Love One Another

June 6, 2026
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Main Idea:  Jesus calls His people to love; not just any love, but specifically a cross-shaped love, powered by the Spirit, visible to all.  

I. A New Love (13:34)
Leviticus 19:18, 34, Romans 13:8-10, 5:5, 1 John 3:16, 4:19   

II. A New Life (13:35)
John 3:16, 17:21, Galatians 5:22, 1 John 3:16, 18, 4:7, 19, Matthew 22:37-39, Romans 3:23, 8, 7:18  

Summary: Jesus in John 13 steps into his last hours with the disciples and lays down a new commandment, new not because love had never been commanded, but because he scrubs the old carpet clean and shows a new measure and a new kind. Leviticus had already said love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus now says, love one another as I have loved you. The old standard was self. The new standard is the Son. The text raises the measure and the type. The measure is as I have loved you, which John later names outright by pointing to the cross. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us. The type is sacrificial and covenantal, the kind that puts another above self, the kind that is willing to die.

This command presses the heart and asks which terms define love, his or ours. The cross answers that question, and it also exposes how short the heart falls. Love is the summary of the law, not the gospel. The law says do this, and Romans 7 admits the honest struggle, I know what I ought to do but I do not do it. So the cross becomes both model and remedy. The same cross that sets the standard covers the failure. Romans 5 says Christ died for sinners, not the deserving. That is the love on offer, and that is the love commanded.

John 13 also insists that this love will be visible. By this all people will know you are my disciples. The world knows conditional love that pays back and keeps score. Jesus births a contrast so sharp that even pagans said of the early church, see how they love one another. That witness does not come from a program or a campaign. It overflows from being loved by Christ, then loving others with his love.

None of this comes by white‑knuckled effort. This love requires God’s help. The Spirit gives what the command requires. Galatians calls love the fruit of the Spirit. The old poem gets it right. The law commands fly, but gives no wings or feet. The gospel gives wings to fly. Christ commands love, supplies love, and makes the church’s love an advertisement for the Savior, not for itself. So the call is not pull yourself up and try harder. The call is trust Christ, die to pride and position, receive his forgiveness where love has failed, and walk by the Spirit so that love one another as I have loved you becomes the family likeness.