In another 12 hours or so, thousands of people will watch the “Big Apple” fall in New York City as a new year emerges.

Happy New Year! Out with the old, a brand new start!

• Was 2006 a good year? Then celebrate and anticipate a better new year.
• Was 2006 a bad year? Then reflect on it and resolve to work on a better new year.

Resolutions and anticipation, however, are not enough to have a happy new year. Research shows 98% of all new year’s resolutions are broken, almost half of them before the end of January.

So how can you have a happy new year?

Main Point:

You can have a happy new year for sure if you find only one thing: A new love.

Now wait a minute, Randy, a new love?

• I’ve been married to my 1st wife (OK, my only wife) for 27 years. But if I told her I have a new love she’d kill me half dead – and then her mother would kill the other half!

A new love you say?

• But Randy, I’m bad with relationships – they just don’t work out for me.

A new love?

• Sounds good! I’d like a “Sean Connery” type, you know, tall dark and handsome…

What king of new love will give you a happy new year?

³⁴ A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35, NIV)

Look around – you have a room full of people to love! And you have a neighborhood full of more people to love. At your workplace, more people to love. At school, more people to love.

Love is the one thing you can do to find true happiness and satisfaction in life. According to Jesus’ command, we can and we must!

 

I. Why is this a “new” command?

What is so “new” about “love one another”? Haven’t many philosophers through the ages encouraged us to love one another? Maybe so …

Even in the Bible, the Old Covenant (Mosaic Law), had a command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18, NIV). This was about 1,500 years before Jesus said “love one another.”

Q: Was Jesus mistaken? Did he slip in the “new” word by accident? Was it a careless remark?

Absolutely … NOT! The Bible is the word of God and God is perfect. As someone once said, “God don’t make no junk” – so we need to examine this a little more closely.

There was a sense in which this old command would become new and this old love would become a “new love.” Let’s look back earlier in this chapter to get the context.

A. New Love sacrifices for others.

It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. (John 13:1, NIV)

Jesus loved us to the very end – the cross was the full extent of His love. The cross is where He gave His very life for you and I.

New love is that which sacrifices for another’s need, even those who haven’t asked for it, those who don’t know they need it, and those who have not loved you in return.

Years ago, a young Macedonian lady named Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu decided to obey Jesus’ command by loving "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society” on the streets of Calcutta (India). No one else would. She took huge risks with huge sacrifices. Over time, her love became known around the world. She spoke to Heads of State and Presidents. Why? For over 50 years, she was simply obedient to this new command. Oh, you may have guessed her trade name – Mother Theresa.

This is a “new” love in the sense that it sacrifices every “new” day. Do you need to find “new” love this new year?

B. New love rejects personal pride to serve others.

² The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. ³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (John 13:2-5, NIV)

In verses 2-5, Jesus actually washed the feet of His disciples.

Q: How nice – but what’s the big deal?

Look in v3 again – Jesus is God! And foot washing is the most menial of tasks performed by the lowliest of servants.  The Creator of all things bowed low and washed the feet of His creatures … Astounding! How could He? Imagine …

• The CEO of Coca-Cola Company running the soda fountain in the cafeteria.
• President of the USA taking out the White House garbage.
• Tom Cruise shining the shoes of the Paparazzi cameramen.

As absurd as these things are, none of these examples even comes close to the reality here – for our Creator God to stoop down this low… Fortunately, Jesus explained the meaning behind this foot washing:

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. ¹³ "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:12-17, NIV)

Jesus explains that if He is their LORD and Teacher and was willing to wash their feet, they can at least wash one another’s feet. It is an example for us today.

Some churches turn this into a church ordinance, like the LORD’s Supper, and literally wash one another’s feet from time to time in their worship services. It is a beautiful thing to experience.  But don’t miss the importance of what Jesus actually said: “Do as I have done” not “Do what I have done.”  Foot washing is an example to follow – the point is that “new” love rejects pride in order to serve others.

You are not too good for any task or above any task that serves others.

• Example: We had a new baby in my wife’s side of the family this Christmas and one of my nephews stated emphatically, “I’m not changing that baby’s diaper!”
• Example: Some in the church will say, “Hey, I’ve served my time – let someone else take care of the babies or teach the children.”

If this is your attitude - REPENT!  Jesus simply did not give you any other option.  He said, “Do as I have done” (v15).

Some refuse to reach out to others who are “not like us.”

• At this past election, there were some ugly signs painted around town saying, “Deport Illegals!”
• Aren’t you glad that Jesus didn’t begin His earthly ministry with a sign saying, “Deport Sinners!”

The people of God are to treat aliens as they would their own (Exodus 22:21, 23:9; Leviticus 19:10, 33-34, 23:22, 24:22 and others).  However, serving others who are different than you is uncomfortable, risky, and costly.

If refusing to reach out to others is your attitude - REPENT!  Jesus simply did not give you that option.  He said, “Do as I have done” (v15).

The “new” in this new love is the daily sacrifices for others and the rejection of pride and bigotry in order to serve others. But the third thing we see, and the most important of all, we find in verse 34.

C. New love is not a philosophy but a person.

… As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13:34, NIV)

This is a new kind of love because it is not a philosophy or a set of rules, but a person. Jesus said that He exemplified love – Jesus is love in the flesh.

The Bible clearly teaches that:

• God is love (1 John 4:16).
• Jesus is God (John 1:1, 8:58, 13:3, Hebrews 1:2 and others)
• Jesus is love and demonstrates what love is (v34; 1 John 3:16).

Love is one of the key attributes of God – at His core, He is love. And so the “new” in the new love is found in the person of Jesus Christ our LORD.

Q: Does God seem distant or highly judgmental to you?

• Maybe the believers in Jesus Christ are not loving you as Jesus has done for them…
• Sometimes we get awfully zealous for political & social issues but, in the process, promote a Jesus of judgment – against this and against that …
• Sometimes we set up “Christian” walls and only allow Christians to get in …

This is not the love of Jesus Christ. We need a new love for a dying world!

II. So how do we show this new love in a new year?

If the measure of our love is the person of Jesus Christ, and we would like the world to know of our great love for one another, how do we show this new love?

A. Love without limits.

[Jesus said:] Love one another. (John 13:34, NIV)

Can you read what is not written in this command? It says “love one another – PERIOD!” Jesus did not say:

• Love one another, if you like them.
• Love one another, if they are like you.
• Love one another, if they love you in return.
• Love one another, if they follow your rules.
• Love one another, if they repent of whatever offends you.
• Love one another, if it is convenient.

New love is a love without boundaries, without limitations, without exceptions.

W.C. Fields, the old comedian known for being a party animal and womanizer, was no religious man. But on his deathbed, he is reported to have frantically searched through the pages of the Bible. His friend was shocked – “W.C., what are you doing looking through the Bible?” W.C. retorted, “Looking for a loophole, my dear, looking for a loophole.”

Jesus’ new love has no loopholes. Love one another no matter who and no matter what. New love is unconditional and without limits!

B. Love redemptively.

... As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13:34, NIV)

Jesus’ new love was a rescue mission – to redeem sinful people from the consequences of their choices. As Ravi Zacharias said, “Jesus came not to make bad people good but to give dead people life.”  Jesus’ redemptive love brings people back into a right relationship with God – unblocked and unhindered by sin.

• Jesus did not use a club or a crown, but a cross!
• Jesus did not command people to love Him.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:10-12, NIV)

But He did command people to follow Him.

If anyone would come after Me [be My disciple], he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. (Luke 9:23, NIV)

If you are to love redemptively, it must be with the cross on your back not the club in your hand.

C. Love metamorphically.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:35, NIV)

If you love people as Jesus did, the gospel will be clearly understood – “By this all men will know…” (v35). They will know because the gospel of Jesus Christ has changed you in the most positive way. The gospel will have turned your heart inside-out.

If you are to love as Jesus did, you have to change.

• This “new” love comes with the power to carry it out.
• This “new” love is a person – Jesus Christ.

Until you step off your throne and allow Jesus on it, you will not be able to love:

• God is love (1 John 4:16).
• Jesus is God (John 1:1, 8:58, 13:3, Hebrews 1:2 and others)
• Jesus is love and demonstrates what love is (v34; 1 John 3:16).
• And you are not God.

So it takes the person of Jesus Christ to change you into someone who can love others the way He loves you. When that change takes place, look out – the world will sit up and take notice.

III. Conclusion:

Is it that easy? Is it that simple? Well, love is never easy – the risks are huge and the sacrifices are great. And love is never simple when you are talking about people – people are complex in their needs, their understanding, their emotions. Jesus did not tell us to love one another so long as it was easy and simple. He said, love one another period!

• Will you find this new love for the new year?
• Will you keep loving your wife to the very end even if she uses you favorite fly rod as a fly swatter?
• Will you keep loving your husband to the very end even if he leaves his underwear on the floor?
• Will you get rid of your bitterness toward that person that hurt you or failed you so long ago and start loving them redemptively with purpose and passion?
• Will you sacrifice your time to serve others on Sunday here at Noonday during one of the three service times? Just one extra hour you can serve others with love:
  • Greeters, Ushers, Life Change Leaders, Prayers, New member coaches, shuttle drivers, media team members, setup/takedown helpers …
  • Will you serve on Sunday or at other times?

It is about to be a new year for you, for Noonday. Happiness will not be found in resolutions or wishful thinking but in a new love – a love born out of faith in the LORD Jesus Christ.

Let’s pursue this new love and give the whole world something to talk about!