Pastor Tim Janiszewski - "A New Commandment"

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Messages of Grace

(Past Recorded Sermons)

This Sunday

October 9, 2016

Sermon Title:
"What the World Needs Now"

Scripture:
John 13:31-34

October 6, 2016

Dear MLEPC Members and Friends:

Our scripture reading for this Sunday includes Jesus' famous words found in John 13:34, "A new commandment I give to you that you love one another." It is famous due to its connection to Maundy Thursday during Holy Week with Maundy Thursday being the night Jesus shared His last meal with his disciples in the Upper Room, prayed with agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, and was betrayed by Judas to the authorities leading to torture and death. Maundy is derived from the Latin word mandatum which means "commandment." So Maundy Thursday literally means Commandment Thursday. And what is the commandment? Yes, this new commandment is to love one another taken from John 13:34. This explains why in the Christian tradition, this passage so often appears during the Easter season.

John 13:34-35 falls into three easy pieces for us to see and understand. The first piece is the mandate itself, namely, to love one another. This great theme is found in the Old Testament in passages such as Leviticus 19:18, where Yahweh commanded Israel to "love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus and Paul reiterated this directive in their teaching as well (Matthew 23:39; Galatians 5:14). Love for one another is the second great command following directly after the greatest of all commands to love the Lord your God with heart, soul, mind and strength.

Perhaps we then wonder why Jesus calls it a new commandment, if it had been written in scripture and taught since the time of Moses fourteen hundred years earlier. Perhaps Jesus should have said, "An old commandment I reiterate to you." This brings us to the second easy piece. Jesus teaches a new measure and motivation for this call to love one another. His disciples must love each other as He has loved them. Our love for others is to be measured and motivated by the quality of His love for us. So, the call to love isn't new; however, the call to love with a Christ-like love is. Hopefully, this measure and motivation stops us dead in our tracks. We should halt to ask ourselves, "Who can love as Jesus loved?" and "How can I begin to imitate such love toward others through my life?" Think and pray about it. I'll have more to say concerning these questions in the Sunday sermon.

If the first piece is the mandate and the second piece is the measure/motivation, what third easy piece do we find in this passage? It is the mission. Jesus concludes by saying, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another" (v. 35). There is an old song from the 1960s peace movement days that carries the refrain, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love." And of course, people look for love in all sorts of places--some good and some bad. The one love that they need above all others is the love of Christ as it is lived among and expressed by Christ followers like you and me. Our love in the community of Christ is a most powerful expression that attracts people to consider Christ when we share the Good News with them. In contrast, our lovelessness is a surefire way for non-Christians to surmise that our message is merely clap-trap. Would we see people come to the Savior? Let us love one another as Christ has loved us.

So there we have it: (1) the mandate to love, (2) the measure/motivation of the love expressed by Christ, and (3) the mission of this love to reach a world that knows it needs love. Three easy pieces.

That is three easy pieces to see in the passage; the call and the challenge, however, is to go live them today and every day!

Pastor Tim

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