PowerPoint

Guest (Female): Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. The extent of the love of Jesus that he loved endlessly, steadfastly, eternally, unconditionally. How will people know that we are disciples of Jesus? If you have love for one another. On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about a kind of love that only comes from knowing God. Now here's Dr. Graham with his message, how to love like Jesus.

Jack Graham: Take your Bibles and turn with me to the 13th chapter of the gospel of John. And this is the wonderful story of Jesus. My theme and my topic today is how to love like Jesus. How to love like Jesus. And it is a signature, two verses really, signature verses in all of the Bible. You know, the story of Jesus, tell me this story more and more. The story of Jesus is recorded in the gospels, the good news of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

And when we get to the fourth gospel, the gospel of John, we have a very special section near the end of the book, which is the upper room discourse. There are a number of sermons or messages that are recorded in the gospels. Of course, you know the sermon on the Mount. And then there's the Olive discourse in Matthew chapter 24, when he spoke of the end of times and and there were other times when he spoke and messages were recorded by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

But this is a message that he delivered in his final hours on Earth, in the upper room. If I could just context this before we read it, Jesus is at the eve of his crucifixion, before the resurrection, and then the ascension, and exaltation, and his promised coronation as he is king and king of kings and Lord of lords. So, now it's a dark night. They're in an upper room, Jesus and these disciples.

And the clock is ticking, and when Judas is exiting the room as he is being revealed as the betrayer, the clock begins, it is triggered on the final 12 hours before Jesus dies on the cross, in the greatest demonstration of love the world has ever seen. In fact, Jesus himself is love incarnate, love incomparable. You cannot really define love, you can only demonstrate it, but it is demonstrated most perfectly in Jesus Christ.

God is love. That's what the Bible says. And because Jesus is God, he embodies love. And this love is to be in us. We are to love like Jesus. If I could love like Jesus, I would be a better husband to my wife, because the Bible says that husbands, we are to love our wives. How as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. You would be a better wife, you would be a better parent, you would be a better child, you would be a better Christian.

We all would if we could learn to live like Jesus, but specifically that we would love like Jesus. So in verses 34 and 35, verse 34 and 35 of chapter 13, a new commandment I give to you. That you love one another. We are told to love God and love one another in the Old Testament. What's new about this commandment that Christ is giving us? A new commandment I give to you that you love one another. How? Here's the difference. Here's the dynamic.

Just as I have loved you. This is the love of Jesus. As I have loved you, you also are to love one another. And then he said, by this, will all people know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another. How to love like Jesus. We're going to see today in this passage of scripture, the extent of the love of Jesus.

We're going to talk about the expression or the example of the love of Jesus. And then we're going to talk about the evidence of the love of Jesus. To be loved and to give love is the greatest need of our lives, psychologically, emotionally, mentally, physically, and certainly spiritually. Karl Menninger, who is a psychiatrist, once said, "Love is the medicine for our sick old world. If people could learn how to give and receive love, they will usually recover from their physical or mental illnesses."

Love. Love is great medicine. Love is what the world needs. One of my favorite songs written by Burt Bacharach, is the song What the World Needs Now is what? Love, sweet love. And I would say what the world needs now is love, God's love, the sweet love of Jesus. Our world is so loveless because it is so godless in so many ways. In fact, Jesus would tell us in another one of his addresses to the disciples that at the end of days, the end of time, that the love of many because of iniquity, because of sin would grow cold.

And we are living now in a cold world, a chaotic world in which people don't know how to love. They know a lot about lust but not very much about love. The love of God. And the most fulfilling, enjoyable experience of our lives is to be a channel of God's love, the love of Jesus to the world. First Corinthians 13:13 says, "And now abides faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love."

There's great power in faith. There's power in praise. There there's great power and strength in hope, the certainty of salvation. But of faith and hope and love, the greatest of these is love. So Jesus gave us this last commandment. You know that love is a choice, because we are commanded to love. We choose to love according to Jesus. And so let's look at this love, this this love of Jesus.

What kind of love is it? First, let's think about the extent of this love. For the very first verse of chapter 13, if you'll just back up a little bit, as Jesus is gathering his disciples, he tells them that their love to the end. He says, or John describes it, as he loved his disciples to the end. That is to the maximum. He loved them to the limits.

Now these disciples like you and me did not always deserve love. In fact, none of us ever deserve the great love of God. The grace of God. But these disciples, a ragged bunch as they were from time to time, just a few weeks earlier, a couple of them had come to Jesus and said, "Who's going to be greatest in the kingdom?" They're wanting, they're jockeying for power and and position and and in a few hours, Peter is is going to deny the Lord three times and others are going to be questioning the Lord.

They're Jesus is forming his disciples into discipleship because remember, these 11, Judas now gone, these 11 are going to be assigned to take this message of love, the love of Jesus to the world. So he's getting them ready. But the extent of his love. He loved them to the end. And I hope you know that the love of Jesus is an endless love. It is eternal love. The Bible says, God speaking, "I have loved you with an everlasting love."

We've said it many, many times that there's nothing that you can do to make God love you more than he loves you right now. Or there's nothing that you could do that would cause him to love you less than he does right now, because he loves you perfectly and passionately, even to the extent of the cross. The love of Jesus runs red and it goes all the way through the Bible and to the cross where Jesus died. We saw it in the book of Romans that the close of Romans in the eighth chapter, it says, "Nothing will separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ."

So, no matter what we do, his love reaches out to us and never stops loving us. What is the greatest definition of love of this agape love? Is John 15 and verse 13, "Greater love has no man than this, but that he would lay down his life for his friends." Paul speaks of this boundless love of God, this endless love of God when he speaks of praying in the the height and the depth and the width and the breadth of the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ.

You say, "Well, everybody knows that God loves him." No, not everybody. And in fact, there are people listening to me right now who wonder, "Can God love me? Does God really care about me in my grief, in my pain, in my sin, in my suffering? Is it true that Jesus loves me?" It's the most simple and profound truth in all of the Bible. We sang it as children, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

It is the Bible that tells us of this great love of Jesus Christ who went all the way to Calvary and through an empty tomb that we might have this boundless, endless, eternal love in Christ.

Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, How to Love Like Jesus. Did you know that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotion? It's a study of God's Word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life. To sign up, text DEVVO to 59789 and begin receiving Dr. Graham's devotional every day. Again, text DEVVO to 59789.

We want to tell you about an exciting opportunity available this month. Right now, every gift you give to PowerPoint Ministries will be doubled through a generous $150,000 matching grant, helping reach even more people with the hope and truth of Jesus Christ. Every day, people burdened by fear, anxiety, and uncertainty are discovering the peace found in God's Word through this ministry. Your support helps make that possible. As our thanks for your gift of $10 or more, we'll send you Dr. Graham's brand new book, The Lord is My Shepherd.

Text SEPTEMBER to 59789 to have your gift doubled and receive your copy today. Again, text SEPTEMBER to 59789. Now, let's get back to today's message. How to Love Like Jesus.

Jack Graham: But let's move on now to the the expression of this love or what we would call the example of this love. Go back to the 13th chapter of John. And look with me at the first verses, beginning at verse three. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper and he laid aside his garments and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.

And then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. Here we see the model, the example of the love of Jesus. It is a love that is selfless, a love that is sacrificial, as well as steadfast, as we've already mentioned. So what is the scene here in the upper room? It was common, it was customary in Jewish homes and families for people coming off the road from a hard day's work to have a basin of water and to wash their feet.

And if you were a wealthy family, perhaps you had slaves. And it was the responsibility of one of the slaves and typically the most menial, the lowest of the slaves to wash feet. It's such a beautiful picture of what Christ does for us as his love reaches down, gets on its knees and washes the feet of fishermen and tax collectors, grimy guys who had gathered into that upper room. He washed their feet.

Now something is very important here. It says that Jesus knowing, look at verse three again, "Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God." He knew his true identity, of course. And at this moment, on his way to the cross, he knows who he is. That he is God, that he came from God going back to the Father, and that the Father had given all things into his hands.

Everything is his. It all belongs to him. Jesus knows that. He's the Lord. He's the Savior. All things in his hands. And yet, what does he do? He doesn't take up the throne at this point, but he takes up a towel. And takes the posture of a servant and bends down and begins to wash the feet of these disciples. And as he's washing their feet, he is demonstrating love in service and in ministry. First John 4:7 and 10 says, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

And anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. And in this love of God who made was made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. And in this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins." Paul spoke of this in Philippians chapter two. One of the great passages in all the Bible is Philippians chapter two.

Verses 5 through 11. "Have this mind among yourself, which is yours in Jesus Christ, who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a slave, a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient and obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God."

Here we see that Jesus, just as he washed the feet of disciples taking the form of a servant. When he came to this earth and went to the cross, he laid aside his dignity, although he never laid aside his deity. Always God. He knew who he was. Now, big, big point to be made. Are you ready? If you want to love like Jesus, number one, you need to know who he is. But you also need to know who you are in him.

And so many Christians do not know this or do not understand this or do not practice their identity in Christ. We see in Jesus such humility. And what is humility? Humility is not the lack of self-esteem or even self-confidence. But humility is the frame of mind, it's the attitude that I know who I am and that my identity and my security is in Jesus Christ. And when I have that kind of security and identity within myself, knowing who I am in Christ, that sets me free to love you.

I don't have to fight you, I don't resist you, I can love you, because now I know that I am so loved, that God's love is in me, that I am in Jesus Christ. And most every day I I repeat some things as my time of prayer, as I as I am about to head for the day, I I talk about my identity and I speak it out loud that I am born again. I am blood bought. I am a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I am called of God. I am chosen of God. I am a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a friend of God and I am forgiven and on and on I go. I am declaring my identity in Christ and you can do the same. Knowing what you know and who you are in Christ, that God accepts me, that God approves of me in Christ, that I am righteous in him and right before God in him. And when I know that I am loved like this, then I'm set free not only to love him back, to love God, but to demonstrate my love of God by loving you.

Love one another as I have loved you. This is the example of love when Jesus washed feet. Some want to turn this into an ordinance of the church. It's not a an ordinance of the church. So you could certainly practice foot washing if you choose. But it is a demonstration of the love of Jesus. And put practically for you and me it means the menial things, it's holding a child, it's a smile of acknowledgement and appreciation.

It's serving the Lord in ways that others do not maybe even see or know. It's loving Jesus by loving others. That's what it is. It's being sweet to your kids and kind to your family. It's being loving to one another. Love one another. It's the message of Jesus. Love one another as I have loved you. The Apostle John, he saw himself as the disciple and described himself in his gospel as the disciple that Jesus loved.

Was he bragging? No. He knew he was loved. And when you experience the love of Jesus, it's in one sense like John must have felt it, you know, if I was the only one, I know he loves me, the disciple that Jesus loved. And and we say it often, that if you were the only one who needed the love of God, Jesus would have gone to the cross for you and pour out his life and his love for your salvation.

That's how much he loves you. Oh, how he loves you and me. The fruit of the spirit is what? Love. And all of the other attributes and attitudes in the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, faithfulness, self-control, all of these attitudes if you will or actions flow or grow out of love. It is love that produces the work and the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

A new commandment I give to you that you love one another. Know who you are in Christ and be set free to love people unconditionally. You know, people are in some ways harder to love than ever before. You know anybody in your life who's hard to love? I do. And you probably do too. Maybe you're thinking about them right now. People are hard to love. People on the street, people in the culture.

People in the world are harder to love perhaps now than any other time, but love them anyway. That's what Jesus did. A new commandment I give to you that you love one another even as I have loved you because the evidence of the love of Jesus is you. That's the final point. The extent of the love of Jesus that he loved endlessly, steadfastly, eternally, unconditionally, we are to love people always. The expression of this love, the example of this love is to wash feet.

That is do what people need. That's what humility does. It is it is to humbly give people not always what they want, but what they need. And then the evidence of the love of Jesus is you or me. How to How will people know that we are disciples of Jesus? True disciples of Jesus. How will they know? That you have love for one another.

Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, How to Love Like Jesus. Right now, every gift you give to PowerPoint Ministries will be doubled through a generous $150,000 matching grant, helping reach even more people with the hope and truth of Jesus Christ. Every day, people burdened by fear, anxiety, and uncertainty are discovering the peace found in God's Word through this ministry. Your support helps make that possible. As our thanks for your gift of $10 or more, we'll send you Dr. Graham's brand new book, The Lord is My Shepherd.

In this encouraging study of Psalm 23, Dr. Graham shows how the good shepherd provides, guides, and stays with you even through life's darkest valleys. Text SEPTEMBER to 59789 to have your gift doubled and receive your copy today. Again, text SEPTEMBER to 59789. Did you know that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotion? It's a study of God's Word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life.

To sign up, text DEVVO to 59789 and begin receiving Dr. Graham's devotional every day. Again, text DEVVO to 59789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?

Jack Graham: The secret of love has been revealed in Jesus Christ, in his loving submission to the will of the Father, in his willingness to serve his disciples, in his offering of his life on the cross. We see the demonstrated love of God, what love really is. The secret of love then is sacrifice and submission and surrender. For example, one way we could talk about and think about love is in regard to our marriages because that's where love is to be most beautifully demonstrated.

If you walk into your marriage thinking what can I get out of this other person? What can I get out of this marriage? What can I gain from my mate? Well, you're going to go away most likely very, very empty and dissatisfied. But if in your marriage, you live saying, what can I give to this person? How can I give to support my wife or my husband? How can I love even in the small things? You will find that your marriage will be overflowing with love.

It's all about the sacrifice and the submission and the surrender. That's what love is. It's not about just loving me and what I want, but loving God and loving the people that God loves. Here's what Jesus said. By this will all men know that you are my disciples, that you have love for one another. It is in loving others and serving others, of giving ourselves to the needs of others that we find real purpose and meaning in our lives.

When you love others, you will experience the greatest joy of life. So commit today, right where you are, in some personal way, in some strategic but maybe even small way, to love someone else and to show the love of Jesus. Remember, it's all about him. It's all about his love and it's all about loving others.

Guest (Female): And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift of $10 or more, we'll send you Dr. Graham's book, The Lord is My Shepherd. Just text SEPTEMBER to 59789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about what a life focused on Christ is really about. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.