Entering Into
Notes
Transcript
So I think I have told this story awhile ago, so I apologize for those who have heard it before, but have anyone ever seen any of the batman movies?
Awhile back my brother was living in Pittsburg and during this time they were shooting the batman movie; “The Dark Knight Rises” and there was a scene that actually took place in the Pittsburg Steelers football stadium
And the scene was supposed to be during an actual football game so what happened is they told anyone in the area that if they wanted to be a part of this movie they were welcome to come to the stadium the day they were shooting.
And thousands of people came including my brother and he was bragging about it for months that he was in the Dark night rises movie.
And I remember thinking the movie should have been called “The Brian Shea Rises”
And I remember when the movie came out we got the DVD pretty quickly and we were watching it and I believe I remember hearing my brother say something along the lines of “This is my scene”
But here is the issue, because I am not sure how many times I have watched that scene,
and how many times we paused it at diffeernt angles
but we have not once seen my brother in that movie
And I think it sunk in to my brother that the movie was not about him.
But you know I was thinking about that this past week and where we are today,
And today we are starting a new series and really we are looking at a heart change we have where we move from a place where we view our lives as the center to where we begin to enter a relationship with God and begin to see Him as the center and then us as a part of God’s story.
Because to often when we have our view that we are the center it leads to us living a life stingy rather then a life where we are generously loving others.
And so today we will be looking at a passage in 1 John 3:11-20 and in this book of the Bible the guy who wrote it (named John) focuses on this idea that when we enter into a relationship with Christ something changes
And in this passage specifically tells us about one of the biggest areas that changes in our life which is how we love.
So we are just going to start in the first few verses, verses 11-13. It says:
1 John 3:11–13 (NIV)
More on Love and Hatred
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. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
So I love how this starts because John starts by saying you have heard it from the beginning that you should love one another.
And so he is kind of drawing them back to their roots, I mean you guys have heard it say love one another.
Its almost like he is talking to a group of kids,
You know that you should love one another . You have been taught this
And most of us would say yeah i’ve heard that,
But John starts to get in the nitty gritty in the rest of this passage
Because He starts by taking us all the way back to the book of Genesis to a story about Cain and Abel and long story short these were two brothers and Cain became jealous of Abel and ended up killing Abel.
(you thought your family was dysfunctional)
But on a serious note: this story happens shorty after sin enters the world and it is showing a really intense effect of sin in our lives and world.
because now instead of us having a connection with others and loving the people around us we start to see others as a threat.
And in really practical terms we start to hoard, because I need to get as much as I can and I don’t cant help anyone else.
But even more then this we ultimately see one of the biggest effects of sin entering the world is it begins to seperate us from the people around us.
I mean because of sin we see gossip
We see people get angry at eachother and go I dont want to be around that person or I cannot stand people who think this way.
And this seperates us from those around us.
And can I just say when we are separated from someone it begins to make you feel like their problems are not yours.
I mean think about it this way if I told you every second someone falls and breaks a bone somewhere in the world
You would probably say thats sad, and move on with your day
But if someone fell and broke something right in front of you, you would go “Oh no, I need to help them” and you probably would offer to take them to the hospital and help them out.
But its because this person is right in front of us
And can I just say the further people are from the more we can say “thats not my problem”
And lets move on to the next part (verses 14-15) because it tells us where this seperation leads us. it says this:
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. 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.
You know this passage uses some weird language, but here is what we need to understand, because around this time their were a ton of legalistic rules and whats interesting is when Jesus comes, He says He did not come to get rid of this, but to fufill it.
But here is the thing, because He is not saying make the rules more strict, but He is saying that what He has come to change is the heart.
so instead of living leagalistically we can live where our hearts are shaped by
Him and everything else flows out of our relationship with Christ.
And this is why this passage says whoever does not abide in love abides in death, because our hearts are living in a place of brokenness that as a Christ follower we have died to that old way of life, and have come alive in Christ
and so in this passage when he says if you hate your brother you are a murderer, he is not saying you are litterly a murderer,
But he is saying the place you are living in is death, rather than a place of love.
And when we do this we are not just separating ourselves from the people around us but we are devaluing them, where (we might not say this out-loud), but we begin think that person has no value.
and that we are the only one with value
and all the sudden their thoughts don’t matter
We cannot live in that place, and if you do its probably more toxic for you.
I mean think about it because: Has anyone ever gotten really angry while driving?
You could be screaming at the person, but you know how much it effects them (if there a person who just shakes it off)?
Almost not at all, but it can ruin your entire day
And so John is telling us all of this, and He is is going this is not the way we should be living, but instead he gives us a stark contrast in the next few verses.
He says this in verses 16-18:
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. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
Do you see the contrast there? before anything He says look what Jesus did:
Because if you look at the Bible and even our own lives we are a people that so often run from God
And so God sends Jesus and he sends him in a tank to teach us a lesson right?
No He sends Jesus to come down to love, serve and teach and te people tortuture, crucify and kill Him
And instead of Him saying I am done with these people and cannot stand them, He gets on the cross and says it is finished.
And He dies so we (these messy people that keep turning away from Him) can be in a relationship with Him.
And John writes this letter saying you want to know what our relationship should be with the people around us, it is that.
And He says this is not just with words and talking nice.
Talking nicely is great, but if thats it, we missed it.
Because He says it happens through deeds and reliability and really, through doing things with compassion
And I love the word the Bible uses for compassion because I think a lot of us would say compassion is going “thats so sad” “I feel really bad for that person”
But the Greek word for compassion actually has the meaning that you “enter into”
Almost like how Jesus came, so to be compassionate is entering into the situation and saying where do you want me God.
What does it look like when a persons tire is popped to enter into that situation
What does it look like when you here about someone who is having a hard time buying food for their family to enter into that situation
What does it look like to enter into the situation of a person who has a mental illness
And sometimes these things get messy, but you know what the beautiful part of this is?
Jesus entered into a mess.
And maybe you are thinking well how do I do this? because I am not a naturally like this.
I love this last part. Look what it says in verses 19-20
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
I love the picture thats painted here
Resting in His presence.
I am not a person that likes to rest (if you ever see me running around you know this)
and I think in a culture where we are constantly on the run its important to ask what does it look like to just rest in God’s presence.
Because I think it almost looks like this sponge, it sits in the water and its not really doing anything, but it just absorbs whats around it.
And a lot of times we are good at absorbing things in our lives that are not great,
But what does in look like to absorb Jesus.
And so as we close we are going to receive communion
And if you are not familiar with this, its a great way to sit in God’s presence.
Because we receive communion as a way to remember how Jesus loved the people who might not of lived Him.
And not just that but how He loved us, How He loved you.
And really its because on the night Jesus was betrayed before being crucified,
He sat in a room with those who followed Him, but also people who were far from perfect.
In fact almost all of them would abandon Him over the next 24 hours and one would be responsable for Him dying on the cross.
But here is Jesus, and He has this meal with the bread representing His body and the wine representing His blood.
And He extends to these people saying this is my body broken for you, this is my blood shed for you.
And so as we close, I think the first step is saying yes God I want to recieve that grace, I want to absorb it.
Because to often we are good at the position of our heart being self centered, but what does it look like to make a change where it is God centered?
Our time, our energy, our resources, because its amazing what can happen when we let God break into those places.
Because how we spend our time, talents and resources, probably tells us where we are centered.
Will you pray with me?