2023-01-08 Knowing God by Loving People

We’ve covered a lot of topics in our series on Hungering for God. We’ve looked at longing to see him, to be in his presence. I talked about basing our identity in Jesus and then spent five Sundays talking about prayer, focusing on being honest with God and having the correct picture of God. During Advent I looked at hunger for healing, for hope and for peace. Then, last Sunday, I called us to consider fasting as a way to draw closer to God. As I look back at our series on Hungering For God, I see that all of them focus on our relationship with God; how we approach him and how we think of him, which makes total sense. But as we saw last week, when we read Isaiah 58:3-7, having the right actions towards God doesn’t necessarily draw us close to God. Something can get in the way. What is that something? Let’s read it again. (read) Blank. Do you see what Isaiah is saying? The people of Israel were trying to draw close to God through humbling themselves before God by fasting and prayer. They even dressed in sackcloth and sat in ashes. But God didn’t draw near to them. He didn’t listen to their prayers. Why? Because their actions towards the people in their lives were hurtful and unjust. They wanted God to pay attention to them and their concerns, but God paid no attention because they were unloving.

Jesus on Love

There is a direct connection between our relationship to God and our relationship to people. Jesus hinted at this when he was asked what the greatest commandments were. His answer? Blank. “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40 Everything about how we should live is wrapped up in these two commandments. What Jesus didn’t do here is detail the interconnection between the two.

He did in Matthew 25. At the beginning of Matthew 25 Jesus told a few parables about what it would be like at the end of time and how we should be ready. He then talked about what would happen when the Son of Man, himself, would come in all his glory. Thank you to Carlee for reading it. This is a sobering passage. Judgment is always sobering. What strikes me every time I read this passage is what prevents us from going to live in God’s presence. It’s not what I say to God. It’s not how poorly I praise him or how few times I go to church. It’s not how little I pray or how little I read my Bible. It has everything to do with how I treat other people. Do I have compassion for those who are thirsty and then go give them something to drink? Do I care about those who don’t have enough clothes and bring them some clothes. Did I welcome in the stranger? Did I visit the sick and those in prison? In short, did I love others as I love myself? If I want to be in God’s presence, to draw close to him and live with him, I need to love others. If I want to draw closer to God, loving others is included in the pathway. If I don’t, I won’t be allowed to be in his presence.

John on Love

The apostle of love, John, caught this teaching of Jesus and wrote it down in 1 John 4. Turn with me to 1 John 4:7. I’ll walk through this passage and talk about it as I go through it.

V7, 8 – Love comes from God. God is love. His very essence is love. All the love in the world has its ultimate source in God. Even those in the world who do not know God but who love self-sacrificially, without even knowing it, are imitating God. Simply by us living in a world created by God and us being created in the image of God means that a lot of God’s goodness is found in the world and when we live up to the image of God, we live out some of what God intended us to be, which is love.

Vv9, 10 – John then gives us his reason for thinking that God is love. He demonstrated how much he loves and his very character by sending his only Son to die for us as an atoning sacrifice for our sin and to give us real life. If that’s not a reason to think of God as love, than I don’t know what would ever persuade you.

Vv11, 12 – We love because God loved us. We love in response to God’s love. We can’t see God, but by loving others, God can be seen in us.

Vv13-16a – In v 7 seems to say that all it takes to know God is to love others. Here John adds to our understanding. If we acknowledge Jesus as the saviour of the world, then God lives in us we in God. By doing so we are knowing and relying on God’s love. Yes, people around the world love, but only those who believe in and trust in Jesus have the ultimate expression of God’s love and can love as he loved. Our loving others points towards God’s love for us. God’s love for us enables us to love others.

Vv16b-18 – Again, God is love. We are like Jesus when we love as he loved us. It is his love in us that drives out our fear. We don’t fear the judgement because of the love of God given to us in Jesus.

Vv19-21 – Here’s John’s bottom line. If you claim to love God but don’t love your brothers or sisters, you’re not really a follower of God. Loving God always involves loving others. And loving others draws us into God’s presence.

So how does this actually work? What does love look like? And how does it draw us into God’s presence? How do we come to know God by loving others?

What Love Looks Like

In a book by Jay Dennis called The Jesus Habits, he lists four ways in which Jesus demonstrated to us what loving others looks like.

Jesus loved the lovable. Blank This one doesn’t sound all that hard. It’s not hard to love someone who already loves us. Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. They were followers of his and loved him. Jesus loved his mother and while on the cross, he commissioned one of his disciples to care for her after he was gone. But loving those who love us isn’t always easy to put into practice. Who do you speak to with the greatest courtesy? The stranger on the phone or your spouse or parent? Who do you treat with the greatest patient, the customer at your till or whining child?

Jesus also loved the unlovable. Blank Remember the thief on the cross? One minute he’s hurling insults at Jesus, the next he asks Jesus to remember him in his kingdom. Earlier he loved very broken people. I can tell you from experience that loving very broken people isn’t always easy. When you think of the 1000’s of people that he healed, the reality is that many of them weren’t especially easy people to love.

Jesus expressed his love to others. Blank John 13:34, 35 says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” In his teaching he makes it clear to his disciples that he loves them. Expressions of love towards one another is incredibly important. Yes, we need to demonstrate it with concrete actions, but expressions of love matter big time. When Kenton was a small child, playing in the house, while playing he would often call out, ‘Mom’, Corrina would respond, “Yes Kenton?” “I love you” he would say, and go on playing. With out close relatives or romantic partners this is easier. What would it look like in our church body. Let’s practice this right now. Let’s pause and if you’re comfortable, tell the people around you that you love them. Use their names. It might feel awkward, but I suspect you really do love them. Express it. If you’re watching online, tell the people you’re with that you love them. If you’re alone, text those words to someone. (pause for this to happen)

Jesus loved his enemies. Blank Jesus loved Judas. Remember? He washed his feet and broke bread with him. Later, he called out for those who crucified him to be forgiven. Before Christmas I was really proud of our foster son one day. He told me about a fellow student that was not treating him very well at all. Instead of retaliating he bought something from the vending machine and gave it to him. Loving your enemies is hard. Sometimes they become your friends, sometimes they stay your enemies.

Jesus also chose to love. Blank In Matthews account of Judas’ betrayal Jesus says to Peter, “Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” Jesus, the eternal son of God had all the power at his disposal to completely wipe out all those who opposed him. 2 Kings 19:35 tells us that an angel of death put to death 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night. One angel. Jesus said he could have called on more than 12 legions of angels. By choosing not to he loved his enemies and gave them a chance to turn from their wicked ways.

By choosing not to he loved his enemies and gave them a chance to turn from their wicked ways.

I can’t fully explain how loving others connects us to God. It’s somewhat of a mystery, but it does. When we do we love others, I think God’s Spirit speaks into our souls and whispers, ‘You are my beloved child, in you I am well pleased.’ I have experienced God’s pleasure when loving others. I have often used a triangle 0745490when doing pre-marriage counselling to show to couples how loving God draws them closer to God. The closer you get to God, the closer you get to each other. Vice versa is also true. If you reach across to the other side of the triangle and pull the person towards you, what will happen? You’ll start sliding up the sides and get closer to God. Blank. Dallas Willard puts it this way, “The first great commandment makes it possible to fulfill the second: love of neighbour as oneself. And loving others under God will ensure that we are loved by others. For to the others in our community of love, we are the ‘other’ whom they love because they love and are love by God.” When we love others with the love of God, they in turn love us back with the love of God. We then, both, experience God’s love. You see, if we take seriously the teaching in 1 Corinthians that the church is the body of Christ, then, when we draw close to the body of Christ by loving them, we are drawing close to Jesus.

Conclusion

This past two years has been a deep learning experience for me. First, Katie joined us, then Sabrina and Rick began showing up at our place, online and in person. Then we took in a young mom and daughter and a friend living with her. Then, after they left, our foster kids arrived. We have been stretched way beyond my comfort zone far more times than I can count. It has cost us time, money and effort. There have been wonderful moments and breakthroughs. We have seen God work in powerful ways. Much of our love has been returned. Thousandfold.

But much hasn’t. Some whom we have loved have turned away and rejected us. Many hurtful words have been said. We have been ignored and abandoned. But in the middle of it all, I have experienced a closeness to God. When I have loved deeply, I have sensed God’s nearness in an unmistakeable way. I understand much more deeply how much God loves us. I have begun to understand the cost of loving those who reject you and hate you. I get God more than I did in the past. I’m only scratching the surface, but when I think of the rejection Jesus experienced, a rejection that came after he loved so deeply, I now understand a little of what that means. It’s the kind of knowledge of God that can only be experienced by loving others. I encourage you to know God by loving others.

Pray

Benediction: 2 Thessalonians 2:16, 17

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