Love is the defining characteristic of Christians.  That’s because God is love.  Love isn’t only something God does, love is who God is.  Jesus Christ embodied love while here on this earth.  Christ expects his followers to walk in that same path of love for one another:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (New International Version)

Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, are his ambassadors on earth.  They make up a new community of believers called and empowered by God’s Holy Spirit for a holy mission of love.

Christianity is not only a personal faith; it is designed by God to exist within community.  We need one another’s love and support.  Nearly 500 years ago the famous Reformer, John Calvin, said with conviction that “No one can have God for his Father who does not have the Church for his Mother.”  In other words, to have a loyalty and commitment to God is to have a devoted and loving spirit to one another as believers in Jesus.

One of the last commands Jesus gave to his disciples before he went to the cross was to love one another.  The Old Testament instructed the Israelites to love another – Leviticus 19:18 and Deuteronomy 6 make it clear to do so.  But Jesus gave new meaning to the command.

Bob enjoys sniffing for love.  Out on his discovery, he found 4 distinctions of Christ’s command to love one another:

A New Model: Jesus

Christ’s life and teaching gave new meaning to the command to love each other.

Jesus modeled service-oriented love by washing the feet of his disciples.  It was a scandalous thing to do.  The Teacher washing the students’ feet – unheard of!

Loving service is the compassionate meeting of a need for another, regardless of who that person is (e.g. Jesus washed Judas Iscariot’s feet, as well).  We are to love everyone in the community, and not just our friends or the ones we like.  Loving one another also means we will be realistic about community being a messy place.  There are going to be stinky feet.

A New Motive: Christ First Loved Me

Jesus has loved us with a love that took care of our brokenness once for all.  Because of that love, we are now motivated to love each other.  John, one of Christ’s disciples, said this about God’s love:

“This is how God showed his love among us:  he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love:  not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:9-11, New International Version).

Love is not only an action but an attitude and a frame of mind.  The motivation for the Christian is different than anyone else’s motive: We are so thankful for Christ’s love to us, that we cannot help but extend that same love to one another.

A New Motivator: The Holy Spirit

The Spirit is God’s gift to help us.  The Spirit energizes and enables us to love each other.  Jesus said in the upper room to his disciples just before facing the cross:

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth” (John 14:15-16, New International Version).

There are times when we may lack the ability or spiritual energy needed to love each other.  It is in those times that we need to check our spiritual electrical box to make sure we haven’t tripped a breaker by trying to live the Christian life in our own strength.

We need the Spirit.  People who are full of God’s Holy Spirit don’t walk around like Bob after his favorite hound loses the Westminster Dog Show.  Instead, the Spirit gives us the zeal we need to love one another.  It’s just a reality that we don’t do anything in life unless we have the motivation for it.  The Spirit is like the Christian’s personal trainer and guide –  encouraging, exhorting, comforting, and spurring us on toward the new way of love.

A New Mission: Transforming the World

Everyone will know you are Christ’s follower if you love one another.  The way we treat each other is the foundation for changing the world.

The medieval mystic, St. John of the Cross, said:

“Mission is putting love where love is not.” 

When there is a healthy dynamic of loving one another, the good news of Jesus is proclaimed as the only answer to the terrible brokenness of this world.  People will know the reality of Christ risen and coming again through the means of loving words and actions toward each other.

Jesus identifies so closely in love to his people, that to love them is to love him.  We are to take Christ’s way of love, and model ourselves after his life and teaching.  We are to give ourselves not only to Christ, but to each other because of love.  We are meant to allow love to characterize our life together to such a degree that a watching world desires to be a part of the community that we are a part of.