Are We Known For Love?

The scripture I am going to talk about this morning is the lectionary text for this week and it’s a little peculiar. The passage falls in the lectionary a month after Easter while we are still in the Easter season of the church calendar, but falls in history in the context of the Last Supper and Jesus’ preparation for his death. It doesn’t quite fit, why study a piece of scripture that occurred before Jesus’ death soon after Easter . . . Well, we do this because of what Jesus is doing in this passage to prepare his disciples and us for when he is gone. Jesus’ instructions are meant to guide his disciples and us once Jesus is no longer physically present. The lessons of the passage apply to post-Easter, when we are all left to continue Jesus’ work on earth. This passage answers the question, “what now?”

So what does Jesus tell his disciples that they ought to do . . . he says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The 1^st thing that sticks out in these verses is that Jesus says that this is a new commandment, but this does not seem to be a new commandment, we have heard it before. What is new, however, is not the message itself, but the way in which the message can and should be lived out. What is new is that Jesus has now set himself as the model for the love that is commanded. Jesus is our example. Jesus says, “Just as I have loved you, you should love one another.” No longer is the command to love one another simply words, but it has been embodied by Jesus. To love is to do what Jesus has done and is about to do.

Jesus’ command for the disciples to love one another falls just after Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. Even in that act, Jesus points to himself as the example that his disciples should follow. Jesus says in the beginning of chapter 13, “so if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” Jesus is showing them how to love.

Jesus did not stand up behind a pulpit and say to his disciples . . . do this and this and this twice and you will love. No, what Jesus said was “watch me! Did you see what I did, do that.” Jesus did not seek simply to tell his disciples how to love, Jesus was love. “As I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Jesus instructs us to love by his example. And Jesus’ example is service and sacrifice.

Even a cursory look at Jesus’ life reveals what love is. Jesus calls all people to himself . . . he welcomes them. Jesus washes the feet of his disciples . . . he serves them. Jesus dies for all of us . . . he sacrifices of himself for us. Jesus’ love is not some special affection, it is not some fuzzy feeling, but a willingness to place the well being of others before himself.

It is that love which is to characterize who we are as followers of Christ. The church is to be refuge of this love. And to love for Jesus is to serve. To love is to humble oneself before others.

Anyone can memorize God’s command to love others, but to actually do as Jesus did is much more profound and difficult. Anybody that is in any kind of committed relationship with someone else knows this. If love were just a feeling we would constantly be in and out of love . . . some days we would love, some days we wouldn’t. Love takes commitment . . . take my relationship with my wife, Dana . . . I know I love her not because I wake up with some giddy feeling every morning . . . actually some mornings we wake up quite annoyed with one another . . . I know I love Dana because I am fully committed to her even when I don’t feel like it. I love her because I am willing to sacrifice for her. I love her because I am willing to serve her. And how do I know this is love, because that is what God shows us love is.

Love is indeed a fascinating thing. It is seemingly unexplainable. Often it is just a 10 cent word that we toss around freely. I love my dog. I love Coldstone Creamery. I love take home exams. I love free lunches. If you listened to the way we talked you would think love is pretty easy. Love is just really liking something. But love is a lot more. The Bible says, “God is love.” This means much more than “God really likes everything.” God cares so deeply about us that God is willing to put himself on the line for our benefit. Love is action.

So if love is not a feeling, but an action, you might want to ask what actions constitute love? The Bible is full of various commandments and so are our churches. If we just do those things, do we love? If I get coffee for my friends, do I really love them? If I give money to the poor, do I love them? If I advocate for justice, do I love the oppressed? If I go on mission trips, do I love the native people? Maybe . . . but maybe not. That is just the thing about love, there is no prescription for it. We can go through the supposed motions of love, but deep down we know it is not the real thing. It is not authentic. Our attempts at love are often about us and not about God. There is no specific set of things you can do that make your actions love. You can’t exactly teach someone to love.

Ultimately, we love not by ourselves, but by funneling God’s love for us, to others. We love by experiencing God’s love for us and then modeling that love to others. We become a window through which others see a glimpse of God. We can’t create love on our own. God’s redemptive work makes it possible for us to love. We can love others because Christ first loved us. It is God through us that love is done. We, as God’s church, are God’s instruments of love to each other. By passing on the love God has given us to each other, we not only increase our personal experience of God’s love but we perpetuate it. Through our love, others experience the love of God.

This leads to a second aspect of what Jesus says in John 13. Jesus says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” How do we love? How as a church do we serve and sacrifice for one another? Not how are we friendly to one another, but how do we wash each other’s feet, how do we show that we care as much about the well being of the person in the pew next to us as ourselves . . . How well do we love not just the people we like, but each person in our congregations? Remember that Jesus washed the feet of all his disciples, including Judas. Are our churches known for such love? Are we known for love?

Today’s churches are known for many things . . . some are known for there building, some for their dynamic preachers, some are known for their enormous congregations, some are known for their fancy technology . . . but how many churches can you name only because you have heard about their love?

If we want to reach our communities and ultimately the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ we will do it through our love not just for outsiders, but for each other. I think you may increase the number of attendees in your church without love, but you will not increase the number of disciples in your church without love. Creating disciples takes love. As Christ modeled for us what love is, we must model love for the world. Unless we have fully experienced God’s love for us and by God’s love, love each other in the church community, no one outside the church will ever expect that we could love them.

Love is central to who the church is. Any organization can do good works. Any organization can be nice to people. Any organization can have great potlucks, feed the poor and clothe the naked. What makes the church unique, however, is that not only can we do all of these things, but we can do them with love. The body of Christ has a unique gift that it can give. All Christians have experienced first hand the love of God. Each of us have partaken of the immense love that God showed us by sacrificing Jesus Christ on our behalf. We have experienced profound love. And when we seek to love others as Christ loved us, we are channels of God’s love to others. By observing our love for one another, others receive, however imperfect, a glimpse of the divine. When we serve, when we sacrifice, when we put others before ourselves . . . we are channels of God’s love.

Most of us are extremely privileged people. We live in an environment where we have access to virtually unlimited educational opportunities. We have ministry skills. We have thoroughly researched ecclesial strategies. We have hundreds of books. We have a toolbox full of practical tools. And all of this is great . . . but all of our tools and all or our gifts are entirely worthless without love. Love must be the foundation of all that we do. Love must be the cornerstone upon which we build our ministry. We must be willing to serve each other. We must be willing to sacrifice of ourselves for each other. We must be willing to give without any expectation of receiving anything in return. We must desire above all us to be known for love.