Loving each other is the command for EVERY Christian. It is the most important command Jesus gives all of His disciples – His New Commandment.
John 13: 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so
you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Not surprisingly we find this same command restated many times elsewhere in the New Testament.
Romans 12:9 Love must be sincere. … 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
… 13 Share with God’s people who are in need. Practise hospitality.
Galatians 5:13 Serve one another in love
Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 5: 2 … live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
The Apostle Peter considered the command to love so important that he repeated it more than half a dozen times in his letters!
1Pe 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
1Pe 2:17 Love the brotherhood of believers,
1Pe 3:8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.
1Pe 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
The fact that the Bible commands us in so many places to love each other tells me at least two things.
1. That loving each other is very important.
2. That Christians throughout the Early Church needed just as much encouragement and cajouling and challenging to love each other as we do!!
We 21st Century British Christians are not alone in falling short at that challenging task of loving each other. The writer to the Hebrews commands it here, but he has already spoken about loving each other in chapter 10
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds.
We all need spurring on to love and good works. Maybe we are too busy. Maybe we are too tired. Maybe the devil gets in and distracts us so that we end up spending our time and energy on other very worthy activities but never get round to showing true brotherly love where it is most needed.
In one sense it is quite reassuring to know that other Christians before us have needed challenging to love each other as brothers. At another level it is quite depressing that after twenty centuries of the Christian church we still aren’t getting it right!
Jesus commands us to love one another as He has loved us. Christ is our example – and He sets the standard. And in so many place 1 John spells out what this will mean for us.
1 John 3: 11 ¶ This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
1Jo 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 1Jo 3:15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. 1Jo 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
1Jo 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1Jo 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1Jo 4: 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1Jo 4:11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
To love one another as Christ has loved us – keep on loving each other as brothers!
And then in Hebrews 13 verses 2 and 3 the writer gives us practical examples of the kind of love God commands from us.
Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
We can express our brotherly love in simple ways like hospitality. As we’ve said before hospitality is different from entertaining. Hospitality is not preparing a lavish meal and an evening’s witty or profound conversation – that’s entertaining. Hospitality is a cup of coffee over the kitchen table and a chat about things that matter.
A family was entertaining the minister and his family for Sunday dinner on a hot, summers day. When all were seated, host turned to his six-year-old and asked him to say grace. “But, Daddy, I don’t know what to say,” he protested. “Just say what you’ve heard me say,” the mother said. Obediently the boy bowed his little head and said, “O Lord, why did I invite these people here on a hot day like this?!”
Entertaining says, “I want to impress you with my home, my clever decorating, my cooking.”
Hospitality simply aims to serve.
Entertaining puts things before people. “As soon as I get the house finished, the living room decorated, my house-cleaning done – then I will start inviting people.
Hospitality puts people first. “No furniture – we’ll eat on the floor!” “The decorating may never get done – you come anyway.” “The house is a mess – but you are friends – come home with us.”
Entertaining declares, “This home is mine, an expression of my personality. Look, and admire.”
Hospitality whispers, “What is mine is yours.”
Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
The writer is of course referring to the story in Genesis 18 when Abraham welcomed three strangers who turned out to be messengers from God.
There is an old Jewish legend not in the Bible which says that one day Abraham was standing by his tent door when he saw an old man coming along the way, weary with his journey and with bleeding feet. With true hospitality he invited the old man to share his meal and to lodge with him for the night. Abraham noticed that the man asked no blessing on the meal and inquired why he did not pray to the God of Heaven. The old man said, “I am a fire worshipper and acknowledge no other god.” At this, Abraham grew angry and sent him from his tent. Then God called Abraham and asked, “Where is the old man? I have cared for him for over a hundred years even though he has dishonored me. Could you not endure him one night and so prove to him God’s love?”
Where is our hospitality? Are we being and doing all we can for those in need around us? Is there a risk that we could miss out on entertaining angels unwares?
Then in verse 3 the writer gives us another way in which we should be showing brotherly love.
Hebrews 13:3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow-prisoners, and those who are ill-treated as if you yourselves were suffering.
We may not know too many people in prison. We may not know very many people who are being ill-treated. But there is still a challenge for us here.
This verse is probably referring to Christians who are imprisoned and suffering for their faith. We are called to care about their situation as much as if we shared their experience of opposition and persecution. And we know there are many, many Christians suffering for their faith around the world today. Particularly Christians in Countries where it is illegal to convert to Christianity or illegal to preach the gospel. Some countries under Muslim governments where the human rights of followers of other religions are ignored. We should be praying for the suffering church, and supporting our brothers and sisters who are imprisoned and ill-treated for sake of the name of Christ wherever they are in the world! Our brotherly love should not just be restricted to the Christians we know personally or have met.
Nor should our brotherly love be restricted to those who it is easy or convenient for us to love, or to those who are in a position to love us in return. Prisoners and those who are ill-treated are just two examples of kinds of people who will find it difficult or impossible to return our love. The elderly or those who are shut in would have similar difficulties. So might refugees or asylum seekers. So might Christians who are battling with all kinds of problems like drugs or alcohol or debt. These kinds of people might never be able to return to us the kind of love and generosity God calls us to show to them. But brotherly love is about what we can give – not what we can get back in return!
On the day after Christmas a man parked his car to pick up the morning paper. He noticed a scruffy boy looking at the car. He reminded himself to be quick or he might be missing a hubcap when he returned. He came out of the paper shop just and as he opened the car, the boy asked him, “Hey, Mister, how much would a new car like this cost?” He replied, “I really don’t know; my brother gave me this car as a gift.” The ragged little boy looked unbelievingly at the car and said, “Wow, I wish I could be a brother like that.”
Brotherly love is not about what we receive – but about what we can give!
Luke 14:12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbours; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
And Jesus went on to tell the parable of the Great Banquet. Jesus calls us to show the same great generosity as God Himself shows to us.
We show our brotherly love by welcoming strangers and caring for those who will never be able to repay us. A wise man once said this.
“Hospitality is a test for godliness because those who are selfish do not like strangers (especially needy strangers) to intrude upon their private lives. They prefer their own friends who share their life-style. Only the humble have the necessary resources to give of themselves to those who could never give of themselves in return.
So here is the challenge we all face
Hebrews 13:1 Keep on loving each other as brothers.
There is a lovely story about one of the oldest Baptist churches at Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire. In the middle of the 18th Century their pastor was John Fawcett. At the age of 32, he was preparing to leave that small Baptist church to become minister of the prestigious Carter’s Lane church in London.
Fawcett had worked hard. Orphaned at 12, he was forced to work fourteen hours a day in a sweat shop. He taught himself to read by candlelight and studied continuously. He was ordained at the age of 25, he moved to Wainsgate. For seven years he served that small church before receiving the invitation to London.
But Fawcett never moved to London. As the last possessions were loaded on the moving cart he began his good-byes. Tearfully he bade farewell to those he had loved so much. They returned his tears… and his love. And it was too much for the young preacher. He unloaded the cart, decided to stay in Wainsgate a little longer, and in the end he never moved to London. He died there 54 years later.
Fawcett was recognised as one of England’s greatest preachers. He wrote hymns, published books and opened a training school for young ministers. His “Essay on Anger” so impressed King George III that he offered Fawcett “any benefit a king could confer.” His love for the people and their love for him not only kept him in Wainsgate, but it also prompted the writing of a hymn we still sing today:
Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds Is like to that above.
We share our mutual woes, Our mutual burdens bear,
And often for each other flows The sympathising tear.
Keep on loving one another as brothers. 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds.
This is especially important when other Christians are going through difficult times. When they are facing trials of different kinds and so many pressures which could cause them to give up their faith. When the going gets tough God does not just call us to “hang on in there.” God has given us other Christians to encourage and support us. The love which we express for others, or which we fail to express, can make all the difference between whether our brother or sister stands strong or falls down. That’s why this command really matters! Keep on loving one another as brothers!
