Nineteen-year-old Johnny, who has Down syndrome, bags groceries at a supermarket. After a training session on the power of words, he and his father write short encouraging lines every evening, and he slips one into the last bag of every customer. A month later the queue at his till reaches the back of the store and people refuse to move to the empty checkouts. That story opens a sermon on the command to love (John 13), where the new part is one added clause: as I have loved you. Such love is not natural, which is why the strength for it comes not from Jesus beside us but from Jesus in us. Listen and think about who in your week would get a note like that, if it were up to you alone.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In John 13:34 Jesus calls the command to love a "new" commandment, even though the disciples had heard it before. According to John 13:34-35, what makes it new?
- The speaker recalls Jesus calling Matthew from the tax table and Nathanael, who asked whether anything good could come from Nazareth. What do these stories teach you about how Jesus loves people?
- In John 14:23-26 Jesus promises the Holy Spirit, who will make His home in His followers. Why, according to the sermon, is "God in us" even better than "God with us"?
- The speaker says it is easy to confuse discipline with discipleship, and that religion pulls us away from building relationships toward keeping rules. How do you notice that pull in your own life of faith?
- Jesus does not ask us to love people the way they deserve, but the way He has loved us. Who around you is hard to love, and what could help you see that person through His eyes?
- Johnny, a grocery bagger, dropped an encouraging note into customers' bags every day and changed the culture of the whole store. How can you change the world for at least one person this week?
