NewCity Orlando Sermons

What Is A Disciple of Jesus? | John 13:34-35

• NewCity Orlando

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Senior Pastor Damein Schitter continues our January vision series, preaching from John 13:34-35. He explores the nature of Christian community, arguing that it's characterized by sacrificial love, mutual knowing, and a shared commitment to God's mission. Pastor Damein contrasts this with a consumerist approach to relationships, drawing on the work of social psychologist Sherry Turkle and illustrating his points with examples from both Scripture and Toy Story 4. He also emphasizes the necessity of communion with God as the foundation for genuine Christian community and stresses the transformative power of being fully known and loved by God. Pastor Damein concludes with a call to action, urging us to embrace the messiness of authentic relationships.

Speaker 1:

Hello everyone. This is Pastor Damian. You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, orlando. At New City, we believe all of us need all of Jesus for all of life. For more resources, visit our website at newcityorlandocom. Thanks for listening.

Speaker 2:

Today's scripture is taken from John 13, 34 through 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. This is God's word. Please be seated.

Speaker 1:

I'm back and I'm pretty sure that we are doing now what we're supposed to be doing, which is good, it's comforting. Well, as I mentioned, not only do we have our ordination and installation of Kinney this morning, but we also have a congregational meeting which, especially if you're members, we want you to come, we urge you to come. Anyone else is welcome, of course, but in light of that, this is going to be shorter. It's going to be as some traditions call a homily. And yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

One time I was invited to an interdenominational event in the city and I was asked to preach in 11 minutes and the Lord's Prayer, all of it, and basically I did it just under 11 minutes, and a good friend of mine named Justin, who is now a bishop in the Episcopal Church, came up to me afterwards and, with this great smile, said that was excellent. I said oh thanks, brother. And he said just one question. I said yeah. Then he said what did it feel like to just let the Word of God do the work and not feel like you had to preach for 35 minutes? And I'll never forget that moment and I ignore it every week. But today I am in the spirit of my brother, justin, already using up two minutes of my 18. So this month we are in a series unpacking, as Ben said last week, our robust, simple, reproducible, compelling definition of a disciple, which simply is disciples are united to Jesus in communion with God, community with one another and co-mission for the world. And so today we're talking about that second thing, which is community with one another. So what I want to reflect on today is what does it mean to be in community? And my answer, our answer, is to be known and loved. But then the appropriate question is what does it is to be known and loved, but then the appropriate question is what does it mean to be known and loved? What does it mean to love and be loved, to know and be known as a part of the body of Christ? Well, shelley Turkle, an MIT social psychologist, offers us a helpful lens for understanding the cultural challenges we face in building this type of community.

Speaker 1:

But it wasn't always that way for her. In fact, in 1995, she wrote a book called Life on the Screen, and in this book she was optimistic about what the internet could do for us, right. How technology could connect us more profoundly. Right, her vision was that the internet could free us from social constraints and geographical constraints even and allow us to interact with a wide variety of people. So if you think about that, if you live in a small town, you're limited to people who are mostly like you, but if the internet allows you to connect with people all over the world, then this must be a great thing. So that was in 1995. In 2011, she wrote a follow-up book called Alone Together why we Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.

Speaker 1:

Turkle in this book, sounded the alarm and she observed that technology now allows us to consume relationships. She writes quote we now consume other people in bits and pieces, as though we use them as spare parts to support our fragile selves. So, before I quote her again, the idea is that this consumer mindset in relationships not only damages those relationships, but it also damages each individual person in those relationships. So she goes on to explain it this way once we remove ourselves from the flow of physical, messy, untidy, vulnerable life, we become afraid to get out there and take a chance with real people. We become accustomed to companionship without demands, and when that becomes our reality, life with actual people becomes overwhelming to us. People becomes overwhelming to us. End quote. Now, if we're honest, we all feel the pull of this consumer approach to relationships. Either relationships are for taking what benefits us, or maybe investing for a future return, but it's always about us.

Speaker 1:

But Jesus shows us a fundamentally different way, and that's what I want to explore briefly in three points. First, the need for community. Second, the nature of true community. Third, the power of true community. So first point is the need for true community.

Speaker 1:

Look in our passage John 13, verse 34 and 35. Jesus says to his disciples in this discourse 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. And so this command highlights two truths. The first, we are called to love one another with the same sacrificial love that Jesus has showed us. And second, this love is not optional. In fact, it is a defining mark of discipleship. These two things are clear just in these two verses. But here's the key of those two realities that we're both called to love one another like Jesus, and that it's not optional. The key is this we can only love like this if we first receive the love of Jesus. We saw this actually in John 15, ben's passage last week, verse nine as the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now. Remain in my love.

Speaker 1:

Justin Whitmell Early and his book Made for People, I think, captures the essence of true community. This type of community by saying, quote living as a body of believers is not hiding but confessing. It is not remaining unknown but being fully known, so we have the opportunity to be fully loved. End quote. Now, true community mirrors Jesus, is saying our relationship with him. Just as we are fully known and fully loved by Jesus, we are called now to know and love one another deeply, and this is not an option, it is a mark of discipleship. And so, you see, we have this need for true community. We've been created for this true community.

Speaker 1:

But if we have a need, what is the nature of this true community? In other words, what does this kind of love and community and friendship look like? Well, tim Keller and Tim and Kathy, in their book the Meaning of Marriage, write this Christian friendship is not simply about going to concerts together or enjoying the same sporting event. It is the deep oneness that develops as two people journey together toward the same destination, helping one another through the dangers and challenges along the way end quote. Helping one another through the dangers and challenges along the way end quote. So you see the type of community that Jesus is building and commanding us to lean into.

Speaker 1:

It includes this kind of friendship, which stands in stark contrast to the consumer and I might even call it entrepreneurial approaches to relationships. Instead of asking what can I get out of this or what will be the return on my investment, true Christian community asks how can I serve, support and love this person as Christ has loved me. But there's more. Christian community is always mission-directed. Jesus loved us with the destination in mind. This is a huge part of this discourse John 13 through 17. Jesus is giving us his final words. He's telling us what he is loving us into and where he's loving us to.

Speaker 1:

As CS Lewis wrote, the very condition for having friends is that you want something else besides friends. The very condition for having friends is that you want something else besides friends. Those who are going nowhere can have no fellow travelers. This mission-directed friendship to me is beautifully illustrated in none other than Toy Story 4. It's been a long time since I'd seen Toy Story 4, maybe when it came out, but just this past week, maybe it was two weeks ago now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, last weekend our neighbor, a little boy in our neighborhood, had a Toy Story 4-themed birthday party and invited my children, and so we all went to this birthday party. We loved this family and this little boy, and part of the party was outdoors. Outdoors there was an outdoor screen and theater and Toy Story 4 was playing. And so my two youngest, adeline and James they are not my youngest, I realize that, but Adeline and James were watching the movie, and so I'm watching it with them, thinking like am I going to have to intervene? I can't remember what's in this movie. But here's the amazing thing. It's the creepiest, almost, I say, of all the toy stories.

Speaker 1:

But there's this really poignant story between Buddy and Forky. Forky is a spork that Bonnie has created, turned into a toy. So he comes to life as any other toy. He's no longer a spork. And Buddy I'm sorry Woody, buddy the elf, it's close to Christmas Woody decides that his mission is to help Forky embrace his identity as Bonnie's new favorite toy. And so this whole journey. There's challenges, there's hardship. Woody has to sacrifice for Forky. There's at least three times in the movie where they're in danger and Woody got it, finds himself that he's escaped. But what does he do every time he goes back in to save Forky, but why? And what you find over and over is that in true community, just as Woody teaches everyone else, we love each other toward a purpose. And he was committed for Forky to realize his purpose was to be Bonnie's favorite toy. Now, he wasn't just sacrificing for his own reason or mere morality, it was because he loved Forky. This is getting weird. He loved Forky because true love has a destination in mind. True love produces true community, which always has a destination in mind. And Woody's desire really weird transition is.

Speaker 1:

Jesus shows us this same truth. When we are united by a purpose greater than ourselves, which in this case is God's mission, his comprehensive mission, relationships can flourish even among people who are very different, flourish even among people who are very different. Consider the disciples among them working class fishermen, a political zealot, a tax collector, men, women, the wealthy, the poor. But what bound them together? It was not their differences, it was not their similarities, but it was their shared love for Jesus and the commitment to his mission in the world, bless you and each other's lives. This is the nature of the community that Jesus is creating. It is sacrificial love toward a destination for one another.

Speaker 1:

Now this brings me to my final point the power for true community. I already said we struggle with this. But why do we struggle to love like this? Well, the problem is is that most of us are always running on empty. We can't give what we don't have. Think of it this way you can't give a lot of money if you're struggling to buy food, for example, way you can't give a lot of money if you're struggling to buy food, for example. And similarly, you cannot love sacrificially like Jesus if you're not filled with his love. You have nothing to give.

Speaker 1:

This is why communion with God is the center of our definition of discipleship. It is the hub, it is connected to the powertrain which turns the wheel, which brings life not only to you but this community. Communion with God is at the center of discipleship. It's essential for community with one another, and if we aren't daily receiving the love of Jesus, we will only be able to love those who benefit us or love us back, because we only have needs and we have nothing to give unless we first received from Jesus. You see, as Jesus said in John 15 and here in John 13, when we remain in his love, we are free to love sacrificially. Jesus gives us the ultimate example here in John 13, right before this, when he washes the disciples' feet. This act of humility shows that Jesus meets us in our messiness and serves us at our lowest. There's nothing nastier in that culture than washing someone's feet.

Speaker 1:

Jesus is the one true friend who is ultimately faithful to you and me, even at the cost of his own life. A friend who was vulnerably open to you even when that meant he would lose his life. Jesus remained faithful to you even when you were his enemy. You see, I'll go as far as to say that you will not be able to fully experience deep, genuine community that is, being known and being loved, or knowing others and loving them. You cannot be open to that truly until you know this friendship with Jesus, until you have experienced this communion with God and that he is at the center of your life, because you will never be able to give what you have not received. You see, in Jesus we are completely known and completely loved. Every friend you have will let you down in fantastical ways, and no one will completely get you at the level that you need to be secure, that you need to feel experienced and truly be loved and known, because that's how you are transformed, that's how you experience transformation in your life. It's relational, it's when someone looks at you and sees you with that knowing gaze and accepts you. But all of that, in all of our relationships, is a sign that points to the ultimate person who, when he knows you and you are known by him, it will transform you. And so Jesus is the one who dignifies you with his friendship and secures you with his friendship and offers you a love that transforms. This is the friend who invites you to a table with him and treats you as his friend. And if you have this friendship, if you have this community with God, the Father, son and Holy Spirit, it will change all of your relationships.

Speaker 1:

It was pointed out to me recently that in the ancient world, friendship was something that could only exist between equals, which meant that your community, therefore, would be made up of people like you only. But in the Bible, friendship is something that makes us equals. You see, here's a God who has no equal, and yet Jesus says I now call you friends. The whole plan of salvation is an act of friendship, from one perspective, where God took on human likeness that we may take on his likeness, being transformed from his enemies to his friends. And this is the type of community that God wants to create here at New City.

Speaker 1:

And so a couple of questions. Are you becoming this kind of friend who loves sacrificially, or not? Are you allowing God's love to fill you that you might be transformed? Are you trying to be transformed by your actions, by the type of life you live, as opposed to the type of life you pull from and abide in and drink from deeply? What's your next step at New City To build this community? What about a community or a circle, these places where you can grow in love, even when these relationships are messy and hard?

Speaker 1:

In conclusion, jesus calls us to love one another as he has loved us. This is not just a command, it is an invitation to experience the fullness of life in community. So will you step into the messiness of relationships, trusting that God's love will sustain you and transform you? Let's pray, father. We want to experience the type of community that you command us to be in John 13. We want to be marked as disciples, those who love one another. And yet, lord, we confess we are so needy, both in our finitude and our frailty, we need you. And so, lord, would you fill us now, would you give us a deep sense of your love for us? Would we build our lives on your love, would we drink deeply from the reality that we are known by you, loved by you, and from that we can know others and love others, we can invest in them, even when we don't get anything back. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.