The Commandment the Church is Forgetting

How many of us have heard that the greatest commandment is to love God with everything we have and to love our neighbors as ourselves? I know I have. We've even shortened it now to make it more catchy and say "Love God. Love people."

First of all I want to say that there's nothing wrong with that. That is what Scripture says. We are to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. And we need to make sure that we are loving people well.

But there's one verse that we don't hear as often. One that Jesus gave us that has almost faded from Christian vocabulary. Why? Because it's a really tough one to follow through with. In John 13:34 Jesus says, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." The Passion Translation puts it this way, "Love each other just as much as I have loved you."

If you ask me, that's pretty heavy. Love people as much as Jesus loves me. Last time I checked, Jesus left Heaven to come to earth and die a gruesome death so that I could be given life. And He continues to love me every single day by living at the right hand of the Father and interceding before Him on my behalf. That's a lot of love. Not to mention the countless sins that He chose to just cover in His blood and pardon me from. That's even greater than just declaring me not guilty. I am guilty. I did commit the sins for which I've been accused. But He chose to let me walk free and pay the debt for those sins in another way.

And that is how I am supposed to love other people? That is how we are all supposed to love other people. If we have chosen to follow Christ and His path for our lives, it includes this new commandment. It's not just about loving people like we love ourselves, because how many of us know that we aren't always great at loving ourselves? I know I do. I walked through so much time where I didn't love anything about me. And guess what, I wasn't as loving then. Not truly in my heart anyway. The outside may have looked good, but the inside was a rotten mess.

I think there is something to be said though about loving yourself. You do have to know the value that you have. The value that God places on you. The greatness that He put inside you that He wants the world to see. You have to recognize the love that Jesus has for you, and you need to accept it and become immersed in it. Because if you don't know how much God loves you, then you can't love other people the way He loves you. You have to see yourself how God sees you so that you can love others like He has so lavishly loved you.

Let's go back to John. In verse 35 Jesus continues the commandment by saying, "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." What we need to see here is that Jesus is talking to His disciples; His followers. He is telling them to love each other as much as He loved them and that people will know that they truly follow Jesus based on how they love each other.

It hit me one day as I read this: this commandment is for the Church. The big C Church. The worldwide Church. Christ's bride. All of His followers. That is who this commandment is for. And I wrote this quote over that Scripture in my Bible, "Lost people will know we follow Jesus by how church people love church people."

People in the world need to see that we are different. That we live differently. That we "outdo one another in showing honor" (Romans 12:10). In fact, they need to see that we live our lives in line with Romans 12:9-21 which looks like:

• Loving genuinely, with brotherly affection

• Honoring passionately

• Being fervent in our spirits to serve the Lord

• Rejoicing in hope and being patient in affliction

• Being constant in prayer

• Contributing to the needs of the saints and showing hospitality

• Blessing those who persecute us

• Rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep

• Living in harmony with one another

• Not being haughty but associating with those that are different than us

• Not thinking we know everything

• Not repaying evil for evil but being honorable

• Living peaceably with everyone as far as it depends on us

• Not seeking vengence

• Loving our enemies and helping to meet their needs

• Not being overcome by evil but overcoming evil with good

Now tell me that when you were in your BC (Before Christ) days that if you met someone that lived like that, that you wouldn't want to know what they had that you didn't have. That if you met someone that was genuine in those actions, you wouldn't want to know what made them like that. I know I would. I know that for a long time I may have done those things, but they weren't always so genuine.

But here's the deal, we need to be better about being that way among the Church. I have seen so much competition and judgement and dissension between church and denominations. We've forgotten that Jesus told us to love each other like He loves us.

No we aren't always going to believe the same things or interpret the Scripture the same way. But here is what unites us: we believe that Jesus, the Son of God, came to this earth and lived a perfect life; He bled and died on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins, and He rose on the third day to give us freedom from the finality of death. If another church believes that and that is what they are preaching, then that's a good thing. They deserve our support.

Whether a local church believes in speaking in tongues or they only sing hymns or they allow jeans in church or they play drums or they have dancing on stage or they still do Sunday school or whatever, if they are preaching Jesus as Savior and that we are saved my grace through faith and not by works, then let's remember what Jesus said and love them as He loves us.

The people of the world don't want to leave the world and find themselves in the same boat they were in out there. They need different. They need love. They need Jesus.

Am I saying that there is no room for truth or growth? No. If someone has gotten off the path and God calls you to go and have a conversation with them about that, then by all means, go have a conversation. But do it the right way, the way the Bible says, and go to that person directly. Talk to them. If they don't listen, take someone else. If they still don't listen, then just hand them over to the Lord and let Him deal with them while you continue to pray. It's not your job to save people, it's God's. So let Him do it. He sent Moses to Pharaoh, but ultimately God is the one who broke His hard heart to let the people go. God will protect His people.

We cannot sacrifice love in the name of truth. But we can't leave truth out of it either. But love is to be the driving force. A passionate love, as the Savior loved us and gave Himself up for us.

Hear me when I say that I love the Church and the last thing I want this post to be is condemning. I want it to be challenging because it challenged me. It still challenges me. I wish I could say I'm perfect at this. I wish I always loved people and prayed blessings for people who hurt me. But I'm growing. I only challenge you to do the same. Matters don't always have to be taken into your hands. Not every church has to look the same. But what unites us should be the love of Christ for us that we show to other believers. That's what draws in the world. They will see the love we show each other and they will want to be a part of it.

Choose to love. Live a life of love. Follow Holy Spirit. This is what being a fisher of men looks like. You draw them in with love. The love of the Savior. That is the new commandment.