Basic Preparation for Transformation
Week 2, Email 1, Monday
Week 2, Email 1, Monday
Christians Together Absolutely Necessary: Part Two
Loving the King as He Requested
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them,
he is the one who loves me.
He who loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
John 14:21
he is the one who loves me.
He who loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
John 14:21
In the upper room just before Jesus said the above words, only a few hours before he died, Jesus had given a new command.
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:
just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another."
John 13:34
just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another."
John 13:34
And then just afterward, he repeated this command.
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
John 15:12
John 15:12
There is no other command recorded in this Upper Room discourse. So, it seems this command to love one another as he had loved his disciples is the primary command linked to the promise of extra love from the Father, extra love from the Son, and a special personal manifestation of Jesus.
The key concept grievously overlooked is the phrase, “as I have loved you.” This indicates that the love must be “up close and personal”, as Jesus had loved the disciples in daily life. Jesus’ basic request for love from his followers is asking for biblical love by the Christian individual to be extended to those in his or her “Christian inner circle”, as well as received from those same people. Therefore, it applies most to Christian friendships, Christian families, and Christian marriages, where believers live “real life” together less privately and more frequently.
Christians who want to love Jesus as he has requested, will need to know what our Lord’s “inner circle love” looked like with His disciples. The four gospel narratives do not give much detail about his loving relationship with the disciples. But, we can safely assume that he loved them as taught in Scripture. Therefore, the 65 Togethers, since they are all aspects of loving, of denying self for the good of others, spell out the way Jesus loved his disciples. Implementing them, and not just minimally, gives Jesus the love he wants.
And, obeying the scriptures of the Togethers yields the huge surprise of John 14:21, which is usually overlooked or minimized. Even though God the Father loves us already, and Jesus loves us already, there evidently is extra love contingent upon our loving our inner circle deeply. Wouldn’t we want to have an extra helping of love from God the Father? Wouldn’t we want bonus love from Jesus? And, wouldn’t we want Jesus to manifest himself to us in a more personal way?
I suspect if we asked 100 Christians if they love Jesus, all of them would reply, “yes”. But, I wonder what answers we would get if we asked, “What is the main thing you do to show Jesus you love Him?” I would be very grateful if they answered, “I go far out of my way to love those in my Christian inner circle in the self-denying ways instructed in Scripture.” I fear that I would hear things like, “I go to church.” “I study my Bible.” “I pray.” “I worship.” All these are wonderful and necessary, but not what Jesus specifically requested.
We Cannot Do it Alone or in Large Fellowships
As long as the devil can keep us thinking that our growth in Christ is something we can accomplish without one another’s help, we will make really slow progress in prayer, trusting God, and a hundred other things of faith we really want. We are held back by sermons that instruct individuals, church structures that prevent getting to know people well enough, and books that tell us what to change but not how to do it with the helpful relationships the Bible says are necessary.
Serious students of the Bible will readily see that God desires, wants and explicitly commands a plural expression of faith in Christian relationships. Unfortunately, this is obscured by the English language with so many of its pronouns and verbs stripped of their plurality in translation from the Greek.
Although we usually miss the plurality in Scripture, it is everywhere. We are to wait and hope on the Lord together. That’s why there is more than one eagle in Isaiah 40:31. We are to primarily focus on all of us – that is why all of the Lord’s Prayer is in the plural. Loving relationships far superior to those of secular relationships is to be our primary witness – that’s how Jesus said people would know we are truly his disciples. (See John 13:35.) It is the church that is the recipient of the “all things happen for good” of Romans 8:28. And it is the church first and the individual only by inclusion in the church that is being completed as the Greek plurality of Philippians 1:6 clearly shows but the English language hides.
Yet, Satan’s strategy can be defeated by Christian friendships, marriages and families that comprehend the plurality through the Bible. In these relationships there is enough natural time together as well as commitment to one another to get down in the trenches and help. And, because of their smaller size, Jesus will be there in a special way.
For a moment imagine how attractive the Christian faith could be in these basic relationships of friendships, families and marriages.
The key concept grievously overlooked is the phrase, “as I have loved you.” This indicates that the love must be “up close and personal”, as Jesus had loved the disciples in daily life. Jesus’ basic request for love from his followers is asking for biblical love by the Christian individual to be extended to those in his or her “Christian inner circle”, as well as received from those same people. Therefore, it applies most to Christian friendships, Christian families, and Christian marriages, where believers live “real life” together less privately and more frequently.
Christians who want to love Jesus as he has requested, will need to know what our Lord’s “inner circle love” looked like with His disciples. The four gospel narratives do not give much detail about his loving relationship with the disciples. But, we can safely assume that he loved them as taught in Scripture. Therefore, the 65 Togethers, since they are all aspects of loving, of denying self for the good of others, spell out the way Jesus loved his disciples. Implementing them, and not just minimally, gives Jesus the love he wants.
And, obeying the scriptures of the Togethers yields the huge surprise of John 14:21, which is usually overlooked or minimized. Even though God the Father loves us already, and Jesus loves us already, there evidently is extra love contingent upon our loving our inner circle deeply. Wouldn’t we want to have an extra helping of love from God the Father? Wouldn’t we want bonus love from Jesus? And, wouldn’t we want Jesus to manifest himself to us in a more personal way?
I suspect if we asked 100 Christians if they love Jesus, all of them would reply, “yes”. But, I wonder what answers we would get if we asked, “What is the main thing you do to show Jesus you love Him?” I would be very grateful if they answered, “I go far out of my way to love those in my Christian inner circle in the self-denying ways instructed in Scripture.” I fear that I would hear things like, “I go to church.” “I study my Bible.” “I pray.” “I worship.” All these are wonderful and necessary, but not what Jesus specifically requested.
We Cannot Do it Alone or in Large Fellowships
As long as the devil can keep us thinking that our growth in Christ is something we can accomplish without one another’s help, we will make really slow progress in prayer, trusting God, and a hundred other things of faith we really want. We are held back by sermons that instruct individuals, church structures that prevent getting to know people well enough, and books that tell us what to change but not how to do it with the helpful relationships the Bible says are necessary.
Serious students of the Bible will readily see that God desires, wants and explicitly commands a plural expression of faith in Christian relationships. Unfortunately, this is obscured by the English language with so many of its pronouns and verbs stripped of their plurality in translation from the Greek.
Although we usually miss the plurality in Scripture, it is everywhere. We are to wait and hope on the Lord together. That’s why there is more than one eagle in Isaiah 40:31. We are to primarily focus on all of us – that is why all of the Lord’s Prayer is in the plural. Loving relationships far superior to those of secular relationships is to be our primary witness – that’s how Jesus said people would know we are truly his disciples. (See John 13:35.) It is the church that is the recipient of the “all things happen for good” of Romans 8:28. And it is the church first and the individual only by inclusion in the church that is being completed as the Greek plurality of Philippians 1:6 clearly shows but the English language hides.
Yet, Satan’s strategy can be defeated by Christian friendships, marriages and families that comprehend the plurality through the Bible. In these relationships there is enough natural time together as well as commitment to one another to get down in the trenches and help. And, because of their smaller size, Jesus will be there in a special way.
For a moment imagine how attractive the Christian faith could be in these basic relationships of friendships, families and marriages.