Waist Deep 2018 - September 22


John 13: 35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (NIV)


When Jesus came he didn’t just talk about love. He loved.*


Jesus said that we would be known as his disciples by our love for one another – not by the rituals we perform; not by the “costumes” we wear; not by our secret handshake or where we hang out. But how does loving each other prove anything? Even the heathens love others.

If we back up to verse 34, we see that Jesus presents a new command: to love each other “as I have loved you.” Oh! That’s a way different kind of love! As one writer observes, if Jesus was merely restating the law to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, it would not be new.* Instead, he is requiring that we hold ourselves to an even higher standard than to love others based on self-love. This new principle, based on Christ’s love, is “self-abandoning and self-sacrificing.”* This kind of love isn’t merely sentimentality and gushy feelings; it involves putting action into love, even when we don’t feel like it!

Do we really exemplify this in the church today? If an outsider visited your church, would he marvel at how you love one another? Or would he think, “These people don’t even like each other!”


It is not agreement that unites us; it is the love of God in Christ.*


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