On February 18, 1546, Luther lay on his deathbed, ready to die and be with the Lord. His life had been a battle on almost every front. And even on his deathbed, men wanted to know if he still believed what he had fought so ardently for throughout his life. Thus, in his final moments, Justus Jonas asked him a question similar to that which he had been asked before the emperor, "Reverend father, will you die steadfast in Christ and the doctrines you have preached?" "Yes," Luther answered, and he breathed his last.¹

Someone's final words are often of great importance. They can reflect what an individual values, his beliefs, or what he, above all, wants others to know. Sure, some individual's last words were unexpected last words, such as, "I think I'm going to make it." However, others are often deliberate last words. The individual knows he is going to die, gathers around him those with whom he particularly wants to speak, and speaks to them with careful and weighted words.

The interesting thing with Jesus is that he falls into the category of knowing his death was imminent, choosing those to whom he would speak in his final days, and choosing exactly what he wanted to say to them. He has one final discourse with his disciples that begins here in John 13:31. And this morning we get to see how he begins this final discourse with his disciples.

Let us review the setting of this chapter. Over the first eleven chapters of John's gospel, Jesus has performed sign after sign displaying his identity. Finally, he raises Lazarus from the dead, showing that he is the one who has the power to give life (as Nathan pointed out a few weeks back). It is then at this point that John tells us the Jewish leaders plot to put Jesus to death. In chapter 12 we see that his death is coming soon. And, finally, in chapter 13:1-30, Jesus tells his disciples that one of them is going to betray him. He tells Judas to go about his sinful work quickly, and then Judas leaves the room, leaving Jesus behind with his eleven disciples. This is where Jesus begins his final discourse with his followers before he is taken away to be crucified.

So what does he say as he begins this final discourse with his close followers? That is what I want us to see this morning. In short, he gives some instructions and commands, followed by some encouragement that will aid them as they go about in an attempt to carry out his instructions and commands. Therefore, I want us to see this morning both the instructions and commands and the encouragement, for I believe these are applicable to us as well.

Jesus' instructions and commands as he begins his final discourse:

1. First, we are to trust and believe in Jesus

This is not the first thing we see in the text, but I put this first for a couple of reasons. The first is that logically it is prior to other commands. That is to say, if you refuse to believe Jesus, then pleasing him by any other attempt of obedience is impossible.

In John 14:1-11, Jesus has a dialogue with Thomas in which he tells him that he will come get those who believe in him, and that he is the only way to the Father. He says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (14:6).

Now, we see here that Jesus does not say that imitating him is the way for them, so that we should see salvation as following Jesus' morals and some social order he displayed, and by doing so we imitate him and inherit heaven. No, he doesn't say the way to the Father is to imitate him, he says that he himself is the way. That is to say, you must place your faith in Christ as your hope to be with the Father. You cannot gain eternal life apart from Christ, for he himself is life. He even tells them later that they will live because he lives (14:19).

So, first, Christ again clearly instructs those hearing him that faith in him is the only way to know eternal life. There is no way to the Father besides him.

2. Second, he tells them that if they really love him, they will keep his commands.

Jesus says over and over again that we are to keep his commands and that the one who loves him keeps his commands. In verse 15 he says, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." In verse 21 he says, "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, ad I will love him and manifest myself to him." Then, in verses 23-24 he says, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me."

Let us simply see here that to claim to love Jesus and to disobey him is to make a false claim. If you say, "I love you, Lord," you should be able to say, "That is why I am seeking to obey you in all things." Obedience is how we love Christ.

Now, with that said, I want to move us to the most pointed command of Jesus from our text this morning. It is that ...

3. We are to love one another as Jesus has loved us

The first thing we see in the text is that we are to love one another as Christ has loved us. After Judas leaves the room, Jesus turns to his disciples, tells them that he will be glorified (i.e. through his death, burial, and resurrection) and that he will go where they cannot now come. Of course, the disciples respond in shock and fear to this as Peter begins the questioning of Jesus in verse 36, asking, "Lord, where are you going?" But before they react to his statement that he is leaving, he gives a command. He says in verses 34-35, "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."

Now, I just want to take a moment and pause here, for isn't this interesting? The first thing Jesus commands his disciples to do in this final discourse he has with them is to love one another. Clearly loving one another is a chief characteristic of being a believer. In fact, it is such a chief characteristic that Jesus says that it is by your love for one another that people will know you are my disciples.

I think this needs to be a revolutionary truth in the church today. For I believe that for the most part individuals think that we can live out the Christian life in isolation. In fact, many would probably say that the highest form of godliness occurs when we are in isolation, away from others, with no one to distract us from our service to God.

Jesus says, however, not that people will know we are his disciples by our dedication to him in isolation (which is no doubt important), but by our love for one another. Why is this the case?

I think this is the case because it is through our love for one another that we get this opportunity to imitate Christ in our relationships with our brothers and sisters. That is to say, we are to love each other as Christ has loved us. Therefore, it should not only be a wife looking to her husband that says, "I get a continual picture of how Christ loves his church and me as part of that church because I am married to a godly man." Rather, anyone who is the Christian, living in community with other believers, should be able to say, “I get a picture every day of Christ's love for me because I get see it in my brothers and sisters loving me.” In fact, if we cannot say that then we are not obeying this command. For Jesus standard for how we are to love one another is not low. We are to love one another as he has loved us. That's why as we love one another people will know we are Christ's followers. It's not some mystical realization they will have, but they will see us imitating our Lord's love for our brothers and sisters in our love toward them.

Therefore, I want to challenge you on this point. Are you taking seriously this command? Are you making light of it? Are you recognizing your sin if you are failing to obey it? Are you pretending it is not sin to disobey Christ at some point? In short, are you obeying your Lord in this command or excusing your disobedience? Maybe you're saying that your life is difficult and busy. I don't doubt that it is. We could all say that. However, Jesus doesn't give his commands to be carried out only in a utopian setting.

Therefore, I think we need to be the kind of people who labor and sacrifice to love one another. And I will admit that I don't know exactly how that should look. But I do know the example that we have is Christ, who laid down his life for us. Also, I do know that at least at one point in history Tertullian said that the pagans said of the Christians, "See how they love one another! ... how they are ready even to die for one another."² My prayer is that that may be said of us.

And my fear is that, generally, we would say, "Yes" to the call to love each other, having visions of grandeur dancing in our heads as we lay down our lives so others might live. We are like Peter saying, "I will lay down my life for you" when he wouldn't even acknowledge him in his time of need. Peter shows us that "Sadly, good intentions in a secure room after good food are far less attractive in a darkened garden with a hostile mob."³ And so, good intentions on a Sunday morning often become much more difficult when it means we need to stay up at night with someone as they are hurting or rejoicing with someone when the source of their joy is something for which we long and have been denied. Love should be displayed in certain acts and words. So, let me simply end this section saying that we must be intentional about ensuring that we are striving to love one another even as Christ has loved us. I don't know exactly what it looks like, but we must no longer allow ourselves to overlook such a command. For if we do, we can hardly be said to be loving Christ.

Now, if you're like me, this is a difficult challenge, and you might be discouraged. However, Christ gives his disciples, and us, some encouragement as we set out to obey Christ in his commands.

Jesus' encouragement to his followers as he begins his final discourse:

Jesus encourages his followers as they are about to walk through life without him. I mean, imagine the setting: they had walked with Jesus for three years, had depended on him for so much, staked their lives on him, and now he tells them that he will leave them. If you think that you feel overwhelmed, fearful, and concerned in light of Christ's statements of instruction and command this morning, imagine what his first followers felt. However, he comforts them, and I trust his words will be of comfort to us this morning as well.

1. He tells them that he will give them the Spirit who will work in them

Immediately after Peter and Thomas are faced with their weakness and inability (Peter being told he would deny and Thomas' slowness to believe being pointed out), Jesus tells them that they will indeed do great things because the Spirit will work in them.

Specifically he says in 14:12-17, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you." Then he tells them again in verse 26, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you."

Now, this promise is different for us, in that we need not wait to receive the Holy Spirit as they did; we already have the Spirit. So, Jesus is telling us that we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, and that because he has gone to the Father and poured out his Spirit we will do greater works than him.

What does that mean? Well, I think he is saying that since we will dwell on the earth after his death, burial, and resurrection, being indwelt by the Spirit, we will see the work of the kingdom occur in greater power than was ever seen in all of history.

And I think we're doing that. After all, before Pentecost some had believed Christ, but now we are seeing Christ's kingdom manifested in greater ways, through our obedience to his commands, as multitudes from all over the face of the earth are coming to know Christ. His kingdom is advancing through our obedience more powerfully than has ever been witnessed in history.

I think this is why Jesus ends this section reminding them that the cross was no defeat. He tells them in verses 30-31, "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father."

He wants his disciples to know that he willingly lays down his life to please the Father. Satan has no claim on him. Death has no claim on him. He dies for us. He dies as one who conquers Satan. And in dying to please the Father, the Father is pleased to raise him as the exalted king and ruler. The Father is pleased to deliver all things into his hands. That's the scene of the Great Commission. The risen and exalted king is saying in essence, "I am victorious. I have all authority. And now I am sending you out as my victorious followers. You are going to display my kingdom and reclaim my people through your witness. I, the victorious risen and exalted king, will be with you. Nothing can stop the success of my church. The gates of hell will not prevail. Now go and make disciples."

That's the situation we live in and the situation he describes in verses 12-17. The Spirit of Christ indwells us, Satan has received his defeat at the cross, and now we are marching forward as witnesses of Christ. Therefore, do not feel fearful but hopeful at Christ's commands.

And yet, I don't simply want to paint a rosy picture. Because after all, though the gates of hell will not prevail, we do not yet now see sin conquered, and we all face death. Therefore, there is one last piece of encouragement:

2. Christ is preparing a place for us and will come get us one day.

In verses 1-4 he says, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going." Then, in verse 18 he says, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." Then in verses 28-29 he says, "You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I will come to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe."

Jesus is returning. He is coming back. It may seem that his delay has been long, but his return is sure. He will come and get us. He will not leave us as orphans. But in the meanwhile, may we hear his commands, especially his command to love one another, and not allow it to drive us to despair. Rather, let us hear it and realize Christ's provision and our blessing to live in this day in which greater work is being done in the advancement of his kingdom than was ever seen prior to his exaltation and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, as we come to the table this morning, might we both repent and rejoice. May his grace be rich toward us. Amen.

¹ Heiko Oberman, Luther: Man between God and the Devil, 3.
² Quoted by D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, 485.
³ Ibid., 486.

THE BEGINNING OF A FINAL DISCOURSE

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