A True Disciple?

Certainty and proof.  How to know something for certain and to be able to prove it is of absolute importance when you are talking about salvation.  Right?  So why is it that if you ask a roomful of Christians how they know that they are true followers of Christ you get answers across the spectrum?  You know the standards; “When I was 4 I prayed this prayer....”, “I was raised in a Christian home....”, “I’m really a good person....”.  I’m guilty of those same statements in my life (well, 2 out of the 3).  This is why John 13:34-35 is so profound (and convicting) to me.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Lets put things into context.  Jesus is in the upper room with His disciples.  This is mere hours before He is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, tried, convicted and executed.  These are the final moments Jesus will spend with the 12 men who He has loved, taught, and entrusted Himself to for 3 years.  Earlier in the chapter, Jesus shows them true humility when he kneels before each one and washes their feet (v. 5-15).  Jesus has told them that He will be with them only a little while longer and where He is going they cannot come (v. 33).  Then, Jesus gives them a new commandment (v. 34).  A new commandment?  Can you imagine?  The disciples must have been on the edge of their seats.  Surely, they understood the importance of that moment.  They all knew the story of God’s law, the original commandments, being given to Moses on Mount Sinai.  Now, here was God Himself giving them a NEW commandment!  “What incredible thing do you ask of us, God?”

Love one another.

“Huh?  Thats it?  Man thats easy.  I’m stuffed, lets go hang out in the garden for awhile.”

To which Jesus would promptly add, “as I have loved you.” 

These 5 words warrant a bit of a pause.  I've glossed over this mountain of a statement for years.  What is this “as-I-have-loved-you” love that Jesus is talking about?  Well, we could unwrap every New Testament instance of Jesus' love for us and fill volumes, but here are just a couple nuggets; in verse 15 we see Jesus mentioning the “example” that He wants the disciples to follow (wash one another’s feet, which is to serve one another humbly).  John writes in 1John 4:9-11 that Jesus even coming to earth in the first place is a display of His love.  He humbled Himself by leaving His perfect heaven so that He could be the “propitiation for our sins”.  Paul writes in Ephesians 5:2 that Jesus “gave Himself up for us” as an “offering and sacrifice to God”.  And there it is.....”sacrifice”.  That word sums up the “as-I-have-loved-you” love of Jesus.  This love is sacrificial.  It puts the needs of others above self.  It comes with a price.  It kneels down and washes the feet of others.  It is raised up and crucified for others.  This love BLEEDS!

“Love one another, even as I have loved you”

This new commandment becomes something so.....daunting.  It seems even harder than the original commandments (combined!).

That would have been enough for the disciples to chew on for the rest of their lives.  But Jesus wasn’t done there.

“By this all men will know that you are My disciples.” (v. 35)

Translation:  “If you (who all claim to be followers of Me) love each other like I have loved you (sacrifice upon sacrifice) then the rest of the world (those who are not followers of Me) will rightly know that you really are Mine.  Conversely, if you do not love one another like I have loved you, then the unbelieving world will rightly judge you as unbelievers also.”

Wow.  I don’t know if I am capable of love like this.  So what am I communicating to an unbelieving world?  What am I communicating to the Church?  What am I communicating to Christ?

And as if this passage was not enough, Jesus wraps up this casual conversation in the upper room by praying to God the Father that all believers be one (ie; love one another) “so that the world may believe that You (God) sent Me” (John 17:21).  So, lets get this straight....if we believers do not have the sacrificial love for one another that Christ had for us, not only will the unbelieving world rightly judge that we are not followers of Christ, but they will also conclude that Jesus was not sent by God.

This is outrageous!  I cannot love like this.  No one I know can love like this.  So where does this leave us....communicating daily to an unbelieving world that Jesus was a liar? 

Look at the final words of this most amazing passage of Scripture:

“I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them”  John 17:26

As in everything else, only by the power and grace of God are we capable.  It is God’s love, made known to us by Jesus, that “may be” in us.  The same love that the Father loved the Son with “may be” in us.  What is impossible with man is made possible by God.  We can love “as I have loved you”, if (and only if) the name of God is made known to us through Christ Jesus.

Are you a true disciple of Christ?  Does your love communicate that to an unbelieving world?  Yeah, I thought I was, too.  Then I read John 13.  But then oh how thankful I was when God reminded me of chapter 17.  He is so good and so worthy to be praised.