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I want to welcome you to day four of our look together through John chapter 13
in Daily Tribetime Devotions. It's an incredible chapter, John 13. It contains
one of Jesus' greatest pictures of service, Jesus washing the disciples' feet,
and it also contains one of His greatest statements about love, what it means to
love one another as He loved us.

In fact, what I'd like to do today is to skip forward to what Jesus has to say
about love in John chapter 13 verses 34 and 35. And then tomorrow, we're going
to go back to see the picture of Judas on one side of that statement and how he
rejected the love of Christ and the picture of Peter on the other side of that
statement and how he missed the love of Christ and also the picture of John on
the other side and what happened in his life because of the love of Christ. It
all revolves around this statement in John 13 verses 34 and 35.

"A new command I give to you," Jesus said, "love one another. As I have loved
you, so you must love one another. By this, all men will know that you are my
disciples if you have love for one another.

" "Love one another as I have loved you. " In these few hours in the upper room,
He repeated this simple commandment three separate times. He tenderly speaks,
"love one another.

" He simply states, "love one another. " He boldly commands, "love one another.
" This command is the command that revolves around all of our lives.

So what does it mean when Jesus talks about love one another? How does it fit
into our everyday lives? Sitting with me here today as we're taping this study
is my wife, Chandel.

And as you might imagine, in our lives together, in our marriage together, we
have had to work through and struggle through and rejoice through what it means
to love one another and how these words fit into our lives. So I'd like her to
join me for a portion of this study and talk a little bit, Chandel, for us about
what it means to love one another. Thanks, Tom.

Jesus pointed us to the first commandment and the second commandment. Now He
gives us a new commandment. All three of these commandments center on
relationships.

The first commandment centers on our relationship with God. The second
commandment centers on our relationship with our neighbor. And the new
commandment centers on our relationship with one another.

Who's Jesus speaking of when He talks about one another? Jesus was talking to
His disciples when He gave this commandment. These disciples had many
differences between them.

The one thing, though, that they had in common was that they were followers of
Jesus. When Jesus says "one another," He's talking about loving other people who
have given their lives to following Jesus Christ. You might say, "Okay, love
other Christians.

I think I can do that. " But then come two little words that carry with them a
seemingly insurmountable challenge. "As I.

" Jesus commands you to love others as He loves you. We're challenged to love as
Jesus loved? When Jesus talked about love, He didn't say, "I want you to love
the best you can.

" He said, "I want you to love as I have loved you. " That feels like somebody's
inviting me to jump across the Grand Canyon. Me?

Love like Jesus loved? You've got to be kidding. There is no way.

Jesus didn't give us a "do the best you can" challenge. This is more a "do the
more than you possibly could" challenge. If you're thinking, "These words are
wonderful, but there's no way I'm going to be able to love like Jesus loved,"
that's a good thing.

God has you right where He wants you. Recognizing the truth that you don't have
that kind of power for that kind of love is the first step for all of us. The
power to love isn't found in yourself.

It's found in Him. Jesus gave us this seemingly impossible challenge not to
discourage us, but to lead us to find the power to love others in Him. If I'm
going to love like Jesus loved, I need the power that only Jesus can give.

This isn't about loving the world. This is a command about the world, seeing our
love for one another as believers. We should love everybody, of course.

Sometimes in loving everybody else, we forget to love those who are closest to
us. Love one another. Thanks, Shondell.

And thanks for agreeing to be a part of this study today. I've learned a lot
from you about what it means to love one another as we love Christ. So I'm glad
we got to do this study together.

Yes, that's the new commandment. You love one another. Now, the question in this
is, we know who we're supposed to love.

We're supposed to love other believers. The question is, why is this called a
new commandment? What was so new about it?

What was new about it was those words "as I. " "As I love you. " It was a new
quality of love.

As Jesus loved, Jesus not only taught the disciples this principle, He was an
example of this principle and He empowers this truth in our lives. We're not
just to consider God's love. We're not even just to be containers of God's love.

We're to be channels of God's love. "As I love you. " Jesus Christ loving
through us.

Now, Shondell and I have talked about this, the challenge of this in everyday
life. And the truth is, to act differently, to love differently, you have to
discover that difference. Well, there's at least three things to think about as
we close our look at these verses.

You have to discover the difference between what you feel and what you do. You
see, most of the world thinks love is a feeling. It's a feeling that you feel
that you're going to feel when you've got a feeling that you've never felt
before.

It's all about feelings. But Jesus, notice He commanded them to love. You cannot
command an emotion.

You can't. You can't do it. You can't command yourself to feel a certain way or
another person.

And Jesus never did. God never does. But you can command an action.

So He's not commanding a feeling here. He's commanding an action. Act in love
towards other people.

Now, a lot of people I know, they say, "Well, love isn't real if you don't feel
it. " That is simply not true. You think Jesus felt like going to the cross and
dying on the cross?

Of course He didn't. But He did it anyway. Love is acting in love.

In fact, when every fiber of your being feels against it and you act anyway,
that's love. Your spouse has betrayed your trust and you continue to love. Your
child has broken your heart and you continue to love.

Jesus on the cross, people ridiculing Him and Him praying, "Father, forgive
them. " That's love. Now, are feelings a part of the package?

Of course. But they're the spice. What would a meal be like that was all spice?

You got to have the meat and the meat is you act in love. To understand what
Jesus is talking about here, you have to understand the difference between what
I feel and what I do. You have to understand the difference between should and
can.

If this is you should love other people like Jesus did, that's just another
burden in life and it's a big one. Love is another burden to an overburdened
life for many people as they hear about it. When Jesus says, "Love one another,"
we want you to hear Him saying, "You can.

" Because God never commands us. He never commands us to do something that He's
not willing to empower you to do. So you say, "Jesus Christ, instead of me
trying to do this on my own as my own burden, I ask you for strength for what
you can do in me.

" Discover the difference between what you feel and what you do between should
and can and discover the difference between old and new. This isn't an old
commandment. It's a new commandment.

As I love. Notice, in fact, Jesus said, "I want you to love not as I command. I
want you to love as I love.

I've given you an example. " And this new command, there's a lot of commandments
in the Old Testament. And we find out in the New Testament, a lot of those were
based upon fear.

This commandment is not based on fear. It is based on love. God's example of
love for us.

Many people are struggling with stale love and stale lives. And you need a new
commandment. You need a whole new way to love.

A way to love that impacts every part of your life. The way you raise your kids.
The way you talk to people at work.

The way you love your wife. The way you reach out to those who don't know the
good news of Jesus yet. You need a new kind of love.

A new way to love. And Jesus says, "Here it is. It's new.

" It's a new commandment for new hearts. Love one another, Jesus said. As I have
loved you, so you should love one another.

Let's talk to him about it right now. And say to Jesus Christ, "Jesus, thank you
for loving me. Thank you for loving me.

Thank you for giving me an example greater than myself, even as I have loved
you. " I pray that that example would strengthen my love. Thank you for giving a
foundation that is stronger than myself.

You're the foundation for love in my life. Not my love. Not the way I was
brought up.

Not the things I learned about love, but you. Your love for me will never fail.
Your love for me will never fail me.

And so I pray that that daily would be the foundation of my love. I pray that
that today, the rest of this day, would be the foundation of my love. And Lord,
I thank you that love even has a purpose higher than itself.

By this, all the world will know that you are my disciples. The way that I love
others points people to see something about you. All the world will know
something about you, Jesus.

Well, I pray that instead of selfish love, hoping people will notice the way I
love, I pray for purposeful love. Love that's based on the fact that you've done
something in my life and I just want to pass it along today. Jesus Christ, thank
you for loving me.

Help me to love others today. In your name, amen.