A NEW Command! (Sermon Audio)

This is the audio from the February 19, 2023 sermon, “A NEW Command!”, shared by Tom Lemler at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

Text: John 13:34-35

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35 (NIV)

Today continued a sermon series with a focus on being Made New In Christ. When Jesus addresses His disciples, including you and I, he issues a new command — a command to love one another. Since God’s desire has always been that mankind would love Him and love one another, we must gaze into God’s Word to see what makes this command . . .

Necessary. John 13:34a, 1 John 2:3-4
- While the very nature of commanding something ought to convey the necessity of obedience, sometimes we fail to grasp the importance of actually doing what God says. God says the real proof of us actually knowing Him is found in our obedience to His commands. When we live as those who are being made new in Christ, we find that the knowing and doing of God’s Word is not simply a good idea, it is necessary.
Expensive. John 13:34b, 1 John 3:16-17
- Perhaps one of the reasons we struggle with accepting the necessity of God’s commands is doing so would cost us more than we are willing to invest. The very nature of this new command involves not simply loving others, but loving them in the same way that Jesus loves. When we live as those who are being made new in Christ, we find that loving like Jesus will cost us everything — but only everything that would eventually perish.
Witnessing. John 13:35, 1 John 4:12
- When we live as those who view the command to love one another as both necessary and expensive, the result is a life that shows we belong to Jesus. It is the witness of our life that makes the presence of God visible in this world and gives us a real answer when people notice the hope we live with. When we live as those who are being made new in Christ, we shine like stars in the universe and witness to the world that we are disciples of Christ.