I am very bad at names. Others are bad at directions. Still others grammar, spelling, math…
Something we are all bad at…love. We all have huge blind spots when it comes to caring for other human beings. And it’s always been that way.
· It’s why Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan.
· No, sir, listen to me…this is what love is…this is love 101.
We’re bad at love. Maybe because we are inveterate narcissists. Maybe we’re distracted. Maybe our chronic anxiety gets the best of us…but… we are bad at love.
And because we are bad at love…we Christ followers…we are causing the credibility gap to widen by the day.
I would contend that if we do not improve in love…the credibility gap will get wider…evangelism will get harder…and the lost will get lost-er.
I John 2:7
· 1 John is Letter to a bunch of churches centered around Ephesus
· written by John to clear up confusion about what it meant to be a child of God/follower of Jesus and what it meant to live out their story in the world.
· and remember – John was there the day Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan.
2:7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. 9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
The command to love one another was not a radical new idea. Vs. 7 - I am not writing you a new command but an old one. How old? - 1500 BC:
…love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:18
Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise,
the amazement of the Gods.–Plato 400 BC
Yet it is a new idea because of its nature and its source…where it comes from and how it plays out. Vs 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you,
· It’s a new command because Jesus (in him) redefined it.
o Good Samaritan is an example, washing of feet, the call to care for “the least of these” , and of course his own sacrificial death (more later on that)
There is a qualitative difference in Jesus style love that sets it apart from every other perception of love.
· Jesus style love is a game changer. It is a flood light…a high powered torch that brings clarity – it is Vs 8-11 the “true light”
· Jesus style love takes on directly one of the 6 broken places – hatred.
o hatred that makes people Vs. 10 - stumble. And causes great confusion.
Is there any question that we are living in a time of hate and outrage?
· this word hate = detest.
· Vs. 11 is so spot on - 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
· We do not know where we are going. Where ARE we going?
· This new command of love is the true light that will lead our community out of the confusion.
WE are the possessors of this new kind of love. WE are the only hope for the world.
· The church is Plan A for hope. Plan A for clarity. Plan A for evangelism. Plan A for love.
I’m telling you that if we do not get this right and start loving well…we will continue the slow slide to irrelevancy. If we do not love with a Jesus style, new kind of love, we will doom the church to be inconsequential and pointless.
If we have any chance of shrinking the credibility gap we have to adopt a new kind of love.
What is this new kind of love?
10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. 11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. 16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:10-18
1. This new kind of love is the consequence of fellowship with God.
3:10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.
This is frighteningly clear. and there is no getting around it:
Anyone who does not love his brother is not a child of God, remains in death and has no eternal life in him.
Um…frankly I am not sure what to do with that. It is unflinching in its cold reality.
Let me try to break this down…
· Fellowship with God will fundamentally alter your capacity to love.
o fellowship with God comes when we surrender to Jesus
o fellowship with God means we then share in his nature
o when we share in his nature we possess his spirit which means we can love like him.
· If you persistently detest others or some people. If loving is difficult for you it may well mean that you are still lost…even those of you who persist in calling yourself Christian.
· Therefore – first things first…get saved. Repent, confess your sins to God, surrender to Jesus, become his child…and receive his nature…and you will possess the capacity to love like you never have before.
If we have any chance of shrinking the credibility gap we have to adopt a new kind of love.
And it sounds like if we are going to love well – we better start getting people inside the church saved first.
2. Without this new kind of love we’ll be hated by the world.
12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.
Cain is the ultimate villain. A man jealous over the success of his brother…so blind with resentfulness that he killed him.
John is saying a shocking thing here…if you do not love with this new kind of love you will be perceived as the ultimate villain…the world will see you as Cain and hate you for it.
· Let’s be brutally honest never has this been truer than right now. More and more Christians are perceived as intolerant, mean-spirited haters.
o It’s not just media driven perception - some of our own home grown 20 something church kids are leaving the church for this very reason.
o Frankly it is true. We have not yet found the way to balance our beliefs with mercy…we haven’t figured out how to balance our position with our posture.
How do we do that? Let’s go further in the passage…
3. This new kind of love has been modeled for us by Jesus himself.
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
So, this new kind of love is – at its core – self-sacrificial.
This new kind of love is self-sacrificial.
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
· side note – there are some who think John is talking about love between members of the church. He certainly is but Jesus never limited love to only those close to him…just skim the gospel and you’ll see him advocate universal love for everybody…even the most ugly of enemies.
And the most basic ways of this new kind of love are utterly self-sacrificing.
· Like the guys tackling the terrorist on the train in France
· More likely though today it will look like:
o the sacrifice of time our most precious commodity
§ to love we must create margin
o the sacrifice of comfort – engaging people with whom you are uncomfortable
o the sacrifice of your opinion - keeping your mouth shut
o the sacrifice of attention – paying attention
o the sacrifice of patience.
o the sacrifice of resources. Your stuff.
This new kind of love is compassionate.
17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
The word pity here indicates a deep gut level compassion and mercy.
You’ll know you are on the right track if your reaction to another person who has some kind of need is compassion and not judgment.
Jesus style love is heavy on mercy and light on judgment.
Judgment is a terrible evangelism strategy. People don’t line up to be judged. But they might line up to be loved.
Jesus style love engages it does not avoid.
We ourselves can be agents of God’s holiness, for God now dwells within us. In the midst of an unclean world we are called upon to extend mercy, to be conveyers of grace, not avoiders of contagion. Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing about Grace
So…how then do we find the balance between maintaining the truth and engaging in love? It’s all about the posture.
· For instance – LGBT – we have a position:
o The practice of same-sex sexual behavior is prohibited by God. One man married to one woman for a lifetime in a monogamous relationship is the God ordained, best scenario in which to raise a family. Sexual identity struggles are broken places.
· and that position has ramifications on our practices:
o for instance we will not marry same sex couples
We will maintain those positions BUT as we do we must know that it will again cause us to be perceived as intolerant, mean spirited haters. So…we have no choice but to love with as much non-judgmental love as we can muster.
Our posture must be over the top loving.
The life of Jesus would radically suggest: The most conservative in theology should be the most liberal in loving. Ann Voskamp, A Holy Experience
This new kind of love is self-sacrificial.
This new kind of love is compassionate.
Finally…
This new kind of love is material
17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
· Jesus style love notices needs
· Jesus style love puts all our resources at the disposal of others
· Jesus style love practices material generosity and hospitality
It’s not love if it costs me nothing.
Let me sum it up again…
If we have any chance of shrinking the credibility gap we have to adopt a new kind of love.
A love in which…
Ø margin is left for people
Ø patience trumps outrage
Ø paying attention triumphs over distraction
Ø hospitality eclipses selfishness
Ø courage and risk overwhelm safety
Ø staying in the room replaces running away
Ø posture speaks louder than position
If people get saved it will be because we loved.