Sermon Tone Analysis
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What Does Love Require of Me?
As a pastor, I often get asked a q particular question from time to time.
“Is ________ a sin?”
If we are not careful, we can be tempted to snuggle up as close to sin as possible without actually sinning.
In this sermon, I want to suggest an alternative question.
A better question.
It’s a question that introduces inescapable clarity to just about every moral, ethical, and relational decision we will bump up against.
This question takes us to the heart of Jesus’ new covenant command—the standard by which we are to evaluate our behavior, conversations, and attitudes.
Here it is:
What does love require of me?
This clarifying but terrifying question should stand guard over our consciences.
It should serve as guide, signpost, and compass as we navigate the complexities of our cultural contexts.
It should inform how we date, parent, boss, manage, and coach.
It should form a perimeter around what I say and do in my role as husband, pastor, and neighbor.
This question gives voice to the new covenant on issues where our New Testament is silent.
It fills the gaps with disquieting precision.
It succeeds where concordances fail.
It quashes the insipid justification, But the Bible doesn’t say there’s anything wrong with ______.
It closes loopholes.
It exposes our hypocrisy.
It stands as judge and jury.
It’s so simple.
But it’s so inescapably demanding.
There are many things the New Testament doesn’t specifically or directly address.
That shouldn’t surprise or concern us.
Why? Jesus’ overarching ethic of love intersects with every imaginable scenario.
New covenant people don’t begin or end with the question: What does the Bible say about . .
.? New covenant people begin with a better question:
What does God’s love for me require of me?
Remember, for the first two hundred-plus years, the church had no The Bible.
Sacred documents?
Yes.
Officially sanctioned Christian Scripture?
Not yet.
In the beginning, new covenant folks took their cues from Jesus’ new command.
The command they had “from the beginning.”1
Everything flowed from and reflected that one overarching idea.
When teaching this content, I often ask the audience to commit the following to memory:
WHEN UNSURE OF WHAT TO SAY OR DO,
Stanley, Andy.
Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World (p.
233).
Zondervan.
Kindle Edition.
Stanley, Andy.
Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World (p.
233).
Zondervan.
Kindle Edition.
Stanley, Andy.
Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World (p.
234).
Zondervan.
Kindle Edition.
ASK WHAT LOVE REQUIRES OF YOU.
Stanley, Andy.
Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World (p.
234).
Zondervan.
Kindle Edition.
The commands scattered throughout our New Testament answer the question, What does love require of me?
New Testament imperatives are examples of how to love others as God in Christ has loved us.
New Testament imperatives are there for the benefit of the one-anothers around us.
They illustrate what love for others looks like.
They clarify what’s required of those who have embraced the new covenant and the new covenant command.
Again, Paul, Peter, James, and John did not add to Jesus’ “new command.”
They applied it.
THE NEW WHY
Stanley, Andy.
Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World (p.
234).
Zondervan.
Kindle Edition.
Jesus’ new command obligates us to wrestle with this new and better question.
But it does something else as well.
His new command provides us with a new and better answer to an old question.
Stanley, Andy.
Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World (p.
234).
Zondervan.
Kindle Edition.
Stanley, Andy.
Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World (p.
234).
Zondervan.
Kindle Edition.
Jesus’ new covenant command forces us to upgrade our answer to the question Why?
Why obey?
Why submit?
Why surrender?
Stanley, Andy.
Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World (p.
234).
Zondervan.
Kindle Edition.
With the inauguration of the new covenant, why would no longer be associated with appeasing God or purging property.
Jesus followers aren’t instructed to obey in order to gain something from God.
We obey in light of what we’ve already been given.
Stanley, Andy.
Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World (p.
234).
Zondervan.
Kindle Edition.
The New Testament, new covenant answer to why is always:
Stanley, Andy.
Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World (p.
235).
Zondervan.
Kindle Edition.
That’s what love requires of me because that’s what’s best for them.
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