
He gave his life up for us so that we could be delivered out of our addiction
(slavery) to sin so that we could walk (conduct our lives) in his holiness. So,
he told people the truth about their sin and about judgment. He confronted sin
in sinful human beings, and he called for repentance (Lu. 9:23-26).
And, repentance is not merely a change of mind. It is a
complete turnabout (180 degrees). It means you were going left, but now you
turn the opposite direction, and now you go right, i.e. the way of
righteousness. You leave your sinful lifestyle behind you, you turn, and now
you walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands, in his love, and in his power and
strength within you.
For, this is why Jesus died, that we might die with him to
sin and live with him to righteousness. And, this is the ultimate in love! (1
Pet. 2:24)
Jesus’ message to us was not a “feel good” message that
tickled itching ears. In fact, the majority of those who were following him
stopped following him because they said his teaching was “too hard.” So, what
was hard about it? Jesus demanded death to sin and living to his righteousness
in submission to him as Lord (owner-master) of our lives (Matt. 10:32-39; Matt.
16:24-27; Lu. 9:23-26; Jn. 14:23-24; Jn. 8:31-47; Jn. 10:27-30).
So, if we are going to love others the way Jesus’ loved us,
and still loves us, we are not going to lie to them by telling them what they
want to hear and what will make them feel good about themselves in their sin.
We will not coddle them in their sin or make excuses for it, either.
But, we will lovingly and caringly tell them that God’s love
for us leads us to forsake our sins and to follow him in surrender and
obedience to his will for our lives, because this is what is best for us,
because this is what brings us into union with God, and this is what satisfies
the deep longings of our souls. And this is what brings us true peace and joy,
too, and it is what fulfills in us God’s purposes for our lives to live in his
love.
And, then we will help one another to grow in that love and
to forsake sin and idols of men and to follow our Lord in surrender to his will,
and to learn what it means to please him in all that we do. And, included in
this will be to expose the fruitless deeds of darkness and to show them for
what they are and to teach the truth so that others will be able to walk in the
truth. For, this is what we all NEED, for this is God’s design and purpose for
our lives.
A Distorted Love
The Lord Jesus gave me an interesting picture of this
distortion of his love this morning. While true cleansing of sin is going on
within the lives of those who truly love, honor and obey their Lord, by
God-given faith in him, there are those on the outside who are having a very
powerful influence on the church and in people’s lives in a way that is contrary
to what Jesus is doing – in a way that is contrary to his agape love.
The picture the Lord gave me was of someone just outside the
house in the backyard watering the dirt, the mud, to the point to where there
were puddles of stagnant water all over the dirt yard.
Water, in scripture, represents our spiritual cleansing from
sin, as well as it represents the Holy Spirit welling up within us like a spring
unto eternal life. But, Paul also used the term water in the sense of watering
spiritual seed in people’s lives which has already been planted in order to
help it to grow to maturity and to bear much fruit for God’s eternal kingdom (1
Co. 6:3-8).
But, in this illustration the Lord was giving me, they were
watering the mud (sin, wickedness), to help it to increase, instead, which is
an accurate picture of what this cheap grace gospel does.
For, it demands no repentance, no obedience to Christ and no
submission to Christ as Lord. So, there is no spiritual cleansing that takes
place in those who buy into the cheap grace, and there can be no true growth in
the Spirit, either, for the Spirit is not within those who believe the cheap
grace.
Living in The Mud
Basically, what takes place with this cheap grace gospel is
that it permits its followers to continue in their sinful lifestyles unhindered
without guilt. They can continue living in the mud, while there are messengers
out there who are reinforcing and who are feeding (watering) the mud (smut,
immorality) so that it can continue to grow and to increase and to spread.
The pure water of the Word which helps us to grow in our
walks of faith, and the Holy Spirit of God who cleanses us from sin are being
muddied, made unclear, darkened, and turned into something that is filthy,
immoral and wicked and which allows for sin to increase and to grow and to
thrive in the lives of those who believe in the cheap grace (no repentance
necessary).
And, so our Lord is calling for this to cease! He is calling
out these lies and deceptions which are leading many people astray, he is
exposing this cheap grace gospel for what it is, and he is calling people to
true repentance, and to true faith in him, which is based (founded in) his true
and abiding (agape) love for us.
And, if we love people like Jesus loves us, we, too, will
expose the fruitless deeds of darkness for what they are, which are just mud
puddles being watered (nourished, fed), and we will be telling people about God’s
true love and grace which delivers us from out of the mud and mire, and which
gives us a new place to stand, which is on the righteousness and holiness and
purity of God, in submission to him as LORD and MASTER. AMEN!
Jesus Draw Me Ever
Nearer
Lyrics by Margaret Becker
Music by Keith Getty
“Jesus draw me ever nearer
As I labour through the storm.
You have called me to this passage,
and I’ll follow, though I’m worn.
May this journey bring a blessing,
May I rise on wings of faith;
And at the end of my heart’s testing,
With Your likeness let me wake.
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