Live Free with Josh Howerton - Loving as Jesus Loved Us | Ep. 292 | Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Episode Date: March 19, 2024

At the Last Supper, Jesus left His disciples with a few final words as He prepared to go to the cross. He called them to love each other as He had loved them. Following His resurrection, they lived out this command, loving others in such a way that love became the defining feature of the early church. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the Daily Drive. We are currently in John chapter 13 where there are some poignant scenes with Jesus and his guys. He eats the Passover meal with them knowing that he was the true Passover lamb. Then he kneels down and takes a towel on a basin of water and washes their dirty feet. He tells Judas to go ahead and do what he was planning to do. And we left off yesterday with Judas now slipping out into the night. So let's pick it back up in verse 31, where we hear some of Jesus' final words to his close followers and friends. Now in Old Testament and Jewish literature, they offer all kinds of examples like this where someone gives a final farewell to their

intimate friends and family. It says this beginning in verse 31. As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, the time has come. So the departure of Judas here kind of starts the countdown clock, which would begin in this moment and then culminate on Easter with his resurrection. He says, the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of Him, and since God receives glory because of the Son, he will give his own glory to the Son, and he will do it at once.

Jesus makes five references right here to glory in these two verses. You see, the world would look at the cross, it would only say humiliation, disgrace, and he's cursed. Jesus was able to look at the cross knowing what would be accomplished. and he saw the glory of that. Verse 33, Jesus says to him, Dear children, by the way, this is the only time in the Gospels he calls them dear children.

And as a side note, I think this is where John picked this up because in his letters to the churches years and years later, he uses the same tender term of affection where he says, Dear Children or Little Children, and it's not a slam on their immaturity. This is just an expression of deep and tender love. And with Jesus, this is that,

A tender end of life gathered around the hospice bed kind of language. They don't know that, but he does. And so he says, Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can't come where I'm going. Now, this would have been super confusing for his disciples. They're hearing him say, you're leaving?

What? You're leaving? They had left everything, literally, to follow Jesus. and as seen by their discussion in the upper room, they expected to be high-ranking members of his cabinet when he would take political control of Israel as Messiah. So after three years, they now hear him say he was leaving, and they couldn't go.

I mean, this had to be dream-shattering to these guys. And then he says to them in verse 34, so now I'm giving you a new commandment, love each other. Now, this is not a new commandment. In fact, they had heard this command most of their lives, as in love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and they heard Jesus add to that and love your neighbor as yourself. They even heard Jesus add and even love your enemies.

So what's new about this commandment to love each other? The specific ancient Greek word used here for new means fresh. To love was nothing new. This wasn't something to be reinvented, but rather express now in a fresh new kind of way. And here is that fresh new kind of way. Jesus says, love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. That's what's fresh.

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. So Jesus here in his final words is saying to these guys, guys, you've seen me model love. You've seen me model real love. I want you to love like that. Love with humility, compassion, gentleness, tenderness, courage, truth, grace, kindness, submission, serving each other, forgiving each other.

Love like that. See, love used to be an ethereal kind of concept, but now you know what it really looks like. Just as I have loved you, you love like that. You do that, and that freshness will mark you as my followers. And you know what?

Years later, it did. The most common thing said about the early Jesus followers was this. These people love everybody. John and the rest of the guys were confused on this particular night. They were trying to make sense of what was going down, but after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, they knew what he was talking about. And they would spend their entire lives loving

as he had loved them. I may have shared this with you before, but I love this report in the year 137 from a guy named Aristides, who was sent by the Emperor Julian to investigate these people who were known as Christians. And this is what he came back with.

He said, oh, Emperor, they do not keep for themselves the goods entrusted to them. They do not covet what belongs to others. They show love to their neighbors. They do not do to another what they would not have done to themselves. They speak gently to those who oppress them, and in this way they make them their friends. It has become their passion to do good to their enemies.

They live in the awareness of their smallness. Every one of them who has anything gives ungrudgingly to the one who has nothing. If they see a traveling stranger, they bring him under their roof. They rejoice over him as over a real brother, for they do not call one another brothers after the flesh, But they know they are brothers in God. If they hear that one of them is imprisoned or oppressed for the sake of Christ, they take care of all of his needs. If anyone among them is poor or comes into want,

while they themselves have nothing to spare, they will fast two or three days for him. In this way they can supply any poor man with the food he needs. This, O Emperor, is the rule of life of the Christians, and this is their manner of life. Wouldn't that be an awesome description of us? Why don't we spend this day loving just as he has loved us? See you back tomorrow.

Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.church slash daily drive.