John 13

Sermon: The Lord’s Commandment

Thanks for reading Psalm 24:1-6…I love this Psalm…especially the words:

1 The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,

    the world, and those who live in it,

2 for he has founded it on the seas

    and established it on the rivers.

3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

    And who shall stand in his holy place?

4 Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,

Let’s pray:

Dear Lord,

Forgive us our sins, so we can approach You with Clean Hands…and help us to seek Your Glory in all that we do, so we have Pure Hearts as we seek Your fellowship…and may the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts and minds be pleasing unto You, our Rock, our Redeemer, and our Friend. Amen (Ps 19:14)

Today’s Gospel Reading is found in

John 13:31-35 (NT P. 108), just a few short verses, but packed with meaning…and it is from a time at the Last Supper, just as He had washed the feet of the Disciples, after Communion….and right before Jesus offers His most endearing prayers for the Disciples and for us….!

In this setting He is close…and He offers a New Commandment to those He loves…it is part of His legacy for His church on earth…let’s read what He says:

31 When Judas left the room, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.

32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.

33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’

34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

     Many theologians have said that these verses are the most direct statement of the nature of Jesus, and the point where Jesus began to really speak plainly, not in parables any more.

…and the rest of Chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 of the Gospel of John really paint the picture of His love for the disciples, and for us. He literally tells God the Father that His prayers are not just for the disciples, but for all those that come to believe in Him in John, Chapter 17, verse 20.

     But here in our text today, we have the start of all of this.

     As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus had no time to waste. He immediately said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.  

     Jesus is the Son of Man as highlighted throughout the Old and New Testament, He also mentions earlier in John 8 that He is the Son of God, (v54) “Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, ‘He is our God’…

…and in (v58) Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am”…He is saying in no uncertain terms that He is YWHW…the God I am…

You see…He is God…and Man…

…and as soon as Judas left He was excited to share the good news, that although He was about to give up His earthly body in the Sacrifice to save us all…He was finally able to complete the task that His Father sent Him to do…

…and then He gave them a new commandment… that they should love one another, just as He had loved them, they should also love one another…

…and then He spent several hours talking with them and praying with them…

And He did this…to give them…and us…hope in the future of His Resurrection and the future where He would be sitting next to His father again as He did when the earth was made...Jesus is the Word, the Truth and the Life…He is the Light that was with God in the beginning that came into the world…to show us a better way…He became the Salt of the earth to help us all.

Can I get an Amen, Amen.

…At this point I have to pause for a moment, because I found it interesting to see that Jesus spent an estimated 3 years with His disciples and then the night He was betrayed, He doesn’t hold back, He shares everything with the disciples…He  prays with them, and He prays for them.

…and I see this pattern again and again in the Old and New Testament…where God has us wait for a some period of time…before we see His message clearly…I believe He is always with us…but sometimes we don’t see Him or His message clearly…sometimes our sin is in the way, like Judas…or we hear worldly advice like Job’s friends second guessing God…or like David trying to find his way out of the pit of despair by himself…or like the disciples who walked and talked with Jesus…for years…before He stopped answering their questions in parables…He showed up at a time that was important for them and for us.

Sometimes I reflect on my own life…and I’m sure some of you do this too...you reflect on your own life.

Has there been a time when you have had to sit by yourself, no matter how hard you prayed to have some burden or pain taken away?

Sometimes, we just have to sit and wait on the Lord to speak plainly in our lives.

Maybe it’s like a ‘time-out’ for us??

So today, I want to encourage you to do this. Take a self-directed time-out to let the anger or excitement settle down…and you can hear God clearly.

This past Monday I received my Doctor in Ministry, and the topic was

STAYBATICAL: The Practice of Introspection Through Homebased, Short-Term Sabbaticals for Personal Revitalization…and it was all about renewing of the mind. Taking time out and have a 4-8 hour no computer or cell phone break, and focusing on the Lord, as one does in a sabbatical…only you stay at home.

     I had 10 Pastors do the project with me, and all had at least a 50% reduction in their stress level.

     And this matches what the Scripture says in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

     You see, in the text today, the scripture is very clear on what the will of God is. Jesus speaks plainly

...but it took 3 years before the disciples could understand Jesus.

They were in a time out period.

So, we too, sometimes need to pause…in order to “be transformed by the renewal of our mind, that by testing we may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

     Which Jesus even tell us…to “love one another. Just as He has loved you, you also should love one another.”…and that is what is good and acceptable and perfect. Can I get an Amen, Amen

     So, what do we do with all of this?

For me, I think it reminds me that sometimes we feel and know and move in the direction of the Will of God because it is so clear…and at other times we need to wait on the Lord, because it is unclear.

…and when He does speak plainly, listen to Him. Amen