John 13:31-38 - Jesus Knew – His DisciplesDoug Partin – The Christian Church – Oct. 11, 2018

The first thing that Jesus said after Judas left the room in order to take the opportunity to betray Him was, “Now is the Son of Man glorified.” It is not the sort of thing that you or I might say knowing that a close friend was on his way to betray us; but Jesus knew what lay before Him, and He knew what Judas had left the meal to do would set things in motion that would end up bringing glory to God.

Glory is mentioned quite often in John’s gospel. He began it by saying that when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, we saw His glory. John would go on to explain that he was referring to all the “signs” that he and others saw Jesus perform. These miracles revealed to them that Jesus really was God’s Son come to save the world. But the greatest of signs was yet to come: His death, burial and resurrection.

You may recall that the Greek word translated glory simply meant, “to think.” It was used to refer to how a person thought

about someone who did something worthy of praise or honor. Jesus often warned His disciples about seeking glory from men rather than from God. He warned them about seeking the praise of men because it is often the case that when we do things in hopes of making people think well of us, that we can be tempted to do things that displease God. The opposite is also true, when we seek God’s approval; it is likely that we will end up doing things that displease people.

Because He enacted God’s will, Jesus would receive glory from Him; and He would also be received into God’s glory. Which is a way that Jesus spoke of being received into eternal life in heaven. But unlike us who have to wait for the last day to arrive, Jesus got to enter into His glory immediately.

When stated this way, I get the point Jesus was making when talking about glory, but when I simply read what John records that Jesus said, it is not so clear. Listen again, to what Jesus said when Judas left the room, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.”

The disciples must have been scratching their heads, just as we do. They did not realize that Jesus had just told them that His obedience to God’s will would result in His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. Nor did they realize that this part of God’s plan would begin later that night. Because this “glorification” process had begun when Judas left, Jesus told His disciples that He would only be with them a little while longer. He also told them that after He was glorified, the disciples would seek Him, but they would not be able to find Him because they were not yet able to go where He was going.

Instead of giving them a chance to ask questions about this divine game of hide and seek, Jesus spoke to them about what they were to do in His absence. Jesus told them that they were to follow a New Commandment. They were to love one another as He had loved them. If they were able to do this, then everyone would know that they were His disciples.

Some have pointed out that loving one another is not a new command. You can find it in the Old Testament in quite a few places.

But because of their penchant for legalism, which allowed them to love when they wanted and whom they wanted, and avoid it at other times; they were not really following the command as Jesus directed. I am sure that you remember Jesus’ story about the Good Samaritan, in which Jesus redefined what “neighbor” meant in regard to loving others. Or how Jesus had to confront the Pharisees about loving sinners by telling them stories about a lost coin, sheep and son. Or about how they tied their property up in “religious law” to the point that they would not even provide for their own parents in their old age.

The new aspect of Jesus command was in following His example. They were to love one another as Jesus loved them. They had spent the last three years with Jesus and they knew exactly how Jesus had loved them. It was an unrestrained love, a genuine love, and they were about to learn that it was a sacrificial love.

The apostle Paul did a pretty good job at defining this type of love when he wrote a letter to the believers in Corinth. He told them, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have

become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.

When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in

part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1Co 13:1–13).

I’ve been told that we live in a time when people “church shop;” that there are religious consumers looking for what they need at this particular season in their lives. And churches have responded by becoming “seeker” friendly, and by adopting marketing strategies, to sell themselves to those seeking a church home.

If that’s really the case, let me ask you, “If you were to design an advertising campaign for a church, what would you highlight?” Great music, Meaningful teaching, Effective outreach events, Ministries to children and youth, Entertaining socials, Small group interaction between people of the same age and who have the same interests, Intentional acts of benevolence to the least of these? Why not emphasize the new commandment that Jesus gave His disciples? The apostle Paul, who was not there on the night that Jesus was betrayed, must have heard about it for he definitely got what Jesus was saying to

His disciples on that night. And He affirmed that none of the things that we might consider attractive to seekers really matters if they are not done in love and out of love.

Did you notice when we read today’s text that rather than asking Jesus about what it meant to love as He loved, Peter asked about “the glory mystery.” He wanted to know where Jesus was going.

Like Peter we often get caught up in asking questions about the things that God chose not to disclose, rather than learning how to do what God has clearly revealed. For some, it is more desirous to have their curiosity gratified than their consciences directed toward being a person defined by love.

And to be honest, discussions about loving as Jesus loved are often quickly dropped by those in the church because they think that they have already exhausted this topic; while they get so caught up and animated over a disputation about unrevealed matters, like when the last day is likely to arrive, that the discussion goes on and on.

I was glad that Jesus assured Peter that he would follow Him later, even though Jesus had

to point out that he wasn’t ready to do so at the moment. Peter, however, insisted that He was ready to follow Jesus. But Jesus knew Peter better than Peter knew himself. Jesus knew that Peter could not even follow Him to the cross, much less follow Him into the glories of heaven. Peter was simply not ready to do so at that time, but Jesus was confident that one day Peter would be ready to follow Him into glory.

Interestingly enough, you may recall, that Jesus, after His resurrection and before His ascension, would tell Peter, until the day arrived on which he could follow Jesus; He wanted Peter to be known by his love.

Just as Peter would deny Jesus three times; Jesus would ask Him three times, “Peter, do you love me?” Peter would answer each time, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” And Jesus would tell him each time to love as He loved. Jesus told Peter to “tend my lambs,” “shepherd my sheep” and “tend my sheep.”

Jesus set the example in what it means to love. It is how Jesus wanted His disciples to be known. Moreover, I believe it is how we, His Church, should be known. If a person joins us,

they should leave having been loved. If we encounter a person during the week, they should leave that encounter having been loved. If we spend time together, ministering together, we should leave that time of service having been loved.

If that doesn’t happen, then we’ve failed. Our great music might as well be an awful clash of cymbals, Our great teaching becomes a bunch of nonsense, Our acts of kindness become meaningless. If we don’t have love.

Despite our failures to love as Jesus loved, there are times when we get it right, even if we didn’t even know we are doing so. If you were with us last week, you would have met Young Yi at the end of our service. It was his last Sunday with us. He gave me a card that he wanted me to share with you.

(Young Yi)

You might think that I am overemphasizing this point about love, but so did Jesus; then He demonstrated what He was talking about by becoming obedient to God’s will. He first loved us, and when it comes to others, we should be the first to love them.

Prayer: Jesus, Help us love as You love until we can follow you too.