Monday: the “Rules” of Love
(John 15:10)
Scripture provides a number of examples of Jesus’ fidelity to the law of God. For instance, although His words in Luke 2:49 imply that at a young age He understood His identity, when His earthly mother expressed the hurt she felt that resulted from His straying from the family, He humbly accompanied His parents home and was obedient to them (Luke 2:51, NIV). On another occasion, Jesus refused to bow to Satan when tempted in the wilderness because worship was reserved for God alone (Luke 4:8). And there are several illustrations of His Sabbath keeping (for example, Luke 4:16). Paul wrote that Jesus’ entire life was based on obedience to God’s will (Phil. 2:5-11), and Hebrews says that, although tempted, He never sinned (Heb. 4:15). Thus, He could say as He approached His final hours, I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love (John 15:10, NKJV).
Image © Jeff Preston from GoodSalt.com
Read John 13:34-35. What did Jesus mean by saying that this was a new commandment?
Jesus understood that there is a relationship between commandment keeping and love. Though we’re not used to talking about rules
of love, one could say that, in a real sense, the Ten Commandments are those rules. They show us how God wants us to express our love for Him and others.
God is love (1 John 4:16), and so in presenting His commandment to His disciples (John 13:34-35), Jesus is simply amplifying the law of love that originated in His Father (John 3:16). Now, though, more than just loving each other as ourselves, we are to love as Jesus loved us.
At the time when these words were spoken, the disciples could not understand them; but after they had witnessed the sufferings of Christ, after His crucifixion and resurrection, and ascension to heaven, and after the Holy Spirit had rested on them at Pentecost, they had a clearer conception of the love of God and of the nature of that love which they must have for one another.
-Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 547.
With today’s lesson in mind, read 1 John 3:16. How can we have this kind of love in our own lives? How can we die the kind of death to self that is needed in order for us to express such love?
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I have a beautiful new granddaughter who has just turned 9 months old. She has just started to crawl and climb and with this new found freedom a ‘new’ set of rules are now coming into play. A word that had been used infrequently in her ‘old’ life but now is been used on a daily basis is the word ‘no’.
She does not understand gravity, thermal properties or hygiene and because we love her we want her to understand the consequences of breaching those forces. So we have had to expand on her knowledge of our boundaries of love with a new command. She will eventually come to trust our advice as she learns our only motivation is our love and concern for her. She will also come to realise that ‘no’ is not a restriction but a medium to enjoy her new freedom in safety.
This reminds me of my own experience. Prior to becoming a Christian I considered myself to be free and could do as I pleased. In hindsight I was in slavery bound by my own set of shifting norms as I saw them.
Just like the Children of Israel immediately after being set free God gave me a new set of Boundaries to remain within for my own good Deut 10:13. I call them ‘The Boundaries of Love’ like my granddaughter I came to know that forays outside those boundaries only resulted in hurt and pain. God does not have to say ‘no’ to me as much these days but when He does I listen because I know He loves me and is only concerned for my welfare.
We live in a world full of people who are hurting because they live outside the boundaries set by a Loving Father and who wants them back within the safe haven of His beautiful law. We have a huge duty to show them what it is like to live within that jurisdiction. Jesus is telling us in John 13:34,35 that people will know we are his disciples if we love as He did. He has bought us out of the bondage and oppression of sin and loosed the bands of wickedness and broken the yoke and set us free. Is 58:6 Rom 6:17,18 and given us the law of liberty James 2:12. We can now say with the Psalmist we love and delight in his commandments and we walk at liberty for we seek His precepts. Psalm 119:44-48. What an attractive proposal of a new life to offer one bound in the slavery of lawlessness.
Axactly what Richard said is a simple and clearly clarifying the meaning
Of the rule of love. The word "no"is a boundary not a threat
the 10 commandments is a protection because God loves us
I have also lived outside the "boundaries of love" but thank God for is love, grace, and mercy. We must be mindful that although God loves us when we live outside of his boundaries that there are consequences but those consequences are God chastising us back into his safety. Thank the Lord for knowing what is best for his children because we are incapable.
The commandment to love was not new. Deuteronomy 6:5 commanded love for God and Lev. 19:18 commanded loving one’s neighbor as oneself. However, Jesus’ command regarding love presented a distinctly new standard for two reasons:
1.It was sacrificial love modeled after His love (“As I loved you”; Chp15:13)
2. It is produced through the New Covenant by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.
Richard, U so eloquently expressed the "Rules of Love" with the example u gave about your granddaughter. As babes in Christ we receive these new rules and they can be challenging to negotiate as we mature in our walk with Christ, but the growing pains that we experience lead to a deeper, more satisfying connection w our Father and Savior. Thank you for summing up today's lesson so well 😀
God laws set us free It man laws that allowed men to be slaves. I thank The Lord for Jesus who set all of us free from these laws.There no law against Love for God is Love.Thank God for Jesus and the HolySpirt to teach us the different between love and lust.
Actually the only way to love god is to keep his commandments (first four) also to love another person you keep the gods commandments (last six) ,so love & commandments works together.