Love as Jesus Loves

Clearly defining our direction over the next coming months, as the committee is searching for the next pastor…

Go where Jesus goes…

Do what Jesus does…

Love how Jesus loves...

What’s down in the well is what comes up in the bucket.
In times of uncertainty, times of stress, times of difficulty… what’s down in the well is what comes up in the bucket.

In John 13, Jesus was preparing his disciples for his approaching death. Judas had just left the group to set the betrayal of Jesus in motion (13:21-30).

Jesus knew His disciples would soon be without their leader, teacher, and mentor. So, He desired to prepare them.

John 13:31-35

He desired to place something important down inside their wells! He desires to do the same with us...

Remember His Love

(v.34)

Is this new? To love others was not a new commandment.
Leviticus 19:18 – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

But to love others as Jesus loved was new. **How?

• Jesus loved in life by serving **John 13:1-8, 12-17
  
  • Matthew 20:28 -- “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
• Jesus loved in death by sacrificing
  
  • 1 John 3:16 -- “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us.”
  • Romans 5:8 -- “God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!”

You see, the Lord loves us even when we don’t deserve it. What kind of love is this? Unconditional love.

Now, take that kind of love and go back to John 13:34.

We are expected to love others as Christ does; by serving others--even to the point of personal sacrifice.

Reveal His Love

(v.35)

Jesus says that our Christ-like love will prove we are His disciples (followers).

The fact of the matter is, if we don’t love others the way Christ did, we shouldn’t expect others to believe we are Christians.

Love is an attitude that reveals itself in action.

How can we love others as Jesus loves us? Examples...

• By helping when it’s not convenient.
• By giving when it hurts.
• By devoting energy to others’ welfare rather than our own.
• By taking hurts from others without complaining or fighting back.

It’s hard to love like this.

That’s why people notice it, and they know there is something different about us when we love like Jesus.

Jesus gives a great picture of love in Luke 10:25-37.

The Priest and Levite were good religious people. They professed to be children of God who worked for His glory.

The Samaritan was a half-breed (Jewish and Assyrian descent) known for the wide-spread worship of foreign gods. Jews despised the Samaritans.

Yet Jesus compared the Samaritan to being the good neighbor (the one who loved).

The Samaritan showed love to the one who hated him, spent his own money (two days’ wages), and was never publicly rewarded or honored as far as we know.

This is love!

Have you ever experienced the love of Jesus?

Do you realize that He loved you in His life by serving, and He loved you in His death by sacrificing!

John 3:16 -- “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son; that whoever believes in Him, would not perish but have everlasting life.”

(Remember His love…)
If you’ve experienced His love, (Reveal His love…)
will you commit to sharing that same unconditional love with all people?

The love of Christ is revealed to us so that we can reveal it to others.