Download... February 28, 2010. Sunday Morning Service. Bro. Dave Goble.
TEXT: John 13:31-38
31 Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
32 If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.
33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
36 Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.
37 Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.
38 Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily,verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice.
Jesus is declaring a new commandment (verse 34), never prior touched upon. A reason to often,.. pay attention to this . What is the significance? How is this new,.... as opposed to what He gave before in commandment?
Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD. We see here even of ancient bible times, that God already had in place loving one another as ourselves. So what is new?
Again John 13:34 A new commandment!
Matthew 22:36-40 36: Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38: This is the first and great commandment.
39: And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40: On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
All the law of the prophets hang on this verse above. All commandments are subject to these two verses, which without they would lose their meanings. So what does the "new" commandment consist of? As in the above scripture found in Leviticus 19:18 ancient ways of living already commanded we love our neighbor as our self, yet Christ brought a "new" commandment.
All similar, so what Is "new?" We need to carefully consider the second part of that scripture (John 13:34). Must love like Christ,...and not just as our self. What is the verb in that phrase or verse ? What would be missing without it? Love! To try to leave out sacrificial love from the equation, is to try to leave out the substance of Christ exhortation. Something would be missing! Love is a Verb!
The comprehension of the relationship with God! It is the essence, and or activation of the relationship with God! Without sacrificial love, that commandment has no real meaning. Stop to pay attention. The original meaning of love in this biblical text means sacrificial love. A deeper meaning, in other words, than,.. "I love you." God uses love in verse John13:34 in a different way than to love one another. More than,.. in the golden rule, or mere human love, which already existed before His "new commandment," (John 13:34). A sacrificial love is beyond it All ! Again the Golden rule existed before Jesus "New commandment."
(John13:37,38) Peter said he would lay down his life for Jesus,.. yet he denied Christ Three times. Christ knew Peter would later lay down his life, After the infilling of the Holy Ghost, the critical key to sacrificial love. That was what was missing for Peter's earlier ability to love, as Christ loves. All our life on the altar, leads to sacrificial love as in the New commandment,(John 13:34). Jesus through His actions never once denied us, even though we many times prior to the Holy Ghost, we denied Him,..by our actions. He did for us,.. what we could not do for our-self. Christ never once asked for deliverance from the suffering other than God the Father's will. Christ was innocent from all treason, accusations, etc. He never asked for an escape, because of His sacrificial love for the souls of the world. Love your neighbor as yourself, is not equal with the "new commandment I give you." It was more painful than we can imagine for Christ to be badly beaten in torment, for mere mankind. No man could save Christ, and yet He endured His torment without calling for help. He died so we could be saved.
I likewise need to "die," to obey His new commandment. Again, "As I have loved you,so love one another (a new commandment-John 13:34) bringing death to self. It was a deeper love than even given to Moses. So..All will know that we are His disciples. John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Because of this instruction, the saints of old, died for one another,.. because of Christ new commandment!
Christ is asking us to in principal, to do for one another what He did for us on the cross. Must have that Sacrificial Love, to hold confidence, as in this new commandment. Jesus loves and loved us,...He died for us! The relationship was created through His death for us. We must show this to all since He ask it of us! Love your neighbor as yourself, is again not an equal commandment. Treat them like Jesus treated you, is. Cross yourself out like Christ did. Christ died and lost All for us, so all of us could learn this New commandment. Putting all others before yourself, so all will know this commandment by your life. Mere religion already shows to love your neighbor as yourself. Only putting your life as the sacrifice illustrates the difference. Will you practice what you preach? A new commandment I give you, must be on display. John 13:34
Do people see you,.. before Jesus? We constantly need to decrease our attitude,..to think less of our-self. John the Baptist said I must decrease so Jesus can increase! (John 3:30)
John 3:27-30 27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
28: Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
29: He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
30: He must increase, but I must decrease.
God help us to see our-self as He does. I must decrease so I can reveal Christ. Love one another as I have loved you, not just love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus died for your neighbor. What will you do for others?
