LOVE ONE ANOTHER

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (Jn 13:34)

“Have Faith in God” “Live by Faith” “Do your best to present yourself to God!” “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.” Thank God for blessing the beginning of  New Year 2026 with the Words of God, the Word of eternal life, the word of living water, the words of truth and wisdom. 

Today we are going to study another one which Jesus commands all who accept Him as the Lord and teacher to obey : John 13:34 “A New Command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” This New command is not only about what we should do, but it is about who we should be. This New command defines our New Identity in Christ Jesus. Those who accept Jesus as the Lord will be known not by their knowledge of the bible nor religious practices, but by “Love one another.” We are called to live Christ-centered life, loving one another with the same sacrificial, forgiving, and unconditional love we have received from Jesus. Do you remember that we studied this at the last Summer Bible Conference? Do you remember what we studied in Romans 5-8 about God’s love? How many times have we heard “Love one another” again? So many times. Not only believers, even unbelievers have heard it and know it. There are countless songs about love, movies about love, and books about love everywhere. Then,  why is the world still full of wars, crimes, hatred, violence, and division – even within churches and families? This reality leads us to a question. “Do we actually love one another?” Talking about love is not so difficult, but loving practically is really hard. Yet, this command is given to our community, UBF for the new year. Let’s think about this passage with three questions in mind: 1) What does “a new command” mean? 2) How can we love one another? 3)What is the impact of loving one another?

• New command “Love one another”

In verse 34a Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another.” Jesus gave this command. Jesus’ words are not advice or suggestions, but a command that demands obedience. How do you feel when you hear the words “command”? Some of us may have an allergic reaction. In the world, who can really command us to do something? Even the President of America cannot command us to act against our free will. Then, who is Jesus? What kind of authority or power does he have to command us? 

In verses 13: 13-14, Jesus said, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’ and rightly so, for this is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” First of all, Jesus is our Lord, who has complete authority over all and ownership over our lives. He gave this command with the same authority and power with which God, the Creator, gave the old command, the Law to Moses. Jesus is also our teacher, who has the authority to teach us and to lead us to the truth. So, to have a right relationship with Jesus, we must obey Jesus’ command – love one another. This is the command from the Lord, the creator, so we must obey with full commitment and devotion. This is the command from the Lord, who is worthy of all our royalty and wholehearted obedience, so we must obey this command with all our heart, mind, and strength. This is the command from a shepherd, who gave his life to be the sacrifice for our sins, so we must obey this command from our hearts.  

Many people may regard this command as one of the great teachings by a great teacher or wise man. They may think it is good to follow, but that it does not really matter if they do not. However, for us those who accept Jesus as the Lord and teacher, this is the command we should obey as the matter of life and death. For us, this command – “Love one another” – is the reason  we love others regardless of race, social class, past life or any other differences. This command is the purpose of our lives, our community and fellowship. There is no justification nor compromise for refusing to love others. So, this command becomes our identity, as Christians. 

In the First century Christian community, there were many barriers to love one another such as social class barriers, gender barriers, cultural barriers, and ethical barriers. There was nothing that could break these barriers. However, through obedience to Jesus’ command, believers overcame what seemed impossible. As a result, their gathering became a church, one body of Christ – the loving community. We are Christians who who accept Jesus’ shed blood by faith, receive forgiveness of sins and become a child of God. We receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works within us to put to death our sinful nature and empower us to live a new life – new life that obeys His command, “love one another” wholeheartedly. 

Look at each other. Can you truly love him or her? By nature, sinners are not lovable. We are sinners filled with pride, selfishness, ignorance, spiritual blindness, spiritual deafness. Love does not naturally flow from our heart.  That is why Jesus Commands us to love. We can love one another unconditionally – by obeying His command. We are Christians, who are not naturally loving, but who are called to obey his command “Love one another” as a matter of life and death. Throughout history, many have tried to change the world and make it a better place, yet all have failed. Sinners are not even able to make peace in their own home; instead, they often turn them into battlegrounds. We all see what is happening in GAZA and  in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. It is difficult to choose one side, because no one is perfectly right and  no one is entirely wrong. There seems to be no human solution to these problems. Jesus commands His people “Love one another.” This is the true resolution for all troubles we are facing. “Love one another” will bring peace between two people; “Love one another” will bring peace in a family, in a community, and in a church. Let us obey His command “Love one another.” Then, we cannot but seriously ask the second question – how can we truly love one another. 

• How can we love one another? 

Let us read verse 34 again. “A New Command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” In verse 34b, Jesus said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” The phrase “As I have loved you” answers many questions about this new command.    

First of all,  to love one another we should deeply know how Jesus has loved us. In John 13:1-17, Jesus demonstrated his love and set an example. It was just before the Passover Festival. The hour had come for Jesus to die for the sins of the world, and he knew this. At the thought of impending death, anyone would be overwhelmed with anxiety, sorrow, and fear. But not Jesus. 

Moreover, Jesus knew that one of them would betray him, another would deny knowing him, and all of them would desert him. At this time, what did Jesus do? Jesus demonstrated his love for his disciples. Verse 1c says, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” Jesus loved them “to the end” despite their weaknesses and failures. Jesus loved them, based not on their condition or merit, but from his very nature (1Jn 4:8).  God is love; he is love; He is the source of love. The power of his love is irresistible–it is the most powerful force in the universe. By loving his disciples to the end, he demonstrated God’s love. Roman 8:5 says “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Look how Jesus loved them in this passage. He got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist (4). After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel. Washing someone’s feet was a most menial job in the ancient world. But Jesus became such a servant. It is really remarkable. Many people say, “I love you” with their emotions. But when practical help is needed, they disappear. However, Jesus shows us that love is to serve in a most menial, practical way.  

 Jesus, the Son of God, the Lord, the king humbly washed their dirty feet and dried them off. 

The Creator of heaven and earth bowed before each one of them and served them in the most humble way. We can imagine how the disciples might have thought about this event as the years went by. The love of Jesus for the disciples was not just feelings or emotions. His Love is not just cheap- lip – service, only saying I love you.  It is love that embraced all their weaknesses, failures and sins with great patience and hope in God.  It is love that sacrificed his own life to wash away all their sins. It is love that serves them, forgives them, never gives up on them. It is love that loves them to the end – never changes according to circumstances and situations. 

This is the love they had received from Jesus; they had seen, heard, tasted, smelled, touched this love of Jesus. Through this love, they could fully and deeply realize how important they were to God; how precious they were to God. They could feel honored by God himself.  

They could see, hear, taste how much God loved them. How precious this memory must have been when they were despised and persecuted by people of the world. Jesus left a lasting impression of true, deep love with his disciples. “This love of Jesus” empowered them and enabled His disciples to love one another as Jesus loved them.  

One medical missionary to Africa suffered unbearably. He had to watch his patients die from AIDS because there was no medicine to heal them. He himself was exposed by pricking with a contaminated a niddle. He saw a fellow Korean shot dead just a day after buying shoes from him. He was separated from his beloved wife. His daughter became sick with severe and prolonged meningitis. One day it became too much for him and he decided to give up his missionary life. Before doing so, he wanted to have one last Bible study with his sheep. During that Bible study God moved his heart with Jesus’ love. With many tears, he remained in Africa. Now a vibrant UBF chapter has grown there. A native shepherd was just raised as the leader. This helps us understand Jesus’ love; it is patient; it always perseveres; it is to the end. Jesus’ love never fails. 

Before we look at others to find out if we can love him or not, we should look at Jesus and learn deeply how He has loved us. Our love should not depend on others’ condition; It should be rooted in Jesus’ love for. “He has loved his own to the end.” This is not only for the disciples, but also for us. When I was still a sinner, Jesus came to me through Bible Study and saved me from such a meaningless and empty way of life. Moreover, he called me to be a disciple, a shepherd for lost souls in campuses in America.  It was 20 years ago. What about now? Jesus’ love was not something that happened only once 20 years ago. For more than 20 years, Jesus has continued to love me, saving me again and again from all my failures – all my fears by his blood. Even now, he is still working in me, changing piece by piece. Praise the Lord. Someone asked why you often look up nowhere when you deliver a message. It is because I am afraid of you. I am a man with a heart of a sparrow, which beats 1000 in a minute. Easily I become timid, fearful,  and frightened. But looking at Jesus, my Lord, who loves me unconditionally, I stand firmly and deliver this message by faith only! His love makes changes in my inner being.        

Some of us might wonder how we receive such love. There are many obstacles that hinders us  from accepting the love of Jesus  such as pride, self-righteousness, the love of money, and love of the world. Look at verses 6-10, When Jesus tried to wash Peter, he said to Jesus, “You shall never wash my feet” (6-8)  Why? Peter did not want to expose his dirty feet to Jesus. It is shameful or guilty. He thought he should wash his own feet. He wanted to be clean by his own effort. It is self-righteousness. He thought that the master should not serve those under him in such a humble way. It is pride. So, Peter rejected Jesus’ word. 

What about Judas? Truly Jesus loved him to the end, washing his feet. In verses 18-30 Jesus foretold Judas’ betrayal. in doing so, he revealed the fulfillment of Scripture. Actually in this way, Jesus offered his salvation to Judas when he gave him bread dipped in the dish.  It represented Jesus’ body and blood shed for Judas’ sins. However, Judas rejected the word of truth and did not repent of his love of money, his love of the world. Judas did not accept Jesus’ love and saving grace. He went out from Jesus’ presence into the darkness.   

Then, what should we do as a sinner like Peter or Judas? Look at verse 8b. Jesus helped Peter, He said, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” (8b)  We should bring our dirty feet to Jesus and let him wash it. Spiritually speaking, our dirty feet are our dirty sins. Jesus’ washing comes through his blood shed at the cross. We must expose our dirty sins of pride, selfishness, lust, jealousy, anger, resentment, bitterness, greed and the like. When we do, Jesus cleanses us with his precious blood. This way, we come to have a relationship with him. We are sinners who need to be saved. And Jesus is the Savior. His grace and His love is a fountain of love. Our love is weak; it fails. But when we receive Jesus’ love, we can love others with his love.

In this passage, Jesus teaches us to love one another practically as he has loved us. To do so, we need to receive His love. Let’s repent of our selfishness, greed, self-righteousness, and indifference. Let’s repent any such sins and attitudes of the heart. Let us accept Jesus’ love and grace that wash our dirty sins by faith in the power of the blood of Jesus. Receiving this amazing love for us that is sacrificial, forgiving, and never failing love, Let us love one another as Jesus has loved us. 

III. What is the impact? 

Let us read 13:35 “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” This Love is the mark of a disciple of Jesus. Again, Jesus’ disciples are not recognized by their cleverness or achievement, but by love they practice. When we truly love one another, people see Jesus in us; people see God in us; People see the love of God for them. This love has a profound impact on our communities and in the world. This love should be evident in our homes, as husbands and wives love one another as Christ has loved us; in our churches as we love one another; in our school or campus as we love one another. 

Thank God for this wonderful NJ loving community. Mothers of prayer who serve delicious food for all members every Sunday and who pray sincerely for all members one by one; Fathers of faith who go out campus faithfully and reach out to students; Young Leaders who prepare Bible Study Materials faithfully for the work of the word of God; Dream  and JBF who play beautiful music for worship service every week. Because of your love, we could worship the Lord, our God, in spirit and truth! 

It sounds simple to say: “love one another.” But in practice there are many challenges in doing so, such as the struggle to be self-supporting, Family problems, children’s Education, Rebellious sheep, Resistance in students’ hearts, and more. We must grow in the character of Christ –in his humility, forgiving love,  forbearing grace, patient endurance, undying hope, and more. Learning how Jesus loves us, we must learn his humility, forgiving love, forbearing grace,  patient endurance, undying hope, and more. 

When we love one another, we are so richly blessed. We become one. We become strong together. We will reveal Jesus and his love to the world. We will overcome the world and render glory to God. We have true joy in our hearts. We enjoy real peace. We experience the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23a).  By faith in God’s love I pray that 2026 may be the year of growing in Jesus’ love. We may confirmed to the image of Jesus. When we love one another and pray together, the gospel advances in our homes, work places, campuses, communities and the world even. Let’s love one another as Jesus has loved us.