“Love Speaks Volumes” or “Oneness is a God Thing”
(a journey through the upper room)

John 13:34-35 (various passages)
March 11, 2007
Joe Burgess

Father, I pray this morning as we quickly walk through the Upper Room, that we might take from there a refreshed understanding and conviction of how you would have us walk before you, knit together as your church. Speak to us today through your Word.

In two weeks we will begin a short break from Genesis to take a look at what might be considered by some as a fad in churches today, and that is the subject of community. In our age of fragmentation and alienation, families and churches have felt the heavy burden of loneliness, and have begun to seek out ways to take back what has been given over to professionals, to bring “healing” back to the church. One Christian psychotherapist, who has committed much of his life the profession of helping, wrote,

“In recent days, I have made a shift. I am now working toward the day when communities of God’s people, ordinary Christians whose lives regularly intersect, will accomplish most of the good that we now depend on mental health professionals to provide. And they will do it by connecting with each other in ways that only the gospel makes possible.”¹

To a large degree the church in America has been negligent in dealing with the consequences of living in a mobile culture. We have bought into the concept of rugged individualism and self-help. This author has been engaged in a long journey of becoming more and more Bible-centered in his approach to helping others. So, his comment that people will find real hope and help “in ways that only the gospel makes possible” rings loud.

 He went on to say,

“I have strong reason to suspect that Christians sitting dutifully in church congregations, for whom “going to church” means doing a variety of spiritual activities, have been given resources that if released could powerfully heal broken hearts, overcome the damage done by abusive backgrounds, encourage the depressed to courageously move forward, stimulate the lonely to reach out, revitalize discouraged teens and children with new and holy energy, and introduce hope into the lives of the countless people who feel rejected, alone, and useless. Maybe “going to church,” more than anything else, means relating to several people in your life differently. ... I want to see people connect ... as intimately as the various parts of the body work together, as cooperatively as my fingers are working together to write these words.”²

The elders and staff here at Crossroads are not about jumping on bandwagons. Our task here as leaders in this church is not to search out the best and most current way of doing church, whether there is merit to these movements or not, but to search the Scriptures and determine from them what we are to do.

While we have some thoughts about how to accomplish some of what we are about to looking at, we have much to consider and walk through. Our goal is to present what God’s Word has to say and to search out with you how we should move forward in response.

During this short series we will look primarily at some passages in Ephesians that speak of the oneness we have in Christ and how that works it way out in our lives, and then at some related passages that deal with what it is to be a healthy body of believers. Then at some time in the future we will come back for a longer look as we walk though an entire letter to a New Testament church such as Philippians.

I am excited about this. Each of us has different passions when it comes to following after God, and each of us would rather see one thing emphasized over another. For me, how we are knit together in this thing called the church and what God does through us as a result is something we can’t spend to much time considering and then living.

When I think of the church of Christ I see so many things, but foremost in my mind is this picture of a bride getting ready for her wedding. There is an excitement and a glow in anticipation of what is about to happen. People around her know something important is on the horizon. It is all she thinks about and all she talks about. It is consuming. But sometimes the ceremony and planning for it becomes more important than the blooming relationship that brought it about.

All too often, the church is not about the hope, but it is about the event. Leaders become more concerned about providing something for everyone, and people become focused on whether or not they have the “right” things presented in the “right” way. Again, we lose sight of why He has brought us together and what He intends to do.

When I think of the church I think of Creation. I think of our Heavenly Father who created us to have fellowship with Himself. What an incredible thing that must have been for Adam and Eve until sin brought it crashing down. I think of the great hope that we have of one day joining together with God and Christ to experience that which we were created to have, and I think of the incredible opportunity we have to share a part of that here and now as we live arm in arm with like-minded, set-apart, brothers and sisters in Christ, knit together by God’s Holy Spirit. We have been given an opportunity to taste in whatever small way restored relationships here and now, living in joyful expectation of what it will really be like some day.

When I think of the church I think of times of trial when one of us is hurting and so many people come alongside to lift us up and help us along. I think of neighbors who observe hardships and then ask us how we were able to stand up under them, to which we can share about the encouragement that comes from being connected to others in Christ, and knowing that your God has even better promises for the future.

When I think of the church I see a beautiful painting that causes people to stand in awe of the painter, and I also see an amazing structure, with contractors, sub-contractors and every sort of laborer busy at work with the completion of the completion of the project fully in mind.

This is my picture of the church. But I have to admit that many days the picture has a haze over it, or maybe the tools were left in the garage. The reality is that this picture will never be what is perfect. And all to often today, what we have in our churches are people who have come from second and third generation broken homes and who have never really experienced what a healthy family should look like. We have people that are so busy with “living” that they have no time for “life” or even for God.

Maybe my pictures of the church are a bit idealistic. But at the same time, I know that we sure can have a lot better than we do now, and it starts with being sold out to the one who called us His beloved children and lavishes on us His mercies.

Throughout the book of Ephesians Paul speaks of understanding and sharing mysteries that had yet to be fully known. In Ephesians 5 we find a part of the mystery he had come to understand. Here, in the midst of a strong teaching on marriage, Paul says, “This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” In some way, as Paul refers to numerous times in verses 22-33, the relationship between a husband and wife is like that of the relationship between Jesus Christ and His church. This is an incredible encouragement for those seeking to have a Christ-centered marriage. The benefits are incredible. But it is also an incredible encouragement when we think of the implications of us, knit together as one, preparing for the day we are joined with our Savior for all eternity. A large part of why God does not take us immediately after receiving Christ as our Lord and Savior is this process of each part becoming ready–that we, the church, might be presented to Christ in glory, radiant without spot or blemish.

In Ephesians 4 Paul likens the church to the human body with each part being totally necessary and important, and we are called to serve together in that oneness just as a properly working human body might do. Again, we find that the head of the body just like the headship role in marriage, is found in Christ. For me, this is something to really get excited about.

Each of these illustrations find their core in their Christ-centeredness, and a picture of being inseparable and interdependent from everyone else. This is what the church to is be when it is firing on all cylinders. In this sense the church is not to be measured by the quality of its programs, but rather by the oneness of its members and their unified submission to Christ as the head.

When I think about the bride getting ready for this great day I picture her getting her whole self ready. Just taking care of the hair is not enough. Everything has to be right. And when I bring this back to the illustration of the church being a body with Christ as the head, I think not only of the responsibility to make sure each part is ready for that great day, but also the joy of making it happen and the incredible anticipation of seeing it all come together.

Sadly, I think for many they miss the excitement that comes with understanding and experiencing the mysteries of God. There are many who just don’t see what a great thing God has done in bringing us together in the kind of relationship that Bob will touch on over the next several weeks.

During our time of study together it might become easy to focus on the “a, b, c’s” of community and our interaction with one another. I want to encourage you that as you come each week, that you do so anticipation of God revealing more and more of the incredible mystery we are engaged in and an expectation of experiencing the joy of being about making the whole body ready.

God created us as relational beings, and we are truly happy when we are in healthy relationships, and the only truly healthy relationship is that which we learn from Him. Think of it, every other one has strings attached. But God loved us when we were His enemies, when we did not know Him, and when we were doing things in direct opposition to Him. Even before that God loved us at creation, when there was not yet even any hint of evil–in a purity of relationship that man in this earth can never know.

In the mid-1600's a group of men were commissioned to work together, representing the churches of England, Scotland, and Ireland, to systematize the key positions and teachings of Christianity. This Council of Divines, as they were known, worked for several years to reach what was eventually summarized in the Westminster Confession and Catechisms. The first question addressed in the Catechisms was, “What is the chief and highest end of man?” To which they answered, “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.” Two things, first and foremost, to “glorify God,” and secondly to “fully enjoy Him forever.”³

These two go hand in hand, and I don’t think it can be more clearly seen than in Jesus’ last major discussion with his disciples before His crucifixion–the “Upper Room Discourse,” which surrounded the “Last Supper,” found in John, chapters 13-17.

When the disciples came into the upper room and had those last hours with Jesus, they came in with the dirt of the road on their feet. When Jesus saw this He did not give them a lecture about not stopping at the basin or even about not having a servant there to make sure they each one’s feet had been cleansed. Rather, Scripture records that he knelt down and washed their feet. Then he taught them an important lesson about love. Just a little while later, after Judas had been disclosed and had left, Jesus went on the say,

John 13:31-34 “When therefore he had gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You shall seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, I now say to you also, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

The aspect of God being glorified rings loud and clear in these five chapters. Here we read that Jesus had brought glory to God the Father through His obedience, and now Jesus was about to be glorified in completing the reason for His coming. And in His leaving He left them with an important instruction–a new commandment, that we love one another as he has loved us, we are to love one another. Jesus was about to go to the cross for them, and he knew exactly what it would cost. As he demonstrated the loving Lord coming to serve, he now called them to show that love to others.

The second part of the “chief end of man” question was that we might fully enjoy Him forever. Reading this passage here in chapter 13 we get a taste of that as Jesus speaks to them about sharing the same love with which He had loved them with each other. This love was not to be a drudgery, but something which brought great fulfillment and joy, as we share what had been shared with us.

The instruction to love was not new, but the structure of the command was. We read in Matthew 5:43 where Jesus had reminded his hearers that they had been taught to love their neighbors as He refers back to an Old Testament instruction found in Leviticus 19:18.

Leviticus 19:18 “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.”

 But He doesn’t leave it there. He goes on to say,

Matthew 5:43-48 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Not only were they to love those who are easy to love, but they are also to love those who make things difficult–to love their enemies. What we find new in both passages is the example of God and Christ. In Matthew, Jesus tells his hearers to do this because that is how God is, and in John, He forms it in the way of a command–to love each other “as” Jesus had loved them.

And it is this love that not only marks God and Christ, but is to mark those who follow. We are to be marked by that love, and in so doing we will reflect the love of God to those around us, both believing and unbelieving. Jesus went on to say after giving them this new command, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

In John 13 we find several questions about love answered. The first is, “Why are we to love one another?” First of all, because Jesus commanded it. There can be no question about this one. This is clearly a command. But secondly, we are to love because of the importance of it. In 1 Corinthians 13 we read if we don’t have love we have nothing. We have received nothing and we have nothing to give. Without love we are empty. If you were to look at 1 Corinthians 13, or any other passage dealing with the subject of godly love, you would see that love is something that is done. Love is a verb. It is hard to define, but it is very easy to describe. Think of all of the ways it makes itself visible, and especially the example of Christ in the washing of the feet and the submission at the cross. Love is critical because it was out of love that God brought us to Himself, and it is through love that others see Him.

Another question answered is, “How do we love one another?”⁴ The passage tells us that we are to love others as Jesus loved us. Just consider how He has loved us. He loved us (1) sacrificially. He gave them a little illustration with the feet washing, but was about to give them the supreme illustration with the cross. He loved them sacrificially. If we are going to love sacrificially we are going to have to get involved in the lives of people. We have to set interruption and inconvenience aside, and roll up our sleeves just as Jesus did.

He also loved (2) unselfishly. There was no element of, “What’s in it for me?” There was a card I hear about with a picture of a mom laying on a couch totally out of it. All of her family was standing around with looks of total dismay. The house in the background was in a shambles. When the card was opened it read, “the server crashed” [This is a computer joke]. Mom’s are generally the best examples of servants. While they might occasionally grumble, criticize or complain, it is well known that if mom stops serving the whole house falls apart. Dads and kids, it won’t hurt you to follow the example of mom and more directly the example of Christ. Jesus loved unselfishly.

Next we see the Jesus (3) loved practically. We read in 1 John 3:18 “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” God had more than strong feelings of affinity for us. He loved us, and in His love He sent His Son to a cross to die for our sins and then to be raised that we might have a newness of life. “Sent,” “die,” “raised,” and “newness” are all actions that God did for us that show His love. Likewise, we are not to be about saying, “I hope things get better. You know I love you,” when there is a practical way that we can show that love in actions that reflect who we are in Christ and whom it is we serve. In these things God is truly glorified.

The church changes when people decide to love one another. That’s the beginning. Relationships develop and things then go deeper, and the results are at least twofold–the church is built up, and the world is shaken up. We are not going to shake up the world by a heavy dose of judgment, or by blowing up abortion clinics, or even by trying to wow everybody with big and fancy programs. How we love one another is the true witness of authentic Christianity before a lost and dying world.

As a church comprised of new creations in Christ we are a new community, and this new community has a new commandment–to love one another. If we want to truly shake up our world we need to love each other and to pick up our towels and wash each others’ feet.

Now, I realize that at times we can be pretty hard to love. I know I still have some pretty rough edges, and I strongly suspect that most of you do as well. So, the logical next question is, “Where do I get the power to love in this way?” Galatians 5:22 tells us that the Fruit of the Spirit is love, and in John chapter 14, the same conversation where Jesus instructed his disciples to love one another, He tells them that He will not leave them alone. He is going to ask the Father to send them a Helper, and that Helper is the Holy Spirit.

John 14:16-21 “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also. In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him.”

Then Jesus goes on to add,

John 15:1-11 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”

Jesus demonstrated His incredible love for His disciples. He shared the depth of concern for them being left alone, the concern for them being left helpless and abandoned, and He told them this was not to be the case. He would come again, and they would then be taken with Him in oneness to be with the Father. In the mean time He has given them an incredible nanny, He has given them God’s Holy Spirit to live in them, to help them, to comfort them, and to teach them.

According to John 15:8 the way we glorify God is by bearing fruit, and we can only bear fruit as we abide in Christ. In both chapter 14 and 15 we read that the way we abide in Christ’s love is by obeying His commandments, and we have just read that His new commandment to us is that we love one another. Putting this together we find that we truly glorify God when we share with others the love which we have received from Him.

Jesus knew He was leaving, and in His leaving He also knew that his disciples needed to stay together. They needed one another, especially when things got tough, and He knew they would get tough. I don’t know about you, but there is nothing that brings me more joy than being involved in loving, supportive relationships. The chain reaction is incredible. What incredible hope there is! What incredible joy can be found in this! Jesus knew it, and He knew they needed to know it as well.

The second part of the first answer in the Westminster Catechism is that we might “fully enjoy Him forever.” Verse 11 of chapter 15 says, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” This was the hope of Jesus, that as we experience His joy manifest in us, we might truly have a fullness of joy that impacts those around us, and is impacted by being unified in love by others who know the same hope.

Loving others is both impossible and very possible. It is impossible when we try to do it in our own strength. It is very possible and definite when we allow Christ to live and love through us. The new commandment is that we love one another as Christ loved us. Christ demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). We are to remember that if we abide in Him, we will bear fruit. And we know that the fruit of the Spirit is love. Remember, love is an action word. Can we say it together, “Love is an action word.”

And when the direction of the wheel is changed from spinning in an unloving direction to a loving one, the results are incredible. The love of God changed everything, and our loving others as God loved us is similarly as powerful. The disciples were about to have their entire world shaken up. They would even leave for a time after Jesus’ death, but Jesus knew they would be drawn back together, and He knew they needed to stay together–knit together in love as one body in Him.

When I shared with Bob what I was preparing for today, he promptly added that we cannot forget chapter 17. He was right. We cannot go to the Upper Room without going to chapter 17, where Jesus’ prayed before His disciples an incredibly rich prayer. We read in this prayer that we would experience the oneness that existed between the Godhead–that we would be one, even as He and God were one. Oneness is truly a God thing. God knows oneness, and He knows we need it. But the only way we can experience oneness is by walking with one another in love. Would you stand with me, if you are able, as we read this together in closing.

John 17 “These things Jesus spoke; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee, even as Thou gavest Him authority over all mankind, that to all whom Thou hast given Him, He may give eternal life. And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do. And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world; Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me, and they have kept Thy word. Now they have come to know that everything Thou hast given Me is from Thee; for the words which Thou gavest Me I have given to them; and they received them, and truly understood that I came forth from Thee, and they believed that Thou didst send Me. I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine; and all things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. And I am no more in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

“But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Thy word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth. As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.”

“And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known Thee, yet I have known Thee; and these have known that Thou didst send Me; and I have made Thy name known to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them.”

Father, thank you for these precious truths, and for the incredible ways in which you have shown your love for us. May we truly bring glory to you as we seek to obey your Word in the strength which you give. I pray that as a fellowship of believers that we might truly come to grasp what it is to love as Christ loved, and in so doing reflect the unity that can only come from loving and being loved, that as we walk arm in arm, building up and encouraging one another, we might impact the communities surrounding us and our world for you.

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