Living the New Covenant: Love as Our Command

Devotional

Sermon Summary

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Jesus didn't issue his new command as an additional commandment to the existing list of commands. Jesus issued his new command as a replacement for everything in that existing list, including, are you ready for this? Including the Big Ten. Just as his new covenant fulfilled and replaced the old covenant, Jesus' new commandment fulfills and replaces the old commandments. In other words, participants in the new covenant are not required to obey any of the commandments found in Moses' instructions to ancient Israel. Instead, participants in the new covenant are expected to obey the single command Jesus issued as part of his new covenant. Namely, as I have loved you, so you must love one another. [00:07:34]

Jesus' new command, this one another brand of love would be the mark of the man or woman who chose to participate in the new covenant. New command brand love was to serve as the unifying behavior for his new movement, the church. Jesus went on to say that this new command would serve as the governing ethic, the standard against which all behavior was to be measured for those who called him Lord. [00:08:42]

His primary concern wasn't what they believed. His primary concern wasn't that they believed something. He insisted they do something. They were to love as he had loved. Now, the men gathered that night had some inkling as to what this might look like. But three days later, it became agonizingly clear. [00:09:21]

Jesus didn't tether his new command to the anchor that all the other Jewish commands were traditionally tethered to. Love for God, fear of God, dedication to God. Jesus tethered his new command to himself. As I have loved you. In other words, this was Jesus' way of inserting himself into an equation that mere mortals have no business inserting themselves into. [00:09:46]

The litmus test for being a Jesus follower wasn't the ritualistic...day of the week, festival -driven, don't -forget -your -goat worship of an invisible and sometimes distant God. Following Jesus wouldn't be about looking for ways to get closer to God who dwelled up there, out there, somewhere. Jesus followers would demonstrate their devotion to God by putting the person next to them in front of them. [00:10:19]

Jesus' love for the men in the room rather than his authority over the men in the room is what he leveraged to instruct and inspire the men in that room. And on a personal note, Jesus' love for you, not his authority over you, is what he leverages to inspire you as well. [00:11:33]

It was his gory and gritty sacrifice, not an old covenant, keep your hands clean holiness that compelled his disciples to eventually take up their own crosses and follow him. And that should stop us in our tracks. [00:12:07]

Jesus, Jesus did not leverage his equality with God to stir us to action. He leveraged his love. This represented a total departure from the Old Covenant. Jesus did not anchor his new command to his divine right as king. He anchored it to his sacrificial love. Why should his disciples obey his command to love? Because he loved them first. He loved them best. [00:13:22]

Jesus leveraged his compelling love to compel his followers to love. By this, by this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. You see, Jesus' new covenant commandment established the governing ethic for his new movement, the church. It was simple, it was all -encompassing, it was far less complicated than the current system, but it was actually far more demanding. [00:14:10]

One thing that most of us didn't know growing up is that the imperatives that we find scattered throughout the New Testament are simply applications of Jesus' new covenant command. The New Testament imperatives are simply examples of how to love the one another's that Jesus commanded us to love. Again, his way is far less complicated, but in the end, it is far more demanding. [00:14:38]

This question takes us to the heart of Jesus' new covenant command, the standard by which we are to evaluate our behavior, conversations, and attitudes. And here it is, the better question. What does love require of me? What does love require of me? This clarifying, but honestly terrifying question should stand guard over our consciences. It should serve as a guidepost and signpost and compass as we navigate the complexities of our culture. [00:15:37]

It should inform how we date, parent, boss, manage, and coach. It should form a perimeter around what I say and do in my role as husband, pastor, and neighbor. This question gives voice to the New Covenant on issues where our New Testament is silent. It fills the gaps with disquieting precision. It succeeds where concordances fail. It quashes the insipid justification of, but the Bible doesn't say anything about this, and the Bible doesn't say anything is wrong with that. It closes loopholes. It exposes our hypocrisy. It stands as judge and jury. It is so simple, but it is so inescapably demanding. [00:16:08]

There are many things the New Testament doesn't specifically or directly address, and honestly, that shouldn't surprise or even concern us. Why? Jesus' overarching ethic of love intersects with every imaginable scenario we will have to face in this lifetime. New Covenant people don't begin or end with the question, what does the Bible say about? That is, that is so Old Covenant. New Covenant people begin with this better question. What does God's love for me require of me? What does love require of me? [00:16:51]

When unsure of what to say or do, ask what love requires of you. When unsure of what to say or do, simply ask what love requires of you. Again, the command scattered throughout our New Testament, answer that question. The New Testament imperatives are simply examples of how to love others as God and Christ has loved us. [00:17:53]

New Testament imperatives aren't there for your benefit, though you may benefit by complying. New Testament instructions aren't there for God's benefit. He's fine. New Testament imperatives are there for the benefit of the one another's around us. They illustrate what love for others looks like. To say it another way, Peter, Paul, James, and John did not add to Jesus' new command. They simply applied it. [00:18:17]

While Jesus' new command obligates us to wrestle with this new and better question, it does something else as well. His new command provides us with a new answer to an old question. His new command forces us to upgrade our answer to the question, why? Why obey? Why forgive? Why tell the truth? Why be generous? Why do all those things we were told to do growing up? [00:18:44]

With the inauguration of the new covenant, why would no longer be associated with appeasing God or purging property? Jesus' followers aren't instructed to obey in order to gain something from God. Christians obey in light of the fact that we've already been given so much. [00:20:04]

The New Testament, the New Covenant answer to the question why is always this. That's what love requires of me because that's what's best for them. That's what love requires of me because that's what's best for them. The Old Covenant why centered on doing right by God. New Covenant obedience is always connected to a who and often it's the who beside you. [00:20:45]

Perhaps the main reason is that in our mixing and matching of covenants, we've lost the purity and the power of Jesus' New Covenant command to love as he loved. You know, that changed the world once and perhaps it could again. And perhaps, perhaps it begins with us. So what does love require of you? What does love require of you? At home, at work, at school? What does love require of you in the community? There are no loopholes or workarounds in Jesus' new command brand of love. Again, it is far less complicated than what many of us grew up with, but in the end, it is far more demanding. So what does love require of you? [00:21:20]

Ask a question about this sermon