#31.

We are Commanded to Love in Fellowship

John 13:3435 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as
I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are
My disciples, if you have love for one another.

Over the next few weeks, we are going to see that the use of the gifts God has given to His
church for her good is not an optional thing - it is commanded of us. We are going to
examine many of the "One Another" texts in the Bible, to see what the Lord expects us to
do in fellowship together. We will see that He commands us to do the very things He has
gifted us to be able to do.

Supreme among all these verses must be the new commandment that we have received
from the Lord Jesus Christ, which features in our text. Just as Paul puts love at the head of
the list of the fruits that God's Spirit forms in us, so we must begin this section with the
command from Jesus to manifest that love towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. All
the other gifts, all the "one anothers" flow from this one - love.

We must understand that the love Jesus spoke of here is very different than anything that
the world knows or can know. Christ characterizes the love we are to have for one another
by saying that it is to be of the same quality as the love He has for us.

His love , of course, is unconditional - resting only in Himself as the cause and not drawn
out by anything in us, and not removed from us because of the sinful things we do after
coming to know Him. His love is sacrificial - costing Him His life-blood to rescue us from
eternal destruction, to receive us as brethren, to satisfy His Father's justice and to repair His
honor. His love is not merely spoken but not demonstrated in action. This is completely
different from the "love" that is acted out for us on the movie screens and in TV shows and
romantic novels - it is higher, nobler, purer altogether. This is the love we are commanded
to have for one another.

Note that as we exercise this kind of love, we will show ourselves to be disciples of Jesus
Himself. We will be like Him in this most important of ways. But, as we have asked before,
how will the kind of love Jesus has for us be shown for one another in the church if we are
never together? Jesus came to earth, took human flesh and dwelt in a sinful world so that
He could show this love to us, yet sometimes we can't even get in a car and drive to the
prayer meeting or a worship service to show it to our brothers and sisters. We know we
have been gifted with this manner of love, because as believers we have the Spirit of Christ
dwelling in us. Now Jesus commands each one of us to show that love toward one another
and in doing so, to testify to the truth of His Gospel. Will you obey your Lord in this?

www.graceopcmodesto.org