The Greatest Love of All

Laying it all down

By Ruel Guerrero

A look at Christ’s ultimate and final example of love and worship and how it relates to our
relationship with God and each other (as Ekklesia). Then a practical example and invitation to
practice pure religion (in the context of Ekklesia).

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

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

“This is my command: Love each other” (John 15:17).

In sort of a deathbed last will and testament, Jesus told his disciples the one thing He wanted
them to do after He was gone. This one commandment, popularly known as the New
Commandment, set the stage for the early Church. It informed them of how they were to treat
each other when He was gone. It launched them into a relationship that the world had never seen.
Yet, it was a way of life that made sense once the world around them saw it.

It also set the marching orders for how we are to function as the ekklesia. Unfortunately, we, the
Church, seem to have practically forgotten this commandment. We have relegated it to one of the
not-so-important commands of Jesus, perhaps a little more important than the one-another
commands in the New Testament but not as popular as the Great Commandment or even the Ten
Commandments.

An unusual call to preach on Love

I was invited to speak at a nearby Vineyard church in Manila, Philippines. Of course, I accepted
the invitation. It was unusual. What made it unusual was what happened next.

As my practice was, I asked the Lord what He wanted me to preach on. “Love” was what I heard
in that still small voice. For a moment, I thought I was hearing myself. That was too large a
topic, I thought. I was sure He would narrow it down. So, I asked for a book, chapter, and verse.
“John 15,” He replied. For another moment, I thought that had to be wrong. From my limited
memory about John 15, I thought the main topic of that chapter was not about love. It was about
bearing fruit (usually interpreted and understood as evangelism) or about abiding in Christ
(usually interpreted and commonly understood to be devotion).

The common interpretation is that we, as Christians, should bear fruit. Our fruit is the new
disciples that we bring to Christ through evangelism. That seemed to make sense to me.

The other imagery is about staying connected to the Vine. The common interpretation is that we
should stay connected to Jesus by prayer, worship, Bible study, and devotion. Every day we need
to eat and drink from Him just as a branch stays connected to the main vine and receives life
from it, and so goes the usual teaching.

If I heard God correctly, then why did He lead me to John 15 when the chapter is about
evangelism and devotion. I could not see love in the chapter. I read the chapter once, twice, and
three times until I realized that the central theme of the chapter is really about love. From what I
saw, verse 13 caught my attention:

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (NIV).

The verse before that is actually more popular:

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (verse 12).

I realized then that the entire chapter is really about love. But why on earth did it include
anything about evangelism and devotion? I tried my best to listen to the Lord and come up with a
sensible and inspiring message on love. The day to preach came and went.

Back at home, however, a discontent grew inside of me. I was less than happy with my preaching
and much less happy with my discovery. It felt like there had to be more to this than just a
chapter on love. There was more to discover, I was sure.

I read the chapter again trying to understand the depth of what Jesus was saying. I went back to
chapter 13, reading each chapter slowly and as deeply as I could all the way to chapter 17.

These five chapters detailed the conversation between Jesus and His disciples. He walked with
them for at least three years prior to this moment. He taught them and ate with them. They saw
Him do miracles, weep for Jerusalem and for Lazarus. They heard Him command the wind to
stop. They saw Him raise people from the dead. In His final hours, He taught them how to eat the
Passover meal in an entirely new way and commanded them to take care of each other.

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Did He just tell them to love each other because it was not going to be an easy path after He was
gone? Or did He just tell them to emotionally love each other--to feel that love in their hearts?
What kind of love was He talking about? Did the disciples follow His command? If so, how?

I figured that the only way to find out was to read about how the disciples actually obeyed His
command, if they did. I combed through Acts and all the apostolic letters for any indication of
how they may have loved each other. I read through the New Testament not only once but
several times in different translations.

Before experiencing rebirth in 1992, I joined the Worldwide Church of God (WCG), a fringe
church founded by Herbert W. Armstrong, known for publishing The Plain Truth magazine and
broadcasting The World Tomorrow TV and radio program. Armstrongism was viewed by many
mainline churches as a cult.

So, when I first went to seminary (I was the first among the ministers of the WCG in the
Philippines to go to seminary), I had to prove that I subscribed to the doctrines of evangelicalism.
Whenever I introduced myself to my classmates, I was asked how I came to study at their
evangelical seminary. Each time I had to tell them about how WCG related to evangelicalism.
But as soon as I told them the story, they welcomed me with open arms.

In the many years from its founding until Armstrong’s death in 1986, WCG considered itself as
“the only true Church.” (They kept the seventh-day Sabbath, all the Jewish holy days, the Jewish
food laws but also believed in Jesus as the promised Messiah and Son of God.) Yet, at seminary I
found students from different denominations and traditions who welcomed each other as brothers
and sisters in Christ. That opened my eyes to what love could be like among the “other
Christians.”

But that was seminary life. Outside of the seminary, life was quite different. The kind of
camaraderie that I saw in the seminary existed outside only to a small degree. Fellowship among
evangelicals and Pentecostals, Catholics and Protestants, Trinitarians and Unitarians, Calvinists
and Arminians was less than minimal. Expressions of love between sects and denominations
were mostly lip-service in public.

How are we supposed to love each other? Unity for many denominations and churches hinges on
agreement in major doctrines. In reality, praxis gets in the way of working together. Take, for
example, the wide differences in the styles of worship. Such differences can affect the ability of
Christians to gather together.

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What is worship?
“This is to my Fatherʼs glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my
disciples” (John 15:8).

This verse caught my attention. Since the 1960s and the rise of the Jesus People Movement, there
has been much focus on worship and contemporary styles and expressions.1 The desire to glorify
the Father and to become truly intimate with the Lord was one major reason for the focus.

Verse eight drew my attention because for me doing ministry had to glorify God or it was
worthless. Worship and ministry both are all about glorifying God. So, here I found Jesusʼ words
about how to glorify His Father─bear fruit!

This put me on a quest. Jesus said that in order to glorify the Father, I must bear much fruit. But
what really is “bearing fruit”? The standard answer I have always received was that it had to do
with evangelism. Verse five: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I
in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” I had heard this verse
interpreted to mean that in order to bring in the harvest one must spend sufficient time in prayer
and worship and be able to hear God’s voice in the course of evangelism. This verse does say
that to bear much fruit, a man must remain in Christ.

How does one remain in Christ?

Verse 10 speaks to that: “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have
obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” To remain in Christ, I must obey Christ’s
commands. It doesn’t specifically say devotion, nor does it talk about hearing God’s voice.

What are Christ’s commands? If this verse is referring to all biblical commands, goodnight! We
would never be able to remain in Christ’s love. Thank God the Old Testament commands are
over. (For an explanation of Jesus’ comment that not one bit of the Law will expire, read my
article “The Old Covenant vs the New Covenant.”)2 But we have Christ’s commands in the New
Testament.

Then I came upon verses 12-13: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus was actually
focusing in on one major command—loving one another. This is the new command he gave. If

1 Eskridge, L. (2008, October 28). The “Praise and Worship” Revolution. Christianity Today. Retrieved from
https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2008/october/praise-and-worship-revolution.html

2 Guerrero, R. The Old Covenant vs the New Covenant. Retrieved from https://www.scribd.com/document/14843666/Old-
Covenant-vs-New-Covenant#

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the first and greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength,
and the greatest love of all is to lay down your life for your friends, then Jesus loved and
worshipped God by doing the greatest love of all—to lay down his life for all of us. His was the
greatest and most supreme act of worship!

In Algebra, if x=y and y=z, then x=z. You can boil down the formula to the simplest equation.
When I read this passage with a fresh new look, I saw the equation: Glorify the Father = bear
much fruit = remain in Christ = obey His commands = love one another. The simplest equation
then is: Glorify the Father = love one another.

These are the conclusions I arrived at:

1. “Remaining in Christ” is not about private worship or about hearing His still small voice
in this chapter.
2. When John 15 talks about obeying Christ’s commands, John is specifically writing about
the command to “love one another.”
3. “Bearing much fruit” is not about evangelism per se. There may be a connection, but we
should not impose it on this text.
4. “Glorifying the Father” is definitely not just worshipping him by singing. The most
important aspect of worship has to do with our relationship with our brothers and sisters.

The benefits
John points out a number of benefits that come out of loving one another. These are scattered
throughout chapters 13 to 17, but these benefits are found especially here in chapter 15.

Answered prayer
John 15:7: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will
be given you.”

John 15:16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—
fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”

These are oft quoted verses for healing. It appears in these verses that the requirement for healing
is remaining in Christ and bearing fruit. Unfortunately, we don’t always see miracles
accompanying devotion and evangelism if those are the correct interpretations.

John Wimber (1934-1997) taught at Fuller Seminary a class on power evangelism, i.e.
evangelism through the use of healing and miracles. However, he was also quick to note that

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miracles and healing do not always happen.3 Devotion and evangelism do not guarantee miracles
and healing.

Yet, Jesus promised answered prayers for those who love one another. And, we see so many
miracles happened alongside loving one another in Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-35. (These passages in
Acts are the early church’s testimony of how they obeyed John 15. They were so much closer to
the action than we are and had the live personal testimony and teachings of the Apostles who
were entrusted with the words of Jesus. Surely the Apostles must have had an idea how to live
out John 15.)

Complete joy
John 15:11: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be
complete.”

From around 1998 to 2009, Metro South Vineyard Christian Fellowship in the Philippines had a
prison ministry in the Philippines’ national prison in Muntinlupa City. I was part of this ministry
for most of that time. Around 2005, we began teaching about the New Commandment and how
to practice it within the walls of the prison with the few hardened criminals that we ministered to.

Out of this understanding and realization of loving one another came revival in our prison
ministry. What we were learning in theory, the Holy Spirit was showing us by His grace in
practice at our prison ministry. As we lived out the loving-one-another command, joy
overwhelmed us. Whereas before there was a certain amount of dissatisfaction and continued
thirst that I had in my heart even in the midst of the greatest move of renewal and manifestations
in our church, this move of the Holy Spirit gave me an overwhelming sense of complete
satisfaction and joy. In fact, it gave me an overwhelming sense of the love of God—one that I
could never have felt through just personal prayer, devotion, and singing!

Christʼs friendship
“You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:14).

Jesus promised friendship─a close loving relationship as a friend and confidant.

3 John Wimber. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved April 28, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wimber

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World convinced: We are true Christians
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one
another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”

(John 13:34-35).

For so long I had wondered over this verse. It didn’t seem to work. Was this an empty promise?
All I can see is a world that’s completely dissatisfied and turned off by modern Christianity.
Why? Denominations fight and bicker about what’s right and what’s wrong. They get involved
politically to get their own religious agenda done in the public arena. And, no one is encouraged
or drawn towards Christ in that way.

But, in Acts Two and Four we find a Christian community whose neighbors are drawn in by the
loving relationships they had. They enjoyed the favor of their communities!

World convinced: Jesus is the Sent One

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their
message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they
also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory
that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be
brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as
you have loved me” (John 17:20-23).

Jesus gave us the only formula to evangelize the entire world—love one another. This lead to
complete unity. Evangelicals keep saying “diversity in unity” yet the world is not convinced. The
world sees modern Christianity as greatly fragmented and divided and highly antagonistic
towards each other. We want diversity in unity so we divide. But Paul encouraged the
Corinthians to not divide (keep unity) and yet learn to live with each other’s differences (tolerate
diversity). He encouraged the Ephesians to keep unity through the bond of peace.

Vision of loving one another

Next thing, the Spirit led me to 1 John Three and Four to show me what loving one another looks
like.

“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. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need
but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with
words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:16-18).

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“If anyone says, ʻI love God,ʼ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his
brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).

Loving one another has to do with caring for the needs of a brother or sister. It means going out
of one’s way to serve a brother in need. That’s what we see in Acts Two and Four. That’s what
we don’t see in modern Christianity. Our churches are run like welfare societies. We give to the
church (meaning the religious institution) and expect them to take care of the poor among us or
to conduct compassion ministries. In the early church, everyone took part in a church-wide
compassion ministry. Everyone helped out everyone in need. And the money given out wasn’t
just a collection of tithes or special offerings to compassion ministries. The early Christians sold
their own possessions and personally made sure that none of God’s children went hungry.

The principle that operated was one of “equality” as explained by Paul in 2 Corinthians Eight.
Christians who have must give to Christians who have not so that there may be equality. Perhaps
this is the reason why God has not distributed wealth equally among all believers, so that the rich
may have the responsibility to take care of the poor. This must be the same reason God does not
distribute spiritual gifts equally among His children, so that we would all have to serve each
other and need each other. (God did not create Adam to need only Him. He created him to need a
helper—Eve.) In essence, we are created to need each other.

When manna came down from heaven, those who gathered much and those who gathered little
did not have too much or too little. How did that happen? Resource-wise, some of us have much
more while some have little. The only way there could be equality is if we shared with each
other.

James, the half-brother of Jesus, spoke in the same vein as John.

“What good is it, my brother, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save
him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him,
ʻGo, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,ʼ but does nothing about his physical needs, what
good is it?” (James 2:14-16).

James says that the rich have a low position (1:10) and the poor have a high position (1:9). That
runs contrary to what society thinks.

In the church, however, God has given each one of us to each other. “Each member belongs to all
the others” (Rom. 12:5). We must care for each other. Society believes otherwise.

That is why Paul scolded the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11:17-22. Instead of waiting for each
other at communion, which at that time included a meal, the Corinthians had no care for the late-
comers. Some were stuffed as the latecomers arrived hungry. Some even got drunk. There were

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divisions among them so they had no care for each other. The unworthy manner with which they
partook of the communion was the way they looked down on and had no care for each other
(v.27-34). Communion is about sharing in the body and blood of Jesus. It is a powerful sermon
on how we must share in all that the Lord has given to us. We must wait for each other and care
for each other.

Communion is a lesson of humility. Romans 12, which talks about being a living sacrifice,
encourages us to be humble towards each other. Each one has gifts that we need to use to serve
each other. The pattern of the world is selfishness, greed, and pride. But we need to be
transformed to a pattern of selflessness, giving, and humility. Paul describes what a transformed
life looks like in verses 9-21.

Here is a description of what it takes to love one another—the greatest love of all, the greatest act
of worship.

Our offer of true worship

Romans 12 is an example of how tradition explains away true and proper worship by explaining
the first two verses out of context of the entire chapter.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a
living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Rom. 12:1).

How are we supposed to offer our bodies as a “living sacrifice”? Through singing? Through
missions?

Verses 3-21 offer a contextual explanation. But these verses are all too difficult for the modern
Christian to follow. So, we just entirely disconnect verse one from the first two verses and give
an entirely disconnected explanation of “true and proper worship” that is convenient for us.

If we understand worship to be following the ultimate example of Jesus of laying down our lives
for each other, then verses 3-21 will make sense in connection with verses one and two.

Look at how Romans 12 describes true worship (if we are willing to accept that these are
connected to the first two verses):
● Don’t be conceited
● Use your spiritual gifts to serve others
● Be devoted to each other in love
● Honor others above yourself

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 ● Share with needy brothers/sisters in Christ
● Be hospitable
● Bless your persecutors
● Rejoice with those who are rejoicing, and mourn with those who are mourning
● Live in harmony with each other
● Associate with the lowly (the discriminated, disadvantaged, disenfranchised)
● Don’t take revenge
● Love and serve your enemies

The above definition demands a kind of love that involves one’s whole heart, soul, mind, and
strength.

Serving each other in fellowship

When the early disciples gathered together to celebrate Christ, they served each other in
fellowship. Paul expected the Corinthian church to do the same, except they did not. We can tell
because of the admonition that Paul wrote to them in chapter 11 of his first letter. (More on
communion and koinonia at the end of this chapter.) Not only that, it seemed that the Corinthian
believers were not using their gifts to serve each other. Instead, they were using their gifts to
prove they were better than each other.

Paul gave instructions in chapter 14 on how to use their gifts properly. Gifts should be used to
edify the church. All spiritual gifts may be used, but everyone was to be given a chance (whether
rich or poor, male or female, elderly or younger) to edify the church in a manner that was not
disorderly.

Love in three dimensions

Here’s how the Church should express its love. There are three dimensions in the one New
Commandment.

● Upward – By loving one another we glorify God. This is the greatest act of worship—the
act Jesus performed on Calvary.
● Inward – By loving one another we serve each other. This is fellowship. We need to use
our spiritual gifts and financial resources to love each other.
● Outward – By loving one another we declare to the whole world that Jesus is the Christ,
the Sent One, and that we are truly His followers. No one will be able to dispute it

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 because the outward signs are very visible—we really care for each other. And, who
doesn’t want to be loved?

I find here one thing, one new command, that if we do well, we effectively fulfill the entire law:
LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

How about the Great Commandment?

If loving one another is Christ’s command to the Church, then how about what He said regarding
the Great Commandment? Did He not also command the Church to obey the Great
Commandment?

One of the more enigmatic verses in the Bible is the Great Commandment. Have you ever
thought, “How on earth am I supposed to love God with ALL my heart? Soul? Mind? Strength?
What do those words even mean?” And then another question that could come after that for some
is, “How do I love my neighbor as myself if I have a hard time even just loving myself?”

I’ve heard this commandment explained in so many ways, and often the explanation was
eisegetical.

But one time, I heard David Ruis, a Canadian Christian song writer, teach at a conference in
Bangkok, Thailand, and ask why the Great Commandment is singular rather than plural when it
contains two commandments instead of one. I thought that was a really good question.

Let’s read that from both the Old and the New Testaments.

Commandment #1:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

Commandment #2:
“‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your
neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord’” (Leviticus 19:18).

According to Jesus:
“‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this:
‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Mark 12:29-31).

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 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39).

Notice two very important things about the Great Commandment:

1. These are two separate commandments in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old
Testament commonly known to be written by Moses).
2. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus replied with two, not one! Yet, in
Matthew’s account, Jesus introduced the second with “and the second is like it”.

How can the second be like the first? How can these two commandments be one commandment?

“b. like i. e. corresponding or equivalent to, the same as...in authority, Matthew 22:39” (Thayer’s
Greek Lexicon)

If Thayer is correct, we have two commandments that are the same, correspond to each other,
and are equivalent, even in authority. We have one Great Commandment, yet composed of two.

If there was anyone who could have fulfilled this commandment, it would have been the Son of
God. How did He?

If Jesus were to love His Father with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength, how would He have
done it? What level of love did Jesus offer to His Father? I suggest He would have offered His
Father the greatest love of all. Do you think He would have loved the Father with any lesser
love? If not, then it’s very important for us to find out what is the greatest love of all?

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

The greatest love of all is to lay down your life for your friends. The greatest love that Jesus
could offer His Father was to lay down His own life for His disciples, us, His Bride.

Jesus did it for us and as us. He has fulfilled all righteousness for us and as us.

Yet, imagine telling your child to love you as his/her parent, and if he didn’t, he/she would get a
spanking. Then second, imagine telling your child to love his/her siblings as himself/herself.
Would love make sense to him/her? Don’t you think that you, as the parent, should first show the
right example of what love really is and not just talk about it?

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Yet, look at what happened in the Old Covenant. Was there an example from God of how He
loved Israel in a way that they could emulate? Perhaps we could say that their deliverance from
slavery in Egypt was an act of love. But how were they to emulate that in such a way that they
could learn to love their neighbor? Perhaps they could have loved the strangers and the slaves
among them. But, unfortunately, Israel’s history shows they themselves had slaves. Their history
is also replete with genocide.

Tetelestai
In the New Testament, the Greek word tetelestai was used only twice and by only one author,
John. It is in the perfect tense (which English has no equivalent). Tetelestai means “it is finished”
in the sense that everything that was prophesied, spoken about, and legislated in the Old
Covenant has culminated and ended at the cross. Not only that, it is finished and has become
eternally finished and is sufficient for all time─past, present and future.4

Jesus laid His life down at the cross and nailed the Old Covenant to it. It is over, and that
included the Great Commandment! When a new contract or agreement is written, the old
contract becomes null and void. Unfortunately, there is no agreement among Christians whether
the New Covenant replaces or simply adds to the the Old Covenant.

There is a famous parable told by Jesus about a landowner who had two sons. The younger asked
for his inheritance before the landowner became sickly. You know the story of the Prodigal Son.

The older son

The older son stayed within the bounds of the ranch. He worked it and somewhat faithfully
served his father. But he was not happy, nor did he really appreciate working the ranch. He was
also envious of his younger brother and even hated him. The story shows that he didn’t have
much of a relationship with his father.

I had a conversation once with a Jewish chaplain who explained that when he is asked by
Christians to pray a prayer for their loved one in the hospital, she would oblige but had difficulty
using the term “Father.” She believed that Jesus was a prophet but “we don’t call God our
Father,” she added.

4Precept Austin (2018, May 28). TETELESTAI-Paid in Full. Retrieved from https://www.preceptaustin.org/tetelestai-
paid_in_full

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Such was the Old Covenant. Israel was bound by the Law, dared not leave the fold, but had no
relationship with God as Father. Neither did the older son have a relationship with his younger
brother. He despised him and his father. Such was the older son.

The younger son

The younger son, on the other hand, was not content with life in the ranch. He wanted to
discover life outside the bounds of his father’s control and protection. He asked for his
inheritance. The father symbolically died, gave up half his property, and let the younger son walk
away with his inheritance in defiance. (Don’t we just feel a seething hatred for this rebellious,
defiant son, who thought he had a better future on his own?)

He went off on his own, lived foolishly, wasted everything he had (all his inheritance), and
finally came to his senses in the midst of pigs and starvation.

When you finally realize that you have lost something so beautiful and so precious, you grieve.
That’s what happens with so many families when eventually the one who they thought they
“couldn’t stand” while he/she was still alive passes away and they suddenly feels a profound
loss. They realize that he/she “wasn’t all that bad.” They find items, pictures and letters that
suddenly remind them of all the good things that the departed said or did.

So, the younger son returned to the ranch sorry but determined to just be a ranch hand instead of
a son.

That sounds like many of us when we finally become sorry and repentant for what we have done.
We are determined to beat ourselves up and to continue to be penitent for whatever we’ve done.

But the father’s perspective was different─so much different. The younger son would always be
his son regardless of whether he had left the ranch or not. He was looking out into the horizon
waiting for his son to come home. Why? Because the son was always his son and was always
welcome home. When the rebellious son returned, the father ran towards him, gave him new
clothes and sandals to wear, put a ring on his finger, and threw a feast! Remember how God
killed an animal to cover Adam’s and Eve’s nakedness? He gave his son a ring, a symbol of
authority. Then he celebrated his return. This is the mark of the New Covenant. God loved us
first so we can love Him through loving others. This is the strength of the New Covenant—God
showing us how to love through Christ’s example. This is what the Old Covenant pointed to and
prefigured but could not be part of it since it had to happen as part of the New Covenant.

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Such is the New Covenant. It starts with a relationship based on grace and love, enough to
forgive the deepest hurt. The younger son knew his father would take him back, at least as a
servant.

Grief is a secret weapon of grace

Grace may seem risky for those who grew up under the Law. For those who have known only the
confines of rules and regulations, grace is scandalous. But think about it. The prodigal son’s
father’s actions were scandalous. He sold half his possessions and gave the proceeds to his
youngest son as an inheritance even before he died. (He wasn’t even sick!) He did not even think
twice when his younger son asked for his inheritance.

But when the younger son finally realized what he had lost (the care of his father) and what he
still had (the possibility of grace once more, even just a little bit), he got up and returned home.
The scandal of grace is that there are no walls, no iron bars, nothing to keep you hemmed in. But
that boundless love is exactly what haunts you when you leave grace behind and step out on your
own.

When Adam and Eve left grace and stepped out of the Garden, they must have felt grief, the loss
of something so precious, so valuable. That’s what the youngest son went through. He felt grief,
the loss of something so valuable that he couldn’t find anywhere else. He didn’t know what he
had at first, but when he lost everything that he held as precious he realized what he really had
before. His eyes were suddenly opened, and he saw the real precious pearl that he once had and
that now he had lost. He grieved the loss of a gift much more precious than this world’s
treasures. That grief turned his focus towards his father’s love. He came back to seek grace once
again.

Grief is the secret weapon of grace. Grief allows us to see that what we have now does not
compare to what we had lost. The father’s gift to his youngest son was grace. The son responded
with spite. He took off and left the fold. Then he lost everything he held as precious. Upon
finding out that what he had left behind was far more precious than what he had just lost, he
grieved. So, he returned to the fold, and the father’s only response was grace. Grace upon grace
upon grace.

The older brother’s response, however, was religious condemnation. He hated his brother for not
staying in the fold and for sinning. He felt that he deserved more from his father than he had
been given. Because he never felt the grace of his father, he didn’t have grace for his younger

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brother. Because he didn’t feel the love of his father and did not have that kind of relationship, he
didn’t have love for his younger brother either. His response to his brother’s poverty was
condemnation.

To love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, is simply to love our neighbor. Oh, and
how hard that is! Loving our neighbor with all their warts, ugliness, weaknesses, and sins, is not
easy. And, to love our neighbor beyond just words and prayer takes all our heart, soul, mind, and
strength. Have you ever gone to bed while you were angry at your spouse or at someone close to
your heart? Didn’t it feel like your entire being was in agony?

It’s easy to say loving God with all your heart and soul and following Jesus is being totally
committed to Him. But that could also (and usually) mean turning our backs on everyone else to
pursue God. However, when loving God is equated with loving everyone else, that makes it so
much more difficult.

“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love
their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen”
(1 John 4:20).

Loving God with all your heart and soul is simply loving your neighbor. But oh how hard that is
even with sheer will without the Spirit of God. Jesus had to come and finish paying off the debt
committed under the old so He could establish the new. With Christ’s example and the New
Covenant in place, the greatest love that we can actually offer God is to lay down our lives for
each other.

What is hating?
The older son hated his younger brother. He didn’t want him back. He didn’t like what the father
did for his younger brother. If he had his will, his brother would not have had a chance to return
to the ranch and be fed.

John defined “hate” differently from how our society defines hate. First, John laid down the
foundation of love.

“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 and sisters” (1 John 3:16).

Jesus is the ultimate example of love. Because Jesus’ example of love was laying down His life,
John called upon Jesus’ followers to also lay down their lives for each other. How?

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 “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,
how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech
but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:17, 18).

Hating is withholding help when it is within our capacity to help. Loving is helping and caring
for each other in practical terms. In an individualistic society like ours, that’s hard. In cultures
where the Protestant work ethic is an expectation, helping the poor and needy is suspect.

What is unity?
When a person is dying, his concerns surround what is most important to him. What comes out
of his mouth are the most important things he can pass on to his loved ones. Knowing he has but
a little time left in this world, he would choose his words carefully and try to pass on any last
wishes, settle any unfinished business, and remind the people around him of the most important
things in life.

I had a male hospice patient once whose adult daughter had been estranged from him for about
20 years. When I first visited him, his biggest concern was trying to reconcile with her. He said
that he had tried to ask for forgiveness many years ago but she was not ready to forgive. He was
afraid to call now, and in fact, didn’t have her number any more. During the visit, I led him in a
prayer of forgiveness, which he was more than willing to go through. After that meeting, I asked
the social worker if she could search for the daughter’s phone number. After a couple of weeks,
the social worker left the phone number with the patient’s nurse assistant. I came back around at
that time and, with the help of the nurse assistant and with consent from the patient, we called his
daughter. They talked over the phone. I didn’t listen in on the conversation, but according to the
patient, his daughter reconciled with him over the phone. Two weeks later he died. He settled his
unfinished business right on time which gave him permission to move on to the next life.

What was the main thing that Jesus prayed for on His last night before His crucifixion? Unity.
What was the one command that Jesus gave to His disciples? Love each other. What was the
object lesson that Jesus showed them? He served them (by washing their feet) and shared a meal
with them.

It seems that we as a church have tried to explain unity in so many ways that we’ve failed to
connect the unity that Jesus prayed for to the command that Jesus gave His disciples─love each

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other. Unity should be based on loving each other, not on doctrinal agreement or organizational
connectedness or annual fellowships or prayer gatherings.

If unity is based on loving each other, how are we to love each other? What are the examples that
the New Testament ekklesia set for us?

Learning from the early Ekklesia

When I first read the entire New Testament, the greetings at the beginning and end of Paul’s
letters seemed superfluous. I thought they were a waste of space in a Bible that was already too
thick and too complicated...until I studied the entire New Testament again after I preached on
love. That was when I realized we are actually looking at the example of the early Church! That
was when I began to appreciate the example that Paul set for the entire early Church! They were
not superfluous. They set the stage for what Paul wrote about and any persuasive corrections he
had to give the churches. The stories in the Acts of the Apostles were actually not just about the
apostles but especially about the way the churches obeyed Christ’s command.

Take care of each other

Acts Two and Four exemplified the way the early Church interpreted the New Commandment. It
wasn’t just some emotional love or words of love. We tend to equate this with the social gospel.
But they were simply obeying their Master. Seriously, how should we obey Christ’s example of
laying down His life for His brothers and sisters? And, if Christ laid down His life in that way,
how are we supposed to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters now? We are not
expected to go to the cross. But sometimes, in places and times of persecution, we just may have
to.

Paul did not write to the pastors

Notice how Paul wrote most of his letters to the churches, not to the pastors and leaders of the
churches. He didn’t even write his letters to the other apostles (whether upper or lower case)
about the churches they founded. The letters he wrote to the churches were written to the
members of the churches. Any corrective recommendations or instructions were written to them
as though he was their own pastor. He didn’t charge the local pastor to make those corrections.

He wrote three letters out of 13 to two elders who seemed to be pastors or evangelists. If those
three letters were intended to be the standard, why such a different approach to the churches in
Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, and Thessalonica? Why not write to the

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pastor or pastors of those churches? And who was the apostle to the Jews? Why didn’t the author
of Hebrews write to him instead of all the messianic Jews?

We miss out on the reality of the Church then by turning a blind eye to non-doctrinal indications
in the New Testament scriptures. We need to ask these questions and not just go by what is
traditionally taught in our churches and denominations. We need to find out how we are to
encourage obedience to the New Commandment of Christ.

Practicing pure religion

James (not the apostle but Jesus’ half-brother) chimed in and added his definition of “pure
religion.” Consistent with “laying down our lives for each other,” James described “pure and
faultless” religion as taking care of widows and the fatherless in their distress (James 1:27).

I currently work as a bereavement coordinator for a hospice. Under my care are more than 250
bereaved families whose loved ones died within the last 13 months. In a culture where grief is
often denied and to grieve is looked upon as weakness, there will always be some who will
refuse bereavement care. There will be even more who will want to “grieve alone” and therefore
will want only periodic newsletters but will not want to receive a bereavement call or any other
kind of support from the bereavement team. The majority fall into this second category.

Modern American culture is simply not comfortable with grief (although grief is all around us).
We deny it. We use euphemisms to avoid reality. We think this will make things feel better. But it
doesn’t. We feel so uncomfortable visiting with grieving widows and grieving orphans. We want
them to “get over it,” “snap out of it,” “move on,” “find another partner,” because “it’s time” and
“time heals.” None of these quotes are true.

Jesus, Paul, and James enjoined us to “weep with those who weep” and “mourn with those who
mourn” as we visit those who have lost their lifetime partners and those who have lost their
parents. It doesn’t matter whether the grieving are young or old. The longer you’ve been
together, and the more intimate and close the relationship, the harder it is to cope with the loss.

Here, I believe, is an unexplored opportunity to love each other and serve our communities.
There are millions of people in America (thousands in our own communities) who are grieving
silently because our families sent those who grieve back to their rooms to grieve alone. “Don’t
cry.” “There, there, it will be okay.” “Go to your room.” “You’ll find another one.” “Be strong.”

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Families and friends of hospice patients are offered grief support before and after the patient’s
death. But only a few take advantage of the support given. There are not enough grief support
groups out there because there are few grievers who would commit. Yet, this is a country that is
continually at war and has been sending soldiers, seamen, airmen, and marines to war. Many will
return home in caskets. Many more will return home disabled and psychologically disturbed. The
entire society is hugely affected by grief but our culture refuses to acknowledge it.

The American church has before her an unexplored opportunity and a huge task to take care of
the widows and fatherless.

The power of communion

Many years ago, as I was reading through 1 Corinthians 11, I wondered why Paul wrote, “As
often as you eat this….” Did he mean once a week, once a month, or depending on how often
you partake of communion? Could we eat the Lord’s Supper daily? If he really meant “as often,”
then maybe he meant more often than just once a week? The Shema talks of teaching your
children while you are walking, sitting, standing, or even lying in bed. Jesus walked with His
disciples daily, day in and day out. Could it be that He really meant more often than once a
month or once a week? Perhaps He meant at every meal?

On a missions trip south of Manila, my associate pastor and I took an eight-hour bus trip
together. I invited him to try out communion in the sense of meals and snacks through the day.
Our goal was to find out what we could learn from such an experience. We had two meals
together and a snack. Each time, we sat together prayed over the meal, thanked God, and
celebrated it as a memorial of what Christ did for us. And, each time we felt more of the Lord’s
presence and a sense that we were being His disciples through the experience. My take-home
from that experience was that every meal was meant to be a time of communion with the Holy
Spirit, a time to join together as God’s children, and a time to partake of our meal as Christ’s
body and blood. It reminded us even more that we are one Body in Christ.

Considering the Body

Here is one doctrine that changed the way we observe the Lord’s supper and may have actually
diminished our understanding of the Body of Christ.

There are two very important Greek words connected with communion: koinonia and
eucharistia. The latter has to do with being thankful for what we have been given. The former
comes from the root word koine which means common. Koine is the Greek root of our English

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word coin. Coins were the common medium of exchange in the ancient world. Just like now,
coins passed from one person to another as they were exchanged for goods. Koinonia meant
fellowship, a common relationship between those who belong to the same group of people, in
this case, believers in Christ.

Koinonia was an opportunity for those who belong to the same group to express their
commonality. And, what a better way to celebrate their commonality than to share a meal. (In
Middle Eastern culture, a meal was considered the means of fellowship and hospitality. It was an
insult not to invite a family member or even a stranger to a meal if you were the host. And, it was
an insult to decline an invitation by your host. Even now, in modern Middle Eastern culture, a
meal is the way to extend fellowship to another person.) Hence, koinonia in the early Church
culture was best expressed through a meal.

So, when Jesus took the Passover meal and established the Lord’s supper, He took a meal and
turned it into a memorial of His sacrifice. Did Jesus intend His sacrifice to be commemorated
annually? The Jewish Passover was commemorated annually. Did He intend it to be
commemorated monthly? The new moon was recognized monthly, and perhaps it was meant to
mark the days on the calendar. Did He intend it to be commemorated weekly? The Jewish
Sabbath was observed weekly. Did He intend it to be celebrated daily? There were daily
sacrifices in the Temple in Jerusalem until it was destroyed by the Romans. Or did He intend for
us to remember Him at every meal?

Bread was the staple food in ancient Judah. Bread is still the staple food in many bread-eating
cultures. But bread is not always eaten, though available, in many non-bread-eating cultures. In
those cultures, other foods are staples, e.g. rice, potatoes, corn, etc. Jesus chose bread because it
represented food that people in ancient Palestine needed daily to survive. Jesus is the Bread of
Life, the Bread from Heaven, that we should partake of daily to live spiritually. It would make
sense in non-bread-eating cultures for Jesus to be represented by their staple food. Rice would
express the correct imagery of who Jesus is to rice-eating cultures.

For example, bread in Filipino culture is more often pan de sal. It is eaten as often as daily but
more popularly in the morning for breakfast. Filipinos can survive without bread but they cannot
survive without rice. They eat rice at practically every meal. Extremely poor Filipinos would
sometimes subsist on just rice sprinkled with a little salt. To say that Christ is the Bread of Life
does not make much sense to a Filipino. The imagery does not conjure what it is supposed to
mean, that they cannot live without Jesus. But to say that Christ is the Rice of Life would mean
that He is ever present in every meal and that a Filipino cannot survive without Christ.

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Communion that is celebrated at every meal would convey the sense that Jesus is part of our
daily lives, that He is the core of our families, and that we cannot survive without Him. We
together then, as one big family, belong together as the Body of Christ. We exist together, serve
each other, love each other, and lay down our lives for each other.

Look at the context of 1 Corinthians 11 where the rich believers came early and refused to wait
for the poor believers. They went ahead and ate the communion meal, stuffed their bellies, and
got drunk before their poor brothers/sisters arrived from their work (the latecomers were mostly
servants). By the time they arrived, the food and drinks were gone. Paul’s solution to such blatant
greed was not to turn the Lord’s Supper into the Lord’s Snacks (with just a small piece of bread
and a tiny cup of wine). Instead, his solution was for everyone to wait for the latecomers, and if
an early-comer was hungry, to eat at home so they won’t be tempted to eat before the latecomers
arrived or to stuff themselves and leave nothing to the latecomers.

So, “discerning the body of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:29) did not mean “meditate on the wafer.” And,
“examine themselves” did not mean “repent of your sins.” The verse (in its proper context)
meant “consider the rest of the Body of Christ (the Church), those who are members of the Body
and their physical needs, and examine how you have treated them.” Paul’s solution to wait for
each other would make sense if this is the meaning of the verse.

How to comprehend the love of God

Consider Ephesians 3:17b-19:

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the
Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to
know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the
fullness of God” (emphasis mine).

Our ability to grasp, feel, and comprehend the love of God, depends on our relationship with
each other. It is only together that we can grasp the total dimension of the love of Christ. It is
beyond knowledge individually. But together as the Body of Christ (if only, and as we act as the
Body of Christ), we can fathom the greatness of His love.

The Ekklesia Jesus built

From the topics we’ve discussed here in this chapter, we have seen three very important points:

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 1. The Ekklesia that Jesus built obeys His commandment every day. That commandment is
new yet old according to the apostle John. It is new and continues to be new because it is
not founded on the Old Covenant, rather on the New. Yet, it is also old because it was, as
John put it, given to us by the Word “from the beginning” when Jesus started His earthly
ministry.
2. The Ekklesia that Jesus built takes care of each other when it gathers. We are enjoined to
take care of each other, to wait for each other, and to have a meal so we can remember
that Jesus is our staple food and that without Him, we cannot survive. We are reminded
that we are saved as a people, as a community, and as a family.
3. The Ekklesia that Jesus built lays down its life for each other and others, regardless.
Hence, we are to lay down our lives for each other daily as we take care of each other’s
physical, financial, emotional, and spiritual needs. We are enjoined to endure persecution
from our enemies. We are also commanded to bless our enemies, love them, and care for
them despite the hurt we suffer from them.

Finally, the greatest love of all is Christ’s ultimate act of love and worship of the Father. He laid
His life down as the only acceptable act of true and proper worship. We, as the Body of Christ,
worship God through laying down our lives for each other. We are to take care of each other,
bless each other, and go out of our way to help each other.

Just One More Thing

Here’s one more thing we need to tackle to better understand the greatest love of all. What is the
Law of Christ?

The Law of Christ

In some Christian circles, it would seem that the term “the Law of Christ” is an oxymoron—two
contradicting words put together. “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came
through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Why would Christ have a law if grace came through Him?

If we try to understand the biblical definition and implications, we will find not only a definition
of the “Law of Christ” but also that it is one and the same as the New Commandment and the
“message from the beginning.”

Simply put, Paul gives a working definition of the “Law of Christ” by showing how to fulfill it.
“Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). It is in

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serving one another as we bear each other’s troubles, cares, and sorrows, that we fulfill the Law
of Christ. It would seem here that the Law of Christ has something to do with one-anothering.

The new commandment

We will recall what our Lord said on His last night with his disciples before his crucifixion: “My
command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12). And, “This is my
command: Love each other” (John 15:17). “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I
have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34).

Decades later, John reiterates what the Lord gave them as His new command: “Dear friends, I
am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning.
This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its
truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already
shining” (1 John 2:7-8).

The message from the beginning

It was Jesus’ message at the start of His ministry. Although, perhaps He did not state it as clearly
as on the night of His passion, He lived it out clearly in His relationship with His disciples.
Towards the close of his own life, John reminded the entire church of this. “For this is the
message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another” (1 John 3:11). “And now,
dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask
that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you
have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love” (2 John 1:5-6).

It is the pure message that Jesus shared with His disciples—the true Gospel that He lived in the
context of community with His disciples.

Conclusion
The Law of Christ mentioned by Paul is the New Commandment mentioned by John. Both
writers speak one and the same message, the message that all the original apostles heard as His
“message from the beginning.” At the beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry He lived it with His
disciples in community. At the end of His ministry, He gave it clearly as His New
Commandment. John speaks of this as “the beginning.” The “law and the prophets” (meaning the
entire Old Testament scriptures) lead up to this climax—the declaration of the Gospel, the life of
Jesus Christ embodying love, and His expression of the greatest love of all. In the New
Covenant, for the Church, it is simply “Love each other as I have loved you.”

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 End of Chapter

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