Sunday, February 23, 2025 AM

Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for gathering us here today to rejoice in your truth, to give praise to your name, to be blessed by your Spirit, to be helped and nourished by your grace and your Word.

Thank you for the many answers to prayer we have already received, and we turn to you again, our Heavenly Father, and ask that you would help us as we look at your Word. Please give us a clear view of your Son.

Conform us to his glories. Lift us up in his grace. Bless us with your Spirit, we pray. We pray in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased.

Amen.

John 13 and the Church’s Love for One Another

I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to the Gospel of John, John chapter 13. We'll be looking at verses 34 and 35. This morning, we are interrupting our exposition of the book of Acts for a special focus on the love that we have for one another, as those who are in Christ, and even as those who are members of this church.

The Lord has been so faithful to us, and he has continually washed his bride with the water of his Word, and I think it is both safe and joyous to say that we are not the same church that we were 70-something years ago.

Now, I think of this in reflection on a few things. One was just recently, the last summer, we spent time together in our summer session thinking about our unity in Christ. I think about the way that the Lord is faithfully growing this church, and I think about the death of our beloved sister, Shirley Wigley, the last living charter member of our church, still a member.

How faithful the Lord has been to bring us along thus far. And so we turn our attention to the theme of love, the Father's love for us in Christ through his Spirit, our love for one another as members of the body of Christ in this local church.

Love is the theme.

It just is.

Love is the theme. Is there anything more disappointing than a river that has no water? Oh, the shape is there, and oh, the incline is there, but where is the water? Of these, love is the greatest. Faith, hope, and love.

But love is the greatest. Faith is our shape. Hope is our inclination. But love is what makes a river a river. Love is what makes Christianity Christianity. A church, a church, followers of Christ made evident to all is the love that we have in him.

I invite you to stand with me as we read John chapter 13, verses 34 and 35. This is the word of the Lord. A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

By this, all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. The elders together have been praying and thinking about our church and how to shepherd and to love and to serve you.

And we reflected upon the fact that our membership process and even our church covenant is something that not everybody has gone through. Some of our older church members became members before there ever was a church covenant, before there ever was a church membership class.

Some of the children who were baptized and brought into membership of the church probably did not get the full discipleship treatment that we wish they would have had. But God, but Christ is faithful.

He's the one who's growing his church. And as he's washing us with the water of his word, we're seeing how important it is that we recognize the kind of love that we are to have for one another. As Jesus says, as I have loved you, as I have loved you.

Our church is not the same as it was decades ago. We're better off. Things are better because of who Jesus is, because he's a good shepherd. Our church is vastly improved, not because of nickels and noses.

That would not be the case. Not because of fame or facilities. There is one metric that ties all of these things together, our doctrine and our direction and our deeds. What is that metric? What is most concerning to Jesus Christ is our love.

Have we grown in our love for God, our knowledge of him, our worship of him and in him, our following after Christ? Have we grown in our love for God and have we grown in our love for one another? And how do we even give expression to that?

We try to do that here by our church covenant, which we're gonna be talking a little bit about today. And we hope, as elders, to bring this focus to you at least once a year, if not twice a year, to remind ourselves about what it means to love one another and commit ourselves to each other.

Jesus makes his love for his disciples the basis for their love for one another. Jesus makes his love for us the basis for our love for one another. The term love has been so hijacked, so manipulated, so enchanted with diabolical witchcraft that many shy away from even using it.

But it is not the fact that love is love is love. We know what love is when we look at Jesus Christ. He is the manifest glory of God. By this we know love because he laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

We know what love is when we look at who Jesus Christ is and what he has done. It is a righteous and sacrificial devotion that he is for us in the right way, even though it costs him. And so our love for each other is a righteous and sacrificial devotion that I'm for you and for you in the right way, even if it costs me.

We are to follow our shepherd in this. If we think about baptism and communion and practical ways to serve each other, we are to love one another as Christ has loved us. Not as I prefer, perceive, or permit.

Not as some expect, inspect, or object. Not as Abraham or Israel would do. But Christ says this, by this, as I have loved you. Let's think about this new commandment. Jesus says, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.

As I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. I want us to think, first of all, about Christ's new commandment and the context in which it is expressed.

And then we'll think about its character. But first, its context. It's in the context of Christ's coming crucifixion. The pattern in the Gospel of John, if you've noticed as you've read through, is that first there's a sign given by Christ and then much discourse as he explains the gospel, the truths of God and of grace.

But in chapters 13 through 17, you have the discourse that leads up to the final sign, which is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And such is the crowning revelation of the glory of God in Christ, in his death upon the cross and his resurrection from the dead, that there is all of this discourse in chapters 13 through 17 to help us to understand that and appreciate it and rejoice in it.

So when we are in chapter 13, we are ramping up to the crucifixion and thinking thoughts in light of the coming crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And so Jesus says that they're not going to understand everything that he says to them right now, but that his hour has come and they will soon understand.

They're going to understand when they see the love of God in Christ upon the cross and in the light of his resurrection. Jesus says, you're not going to understand. What I do now, you don't fully understand, but you will later, he says, as he's washing their feet and communicating with them at the last supper.

They don't get it yet, but they will.

They will.

By his grace, they will. I think it's important for us to remember because so much of what Jesus does and so much of what he says makes little sense or may be applied in strange fashion if we miss the main point made in his death and resurrection upon the cross.

Legalism flourishes in out-of-context gardens. That's where legalism flourishes. It just can't survive in the light of Christ and his grace. The nature of God's gift to us in Christ, the nature of Christ's God-honoring, self-humbling love that is achieved in the cross means that we need to keep our attention upon Christ.

It is both his cross and his crown that we receive his commandment. By his cross and by his crown that we receive his commandment. So we can't think of this love one another as I have loved you and think only of his interactions with folks on the slope of a hill or his time spent teaching from a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee or his expressions of compassion to the leper and to the blind and to the lame.

Yes, we see the love of Christ there, but he specifically ties his work and his love for his disciples, his love for his own to his death and resurrection. And he does that beginning in chapter 13 all the way through.

So let's keep our attention there. The coming crucifixion is the context as well as the culminating covenant. When Jesus says, a new commandment I give to you, we may wonder a little bit why we need a new one.

What was wrong with the old one? Why won't the old one be just fine? Why a new? What's the occasion? What need is there? What's so new about it? Jesus specifies, as I have loved you. That's what's so new about it.

Jesus has already begun demonstrating throughout his time with his disciples during the Passover meal that massive changes are underway because he washes their feet, yet all of them are clean. That doesn't square with the old covenant.

You need a whole lot more washing in the old covenant. Jesus says, I wash part of you, but the whole of you is clean. Jesus is offering himself up as the lamb, the Passover lamb that satisfies both God and those who belong to God.

God is satisfied in Christ. Are we satisfied in Christ? He's the Passover lamb. He's begun to change all manner of things, but not really change them, but truly satisfyingly fulfill them. Jesus is the true and faithful servant.

It's his washing that makes us clean. He's the lamb of God. It's his righteousness that is for us. He says to his disciples, I'm gonna go where you cannot go. He's gonna go do what they cannot do. Peter says, I'm gonna go with you all the way to the end.

No, you're not.

Peter dying on the cross would not save anyone. John dying on the cross would save no one. Jesus says, I'm gonna go do and be what you can't do, and you can't be. I'm gonna be in your place and for your sake.

He's the mediator. His death, resurrection, his ascension are all uniquely for us and for our salvation. Things have changed because we have a new commandment. We have a new covenant. The old commandment said what?

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Leviticus 19 .18, Deuteronomy 6 .5, and it was a great way to sum up those horizontal relationships that were expressed by the old covenant, by the 10 commandments.

In light of who God is, love your neighbor as yourself. It's another way of saying the old Hippocratic oath, which I really wish was still in vogue. First, do no harm. That's a great way of summing up the old covenant.

First, do no harm. Love your neighbor as yourself. You wouldn't harm yourself, would you? Well, don't harm your neighbor. Don't steal from them. Don't murder them. Don't commit adultery.

Don't lie.

Bear false witness about your neighbor and get them in trouble with the legal system. You wouldn't harm yourself in these ways. Why would you do it to them? First, do no harm. Jesus says a new commandment I have for you, and look how there's a fulfillment of the righteousness revealed in the law, but it's superior.

Someone greater than Moses is here. Something greater than the law is here. Someone greater than the temple is here. Someone greater than Solomon is here. This is the message of the New Testament. Praise be to God.

Jesus comes and he says, here's a new commandment. You shall love one another. That sounds familiar. As I have loved you. Oh, that's new. So you shall love one another. So as 1 John 2 says, it's an old commandment and it's not new, but it actually is new.

It's in agreement with the old, and yet there's something new about it. It's us loving one another as Christ has loved us. You have heard it said, but I say unto you, Christ isn't in argument with the old covenant.

He's the one who satisfyingly fulfills it. His glory compared to the old covenant is like the temple versus the tabernacle. The temple is the consistent glorified greater expression of the tabernacle.

Once you have the temple, you don't go back out to the wilderness and hunt up a new tabernacle, do you? Christ has come. So we have a new commandment. As I have loved you. But what does that look like?

How is that expressed?

The Character of Christlike Love

Let's think about the character of this new commandment. A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all will know that you are my disciples.

Did you hear that? By this, all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. What kind of love? As Christ has loved us and we love one another. That's how people know that we are the followers of Jesus Christ, that we belong to him and we're born again.

Changes have been made. Jesus does not leave us. I hope you see this. Jesus does not leave us with impossible standards, devoid of grace. He does not design for us a life destined to fail. When he says, love one another as I have loved you, do not hear in his statement, be perfectly, eternally, divinely righteous as I do, otherwise you're in trouble.

Now, it is, I think, unfortunately, instinctive for some of us to receive the commandment that way. Oh, great, an impossible standard to follow. Jesus grants to us his peace and his love and his joy and his spirit so that we may love one another as he has loved us.

And he spends John 14 and 15 talking about that. He doesn't say, here's an impossible standard, you're going to fail living up to it, get used to it. That's not the message. He has loved us sacrificially and he has loved us generously, he has loved us fully.

And listen, we do not replace the love of Christ for us in our love for one another. Do you understand that? When we're modeling his love, we're not replacing his love for one another. We are echoing it, we are giving it an amen, we are following it.

And we never ever love one another outside of the love of Christ for each one of us, which means all of the glory evident in our loving for one another is simply grace manifest. As we love one another according to this new commandment, that's how it becomes clear that we belong to Jesus Christ.

The disciples are known, Jesus' disciples are known by their love for one another. Our love is not a hidden affection that is never expressed or free from all tangible evidence. 1 John 3, 16 through 18, by this we know love because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue but indeed in truth.

You see the practical example that John brings to the fore, this kind of love has real genuine expression. Some are very concerned to find in the new covenant an objective sign, an objectivity of the new covenant that it can be seen in the here and now.

Jesus says what it is. By this all men will know your love, that you, by this all men will know that you are my disciples, that we belong to Jesus Christ, that we are born again and alive in the new covenant.

How?

By the love that we have for one another. What kind of love is that? As Christ has loved us, that kind of love expressed shows the reality of the new covenant in this world. And this manifest love has a direct line from the new covenant seal and sign of the Holy Spirit.

Tertullian reported the pagan's assessment of Christians in his days, the late 100s. He said, this is the testimony and the report of Christians in the Roman Empire. About Christians it was said, see how they love one another, how ready they are to die for one another.

It stands out. Jesus says in John 15, 13, greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends. That not what Jesus has done for us. So we don't rely on church membership or baptism or the Lord's Supper to demonstrate to all men that we are the disciples of Jesus Christ.

By this we certainly confess the gospel of Jesus Christ, but these are all expressions. They are important expressions, special expressions, yet still three among many by which we love one another in the grace of Jesus Christ.

It is by that love that all men know that we are his disciples. Now, remember this, that Christ's love for his own is not plain, it is robust. His love is not routine, it is personal. His love is not monolithic, it is multifaceted.

Christ's love for Peter is felt and expressed and applied differently than his love for Thaddeus. And you know that because who's Thaddeus? One of the 12 apostles. But oh, what a great love, what amazing grace, what perfect righteousness to each one of his own.

And our love for one another in modeling that of Christ is also to be robust and personal and multifaceted. There are so many different ways to love one another that the New Testament is filled with one another's.

Have you ever noticed the one another's in the New Testament? Pray for one another, accept one another, teach one another, give one another a holy kiss. I said twice, one for each cheek. All these one another's in the New Testament are specific expressions of how we love one another.

And do you know, this love is robust, personal, and multifaceted. It means that I, in following this commandment, do not have to love someone I just met who's a brother in Christ in the exact same way as I love my wife.

Right?

There is no tyranny of uniformity in this statement. As I have loved you, so you love one another. And there's all manner of personal and flexible richness in that expression, isn't there? Jesus Christ does not love me exactly in the same way as he loves you.

He loves me in exactly the best way to love me, and he loves you exactly the best way he loves you, dear sister and dear brother. His righteousness stands in for all of us, but his love is personal to each one of us.

Can we rejoice in that? How church members are to love one another in Christ, again, it's not a matter of our personal preference, but should be understood in agreement with how Christ has explained it in the New Testament.

The Church Covenant and Local Church Responsibility

And this brings us to our church covenant. Something very interesting happened in the first few weeks here in 2014 when I became the pastor, and there was a family whom I enjoyed getting to know and spending time with, but when they heard that we had a church covenant, they became so upset and burdened that they quickly left and did not pursue membership here.

Because the term covenant tripped them up, and they felt like we shouldn't be using that term. And that was a matter of conviction. I wish them well, and we prayed for them. It was an amicable departure of ways.

But why do we have something called a church covenant? We're not trying to add to the Bible by any means. We're not trying to say we're coming up with a biblical covenant, right? We're not doing that.

We're using a word in the scriptures that we often see used in terms of basic agreements between folks to say, here, here's how we're gonna treat one another. And we're using that expression to talk about how we want to be for one another in Christ in this church.

It was Cain who said, I am not my brother's keeper. Those who are in Christ should say, yes, I am my brother's keeper. I am my sister's keeper. I do commit myself to you, and I will be responsible for you, and you be responsible for me.

We're in this together.

And we want to love one another in such a way that all men will know that we are the disciples of Jesus Christ. But how do we give particular expression to that? Well, that's what we use our church covenant for.

We're trying to reflect what's already there in the scriptures. The promises that we have in this covenant show our desire to specifically and especially live out the love of Christ to one another as church members.

I want you to hear this next part very carefully because these promises affirm principles that apply to all Christians in all churches. But remember that our good shepherd has organized his body into local and personal congregations.

Now, why has our good shepherd done that? Because he does not place a tyranny of impossible expectations upon his sheep. He knows our frame. He knows that we are but dust. And while we are ready to love and be hospitable to all, we express our Christ-like love especially, especially to the members of our local church, the saints that we know best and best know us concerning whom we are taking responsibility before the face of God.

Enjoy.

Let me ask you a few questions that will help clarify this. Does Jesus Christ want you to follow the leaders of all local churches everywhere? Is that how we apply the passages about submitting to the elders?

No.

No, we wouldn't do that. Does Jesus Christ want you to pray for every single other saint individually and then give to all local churches everywhere?

No.

That's not what those passages in the New Testament are telling you to do, is it? Does Jesus Christ want you to be personally equipped by all Christian leaders and serve in all Christian ministries in all local churches everywhere?

No, he doesn't. Does he want you to attend regularly all local churches and worship with each and every congregation everywhere? No, that doesn't make sense. What a gift the local church is. What a precious gift the local church is that we may live out and take in the love of Christ and his grace.

Protecting Unity in the Church

Let's think about our covenant together. There's four sections, I'm just gonna read them and then read out the details and read the scriptures that go along. The very first thing it says in our church covenant is that I will protect the unity of my church.

This is what we are saying for one another. I'm gonna protect the unity of my church. And how is that broken down? Well, first of all, by acting in love toward other members. Very broad category, but we've gotta get started somewhere.

First Peter chapter one, verse 22 says, since you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit and sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. You also protect the unity of your church by refusing to criticize or gossip.

Ephesians 4 29 says, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers. Now that criticize or gossip isn't anything that I find a little bit negative about me.

I'm in need of correction. I'm in need of rebuke. I'm in need of help. Someone comes and tells me something that I've gotten wrong or done wrong or said wrong. Thank you. Thank you for loving me because that would be necessary edification, see?

Also by following the leaders, you protect the unity of the church by following the leaders. Hebrews 13 17, obey those who rule over you and be submissive for they watch out for your souls as those who must give account.

Let them do so with joy and not with grief for that will be unprofitable to you. The elders here, we're just the under shepherds of Jesus Christ. He's the good shepherd. And he says, you know, if there's one strain, you leave the 99 and go after the one.

And that's what we wanna do. We wanna be accountable to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ for the way that we're caring for each and every member of this church. And when you work with us in that, we have unity.

Sharing Responsibility in the Church

Secondly, the church covenant says, I will share the responsibility of my church by first of all, praying for its growth. Acts 2 47 describes the life of the early church as praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

You get it? The Lord added to the church and daily those who were being saved. Praise God. He builds this church. Also, we share the responsibility of our church by involving ourselves in personal discipleship in the body and by attempting to make disciples of those outside the church.

And so in this, we have Matthew 20 verses 19 and Matthew 28 verses 19 and 20. Go therefore make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo I am with you even to the end of the age.

Amen.

So if we're not actively, personally involving ourselves in being discipled, then we're not really sharing in the responsibility. Also, we should be making disciples of others. That sounds awful hard to do.

Discipling someone is as easy as remembering that Jesus Christ owns the horizon and all humanity is headed towards him. And we're either on the correct side of the cross or the wrong side of the cross.

No matter who you meet, no matter who you meet, we're all destined to meet Jesus in one way or the other. And whoever you find, if you spend time with them, if you can share a scripture with them, if you can encourage them, if you can pray with them, if you can do something to help them take one step towards Christ to bow the knee to him, you have discipled somebody else.

That's simple. Fourthly, we share the responsibility of our church by giving regularly. God loves a cheerful giver. When you give, we support missionaries and support the ministry of the church and we appreciate that.

Fifthly, by praying for the other members of the body. Let's not discount this. It does not last because it is least that we should be praying for one another. It is such a joy to me to reflect on 10 1⁄2 years of prayer meetings with you and all the answer prayer.

What a record of God's generosity and graciousness to us. Thirdly, we should serve the ministry of our church. How do we do that? Well, by being equipped to serve by your pastor, by your elders, by your teacher, being equipped to serve, not simply being the one who just takes in and takes in and takes in, but getting ready to bless others as well.

Don't be the Dead Sea. One inlet, no outlet. Be the Sea of Galilee, right? Something that's alive and full of good things. And by developing and utilizing our natural talents and spiritual gifts, you can serve the ministry of our church, serving in the ministries of Sunnyside, and developing a servant's heart.

I hope you will take these scriptures home and meditate on them to think about how Christ has arranged matters in the local church so that it's not a professional clergy and laity where some people do all the holy work and the others receive it, but that we are a priesthood of believers.

Who are all called to the labor,.

And that Ephesians 4 describes the body of Christ growing as each part is used by Christ for the benefit and the good and the growth of one another. And the fourth section of our covenant says, I will support the testimony of my church, first of all, by attending faithfully, reminded of that famous verse from Hebrews 10, do not forsake the simile of yourselves together as is the manner of some, but all the more as you see the day approaching, by attending faithfully.

If you remove a coal from the hearth and it moves away from the fire, what happens to the coal? It goes out, it goes dark, it goes cold. Push it back into the flames and watch it glow again. And Jesus has designed our life together in Him to be together in communion.

And also support the testimony of our church by worshiping in heart and mind with God's people. We're here to worship together, here to worship together, to rejoice together and confess together the glories of our Savior, of our God.

And also by living a godly life. Support the testimony of your church by living a godly life. How many times are you faced with decisions in your job, in your family, a decision between what is good and evil, what is right, what is wrong, what is true, what is false, what is beautiful, what is ugly?

It takes courage to fall on the right side of it, each and every time, doesn't it? Takes courage. But that supports the testimony of our church. These are different ways. These are particular expressions of the ways that we have agreed to love one another as Christ has loved us.

That we think not first of ourselves, but of what can I do to be for you in the right way, even if it costs me? Because that's the way in which Christ has loved us. May God grant us the grace to do so.

Communion, Baptism, and Closing Prayer

Father, I thank you for the time that you've given us in your Word, this brief reminder of the love that we have together in Christ by your Spirit. Thank you that today that we've had a baptism and sung songs together, read your Word together, and now we can share in this communion meal together.

Lord, we thank you for these many gifts of grace, and may they affect us in just the way that you desire. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.