THE 11TH COMMANDMENTlove one another
John 13: 34-35
verse 34 � Jesus said, �A new command I give you, love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.�
Didn�t He say that three times? �Love one another.�
I like to call this the eleventh commandment. Now everybody knows about the ten commandments, but there is an eleventh commandment, and this is it, right here. When I was a young boy growing up, years ago, I used to go to the movie theatre on my bicycle. One day they showed The Ten Commandments on the screen. It was an epic movie, a historical movie, because it was the only movie that had an intermission in the middle of it. Charlton Heston was bigger than life on the screen. I don�t remember a whole lot about the story line, I remember the special effects and everything, but I probably had the same misconceptions everyone had about the ten commandments. And then something happened�I got saved.
Then I understood that there was something about these ten commandments, something about the Word of God. I began to read the Bible, and I began to realize that the giving of the ten commandments was more awesome than the movie portrayed. When I read all of the background about God leading the Children of Israel out of Egypt and into the desert and then gave them the Covenant, and these ten commandments sum up the entire Covenant. It was so awesome, the thunder and the lightning, and so terrifying that the people asked Moses to ask God to stop speaking. Think of the awesome presence of God there giving the ten commandments. Moses went up the mountain to get the commandments from God and then delivered them to the people.
But for the eleventh commandment, God came in person. Personal delivery of the eleventh commandment. �A new command I give you, love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.�
Now we have to stop and think for a minute. What authority does anyone have to change, or give a new commandment? Well, I certainly don�t, there�s certain things you don�t mess with. You don�t mess with the Constitution of the United States. It takes a lot to add an amendment to the Constitution, an act of Congress, a vote of the people. But who is going to try to change the ten commandments? Jesus had that authority. How many times did He say��you have heard it said�but I say?� He had the authority to amend the commandments. �You have heard it said, Do not murder. But I say, he who hates his brother has already committed murder in his heart.� �You have heard it said, Do not commit adultery. But I say anyone who looks upon a woman with lust in his heart has already committed adultery with her in his heart.�
Jesus took the external commandments and brought them right into our heart. This is what really counts, not just the action, but also the attitude. Jesus took the commandments deeper. And as head of the Church and Lord of all, He gives us this eleventh commandment. It is a command!
First, let�s look at the nature of this new commandment. It�s not a very religious command. When we think of religion, man�s search for God, we think of rituals, we might want to genuflect, we might want to keep a list of dos and don�ts. Maybe we think religion is just for Sunday. But this is not a very religious commandment. Love one another.
Wait a minute, Lord, that�s not fair. Can you ask something more simple? Or something that I can do? But to love one another Lord, that�s not fair�it�s too difficult, it�s too hard. Give me a doctrine to hold onto instead. But Lord, to love one another...Lord, that�s too personal. I don�t like that much.
You see, often religion can isolate us from God, like the Children of Israel we seek to have God stop speaking because it scares us. It�s easier to do �our religion� for the day and then go off and live as we want. But this eleventh commandment will not allow that. True religion however, is love.
Why a command to love? You�d think that as Christians we wouldn�t need it. We�d have it all together��Yeah, we�re Christians�of course we love one another. Of course we do�? The reason He has made this a commandment is that it reflects the very nature of God. The very nature of God is love. Jesus was asked one day what the greatest commandment was. His answer was�to love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind, and your strength; and to love one another. Since it is a command, we have no excuse not to love. We can�t weasel out of it somehow. Our list of reasons why we can�t do it are moot. We cannot be selective either. In fact, get this, we are even told to love our enemies. That�s difficult God, but doable�but please don�t make me love that family member! Or my neighbor!
And this is a strange command. How can you command somebody to love? Say you walk up to two people arguing and command them to love? It sounds ridiculous until you understand that the love the Bible is talking about, that God is talking about is based on obedience. It�s not based on emotion, or what we like or dislike, it�s not based on the weather, or how our finances are doing�it�s based in our will to obey. You decide to obey the command. You make a choice. And the love God is talking about is a choice. The foundation has to be in the will to obey.
We often confuse sentimentality with love. And we often confuse emotions with love, or our mood. But those are the world�s definition of love. But love for Christians is an act of the will.
The command to love is practical. You see, the world has it all backwards, saying I will like, and then I will love. As long as I am being pleased�then I will love. God�s eleventh commandment isn�t like that at all. The opposite of godly love is selfishness, and that is borne out in the world�s definition of �if you love me and are nice to me, then I will love you.� Godly love is sacrificial. This eleventh commandment reflects the nature of God and commands us to take this nature to heart in our lives. We are commanded to love even when we don�t like. When people don�t please us.
The test of love is found in 1 John 4: 7-8. Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves knows God and has been born of God. Whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love. We can look at how we love each other as a test of our maturity in the Lord. People fear tests because they fear that the test is designed to expose weaknesses and to create a chance for failure. But the real purpose of a test is to diagnose. If you allow God to test you, he doesn�t label you as a result. His test lets you know what the problem is in order for us to ask Him cure it. Let how we love be a test of our walk with the Lord.
When do we miss the mark? We don�t have a problem when everything is going right, do we? We are doing great, we like how our lives are going. No, things begin to break down when we are under pressure. When things aren�t going right. You can live with anyone when things are going fine, but when pressure hits, that�s when our love is tested. Apply pressure in our lives and things begin to break down. We have to be trained to respond in love in times of pressure.
Romans 5:8 says, While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Under the pressure of our sin, Jesus chose to redeem us, even with the knowledge that some would not accept his sacrifice. That is a display of true love. That should tell us that love is not always pretty. Love can be hard and difficult. Think of Jesus on the cross, no warm fuzzies there.
What kind of pressure are we under? Are we experiencing more pressure than Jesus did when he demonstrated His love for us? Burnt toast? Wrinkled laundry? Things not going our way? Do things like this set you off? It shouldn�t be.
How do we learn to obey this commandment?
First, recognize that it IS a commandment. In order to be Christians, we must deal with it.
Then, let His love test us, and bring all shortcomings to the light of His cleansing and forgiveness. As we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we will be giving those things exposed up to Him for transformation. Each time we must choose to love expressing our new nature giving to us by Christ. And we have a helper to aid us. The Holy Spirit convinces us of sin (not loving), draws us to confession, and leads us into the presence of Jesus where we find forgiveness and acceptance. Loving one another is our ultimate calling as Christians. In Matthew chapter 11, verse 28: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. This is an invitation to discipleship. Discipleship means that you will be disciplined. You will be trained. When you are yoked to Jesus, his nature will pull you in the direction you need to go. That direction will be toward loving one another.
