Month: October 2024

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

John 13:34-35 NET.

³⁴ “I give you a new commandment — to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ³⁵ Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples — if you have love for one another.”

For several years now, we have been studying the commands of Christ. I plan to finish that major study this year. But it seems odd that we are at this point in the history of Christ and his message as represented in the Gospels, and it is here that we find Jesus giving a new commandment. After all, the commands we have studied tore down traditions and upset the whole nation of Israel. But there must be a sense in which everything that Jesus had said up to this point is not new.

First, let’s look at the context of the commandment (John 13).

Last time, we witnessed a a foot-washing. Jesus got together with the twelve and took a towel. He washed the feet of all the disciples. They sat there in amazement and were probably quite embarrassed. He wanted them to follow his example. As I mentioned before, Jesus was not establishing a new ordinance. He was just meeting a real need that all of the disciples had. He wanted to teach them that meeting the needs of other Christians is a high priority for the life of every believer. His taking up the towel was an illustration of that truth. It was also something that neither of them would ever forget.

This chapter also records three predictions that Jesus made at this time. First, he predicted a betrayal. He said it mysteriously. He had just told the disciples that they were now clean because he had just washed their feet. Then he added, “But not every one of you.” He told them that he knew the ones he had chosen but that a prophecy made in the Old Testament had to be fulfilled. The prophecy is found in Psalm 41:9, which says, “Even my close friend whom I trusted, he who shared meals with me, has turned against me.”

The disciples were trying to understand that prophecy. They knew that each of them had disappointed Jesus. There were times when they just seemed to stumble all over themselves and fail him constantly. But this was something different. This was a betrayal. This was joining the other team. This was selling out to the enemies of Christ who wanted him dead. Naturally, everyone wanted to know who the betrayer was.

Jesus identified Judas as the betrayer, but only to let Judas himself know that he knew. Then Jesus told Judas to do what he was going to do quickly. The other disciples had no idea that the mission Jesus had sent him on was the very act of betrayal that he had just predicted.

The second prediction Jesus makes in this chapter is even more earth-shattering. He predicts that he is going to go somewhere that none of the twelve can follow. They seem to sense that he is once again predicting his death.

Peter boldly announces that even if everyone else might abandon him, he will follow even to death itself. That is when Jesus makes his third prediction: Peter is going to deny him.

Now we know the context in which these two verses of Scripture are found. It seems an extraordinary place to put a new commandment. But Jesus has his reasons for everything he does. Judas had been the leavened loaf. Once he left to go about his business of betrayal, the crew that was left was the pure symbol of the body of Christ. They were now ready for his new commandment. Jesus wanted his true church to love one another.

Now, let’s look at the standard of the commandment (34).

Jesus had previously taught his disciples to love their neighbor. We read the command in Matthew 19:19, but it was itself a quote from the Old Testament.

In Leviticus 19:17-18, we read, “You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not incur sin on account of him. You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the children of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” Jesus’ command for his kingdom citizens to love their neighbors was not a new commandment. It had its basis in the Old Testament Law. It was basically a command not to hate other people. Hating others would bring about guilt and lead to sin. The standard of the Old Testament was the love of self. It was in the best interest of those under the Mosaic Law to love their neighbors because if they did not, they would be harming themselves. God demanded neighbor love, and failing to do so would bring contamination and sin-debt.

Jesus had expanded the concept of neighbor love to include those who had not previously been seen to be neighbors. He said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:43-45).  This is still the Old Testament requirement; only the scope of the command is changed to include those who were not understood initially as targets of neighbor love. So, this is still the old commandment, even though it is an expansion of its scope. The standard is still the same. We should love our enemies as we love ourselves.

But with this new commandment, the standard changes. Jesus tells his disciples to love one another just as he has loved them. The standard is no longer how much we love ourselves; it is how much Jesus loves us.

This is the mature love that Paul spoke of in 1 Corinthians 13. It is a love that goes beyond what we learn from our parents and our politicians. It is not self-serving love. It is sacrificial love. It is patient, It is kind, it is not envious. It does not brag; it is not puffed up. It is not rude; it is not self-serving; it is not easily angered or resentful. It is not glad about injustice but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. We now love for a whole new reason. We love because he first loved us and showed us how to love others.

Now, let’s consider the purpose of the commandment (35).

Jesus said that when we love each other sacrificially, the rest of the world will have no trouble seeing the difference between the true disciples and the lookalike goats. He said that if we love one another, everyone will know that we are his disciples. This solves the question of Christian identity. 

Notice that Jesus did not say that if we profess the right doctrine, then the world will know we are authentic. We have fought wars among ourselves over the question of right or orthodox doctrine. But the result was that the world looked at us and saw us hating one another and concluded that either Jesus is not real, or we are not, or both. You cannot hate yourself into the kingdom of God. You certainly cannot hate your enemies into the kingdom.

I am distressed to find that even my own denomination seems to be circling the wagons and seeking to exclude others on the basis of doctrinal purity. I understand the desire to proclaim the truth and the need to be biblical. But I fear that we are failing to live up to the new commandment. Jesus said this new kind of love will demonstrate our Christian identity.

If you look closely at what Jesus commanded, you will find a new kind of love that demonstrates three principles—first, the principle of mutuality. Jesus didn’t say that only some of us could measure up to this new love standard. He said it was to be the measure of all true believers. Love is not the work of an elite team. It is the identifying mark of the whole kingdom.

The second principle is equality. Since we are all called to love each other, none of the things that other people see as a basis for hatred and exclusion are to matter to us anymore. Paul told the Galatians that “in Christ Jesus (we) are all sons of God through faith, for all of (us) who were baptized into Christ have clothed ourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek (so no ethnic superiority or inferiority), there is neither slave nor free (so no social or financial superiority or inferiority), there is neither male nor female (so no gender superiority or inferiority)— for all of (us) are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28). Since we are all equal in Christ, we are free to love each other on the basis of that unity.

The third principle is reciprocity. We are to love not just our best and brightest, not just our leaders, but each other. The Apostles who wrote the epistles in the rest of the New Testament took hold of this principle of reciprocity and taught that reciprocal love implies:

• thanksgiving for each other (Ephesians 5:20),
• encouraging and building up each other (1 Thessalonians 5:11),
• belonging to one another (Romans 12:5),
• being devoted to one another and honoring one another (Romans 12:10),
• living in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16),
• welcoming one another (Romans 15:7),
• greeting one another (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20),
• having mutual concern for one another (1 Corinthians 12:25),
• serving one another (Galatians 5:13); (1 Peter 4:10),
• carrying one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2),
• bearing with one another (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:13),
• being kind, compassionate, and forgiving one another (Ephesians 4:32),
• submitting to one another (Ephesians 5:21),
• treating one another as more important than ourselves (Philippians 2:3),
• confessing to and praying for one another (James 5:16),
• being hospitable to each other (1 Peter 4:9),
• being humble toward one another (1 Peter 5:5).

All these reciprocal commands are ways of obeying the one new commandment that Jesus gave us – to love one another. It is how we identify ourselves as disciples of Christ. It is also how we go about accomplishing the mission that he has given us to make more disciples.

Jesus wants us to demonstrate this radical new love and so draw the lost to him. If we love each other, the lost will seek our Savior. If we hate each other, they will look elsewhere. Our love of each other is a means of proclaiming God’s love to the world.

IMITATE!

John 13:12-17 NET.

¹² So when Jesus had washed their feet and put his outer clothing back on, he took his place at the table again and said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? ¹³  You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and do so correctly, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example — you should do just as I have done for you. ¹⁶ I tell you the solemn truth, the slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you understand these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Penny and I have been watching the latest season of “The Chosen” at night. If you are not familiar with the show, it depicts the life of Jesus and his disciples. One thing that struck me as we binge-watched it recently is that the characters in the show are constantly traveling from one place to another. Of course, they are always walking except for a brief ride on a donkey’s colt that Jesus took for his triumphal entry.

You have to understand that walking long distances was just how people traveled back then. That helps to set the stage for the event that today’s text highlights.

Jesus washed their feet because they needed it (12).

People traveled long distances by foot back in those times. Penny and I can sympathize with people back then because, as hikers, we have literally traveled thousands of miles by foot. Taking care of one’s feet is essential for hikes like that. We can get by with cheap food and clothing, but proper footwear is crucial. But back in the days that Jesus and his apostles walked the earth, most people walked in sandals. That created a need. To meet this need, most homes had a jar of water and a towel outside their front porch.

If a family were wealthy, they would have a slave whose duty was to wash the feet of everyone who came to visit their home. If they were not rich, they would still provide the water jar and the towel so that the visitors themselves could wash their feet prior to entering the house. On this particular occasion, Jesus and his disciples were heading to a home without a foot-washing slave. That meant that one of the disciples would have to do the job. But before they drew straws to find out who got the dirty work, Jesus himself grabbed the towel that day.

Now, some denominations treat this story as if Jesus was proclaiming another ritual that Christians should follow. They put this incident right up there with baptism and the Lord’s Supper and proclaim it as an ordinance of the church. I don’t think that is what Jesus had in mind. The reason Jesus washed his disciples’ feet that day was that they needed their feet washed. He was taking care of a basic need of the whole group. It was something that they all usually experienced. The only thing that was abnormal about it was that it was Jesus who took the towel. He was the master. The students should have jumped at the chance to help one another, but they didn’t. So, Jesus did what was needed.

Jesus washed their feet as an example for them to imitate (15).

The disciples were students of Jesus. That is what a disciple is: a student. But it is probably best that we don’t just call ourselves students of Jesus today. We have a poor concept of what it means to be a student. Our classes are filled with teachers who teach and students who learn, but more often than not, nobody ever changes. Jesus intended to teach his apostles the gospel, yes. But he intended more than that. He planned for them to become evangelists who pass on the gospel to others. He wanted them to, at some point, stop learning and start teaching themselves.

Even more, Jesus intended the apostles not just to learn what he taught but also to reproduce what they saw. He was an example that they were supposed to follow. Remember, he called them to himself and told them to follow him. They were not just supposed to learn from him; they were supposed to follow him—to imitate him.

So, when Jesus took the towel that day, he intended to teach his apostles to do what he did. This went further than simply being on the lookout for dirty feet. Jesus wanted his apostles to anticipate all the needs of their congregations and the communities they lived among.

Remember Jesus’ parable of the sheep and goats that we just studied. In the parable, the king said, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’” In each case, the king praised the authentic true sheep because they recognized a need and met that need. That is what Jesus was teaching with his example of foot-washing.

On that particular day, none of the apostles was thinking about the need that his fellows would have when they reached the house. They were too busy with their grand ideas of their importance compared to the others. They had needs that they could have filled, but they expected someone else to do it. They were shocked when their master himself took up the towel. But he did it to show them the attitude they should have as believers.

Looking for the needs of those around us is something that every Christian should do. I did not say every minister. I did not say every church officer. When Jesus spoke to all his apostles that day, he intended the whole church to hear his words. He expects all of us to focus on meeting the needs that present themselves all around us.

Jesus washed their feet to demonstrate mutual submission (14).

There is a widespread understanding of what it means to be a Christian that contradicts what Jesus did that day. A false doctrine has embedded itself into the fabric of the Christian Church even though Jesus taught against it. Even today, whole churches and denominations are swept up in this false doctrine. I call it the heresy of hierarchy.

The heresy of hierarchy says that the church is made up of levels of leadership. It asserts that some people are supposed to look after the needs of others within the community, but others are too important to do that. It’s the totem pole concept.

Now, I have already spoken on this subject in my sermon on Mark 10. That is where Jesus told his apostles that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them.  But he said it is not this way among believers. Instead, whoever wants to be great must be a servant.

We are not very good at living up to that instruction from the Lord. We call our leaders ministers, but we mean by ministry something different from what Jesus meant. A minister is a servant—a slave—someone whose job it is to take care of the needs of all the others.

The Apostle Paul instructed the congregations at Ephesus not to get drunk with wine but to be filled by the Holy Spirit. How was that fullness of the Spirit supposed to manifest? Those who the Spirit fills would be “speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:19-21).

Most preachers quickly go on to the next verse and teach wives that they are supposed to submit to their husbands. They are more comfortable with that verse because it appears to establish a hierarchy: wives are under husbands, kinds are under the wives, and dogs are under the kids. So they make submission into a one-way thing. They think God wants us only to submit to those higher up the ladder.

That is not what Paul said. He said that the church is supposed to submit to one another. We are supposed to wash one another’s feet. We are supposed to find a need and fill that need, regardless of what our title is or who has the need. Mutual submission means every foot must be washed. There is no totem pole.

Jesus didn’t say, “OK, I’ll wash Peter’s feet, but the rest of you lowly disciples are going to have to take care of yourselves.”  He didn’t set up a rank system. He did the work of the buck private for everybody in the company.

The lesson of foot-washing is that everybody counts or nobody counts. Our ministry is not to a select segment of the church or the community. We need to submit to one another. That command is not obeyed when we simply follow our leaders. It is obeyed when we look for needs and meet those needs regardless of who has the needs. When Jesus picked up the towel, it was to wash the feet of the whole congregation.

Jesus wanted each of his apostles to aspire to greatness, which can only happen when someone dares to be the slave of all. To teach that lesson, Jesus himself picked up the towel and became a slave, washing the feet of all his team. Imitating him means letting go of our self-imposed levels of status and importance. It means always doing our best for everybody.

Obeying this command is one of the hardest things you will ever do as a Christian. It attacks your pride and sense of superiority. It offends your sense of fairness. But if we all dared to submit to one another and put the needs of everybody above our desires, the world would be shocked. They will wonder why we are doing this. This will be a perfect opportunity to share Christ.