By This All Men Will Know

Introduction

Welcome everybody. Good to see you this evening. We’re excited to have another evening. Opening the Word of God together, studying from the Gospel of John, looking forward to Brother Jonathan Banning offering the sermon for us tonight. It looks like it’ll be a focus in chapter thirteen. So I hope you’ve done a little bit of reading to prepare for that. I’m excited to hear what Jonathan has to say. Always good to be together. Good to see some visitors here with us as well tonight. Matt Schmidt’s going to be leading our singing at the time that he designates, Matt Watson’s going to lead us in an opening prayer. And we’ll have some more to say at the conclusion this evening, but let’s join our voices in song and enjoy worshiping God together tonight.

Speaking of song service with number two seventy seven speak, oh Lord as we come to receive your holy word to deep in us, shape and pass in us in your life that the light of Christ might be seen today in our eyes of love and our deeds of pain. Speak for Lord and obey us all your purposes for your glory.

Your mind has saved love and of forty words of our letter prevail over and make of your hands for us through science.

And my grace will stand on your promises, and my faith will all as you are with us, speak all church is built, and the earth is filled with your glory. Before we let him prayer, let’s sing heal us all.

And though you want we cannot see, we know that you are so in your mercy for Christ for some my sake and some myself and some have never and some have lost some love they have and some are pressed with worldly and some such dreamless passions and soul in your mercy and some have come the world is made the world enter, and some have friends have caused me. Yes, have not some friend in you and not only free from since who seek to serve you are not just must have wrong with him soul my soul in your seat all price you to men. You have in trouble and trouble your mind, but searching lands and scenes and shame would your eyes have still disagreed no.

Bow with me in prayer. Our Lord, our God, we come before you this evening so thankful that we are able to meet together during this week. So thankful for Jonathan being able to be here with us. We’re thankful for the opportunity to worship you. We’re thankful for this group here. We’re thankful for the light that it brings to the community around us.

We’re thankful for your healing hand for the mercy, the grace that you provide for us through Jesus, who died for our sins, and we are so grateful for that.

So easy for us to get distracted with the worldly cares of this life. And we pray, Lord, that we will refocus our efforts that we will be able to recharge our batteries spiritually and be able to be an example to those around us. Please be with our families. We’re so thankful for the families here. We’re so thankful for the mothers and the fathers here. We’re thankful for our young people. We pray, Lord, that as parents that we will be good examples to them. Please watch over us through the rest of this night. Please keep us safe. Bless our efforts here. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. After the lesson, we’ll sing Christ Lives in Me, which will be on the slides only. Also on the slides only before the lesson, let’s sing the greatest command.

I’ll invite you to stand as we sing this song. Just one simple suggestion. Suggestion. As the song is written, each verse adds another layer of both music and also of text.

At the end, we’ll sing the last verse twice. So if you’re listening, that means your part will be sung loud twice. Okay, but just a suggestion. Let’s all sing together. The greatest command.

God is love. God is love. God is love.

God is law. God is law.

God is love. God is love.

I’m going to ask you to take your Bible, turn to John chapter thirteen. John chapter thirteen. We’re going to get begin reading there in just one second. John chapter 13. Before we get going, I just want to say thank you all for being here tonight. What a wonderful thing it is. See so many Christians gathered together to worship together, to pray together, study God’s word together. Last night in my introduction, because I always mess these things up. I neglected to mention how appreciative I am for the elders and for and for Brent and for everything they’re doing as the leadership in this congregation to help me and my family to have us for this meeting and then for our work together in the future.

That just that means the world to me. And I want all of you guys to know how kind they’ve been to me and how much me and my family appreciate that. I’ve been close to a lot of these elders. some of them I know better than others, but all of them I have some kind of connection to. been going here for a long time back when my grandparents first started worshiping here, and we know the Campbells really well. I know Scott’s dad back down at Southside. I always hear about Mike Murardi from, and she always pronounces his name wrong. My grandmother cannot pronounce Mike Morardi’s name right. if you’ve ever heard Martha Banning talk about him. so we appreciate all that you guys have done for my family and will do for my family in the future.

I’m looking forward to working with Brent. Brent is just somebody who has all of my respect and my admiration. He’s a tremendous gospel preacher. Love bouncing ideas off of him because then I learned how much I didn’t know. and he’s just always got some really amazing thing to say. and I appreciate his work. The good news is Brent is sitting close. And at Southside, when I was there, because we should I worked under Brother Bowman, when I was at Southside, Brother Bowman sat close enough so that when I was preaching, I could like keep him out of my line of vision. And so I would always make sure I never looked at him, and definitely not at Miss Norma, because that was even scarier.

And so I appreciate you and Katie sitting right there so I can not look at you while I’m preaching.

I want to ask you, first of all, before we get going, what is it that makes you stand out as a disciple of Jesus? What is it that makes you really stand out as a disciple of Jesus? There’s no denying that disciples of Jesus are supposed to be different. We’re not supposed to be like everybody else. From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he says, I want you to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. One of my favorite passages is in is in the book of Peter, 1 Peter 2, where Peter says, we’re supposed to be a peculiar people. We’re supposed to be odd, we’re supposed to be different, not like everybody else. But what is it that makes you peculiar?

When the world looks at you, what is it that they see in you that makes them say that guy ain’t like everybody else. That woman isn’t like other people that I’ve seen. And I guess depending on who you’d ask, you’d get a lot of different answers to that. Somebody may say, look, the thing that makes me different is the fact that because I believe in Jesus and in his name I was baptized for the remission of my sins, I’m different than the rest of the world. That’s what makes me different. I was baptized and I’ve been saved by the blood of Jesus. Somebody else may say, Well, look, before I had a previous life. And in that life, I did all kinds of stuff I shouldn’t have done.

I engaged in all those worldly desires. I indulged in them. But when I became a Christian, I stopped drinking, I stopped cussing, I stopped partying, I stopped doing all of that stuff. And that’s what people notice. They notice I don’t do the things that I used to do. I’m different. And somebody might say, look, when you compare my character, my integrity to the people around me, I’m not like them. You know, I work hard and I do things the right way, and I’m the kind of person that I ought to be. And I want you to know that all of those things do, in fact, make you different. Those things do separate you from other people in the world, the lost people in the world, not because you’re better than them, but because you found something.

You found the gospel and you’ve responded to the gospel. In fact, the most clear defining difference between God’s people and everybody else is the fact that we’ve been baptized in the name of in the name of Jesus for the remission of our sins, and we are those who are saved while the world is lost. That is the clearest, most fundamental, most distinct dividing line between people in this world, those who have been saved by Christ, and those who have not. However, in the eyes of the lost in this world, those things are not our most notable attribute. Now, don’t get me wrong, they make you different. It’s the clearest dividing line. But it’s not the first thing that the world notices. The world doesn’t look at you and say, hey, that guy looks like he’s been dunked in water in a spiritual building at some point in his life.

That, in the eyes of the lost, is not our most defining characteristic. It’s not what they look at us and say, that guy’s peculiar, that guy’s different. That guy isn’t like everybody else. According to Jesus, the attribute that ought to be most notable, most peculiar among disciples of Jesus is the way that we love one another. In John 13, beginning in verse 34, Jesus says this. John 13, verse 34, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. You see what Jesus says there? He says, the thing that separates us, the thing that makes us different, our most notable attribute is the love that we have for one another.

In fact, Jesus goes so far as to say that by this, all men will know that you’re my disciples. They’re going to look at you, they’re going to see the way you love, and when they see that, they’re going to say, That person must know, that person must be a disciple of Jesus because I can see the way that they love.

I don’t know if it seems odd to you. It seems odd to me because the command of love people isn’t new at all. I mean, you can go way back in the Bible and you can find that command in all kinds of different places. You can see it in the book of Leviticus. In the Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 18, in the law of Moses, it says, you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Oh, I guess Jesus got it wrong because it’s way back there in Leviticus. Love one another. Love your neighbor as yourself. We even see this earlier in the ministry of Jesus and all over the ministry of Jesus.

In Matthew 22, verse 37, and he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And so it’s weird, isn’t it? There’s nothing new at all about the command to love. But it is new. But I want you to appreciate it. It’s not new because God never told us to love people before. It’s new because he’s given us a new standard by which to love. What Jesus says, what makes this command new is not the fact that we’re supposed to love one another, but the intensity to which we are called to love one another.

Notice what Jesus says here. He says, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another even as I have loved you. That’s the new thing about this commandment. That’s what makes it different from everything else. That you’re supposed to love other people the way that Jesus shows love for other people. And that’s a kind of love. That’s a kind of intensity that the world has never seen before. And we’ve never had it modeled or patterned. We’ve never been able to see that kind of love before. That’s the change in standard. And I think that’s that’s significant because it points to a reality that we often don’t appreciate and we don’t often recognize that not all love is equal. Not all love is the same.

Let me ask you this. If I were to ask you tonight, do you love your neighbor? What would you say? Depends on the week. No, but seriously, we’re in a church building, so give me Bible class answers. Do you love your neighbor? You aren’t sure. At least a lot of you aren’t. Yes, okay, you love your neighbor. Do you love me? Yes, thank you very much. I did see some vigorous nodding, so I appreciate that. Do you love Brent Moody? Do you love your kids? Sometimes. Do you love your spouse? The funny thing is, you answered yes to all those questions, but you know that the love you feel, the intensity you feel of that love is quite different. Right? You know that the intensity with which you love your spouse is far different than the love that you say you have for your neighbor, even though we use the same word to describe that.

And so understand that’s what this change in standard is. He says, don’t just love people. I want you to love people to a higher standard. I want you to love people in a different way. I want you to love people to a different intensity. Because love does vary in intensity, as we just demonstrated. And so Jesus says, look, what I want my disciples to do is I want them to love one another as deeply, as passionately, as sacrificially as Jesus loves you. And by this, all men will know that you are my disciples. And when we understand that shift in standard, it’s easy to see how Jesus could say that, right? It’s easy to see how Jesus could say, it’s by this, when people see this, they’re gonna know who you are, they’re gonna know what you’re all about.

And I gotta tell you, if it was, if it was some kind of bland form of love he was talking about, if what he’s talking about when he says, I want you to love one another, if he’s talking about like we just open the door for each other when you come in the building or we shake hands and we smile at each other and we give each other hugs or feeling really intimate that morning, if it were just the nice things that we do for everybody on a daily basis, then the truth is what Jesus says here would be wrong. Because not cussing is probably more noticeable than opening the door for somebody, don’t you think? But he’s not talking about that bland form of love that everybody in the world shows.

In fact, earlier in his ministry, he makes that point. In Matthew chapter 5, he talks about look, if you love the people who love you, what more are you doing than others? If you’re kind to the people that you’re related to, that’s what the Gentiles do. People in the world, they know how to love too, and they show love in different ways. If you’re gonna distinguish yourself from them, you gotta show a greater love. And so Jesus isn’t just talking about that bland form of love that we see on a regular basis from people in the world. He’s talking about a breathtaking, unthinkable form of love. He’s talking about the greatest love that this world has ever seen and this world has ever known. That’s what Jesus is going to go on to talk about two chapters later in John 15.

Skip ahead with me to John 15, really quick. And notice what Jesus says there. After he gets done talking about how he is the vine and they are the branches, he’ll go on to say, John 15 and verse 12, this is my commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this. That one lay down his life for his friends, and that’s what Jesus will soon do. There is no greater love than the love Jesus demonstrates when he dies on the cross. And if we determined in our heart that here in this place, we were gonna love people that way. That we were gonna look at the example of Jesus’ love when he lays down his life on his cross on the cross, and I decide I’m gonna love other people that way.

Not some bland worldly form of love, not just kind of loving them the way everybody else does. I’m gonna love people the way that Jesus does. It is a kind of love that cannot be mistaken. It is a kind of love that cannot be, that cannot go unnoticed. How could it? If you really love people with that kind of intensity, I want you to appreciate that it certainly didn’t go unnoticed during Jesus’ ministry. You look at his example, you look at his ministry, even before he goes to the cross, and that kind of love, that amazing love he has for people, it bleeds through, it comes out. You see that in Luke 7, when the woman from the city comes to him and all the Pharisees are judging her and looking down on her, and Jesus receives her and loves her in spite of what her past looks like.

You see that in John chapter 11, when Lazarus, when he comes to Lazarus’ tomb, and it says that Jesus wept, and everybody responds by saying, See how he loved him. The love of Jesus did not go unnoticed because it wasn’t like everybody else. It was amazing. And so Jesus says, love other people with the intensity that I have loved you, and by this it will be unmistakable. All men will know that you are my disciples. But also I want you to appreciate this: that once you understand that standard, this also becomes maybe the most challenging thing that Jesus ever said. This becomes probably the most comprehensive, challenging, demanding, all-encompassing command that Jesus ever passed down. But if we learn to do it, and if we’re willing to do it, he says, by this all men will know that you are my disciples.

I want you to stop and think about that. I want you to consider that for a moment. When you think about the way you live your life, when you think about the way you walk through this world and the relationships that you have, when you think about the way you love other people, would people in this world look at you and consider the way that you love, and think that your love for other people is so extraordinary that they think to themselves, that person has to be a Christian. It’s not because I saw scripture tattoo or they’re wearing a necklace or they tried to give me a Bible tract from church or invite me to services. They didn’t need to do any of that. I saw by the way that they love other people, they’ve got to be one of Jesus’ disciples because they love other people the way that He does.

Is that the kind of love that I show for the people around me? And I want you to consider this other facet of this phrase. Jesus doesn’t just say that we’re supposed to love one another as he’s loved us. He says, well, that this sorry, that this is the kind of love that we’re supposed to have for one another. Here in this passage, he is talking specifically about the love that disciples have for one another. He’s talking about the love that we share within the fellowship of Christ. And I don’t think that means that this love is only supposed to be shown within a church. I don’t think he’s saying, hey, I want you to love everybody in the church and everybody outside, just indifference. Don’t worry about them, don’t care about them.

That’s certainly not the example in the pattern that we see and see from him from the rest of his life. But what he’s telling us is that the love that people see, the love that people feel when they walk into this building should be something that is that is different from anything else they’ve ever experienced. That when somebody walks through those doors and they witness the way we interact with each other, it should feel like they’ve entered a different world. It should feel like they’ve left the United States and they’ve entered the kingdom of Christ. Is that how it feels? When we show our love for one another.

And what does that love look like? What does it look like for us to particularly and specifically love one another the way Jesus loves us? Now, I want you to go to 1 Corinthians 13, and we’re going to spend the next hour going through every. No, I’m just kidding.

I am tempted to go to 1 Corinthians 13 and talk about that definition of love. But I’m not going to do that tonight because, well, for a couple reasons. First of all, it’s just undoable. We would be here so long if we were talking about every single definition of love. Second of all, the one time I said that in a sermon, there’s a young kid in the back who said, no, which is really funny. But also, I think that might actually war against what I hope this sermon accomplishes for you. Because what I want this sermon to accomplish for you is I want it to make you stop and think and consider about your own life. Don’t let me tell you what you need to do to love other people.

1. A Love That Is Proactive

What I want you to do is take a few minutes, find a quiet moment of meditation, and think about what it really looks like for you to love other people the way that Jesus loves you. But before we’re done, I do want to give you three things. Not three specific things, but maybe three broad things that help us understand and see the love of Jesus. Three things about his love that we can emulate. And then the lesson will be yours. First of all, I want you to consider this. If you’re gonna love other people like Jesus, that means that you need to have a love that is proactive. I want you to appreciate that the love of Jesus is the kind of love that acts first.

Jesus says, I want you to love other people the way that I have loved you. And Jesus tells us also that what that looks like is for us to take the initiative. It looks like us taking the first step. What is John saying another place? 1 John 4 and verse 19, we love why? Because he first loved us. That’s his kind of love, the kind of love that takes initiative. Understand the love of Jesus is not an dependent action. It’s not a reaction or a response to something that we’ve done. And honestly, that’s one thing that separates worldly love from the love of Jesus. Worldly love is often a reaction to what somebody else has done, isn’t it? Isn’t that what we see from people in the world?

Why are you so nice to that person? Why’d you give them a gift? Why’d you show them that kindness? Well, they were really there for me that one day. That’s the worldly kind of love that we see. It’s transactional, it is. They were nice to me one time, and so I’m nice to them. Or they can do something nice for me, and so I was nice to them. Actually, in Luke 14, Jesus told us that we shouldn’t love in that way, right? He says, if you’re giving a banquet, then invite the people, not who can do kindness back to you, because that may be why you’re showing them love. Invite the people who can do nothing for you. That’s a proactive kind of love. And so the love of God is the kind of love that acts first.

2. Love That Is Both Positive and Negative

And I want you to consider if that has any application in your life. Are there any relationships in your life where you’re waiting to love other people until they do something for you or until they show you their love first? That’s not the love of Jesus. His love is the kind of love that acts first. You make sure your love is not merely a reaction to the behavior of others. And by this, all men will know that you are his disciples. Appreciate this, secondly. The love of Jesus, if we’re going to love the way he loves, we’re going to need to love in ways that are both positive and negative. And let me explain what I mean by that. This may only be true of me.

Maybe it’s not true of you at all. But far too often I measure my love negatively. And what I mean by that is I measure my love by the things I don’t do. You ever done that? I love you because I didn’t punch you in the face. I love you because today I didn’t say anything to offend you or make you mad. I love you because you made me mad and I didn’t frown at you. And that is a worldly kind of love, isn’t it? A love that is only measured by the things we don’t do when we’re mad or upset or frustrated. But I want you to appreciate that’s that’s a worldly kind of love. That’s the way worldly people measure their love for one another.

And while I do think it’s true that we can measure, we can see the love of Jesus negatively by the things he doesn’t do, right? He didn’t call 10,000 angels to destroy the world and set him free. We can see it negatively. We see it maybe most prominently, not in the things he doesn’t do, but in the things he actually does. That’s how Jesus shows his love. By the actions he actually takes for the good of others. In fact, that’s how his love is most powerfully expressed. That’s where that’s where we see the gospel, because the gospel isn’t about what Jesus didn’t do. The gospel is about what Jesus did do. He left heaven, he came to earth, he lived as a man, and he gave himself on that cross to redeem us from our sins.

3. A Love That Is Absolutely Extreme

His love isn’t just about the things he restrains himself from, it’s about the stuff that he actively does. And so if you want to love like Jesus, then you show your love. Not by just the things you don’t do, but by the things you actively do. And by this, all men will know that you are his disciples. And thirdly, let me say this that if you want to love like Jesus, you will have a love that is absolutely extreme. In verse 34 of John 13, Jesus tells his apostles, I want you to love one another even as I have loved you. And that includes what he’s about to do on the cross. As Jesus says in John 15, there is no greater love than for a person to lay down their lives for their friends.

And what that example shows us is that the love of Jesus has no limit. It is impartial, it forgives, it serves, it sacrifices, it shows compassion, and it does all of those things without limit. It is absolutely inexhaustible. It is an extreme kind of love. And if you want to see a really poignant example of that, all you need to do is look a little bit earlier in John chapter 13 to see what Jesus did that very night, right before he said these words. John 13 is a great passage. And it begins by telling talking about the time when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. Notice what it says in John 13, verse 1. Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come, that he would depart out of this world of the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

During supper, the devil, having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper and laid aside his garments, and taking a towel, he girded himself. Then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. Well, we see that very night that Jesus was betrayed by Judas is that Jesus stooped down and grabbed his disciples’ dirty foot and washed his feet, knowing full well exactly what Judas was about to do. Do you have a love that’s that extreme?

If you knew that somebody was about to go betray you, if you knew somebody was about to hurt you or offend you or wrong you in what you can only say is the worst possible, imaginable way. If you knew that fully in your heart, would you stoop down and wash their feet? It’s a captivating example of love, isn’t it? And it shows us just the limits, the extremes of the love of Jesus. If we want to love other people even as he has loved us, we will have a love that is absolutely extreme. And if we decide to have a love like that, by this, all men will know that we are his disciples. I hope tonight you’ve been touched by the example of Jesus’ love.

Conclusion

And I hope you see how challenging that is and how demanding that is. But also how special that is. And what a difference it can make in our lives, in our relationships, in our witness to the gospel, the spreading of the good news. When we decide that we’re going to go out in this world and we are going to love people even as Jesus loved us. That’s the kind of love that bears fruit and helps people see that we really are his disciples. The truth is, all of us have been loved by Jesus. We’ve been loved by him in an amazing way.

So he could save us from our sins. And all of us who’ve been baptized in his blood and have our sins washed away, all of us have experienced that love. We benefited from that sacrifice. We have the hope of heaven in our hearts because of that. But maybe you’re sitting here tonight and you haven’t been saved. And you haven’t gained the benefit of Jesus’ love of his sacrifice. The Bible tells us that if you believe in him and you’re willing to repent of your sins, if you’ll confess his name before men, then you can be baptized in water to have your sins washed away. If we can help you with that or with anything else, please come to the front while we stand and while we sing.

Once a slave to sin, I redeemed in Christ free stay through his side with Christ. I made not guilty, but just if I said free to all him. I live for the one who died, I live in him who was crucified, I live by Christ who lives in me. Yes, he lives on seek eternal life in his will for me, and my steps are sure where the spirit leaves I came, I walk with him. I live I live for the one who died, I live him who was crucified, I live by Christ who lives in me.

Well, I appreciate those convicting words. Jonathan, I just think about as we were listening, what a difference it would make in this world if people loved this way. If they love this way in their community to their neighbors, as you talked about, if people love like this in the congregations they were a part of, in their homes, in their marriages, if we had this sacrificial love, modeling the love of Jesus, what a huge difference that would make.

Sometimes we overlook what’s maybe so simple. It seems so simple, but when we really get into it and think about it, as Jonathan mentioned, it also is amazingly challenging to think about what it means to love the way that Jesus loves and what a difference that would make in the world. Just a few things for us to mention to our members, especially some things that are coming up, and I’m gonna ask Clayton to lead us in a prayer here in just a moment. An update on Mary Madden.

But there was tests being run, and she’s gonna be in the hospital at least till tomorrow or until they can get her into rehab. I’m sure we’ll get some more information and let everyone know as that becomes available. just to make sure that she’s walking on her own and all of that before she is discharged. they don’t want to send her home without her being able to be stable on her own. and then I unless I’m wrong on this, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Lucy Irwin has a procedure tomorrow. Is that right? so let’s be prayerful for her in that. We know that she’s been dealing with some sickness for quite some time, bronchitis and other things, and now she’s gonna have this procedure tomorrow.

So let’s all make sure we’re being prayerful for her and thinking about her all day tomorrow as she’s she’s going through that. Is there anything else that needs to be mentioned before we conclude? All right, let’s go to God in prayer and we’ll be dismissed. Pray with me, please. Our righteous and glorious Father in heaven, we exalt your name. All power and authority flows from you and from your throne. The mere power of your voice spoke this world into existence. And if that wasn’t powerful enough, you sent Jesus to save a fallen creation riddled with sin by sacrificing your own son. Father, this demonstration of love should inspire us. It does inspire us to love each other as you have loved us. We ask, Father, that you would open our eyes to opportunities to demonstrate that love even further, to see the need of our neighbor, and to address that need.

We ask, Father, that you would continue to bless this gospel meeting. We’re thankful for Brother Banning coming to deliver a message, the messages that he’s prepared for us. And we pray, Father, that our hearts would be open and our minds would be discerning to apply them to our lives. It’s in Jesus’ name of Lord.