Parkview Training Podcast

Hey, my name is Doug Fern, and I am on staff here at Parkview. I serve as the East Campus pastor, and you've been learning a little bit about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. And the language that we've been using at Parkview that we are using is that of a whole disciple. And as a reminder, a whole disciple is a forgiven child of God who's taking the next step to learn Jesus, love Jesus and live Jesus. And so I have the opportunity to spend just a little bit of time sort of zooming in on a aspect of what it looks like to love Jesus. And that aspect is loving Jesus means loving God's people. And you may be thinking to yourself, okay, are, are you? Are you blending two things that are separate from each other? Or what does loving Jesus have to do with loving his people?
Well, let me take you to John 13 and just show you a little bit about what God's word has to say about what it means to love Jesus and how that relates specifically to loving his people. So John 13, verse 34 and 35, say this, 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. Verse 35, by this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. So in John 13, we learned a good deal about what it looks like, not just to love Jesus, but also to love one another. A few things that it points out. First is you'll notice the priority, okay? Jesus is commanding his people to be a people who are marked uniquely. And this is not, this is not a, the new place in scripture that we see this, but if you go throughout the whole of scripture, you will see one of the things that one of the distinguishing marks of God's people is that they are uniquely marked by love.
And when Jesus, and when God talks about in His word, what it means to love, whether you're looking at the, the 10 Commandments or the new commandment that we see Jesus giv in the, in the New Testament. Either way, the commandment is the same at the heart of the issue. It's designed, it's getting us to be people who, who step into, who tap into the way that we've been designed to be a people of love. And that love works in sort of two different levels. There is vertical love, our love that we have for God. And then there is horizontal love, the love that we have for our neighbor, for one another. So God's will expressed through His word is that we are a people who are marked by love. It is a priority. It's a priority because God tells us Jesus is very explicit, a new commandment. He's commanding us a new commandment. I give you that you love one another. He states it clearly. Think about how, when, when, when Jesus meets, if you remember Saul's conversion story, the Apostle Paul, when when Jesus meets him and sort of disrupts his life, he, he says he, he accuses Paul of persecuting him. Well, Paul was, was who was he persecuting technically? He was, he was persecuting the disciples, the church, God's people. And Jesus uniquely identifies with his people. So sort of the, the idea is he identifies in such a way with them that when, when bad things happen to his people, Jesus says, why are you doing bad things to me? Well, and the exact opposite of that, when, when good things, when we do good things, when we love one another, it's another way of loving Jesus. So, so one of the reasons why it's such a priority for us to love one another is because it's, it's a way of demonstrating love for Jesus himself.
So he commands us to do it, and he also identifies with his people in this way. Now, another thing that the verse tells us in John 13 about sort of why this is so critical is not just as he show us the priority of love, why it's so important, but also he shows us the posture of love, the way that we are supposed to do it. Now, this is John chapter 13. If you're familiar with the New Testament, you know, this is at the sort of on the heels of Jesus in the upper room, the scenario where he gathers his disciples together, they're, they're in the upper room around, around a table having a meal. And before they get together, Jesus demonstrates this tremendous act of humility by serving, the master serving his servant's feet, something that was just completely, completely radical. And, and Jesus is, is demonstrating this is what love looks like.
And then afterwards he tells his, he tells his disciples that you are to love as I have loved you, just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. And so not just he does, he just say that this is a commandment, this is a priority for me. But he also shows us the posture, what love looks like. That love in the kingdom of God is a love that is humble. It's a love that's, that's demonstrated. That's through sacrifice, through service. It's, it's selfless in nature. It's other-centered in focused. And Jesus is saying, this is the posture by which we are to love one another. And the other thing that we see in this verse, which is one of the reasons why, why I get so excited about John 13:34 and 35 is because not just do we see it's a priority, not just do we see the posture, but also we see the power.
Verse 35, by this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. So if, if we are, and I, I sure hope we are a church that is all about putting the glory of Christ on display for the world to see, then what we get to sign up for is to be a part of a community that is radically committed to loving one another. The the primary way that we get to raise a banner in this community, that, that is displaying God's glory for our neighbors is by the way that we treat and love one another. There's power in the community that we develop as a church, and that power is supposed to be seen, and it's a transformative power. It, it gives witness and testimony ultimately to the grace and to the mercy and to the kindness and goodness of Jesus himself. So the idea is that when we enter into community that is marked uniquely by love, we allow the world to see the Jesus that we serve. So what does it mean for us to love Jesus? Well, certainly it means we love one another, that we have love for one another. Another way of kind of thinking about this, I've heard a pastor say recently, we are not primarily to Jesus, a problem that he needs to solve. Rather each one of us, what we bring to the table, our personalities, our gifts, our challenges, we are a unique strategy that Jesus chooses to use, a strategy that he chooses to use to work through us, to allow his spirit to move through us, to win others to him ultimately. One of the, one of the resources that has really helped me has been Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book called Life Together.
And in that book, he gives you just a really compelling picture, and there's parts of it that are compelling. You say, oh my goodness, I want that. And there's other parts of it that are convicting like, oh my goodness, I've never experienced that before and, and I'm missing out. And so if you, if you're looking for an additional resource, that would be just an awesome one to, to explore. It's a very easy read, and it's, it's just for me over the years, it's one that I returned to over and over again to, to again, kind of tap into this vision of what God is calling me to be a part of as the people of God who live together and who love one another. Just another thing that I would just say that is so crucial, I mean, for, for all of us, we want to be practicing this, you know, as we've already discussed, on some way being a follower of Jesus, a whole disciple, we are committed to learning Christ, but we're also supposed to be not just people that have big heads full of knowledge. It's supposed to be working its way out in our lives as well. And, and we'll learn more about that in the next section as well. But, but we have to be a people who can look around in our lives and point out where we are regularly interacting with other believers. And so the primary way that we have encouraged folks to do that at Parkview is through community groups. And I'll just say, if you're not in a community group, you are missing out. You're missing out, not just on a chance for you to love others, but for others to love you. So it's not just a matter of your obedience that's being sort of roadblocked, it's also others’ obedience. Because as, as a whole church forming whole disciples, it takes every one of us. And so my encouragement to you is if you do not have a, a group of, of brothers and sisters around you who you are, you were saying, these are my people. This is who I do life with, you're missing out. And it's, it's really gonna be hard not just for you to love one another, but, but ultimately, hopefully, as we've seen, to love Jesus.