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John 13:31 - 14:14 "A New Commandment"
So, when he had gone out , Jesus said, "Now the Son of man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me ; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ So now I say to you. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:31-35)
Jesus knew that Judas was going out to betray Him and
that He would be glorified soon. He would be lifted up on the cross
to die for the sins of the world, but He would also be lifted up to
heaven so that the whole world would know His name. One of the most
difficult things to understand about Christianity is that we have Jesus
living in our hearts, a friend who is closer than a brother, and yet
we cannot see Him, nor show Him to our friends. He is alive, but He
is not here! He has risen from the dead, but also risen up to glory.
And for all our devotion and closeness to Jesus we cannot get to where
He is. Jesus said, "You will seek Me… Where I am going, you
cannot come." He said the same thing to the unbelieving Jews before
and the same thing applies to us. We are unable to pull ourselves up
to the gates of heaven and peek inside. We have no special pass that
lets us visit and return. We do not glow with a heavenly aura that sets
us apart from the rest. There are no souvenirs or pictures of us with
Jesus that we can display to our friends to prove that we were there!
And yet that is exactly what our friends demand to see. They are seeking
God too but cannot find Him and have a hard time believing our story
without some proof.
Jesus understood that this would be the hardest thing for us and so
He gave His disciples a new commandment to solve the problem. "So
now I say to you, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one
another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another."
You see the proof that your friends require cannot be given to them
any other way. We have no pictures of us standing with Jesus so the
only way that others will know that we truly are His disciples is by
our love for one another. Why will this convince them? Because the love
of Jesus is so rare and different from anything that they have ever
seen before. Jesus said, "As I have loved you, that you also love
one another." We must love each other by humbly serving without
regard to our own position or status. To love means to sacrifice ourselves
so that others can be blessed. We are a church that strives to love
as Jesus loves. That means that each one of us is a servant to everyone
else who would not hesitate to bow down and wash his brother’s
feet. Because that is how Jesus loved His disciples. Loving as Jesus
loves means that we are looking to serve rather than to be served. This
is the proof that the world needs to see to believe that Jesus who they
cannot see is truly in our hearts.
Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord where are you going?" Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow me afterward." Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake." Jesus answered him, "Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times. Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am , there you may be also. And where I go you know and the way you know." Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 13:36-14:6)
There are two answers to Peter’s question, "Where
are you going?" The ultimate answer is that Jesus was going to
heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father in glory. But the
immediate answer was that Jesus was going to the cross to die for our
sins. Peter was frustrated because Jesus said that He could not follow
Him. He had some idea by this point that Jesus meant that He was going
to die, but Peter felt willing to follow even to death. Jesus, of course,
knew that Peter was not as disciplined as he was passionate and that
when the moment of crisis came Peter would not do what he had promised.
But Jesus did not say this to condemn Peter, instead He comforts Him,
"Let not your heart be troubled." Jesus knew and we must know
also that even though He is our model and we should imitate Him, there
is one thing that we cannot do for ourselves. You see even though we
might be crucified just as Jesus was, it still would not save us. It
is only after Jesus went to the cross and rose up to heaven that we
can follow Him there.
Our inclination is to take our salvation into our own hands. We cannot
see Jesus so we try to chase after Him and many have decided that if
they just do everything as Jesus would have then God will have to let
them in. The problem of course, like Peter, we are more passionate than
disciplined and soon fail to live up to Jesus’ standard of perfection.
We never succeed in doing all the things that we promise to ourselves.
Before we realize it the cock has crowed and we have denied Him not
only once or twice but three times. Jesus says, "Let not your heart
be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me." We cannot
save ourselves no matter how hard we try and Jesus does not expect us
to. He saves us. We look at ourselves and struggle to believe that someday
we will be acceptable to God, but Jesus says, "I go to prepare
a place for you." My wife and I usually do our most thorough cleaning
of the house when we are expecting guests. When the guests arrive we
pretend as if having them over was no trouble at all, but of course
before they come we race around trying to get everything exactly right,
preparing the place for them to sleep and putting together a special
meal. If they suddenly called and told us that they were not coming,
you know that we would immediately sit down and relax and think about
just ordering a pizza or something. If the guests aren’t coming
we don’t bother to prepare. Now Jesus would not bother to prepare
the place if He was not certain that you were going to be there. If
our salvation depended on us, how righteous we are, then our arrival
in heaven would be in doubt and Jesus’ preparations in vain. But
Jesus has no doubts at all because He will personally come again and
escort us there that we can truly be where He is.
Thomas said, "Lord, we do not know where You are going and how
can we know the way?" The little child’s question, "Daddy,
where is heaven?", still baffles us. Part of the fuel that propels
rockets skyward and our probes deeper into space is that we still hope
that somewhere out there heaven is still waiting to be discovered. If
we cannot say where heaven is located then it is impossible to chart
the course to get there. As the country farmer told the man who was
asking directions back to the city, "You can’t get there
from here." Jesus says to us that we do know the way, because we
know Him. Our church is not trying to make everybody perfect, we don’t
demand obedience or command people to follow blindly. We don’t
have any secret information on how to get to heaven. Jesus knows that
these things are beyond our ability and He does not require them of
us. Instead we are seeking to know Jesus, because He knows the way.
In fact He is the way. We seek to know Jesus because He is the truth.
We seek to know Jesus because He is the life. We don’t pretend
that we have all the answers or even all the questions, but we do know
who does and we have put our trust in Him.
If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14:7-14)
Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father. That would
be sufficient. But Jesus responded back, "Have I been with you
so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has
seen the Father." Like Philip we do not realize how much we already
have. "The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority;
but the Father who dwells in Me does the works." Jesus and God
the Father are One. The more we know Jesus, the more we know God, because
everything that Jesus said and did were exactly what the Father would
have said and done. Jesus’ words and works were the Father’s.
We must realize what we have in Jesus. Jesus did not leave any room
for doubt. He said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes
in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these
he will do, because I go to My Father." We are a church that expects
greater works. Jesus healed the sick and we expect that the Father will
do the same through us. Jesus preached the good news and we expect the
Father to preach through us to the lost. Jesus had compassion on the
hurting and we expect the Father to show his compassion through us.
We expect the Father to do miracles through us because that is what
Jesus did. We have seen healing and salvation and compassion and miracles
and we give praise to God, but I believe that we have not seen enough.
I know that God wants to do more through us. What is holding Him back?
Jesus said, "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that
the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name,
I will do it." The reason that we have not seen greater works is
because we have not asked Him for them.
If we ask, He will do those works through us. We seek to love as Jesus
loves and to know Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life. As we
humbly serve each other and try to meet each other’s needs there
will be many things that we will be unable to do for them on our own.
No matter how much I love my brother I cannot heal him or find him a
job. No matter how much I love my sister I cannot give her a baby or
find her a husband or break the addictions in her life. But we know
someone who can! We know Jesus who is the way and the truth and the
life. Our love and our knowledge should drive us to our knees to plead
for our brothers and sisters before the Lord who has promised to answer
our prayers. Greater works will we do because Jesus has gone to the
Father. He is there to answer every prayer. Let us pray!
Copyright 2000 Jonathan Wilson
All Rights Reserved
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