One Anothering
- David Fairchild
- Nov 4, 2007
- Series: Topical
TEXT
John 13:34-35: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
John 17:23: "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."
INTRODUCTION
On the night Jesus was betrayed, the night when God's Son was to be handed over for 30 pieces of silver to suffer the injustice of illegal trials, to suffer the physical shame of being beaten and tortured, and to suffer the loss of His Father's presence, Jesus calls His closest friends together over a meal.
Those gathered are the men He chose to pour His life into. These are the men He taught, rebuked, encouraged, helped, forgave, led, supported, comforted, served, and accepted. Jesus loved these men well in both word and deed and He brings them together to give them one more lesson and to show them a pattern of loving service towards one another in an act of the greatest humility as an example for how they are to love one another.
Jesus knew that His time to taste death had come. He knew that He was going to be taken from those He loved dearly and with whom He had shared life. So Jesus gathers them around a table over supper and gives them what would be His last will and testament.
Before Jesus calls them to follow His words, He rises from the table, lays aside His outer garment, takes a towel and ties it around His waist, fills a basin with water, kneels down at their feet, lifts their feet and begins to wash them.
The filth of walking through Jerusalem with open sandals at a time when all of the animals would have been gathered together for Passover would have been disheartening to the lowest of servants for which this job was reserved. Yet Jesus, the God-Man, lowers Himself to their filthiest place, takes their feet in His hands and washes them clean.
You can imagine the weight of the moment, the intensity of Jesus' voice and the long looks He gives to each of His friends for whom He was about to die. When someone close to you is about to die, you listen carefully to every word. It seems that the carelessness of words wither away and every comment is loaded with rich emotion and meaning.
You can almost feel the gravity of this story, can't you? Can you imagine yourself there with the disciples in your filth as your Lord and King humbles Himself before you to take your heel into His hands and wash you? What would you be feeling? When He looks up at you would you turn away in shame? Would you burst into tears from this act of royal humility? Would you be overjoyed at the character and love that your Savior has for you? I'm sure all of these responses flooded the minds of the disciples as one by one they were washed by Jesus.
What about Judas? The man whom Jesus knew was about to hand Him over to be tortured and murdered. What expression do you see on Christ's face as He looks intensely into Judas' eyes as He washes the feet of the man who will just moments later walk out and filthy them again on his way to betray his friend? Can you imagine what was on Judas' mind? Can you grasp the depth of humility Christ shows when He has the feet of the man in His hands who is about to have him killed? He could have called a legion of angels upon Judas, and instead He washes his feet. This is scandalous!
We're told in this story in John 13:12-17: "When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, ‘Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.'"
It is in this setting of death's sobriety and last words that Jesus speaks to His disciples, His friends. It is in this setting of scandalous humility that Christ speaks to us this morning through His words about His dying commands and wishes for those who have been loved by Him.
Jesus continues to speak to them in this chapter and tells them that it's time for Him to leave them. For the next 4 chapters of this gospel, Jesus speaks with them about a command that He labors to make clear. In chapter 17 He prays to the Father that they keep this command and experience it in their lives and the lives of all those who love Him and are loved by Him.
What is it? Verse 34-35.
Verse 34-35: "A new commandment I give to you, , you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
A New Commandment
This commandment of love towards one another wasn't new. The idea of love for God, love for your brother, or love in general wasn't new. It also wasn't a new teaching that Jesus said to love your neighbor since Jesus summed up the entire Law by saying that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Luke 10:27).
What Jesus is saying is that the very foundation for our love for one another, the very motivation for why we are to love one another is based upon His love for us. This new commandment is a commandment founded and based on Christ's love for us. They are now to love one another for Christ's sake. He is the very foundation of the Law and commands because only He kept them without fail.
This becomes greater than the golden rule. Jesus is exalting this form of love to such a high degree that it could be called "new." He is lifting up to show that its value is without comparison.
It is the platinum rule. Instead of doing to others as you would have them do to you, He is saying that we are to do to others as He has done for us!
Our love for "one another" is set in the context of Christ's love for us.
Redefining Love
We're called to love one another in verse 34 but in our day we need to define or redefine the word love so that we clarify what it is and what it isn't.
The Bible speaks of three kinds of love; eros, phileo and agape.
Passion
Eros is a sensual love based upon a particular feeling. "I love you when I feel this way." It is primarily a physical form of love. It is there when the intimacy or sensuality is present and gone when it is not.
This sensual kind of love is why we find husbands and wives after being married for a few years say, "I loved her but have fallen out of love." What has happened is a loss of passion and this is seen as a loss of genuine or true love.
Companionship
Phileo is love based upon a relationship as a brother or friend. "I love you because you're my friend or relative." This kind of love can be more contractual. "If you do this or that I'll love you. As long as you're a good friend and you care for me as I care for you, then I love you. When you stop doing for me then my love will stop as well."
C.S. Lewis called this a "need love." It does this or that to receive something in return. It serves to be served and gives to get back. It is ultimately selfish and conditional. You could say it is more contractual.
True Love
Agape love is a love based not upon contract but covenant. It says, "I will love you not because of how you make me feel or what you do for me but because of the love that I've been given so now I give to you." This is the kind of covenantal love our Father has given to us. He loves us often in spite of ourselves.
This love is a "gift love" and is not selfish or based upon my momentary feeling. It doesn't look for something in return. It doesn't seek recognition. It doesn't expect performance. It is given out of the abundance of a free heart which is the only way this love can be graciously showered upon someone. It does not hold out conditions, it draws upon the truth that "Christ loves me."
This is the kind of love that Jesus says he has given us and calls us to give to one another.
One Anothering
The term "one another" appears 91 times in the New Testament and 53 in the Pastoral Epistles.
Thirty-five times they are an occurring word pattern which mentions a verb followed by the term "one another."
These "one another" passages teach us how to love each other in community.
Since this is the way we love "one another" we should read John 13:34-35 in an entirely new light. For instance:
John 15:12 - Love one another
Romans 5:13 - Don't pass judgment on one another
Romans 12:5 - Be members of one another
Romans 12:10 - Honor one another
Romans 12:16 - Live in harmony with one another
Romans 14:19 - Build up one another
Romans 15:5 - Be like-minded toward one another
Romans 15:7 - Accept one another
1 Corinthians 12:25 - Care for one another
Galatians 5:13 - Serve one another in love
Galatians 5:26 - Don't provoke or envy one another
Galatians 6:2 - Bear one another's burdens
Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind to one another
Colossians 3:13 - Bear with each other and forgive one another
1 Thessalonians 3:12 - Abound in love toward one another
1 Thessalonians 4:18 - Comfort one another
Titus 3:3 - Don't hate one another
Hebrews 3:13 - Encourage one another
Hebrews 10:24 - Stir up one another to love and good deeds
James 4:11 - Don't slander one another
James 5:9 - Don't bear grudges against one another
James 5:16 - Confess your sins to one another
1 Peter 4:9 - Offer hospitality to one another
1 Peter 5:14 - Greet one another
1 John 1:7 - Fellowship with one another
1 John 3:11 - Love one another
Ephesians 5:21- submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Kaleo Community Covenant
Because of Christ's great love and commitment to me, I covenant to love His bride and to show the same commitment to one another in His church.
I promise to be members of one another, to honor one another, to live in harmony with one another, to build one another up, to be like-minded toward one another, to accept one another, to care for one another, to serve one another, to bear one another's burdens, to be kind to one another, to forgive one another, to abound in love, to comfort one another, to encourage one another, to stir one another up to love and good deeds, to confess my sins to one another, to be hospitable to one another, to greet one another, to fellowship with one another, to submit to one another while not passing judgment on one another, not provoking one another, not envying one another, not to hate one another, not to slander one another, and not to bear grudges against one another.
I do all this because Christ has loved me in each of these ways and this frees my heart to love one another as Christ has loved me (John 13:34).
How can any of us possibly live these community imperatives to "one another" if we're not living in radical community?
We should get a list of those close to us and begin to live this out with one another and then think and pray about how we can love our neighborhood intentionally.
Why?
This is a missional endeavor!
John 13:34-35: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
John 17:23: "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."
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