“A Greater Love” By Jesse Rairdon October 29th,
2017
Amen. John 13:34-35
A new commandment
I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye
also
love one another. By this shall all men
know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Father,
as we go into this portion
of our message, Lord, I pray that you would bless me, a sinner. Lord,
you know
all my sins; touch now my lips that the words that I speak be pure,
that I may
administer grace to the hearers, that we all may be edified in Jesus
name.
Amen. Two
points I want to talk about
today is, “What's New About Love?” Jesus said, “A new commandment I
give unto
you.” What's new about love? And the second point is, “Show Love, Don't
Just
Know Love.” Show love, don't just know love. So,
what is new about love? Why is
Jesus making this new commandment at this time in His life? Didn't He
teach
them about love already? Wasn't He with them for three years of His
life? Why
is this different, now? Why is this commandment coming forth now? To
answer this question, look at
the timeline of events. Jesus was coming to the end of the time in His
ministry,
the end of His time with the disciples, those who were closest with
Him. This
was precious time. Time would be very valuable, very, very close; very,
very—communion
was just dealing, this was time. Think about family, when they gather
together,
as a loved one is getting to pass, those precious moments which you
have left
with them. Think about that time. This is the time that Jesus with His
closest
family, His closest friends. He had just told them that one of them was
going
to betray Him. Imagine that, bringing that up for a dinner topic, chew
on that
for a moment. After all they'd been through together. They left
everyone and
everything they had in life to follow Him, yet they gained so much
more, they
just didn't realize it, yet. John, chapter thirteen, beginning at verse
eighteen,
after He said someone is going to betray Him: John 13:18-35
I speak not
of you all: I know whom I have chosen: [He
knew who He was talking to.] but
that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth
bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. Now
I tell you before it come, that, when it
is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that
receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me
receiveth
him that sent me. When Jesus had thus
said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily,
verily, I say
unto you, that one of you shall betray me. Then
the disciples looked one on another,
doubting of whom he spake. Now there was
leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he
should ask who it should be of whom he spake. [Maybe if I talk to
the
person closest to Jesus, I can find out who He's talking about.] He
then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it
is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when
he had
dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then
said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do
quickly. Now no man at the table
knew for what
intent he spake this unto him. For some
of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto
him, Buy
those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should
give
something to the poor. He then having
received the sop went immediately out: and it was night. [And then
comes these
words:] Therefore, when he was gone out,
Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified,
and God is
glorified in him. If God be glorified in
him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway
glorify him. 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. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye
love one
another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another. See,
if you understand that Judas
was to have no part of this commandment, is why the timing of it. The
level of
commitment that Jesus was saying, Judas had no part in this. Jesus
wants total
commitment. Total commitment and love here. This is why this is new,
now, because
He's saying, “If I give you the example…”—like Kirk was talking about
with
sacrifice—“I am going to give my life for you, so that others can see
that I died
for you, now you've got to do that for each other, you’ve got to have
that
level of commitment for each other. Jesus wanted them to have a greater
love.
And John, fifteen, verse thirteen, says: John 15:13-17
Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends. Ye are my friends,
if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth
I call you not servants; for the
servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends;
for all
things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,
and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that
your fruit
should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name,
he may
give it you. These things I command you,
that ye love one another. You
see, the love was not new, it's
just the level, the standard, the bar was set a little bit higher, a
lot higher,
by example. This is a greater love; this greater love will cause me to
put
aside my own desires, put aside my own wants put aside my own passions,
and say,
“What does someone else need today?” Though I may be tired or in pain,
they may
need my help today. If that’s your home, your family; if it's someone
who needs
some food, like brother Malcolm shared, you show the love. On the last
day we're
going to be judged by how we showed love, not on how we knew the
Scriptures. Yes,
it's good to know the Scriptures. When He gathers everybody, He's going
to
separate the sheep from the goats—that’s going to be your homework;
look up
that Scripture—and, He sets the sheep on the right side and the goats
on the
left. And, on the right side, He didn't say, “Well, because you
preached so
many sermons, you taught so many Bible studies, because you knew the
Bible in and
out…” No, He said, “Because you went and did this, and you did this to
the
least of these, you did it unto me.” So, how we show that love is how
we're
going to be judged. So, show love, don't just know love. First John,
chapter three.
The same person who wrote that. Book that we were just sharing from,
John,
wrote this letter, later. He has a great understanding of this
commandment.
Because, if you look at the four Gospels, nobody really broke down this
commandment. So, he breaks a little further down in this letter. In
first John,
chapter three, verse fourteen: 1 John 3:14-24 We know that we have
passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that
loveth not
his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a
murderer: and
ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby
perceive we
the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to
lay down
our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth
his
brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him,
how
dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in
word,
neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we
are of
the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart
condemn us,
God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our
heart
condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we
ask, we receive
of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are
pleasing
in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on
the name
of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us
commandment. And
he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And
hereby we
know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. So,
when the call comes out, or
the text comes out, we show our love. Someone’s in the hospital, we go
visit
them. Someone's in need of, maybe work on their house, we go help them,
we
swing the hammer. Someone's car breaks down, we go pick them up, we
help them.
Someone needs help with their starter, we go fix it their starter. All
these
needs have been brought before the church this morning. That's how we
show our
love. And, when we go out to there for the Feed My Starving Children,
as
someone had mentioned, people help, it isn't so much—we’re always going
to have
the poor, were always going to have starving children, but how people
see the
love one to another. That's the testimony that's going to bring people
to Jesus,
amen? So, don't just tell people you love them, show them we love them. A
few weeks ago, I was asked to go
to my daughter's class and observe her. But, she was told in advance,
and I was
told in advance, that we were not allowed to speak to each other. She
was just
to set her work in front of her—she is three and a half years old; now
get this,
this is hard for a toddler to do this—and do her work. And, I would sit
there
in silence, and observe, and take notes, and see how she does, and
performs
each of these acts. So, it's kind of like that: God wants us to perform
our
actions, not just talk about them. Show your love one to another. The
last
verse before brother Ken comes up: First Timothy, chapter one, verse
five. 1 Timothy 1:5
Now the end of the
commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience,
and of faith
unfeigned: I'm
going to bet on faith. Amen.
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