We are going through a sermon series at my church called One Another. In this series of messages, we are looking at what it means for our church to be a faith family. God desires that every local church function as a faith family.

Throughout the New Testament, we can see many instances where “one another” commands are given to help us today know what it looks like to be a faith family. We are going to look at a message that I’ve titled, “Love One Another.”

Love has been a popular topic for many generations. We can see this in how many books, movies, TV shows, and songs have been created that center around the topic of love. Love, though, can come across as very generic. You have different kinds of love: love for sports, love for certain foods, love for spouse or children, love for God. I certainly hope that we do not love our spouses the same way we love our favorite foods… or maybe that would be a good thing?

In the 1960s, a song was written that gained great popularity within the church. I can remember even doing this song in the youth group that I grew up in the 1990s. The title of the song is They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love.

Do you remember that song? This song was inspired by the Bible verses that we are going to look at today as we talk about loving one another.

​Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so now I tell you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:33–35 CSB

These verses take place moments before Jesus would be betrayed and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Earlier in John 13, we see Jesus washing His disciples’ feet. After that took place, Jesus took a moment to share a defining message for what would become the church.

Jesus shares the identity of the church

In John 13:33, Jesus uses the term “children.” This was not Jesus speaking down to His disciples. This is an intimate, family term used to show this rag-tag group that they are a faith family.

If you look back through the history of Jesus’ disciples, you will notice that there is no other place where they would come together but through Jesus. You had a zealot and a former tax collector. You had fishermen and even one thought to be from royal blood (Bartholomew/Nathanael). Jesus brought this motley crew together and made a family out of them.

We see this in that Jesus tells them that though He has to go away – initially speaking about His death, but even alluding to later His ascension to heaven – they will not be left alone. They have one another and, in John 14:15-17, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to live within them. The identity of a church is that it is a faith family. The local church is a reminder that we were never meant to walk this journey called life alone.

Jesus shares a new command for the church

​“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:34–35 CSB

Was Jesus wrong in this being a new command? Some might say that He was because the command to love others had been given before.​

“Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

Matthew 22:36–40 CSB

Did Jesus contradict Himself? NO! Jesus actually did give a new command, and I believe that there are two reasons for it in this context.

This was a new command because it showed how.

In John 13:34, Jesus said that His disciples were to love one another “just as I have loved you.” Those are powerful words. Remember what Jesus had just done before He said this. Jesus had humbled Himself to the position of a servant and washed His disciples’ nasty feet. Jesus had also been so patient and caring for these guys for about three years. Jesus was also about to give His life for their salvation. As we experience the unconditional love of Jesus personally, we are to share that love with others, especially those in the faith family.

This was a new command because of the whom.

Jesus was about to start what we know as the church. This command was different from other similar ones because it had an emphasis on love towards those within the faith family. We are to show love to all people as God does, but we start with the faith family. Jesus said in this command that the world around us would know who we are because of the love that we have for other Christians – especially those within our faith family. Too often people hear about churches fighting among themselves. A local church should be known for the love it shows among its members. This is a major draw for a watching world!

What does this love look like?

Loving one another is about being kind and compassionate with one another.

And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

​Ephesians 4:32 CSB

Loving one another is more than talk.

Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.

​1 John 3:18 CSB

Loving one another is a constant.

Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly, because you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God.

​1 Peter 1:22–23 CSB

This love that we are to have for one another is something that is to have a constant presence in our midst. It cannot be just now and then or during certain times. It is to be part of our DNA.

Conclusion

Love is truly a popular theme on the minds of many because it is an attribute of God. God calls His children to reflect Him in loving one another. Our response to this is two-fold: We need to experience the unconditional and life-changing love of God ourselves. This comes when a person places their faith in Jesus and follows Him daily. We need to put this love to work among the members of our faith family, and then take it to the ends of the world.

Let’s keep that song from the 1960s in the forefront of our minds as we go from here:We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord / we are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord / and we pray that our unity will one day be restored / and they’ll know we are Christians by our love / by our love, yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.