Love One Another (John 15:12-17)

It's not easy to love people.  Jesus commands us to love people and we still struggle to make loving others a priority in our life.  Loving people is hard because we are so extremely selfish. We love ourselves but struggle to love others.  If given a choice, we wouldn't make any effort to love others; but Jesus didn't give his disciples a choice.     

In John 13:34, Jesus says, "A new command I give you. . ."  He repeats himself in John 15:12, stating, "This is my command..."  And what is this new commandment?  It's that you (Jesus' disciples) love one another.  And how are we to love other people?  Jesus qualifies this love by saying, "as I have loved you, you need to love one another."  

The 11th Commandment is serious business!  

I realize this is difficult.  I believe Jesus knows this is difficult--that's why he offers instructions on the topic.  And more importantly, don't miss that Jesus wants us to love others as Jesus loves us.  Don't miss that.  Jesus loves you!  And because he loves you, you can love others.  

As part of our Final Instructions of Jesus series, I preached a sermon from these verses.  It's called "Love One Another" and you can listen here.  I pray it helps you to love others as Jesus commanded. 

For the Kingdom! 
Pastor Bryan