Thoughts On Easter (Part 1)

Author: Debbie Berg (Pastor Dave's Wife)
March 27, 2014

Easter Sunday, or should I say "Resurrection Day," is just around the corner.  It’s time to stop and take thought of what Jesus Christ did for us.

Phil. 2:6-8 tells us, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

Paul prayed that we would be able to comprehend what is the width and the length and the depth and the height; to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Many say this is a picture of the cross.  Paul had an amazing grasp of the love of Christ and he wanted us to know what he knew and to experience it as well.

In John 13:34 Jesus tells His disciples that He is giving them a new commandment.  “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

But how is that new?

In Matthew 22:34-40, Jesus is asked by a Lawyer of the Pharisees (testing him), “which is the great commandment in the law?”  Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

So how is John 13:34 a new commandment?  The answer is Agape love.

This kind of love was impossible before the Agape love of Christ was given to us, through His willing sacrifice on the Cross.

So when we love others as Christ loves us, John 13:35 says, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

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