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September 29 - 1 John 3:11-24 - "Love in Action #2"

MPC 29^th September 2019.

Phil Campbell

Dan reminded us last week that 70 percent of songs that make it to the top 40 are songs about love. We're hungry for it. We're fixated with it. And maybe, in the words of the Foreigner Song we just want to know what it is.

Heard it? It's from 1984, but it's still going strong. I Want to Know What Love Is. It's had 153 million views on YouTube, so people still like it. There are 31.5 thousand comments. From people reminiscing. About dancing to it on their first date.

A song born in sadness. And longing.

In my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
Can't stop now, I've traveled so far, to change this lonely life

And then the chorus.

I want to know what love is, I want you to show me
I want to feel what love is, I know you can show me

If you've forgotten it, here's a reminder video clip...

Now that's romantic. And romantic is good.

But it's actually nothing like what we're talking about when we use the word love as one of our four big words for building a church.

We're saying. That we want to invite people to follow Jesus with us. That we want to grow more like Jesus. Through hearing and doing his word. Number 3. We're saying we want to be a church that loves. With servant hearts. And finally, we want to send out ambassadors of Jesus. Into the workplace. Into the world. Into churches all over.

And these few weeks, our series is focusing on word 3. Love.

Because we want to know what love is. And I mean, MPC is maybe a great place to find romance if you're in the market for that. The wedding industry is booming at Latechurch.

But you'll remember that the original Greek language that's been translated in our New Testament had a bunch of different words for love, including eros, which I'm pretty sure is the one the song's talking about. And another word for a kind of love that's something much more robust. Which is the kind of love that sustains relationships for a lifetime. The much more mature love. That sustains you in tough times as well. Through maybe unromantic financial failure. Through unattractive wrinkles and the extra kilos. Desperate days and nights beside a hospital bed.

A love that gives. Instead of taking. In Greek they called it agape; and that's the love that's being talked about in our passage from 1 John. Seven times. Across those 12 verses.

If you want to know what that love is. Then you've come to the right place.

Because this is how we know what love is. Verse 16. Quick. Make sure you're looking at it.

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 and sisters.

Not life taking. But live giving.

Which is the point that's being made in the contrast between Cain and Christ. In the first half of the chapter.

Verse 11. This is the message we heard from the beginning. The bible. Page 4. This is the lesson we learned from the very first family. What an astonishingly. Sad. Story.

Do you realise. The first human child born by natural means to God's hand-made first family. Killed. His little brother. Do you get that?

Cain. Driven by sibling rivalry. Took his brother out in the back paddock and clubbed him to death. A consequence of the sin that's been unleashed in the previous chapter. sibling rivalry. Runs right to the heart of being human. Fratricide. The first crime. The picture the bible paints, and it's true to life: the first human born of a woman. Is a murderer.

The point of the original story being, of course, don't be like that. Verse 11.

For 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.

I was watching a documentary on Netflix. About Bill Gates. The founder of Microsoft. One of the smartest, richest guys in the world. Who's now committed to spending most of his money wiping out disease in third world countries.

Such an impressive guy. They interviewed his sisters.

And kids here this morning, listen to this. You know, sometimes it's easy to be jealous of your brother or sister when they're maybe better at something than you are. Sometimes it's easy to get angry when they're getting all the attention because they're great at sport or got a good mark for a maths test. When he was 13, Bill Gates topped a maths test not just in his school. But in the whole state. Not just for his age group. But did better than anyone else any age up to 18 who took the test. Think of that next time you start up an Excel spreadsheet.

But how would you feel. If you were his sister. Or his little brother. Or worse still his big brother. A guy like that. So smart. So impressive. So famous. So rich.

The cool thing is, his sisters were not jealous at all. I reckon that's pretty impressive. Because it's so easy. When a brother or sister attracts attention. To hate that. And then to hate them.

In Cain's case. To take his little brother out in the field. And hit him so hard that he kills him. Now here's the point.

John says in verse 13, don't be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. But you should be surprised. If your Christian brother or sister hates you. Or you hate them.

That. Would just be weird.

Because love. Is just fundamental to who we are. And love gives life. Whereas hate takes it.

And so John goes on, you'll notice in the structure of the passage, to talk about the one thing that if you're a Christian at this point, you'll already know for sure. One thing that if you're a Christian, even a brand new one, will come as no surprise.

Because it would be really weird, he says, it would be really surprising for you to hate your Christian brother or sister, when love is the one sure mark that you've passed from death to life. By which he means, you've come to faith in Jesus.

Love for your brothers and sisters. Is a key indicator of faith. And so while it's no surprise if the world hates you, to John it would be a huge surprise. If there's hate in a church family. Because we know that we've passed from death to life, he says, because we love each other. And he goes further.

Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

Which might sound shocking when you first hear it. But is exactly what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. Hate. Kill. Both come from the same dark place. If you're hating your brother or sister. You're following in the footsteps of Cain.

As opposed to learning what love is. By looking to Jesus.

Which brings us back to our key verse. And how we know. What love is.

Can you see. How it's just the opposite to the sibling rivalry, to the jealous, to the life taking anger; of Cain... here's one who instead of taking life, lays his down. And we ought to do the same. Look again. Verse 16.

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 and sisters.

If you wanna know what love is... look no further. Than Jesus. Dying for your sins. On the cross. And then pay it forward.

It's not just a theoretical love. It's not just words of affirmation. It's not just gee I like the way you make me feel. It is. laying down your life. For your brother. For your sister.

In costly, humbling, sacrificial ways.

Now sometimes. Every now and then. Laying down your life for your Christian brother or sister might become frighteningly literal. I pray not.

But the difficulty is, even when you realise John's using it as a metaphor; even when you realise that he's not necessarily imagining a situation where we're all throwing ourselves in front of a train to rescue our friend from the tracks, or fighting off wild dogs so everyone else can run away... when you realise he's talking about laying down your life in much smaller ways. Maybe it's no easier.

See what he's thinking? Here's the sort of love he's talking about when the rubber hits the road. And if you've been here for the James series in the last few weeks it might sound a bit familiar. If anyone, v. 16,

If you have got material possessions and you see a brother or sister in need but you have no pity on them, how can the love of God be in you?

And in case you're thinking when he says having pity on them just means feeling sad for them, keep reading. He's talking about the kind of pity that ends up in action. And as a church, this has gotta be our definition when we talk about love. It's gotta be love with legs. It's like the faith that works James was talking about. V. 18:

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

Maclean High School in northern NSW, when our older kids went there, the School Motto was on a mural on the wall. And on the school badges. Facta non verba. Latin. For actions. Not words.

Dan reminded us last week that a love that doesn't carry gospel intentions and gospel words is a lacking love. But love that's just words and no actions. It isn't really love at all. Love that's just sentiment. It's not love.

You wanna know what love is? Look at Jesus; spat on, whipped, nailed on the cross taking your punishment as the suffering servant.

And let that move you to share your precious stuff with someone who needs it. Or give away some of your precious money. Or give up some of your precious time. Whenever there's a need. John says, love is material. Practical. Costly. Serving.

In the words of our key phrase, it's loving with servant hearts. And that. Is the distinctive mark of Christian family. That's how you'll know that you've passed from death to life.

That instead of hate. Instead of taking life from others. There's love. Which means giving your life. This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

Now you might have noticed in the passage, it's like John's anticipating a string of questions.

How do we know what love is? Look at Jesus. And love your Christian family that way.

Next question. So how do I know I belong to the family?

How do we know, verse 19, we belong to the truth? Because I know there are people who struggle with that question. That your heart is uneasy. That you're maybe lacking assurance.

Maybe you're here this morning and you're thinking all this stuff about serving and loving; I don't even feel I know anyone. And the ones I do know... I don't even like very much!!

Well, here's a word of reassurance. Here's how to put your heart at rest.

John says, sometimes our hearts condemn us even when God doesn't. Sometimes we're just anxious. Sometimes our past sins that God's already forgiven just keep coming back to haunt our minds. In any one year, around 1 million Australian adults are suffering from depression, and over 2 million have anxiety.

John wants you to rest easy in the gospel. Maybe you think about practical love and you're thinking I can never do enough. And the weight of that breaks you. John wants to set your heart at rest. Because he says, even if our hearts condemn us, God's bigger than that.

20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

He knows you better than you do. If you're anxious. He's not. If you've got low self esteem. He actually loves you more than you do. He knows it all.

And the thing he especially knows, is that when you come to Jesus in faith; not resting on your own efforts but on his death for you on the cross. The thing that God knows most clearly of all is that he's promised. To transform our hearts by the work of his Spirit.

And he's doing that. And he will do it. Whether you're satisfied with your own progress or not.

Paul says in Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit is love. And then joy and peace and patience and all those other things. That are now planted in our hearts and developing in our desires. So that even when we don't get things right, we actually want to. When before, we didn't.

Here's the thing. You're maybe thinking the way you'll know God loves you will be maybe some mystic inner spiritual feeling of closeness to God. A spiritual tingle. A sense of closeness.

Some people maybe have that. But this is saying something profoundly different.

You'll know God loves you. You'll know you belong to the truth. Because you'll actually want to obey Jesus. When he tells us to love one another.

You'll know God loves you. Not so much through a mystic experience. But when you start to find yourself ... by his Spirit... putting love into action towards people you otherwise just wouldn't want to love at all. People who just aren't your taste. Aren't your style. Across all kinds of barriers and boundaries. When you find yourself putting other people first in practical thoughtful costly ways. Instead of just wanting to use them for what's in it for you.

Listen carefully again to how John puts it. In verse 21 to 24. Follow in your bible.

21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God's commands lives in him, and he in them.

In other words, if instead of just condemning yourself you just get on a keep his command to love one another. Then you're actually showing. That the spirit of Jesus is living in you.

So the second half of verse 24 brings it all together. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

Now sorry if that sounds complicated. You kind of need to read John's chain backwards.

When we trust Jesus he gives us his spirit.

His spirit changes our hearts.

Which means we obey his command to love.

Which is why our hearts don't need to condemn us any more. And we know that we belong to the truth.

That's why our key phrase says we want to be a church that's on about: loving with servant hearts. The difference between us and the Rotary club should be that our hearts are moved by the Spirit as we look at the example of Jesus.

And that shapes our love. That's square one.

That's what it means. To be part of the family of God. Living as brothers and sisters.

It may be you're here this morning and you're not even at square one yet. That's fine. Keep an eye out. Look around. And see what Christian community looks like.

It's far from perfect. Because we're still being reshaped to be like Jesus. And we've got a lot to learn. But the reality is, it starts at the heart and works outwards.

So I'm not saying to you this morning if you're not at square one yet, we want you to do stuff. You need to serve more, you need to love more.

Maybe for you the reality is you need a heart check. And before anything else you need to look at Jesus more. And then get started on a life of love that comes from a change of heart.

But look, it may be you've been a Christian for a while. As I guess lots of us have. And somehow, in your business, in the disappointments, in the way people have let you down... maybe you realise that as you look at your own heart, there's a little bit more Cain there than there is Christ.

Maybe frustration has turned to anger and anger has turned to bitterness and bitterness has even turned to hate.

It would be a great new start for you. If you're feeling that way towards a brother or sister in our church family. To this week ask forgiveness. Put a reminder in your diary. Right now. And do it. As soon as you can. If you want some help with that, come and chat to me afterwards. And we'll make a plan.

Maybe on the other hand, it's just that you've forgotten that love is meant to be material. That it's meant to play out in action and not just empty words. Even empty warm words. They're just as empty. And so you realise you need to do something.

Look, it just constantly delights me that we're a church full of people who get this stuff. And are just so thoughtful and practical.

At Rick's funeral ten days ago. I was talking to one of their neighbours. She was looking around at morning tea, at the team working so hard in the kitchen, so many people behind the scenes. And she was just amazed to see a loving community at work. She said, "This kinda sounds wrong, but this is the best funeral I've ever been to."

But look, that's just one small example. Because there are. And there will be. All kinds of ways to listen to the Spirit at work in your heart. Prompting you. To love. Like a servant. From the heart. That's one of the key things we're growing into as a Church. That's... God's family. That's... belonging to the truth. Loving like Jesus. With servant hearts.