How will everyone know who Jesus’ disciples are? It is by the way they love, so much so, that even lost sinners might recognize who Jesus’ disciples are.
Love and Life
There are thoughts of eternity in the human heart. God “has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (Eccl 3:11), so the desire to live a long life is set deeply into our hearts, but there is more. All human beings desire something else, and that is the desire to be loved. For a child, a skinned knee, a dead goldfish, and hurt feelings are all made a little better by the loving care of a mother. A child doesn’t care how much mom knows at the moment…the child does care how much she cares.
Love and Health
In one study at Yale, men and women who felt the most loved and supported had substantially less blockage in their coronary arteries. [1] Similarly, researchers from Case Western Reserve University studied almost 10,000 married men and found that those who answered “Yes” to this simple question: “Does your wife love you?” had significantly less angina (chest pain) than those who felt unloved by their spouse. [1] When researchers at Duke surveyed men and women with heart disease, those who were single and lacked companionship were three times as likely to have died after five years. In all three studies, the protective effects of love were independent of other risk factors, and surgery patients who were loved experienced quicker recoveries because they had more purpose. Someone loved them. So then, it’s not only laughter that’s good for the soul (Prov 17:22), but love.
Love of Pets
Pets are considered part of the family, and loving pets and being loved by pets is good for us too. Those who owned a pet (dogs, cats, primarily) had lower blood pressure, an extended lifespan, and boosted mood levels. People who owned pets experienced release of pain killing and mood elevating endorphins. It’s not surprising that animals are therapeutic with the mentally disabled, autistic children, juvenile delinquents, and nursing home residents, among others.
Love is a Verb
Love is infinitely more than just feelings. Love is a verb, but love also includes intangible things like feelings of security, acceptance, and affection, but love is also tangible, and is displayed by actions that provide evidence of that love. Love is not just a feeling or being whipped up into an emotional state. Love is a verb. It’s what you do! It’s not impossible to give away too much love, nor can one ever receive too much love because the human heart has an ever-expanding capacity to love and be loved. God gave His only Son because He loves us and showed it in a physical or tangible way (John 3:16). That’s love in action!
Hate Brings Judgment
It is difficult to reconcile the fact that someone hates their brother or sister and yet professes to be Christ’s. Hating a brother or sister is dangerous ground because Jesus said, “whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire” (Matt 5:22). The Apostle John states that “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them” (1 John 2:9-11). Whoever hates their brother or sister may think they’re in the light, but they’re walking in darkness. God calls anyone a liar who claims to be a believer and yet hates their brother or sister, so “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? This commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:20-21).
The Silent Lamb
Jesus Christ “was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter…”
One of the greatest differences between the way of the world and the teachings of Jesus is how we respond to sinners or enemies. Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27-28). This means we don’t give people what they deserve (payback, revenge, etc.); we give them what they need, and that is love, even if we don’t feel like it. Jesus prayed to the Father, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34a). When Jesus “was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Pet 2:23). I must do the same when reviled for Christ. When I ponder the fact that the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, “was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7), how then can I open my mouth?
A Potent Witness
In John 13:34, Jesus gives the disciples (in fact, all believers) a new commandment. He says, “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.” That explains why the Apostle John emphasized love so much in his letters. The type of love Jesus is talking about is pouring oneself out for the benefit of others. It is showing love to others when they don’t deserve it (like I’ve received when I didn’t deserve it.). God did the same for us (Rom 5:6-10). Jesus knew that love would make His disciples known because the world doesn’t love like that. This kind of sacrificial love can be a powerful magnet that draws people to Christ.
Jesus’ True Disciples
Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). By what? It is by this unconditional, sacrificial love for one another that “everyone will know,” and that surely includes non-believers. John MacArthur said, “We might be the only Bible some people read,” and he’s right! An important part of this passage is where Jesus said, it is “By this” depth of love that others will know we’re His disciples. This indicates that people will know we’re His disciples by our love for one another. They won’t know we are His disciples by our theology, our seminary training, our Sunday school lessons, or by doing good for others. It is by our love that convinces lost sinners, so by loving one another, everyone will know that we are Jesus’ disciples. If we’re less than loving to one another, people will have a hard time discerning whether were His or not!
A Tangible Love
The Apostle Paul gave one of the most beautiful definitions of love in the entire Bible. He wrote, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13:4-7). Love is not some greeting card or “I love you,” as much as it is patience, humility, bearing with others, believing or giving people the benefit of the doubt, hoping for the best in people, and is able to endure all things (from others!). Faith and hope are essential, but love is the greatest (1 Cor 13:13), so instead of focusing on the gifts of the Spirit, why not focus on the fruits of the Spirit, and the greatest of these is love. Now, what does that look like? You express it when you “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Rom 12:14-15). And when you love people so much you’re willing to offend them in order that they might be saved, that’s tangible, physical evidence of the love of God in you.
Summary
Just as God did to us, we must do to others, and that is, we don’t give people what they deserve…we give people what they need and that is love. And we must make the first move as God did with us (1 John 4:19). God has sent us the greatest love letters of all time – 66 books that show His love for us, and several of these books tells us to love others, so “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but indeed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Love without deeds is hypocrisy; a deed without love is legalism. Love must be “indeed and in truth.”
Conclusion
I pray you have put your trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If that has not happened yet, my friend, you are in real danger of hell fire. And I mean, in immediate danger. You’re one breath, one heartbeat…one accident away from eternity when it will be too late to repent. Today is the best day to believe (2 Cor 6:2) since tomorrow is no guarantee. If Jesus Christ came today, here is your fate (Matt 7:21-23). This is why I plead with you as you read this, repent today…and I mean right now. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you do not, you will face God’s judgment after death guaranteed (Heb 9:27) or at Jesus Christ’s appearance (Rev 20:12-15), which could happen at any moment.
Here is some related reading for you: How Can You Love the Unlovely (Unlovable): A Christian Study
Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
1. Love is Real. Dean Ornish. Newsweek; U.S. Edition. Oct 2, 2005 http://www.newsweek.com/love-real-medicine-121033 (Accessed Dec 11, 2017).
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