Sermon Tone Analysis

The other love chapter...

A tale of 2 Christians

American Christian

American Christianity the words define for the world over what it means to just not understand.

We live in a nation that is full of privilege, we have the freedom to worship how want and who we want.

We have money, power, possessions, and somewhere along the way people have bought into the lie that all the stuff that we have is a blessing from God. It’s easy to be a Christian in our country.

We may not like to hear that, we may feel like we are persecuted, we may feel like we are ill used but we are not.

We are in this place today, we are full of life today, we are allowed to worship today .

American Christians tend to have wrong ideas and wrong thoughts about what it means to be a follower of christ.

(talk about when you stopped being a christian)

Authentic Christ Follower

Our brand of Christianity is far removed from the type of Christianity practiced by the eople who started the whole thing, in fact Jesus had some interesting words for what people who followed him could expect.

He talked of turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, not repaying evil for evil.

He told Christian to count it joy when times were hard, when they were persecuted for his name.

He asked people to sell all and follow him, he told people they could expect trouble.

He told them to Love people more than they loved stuff.

To greet each other in Love, to reach to a world, to remember that the word Whosoever is important.

I love what John writes here it shows us a better way.

It shows us what it means not to be just a Christian but what it means to be a Christ Follower…

Love is the Verb!

1. Christians should be known for their Love…but not just any love.

Unconditional Love

i. Loving someone who loves you back is easy.

It’s fun to share life with other human beings, it’s easy to do it when you have this in common, when you like each other, when spending time together is what you are all about.

Loving someone that loves you and you know will return that love is a no brainier.

The kind of love Christ followers are supposed to evidence though is something different all together.

Romans 8:35

gives us a picture of what unconditional love means….When it says not that we loved God but that he Loved us.

God set the plan for reconciliation in motion and then didn’t compel a single human to accept that plan, God didn’t mandate that humanity love him at all, that humanity choose him at all, he simply loved us and made a way for our sins to not be held against us.

Intentional Love

i.

This is what intentional love is all about.

Actively choosing to do what’s best for another person even if they don’t want it even if they don’t accept it, even if they are hostile to it.

Intentional love is actionable.

It see’s a need and meets a need because in doing so, especially when a Christ follower does so they are acting like God, he is able to perfect his love in us when we exercise that love.

i.

This is wht intentional love is all about.

Activly choosing to do what’s best for another person even if they don’t want it even if they don’t accept it, even if they are hostile to it.

Intentional love is actionable.

It see’s a need and meets a need because in doing so, especially when a Christ follower does so they are acting like God, he is able to perfect his love in us when we exercise that love.

Sacrificial Love

Love that gives when there is seemingly nothing left to give.

The ultimate example of course is Jesus dying for humanity, knowing full well that they may or may not even care that He did.

But how does this play out in our world today.

Sacrificial love gives not out of abundance but out of lack.

Sacrificial love not only puts another ahead of yourself, but chooses to do so when others would stop, when it makes no sense, through pain, and poverty, and starvation, sacrificial love always sees others before it see’s the person doing the loving.

So back to that question

Selfishness is the problem…

a.

So back to the question.

If God is love why do so many Christians hate.

i.

They operate under the wrong definition of Christian

ii.

They see possessions and problems instead of people

iii.

They are more concerned about their needs than they are about the mandate that was given by the person they claim to follow.

This Week’s Challenge

Look for opportunities to love without condition.

Find tangible ways to show that love, if you’re comfortable post the personal outcome from being Jesus with skin by loving like He loves.