As most of you know, 31 of us just returned from a mission trip to the DR. Next week is our share service and I hope you’ll come and hear the testimonies of team members as well as see pictures of our trip. We had a WONDERFUL week!
This year we conducted Vacation Bible Schools, ran sports camps, did construction, and—thanks to Dr. Michelle Flores—we provided medical care for a lot of needy people. Our construction team was VERY busy this year. They built a house which will be a parsonage for a pastor; they expanded the size of a church by a third; and they build a pavilion that will be used by a new church start high up in the hills.
Now—over the years I have learned that construction in the DR is very different than it is here—especially when it comes to the way they do FOUNDATIONS. First, four long wooden beams are driven into the ground—anchored by dirt and gravel. Then the beams that will be the walls are driven in and fasten to the four corner beams. Then the tin roof is put on followed by siding, windows and doors. And, FINALLY concrete is poured inside which will form the floor of the home as well as the foundation—as it seeps into the gaps that are around each of the beams that had been driven into the ground initially.
Now, even though the Dominicans don’t do foundation like we do—they still know that this part of the construction is literally foundational to the rest of the HOME. I share this because for the last few months we’ve been studying the Ten Commandments—laws that are foundational to our LIVES as families and individuals. Last week Roger Price did an excellent job with the tenth commandment—a prohibition against coveting. Today we are looking at one more law—a law Jesus gave that is foundational to the other ten. Take your Bibles and turn to John 13:34-35. Let’s read it together.
34 – “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
35 – By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.
As you know, we’ve been going through a lengthy study of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20:1-17—laws that are foundational for a strong family—and life. This is the last in that series so, for one final time let’s review the sign-language we’ve learned to remind us of those foundational commandments:
- Law #1 – Keep God First (pointer finger pointed Heavenward)
- Law #2 – Worship Only God (left pointer finger bowing to right)
- Law #3 – Honor God’s Name (three fingers over mouth)
- Law #4 – Honor God’s Day (four fingers on your cheek as if to nap)
- Law #5 – Honor my parents (five fingers over your heart)
- Law #6 – Value every life (hold up five fingers on one hand and the pointer finger of your other hand – turn pointer finger into a “gun” and aim at the other hand.
- Law #7 – Keep Love Pure Hold up five fingers on one hand and the pointer and middle finger on the other – intertwine them by putting the middle one over the pointer to show that they are bonded together (no adultery)
- Law #8 – Do Not Steal Hold up four fingers on one hand and four on the other – using one hand grab the other four fingers (no stealing)
- Law # 9 – Tell the Truth (Hold up four fingers on one hand and five on the other – move the four up and down as they face the five to show that they are lying or bearing false witness about others (no lying)
- Law #10 – Limit My Desires Hold up five fingers on each hand – pull fingers toward you (no coveting)
Good! Now, here’s the symbol for the eleventh commandment: (both hands over heart then one finger pointed to others, “Love one another!”)
Now—we didn’t stop with the Ten Commandments because no study of these commands is complete without looking at this New Testament text. You see, that priest was correct. There are not just Ten Commandments—there are eleven. And, we should also note that with this new commandment—this “love law” so to speak—Jesus gives us the key to understanding and obeying the previous ten laws. As He said in Matthew 22, “ALL the law and the [teachings of the] prophets” hang on—or RELY ON—our love for God and our fellow man. You see, if we truly love God, we won’t profane His name—we won’t worship other things—we will have no other gods but God. We’ll also eagerly keep the Sabbath because we love being in God’s presence.
I’m saying it is LOVE that MOTIVATES us to obey the commands that relate to our relationship with God. And—it is also love that compels us to adhere to those laws that relate to our relationship with our fellow man. For example: Our love for our parents prompts us to honor them. If we truly love our wives and husbands we won’t commit adultery. If we love our neighbors we won’t steal from them or lie to them or want what is theirs—and we certainly won’t kill them. So you see—love is indeed the motivational force that helps us keep ALL the laws of God. Romans 13:8-10 puts it this way, “He who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does not harm to its neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
C. Campbell Morgan put it this way, “Every breach of the Decalogue is a violation of love. The new commandment therefore which is an expression of the intention of the old, perfectly states the one law that includes the many.”
You could say this 11th command is foundational to the other ten foundational commands! With that in mind, here’s a few things we should note:
(1) First—this is a COMMAND—not a SUGGESTION.
Jesus is not saying here, “I’d PREFER that you love one another” or “It WOULD BE NICE if you could love one another” or “DO YOUR BEST—TRY to love one another.” No—Our Lord is using the IMPERATIVE voice here to issue a COMMAND. I mean, with the same force and authority that God said, “You SHALL NOT kill or steal or commit adultery,” He is saying, “You MUST love one another as I have loved you.” And—it is easier to see that this was a commandment, when we remember the CONTEXT in which it was issued. Jesus uttered these words on the night of His betrayal and arrest. He knew that the cross was only a few hours away. His time with the disciples was short. So—this was no time to mince words. It was a time for final, no-nonsense orders! It’s like the instructions a father would give when he is about to head off for a tour of duty in Afghanistan and before he goes, he gathers the family together and orders his eldest son to, “Take care of your mother!” And this commandment obviously had a great impact on the Apostle John for, with the possible exception of the Apostle Paul, he writes more about love than any other New Testament writer.
You may remember from our study of his 1st Epistle a few months back, that in that little book John used some form of the word “love” a total of 51 times. It is not surprising that he became known as “the apostle of love.” So, the first thing we need to realize is that loving one another is a REQUIREMENT for all disciples of Jesus. It’s not optional. And in my mind it HAD to be a command because loving others is not natural for us—or EASY—even when it comes to loving other Christians. I mean, the sad truth is that even as believers we can be very unlovable. In fact I’m sure that right now names of other Christ-followers—who are hard to love—are popping in your head. Perhaps they are members of this church. You don’t LIKE this person. You have a history of butting heads with him or her and it’s a struggle for you to love them.
Well, this frustrates us because we expect Christians to be different—lovable! I remember when Sue and I moved into Seminary housing in Louisville. We had only been married a week. I was driving the U-Haul and she was driving our car. I hadn’t worried about lugging all the furniture and boxes into our apartment because after all, seminarians lived here—MATURE, LOVING Christ-followers were our neighbors. In fact, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see angels welcoming us at the entrance! And—sure enough there were about 20 strong seminary students playing flag football in the field next to our apartment. As I pulled in I thanked God because I knew these selfless believers would stop their game and come to our aid. But—no—they did not. They glanced our direction but just kept playing as Sue and I lugged our stuff into the apartment on that hot humid August day. Well, I didn’t LIKE those other believers. In fact, the more trips I made from the truck to the apartment the MORE I disliked them. I began to doubt if they were indeed Christians. Now—eventually a couple people in the apartments around us saw us and came to our aid but not those guys who had nothing better to do then play. And—I’ve met other unlovely Christians like that over the years—many times I HAVE been just as unlovely. The thing we have to remember is that Christians are not perfect. We are forgiven. And the only One capable of making our forgiveness possible COMMANDS us to love each other in spite of our imperfection.
You know, our tendency is to write unlovely people off—to gossip and try to build a group against those who have hurt or criticized us. Well, we have to remember, the Christ we SAY we follow as LORD commands us NOT to do that. We are to go to that person and work it out. We are to LOVE one another even if restoration with them is not possible.
And then another VERY important thing we should note about this text is that Jesus says here that when we obey this 11th command—when we love one another—
(2) —we PROVE that we really do have a RELATIONSHIP with God.
Verse 35 says, “By THIS all men will know that You are My disciples.”Jesus said this is because God is the SOURCE of all pure or genuine love. As 1st John 4:7-8 says, “Love comes from God for God IS love.”Someone once put it this way, “Love flows from God as light radiates from the sun.”
Well, since God IS the source of all love then it follows that the best evidence that a person truly KNOWS God is whether or not he or she loves in a Godly way. It is as John—the Apostle of Love—writes in his epistle: “Everyone who loves is born of God and Knows God. The one who does not love does not know God.” (1 John 4:7-8) In other words, a stranger to love is a stranger to God. Love is the proof of a regenerate heart. Only true Christians are capable of genuine love.
If you have ever met my brother Jon then you know that we look very much alike. He has the same receding hair line—the same “Adams dimple” in his chin—the same dashing good looks. Well, these and other characteristics clearly indicate our shared family heritage. They show got our genes from the same pool! One look at us will leave no doubt in your mind that we are closely related. The other day I saw proof of this in the eyes of my grandson Joel. We were at a party celebrating Jon’s third college graduation. Well, Joel wouldn’t let any other relative hold him—not Jon’s wife or their children—but when Jon reached for him Joel went and then he looked at Jon kind of curiously—as if to say, “Grandad? Is that you?” Then I came up and he looked even more confused. Even my one-year-old grandson could see the family resemblance.
Well, in this text Jesus is saying that our Christlike love for each other shows others our “family resemblance.” It clearly indicates to others that God is our Father. Let me put it this way: when we love as only Christ can love people will recognize us as the children of God.
Bishop William C. Martin once said, “Love is the one attribute of character—the only one—about which we are able to say, ‘If a man has this, it proves unconditionally that he is a Christian. If he does not have love, no matter what else he has or does, it proves that he is not a follower of the Lamb of God.’”
(3) The third thing I think we need to realize here is that when we obey this 11th commandment we ATTRACT lost people to God.
In John 12:32 Jesus said, “When I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself.”Well, one way we “lift Jesus up” is when we love as only He can love. When we do we see this promise of Jesus fulfilled, for people are then indeed drawn to Him.
Nijole Sadunaite is a Lithuanian Christian who was severely persecuted for her faith under Communism. Arrested in 1974 for publishing underground reports of the persecution of Christians throughout the Soviet bloc, she was eventually exiled to Siberia. A book about her, entitled A Radiance in the Gulag, reveals her character for she was indeed a radiance in that harsh, unloving place. Well, Nijole’s suffering became known by various Christian organizations in the West, a large number of believers knew of her plight. Consequently, Nijole received many care packages while she was in exile. Although it was against the law, the Communist guards made her pay to receive these packages. Prisoners in exile had to work, and they received a starvation wage of a meager 75 rubles per month. Their housing cost 20 rubles, and the prisoners were made to pay sometimes over 45 rubles to accept any packages sent to them. But time after time, Nijole accepted these packages, paid for them, and then re-packaged them—and mailed them to Christians in other parts of the Soviet bloc whom she believed were suffering worse than she was. The Communist guards and postal officials could not make any sense out of this. It was a kindness and a sacrifice that utterly dumbfounded them. One time, some girls who were members of the Communist youth organization questioned Nijole about her strange behavior.
Nijole replied that she wanted to help her impoverished brothers and sisters in Christ who were suffering. And the girls asked her, if we were ever put in jail, and you learned of it, would you send us your care packages? And Nijole replied, “Of course, if I knew your address.” This led to further conversations with these girls about Nijole’s Christian faith. My point is this: Christlike love stands out like a candle in the darkness. It ATTRACTS people to God like moths to a flame!
Well, in order for us to obey this 11th commandment we must first UNDERSTAND what Jesus’ love was like. Remember—He said, “….love one another AS I HAVE LOVED YOU…”So this morning I want us to consider three aspects or qualities of Jesus’ love:
(1) First of all, His love is characterized by ACTION.
I consider this good news because, to be honest, as I said, there have been times when it has been very difficult for me to FEEL love for some people. This reminds me of a story about a seminary professor who spent a lot of time lecturing on the importance of loving one another. One day he had a new sidewalk poured in front of his house. A small neighborhood boy was playing around there and apparently didn’t realize it was wet—because He ran RIGHT THROUGH the cement and messed up the seminary professor’s beautiful new sidewalk. He caught the boy and really reamed him out! Some of his students heard about this and when he came into class the next day they said, “You’ve been telling us that we ought to love one another, but look how hard you were on that little kid.” The professor replied, “It’s like this. I love him in the abstract, but I don’t love him in the concrete!” Well I think we understand how that professor felt—for it IS hard to FEEL love for everyone! So, fortunately this is a command not to FEEL love but to ACT in love. Jesus is talking about a love that is controlled not by the HEART but by the HEAD. It is a love that expresses itself by doing good things for other people. So it doesn’t involve LIKING your neighbor. Isn’t that a relief! Liking can’t be forced or compelled. We can’t make ourselves LIKE unlikable people. I mean, do you think Jesus LIKED the behavior of Caiaphas, that corrupt, obnoxious, arrogant high priest who sent the detachment of soldiers to arrest Him?
Of course not—but He LOVED Him. The love Jesus commands here is a love of ACTION—and we see this quality of love in God’s love for US. John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that He acted by GIVING—“His only Son.” Romans 5:8 says, “God DEMONSTRATES His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” So, the love we’re talking about here is a love characterized by ACTION, not necessarily FEELING. We are commanded here to ACT in love toward all people.
(2) Another characteristic of Jesus’ love is that it is not SELECTIVE.
Jesus acts in love toward EVERYONE. He doesn’t pick and choose whom He loves. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved THE [WHOLE] WORLD that He gave.” 2nd Peter 3:9 says that God, “…is not willing for ANY to perish but for ALL to come to repentance.” 1st John 2:2 says Jesus, “…is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” Jesus’ love reaches out to every human being who has ever been born or ever will be born and if we love like Him we will be just as inclusive not in our love of sin but in our love of fellow sinners!
Just before mobilizing for a year of duty in Iraq, Army reserve chaplain, Thomas Bruce launched the web-based prayer movement, “Adopt a Terrorist for Prayer.” He registered the website as ATFP.org—an ironic echo of the Defense Department’s own “Anti-Terrorism Force Protection” program. On it Chaplain Bruce posts photos of dangerous terrorists like those who killed so many in Paris this week—terrorists from the FBI and state departments most-wanted lists and he invites people to “adopt” one of these people to pray for. One thousand people have done so.
I wonder what would happen if more of us did this—loved our enemies enough to pray for them. How would it change us? How would it change our enemies? How would it change our world?
Listen—before Jesus came—as unforgiven sinners we were all enemies of God. I mean, none of us deserved God’s great love—but that didn’t keep Him from acting in love toward us. I don’t know about you but I am so glad that this is true because if I had to deserve God’s love I would be in big trouble.
You know we say that “Love is blind.” But this is not true of God’s love. HIS love is open-eyed. It acts in love in spite of what it sees. It is a love that is for all people. As Paul writes, “He is no respecter of persons.” God does not show favoritism. Do you remember Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount? He said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors and pagans doing that?” Jesus calls us here to an inclusive love of all people for there is no one in the world who stands OUTSIDE of the circle of His love. Now, most of us have a hard time drawing a circle as large as God does. We’re not sure God loves drunk drivers, racists, terrorists, pro-choice people, homosexuals, and people who abuse others.
That fact might be hard for some of us to swallow so—to help you grasp just how all-encompassing God’s love is, DRAW a circle in your mind, and imagine yourself standing in it. Then say to yourself. “There’s not anybody in the whole world that God loves more than He does me.” And then before you begin to feel self-righteous add: “And there’s no anybody in the whole world that God loves LESS than He does me.” God loves all people—He hates sin but He loves sinners—God loves EVEN PEOPLE WHOM WE FEEL JUSTIFIED TO HATE.
In his book, What’s So Amazing About Grace, Philip Yancey tells the story of Will Cambell, a minister in Mississippi in the 1960’s who was very involved in the civil rights movement. His stand against the evils of racism cost him his job at Old Miss and turned many of his friends against him but he was determined to do all he could to put an end to legalized segregation. So, he moved into the thick of that battle, leading voter registration drives and supervising the idealistic young Northerners who migrated south to join in the civil rights crusade. He often found himself verbally criticized by local “Christians” who refused to let people of other races into their churches—and who resented anyone tampering with the laws back in the 60’s that favored white people. One day a renegade newspaper editor who viewed all Christians as “the enemy” and could not understand Will’s stubborn commitment to religious faith asked him, “In ten words of less, what’s the Christian message?” Campbell thought a second and then blurted out, “We are all bastards but God loves us anyway.” And brash or not—he was correct. Spiritually, all of us are “illegitimate children,” invited in spite of our fallen paternity to join God’s family.
Perhaps the saddest day of Campbell’s life was the day an Alabama deputy sheriff named Thomas Colemen gunned down a young white man named Jonathan Daniels—who had come south to assist Campbell in his work. After this happened the same reporter, cornered Campbell and asked, “Does your definition STILL work? Do you still believe God loves ALL of us? Who does God love more: that murderer, Thomas Coleman, or the innocent victim, Jonathan Daniels?” Campbell writes, “When he posed this question, everything suddenly became clear. I agreed that the notion that God would love a man who walked up to an innocent young man who was selflessly giving of his time and talents to help others—and fire a shotgun blast into him, tearing his lungs and heart and bowels from his body—the thought that God would love such a person was more than I could stand. But unless that is precisely the case then there is no Gospel, there is no Good News.”
What Will Campbell received that night was a new insight into grace. The free offer of God’s love extends not just to the undeserving but to those who in fact deserve the opposite—to Ku Klux Klanners as well as to civil rights marchers—to murderers like Sheriff Thomas Coleman as well as to victims like Jonathan Daniels. Yancey said that this message lodged so deep inside Will Campbell that he underwent a kind of “earthquake of grace.” He became what he wryly calls an “apostle to the rednecks.” He bought a farm in Tennessee, where he was just as likely to spend his time sharing His faith with Klansmen and racists as with racial minorities and white liberals. A lot of people, he decided, were volunteering to help minorities understand God’s love; he knew of no one ministering to the “Thomas Coleman’s” of the world.” His actions remind us that Jesus’ love is an all-inclusive love. There is no one He does not love.
(3) And then a third characteristic of Jesus’ love is that it is a SACRIFICIAL, SELFLESS love.
In other words, God acts in love for everyone—even when it COSTS Him to do so. As 1st John 4:10 says, God LOVED us and “sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” In his classic book, THE BODY, Charles Colson tells the true story of Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish monk who was imprisoned in Auschwitz by the Nazi’s in WWII. Father Kolbe was subjected to years of tortuous manual labor yet he was a constant source of Godly love and encouragement to his fellow prisoners. One July night a couple years after his imprisonment, the camp air was suddenly filled with the baying of dogs, the curses of soldiers, and the roar of motorcycles. A man had escaped from Barracks 14—-Father Kolbe’s barracks.
The next morning there was a peculiar tension as the ranks of phantom-thin prisoners lined up for morning roll call in the central square. You see, the escapee had not been caught and that meant death for some of those who remained. The Nazis hoped that this would keep other prisoners from attempting to escape in the future. All prisoners in the camp, except for those in Barracks 14, were dismissed. They were ordered to wait, standing at attention as the summer sun beat down upon them. Some fainted and were dragged away. Some swayed in place but held on only to be beaten by the butts of the SS officers’ guns. Father Kolbe, by some miracle stayed on his feet, his posture as straight as his resolve. He and his fellow inmates were forced to stand without rest or food all day. By evening roll call the commandant was ready to levy sentence. He screamed, “The prisoner has not been found. Ten of you will die for him in the starvation bunker. The next time this happens 20 will die.”
This was a horrible way to die! The gallows—even the gas chambers—were better than this slow agonizing death. After a day or two in this bunker the condemned didn’t look like human beings. Their appearance and behavior even scared the guards. The heat and absence of food and water caused their throats to turn to paper, their brains to turn to fire, their intestines to dry up and shrivel like desiccated worms. The commandant walked along the rows of prisoners demanding each man to open his mouth so he could see his teeth—choosing victims like horses. Soon there were ten men. The last man chosen groaned aloud, “My poor wife! My poor children! What will they do?” Suddenly there was a commotion in the ranks. A prisoner had broken out of line, calling for the commandant. It was unheard of to leave the ranks, let alone address a Nazi officer.
To do so was cause for execution. The commandant grabbed his revolver and, pointing at the prisoner, yelled, “What does this Polish pig want of me?” The prisoners gasped. It was their beloved Father Kolbe, the priest who shared his last crust of bread, who comforted the dying, who heard their confessions and nourished their souls. The frail priest spoke softly, even calmly, to the Nazi butcher. “I would like to take the place of the one of the men you condemned.” “Why?” snapped the commandant. Kolbe calmly replied, “I am an old man sir, and good for nothing. My life will serve no purpose.” The commandant asked, “In whose place do you want to die?” “I want to die for that one,” Kolbe responded, pointing to the weeping prisoner who had bemoaned the fate of his wife and children. The commandant agreed and, as Kolbe passed this other prisoner the man’s face was an expression so astonished that it had not yet become gratitude. But Kolbe wasn’t looking for gratitude. If he was to lay down his life for another, the fulfillment had to be in the act of obeying God’s command. The joy must be found in submitting his small will to the will of God. As the hours and days passed, the camp became aware of something extraordinary happening in the death cell. Past prisoners of this starvation bunker had spent their dying days howling, attacking one another, clawing the walls in a frenzy of despair. But now, those outside heard the faint sounds of singing coming from the bunker. For—this time the prisoners had a shepherd to gently lead them through the shadows of the valley of death, pointing them to the Great Shepherd. And perhaps for this reason, Father Kolbe was the last to die.
If you were to go to Auschwitz today you would find a perpetual flame burning. It is a flame of remembrance—so that we will never forget what happened there—in the hopes that Nazi atrocities will never be repeated. But it is more than that. This flame celebrates the fact that men and women who are enduring even the greatest of horrors can demonstrate the greatest of loves. It is not a monument to Father Maximilian Kolbe alone—hero though he was. It points ultimately to the God/Man, Who laid down His life for us all on the cross—the Master Who came not to be served but to serve—the only King in history Who died on behalf of His subjects.
You know, after my study of this 11th commandment I have come to two conclusions.
First of all, I have come to realize just how desperately our world needs the love of Jesus. Hate comes so easily to people these days. We need the culture-changing impact of Christians like Father Kolbe who will act in love toward all people, even unlovely people—even when it is expensive, costly, to do so.
And secondly I have concluded that we can’t love like this. We can’t obey this 11th commandment or LAW on our own strength. This kind of love must be empowered by God. This is what Paul was inferring in 2nd Corinthians 3 when he said that God’s law was, “written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts…for we are not competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence [our power] comes from God.” Can you imagine the impact that we could have if we committed this morning to rely on Jesus’ power and love as only He can?
We sing our closing hymn to give you an opportunity to think about what we have learned together about love this morning and to respond publicly if you feel so led. At this time we invite you to join our church or rededicate your life to God in some way or to respond to the love of God by making your public profession of faith in Christ. As we sing I urge you to come forward and share any decision you have to make with me or Bobby or Kevin.