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| Daniel J. Musokwa |
In today's installment, we will focus our attention on the New Commandment the Our Lord gave us. The previous installments can be found here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4
A NEW COMMANDMENT
At the time of Jesus, the Jewish world was used to the Law of Moses guiding and regulating their everyday lives. Everything had to be done according to the Law, and subsequently the Law of Moses promoted self-righteousness and hypocrisy because it was externally observed. You must remember that the Law of Moses was given by God expressly TO and FOR the Israelites and NOT to the Gentiles. The Law does NOT see the Gentiles as even worthy of consideration as true sons; as far as the Law is concerned the Gentiles will always be dogs (Mat 15:21-27), without hope and without God in the world (Eph 2:12). That is why God needed to cut a New Testament which would include Gentiles also into the commonwealth of Israel. The Old Testament between God and the Jews was ratified by the blood of calves (Heb 9:18-20), but this New Testament between God and the church (believing Jew and gentile) was ratified by the Blood of Jesus Christ (Heb 9:11-14), the Lamb of God.
Naturally, the Jews couldn’t accept what Jesus was all about and many times they sought to trap Him with the Law of Moses. They were still holding the 613 laws and regulations given them by Moses very dear, even though the Law kept them in bondage. We come, now, to the great gospel of John chapter 13 where Jesus was about to be betrayed into the hands of sinners to be crucified. Here He spoke some very deep things with His disciples and we would do well to take heed. Some of the things He said here are so foundational that Christianity would NOT be Christianity without them.
John 13:34 "A NEW COMMAND I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Jesus knew that these guys were into commandments so bad that He had to speak their language to get to them. So He said “a new command I give you…” just to get their attention. When talking to a biologist you’d do well to throw in a couple of Latin scientific names like phaseolus vulgaris or mangifera indica; to a pacifist - a quote from Gandhi like “be the difference you wish to see in the world”; to a philosopher, some enlightening thoughts from Aristotle and Plato; and to a fascist bigot, just wave the swastika around and you’d be just fine. So Jesus knew when He was talking to the Jews He had to throw in a “commandment” here and there to keep them interested.
So what is this new command? It is “Love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one another.” Did you see it? Did you see the big catch? I don’t know how I could have missed it all my life as a Christian. So many times we just read these sublime truths and just go home our happy way not even realizing what we’ve just read. Here, I’ll highlight it for us all: “Love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one another.” That’s our problem right there my friend. Have you ever noticed that condition embedded in this New Testament command before?
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| Source: Google Images |
Now, just how much love do you suppose Jesus has for us all? It is immense! It is gigantic! It cannot be spoken! Just think, how many times did you sin against God in just your thoughts alone last month? Yet here you are... all loved and forgiven. Sometimes He forgives you knowing fully well that you are just going to go ahead and do it all over again. He expects you to forgive your brother 70 times 7 times everyday! And that’s just one brother! Is He serious! I’m sure after about the 45th time somebody’s gonna get it for sure! And yet Jesus somehow expects us to “love one another AS I HAVE LOVED YOU…,” get serious! Well, as it happens, He must be serious - seeing as ‘He is the way the truth and the life – no one comes unto the Father except through Him’. So the way to the Father is through love, there’s no other way around that.
I’m almost tempted to think that Jesus has set the standard way too high for us. How can I possibly love anybody as much as Jesus loves me? Yet that is exactly what He expects from us. Wasn't Jesus the first born among many brothers (Rom 8:29)? Aren't we God’s sons just like He was (Gal 3:26)? Haven’t we been predestined to be conformed into the image of Christ (Rom 8:29)? Aren't we exactly as He is – right now in this world (1 John 4:17)? Don’t we have the very mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16)? Don’t we have the very Spirit of Christ in us (Rom 8:9)? Then why should God expect any less from us?
We are filled with the Spirit of Christ not just for fun so we can slay each other in the Spirit, but for a responsibility that is greater than ourselves. We are filled with the Spirit of Christ so as to love like Christ, to be saviors of a lost world like Christ, and to walk like Jesus Christ. How can we? We can because the Spirit of Christ gives us the mind of Christ. That is why Paul says “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Christ being in you is the only hope that God has of being glorified IN His sons!
This is why I keep insisting always that it is virtually impossible to be filled with the very Spirit of God and still not grow in love, grace, mercy, compassion, and charity and wisdom year in year out. The Bible declares that “you will receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you”; but power to do what? Power to be witnesses of course. How exactly? By doing exactly what Christ came to do, to love the world even to the point of death! But the world hated Him because He testified (witnessed) that what it did was evil (John 7:7).
Your love for sinners includes not mincing words; the minute you are scared into being politically correct, then your love for sinners has just been tainted with self-preservation and fear. “But let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in very nature God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made Himself of no reputation. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself unto death, even death on the cross”(Philippians 2:5-8). So we need to have the same mind as Christ, even though God has created us in His own image and likeness, and now He has given us His Spirit and Mind too, we need to humble ourselves sacrificially in loving one another and the lost world at large.
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| Source: Google Images |
When the Spirit of God comes to DWELL inside a believer, then that believer is going to change drastically. The process of metamorphosis begins and it is catalyzed by the Holy Spirit as He whittles and chisels away at our carnality and fallenness to reveal a Masterpiece in us; which is Christ in us the hope of glory. Let me make a couple of statements here:
Without love there is NO Christianity.
Without love the gifts of the Spirit are NOT perfected.
Without love I am NOTHING!
Without love my religion is futile and foolish.
Without love I will NEVER know God.
Without love we can never produce the fruit of the Spirit, never!
TO BE CONTINUED>>>
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