Remain.Love.Become.

A Discipleship Journey through John’s Gospel

Pt. 2

Sunday September
12th, 19th, & 26th @at 9am
 Background on John’s Gospel
• Not a “Synoptic”
No parables and lots of
analogies.
• Not primarily Chronological,
but is selective history of
Jesus (20:31).
• Emphasizes Jesus’
replacement of the Temple
and the Sacred Feasts of
Judaism.
• Likely written in Ephesus by
John or is a collection of
“Johannine” teachings on
Jesus (80-90AD).1
A LEAF OF JOHN’S GOSPEL IS
THE EARLIEST NT MANUSCRIPT
IN EXISTENCE. SCHOLARS
REFER TO THIS FRAGMENT AS
PAPYRUS #52. IT CONTAINS 5
VERSES FROM JOHN
1. Andreas Kostenberger, “John,” in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary, vol. 2, ed. Clinton E. Arnold
(Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 2002), 4-12.
2. Kostenberger, “John,” 22.
Structure of John2
The Prologue (1:1-18) Jesus is the Word,
the Light, and the Life - full of Grace and Truth.
Ancient biography introduced themes at beginning…
For example, Cornelius Nepos lived in the 1st century
B.C. Is the earliest.
Plutarch in the 40’s-50’s AD, and Imperial biographies of
Galba and Otho.
The Book of 7 Signs (1:19-12:50) He
changes water to wine, prophetically
“cleanses” the Temple, heals the nobleman’s
son, heals the lame, feeds the multitude, heals
the blind, raises Lazarus to life again - finally,
Jesus the Messiah is rejected by the Jewish
community (12:37-50).
It is interesting that John records several stories from the
Synoptics that he doesn’t actually tell. The assumption is
that his readers already have access to them. One notable
account is John 1:42. John records a pre-conversion
interaction between the disciples and Jesus.
The Book of His Glory: Jesus prepares
to suffer and prepares his disciples for his
departure (13:1-20). The New Covenant
people are “cleansed” and instructed, the
Messiah must suffer and be glorified, the
resurrected Jesus must reveal himself to his
disciples and they must witness his signs.
Epilogue (21)
 In week 2, we are going to explore The Source of God’s New Covenant Love
the theme of Love in John’s
Gospel. What does it mean for
the disciple to Love as Jesus did? G O D ’S V E RY
OW N NATURE

1. Disciples are New Covenant • Jesus didn’t issue the

People. command to “love one
another” in a theological
vacuum. As Dr. Gerry Sittser
John 14:23
has stated, “As one in community, God draws us into
Jesus answered him, “Those
the perfect mutual love that exists within himself and
who love me will keep my
allows us to participate in that love.” 3
word, and my Father will
love them, and we will come
to them and make our home
with them.

John 17:23 A R E G E N E R AT E HEART

I in them and you in me,
that they may become
completely one, so that the • The love that the new covenant
world may know that you community would experience was
have sent me and have loved qualitatively superior to the garden
them even as you have loved variety kind of love in the world. This
me. “God-love” is only accessible to those
who have experienced a
Jeremiah prophesied that God would metamorphosis of the inner man.4
enact a new covenant with his people (Jer
31:31-34), writing his laws in their hearts,
& forgiving their sins, resulting in a
universal knowledge of God.
J ES US ’ N EW
COVENANT COMMAND
Notes:
• A follower of Jesus will cling to Jesus’
authoritative commands. The central
ethic of new covenant life will be the
commitment to love a brother/sister as ourselves.
The law that is now written on the heart of the
believer is the law of love and mutual concern.

3. Gerald L. Sittser, Love One Another: Becoming the Church Jesus Longs For (Downers Grove: IVP, 2008), 17.

4. Michael Wilkins, Following the Master: A Biblical Theology of Discipleship (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 233.
 2. Disciples do as Jesus says and as Jesus does.5

John 15:9
As the Father has loved me, so I
have loved you; remain in my
love.

Jesus emulated the Father’s love to perfection while he was

on earth. He stated that he only spoke what he heard the
Father say, and only did those things which he saw the Father
do. So not only will the disciples receive the Spirit that will utterly transform them, they also have the

The Pattern of New Covenant Love

T H E FAT H E R L OV E S T H E WORLD, S O H E S E ND S T H E S O N
• (3:16) - The sacrifice that God authorized is a jarring notion. But the severity of the
remedy matches the scope of the human dilemma.

T H E FAT H E R L OV E S T H E S O N , S O H E E MPOWE R S H IM
WITHOUT MEASURE
• (3:35; 5:20) - Jesus stated that the Father had placed all things in his hands - and
that the Father would astonish them with even greater miraculous exploits. The
Son’s righteous cause will be vindicated and the immeasurable love of the Father toward’s the Son will
be translated to the new covenant community. 6

T H E S O N L OV E S H I S FO L L OW ERS , S O R E V E A L S H I M S E L F
TO T HE M
• (14:21). The new covenant community will receive an unprecedented revelation
about the Son. Though Jesus has shown himself to unbelieving Jews as the true
Messiah, he will now reveal that he and the Father are one to his followers.

5. Michael Wilkins, In His Image: Reflecting Christ in Everyday Life (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1997), 49. Wilkins
calls this being the “Real Imitation” of Jesus.



6. Craig Keener, The Gospel of John (Peabody Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003), 581.
 The Pattern of New Covenant Love cont...

T H E S O N COMMANDS HIS FOLLOWERS TO LIVE BY A

NE W KINGDOM MAXIM
• (13:34a; 15:12, 17) - “A New Command I give you…” This command was not new in
the sense that they’d never heard anything like it before. Indeed, many other Jewish sects
taught the supremacy of love, such as the Essenes of Qumran, the teachings of rabbi
Hillel, and the OT itself. 7

T H E S O N E X P E C T S H I S F O L L OW E R S TO E M U L AT E HIS
COUNTERCULTURAL LOVE
• (13:34b; 15:12b) - “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
The key to Jesus’ new messianic maxim was “as I have loved you” and “no one
has greater love than this, to lay down his life for his friends.” It is the self-
sacrificial love that was so radical and new for these Jewish disciples.8 Disciples
are driven by a selfless love that is alien to our self indulgent world.

T H E S O N A S S U R E S H I S F O L L OW E R S O F A N E N D L E S S
S O U R C E OF THIS LOVE
• (14:23) - “those who keep them are those who will be loved by my Father...and we
will come to them and make our home with them.” The command to love sacrificially
is accompanied by a new impulse generated from a new source - God himself will take
up residence in the new covenant followers. These followers will not have to contrive or
manufacture this love. It will be the natural motivation of the transformed soul.

T H E S O N G I V E S T H E S P I R I T TO H IS FO L L OWE R S , AND
THEY ARE TRANSFORMED
• (20:22) - In this passage, Jesus breathes on the disciples and says, “Receive the
Holy Spirit.” Jesus has demonstrated his love for his disciples in the ultimate act of
sacrifice. He now empowers them to be transformed into bona-fide love machines for the Kingdom.

7. Andreas Kostenberger, “John” in The Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary, vol. 2, ed. Clinton E. Arnold
(Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 2002), 136.



8. Kostenberger, “John,” 136.
 3. Disciples are distinguished by their sacrificial love for
each other.

John 13:35
By this everyone will know
that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one
another.”
Thus far we have learned that disciples are new covenant
people who are charged with following Jesus’ example of
love toward them. Now we move on to examine more fully
the character and quality of this sacrificial love that Jesus demonstrated to his followers and demanded of
them.

The Characteristics of Love

l e ss I T IS S E L F L E S S

elf • Jn 12:25 - “Those who love their life will lose it, and those who hate their life in this
S world will keep for eternal life.” This counterintuitive principle of love is the core
axiom of Kingdom living.

IT IS EV ID EN CE D B Y FAITHFULNESS TO JE S U S ’
T E AC H I N G
• Jn 14:15, 21, 23 - “Whoever does not love me does not keep my
words.”
Jesus made is clear that the evidence of this love was obedience.

I T IS AUT HE NT I C ATED T H RO U G H L AS T ING

COMMITMENT
• Jn 15:10 - “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love.”