Love as Jesus Loved

Love as Jesus Loved
We often hope our children will grow up to be just like us, until they get a front-row seat to our own flaws and depravity. Ultimately, our calling as parents and as believers isn't to point people to ourselves, but to our Heavenly Father who calls us to reflect His perfect character.
Watch Sermon
The Big Idea
The Core Call
To love one another as Jesus loved us — and so image God to the world.
God is imaged to the world in proportion to the quality of how the Church loves. The brightness of our light shines in proportion to how well we love one another.
The Foundation
Christian behavior does not spring from a codified law in itself, but from the character and person of God. The Word of God reflects who God is — and how we live communicates who our God is.
Leviticus 11:45 — "Be holy, for I am holy."
Matthew 5:48 — "Be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect."
John 13:34 — "Love one another, just as I have loved you."
The Upper Room: Setting the Scene
It is Thursday night — Passover. The next day, Jesus will be crucified. In the upper room, Jesus shockingly washes the feet of his disciples, including Judas, who will betray him. The extravagant patience of Christ is on full display as again and again he gives Judas opportunity to repent — even offering that final morsel of grace across the table.
But Judas leaves into the night. What remains is a picture of every unregenerate heart left to itself: it will only and always choose rebellion against God — but for the grace of God that intervenes. With the traitor gone, Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper with those who truly belong to him, then begins the great upper room discourse of John 13–16.
Three Movements in the Drama
1
The Example
Jesus himself — "Now is the Son of Man glorified." The cross is the moment of his revealing.
2
The Command
"Love one another, just as I have loved you." A command, not a recommendation or guideline.
3
The Rebuke
Peter declares he will die for Jesus — but Jesus answers: "The rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times."
These three movements frame everything Jesus wants to teach his own before the cross.
Point 1: The Radiance of God's Love Is Seen Perfectly in Christ on the Cross
Jesus says, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him." He is referring to the cross — the moment of his glorification, where on earth he will be revealed for who he truly is.
It is night. Betrayal has just begun. We are entering spiritual darkness — what Jesus in Luke calls "the hour of the power of darkness." Yet it is at night when light is most apparent. The cross is the radiant moment where the love of God is most clearly shown.
"Christ's death was the most powerful demonstration of God's love in all of history." — John MacArthur
The term "Son of Man" comes from Daniel 7 — the one to whom God hands victory, who inherits the nations and reigns forever. Jesus claims that title at the cross.
To see God glorified is to see God revealed — his perfections unveiled. No moment in history will so shine forth the love of God as the cross. And in verse 32, Jesus enjoys union with the Father — a union he prays in John 17 that we would share through his cross.
Point 2: Jesus Is the Standard to Which We Are Called to Love
Verse 34 is a command — not a recommendation or best practice. We will be directly accountable for how well we live it out. The standard is not "love your neighbor as yourself" but love as Jesus loved you — a higher, final form of the old command, brought to its fullest clarity in Christ.
Long-Suffering Patience
The love of Christ endures — as seen in his patience with Judas, again and again offering grace.
Self-Sacrificing Humility
Willing to humble yourself, go to someone, and say: "I was wrong — please forgive me."
Outstretched Reconciliation
Christ did not merely forgive — he held out the arm of reconciliation. Forgiveness without impetus to reconcile is not forgiveness according to Christ.
Blessing the Undeserving
Jesus loved not just neighbors but enemies. He loved us — enemies of God. That is the surpassing standard.
Point 3: The Brightness of Our Light Is Determined by How Well We Love
"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." — John 13:35
The distinguishing mark of the Christian is not our love, but his love exercised among us. The world sees a love that is otherworldly — a love that gives life for strangers, reaches the unwelcoming neighbor, fights for a marriage with nothing in return.
"Jesus gives the world the right to judge whether you and I are born-again Christians on the basis of our observable love toward all Christians." — Francis Schaeffer, The Mark of the Christian
D.A. Carson's Warning
Orthodoxy without principal obedience to this characteristic command of the new covenant — to love one another — is, he says, merely humbug.
Tertullian, 3rd Century
The pagans of his day said: "No one has ever truly loved like those Christians who gather on Sunday."
May it be said of us.
What Loving Like Jesus Looks Like — Practically
Seek Forgiveness
Be willing to apologize to those you have wronged — including your spouse, your children, your church. If they have never heard you say sorry, it is not because you are perfect.
Grant Forgiveness
Most church issues are interpersonal, not doctrinal. Matthew 18 says: you go to the one who offended you — alone, first. Be reconciled. Don't ghost your church.
Love Has Feet
The tools of love are words, service, affection, and time. Does your love have action? General warmth of demeanor? Or are people just checking boxes?
Don't Isolate
Loving people are not isolated people. Community is good for you — spiritually, mentally, even neurologically. Ditch isolation and go love someone.
From Dr. John Townsend, Loving People: "The lovability of the other person is ultimately irrelevant. Love is at its best when you care about people who are not very lovable."
Point 4: We Are Insufficient to Love in and of Ourselves
Peter declared, "I will lay down my life for you." He should have heard "little children" and responded: I am a child — weak, dependent. Help me to love like you love. Instead, he abided in himself, believing he had the capacity. Jesus answered: "The rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times." When you rest in self, you will fail.
"Abide in me." — John 15
The answer to loving one another is not trying harder — it is abiding in Christ. Galatians 5:22: the first fruit of the Spirit is love. The first fruit of Christ residing in you is that the love of Christ will flow. We love not out of the reservoir of our own love, but because of the infinite love of Christ channeled through broken vessels to other broken vessels.
The Call: Be a Church That Images God to the World
Love One Another
Forgive, reconcile, build up in word and deed. Don't ghost — be honest, be present, be humble.
Abide in Christ
You cannot love like Jesus in your own strength. Ask God for help. Commit to growth. Stay in community.
Image God
The brightness of the Church's witness shines in proportion to how well we love. This is not optional — it is a command.
"Heavenly Father, help us to be your church. May the love of Christ abound in us, through us, unto your glory, O God — to the praise and renown of your name. Amen."