Law of Love

John 13:34 (ESV)

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.

The Greek word for new in this verse is kainos [kai-NÄS]. It generally does not mean, “new in time,” something recent, but “new in kind,” something different and unheard of. Jesus wasn’t giving his disciples an additional command, one more to add to the long list. This is a new type of command, unlike all others. The word kainos also implies, “superior to the old.” This one new command replaces all the old commandments.

Leviticus 19:18 said you shall love your neighbor as yourself. In other words, treat others they way you want to be treated. But that was the law! The new commandment is on another level: Love others, not the way you would like to be loved, but the way Christ has loved you. God has loved me more than I have loved myself and he has done things for me that I would not do for myself.

So how did he love us? Ephesians 5:2 says, Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. He did not love us with mere words or even affections. He willingly took our place on the cross. Jesus wasn’t a helpless victim of circumstances. His death was not a tragedy, but a triumph. He surrendered his life for us. He said in John 10:18 (ERV) No one takes my life away from me. I give my own life freely.

Love is never forced or coerced.

John 3:16

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Jesus’ death is the highest expression and ultimate example of love. It defines love. He said in John 15:13, Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. But he had greater love, he laid down his life for his enemies. Romans 5:8 says, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Love is measured by the sacrifice made.

My wife and I held a meeting in a church in Northern Virginia. We went through the drive-through at MacDonald’s and drove about a mile down the road to our hotel room. Once we checked into the room and sat down to eat, I realized MacDonald’s had forgotten the french fries from my order. I fussed a bit, but had to buckle down to study for the evening service. Meanwhile Zhepi decided to go for a walk. She came back 30 minutes later, soaking wet (it began to rain), handed me a package of french fries and said, “This is love!”

The greatest love isn’t seen in doing the convenient and enjoyable, but the painful and unpleasant.

A church member in Nagaland prepared lunch for me. But that evening my stomach was in knots. I felt my back twist and tighten. I walked around the yard and prayed, “Lord, that can’t stay in me.” And it didn’t.

Bending over the commode, emptying out my insides and dry heaving, I felt a gentle hand on my shoulders, stroking my hair. I collapsed on the bed exhausted, while my wife washed the bathroom floor. And I thought, “This is love.”

(Voice) We know what true love looks like because of Jesus. Love looks like a cross.

There are easier ways to die than crucifixion. Socrates was found guilty of corrupting the youth of Greece and sentenced to drink hemlock. Surrounded by his followers, he nobly drank the poison. That was a romantic way to die. Supposedly, Cleopatra committed suicide by putting a viper to her bosom. That was a sexy way to die. But crucifixion was a slow, degrading, ugly way to die. But he ignored the shame.

And those who stood there gawking offered no words of sympathy or the slightest remorse. Instead, they reviled him and mocked him. If I was Jesus, I would said, “Fine! You can all go straight to hell.” But he prayed for them, “Father, forgive them.”

This is what love looks like. He gave his best for the worst. His highest for the lowest. Overflowing kindness to those most undeserving. It wasn’t just my sin that put Christ on the cross, it was his amazing love for me. And if he had to, he’d do it again.

…and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Are we going to die to redeem others from sin? No, Hebrews 7:27 says, he did this once for all when he offered up himself. The work of Christ is finished and sufficient. It cannot be improved. But we can give of ourselves to bless and help others.

John 13:34 (Voice) Remember the ways that I have loved you, and demonstrate your love for others in those same ways.

The key to loving others is letting Jesus love you.

Jesus is asking us to do something that is humanly impossible. And that’s why, many people shake their heads and walk away.

Years ago, I spoke with the superindentent of police in Dimapur. He was a Hindu and said, “Of all the world’s religions, I think Christianity is the hardest. You have to live like Christ.” But you can’t live for Christ without Christ.

Jesus not only requires us to walk in love, he furnishes the love. In John 17:26 he prayed for his disciples, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them.

(Passion) your love will now live in them, even as I live in them! 1 John 4:8 says, God is love. Wherever God is, love is. And he’s in you by his Spirit, the Spirit of love.

Romans 5:5 says, God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. He poured it in, so we could pour it out. At the word of Elisha, a widow poured the little oil she had into every container she could find or borrow. As long as she kept pouring, the oil kept flowing. As we give this love to others, our own supply is replenished.

The Greek word for love in John 13:34 is agapaō [aga-PÄ-ō], which is the verb form of the more familiar word, agapē. Scholars have noted that the word agapē is rarely founded in classical Greek writings. (The few times it is occurs it doesn’t have the same meaning as in the New Testament.) Evidently, Jesus coined the term, which makes sense. He invented a new word to describe a new love.

Agapē is divine love, the highest type of love. It is the kind of God that God is.

It is not ordinary human love. All men (to some extent) have the capacity to love others. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about people loving friends and family. But Jesus said agapē distinguishes us as his followers. Agapē is unique to the born again Christian. The lost, the spiritually dead, don’t have this.

In Jeremiah 31:33 God declared that he would establish a new covenant saying, I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. How did he write his law on our hearts? Did he take a sharpie and scribble it on our chest? No, he changed our inward nature. We are born of God and have received his spiritual DNA. He placed his love-nature into us.

Romans 7:6 says, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

How do we serve God? By letting his love-nature influence and direct the way we conduct ourselves. The written code, the law, gave the Israelites a righteous standard. But the life and nature of God in us, gives us the ability to meet that standard.

We have a new way to live, a new commandment to follow. Paul calls this the law of Christ in 1 Corinthians 9:21. It is the perfect law of liberty in James 2:21. (GW) the law that brings freedom. And it is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

If we live by this law, we don’t need any other laws. Romans 13:8 says, for the one who loves [agapaō] another has fulfilled the law. And v.10 says, Love [agapē] does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

(Passion) Love makes it impossible to harm another,

(Remedy) but does only what is in the best interest of another

What a lot of people call “love” certainly isn’t the Christ’s love. This kind of love is concerned about others. It considers, “How will my actions affect others?” God’s love isn’t self-centered.

The law defined sin. 1 John 3:4 says sin is lawlessness. Love fulfills the law. So when we step outside of love, we step into sin. The New Testament didn’t lower God’s standards, it raised them.

Not walking in love is costly. It is dangerous. God said to Israel, “If you keep my commandments, I will not allow sickness to touch you.” Sin makes us vulnerable where Satan can attack us. Love is the fulfilling of the law. So we could paraphrase this: Keep this new commandment of love, to treat others the way Christ has treated you, and I will keep sickness away from you.”

In 1989 I visited India for the first time. I know that God sent me and he gave me grace. I stay in a teacher’s dorm room, ate the same food they ate, and for several months I experience divine protection and perfect health. The people there were amazed. But then I made a mistake. I lost my temper and said some unkind things about the principle of that school. And I got sick as a dog.

In the 1950s there was an evangelist whose ministry was at the forefront of what God was doing. He boasted having the largest crowds in his meeetings, the largest gospel tent in the world. Tremendous, astounding healings took place.

But he did not follow this new command. He did not walk in love towards others. He held a large crusade meeting in Dallas Texas sponsored by several local churches. Then one evening he announced that he was going to start a revival center church. When the pastors asked how he was going to do that, he responded, “I’m going to take 200 of your members and 300 of yours, and half of yours.”

A year later he was dead.

Galatians 5:6 says the only thing that counts is faith working through love. That means without love, faith doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter how much faith you have if it’s disabled.

God’s love has not been poured into our flesh, but into our hearts. There is no agapē in the fallen human nature of your body. The reason Christians sin is they allow their human nature in the flesh to get the upper hand.

Galatians 5:16 says, But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. He didn’t say, “If you walk by the Spirit, your flesh will never have any wrong desires.” He said, you will not gratify or fulfill those desires. You will feel the pull of the flesh, but you won’t give in to it.

Another problem is we try to love others with our own human reasoning —what we think we should do. To walk by the Spirit is to live as directed by the Holy Spirit in our spirit. To love others as Christ would have us do, is to be led. We must obey the promptings and the urging of the Holy Spirit.

Years ago, as I drove to our church, I notice a strange fellow walking down the road. Later in my office, the groundskeeper handed me a note saying, “I would like to pray in the sanctuary.” It was from that same person I saw. I didn’t feel right about it and told the grounds keeper to watch him. But something said to me, “Get him out of here!” So I told them to remove him. Was I walking in love? If love himself tells you to do something, yes.