John 13:34, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” 

This morning, many people are misguided about what love is, how to display it, or how to recognize it when it appears. We have laboured many times to show that real love as defined and manifested in the Bible is not what the world often portrays it to be. God in His Book never ties love to emotion. He always ties it to action. Therefore, a squishy feeling in someone’s stomach qualifies as heightened emotion, but does not necessarily equate to love. Love is displayed through actions much like faith is shown through the works that accompany it. So, if someone claims to love another, then there will be actions that manifest the concept. Also, love to be seen and recognized for what it is will be most often recognized through the lens of sacrifice. When we see actions that are selfless and sacrificial, we have good evidence that love is being displayed before us. 

In our study verse, the Lord Himself plainly gives us a commandment that He calls new. Now, the Old Testament is replete with examples and commandments of exhibiting love (Micah 6:8 for example). Jesus Himself said earlier in His ministry that the summation of the law and prophets was complete and total 1. love of God and 2. love of neighbor. (Matthew 22:37-40) So, with an entire dispensation of Scripture given as devoted to love, how is loving our brethren considered new? The newness of it is seen through the phrase “as I have loved you.” When Christ came into this world, many things happened, but this phrase was put in its brightest display. 

What did the Old Testament saints know about God? What did first century Christians know about God? Did they operate from the same knowledge base? Based on the words of the Proverb writer Agur, Old Testament saints did not even know God’s Son’s name. (Proverbs 30:4) First century Christians knew the name of God’s Son as we do today. Furthermore, Christ Jesus walked this earth as the manifestation of God in the flesh (I Timothy 3:16) while still being the brightness of God’s glory. (Hebrews 1:3) The fulness of the Godhead was literally walking around in a body, and the righteousness of God was seen and displayed more brightly than the world or history had ever known. 

Therefore, seeing Christ’s compassion in His ministry equates to seeing God’s compassion. Seeing His love displayed equates to seeing God’s love displayed. Seeing Christ teach equates to seeing God teach. Surely, His first coming lends more insight into God’s mind and dealings than had ever been seen before. This is why Christ’s commandment is “new.” This “new” way of loving is seen by Christ’s walk and talk. We should love one another as He has loved us. Now, the obvious primary point to be made of this verse is that feet washing is an observance where we can show forth our love to one another as He has loved us. We cannot get closer to modeling our Lord completely and totally for a moment as we can when stooping down to wash our brother’s feet. This observance of feet washing might have been previously known, but it was never known like that before. In times’ past, the servant washed the master’s feet. Now, the Master bends down to wash the servant’s feet. What love that is! 

Knowing what the primary point of Christ’s message is, let us expand the thought somewhat. Christ had people mistreat Him, and yet the Scriptures say that He did not retaliate. (I Peter 2:21-23) Though He had the power and the righteous character to judge them with the sorest punishment due to His own innocence, He rather did not threaten them or open His mouth to answer their reviling. Why would He do such a thing? He loved His people to the point that His life was secondary for our welfare. Even some of those who led Him to Calvary’s hill were horribly misguided sheep as the Son prayed His Father, “forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) 

Christ also showed His love by not utterly casting someone off due to what He knew they would do to Him. For example, as the One who knows the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12), He knows what people think and not just what they say. Furthermore, as the God of this universe who has all knowledge past, present, and future (Isaiah 46:10-13), He knows what we are going to think, say, and do before it happens. Yet, knowing that someone like Peter would deny Him 3 times in one night did not keep Him for praying for Peter. (Luke 22:31-32) Though He knows what I am going to do later today, tomorrow, next week, and for the rest of my life that is an affront to His holy character, He still intercedes for me. 

One last thought to consider about Christ’s love in display (though there are certainly more) is that He also showed ultimate devotion in worship though He is the object of our worship. Continually praying to His Father, being baptized, and customarily (every sabbath or weekly) being found in the public assembly, Christ showed how much He loved His Father through His worship. He could have justly come into this world and demanded worship and service, but rather He came and ministered (Matthew 20:28) rather than be ministered to. Part of Him ministering in His life on earth was showing forth perfect worship and devotion. Why? Because He loved us enough to give us a perfect example on record of how to live and walk. Not only were His actions right all the time, He loved us enough not to just come down and die for us but also to live for us and show forth the meaning and pattern for our lives. 

So, while the text shows forth a primary application to feet washing, I think we can see that Scripturally speaking, Christ’s new commandment of loving one another as He has loved us can apply to how we handle mistreatment, how we handle things after mistreatment, and how we worship in this world. Consider that our love should mirror His, but there are some parts of His love that cannot be emulated – at least not to their fullest degree. Though I can give my life to spare another’s, I cannot give my life to fully secure anyone else’s. They will still naturally die, and my death certainly does not help them before God’s bar of justice. So, I cannot show love in that way quite like He did (though I can give my life to spare another’s one that occasion). 

However, I can love as He did by not berating those that rise up against me. Instead of striking out against those that seek my destruction, I can commit my trust to Him that does right. After all, Christ still prayed His Father on behalf of those that were killing Him. Perhaps no sweeter emulation of Christ’s example has ever been seen than in Stephen in Acts 7. While being stoned to death, Stephen was willing bow unto the God of Heaven and say, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” What love! How much greater is such than what the world is so quick to promote, yet what more closely matches the new commandment to love as He has loved us? Too many times, we can become distracted about the importance of prayer both for and by us. When someone says “I’m praying for you,” we should never take that statement lightly. That is someone showing forth that they love you by their willingness to pray for you, and that love is never more tested than it is when they can still be in prayer for those that seek their hurt. 

Still, though it might be hard to pray for someone seeking your hurt at the time, how much harder would it be to treat them in a Godly way AFTER they had done these things to you? Consider God’s perspective. Not only does He know what we have done after it has happened, He knew what we were going to do to Him before it happened. What if you could go back in time about 10 years knowing what you know now? How would you treat all those that in those 10 years had wronged you? What about the greatest offenders that wronged you the most? I freely admit that it would be hard for me to treat them like I should, because I know how hard it is to treat people like I should after they have wronged me. However, our commandment to love each other as He has loved us requires that we not treat each other grudgingly or with long memories of past offences. 

Finally, we best show our love to one another when we worship together. It models His love, for He left a haven to worship in (His church), people to share it with (the brethren), and a perfect object to worship (Himself). He further showed us the proper interaction: praying without ceasing, regular, consistent public assembly, and grace to those that He encountered in His teaching. Do we treat one another in worship like we should, not preferring one above another? We should. Do we look at one another in worship as our closest friends and fellow soldiers to the cause? We should. These are all actions and mindsets He showed forth while He worshipped, and in so doing showed us a new way of worship that is love-focused. Beloved, I am thankful beyond measure that He loved us enough to die for us, but I am secondarily thankful for the fact that He loved us enough to show us the new commandment that we can perform, bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2) 

In Hope, 

Bro Philip

John 15:2, "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit."

This morning, people do not desire discomfort or unpleasantness.  Perhaps more than at any other time in human history, comforts abound and are more sought after than ever before.  However, there is no escape that life is full of suffering and turmoil.  Due to the entrance of sin in this old world, things die and will continue to die. (Romans 5:12) To the disciple of Christ, there will not be constant ups, even if we live as we should, for the toils of life continue day after day.  Yet, too many times, people like to hedge all outward circumstances into one or perhaps two different buckets.  Quite often, the outward circumstances can betray us into thinking that something is afoot that is really not there and vice versa.  Sometimes, good times are brought on by good living and bad times are brought on for bad living.  It is a mistake to think that outwardly good or bad times is necessarily a product of certain kinds of living.

When reading the Bible, it is an absolute necessity to understand whether the passage is meant to indicate a manner of life and direction for that life or a declaration of a state that has already been laid.  Sometimes writers and commentators will refer to these types of distinctions as positional vs. conditional, eternal vs. timely, or even sonship vs. discipleship.  Texts and passages that deal with declarations of state of being are classified as positional, eternal, and sonship passages, while those that deal with directions and instructions for ways of life are classified as conditional, timely, and discipleship lessons.  When someone finally sees this type of distinction in Scripture and further is able to detect keys phrases and thoughts that indicate which is which, it saves a lot of head-scratching and confusion for the remainder of his time in study and devotion to God's word.

The verse before us undeniably falls into the realm of discipleship, conditional, and timely.  With all the exhortations to obedience within Christ's discourse about the vine and branches, none of that would make sense in an eternal plane where nothing we have or will ever do can affect that great change and salvation necessary for us to be in heaven's pure world. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Actions must be preceded by life, and therefore, the actions being commanded presuppose that life already exists in those that are being addressed.  Furthermore, Christ Himself says later in verse 8 that by doing what He here commanded they would be His "disciples."  This is not how they became sons, but it is how they proved discipleship.  Now that we have this foundation fixed firmly before us, let us attempt to peel back the tapestry of this verse to glimpse some very important and real truths that touch us quite often.

Christ teaches in this lesson that non-fruit bearing branches are taken away.  Though not pleasant to consider, there is a very present reality that children of God simply do not bear forth the kind of fruit that they should in consistent, perpetual glory to Almighty God.  As such, they get taken away from the vine since their presence hinders other branches that are feverishly trying to bear fruit.  A good example of this in Biblical times is natural/national Israel.  They were presented personally with the Saviour.  He came unto them, and He died among them.  After His resurrection, His gospel was preached unto them.  They had all the prophecies and Scriptures of old to draw from.  Yet, as Paul lines out in very illustrious detail in Romans 11, they were plucked out of the tree, and the Gentiles – though a wild olive branch – were graffed in contrary to nature to partake in the fatness of the Lord's goodness.  Since the Jews were not bringing forth the fruit, they were taken away completely from the vine and left in darkness and blindness.

Now, it behooves us to once again state that the Jews' national blindness is not indicative of eternal damnation.  Rather, it was a manifest token of God's judgment to take non-fruit bearing branches away for disobedience and lack of discipleship.  For someone to claim understanding of one's eternal state by what they see as outward circumstances is akin to Job's miserable comforters claiming to know some fault of his without Divine revelation.  Furthermore, the attempt is a blasphemous claim to know what God knows to the last degree and letter. (II Timothy 2:19) Even if someone's faith is overthrown and the dried-up branches are taken away, God still is the final authority on who is His and who is not.  One final thought before moving along is this: there is a difference – a big difference – in saying that one believes someone is elect vs. saying someone is non-elect.  For example, a non-elect person will never exhibit the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit, nor will they ever have heart-felt rejoicings and pricks when experiencing the power of the gospel.  So, when someone exhibits what appears to be any of those things, I have no discomfort in saying, "From what I see, I believe so-and-so is a child of God."  When I do not see these things in someone, all I can really say is, "To my best evidence, I simply do not know."

Now, one of the biggest misconceptions by sincere individuals today is that when serving the Lord as we should, there will not be any problems.  In other words, the righteous get a measure of goodness and prosperity for their faithfulness.  While it is true that such does sometimes happen (many of the saints in Scripture were blessed with natural goods by the Lord), it is not always the case nor at all seasons.  Some saints – like Job – were stripped of their goods and natural blessings even when upholding the righteous conduct that he had before.  Sometimes, God's faithful find themselves upon difficult circumstances, and they might even foolishly wonder, "What happened to the God that I serve?"  The early disciples were not immune to this line of thinking either as they were found on the day of His resurrection walking and talking with abject sorrow about the recent events surrounding their Lord. (Luke 24)

While not all outward circumstances are equal – no matter how similar they seem – sometimes the Lord removes things from the fruit bearing disciples in order to bear more fruit.  This does not mean that God is in every action, event, etc. that happens in our lives, but I would suspect that His hand is in much more than we will ever realize this side of home and eternal glory.  Quite possibly, His hand has overshadowed me from things that would have taken my life or rendered me permanently handicapped more often than I have ever seen or been made to realize.  However, I can also see places and periods of my life where things that I really, really wanted were taken away from me.  These were not necessarily wicked, carnal things but looking back, those things would have hindered my growth and fruit bearing later in life in the kingdom.

One related story should suffice to make the point.  When my natural father was a young man, he had begun to exercise in the ministry and knew that it would be the driving force and defining aspect in his life.  His father owned a rather lucrative business that was doing quite well, and he had handpicked Dad as his successor and heir apparent to the helm of the company after him.  Such an enterprise would have made my father a much wealthier man than he ever lived to become (and I am convinced from his business savvy that he would have been quite successful at running Grandpa's company).  However, he turned the offer down without hesitation with the knowledge that he could not run the company and preach the unsearchable riches of Christ as he needed to.  There is nothing wrong or sinful with running a company, but though Dad was bearing forth fruit already, things were pruned away so that more fruit would be borne.

I am quite sure that there was some natural sense of loss when he made that decision, though he never talked about it.  The flesh never enjoys losing some comfort or good thing that will benefit it.  However, there are times when the Lord removes things from our lives that are not necessarily evil, but their presence will hinder further growth and fruit production.  Consider a tree growing up with plenty of access to sunlight as opposed to one that grows under the canopy of other trees.  The tree with access to the sunlight will not only grow faster than the shaded one, but it will begin to bring forth fruit much, much earlier.  There is nothing wrong with other trees, and many times, trees grow very successfully together.  However, the more access you have to Sonlight, the more purged you become to bring forth even more fruit to God.

Brethren, I have never enjoyed losing comforts and natural blessings in this old world, but one thing that pain does do is powerfully reinforce just how much I need Him.  Whether as individuals, families, churches, countries, or whatever the group or case may be, we cannot paint outward circumstances equally.  However, when in times of pruning, we definitely can be made to see Him clearer than before.  One of the reasons that I love talking to the aged is because their view of heaven seems so much clearer than mine.  As one who naturally would seem to have a lot of vitality left, it is heart-warming to hear those talk about a place we both call home but they feel to be going very shortly.  Why do the aged seem to feel that urge more strongly than the young?  When the trappings of youth have left and the pleasures of life have waxed cold, the sight of the Master in His throneroom becomes more bright and refulgent than before.  May our pruning be met with delight at seeing Him clearer – things are taken away between us and Him – and thereby bringing forth even more fruit in His service.

In Hope,

Bro Philip