After The Last Supper, not long before Jesus was arrested and turned over to be crucified, he taught a flurry of last lessons to his disciples as they traveled to the Mount of Olives to pray. Perhaps one of the most powerful things he said at that time was recorded in the gospel of John: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” That’s not a small command. Jesus loved his disciples by living with them as brothers, even when they were thick-headed, selfish, or just plain terrible. He would soon die for their sins in the ultimate show of love. He commanded his followers to love as he did.
The interesting thing about the command to love one another is the line that follows it. Jesus said that all people would know we are following him because of how much we love each other. Francis Schaefer wrote about that second sentence in his book Mark of a Christian: “The church is to be a loving church in a dying culture. How, then, is the dying culture going to consider us? Jesus said ‘By this all men will know you are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” In the midst of our present dying culture, Jesus is giving a right to the world. Upon his authority, he gives the world the right to judge whether you and I are born-again Christians on the basis of our observable love toward all Christians.” He goes on to say that not only will the world judge whether or not we are his followers, they will judge whether he was really sent by God based on something they can observe in our lives. That is no small thing.
Between the commandment from Jesus and the eyes of the world judging us for our actions, Christians need to take our responsibility towards each other seriously. We need to look at our own lives and weigh our hearts. Do we forgive our brothers in Christ who wrong us? Do we mean it when we pray the part of the Lord’s Prayer that says, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors?” Do we pray for each other? Do we make sure our brothers’ and sisters’ needs are met? Do we encourage one another? Simply put: Do we love each other to a degree that makes it clear to the world that we belong to Jesus and that He was sent by God?
The interesting thing about these questions of self-evaluation is that they are not meant to inspire guilt. We cannot be moved to a love like Jesus’ through guilt or shame. A heart like that is a product of divine transformation. The apostle John wrote, “We love because he first loved us.” Christ’s love for us and the new life produced by walking with him makes it possible for believers to love in this way. It makes it possible for us to forgive, care for, serve, support, pray for, and walk with each other in a way that makes it obvious to the world that God has changed us.
