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Love One Another

Sunday, January 15, 2023
Pastor Jojo Ma

 

31 When [Judas] had gone 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 glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, '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, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

One of the great themes of these letters was how members of these local assemblies were to center their lives around one another in the love of Christ.

31-32 31 When [Judas] had gone 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 glorify him at once.”

33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, “Where I am going you cannot come.”

34-35 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. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

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.

D.A. Carson: “With a standard like this, no thoughtful believer can ever say, ‘I am perfectly keeping the basic stipulation of the new covenant.’”

This is another reason why we have to recapture the priority and the centrality of the local church in 21st century Christianity. Each local church is the primary and practical place God desires for His new covenant people to show lovefor one another: sacrificial, committed, caring love, as Christ has loved us. What our Lord says in v34 is not an invitation, it’s not an option, it’s a new commandment.

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Family is messy and being a church family is no less. But our church ought to be marked by Christ-like love.

They knew that to really live out the one anothers, to be accountable to shepherds or elders, for these elders to know who they are responsible for, they had to be committed members of local churches. And they were.

Love between Christians isn’t a sign of maturity, it’s a sign that you’re saved. And if this isn’t the sign of our church, “as I have loved you” kind of committed love, then we need to reassess our understanding of discipleship and our priorities in life. The New Testament unashamedly centers God’s glory around local churches proclaiming the gospel and loving one another.

The Compelling Community: Where God’s Power Makes a Church Attractive by Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop

“[For many] church is primarily about the experience of what happens during the service rather than the relationshipsthat form around the service...Consumers rush in and out of the service, viewing church as a spiritual ‘drive-thru.’ But providers show up early and, as able, stay around afterward. They see church more as family and less as an event.”

“Our greatest confirmation of the gospel is the community of the local church. Therefore, our best strategy for reaching the world is to fan that community into a raging inferno of supernatural witness that will be far more attractive than any adjustment to our music, small groups, or sermons could ever be.”

D.A. Carson: “It’s not so much that Christians are to love the world less; rather, they are to love one another more. Love for each other ought to be a reflection of their new status and experience as the children of God.”

So the local church should be pursuing the loving life, a life of servanthood and sacrifice – as I have loved you, so you also should love one another.