We live in a world full of hatred and strife. Husbands and wives fall out. Parents and children fall out. Brothers and sisters fall out. Friends fall out. The League of Nations and then the United Nations were set up to end conflict between nations but there are still wars and rumours of wars. But what about the church? Surely there things will be different. Did not Jesus say to His disciples the night before He died: ‘A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another’ (Jn. 13:34-35)? Yet there are quarrels in local congregations and rifts in denominations. Party spirit abounds. Brethren, these things ought not to be so! Why is there so little blessing? Could it not be that Christ looks at His church in all its strife and is grieved and withdraws His Spirit? With our divisions we seem to have grown like the church at Corinth where people said, ‘I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ’ (1 Cor. 1:12).

The story is told of the learned and godly Archbishop Ussher from Ireland passing through Galloway and anxious to meet Samuel Rutherford. Disguising himself as a beggar he came to Rutherford’s house and begged accommodation. He was received, given a meal and afterwards catechised by Mrs Rutherford along with the servants. He was asked how many commandments there are. He replied, ‘Eleven’, which drew the sharp reply from the devout lady, ‘What a shame it is for you, a man of grey hairs, in a Christian country, not to know how many commandments there are! There is not a child of six years old in this parish but could answer this question properly’. Next morning, however, Rutherford heard the ‘beggar’ at his private devotions and realized he was no ordinary beggar. Discovering who he was, he asked him to preach. Mrs Rutherford was rebuked when she heard his text: ‘A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another’.

The New Commandment⤒🔗

This commandment to love one another is a new commandment in the sense that it is newly relevant, always new, and also in the sense that the standard of love has been raised — ‘as I have loved you’. It was in essence present in the last six of the Ten Commandments. Even the unconverted scribes knew that the Commandments could be summarized  as, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself’ (Lk. 10:27) Some of the commands of Scripture we emphasise strongly, e.g. ‘Remember the Sabbath day’ or ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ but when it comes to the command to love one another, do we not quietly ignore it? We love those who love us, but not our enemies. And Christ asks, ‘What reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same?’ (Mt. 5:46).

Jesus gives great priority to love. In ancient times people said, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy’ (Mt. 5:43).The Bible never said this but tradition did. However the authoritative response of our Lord, rejecting this wrong tradition, is: ‘But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust’ (vv 44-45). His new commandment is a development from the command to love our neighbour but is particularly addressed to the church.

The New Commandment in Practice←⤒🔗

In practical terms this love involves several things:

1. Honour your fellow — Christians. Think the very best of them and be slow to listen to any defaming gossip. ‘Let each esteem other better than themselves’ (Phil. 2:3), and in this way be the opposite of Diotrephes who loved to have the pre-eminence (3 Jn. 9) and so caused much strife.
    
2. Listen to one another, give time to each other and care one for another. Time is precious but precious things will be given to those you love.
    
3. Bear each other’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2). ‘Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep’ (Rom. 12:15).
    
4. ‘Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification’ (Rom. 15:2). The aim must always be to build up our fellow — Christians in the faith. Advise, rebuke, encourage, teach, and persuade.
    
5. Pray for one another. They say with regard to marriage that those who pray together stay together, and it is also true in churches. Genuine, hearty prayer is an expression of love and leads to further love.
    
6. Be longsuffering and forgive one another. ‘Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things’ (1 Cor. 13:4-7). There should be a giving in to one another on all but fundamental principles. Care should be taken not to cause our brother to stumble. We should be sensitive to the consciences of others. We should aim to provoke not to wrath but to love and good works (Heb. 10:24).There should be no carrying of grudges in the family of God.

The Standard←⤒🔗

The standard that is set by Christ in his new commandment is a very high one. Amongst society in general we are to love our neighbour as ourselves but in the church our standard is the love that Christ has for us. It could not be higher. ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends’ (Jn. 15:13).

1. Christ’s love is eternal love, having no beginning. Our love for our brothers and sisters will always have a beginning but it should have no end.
    
2. Christ’s love is immeasurable. It is infinitely great as is God Himself. Our love will never be infinite and yet how great it should be!
    
3. Christ’s love is sacrificial. He gave His all for us. He sacrificed Himself for us: ‘loved me, and gave himself for me’ (Gal. 2:20). We too should be willing to die for the brethren.
    
4. Christ’s love is unchanging, the same yesterday, today and forever, and so our love also should be undiminishing. It is our sin that makes it fluctuate.
    
5. Christ’s love is undeserved. There is nothing in us to earn or draw out His love to us. It is a gracious love for those who are filthy and ugly because of sin. Our love to the brethren should go far beyond what they deserve.
    
6. Christ’s love is a forgiving love. He loved those who crucified Him and said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’ (Lk. 23:34), so we too must love those who hurt us.
    
7. Christ’s love is a pure love. Despite the rash of modern blasphemous plays and novels the Word of God makes plain that nothing impure or immoral ever entered His relationship with His people. All talk of ‘spiritual love’ as a cover for lust is abomination to the Lord.
    
8. Christ’s love is a practical love. He does so much for us, shepherding us, caring for our every need, feeding, leading and healing. He even washed the disciples’ feet, and our love should lead us into similar acts of service.
    
9. Christ’s love will eventually take us home to be with Himself in heaven and so our love also should be characterised by the hope of being united together in the one family of God together forever.

The Mark←⤒🔗

What marks us out as Christians?

1. Is it the fact that we go to church? But many a person goes to church who is a mere hypocrite. Sadly there are churches with no gospel. There are many assemblies where there is ritual or man-pleasing entertainment but no spiritual worship.
    
2. Is it the clothes we wear or the hairstyle we have? Is there some virtue in dressing in an old fashioned way? The Amish and the Mormons can be recognized by their dress but not the disciples of Christ. There are many wolves in sheep’s clothing.
    
3. Is it Sabbath observance which distinguishes the Christian? This is certainly a better mark though in the days of Christ the strict Sabbatarians were often opposers of Christ. It is possible to respect the Fourth Commandment simply out of tradition.
    
4. Does a man’s speech not betray on what side he is? Peter was recognized as a Galilean by his accent. Certainly the absence of swearing and blasphemy is rare these days and yet talkative in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress had plenty of good talk but no heart for God.

Jesus declares that the great distinguishing mark of the Christian is love: ‘By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another’ (Jn. 13:35). Tertullian, one of the church fathers, in defending Christians against their enemies pointed to this, ‘See how they love one another’. I wonder is that being said about us? Is our General Assembly a place overflowing with love and Christian warmth? Does the world outside see us as people who strive to accommodate one another and fear to trample upon the sensitive consciences of our brothers? When the outsider comes into a church does he immediately notice the difference between this fellowship of love and every other gathering that he knows? Does our love overflow in generosity and welcome to the outsider? Are we noted in our communities as loving people? If we fall out with other Christians are we marked for our endeavours to make peace? Do we let the sun go down upon our wrath? Do we come to the altar with our gift and, knowing that our brother has something against us, yet proceed to offer our worship without reconciling our brother? Will our offering be accepted (Mt. 5:23-24)?

The great mark of the Christian, the mark of grace, according to our Lord Jesus Christ, is love for one another. John says, ‘We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren’ (1 Jn. 3:14).