Greatest Of These — Hillsong UNITED

How much did it cost God or what was the price He paid in order to invite us into fellowship with Him? When Jesus left heaven and came to earth, He disadvantaged Himself – that is love. In Jesus we see God’s love. He disadvantaged Himself so that I could enter into the fellowship of a triune God.

 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  ESV

I ran across a children’s lesson on love, fellowship and how that fits into a disciple’s life. It is simple and straight to the point.

D- Devoted to Christ: A disciple doesn’t walk away from their brothers and sisters. They love no matter what.

I- Involved: A disciple of Christ cares about other disciples. He or she gets involved in the good things that are happening around them.

S-Spirit: The Holy Spirit lives in all disciples. He keeps us full of peace!

C-Christ-centred:  No matter what, Jesus is the centre of everything a disciple does.

I-Invites others to meet Jesus. A true disciple of Jesus invites others to meet Jesus.

P-Prays for other disciples. That’s love, through and through!

L-Loves at all times. Even when it is hard to do so, a disciple loves other disciples at all times. Love covers sins!

E-Encourages other disciples. If I follow Jesus, I must be an encourager!

When I take the verse above in context, it would seem that Jesus was telling His disciples something important about His leaving them. For up until that point, everyone knew they were disciples because they were with Jesus, following Him. Since Jesus was leaving there had to be a new identification marker. It came out as a new commandment – love each other.

There is the first and greatest commandment to love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Then there is the second commandment to love my neighbour as myself. Why do I need another commandment?

It seems so simple and obvious, why is it so compelling and extraordinarily challenging? I think it is the twist that Jesus added – “just as I have loved you.” 

God is love. The Father offered His only Son, a Son He loved beyond words to see Him broken, rejected and killed. Jesus pain would be His pain. Jesus, God in the flesh, is the embodiment of love. The Spirit would be poured out on the earth in mostly silent and invisible ways. He would offer to lead and guide, never exalting Himself, and always pointing to the Son. Mostly, those outpourings would be ignored or denied. He finds Himself quenched and grieved. Yet He willing pays the price so that anyone might enter into their fellowship.

What a price to pay to say to me – I love you!