A Disciple is Loved

Last week we began a new series that I am calling “Disciples of Delight”. Over the next year, we are going to flesh out what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. We began last week by defining the Greek word, mathetes, which we translate into our English word, “Disciple”. We saw that a disciple is first and foremost chosen by God. Today, we move to the next characteristic of a disciple, and we find that in John 13:31-35. From this passage, we see that a disciple is loved by God, and as a result, he is to love others. I want to understand this text in two simple points: the love of God for his disciples, and the love of his disciples for each other.

First, a disciple is defined by the fact that God’s love is set upon him. Our passage is situated in the middle of a long farewell that Jesus is giving to his disciples before he goes to the cross. He has just instituted the Lord’s Supper, washed his disciples’ feet, and announced that one of the twelve will betray him. He knows that the next three days will test his disciples, so he wants to root them in an eternal principle. That eternal principle, or command, is given in verse 34: “Love one another, just as I have loved you.” I want to zero in on this command as we understand the love that defines a disciple. I want you to notice that this command has a motivating factor. That motivating factor is found in the second part of the statement: “I have loved you.” A disciple is characterized by the love of God. Brothers and sisters, understand that if you have received the call of God to follow him, it is because God has set his love upon you. God has not called you in malice or for torture. God calls you because he loves you.

There are five characteristics of the love of God that we need to understand. First, God’s love is unconditional. The Greek word used here for “love” is agapeo, which is love that is unconditional love. Certainly, there are other types of love. There is eros (sensual) love. There is philia (brotherly) love. But, when Jesus says that he loves his disciples, he doesn’t say that he loves them like a brother or that he has warm feelings for them. No, he says that he loves them unconditionally. If Jesus’s love for his disciples were based on their loyalty, then he would have no reason to love them in just a few hours, as they all would abandon and deny him. We should praise God for this truth because, if God’s love for us were conditional, we wouldn’t be accepted either. No one can earn God’s love. No one can keep God’s love. Yet, God loves us anyway.

Second, God’s love is incomparable. There is a common error that modern Americans make in talking about love in general, and God’s love particularly. The error is to assume that there is only one kind of love – emotional, attractional love – and that this love is innately good. So, if all love is emotional, attractional love, and that love is good, then it doesn’t matter who I love or how I love. As the popular saying goes, “Love is love.” The error worsens by applying this same rule of love to God, thinking that because God is love, he must love as we love. There are numerous false beliefs that come from this error. For one, some think, if God loves like we love, then that must mean that his love is finicky and capricious. Sinful humans bounce from lover to lover, finding fault, becoming dissatisfied, lacking commitment. So, if this is the way sinful humans love, then some think this must be the way God loves. Others think that God’s love is defined by tolerance and acceptance. Many define love as an openness towards others – a willingness to accept someone and appreciate them just the way they are. So, if that is human love, then it must be the way God loves.

God’s love is not defined by human love. It is true, as 1 John 4:8 explicitly states, that God is love. But, it is not that love defines God, but that God defines love. If we want to see true love, we don’t look to humans and then apply that to God. No, if we want to see true love, we look to God. God defines all things. He defines what is good, what is ordered, what is right – and he defines what love is.

Third, God’s love is holy. Holiness means “set apart” or “pure”. It is not clouded by sinful desires or selfish motivation. Understand, God’s call to holiness is motivated by his love for you. It is not that he wants you to give up your sins and selfishness because he wants you to suffer. No! God has made you for himself. He has made you to find your true purpose and meaning in him. But, in order to have him, you must be holy. God calls you to holiness because of his love.

Fourth, God’s love is merciful. Because his love is unconditional and holy, God is motivated by his love to show us mercy. We cannot live in communion with God unless we are holy, and we all know that we are not that. So, if we are to live in the love of God, God must show us grace. As Eph. 2:4 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Christ – for by grace you have been saved.” God, motivated by his merciful love, sent his only son to live the righteous life that we could not live and die the death we deserved and rise again to defeat death for us. God, motivated by his merciful love, has given us his Spirit who purifies us and leads us in holiness. As Rosaria Butterfield says, “God’s does not love us just the way we are. God’s love is costly, bloody, and powerful.”

Lastly, God’s love is covenantal. God loves by setting his promise on people. He did it with Abraham in Genesis 12. He did it with David in 2 Sam. 7. Now, in our passage, he does it with his disciples. Jesus is readying himself and his disciples for the horrible journey to Golgotha. There, he will shed his blood as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, so that all who have faith in that sacrifice will be redeemed. He’s symbolized that sacrifice in the bread and wine of the Last Supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” God’s love is only fully known through a covenant relationship in which he promises his grace and we trust his promises.

That leads me to my second point: As a result of God’s love, his disciples are to love one another. In verse 34, notice the command that Jesus gives: “Love one another.” Now, Jesus states this as a new commandment, but it’s not new in the sense that it’s never been commanded before. We know that the OT commanded love for neighbor – Jesus taught that this was the second greatest commandment. So, why does Jesus call this a new command. Well, remember, God’s love is covenantal. Covenants always come with commands. When God made his covenant with Abraham, he commanded him to go to Canaan and to keep circumcision. When God made a covenant with Israel on Mount Sinai, he gave the Ten Commandments. In fact, the Ten Commandments don’t make any sense if they are ripped from their covenantal context. After all, they begin with a therefore – “I rescued you from Egypt, therefore, you shall have no other gods…” Now, Jesus institutes a new covenant with his disciples. He isn’t rescuing them from slavery but from the curse of sin. He isn’t giving them a promised land of Canaan but the promised land of Heaven. With this new covenant comes a new commandment – love one another. Unconditional love is to be the defining characteristic of his followers. Jesus says that very thing in verse 35 – “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This doesn’t mean that all of the other commandments are cancelled now. Rather, it means that love is the motivating factor for all obedience for those who are disciples of Jesus. Gal. 5:14 says, “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If you are motivated by unconditional love that is rooted in the love that God has shown you in Jesus, you will not hate your brother in Christ. If you are motivated by unconditional love, you will not lust after your sister in Christ. If you are motivated by unconditional love, you will not steal and deceive. If you are motivated by unconditional love, you will not lie, misrepresent, or gossip. If you are motivated by unconditional love, you will not long for what others have, but you will find contentment in God.

Friend, you cannot know the love of God without first trusting in the promises he has made in Jesus Christ. Yes, God loves you because you were made in his image. Yes, God is merciful to you, even as you reject him and turn away. But, God’s love is holy and pure, too, and you cannot be in fellowship with him apart from the way he provides, from the covenant he makes with those who have faith in him.

Brothers and sisters, we are called to love as Christ has loved us. That love is motivated by God’s holiness, mercy, and covenant. Our love for our fellow brothers and sisters is a witness to the world that we are different. The world does not have this love of God. They cannot love unconditionally. Their love comes with expectations, demands, and judgment. But, within the family of God, we show mercy, restraint, and forgiveness. May we witness to the change that God has brought in us through his love by loving one another.