What's Love Got to Do With It?

Study Notes

What's Love Got to Do With It - Week 3 - Study Notes

What's love got to do with it?

John 13:31-35

     I was reading through John 13-17 again this week.  Those are the five chapters of the Bible that report what Jesus taught his closest followers on the last day before he went to the cross.  As I read and re-read today’s text, John 13:31-35, it felt to me like something I experienced in jr. high school:

     I tried out for the basketball team in the 7^th grade.  Before going into the tryouts, the coach had a rather long discussion of many things we would have to know if we made the team.  But then he said, “Now listen up:  If you’re going to make this team at all, this is what you’re going to have to do!”  I really, really wanted to make the team – so I listened carefully and tried to do what he said every minute of the tryouts.

     Our text today is a lot like that.  Jesus had just said, “I love you and will love you to the end (13:1).  I love you so much that I am ready to become a slave to you. I love you so much I will die for you (13:2-17). Soon, the glory of God is going to be seen in me in ways it has never been seen before (13:31-32). But, for that to happen, I must go – and you cannot now come where I am going (v.33).”

     So, Jesus says, “Listen up. I have a new command for you.  This is what must be at the very center of your lives if you will follow me: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Two Big Questions:

     As beautiful as these words from Jesus are, they have always given rise to two questions that simply must be answered, i.e., what’s new and what’s love?

Question #1:  What’s new?

     Many teachers had said that people are to love people long before Jesus said this on that evening before he died.  And, of course, Jesus personally had said that all the commands in the Scriptures can be boiled down into two, i.e., love God and love all people.  So, what is Jesus calling for here that is new? 

• The focus – Jesus is calling all who place their faith in him to love one another in a special way.  We saw in 13:1 that Jesus loves all people in the world.  But, at the same, he has a special and focused love on those who place our faith in him.  Now, the same applies to us.  In the two great commands, we first are to love God with our entire beings.  Second, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.  And, according to Jesus in Luke 10, our neighbor is any human being whom God brings across our path.  Now, in John 13, we are commanded to have a special and focused love directed toward our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Our love for one another is to be so beautiful and so thoroughgoing that the world will see it and believe.
• The “one-anothers” – Those we love as members of the family of God include any people from any age, ethnicity or background who place their faith in Jesus and follow him as Lord.  Anyone can be a one-another. I call those we are to love “God’s unexpected family”.  Scot McKnight calls it “a fellowship of differents”!
• The standard – The love we show to one another within the church family is to be “just as Jesus loves us”.  That’s a rather high standard, isn’t it?  We’ll come back to it in a moment.

Question #2:  What’s love?

     Let me make this clear:  When Jesus commands us to love one another, he’s think about love in a deeper way than our culture usually thinks about it.  We cannot simply take out a dictionary and get it.  The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines love as a noun as “an intense feeling of deep affection.”  As a verb, love is “to feel a deep affection for, a romantic or sexual attachment to something or someone.”

    What the dictionary correctly captures is our culture’s main definition of love an emotional experience characterized by pleasure or by satisfaction. Brain researchers point to dopamine, a neurochemical that, when it is released, gives us the sense of pleasure. Some argue that that sexual pleasure, satisfaction in a relationship, and the taste of chocolate all share the same kind of neurochemical experience. It seems to me that most people in our society have accepted that view of love.  Most seem to think of love as an emotional experience, by which they mean something that provides a dopamine-like rush. But dopamine rushes are not what the Bible means by love.

     Listen carefully here:  Because our culture — and many Christians — have embraced this understanding of love, we struggle with love in our marriages, in our families, in our relationships with close friends and with one another in church. We think of love as something that we feel one day and then not the next.  How many times have I heard it? “Pastor, I just don’t feel what I once felt toward her.  Now, I feel it toward someone else!”  And, relationships are thereby broken. I believe that most of us probably have our hearts wrapped around the wrong ideas about love. The Bible’s understanding of love does not begin with a dopamine rush?  It begins with something most people don’t know or want to ignore.

     What does Jesus mean by love when he commands it of us?  When you think of love according to the Bible, begin with the word commitment.  Love is a heartfelt and unrelenting commitment to others.  My friend, Scot McKnight calls it a rugged commitment.

     The Bible begins telling us what love is with the story of God making a covenant commitment to a man named Abraham and to all who will come in his line.  The main word translated “love” in the OT usually is the Hebrew word hesed.  It speaks of a covenantal commitment.  When God spoke of love, he did so by making a commitment to do what is best for his people, to direct them to a life of shalom, and to make them a blessing throughout the world. This is the kind of love that we see in the life of Jesus – and the kind of love that he commands us to engage in toward one another.  This kind of love is not primarily emotion or affection – though emotion and affection are often a part of it.  It is a commitment made to another person.

    Now, I know: This kind of love sounds great – until you actually are called upon to continue to be committed to love when you don’t want to -- like to the person who always takes the political view that you disagree with (and is belligerent abut it!).  Love is a great concept until you discover what your neighbors actually are like -- until the kids you know you should love are out of control.  And, this love for one another in church often sounds great until you see who sits next to you at church on Sunday.

     So, I think the really challenging thing in a message like this is looking at the beautiful ways Jesus carried out his loving commitment to us -- and then saying, "That's what our relationships should look like in church.”  So, what kind of love is Jesus asking of us today with this command?  In his book, Fellowship of Differents, Scot McKnight suggests that the “rugged commitment” Jesus commands us to make to one another can be understood by using some memorable pronouns.  I’ll follow his lead:

Loving as Jesus Loved Is:    

A Commitment to Be “With”

     At our Christmas Eve services, I spoke to us about the power of “with”.  When I walked into my father’s room in intensive care last month, he greeted me and then told me that, for the first time in his 92 years, he was quite sure that he was going to die.  As you know, after being with him several days, I felt I needed to return home to be with you for the Christmas services.  So, when I was saying goodbye to him at the hospital, my Dad said to me, “Greg, these were precious days for me.  It was wonderful to be with you.” 

     I keep thinking about those words “precious” and “wonderful” that my Dad had used to describe the days we had together.  I don’t think most of us would have described his experience as precious or wonderful.  He was in constant pain.  Often, he could hardly breathe. Still, he was quite sincere in describing the days as precious and wonderful.  I know that the reason for his contentment is found in the words – “with you”.  He loved me – and that love always meant that he loved to be with me.  What a powerful word that word “with” is.  It can transform pain into precious and woe into wonderful.  I know without any doubt that biblical love is characterized by a commitment to be with the person you love.

     When you read the Bible through, you see how, again and again, God expresses his commitment to his people by saying he chooses to be with us.  In the Garden of Eden, in a pillar of cloud and fire through the wilderness, in a mobile edifice called a “tabernacle,” and then in a beautiful temple…  God always let people know that he is present with us.  God demonstrates his love through being present with his people. 

     But God’s deepest commitment to be “with” was expressed through Jesus being born into this world and, as John put it in John 1, “tabernacling” among us.  “We saw him!”  John marveled. Jesus was “Immanuel, God with us” (Matthew 1:23).  In John 13-17, on Jesus’ last day being with his followers physically, he wants them to know he will not leave them alone.  In ch.14, Jesus will say, “I will not leave you as orphans.  I will come to you through my Spirit.  He will be “with you” even when I am away.”  So, I ask: How did Jesus love his disciples?  One of the main ways was his commitment to be “with them.”

     Love cannot be love without presence – without being with people.  And the more you love, the more you long to be with the one you love!  This kind of love is commanded of all of us – and not just for for married people. I feel I have to say this because some married people cannot think of love in terms other than marriage. Love is a faithful commitment by one person, married or not, to another person, married or not.  

     And, Jesus is saying here in vv.33-35 that the world should see this kind of love among us in a church like LAC.  We begin to obey Jesus’ command when we make a commitment to be with one another.  The most basic way that this will be seen is by your regular commitment to worship with your church family.  A person who does not want to worship “with” his entire church family does not love as Jesus loved.  This relationship of love as Jesus loves’ that must grow in every church that wants to obey Jesus. Let me tell you that this kind of committed love will go through stormy times -- but love hangs on through the storm. It is the hanging on and continuing to walk with one another that shows the world what love is. In church, we say to one another: “I’m here with you through it all.  Count on me.”

Commitment to be for

        I am profoundly touched by the way Jesus in v.33 begins those who follow him.  He calls us “little children.”  Jesus is our creator in 1:3, our savior in 3:16-17, our lord and master in 13:14, and our friend in 15:14.  As a friend always acts for the best for a true friend or a parent always wants the best for his little child, Jesus always acts for those he loves.  As Jesus had said in John 10, he will die “for his sheep.”  A significant part of biblical love is that you can always know that Jesus is for you.

     I bask in Romans 8 when I think about my eternal condition.  God promises that he will make something beautiful out of our lives –he will conform us to the image of Christ.  And, if anyone says, “You?  What makes you so optimistic about your future?”  Here’s the answer in Rom 8:31-32:  If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

     That’s what our love is to be like?  “Just as Jesus loves us (and is with us and for us), so we are to love one another.”  Church is to be a place where people are “for” one another.

     Have you ever had a friend or colleague who, if you left the room for a while, when you returned, you knew that person would have spoken good thing about you?  You knew that, when you would return to the group, you would be more respected by the group– because that person was for you.  Do you have a friend like that?  Or, have you ever experienced the opposite?  When you got back to the group, you knew that people had been tearing you down?  Jesus is for us – and commands us to be a community of people who are for one another.

     The language we often is use is, “I’ve got your back” or “I’m on your side.” If the world sees a whole church like this, it will be astounded.  All people will know we are Christians.

      I have to back up and back off from this positive and hopeful sketch of love being “for” the one we love, and give voice to two things that I imagine all of you are thinking:

1. Being for a person doesn’t mean that we only say sweet things to a person.  No, no.  Being “for” a person often means that we have to confront things in a person’s life that are sinful and destructive.  But, note this:  The reason we do so is not to tear down or to criticize.  We confront out of love.  We confront sin because we are “for” the other person.  It’s just as Jesus said to the woman taken in prostitution.  “I do not condemn you.  But, go and sin no more.”
2. Many people have never experienced the church as being a community of people who are committed to be “for” one another. Sometimes a so-called “Christian” is abusive. When abuse happens, the commitment of love to that person has to be changed, if not ended. At other times, we will still have to deal with gossip and other destructive speech in a church.  But, whatever happens, do not forget that a part of Jesus’ love is that he offered grace to those who failed.  In my next message to you, I’ll show you how Peter, Thomas and Philip all failed.  The same continues to happen as God works on and in us.  In those three men’s situations, Jesus lovingly confronted them and eventually they were corrected and restored.  Of course, last week, we saw how Jesus offered a deeper relationship to another man named Judas.  And, Judas walked away from the Lord and into the night.

     Not all who profess to be Christians really are.  One sure mark of a true believer is that, when confronted with the commands of Jesus, there is repentance, forgiveness and change.  My basic point is this:  Jesus commands us to love one another.  One part of that is that we will be “for” one another.

Commitment to serve toward…

     It’s clear to me that one characteristic of Jesus’ love is that it was purposeful.  It had a clear goal of helping the one he loved to move closer toward what God had created that person to be.  In John 10, Jesus knew that his friend Lazarus was very sick but chose not to go immediately to where Lazarus was.  Why?  Listen to Jesus’ words in 10:14-15:  Jesus told his disciples plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.”

     Do you see it?  The loving choice that Jesus made flowed out of a commitment to do for them whatever would deepen their faith.  Let me put it this way: If “with” means the one who loves will be present in our lives, and “for” means he will advocate on our behalf, then toward-ness means the one who loves us will always be focused on the direction of our lives.  Jesus loves you, and Jesus’ kind of love has the goal of transforms you into a faithful, loving, holy, God-glorifying and others-oriented person.  Christian love has direction. It aims at one person helping another to become Christlike.

     How do we do this?  Will you consider being a spiritual mother or father to those in the church who are new in the faith – or to our children by teaching them or mentoring them?  It seems to me that Jesus is suggesting here that the single, most powerful influence of parents on children – and of one church member on another – is, 1) the dynamic of presence – of making a commitment to be with others.  Then, 2) letting those others know you are for them – that you have their backs.  And, then 3) always speaking and acting in ways that direct them to become like Christ.    

     Genuine friendships always change you.  We become like the ones we love. And, Christian love within the church is to be a love in which the main concern that each one of us has is that each other one in our church family will move toward becoming complete in Christ.  Col. 1:28-29 have become theme verses for us at LAC.  In the context of Jesus command, read it again:  We proclaim Christ, admonishing each one and teaching each one with all wisdom, so that we may present each one fully mature in Christ. ²⁹ To this end we strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in us.

 

     There it is:  Jesus’ love as revealed in the Bible is an unrelenting commitment to be with you, to be for you, and always to be acting in ways that move you toward becoming what he created you to be.  And when you become a Christian he gives you a new command.  You are still to love all people.  But now, he says, you are to love God’s people just as he loves you.  Jesus says that, when we do, this is how people will know we are Christians.  Jesus is thereby saying that – more than strategic planning, more than training in witnessing, more than coming up with good arguments against those who oppose us – that a personal experience with him lived out in a community that loves as Jesus loves has the greatest impact in furthering the gospel than anything else!  This is how the world will know you are my disciples – when you love one another as I have loved you.

     To love another person as Jesus loves means we are committed to them even when it is demanding and difficult, if not seemingly impossible.  This kind of love is hard. It’s sometimes hard to love our own biological families!  (Anyone say amen to that?) I won’t even begin with how hard it can be to love the kinds of people Jesus welcomes into his church.  But, Jesus will help us – for he loves us.  And, just before he died for us, he said this:

“My children, I will be with you only a little longer…  A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:33-35).”

To His glory,

Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor

Greg Waybright • Copyright 2015, Lake Avenue Church

Chinese Translation

What's Love Got to Do With It - Week 3 - Study Notes - Chinese Translation

破碎但不丟棄 -- 愛與重建的關系

約翰福音13:31-35

這個星期,我再次讀了約翰福音十三章到十七章。聖經中的這五章敘述了耶穌在上十字架之前的最後一天，對那些跟他最親近的門徒的教導。當我反復閱讀約翰福音13:31-35這一段經文時，我感覺到這仿佛是我中學時代所經歷過的事情：

                  我在七年級的時候曾經去報考籃球隊。在去之前，教練花了很多時間，和我們探討要想通過考試就必須要了解的事情，然後他說，“現在，你們聽好了，如果你們真想要進入籃球隊，下面是你們必須要做的事！”我非常非常想進入這個球隊，所以我很認真地聽，並且努力做到他所說的考試時要做的每一件事。我們第二天的測試正如他所說的那樣。

                  耶穌說，“我愛你們，並且要愛你們到底（約13:1）。我愛你們以至為你們成為為奴的。我愛你們以至於為你們而死（13:2-17）。很快地，人子得了榮耀，神在人子身上也得了榮耀（31節-32節）。我還有不多的時候，與你們同在。後來你們要找我，但我所去的地方，你們不能到（33節）。”

                  因此，耶穌說，“聽著，我有一個新命令，如果你們要跟從我，這個命令必須要成為你生命的中心：要彼此相愛，正如我愛你們一樣，所以你們必須要彼此相愛。如此，世人就知道你們是我的門徒了。”

兩個重要問題

                  從耶穌這些美好的話語裏，人們總是會提出兩個問題：什麽是新的命令？什麽是愛？

第一個問題：什麽是新的命令？

                  很多老師說過，早在耶穌那一晚受死之前，人們就知道要彼此相愛了。當然，耶穌曾說，聖經中所有的命令都包括在這兩個命令裏面了，就是要愛神，並要愛人如己。那麽，耶穌在這裏的命令有什麽新的含義嗎？

• 專註–耶穌呼召了所有信靠祂的人，讓他們以一種特殊的方式來彼此相愛。在13：1中，我們看到，耶穌愛世上所有的人。然而，祂對那些信靠祂的人，有著特殊和專註的愛。現在，對我們來說也是如此。在祂的兩個偉大命令之中，我們首先要全身心地愛神。第二，我們要愛人如己。耶穌在路加福音第十章說，我們的鄰舍，就是神讓我們在一生中遇見的每一個人。現在，在約翰福音第十三章，主命令我們，對主裏的弟兄姐妹要有特殊和專註的愛。我們對彼此的愛，要如此的美麗和全然，以至於世人看到了就能相信祂。
• “彼此”–我們所愛的神家裏的人，包括了所有年齡、種族、背景，只要他們是信靠耶穌，跟隨祂，尊祂為主的人。任何人都可以包括在“彼此”之中。我稱這些我們需要去愛的人們為“屬神的意想不到的家人”。史考特•麥克奈特稱之為“異族的團契”。
• 標準–我們在教會中對彼此的愛，要“正如耶穌愛我們。”這是一個很高的標準，對嗎？我們等一下再回到這個主題。

第二個問題：什麽是愛？

                  讓我澄清一下：當耶穌命令我們彼此相愛的時候，祂所說的愛，比我們在文化意義上談到的愛，有更加深刻的含義。我們不能只是從字典裏取它的意思。米莉安•韋伯斯特字典是這樣定義愛的：作為名詞的時候，愛是指深刻而強烈的情感。作為動詞時，愛是指“感覺到深刻的情感，對人或事物的浪漫情感或者性的吸引力”。

                  字典對愛的定義，是在我們的文化中，由歡愉或者滿足感而產生的一種情感經歷。大腦研究人員對愛的定義則指向多巴胺, 這是一種影響神經系統的化學物質，當它被釋放出來時，會給人歡愉感。有人指出，性快樂，人們之間關系上的滿足感，以及巧克力的味道，都因著釋放神經化學的物質，而使人有同樣的經歷。在我來看，我們周圍的大多數人都接受這樣的定義。大多數人都認為，愛是一種情感經歷。也就是說，愛是一種提供多巴胺的物質 -- 比如沖動。但是多巴胺沖動並不是聖經所說的愛。

                  仔細聽這段話：由於我們的文化，許多基督徒也接受關於愛的這樣的定義。我們在婚姻、家庭、親密朋友以及教會成員的愛中掙紮。我們認為，愛是一種在某一天出現，又會在另一天消失的東西。我聽到過多少次這樣的話：“牧師，我對她不再有那種感覺了。我現在對另一個人有這種感覺。”因為如此，彼此間的關系就破裂了。我相信，大多數的人心中可能都存在著對愛的錯誤觀念。聖經對愛的理解，不是以多巴胺沖動為開始的，而是以大多數人都不知道、或忽略的含義為開始的。

                  耶穌在命令我們彼此相愛的時候，祂對愛的定義是什麽？當你想到聖經裏提到的愛是，要首先想到委身這個字。愛是對彼此真心和毫無保留的委身。朋友們，麥克奈特稱之為堅定不移的委身。

                  首先，聖經描述了神與亞伯拉罕，以及所有效法他的人立約的故事，以此來說明什麽是愛。通常，在舊約聖經中所使用的愛的這個字，是由希伯來文中的hesed這個字翻譯而來的，它指的是立約之中的委身。當神說到愛的時候，指的是神與祂的子民立約，祂所做的一切都是為了他們的好處，引導他們到充滿平安的生活，並且使他們成為世人的祝福。這就是我們在耶穌的生命中所看到的愛，也是祂命令我們對於彼此所應當有的愛。從本質上說，這種愛不是情緒或情感，雖然情緒和情感常常是其中的一個部分。這愛是一個人對另一個人的委身。

                  現在我明白了，這種愛聽起來很偉大  –  直到你不想愛卻真的被呼召繼續愛下去的時候–比如愛那些總是和你政見不同的人（而且是很好戰的人！）。愛是一個偉大的概念，直到你發現你的鄰舍都是什麽人為止，直到你知道你應該愛的那些孩子完全失控的時候為止。這種愛在教會裏常常聽起來很偉大，直到你看到做禮拜時誰坐在你旁邊為止。

                  因此，我認為，對於這樣的信息，一個最大的挑戰，就是看到耶穌自己以何等美好的方式，行出了對我們的愛的承諾，然後再說，“這就是教會的弟兄姐妹所應當有的關系”。耶穌通過這個命令，要求我們有什麽樣的愛？麥克奈特的題目為“異族的團契”的書中建議，大家可以借助使用幾個代詞，來理解耶穌給我們的，對彼此的“堅定不移的委身”的命令。下面我就按照他的方法來解釋：

以耶穌的方式去愛包括下面幾點:

“同在”的承諾:

                   在我們的聖誕夜崇拜中，我在講道中提到“同在的能力”。上個月，當我走進我父親的急診室中的時候，他告訴我，在他九十二年的人生中，他頭一次確定他一定會死。和他在一起渡過了幾天以後，我需要回來，和你們一起做聖誕節的崇拜。當我在醫院裏和父親說再見的時候，他告訴我，“Gregg,這幾天對我很珍貴，和你在一起很美好”。

                  我一直想著父親描繪他和我在一起時所用的“珍貴”和“美好”兩個詞。我們大多數人也許不會用珍貴和美好來形容他的經歷。我知道，他的滿足來自於“和你在一起”這幾個字。其實疼痛一直伴隨著他，他常常會呼吸困難，然而仍然真誠地稱那幾天為珍貴和美好的。我知道，他的滿足來自於“和你在一起”這幾個字。他愛我，這愛一直都意味著他愛和我在一起。“在一起”這幾個字是多麽有能力啊。它可以將疼痛化為珍貴，將困苦化為美好。我毫不懷疑，聖經裏提到的愛，指的是承諾與你所愛的人同在。

                  當你讀聖經的時候，你可以看到，神一再地通過祂與我們的同在，而表達對祂子民的委身。在伊甸園中，在曠野中的雲柱和火柱裏，在被稱為約櫃的這個移動著的物體中，以及後來的美麗的聖殿裏，神都會讓祂的子民知道，祂隨時都與我們同在。神通過與祂子民的同在，來顯明祂的愛。

　　　但是神表達祂同在的最深的應許，則是通過耶穌降世為人，正如約翰在約翰一書中所提到的，“住在我們當中”。“我們所親眼見過的”！約翰驚嘆道。耶穌是“以馬內利，神與我們同在”（太1:23）。在約翰福音第十三章到十七章寫道，耶穌在世上與祂門徒在一起的最後一天，祂想要讓門徒知道，祂不會離開他們。在第十四章，耶穌說，我不會離棄你們，我會藉著我的靈與你們同在。當我不在的時候，祂仍然會“與你們同在。”因此，若有人問：耶穌如何愛祂的門徒？其中一個重要的方式，就是祂“與他們同在”的承諾。

                  如果沒有同在，愛就不能成為愛。你愛得越多，你就越渴望與你所愛的人同在！這種愛是主給我們所有人的命令–不只是給結婚的人們。我必須要這樣說，因為有些已婚的人不能想象婚姻以外的愛的形式。愛是一個人對另一個人忠實的委身，不論結婚與否。

                  在第33節– 35節，耶穌的意思是，我們應當讓世人看到，在像LAC這樣的教會中，有這樣的愛存在於我們中間。當我們開始與彼此同在的時候，我們就已經開始遵守耶穌的命令了。讓我告訴你，這種委身的愛，能使我們穿越風暴–然而愛會在風暴過後存留下來。正是這樣存留下來的愛，和彼此繼續的同行，向世界宣告了什麽是真正的愛。在教會中，讓我們對彼此說：“我在這裏陪著你走過這一切，你可以信賴我。”

                 

凡事都為了彼此而行的承诺

             在第33節開始時，耶穌對跟隨祂的人所用的稱呼深深感動了我。祂稱他們為“小子們”，耶穌是我們的創造者（1：3），我們的救主（3:16-17），我們的主(13:14)，和我們的朋友（15:14）。正如一個真誠的朋友總是為好朋友著想，或正像父母，總是希望把最好的給他的小孩子，耶穌所做的一切都總是為了祂所愛的人而做。正如耶穌在約翰福音第十章所說的，祂要為“祂的羊”舍命。聖經所說的愛的一個重要內容就是，你可以知道，耶穌所做的總是為了你。

                  在我思考自己永恒的景況時，我讀了羅馬書第八章。神應許我們，祂會在我們的生命中有美好的成就–祂會使我們更像基督。如果有人說：“你？你憑什麽對自己的將來這樣樂觀？”羅馬書8:31-32給了我們答案：神若幫助我們，誰能抵擋我們呢？神既不愛惜自己的兒子為我們眾人舍了，豈不也把萬物和祂一同白白地賜給我們嗎？

                  這就是我們的愛。“正如耶穌愛我們（與我們同在，也是為了我們），我們也要如此彼此相愛。”在教會中，我們應當凡事都“為了”彼此而行。

                  你有沒有過這樣一個朋友或者同事，當你每次暫時離開房間，又回來的時候，你都會確定他說了一些喜悅你的話？你知道，當你回到那個群體時，你會更加受到尊重–因為那個人所做的都是為了你。你有這樣的朋友嗎？或者，你有沒有經歷過與此相反的事？當你回到某個群體時，你知道人們在背後詆毀你？耶穌一切都是為了我們–祂命令我們，要成為一個凡事都為了別人而行的人。

                  我們要常常使用這樣的語言：“我支持你，”或者“我站在你的一邊。”世人若看到整個教會都是如此，會被震驚的。所有的人都會知道我們是基督徒。

                  我們講了愛的積極性和充滿希望的內涵，愛一個人就是要“為著”那個我們所愛的人。接下來，我要講兩件事，這也許所有人都在思考的兩件事：

1.              為了一個人並不意味著我們只對他說甜蜜的事情。不是的。“為了”一個人常常意味著我們必須要面對那個人生命中有罪的和帶破壞性的事情。但是要註意，我們這樣做的原因並不是要毀壞或批評。我們是因著愛而面對這一切。我們對抗罪，是因為我們是“為了”那個人的緣故。正如耶穌對那個行淫時被拿的婦人所說的：“我不定你的罪，去吧，不要再犯罪。”

2.              許多人從來沒有經歷過，在一個教會中，人們委身於“凡事為了彼此而行。”很多時候，所謂“基督徒”的稱呼是被濫用了。當這種狀況發生時，對那個人愛的承諾不一定要結束，但是一定會改變。還有些時候，我們需要處理教會中的流言蜚語和其他毀壞性的話語。然而，無論發生什麽，不要忘記，耶穌的愛，也包括了祂所賜給那些失敗的人們的恩典。在下面的信息中，我會講到彼得、多馬和腓利是如何的失敗。當神在我們身上做工時也是如此。在這三個人的景況中，耶穌在愛中面對他們，最終改變了他們，使他們得以復原。當然，我們上周講到了耶穌如何給猶大機會，使他與主建立親密的關系。然而猶大離開了主，進入黑暗之中。不是所有承認自己是基督徒的人都真正是基督徒。一個真正信徒的標誌是，當面對耶穌的命令時，會有悔改，赦免和改變。我的基本觀點是：耶穌命令我們彼此相愛，其中一個含義，是命令我們一切“為了”彼此而行。

委身於有目標的服事

                  很顯然，耶穌的愛的特點之一是，祂的愛是有目標的。祂要幫助祂所愛的人越來越接近神最初創造他時所命定的樣子。在約翰福音第十章，耶穌知道，祂的朋友拉撒路病了，但祂並沒有馬上去拉撒路那裏。為什麽？請聽耶穌在第十一章14-15節所說的：耶穌就明明地告訴祂的門徒說，“拉撒路死了。我沒有在那裏，就歡喜，只是為著你們的緣故，好叫你們相信”。

                  你看到了嗎？耶穌所做的選擇是出於愛，祂為了他們所做的委身，是為要堅固他們信心。讓我這樣解釋：如果“同在”的意思是我們所愛的人一直在我們的生命中，“為了”的意思是祂所做的一切都是為了我們的緣故，那麽目標的意思就是那愛我們的人總是註目著我們的生命。耶穌愛你，耶穌的愛有一個目標，就是將你變成一個忠心的，有愛心的，聖潔的，榮耀神的以及事奉他人的人。基督徒的愛是有方向的，我們的目標就是要使一個人變成基督的樣式。

                  我們如何才能做到這一點呢？你會不會考慮做新信徒的屬靈父親或母親？或者教導引領我們的孩子？耶穌在這裏告訴我們，父母對孩子最有能力的影響，或是一個教會的會友對另一個人的影響是：第一，同在的能力–承諾與他人同在；第二，是讓他們知道，你凡事都為著他們–你總是在背後支持他們。第三，講話和行事都引導他們更像基督。

                  真誠的友誼總是會改變你。我們會越來越像我們所愛的人。在教會裏，基督徒之間的愛，應當使神的家裏的每個人，都朝向基督的完全邁進。歌羅西書第一章28-29節已經成為我們教會的主題經文。讓我們在耶穌的委身中再一次讀這節經文：我們傳揚他，是用諸般的智慧，勸戒各人，教導各人。要把各人在基督裏完完全全的引到神面前。我也為此勞苦，照著他在我裏面運用的大能，盡心竭力。

                  聖經中所啟示的耶穌的愛，是祂堅定的與我們同在，為著我們，也使我們朝著祂最初創造我們的樣式而努力。當你成為基督徒的時候，祂就給了你一條新命令。你仍然需要愛所有的人，但是現在，祂說，你要愛屬神的人，正如祂愛你一樣。耶穌說，當我們這樣做的時候，世人就知道我們是基督徒。因此，耶穌所說的，不僅是策略與計劃、見證的培訓，也不僅是反駁那些與我們對立之人的辯駁，而是一種經歷，使我們像耶穌一樣去愛，因而在宣揚福音上比任何其他方法都具有更大影響力的經歷！正因如此，世人才知道你是我的門徒–當你像我愛你們一樣彼此相愛的時候。

                  像耶穌愛我們一樣愛他人，意味著我們委身於他們，哪怕他們有很多要求或是很難相處。這種愛是很困難的。有時候我們甚至很難愛我們自己的家人！（有人說阿門嗎？）我不想說愛那些耶穌迎接進入教會的人有多困難。但是，耶穌會幫助我們–因為祂愛我們。就在祂為我們受死之前，祂說：

“小子們，我還有不多的時候，與你們同在。……  我賜給你們一條新命令，乃是叫你們彼此相愛。我怎樣愛你們，你們也要怎樣彼此相愛（約13:33-35）。”

荣耀归给神，

Greg Waybright 博士

主任牧师

Greg Waybright • Copyright 2015, Lake Avenue Church

Family Devotional