Love As He Loves
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
~John 13:34, LSB
Loving others was not a new commandment: loving them like Jesus was radically new.
~Ed Stewart
I had never given consideration to what makes John 13:34 new and radical. Jesus is not commanding His disciples to love one another as we love a friend. The Greek word for this is phileō, “to love.” We sometimes refer to it as brotherly love. The city of Philadelphia means city of brotherly love. Nor is He talking about Storgē which is the natural love a parent has for a child or vice versa. He is not talking about Eros which is romantic love. Eros is the only one of the four loves not mentioned in the New Testament. All these loves are good but they are natural and will not get the world’s attention. The world may appreciate them but they will not be radically changed by these natural loves. Jesus is telling His disciples, if you want the world to know you are my followers, you have to love the way I love and if you do, they will notice. So the love that Jesus is talking about is Agapē which is an imputed love. As I often say, “A love from above.” It is a supernatural love that is a by-product of the new birth and grace. Your love will never match His love, nor will mine. We have to love with His love.
Let me illustrate. This is the story of a friend. He and I grew up together. We played ball together; camped together and later were on the same visitation team. He was a bold witness for Christ. Some problems arose from his commitment to Christ and eventually he and his wife divorced. Unfortunately, he got out of church all together. I do believe he was saved. A team from a local church visited him in the later part of his life and they made the mistake of telling him they loved him. He said, “You don’t love me. You don’t even know me.” They were using cliche’s and they are very inappropriate when you are attempting to share the love of Christ. They should have said, “Jesus loves you.” He would have had no comeback if they had simply said, “Jesus loves you.” Jesus love is a proven fact; our love is not. His love is strong and perfect: our love is weak and imperfect. His love is faithful and our love is fickle. Our love will never get the world’s attention. Jesus love is unconditional. He even loved his persecutors. When someone is in the process of murdering you and you die praying for them; it will get someone’s attention. Let’s say the gunman has shot you in the leg and the shoulder and you are lying on the pavement and he walks up and pointed the gun at your head and you pray, “Father forgive this man, he doesn’t understand what he is doing.” This would be the kind of love that would get the world’s attention. My friend taught me a valuable lesson, I never tell people, I am here because I love you [they could question that]; I make it a point to tell them, “I am here because Jesus loves you.” It makes a world of difference.
- Yesterday was perfect and I think today is going to be great as well. THANK YOU LORD FOR THE COOLER WEATHER!
- 49ers this TOMORROW at 11:30.
- Mens Breakfast October 10 at 8:00 am @ Libby’s in Priceville
- Monday October 26…we are hosting the THE MORGAN BAPTIST ANNUAL MEETING here at the POINT. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I have asks the 49er to help and this will be our October 49er gathering. You do not have to attend the meeting. Just bring your food and join us for lunch. We will get the KFC, drinks and rolls but we need your help with the other things. It will work if we have a servant’s heart!
- November menu set: November 4, KFC and Terri’s Team, November 11, my team and stew, November 18 is Carol’s team and we are having Pizza, November 25 is Vicki’s team and we are having BBQ.
Have a great Thursday and thanks for reading the blog!!!!
