Jesus’ Last Evening: Love One Another

Tonight we remember the last evening of our Lord’s life. Recall the key events and statements that lead up to Jesus’ arrest:

  • Jesus washing the disciples’ feet
  • The prophecy of a betrayal by one of the Twelve
  • The Last Supper, and the institution of the Lord’s Supper
  • The New Commandment: That they love one another as He has loved them
  • The prophecy of Peter’s denial
  • “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”
  • “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father”
  • “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”
  • “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing”
  • “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit”
  • “The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.  And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.”
  • “If I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”
  • “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
  • “This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
  • “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,  I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”
  • “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
  • Gethsemane: “Not My will, but Yours be done.”
  • To Judas: “Would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”

Over the centuries, many Christians have seen the New Commandment –  “Love one another as I have loved you” – as the theme that integrates all these events and statements. (For this reason, many call this evening Maundy Thursday, from mandatum, the Latin word for “commandment” in John 13:34.) With that in mind, consider how much we learn about love through the highlights above:

  • Love is humble and serves
  • Love is loyal, and never betrays
  • Love is forgiving and forbearing
  • Love warns and speaks even hard truths when that will be good for the other
  • Love gives up all for the loved ones
  • Jesus’ love encourages us and empowers us through the Helper to become like Him and to fulfill His work
  • Love sends us out
  • Love warns of division and opposition
  • Love points others to the only source of all good, the Father Himself
  • Love makes clear there is only one way to the Father
  • Love emphasizes our weakness to accomplish anything apart from Christ in us
  • When we love Jesus, we rejoice to obey Him
  • The loving, humble Jesus says that to know Him and the Father is eternal life
  • Love unifies us so that our very unity might bear witness to the One Who loves

We can say more. The disciples who heard Jesus speak and act out these truths then taught others the New Commandment and its implications. The Apostle Paul highlights the commandment also. Here is a complete selection of verses in the New Testament that use the Greek word for “one another” in reference to some or all followers of Christ. Negatively, we are told not to:

  • Pass judgment on one another
  • Put a hindrance in another’s way
  • Divide one from another
  • Provoke or envy one another
  • Lie to one another
  • Seek revenge on one another
  • Speak evil of one another
  • Grumble against one another

Instead, positively we are to:

  • Encourage one another
  • Honor one another
  • Live in harmony with one another
  • Pursue peace with one another
  • Welcome one another
  • Show hospitality to one another
  • Instruct one another
  • Greet one another
  • Serve one another
  • Bear one another’s burdens
  • Bear with and forgive one another
  • Do good to one another
  • Speak the truth to one another
  • Be kind to one another
  • Submit to one another
  • Count others more significant than yourself
  • Consider one another, how to stir up one another to love and good works
  • Confess sins to one another
  • Pray for one another
  • Know that we have fellowship with one another – that is, we are teammates for a common purpose

So on this “New Commandment Thursday,” I encourage you to meditate on these Scriptures and to reflect on this summary list of what loving one another means. May God be pleased to make us “increase and abound in love for one another and for all . . . so that he may establish [our] hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints” (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13).

 

Spreading a Passion Through the Overflow of Your Heart

Why are we here?

Why are we here as a church? Why are we here as individuals?

Why doesn’t God just open our eyes to see the magnificence of Jesus, save us by grace through faith – and then translate us into His presence? Why doesn’t He immediately remove us from this world? It seems like that would result in our having a lot more joy and a lot less sorrow. Think of the various sorrows you would not have experienced had He acted that way.

Indeed, if God’s goal were to minimize the pain that His people go through after salvation, undoubtedly He would take us to Himself immediately.

But He doesn’t. Why not? That is: Why are we here?

Over the six years of our existence as a church, we answered that question with different phrases. Our mission statement is a direct answer to that question: We exist as a church to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. We have taught that the Bible gives the church a threefold purpose: Expressing joy in Christ, deepening joy in Christ, and spreading joy in Christ. The first two occur both now and in eternity. The last is peculiar to our time in this world.

Scripture uses different images to get this point across:

  • Paul says we are “ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20).
  • Jesus refers to us as those who are sent out: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21)
  • Our Savior tells us we are to lovers of God: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37)
  • And He tells us we are to be lovers of our neighbors: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).
  • When we live this way by His grace through His Spirit, we are godlike, spreading His image: “As he is so also are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

Do you see the connections among these descriptions of us? As John Piper notes, “You can’t commend what you don’t cherish.” If we are spread a passion for Him, we must be passionate about Him. Then we can be His ambassadors, sent by Him, like Jesus, both the proclaim the Good News, and to live out the Good News in acts of love. In this way, we truly are like Him in this world, displaying His image, His likeness

So this is why we are here. God gives us Himself, and then He gives us pain, He gives us trials, He gives us challenges – as well as joys, successes, and accomplishments – so that we might display Who He is.

So every pain, every trial, every challenge is an opportunity to display the glory of God. We will display that glory if in the midst of trials we remember Who He is, live in accordance with that truth, and proclaim that truth to others.

If we, then, are here in this world rather than in God’s presence in order to spread joy in Christ, how does this spreading happen?

Let me answer that in a roundabout way. Trust me that we’re going to get back to biblical spreading.

In a program-driven church, spreading occurs in large measure through scheduled activities:

  • “We do evangelism 10am to noon Saturday mornings. Come out with us and speak of who Jesus is.”
  • “Tuesday nights at 7 we have a class on sharing the Gospel. Come learn how to spread!”
  • “Thursday evenings at 6pm we offer a meal and then a course that takes 6 weeks to explain the Gospel to unbelievers. Bring your unsaved friends!”

None of those activities are bad. We have often done similar activities. We may do all again in the future.

The problem arises when we attend a Saturday morning evangelistic effort and then say, “OK, I can check off evangelism for this week!” Paul did not say, “We are ambassadors for Christ two hours each week.” We are ambassadors. We exist to spread joy in Christ. We are always as He is in this world.

So the biblical mandate is to be an ambassador, to be a sent one, to be one who loves God with all your heart.

One who is an ambassador of Christ may well structure formal activities in order to live out that calling. But he is an ambassador all the time. And we certainly cannot schedule love for God with all our heart for a few hours each week!

So what are we aiming at here at Desiring God Community Church?

We aim to be a community of God-enamored people, of Gospel-enamored people, spurring each other on to love Him all the more, speaking to each other out of overflowing hearts about who Jesus is. As my friend Tim Cain puts it, we want DGCC to be a church where we exhort one another, “Tell me something that you learned this week that blows you away about the majesty of Jesus.” We want to leave Sunday morning services asking each other, “What did you see of the glory of God the Father in that sermon?” “What lyrics or Scriptures today thrilled you about the person of Jesus?” We want to come together in small groups and ask, “What have you seen of God’s character in your devotions this week?”

So, a program-driven church might emphasize that everyone should be in a small group in order to get to know a few people well, to feel attached to the church, to give each person a task, with the goal of assimilating everyone into the life of the church.

Once again, those are not bad things. Hopefully our small groups will yield those secondary benefits.

But in a Gospel-enamored church, small groups are a scheduled opportunity to do what should be happening all the time: Fulfilling the biblical one another commands.

Here is a partial list of those commands (here is a complete list, with references)

  • Love one another (earnestly, from a pure heart)
  • Abound in love for one another
  • live in harmony with one another
  • do not pass judgment on one another
  • welcome one another
  • greet one another
  • care for one another
  • serve one another
  • bear one another’s burdens
  • bear with one another in love
  • be kind to one another
  • Address one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
  • submit to one another
  • do not lie to one another
  • forgive one another
  • teach one another
  • admonish one another
  • encourage one another
  • exhort one another
  • build one another up
  • do good to one another
  • stir up one another to love and good works
  • do not speak evil against one another
  • do not grumble against one another
  • confess your sins to one another
  • pray for one another
  • show hospitality to one another
  • clothe yourselves with humility toward one another

My friends, these are the marks of a Gospel-enamored church. These are the marks of hearts changed by God’s grace. Out of the overflow of that grace, in chance meetings and in scheduled meetings, we give grace to one another, we speak of God’s grace to one another. Our cups overflow in word and deed. Speaking of Christ to one another becomes natural.

So what does this have to do with spreading? Much in every way!

First, when speaking of Christ is natural with believers, speaking of Christ will also become natural with unbelievers. We will then commend what we cherish. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).

Second, when such interactions are common among us, the church as a whole is a tremendous witness to the truth of the Gospel. When we live out the “one another” commands, others will notice the depth of our relationships, the extent of our love, the sincerity of our concern, and the quality of our joy. Living in this way commends the Gospel in ways that words never will.

So will you pray to this end? Will you pray that we would be such a community? Will you pray that each of us individually might be so enamored with Christ that our lips cannot but speak of Him? Will you pray that our life together would be characterized by the fulfillment of these one another commands?

And will you pray that we then might indeed spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ?