Right before Jesus was taken away to be imprisoned to later be crucified, he gave his disciples a command: “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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34–35).
During his last moments with his disciples, Jesus demonstrated what Christlike love looks like and commanded his disciples to reflect this love to others. One of the greatest ways the world can know what the gospel is and know our identities as followers of Christ is by us loving others like Christ.
One of the greatest ways the world can know what the gospel is and know our identities as followers of Christ is by us loving others like Christ.
We Love Others Because We Love God
As we look back at the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments can be summarized into two ultimate commands: love God and love your neighbor. Since the days of Moses, believers have had a clear, direct outline of how they should serve God and live.
We love others and can love others well because we love God above all. In Scripture, Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
We are fruitful in love solely because we have experienced and been radically changed and redeemed by the love of Christ. Jesus modeled love in the most perfect way—“while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Since we are wholly, perfectly, and unconditionally loved by God, we can mirror his love to others. The mark of truly loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is to also love one another. Our love will not be perfect because we are imperfect, but it will be a tangible, visible display of the gospel to others and serves as our witness.
We Serve Others Because Christ Served Us
At the beginning of John 13, Christ demonstrates what this servant-hearted love looks like, giving us a model to live by. As the disciples gathered together at supper, Jesus rose and washed their feet. During this time period, the streets were filled with filth, resulting in feet getting dirty as one would walk outside. So, a servant would wash a person’s feet when they returned home. It was not just any mere servant who would be tasked with this chore—it was for the lowest of the servants. It was an unclean, undignified job, yet Christ humbled himself to wash the feet of his disciples, including the one who would betray him.
After washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus said, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him” (John 13:14–16).
The command Jesus gave in the upper room leads us to his final and ultimate command for all disciples of Christ: the Great Commission.
Love is not proud, but humble as we see when the highest of the high, the Prince of Heaven, became low. So, we too humble ourselves to care and help others so that we may show others Christ through our actions.
We Spread the Gospel Because We Love Others
The command Jesus gave in the upper room leads us to his final and ultimate command for all disciples of Christ: the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16–20). The greatest way we can love others is by telling them about the way that Christ loved us on the cross. Sharing the gospel does not require a seminary degree, a plenitude of Bible verses memorized, or the wiseness or stature of an older age. All it requires is having been reborn and transformed by the forgiveness that Jesus so freely gave us through his sacrifice, and we can tell others about this new life in Christ.
When we consider the grave effects if someone does not accept Christ, if we truly love them, we will want to do everything within our power to ensure that they will one day be at the Lord’s table in heaven. And that can only happen if they hear and believe the gospel.
Selah Lipsey is a Content Writer at Radical. She is a graduate of Samford University where she studied Journalism and Spanish. Selah and her husband Jeremy are members of Redeemer Community Church.
