The Rest of the Story: THE REST OF THE QUESTION

The Rest of= the Story: THE REST OF THE QUESTION

John 13:34-= 38

34<= /span>"A new command I give you= : Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, i= f you love one another."

36Simon Peter asked him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus replied, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.&q= uot; 37Peter asked, "Lord, why can't I follo= w you now? I will lay down my life for you." 38Then Jes= us answered, "Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!=

“…before = the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!” Well, that takes us right back to = last week. And it reminds us of wh= at happened. <= /p>

In the courtyard of t= he High Priest, Peter denies his Lord three times. And as we saw last Sunday, this led Jesus, after His crucifixion and resurrection, to ask Peter three times: “Do you love me?”

It’s the questi= on that won’t go away. In = any important relationship of life, this question remains: “Do you love me?” =

Sweethearts want to know. It doesn’t change= when you get married either—husbands and wives want to know. The same is true for parents and children, and good friends, and the people in your Sunday School Class—they all want to know if they are loved—if the relationsh= ip is important to you.

Even God wants to know. And when it’s our relationship with the Lord we’re talking about, HE want to be loved m= ost of all—“more than all of these” He says. We are to love Him with “hea= rt, soul, mind and strength love”—first priority love, with a love = that surpasses all other loves.

Again, that doesnR= 17;t mean we love one another less. We just love Him most. When Jesu= s was asked about the greatest of all the commandments, He said: ‘Love God with all your hear= t…and love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39)

Last week, we talked = about our love for the Lord: “Do you love me, Peter?” “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” “Then, Pete= r, feed my sheep.” Meaning: ‘if our love for Christ is real, we’ll serve Him—we’= ;ll do the things He wants us to do.’

This morning, we cons= ider “The Rest of the Question,” or we could call this “The Question that Won’t Go Away—Part Two.” Remember that we are looking at Je= sus in the Gospel of John.

We are hearing in Joh= n’s Gospel “The Rest of the Story” concerning Jesus. John was the last of the Gospels written, and John tells us things about Jesus that Matthew, Mark, and Luke don’t. He tells us, in = other words, “the rest of the story.”

Matthew, Mark, and Lu= ke tell us the greatest commandment—‘love God, love others.’ The first three Gospels also tell us that Jesus said we are to “love our enemies.R= 21; So what does John have to add to that?

Well, John, and only = John, shares with us these words of Jesus which are found in our text for today: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I= have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you = are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35)

I. What is Christian living? If someone asked you to define the Christian lifestyle in one word, what would you say? Jesus tells us. He says that at the heart of Christian living is “love.”

The Christian ethic is an ethic of love. It is popular in some circles to a= sk, “What would Jesus do?” People wear bracelets with WWJD inscribed on them. The answer is found by simply aski= ng, “What’s the most loving thing to do in this situation?”

It’s not always easy to answer that questionR= 12;but often it is. We may not like = the answer. It may not always fit= with our sense of justice, or mesh with our prejudices, or jive with what’s most convenient for us. The c= ross wasn’t convenient for Jesus—but it WAS the most loving thing He could do.

But is this really anything new? This commandment to “love one another,” is this truly a new thing that Jesus is telling his followe= rs to do?

We have to admit that people who lived long before Jes= us walked this earth, people who were untouched by the Christian Gospel, knew = that it was 1) better to love than to hate--just as they knew instinctively, by their own consciences, that it was 2) better to tell the truth t= han to lie; 3) and better to treat others fairly than to cheat them.

So why does Jesus call this commandment new? What make= s it new? The answer lies in the quality of love that Jesus talks about. He describes it as loving one anot= her as he has loved us.

That, my friends, IS new--radically new. Even for us today, it’s almo= st as if we have never heard this before. It comes across so different--so no= vel in its approach to life--that we swallow hard and wonder how we can possibly m= eet the challenge of it.

Early Christians knew they were called to a lifestyle = of love—and to a kind of love that was beyond anything that had been lab= eled love before. Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians, “Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himse= lf up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:2)=

“Walk in love, as Christ loved us…” = simply echoes what Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you…” The message= is the same: if you’re a Christian, your goal in life is to love like Je= sus.

So simple to say, but if we take it seriously, this is enough to challenge us for a lifetime, friends. Christ’s love was and is radi= cally different from any love this world has ever known before. To live as Jesus lived is to love as Jesus loved.

II. Now, I want you to consider Some Christian Living Principles: A) Christian Faith an= d Living Must Go Together. Or, to = say this a different way, Christian living and Christian believing must never be separated. Belief and actions, faith and practice nurture and sustain each other—neither survives without the other.

The putting together and keeping together of what we b= elieve and how we actually live is fundamental to Biblical faith. The Ten Commandments are a perfect = example of this in the Old Testament.

The first four commandments have to do with our belief= s and our relationship with God: 1) You shall have no other Gods.

2)&n= bsp; Don’t take the Lord’s name in va= in.

= 3) No graven images.

= 4) Keep the Sabbath holy.

The other six commandments have to do with how we treat people: A) Honor your father = and mother.

B) Don’t Murder.

C) Don’t commit adultery.

D) Don’t Steal, E) Lie, or F) Covet.

Belief and practice go together. Jesus simplified this even further= when He said that “all of the law” is fulfilled when we love God and love our neighbor. Loving God= —that’s believing. Loving our neighbo= r—that’s putting into practice what we believe.

It’s a tragedy that Christians often try to sepa= rate the two. That makes about as much= sense as trying to separate the palm of your hand from the back of your hand. You can’t do it, and attempti= ng it would only leave you with a mutilated hand.

In much the same way, to separate belief and practice = leaves us with a mutilated gospel. W= e call that hypocrisy. To claim to b= elieve in Christ, and then live as if we don’t, does violence to the cause of Christ is this world.

We often hear about “faith without works.”= We know that’s not good. James tells us that faith without = works is (what?) “dead.” But there’s another side to that coinR= 12;“works without faith.”

We don’t hear much about that, but it’s a problem too. A lot of good th= ings are done--very Christ-like ministries are carried out by persons who in no = way acknowledge Christ as Lord.

They’ve simply been raised in a society that sti= ll reflects Christian values--and they have been attracted to and have even adopted som= e of these values as their own. Wi= thout ever choosing to follow Christ, they nevertheless act in ways that demonstrate C= hristian love.

But here’s the danger in that. When you sever Christian actions f= rom Christian faith, there’s nothing to nurture those actions over the long run; an= d in time, they will die.

Like the flowers of Spring, when you cut them, they ma= y remain beautiful for a while, but they soon wither and die. So, too, Christ-like actions, when severed from faith in Jesus, they will shrivel up in time and these good de= eds will die.

Our faith and our lifestyle must be consistent. Beliefs and actions must coincide. = And love is the key to both—t= o our beliefs and our actions—love is the key! The first Principle then: Faith and practice must always go together.

B) A second principle concerning Chri= stian living: Christian living is the re= sult of being saved. Being sav= ed is never the result of Christian living.

We are saved by grace, through faith, and this always = comes to us as God’s gift. We can’t be good enough to be accepted by God. We can’t do enough good deeds= to win His approval.

When we come before God, it’s always with empty = hands, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.” = In fact, it’s only as we realize that we have nothing with which to earn or buy God̵= 7;s salvation that we are finally ready to receive it as a gift of grace.

I appreciate the way Bill Hybels describes the differe= nce between other religions and Christian faith. He uses two small words: “DO= ” and “DONE.”

Other religions tell us to DO this and that and we wil= l be right with God. The Gospel te= aches that we are right with God because of what Christ has already DONE. See the difference?

That doesn’t mean there is nothing for us to do, though. Jesus told us to love= one another as He has loved us. A= nd He didn’t just suggest we lo= ve each other. He commanded it.

We could not keep Christ’s new commandment, thou= gh, but for what He has DONE. We = would not be able to love, we would simply not understand how to do it, had God n= ot first sent His Son to show us how.

In another place, John tells us that “we love God because He first loved us” (I John 4:19). We learn to love by responding to love.

A parent has tremendous love for his child long before= that child is able to return the parent’s love. We cannot love unless somebody love= s us first. (How sad to see a chil= d who has not been loved!)

You and I are able to love God only because He has fir= st reached out to us in love. In= tithing, we return to God a portion of what He has given us.

It’s the same with love: we return only a small portion of = that love with which He has first loved us.&nbs= p; It’s not what we DO, but what God has DONE in us through the g= ift of His Son.

C. And one more thing: Love Proves Christian Living to be Genuine. Again, we turn to I John—= ;it seems that John could not get all of “the rest of the story” pa= cked into his Gospel, so he wrote this letter.&= nbsp;

I John 3:14 says, “We know that we have passed o= ut of death into life, because we love the brethren.” And he gives us the other side of = that coin: “If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar&= #8230;” (I John 4:20)

There are so many seminars and sermon series today on marriage and family and anger management and you name it.

Listen—all of those problems and more would be s= olved if we simply loved one another in the way Jesus commanded.

If we would just get ourselves out of the way enough t= o give ourselves lovingly to others, if we would put their needs and interests abo= ve our own, those problems would soon be solved.

This world, with so much hatred, hostility, and broken= ness, desperately needs to see the kind of self-giving love we see in Jesus. But unless the world sees this love= in Christians (church, US)--where in the world will they see it—let alone, experien= ce it?

Why don’t we love them and let them see this lov= e in us? Let’s begin with our families, our churches and schools and workplaces.

Here’s the question: Are we willing to be the ki= nd of persons through whom Jesus Christ can love this world? That’s the ultimate test for = any Christian and any church—are we willing for the Lord to love this wor= ld through us?

“By this,” Jesus said, and only by this, &= #8220;all men will know that you are my disciples, IF YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER.”