John 15:12-14 “This
is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved
you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for
his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”
Continuing Dr. Willie
Nolte’s message, he explains that in Jesus’ new Commandment, there is a new
pattern and power of living in Jesus and loving on Jesus established. The new
pattern consists of (A) the laying aside of status, rank, and privilege and
becoming a servant. Putting ourselves first is a normal human attitude in a
secular culture and society. It’s all about me, my needs and transactional
relationships that focus on “what is in it for me?” Or, when we are in a
problem situation, “how do I get out of this?” In John
13:3-5, “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His
hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose
from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded
Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the
disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was
girded.” The Lord modeled the servant attitude that He desires in Hid
disciples. We are challenged by God to follow Jesus’ example. Do not think more
highly of yourself than you ought.
The new pattern consists of
(B) helpfulness. Be helpful with calm, cool, and collected random acts of godly kindness.
We are wired by our Creator for this, but Jesus demonstrated it for us.
Christians love each other in a “phileo” (brotherly love of Believers/Children
of God) above and beyond the norm. Jesus
said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for
one another.” The world is watching, looking at how Christians treat each
other and how they treat other people. Is the love of God what they do or who
they are in Christ?
In John 15:4-5 Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you,
unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He
who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can
do nothing.”
The new power is accomplished
by abiding. Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines the word “abide” as: to be, or exist, to continue; to dwell,
rest, continue, stand firm, or be stationary for anytime indefinitely. To tarry;
To continue permanently or in the same state; to be firm and immovable. Our
life is in Christ; we live there! When we stay connected to Jesus, something
powerful happens. It is what gives us the power to follow the pattern. In Acts
1:8 Jesus tells us, “you
shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you
shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the end of the earth.” Philippians 2:13 reassures us, “for it
is God who works in you, both to will and to do for His good
pleasure.”
Some people are “doers” by
nature, but the Christian life is not mainly about “doing”. First and foremost,
it is about “being”. Believing God and following Jesus as Savior and Lord is
not what you do, as much as is who you are. The amount of time you are
connected to God, abiding in Christ, has a direct impact on your ability to
follow and serve the Lord. To “love one
another; as I have loved you” means that you need to be in fellowship and
community of fellow Christ-followers.
Romans 6:23 “For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of
God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Sin is a deep problem as it
is a barrier to the spiritual nature. John
3:36 explains that “He who
believes and trusts in the Son and accepts Him [as Savior]
has eternal life [that is, already possesses it]; but he who does not believe
the Son and chooses to reject Him, [disobeying Him and denying Him as
Savior] will not see [eternal] life, but [instead] the wrath of God hangs over
him continually.” Sin must by judged and punished by a just and holy
God. Until the sin problem is dealt with the connection with God is not
reconciled. Jesus proclaimed in John 3:16-18 “For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be
saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not
believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God.” By the grace of God, He sent incarnate Jesus (the Blessed
Savior of the world) from Heaven to Earth to redeem us by taking our sins upon
Himself.
Romans 3:21-24 “But
now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being
witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God,
through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there
is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God, being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Dr. Nolte concludes, How is the new Commandment possible?
Jesus solved the “wrath of God” problem caused by our sin. For those who
repent, believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, receive a regenerated
spirit and the gift of eternal life as a child of God because the separation is
removed when we turn from our sin in repentance and accept the finished work on
the Cross by Jesus Christ, taking our place and dying for our sin, then rising
from the dead to defeat sin and death in the power of God, so that we rise with
Him to glory! Our conversion has changed us from the inside out that we may
live for Jesus today and forever more with the Lord in Heaven. We are
connected, not separated. Love one another,move forward and follow.
In Christ, Brian
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