Intro to John 13:31-38

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/29/2016 10:04 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  Intro to John 13:31-38

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 13:31-38

            Message of the verses:  “31 Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; 32 if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. 33 “Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ’Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34  "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

    36 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus answered, "Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later." 37 Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You." 38 Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.”

THEY WILL KNOW WE ARE CHRISTIANS BY OUR LOVE

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah they'll know we are Christians by our love

We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And…

We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we'll guard each man's dignity and save each man's pride
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah, they'll know we are Christians by our love.

            This is kind of the essence of our verses that we will be looking at over the next few days as this begins a section that goes all the way through chapter sixteen that shows us what the Lord was telling His disciples what they will need to know after He is taken out of the world.  In Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on the gospel of John he contrasts Judas and Jesus in the later part of the verses in chapter thirteen.  Judas was the selfish one who only thought of himself while Jesus is about to go to the cross and die for those whom will receive Him as Savior and Lord.  Judas did the most heinous thing that has ever been done while Jesus did the greatest thing that was ever done.

            In his commentary on these verses John MacArthur writes about the love that Jesus displays and also the love that true believers display which as the song say above that people will know that we are Christians by our love, not the fact that we may have a bumper sticker on our cars with a fish symbol on it, or the fact that we go to church every Sunday and perhaps even go to Sunday school.  We may have a coffee cup with a Christian symbol on it, we may even teach a Sunday school class, but none of that proves that we are believers.

            MacArthur writes “Love for our triune God is most clearly demonstrated not through lip service, but through obedience.  Jesus Himself explained to His disciples, ‘If you love Me, you will keep my commandments’ (John 14:15), and later told them, ‘You are My friends if you do what I command you’ (John 14:14).  To a crowd of Jews who had purportedly believed in Him, Jesus said, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’  Obedience is the visible demonstration of genuine love for Christ.”  We can ask the question “Why do true believers obey the Lord, and the answer is because we love Him, we have been changed from the inside out, we have received the Holy Spirit into our lives when we believe, and this changes everything, nothing is the same any more, nothing.  2Co 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”  “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (KJV)

            MacArthur later on asks and answers the question “What makes false disciples so difficult to detect is that they often have the outward trappings of genuine disciples, such as visible morality, an intellectual knowledge of the Bible, and even a level of involvement in the outward life of the church.  But such things are neutral; they neither prove nor disprove the geniuses of a person’s faith.”

            We will now look at the last two paragraphs of his commentary to show us where we will be heading as we finish up the 13^th chapter of John’s Gospel.

            “Beginning in 13:31 and running through the end of chapter 16, Jesus gave a farewell address to the eleven apostles (Judas having been dismissed [13:27, 30]).  The Lord’s final charge to the men who would carry on His work included instruction, promises, warnings, and commandments.  In this opening section of that address, the Lord highlights the premier mark of those who are His true disciples—namely, sincere, selfless love.

            “This passage emphasizes the supreme standard of that love by focusing on the person and work of Christ Himself.  The profound expression, preeminent example, and powerful extent of Christ’s sacrificial love are each displayed in these verses.  They illustrate the quality of love that is to characterize those who call themselves His disciples.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I want to remember the truth of the verse from Hebrews chapter four that I looked at this morning and posted on my other blog to give me encouragement “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”  Knowing that my High Priest is Jesus who went through all the temptations that I will ever go through and because of this He sympathizes with my plight encourages me a whole lot.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Be thankful of my sympathizing Great High Priest.

Memory verse for the week:  (Romans 6:15) “15 What shall we say?  Shall we sin because we are no longer under law but under grace?  May it never be!”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Haran” (Genesis 27:43).

Today’s Bible question:  “Which of Jacob’s wives was the mother of Ruben?”

Answer in our next SD.