‘The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved’

Our Sunday morning message, “The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved,” was brought by our senior pastor, Dr. Larry Crawford:.

The scripture readings were taken from John 13, 19,20 and 21, with the lesson’s primary emphasis on book of John.

“Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

“Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.”

Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?”

Dr. Crawford read from God’s word while we stood in reverence and then he opened in prayer.

“Did you notice anything in common to those verses we just read? The disciple whom Jesus loved. This is how John described himself in his gospel, the gospel according to John. This book was written after the other three Gospels, after Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John penned his gospel when he was a very old man, after he had written the letters, I, II and III John, even after his book of Revelation was complete.”

“When Matthew spoke of John in his gospel, the gospel according to Matthew, he always referred to him as John. Same for Mark, and the same for Luke. But in John’s gospel, the gospel according to John, he always referred to himself as either, that other disciple or the disciple whom Jesus loved.”

“The Apostle John was the only Apostle who lived out his natural life and died an old man, exiled on the island of Patmos. The other 10 died martyr’s deaths. And that was even after Octavian had tried to kill John by boiling him in oil. But John was just not going to die until Jesus said it was his time; Roman emperors not withstanding. John’s message, for as long as he lived, would be, ‘My little children, love one another.’ Simple, but oh so profound. Our churches today would be so much better off if they would just get it into their heads and hearts to be like John. Be the disciple whom Jesus loves.”

At one time John was a very arrogant person, but by the time we see him in John 13, he has been touched by the Master. “When all the rest of the apostles are arguing over who is going to be the greatest in God’s Kingdom, there is John, leaning on Jesus’ breast, to get as close to Him as humanly possible. Wouldn’t you like to be able to get so close to Jesus that you could hear His heart beat?” Christians getting that close to Christ today, means that soon we will see more people coming to Christ, as when we lift up Christ in our lives, men will be drawn to Him.

“Then I had you read from John 19 where Jesus told His mother, this is your son, and He told John, this is your mother. When you get it into your heart that you want to be a disciple that Jesus loves, you want to be against His bosom, but it also will cause you to want to take a stand. On Golgotha, all the other disciples had long fled. Peter, Matthew, Andrew, James, all of them gone. When all the others bailed, John stood his ground.”

“On Palm Sunday, at the height of Jesus’ popularity, all the disciples were there. “Hosanna!” the crowd screamed, as they threw down their cloaks, and palm leaves, before Him. “Tell your disciples to hush,” murmured the Pharisees. To which Jesus responded, “Then the very rocks would cry out.” But just a week later, when Jesus was no longer popular, John was still at His side. John stayed, eventhough it surely could have cost him his life. John was even steadfastly there, at the foot of the cross of Calvary. Getting it in your mind that you are a disciple whom Jesus loves will make you stand fast too, even when things get unpopular. This mind set, this knowing you are a disciple that Jesus loves, gives you some spiritual spinal cord to help you fend off the political correct crowd.”

Even Jesus said, if you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father. This has nothing to do with your salvation. But there will come a time, in your Christian walk when you will need an intercessor, and that intercessor is Jesus.

“Something else happened at the cross. Knowing you are the disciple that Jesus loved will make you willing to grant a dying man’s wish.” John knew for him, it was to care for Jesus’ mother. Today, our last command from the Lord was to take the gospel to the uttermost ends of the earth … to be a witness … to tell the world He is alive. “But how do you know He is alive?” Because He lives in your heart!

“The disciple whom Jesus loves: makes you want to lean upon His breasts; makes you want His heart to beat right along side yours; it also makes you want to live life unashamed of Him, and it makes you ready and willing to grant a dying man’s last wish.”

John 20:8 “Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.”

“John believed when no one else yet believed. Peter when he saw the empty tomb, gave up, and went back to fishing. But when John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, saw the empty tomb, he knew where Jesus was. So, like John, I’m going to just believe. And what I can’t see, ‘I’m just going to believe to see’.”

Luke 7:41-43 “There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.”

Who loves Jesus the most? The one who He forgave the most. So who would that be… putting it on a very personal level … church?

I John 4:19 “We love him, because he first loved us.”

“We love Him because He first loved us…when we were not very lovable. Jesus loved us, Jesus died for us, while we were yet sinners.” Easy to love someone who Jesus has already cleaned up, and is moving towards perfection in Him. Very hard to love someone who is still very dirty, steeped in the sins of the world, to their very core.

“I don’t believe that Jesus loves me more than anyone else … but I know that I ought to love Him more than anyone else. People, be the disciple that Jesus loves.”

We now have two morning worship services to better accommodate you and your family during the summer months. Our first service, the dawn service, is at 8:30 a.m., with Sunday school immediately afterwards and after Sunday school, the second morning worship service, the daylight service, will start at 11 a.m.

For our monthly potluck dinner Sundays, we will revert to just the one morning worship service at 11 a.m. followed by our noon fellowship supper and afterwards, as always, our young preacher boys will speak.

Due to Mother’s Day, next Sunday, our fellowship dinner will be put off, until the following Sunday.