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WEEK FIVE

Day Five

DAILY SCRIPTURE

John 13:26

LEADER GUIDE QUESTIONS

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Know: Re-Read John Chapter 13:21-26

Note: Mark keywords, including pronouns and phrases.

Ask questions: (Use tools such as interlinear bibles to search the original meaning of words- free tool here) For example:

• Who is Jesus speaking to?

• What is happening?

• When did this happen?

• Where was Judas?

• Why is Jesus giving a new command?

• How?

Observation:

What: What does today’s study reveal to you about the nature of God? What truth do I need to apply to my life today?

The Table of Shewbread 

“You prepare a table before me.” Psalm 23:5

Made of shittim wood and overlaid with gold, just like the Ark, it represents Christ in design and function. When God gave the instructions for constructing it, the word “Table” was first mentioned in the Bible (Ex 25:23). “Table" speaks of grace in redeeming fallen man back into an intimate relationship with God. Shewbread means “to declare.” Jesus declared He was the  “Bread of Life” and gave the church the authority to declare His life, death, resurrection, and coming again in the Table of the Lord. ( 1 Corinthians 11:26).

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.” John 13:34- 35

In the Levitical law, which was ratified after Moses died, God gave more commands to demonstrate love. “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” (Lev. 19:18). A neighbor, the Jews understood, meant fellow Jews. That was the common understanding among the Jewish people. This is why, when Jesus demonstrated care for Samaritans and Gentiles, some followers revolted.

Jesus first raised it to its perfection in His famous Sermon on the Mt. “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matt. 5:44). And then He raises it further, “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” (Matt. 7:12). Later, when confronted by religious rulers as to what the greatest commandment was, Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matt. 22:38-40)

When Jesus began preaching, He took the law and gave it clarity, and also put it back in its rightful place. The Pharisees, throughout the years, had lowed the standard of the law and also added to it- it became unattainable for most. We know that the law, in its purity, was attainable because Deuteronomy 30:11-14 says:

“Now, what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so you must ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.”

When Paul wrote about His experience before salvation regarding the law, he said this: “As for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.” (Philippians 3:6). He claims to be righteous according to the law, obeying it faultlessly. Luke tells us this about Zechariah and Elisabeth, “Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.” (Luke 1:6). These three were able to obey the law perfectly, so it was attainable.

So, what’s the problem with the law? Paul said, “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.”

The problem is that the law does not bring salvation or eternal life. It brought blessings and curses. Obey the law, and you will be blessed. Disobey, and you experienced curses. It was an inferior covenant and needed to be replaced with a better covenant.

The Mosaic law revealed the sinfulness in people's hearts. “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20) And in First Corinthians 15:56, he said, “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.” The law revealed sin and gave sin power, but it could not save, redeem or give one power over sin.

The commands Jesus reminded the Jews to observe and keep to their purity were not impossible, but they were based on one’s will and ability to obey. After Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, in the context of knowing that Satan had entered Judas’ heart and Peter was about to betray Him, He gave them a new command. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this, all will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35

This command was not an additional love that went hand in hand with the other commands. This new command ( never before used), replaced the old one because it was based on the law of love, which would be better than the old.

How is it possible to love like this? Jesus knew that at least two of His disciples would not respond to His love, yet he demonstrated to them the kind of love in which would mark a true disciple.

In the next couple of chapters in John, Jesus would pray to the Father concerning all believers John 17:23 - “I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me”. 

Did you catch that?

Jesus demonstrated agape love in the context of His impending betrayal. God’s love for him was not based on what He did, but on who He was. He was/is the Son of God. That was the love Jesus prayed we would awaken to and live from. “Love each other just as (or just as much as) I have loved you.” (John 13:34).

Simply loving ourselves is not the standard anymore. Jesus is the standard. We can only know Jesus through the Spirit, and we cannot know the Father except through the Son. Jesus did not come to start a new religion. He came to abolish religion and to pick up where Adam left off. To restore God’s family. And to fill a family with the same love He had with the Father. 

The enemy’s primary goal is to create disunity, broken marriages, broken families, and broken churches. Sewing seeds of discord is how disunity happens. Our mouths have stopped unity from flourishing. Some think that if we don’t speak our minds, people won’t change. 

The command to “Love others the way you want to be loved” and “Love God with all YOUR ability is flawed.” is flawed by human effort. If my love ideal for you is that you give me something I need to make me feel loved, I am projecting fear. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (1 John 4:18). We won’t convince the world or our kids that Jesus is the Sent one of the Father by telling them how sinful they are. You convince the world by demonstrating how loved you are by God. “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished, and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”- Acts 4:13

If Jesus was rooted in love, How rooted in love must you be? In light of the new command, how important is knowing how deeply you are loved? If the standard for the world, and our homes, is to love how we have been loved, how much should you know that you are loved?

Like Peter and John, when you fix your gaze on the Son, you will naturally flow with the love He flowed from, and the world will know that you, too, have been with Jesus.

Adapted from a message I spoke - listen here.