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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
– John 13:34-35
These verses call us to love like Jesus.
Notice it is a command. It is not a suggestion for when we feel like it. We must love one another. Churches must be places of love for each other.
And it is a new command primarily because it has a new pattern. We are to love like Jesus. Go through the entire Old Testament, look at saint after saint, and you will not find a perfect example of love. But in Jesus, we have that perfect example. Love like Jesus.
How did Jesus love? In the context, we could say at least three things.
First, Jesus loved by serving. At the beginning of John 13, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. Here was a real need, for their feet were dirty and smelly from walking the dusty roads.
Love like Jesus. Serve each other by meeting real needs. That service might be dirty and messy. It might be hard. It might be unpleasant. Love like Jesus. What opportunities to serve do you see in your church family? How might God call you to serve? In what ways are you already serving? Love like Jesus – by serving.
Second, Jesus loved by speaking. You look through John 13-17, and in most of these verses Jesus is speaking. He is going away, and Jesus knows the disciples need instruction. They need encouragement. They need prayer. And so Jesus lovingly speaks words of instruction, words of encouragement, and words of prayer.
Love like Jesus. Speak words of instruction – to spur on another Christian to follow Jesus. Speak words of encouragement – to strengthen another Christian when life is tough. Speak words of prayer on each other’s behalf – for strength in trial, for growth, for healing, for safety, for victory over temptation. What words of instruction, encouragement, or prayer do you need to speak? Love like Jesus – by speaking.
Finally, Jesus loved by sacrificing. Immediately after that Last Supper, Jesus is arrested, falsely accused, flogged, ridiculed, and hung on cross. Why does he endure all of this? Jesus had already told the disciples: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). Love motivated His sacrifice. Jesus lovingly sacrificed his life for us, to pay punishment for our sins. He sacrificed Himself so that we might be forgiven.
Love like Jesus. Be ready to sacrifice for each other. How might God call you to sacrifice for your church family? Maybe your time or some money. Maybe you will have to sacrifice your comfort or convenience, even sleep. Love like Jesus – by sacrificing.
And this is how the world will know that we are His disciples – as we obey this command and love like Jesus. When the world looks at the church, they should see a place of love, a people of love. A people who genuinely care about each other. A people who lovingly serve and speak and sacrifice. This is who Jesus calls us to be. This is what we are to be known for.
Love like Jesus
Brian J. Mikul 