And then in chapter 13, and verse 34, we have the next occasion, where the Lord Jesus gives us a command. And he has talked to the disciples, and He is still there with them and he says to them, in verse 34, A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.

How amazing is this? I cannot as I read this, again and again, and I don't know how many times I've read through the whole Bible, of course, but read through these chapters and realize, here is a command. Three times in chapter 13, in verse 34, in chapter 15, in verse 12, and again in verse 17, in the midst of this wonderful demonstration of the Lord's care, the Lord's service to his disciples, including Judas, he says to them, “Love one another.” You know, I appreciate again what he says in the next verse by this show all men know that you are my disciples, if you have loved one to another. To think that the standard of behavior, the manifestation of the one characteristic that the Lord Jesus wants in our lives, is not great doctrinal truths, it's not the great gift that God has given this person or that person. It isn't even our knowledge of the Word of God or being able to repeat the great doctrines of the faith. It's to love one another.

Sociologists tell us that we have two great needs as human beings with mind, emotion and will that be to love one another, and to be loved. Somebody comes and visits your assembly, whether we understand that or not. What goes through their mind consciously or subconsciously? Will these people love me, and can I love them? Maybe they ask, Will they love me as I am? or do we require a certain standard of behavior in order for them to love us. And so, the command is, love one another. And he goes on to say as I have loved you. Most of us would say, at the most, I love you or we love you or you are loved or certain phrases that are more comfortable or convenient to exercise our God given responsibility.

Why is it that the Lord Jesus put this so prominently before those disciples? I can tell you he was going to go away. He was going to leave them. He was going to leave a huge open empty space where he had been because we can look at the life of the Lord Jesus Christ in the gospels, and we can answer and say nobody loved the disciples like he did. Nobody cared for them like he did. Nobody prayed for them like he did. We could take every responsibility in every duty that we have as believers in Jesus Christ and say, Christ did it better. Christ did it perfectly. Christ is the example to us. We are to do as he did, and that includes loving one another. You're saying, the Lord Jesus Christ gave to the disciples, the premium demonstration of love.

In chapter 13, the first few verses, John reminds us, having loved His own that were in the world, He loved them to the uttermost. You and I must say, nobody ever loved me like the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody in all the world, no person ever. My mom and my dad, my brothers and sisters, my brothers and sisters in the assembly. Nobody loves me like the Lord Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus, we sing. Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so. But the Lord Jesus was leaving. He was going to be gone. And so, they gather reclining on their couches around probably and who was going to carry on this demonstration of love that he had so perfectly given to those disciples? The answer is these 11 disciples.

He commission's them, he challenges them, he calls them, he conditions them, take whatever words you'd like. And he brought those disciples to a place that just before he was going to the garden of Gethsemane and give himself up to the Roman Empire and to the Jewish chief priests and scribes. He says to the disciples, You have a responsibility. That responsibility is to love one another. I think it's important for us to realize that this is the premium expression of the heart of God and of Christ that we can share with each other. We spend so much time learning the Bible getting to know the Bible, formulating the scriptures, understanding the doctrines, making sure that we have all of our I's dotted and our T's crossed so that we present ourselves theologically correct, practically exemplary, and all of that. But the Lord says to us, it's love, Love one another.

You know what, I know that our heart goes from this chapter to First Corinthians chapter 13. And we are reminded that love endures forever. And love wanted not itself and is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly. You can take that word love out of there, and you can put in Christ. Christ, did not himself be lifted up. He did not exalt himself. He didn't think of that which was evil, but that which is good. You can take that chapter you can take out the word charity in the King James Version and put in love, but you can also take out love and put in the name of Jesus Christ. How did He love us? To the uttermost. We are to love as He loved us. For God so loved the world and whose love was that? It was the Father's love that the Son manifested to us.

Galatians tells us he loved me and gave himself for me. Those words are just full of message, full of truth, full of comfort, encouragement, and the challenge is that we should love as He loved. We are called. We are commanded. We're commissioned, we're challenged. We have no option to obey if we just find somebody in the assembly that is hard to love. Still are commanded to love. We're commanded to do what the Lord Jesus Christ did. And so, as we review these commands, we realize that the motive of that love of the Lord Jesus Christ for His disciples, was in order that the world, in order the other disciples, in other believers would know that we are His disciples. The word disciples simply mean a learner. Somebody who follows we are to be like the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to love as He loved, it is a huge challenge. You have no other option. But the Lord Jesus Christ comes and takes up His life in us takes up his residence in my heart, and there are always those that are hard to love.

It must have been hard to love Peter, and James and John. Peter was always saying things that he shouldn't have said, James and John wanting to call down fire on everybody who wasn't of the same mind, the same, same denomination or whatever. It must have been hard to love Matthew with his background. But the Lord Jesus says we are to love one another. As I have loved you and so the motive is, because the disciples need love. You needed love, I need love. And we are commissioned to take the place of the Lord Jesus Christ who's gone to glory, and he is dependent upon us, loving as he loved, so that people know that they are loved.

So, people know that the greatest characteristic that is manifested by those who claim to follow Jesus Christ is love. Divine love, God's love. Christ's love. And as we do that people will be drawn and we are to love those who are in the world. Not to love the world. But the people in the world. We are to love as God the Father, loved the world and gave himself for us.