A Mutually Exclusive Faith
Notes
Transcript
Title- A Mutually Exclusive Faith
Passage- 1 John 3:11-13
Introduction-
A police officer pulled a driver aside and asked for his license and registration. “What’s wrong, officer,” the driver asked. “I didn’t go through any red lights, and I certainly wasn’t speeding.”
“No, you weren’t,” said the officer, “but I saw you waving your fist as you swerved around the lady driving in the left lane, and I further observed your flushed and angry face as you shouted at the driver of the Hummer who cut you off, and how you pounded your steering wheel when the traffic came to a stop near the bridge.”
“Is that a crime, officer?”
“No, but when I saw the ‘Jesus loves you and so do I’ bumper sticker on the car, I figured this car had to be stolen.”
This is what John is sharing this morning. The Bible makes the connection or links “believing” to “behavior.” The two appear to be inseparable.
Love and hate are mutually exclusive in the Christian life
Main truth- The absence of love in the life of a child of God is inconsistent with the message of love that has been proclaimed to them.
Transition #1-
What is being taught? (Explain the passage and draw out the 1st century truth)
“For this is the message”…because of the truths of chapter 1:1-3:10
Because of the truth of the Gospel message
Because of the person and work of Jesus
How do we live?
LOVE!
This message, the message of love, is the one that they have been hearing since the beginning of their Christian lives
In chapter four we will see that they have been hearing this message of love from the beginning because that message is grounded in the very nature of God.
Love is one of the driving themes of what Jesus taught His disciples
Johns final phrase int this verse is in the grammatically similar to some we have seen
The verb love is in a form that teaches that it should be a habitual love…a consistent and continual love
Having established that believers are characterized by righteousness and abstinence from a life of continual sin, John now adds that they are also persons who love one another as a normal and consistent habit of life.
-John then illustrates the absence of love by way of the life of Cain.
Cain’s conduct, murder, revealed his character.
Notice carefully that John does not call Cain the wicked one but says that he is “of the wicked one”
John one again is getting back to the heart
Cain’s heart is ruled by sin
How do we know?
He slew him
It is interesting the choice of the translators here
The word entails much more violence and hatred than what is portraid by this single word.
The best way to illustrate the full impact is to say that it is the same word as used in Revelation 5:9
This is talking about the premeditated, cruel, hatefilled, violent death of Jesus
Why does Cain respond this way?
John tells us, “Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.”
Here is that line in the sand again
This time it’s not focused on doctrine but behavior
Of all the behavior what is the behavior that most obviously contrasts the believer from the world? LOVE
Well, at least it should be
Transition #2-
How do we understand this in our context? (Bridge 1st century truth to today)
As much as those without a proper understanding of the Bible want to say that the Bible is about rules and regulations it is not so
-The Bible, and especially the New Testament epistles are about the heart
-They speak about behavior because our behavior is the result of what rules our hearts
Cain’s heart was ruled by himself and his personal desire
-Able’s heart was ruled by a desire to glorify God
So therefore if we strive to live a life that is to the glory of God then John tells us in verse 13 “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you”
The challenge for the believer is not only to live a life that glorifies God but also one that is countercultural and hated by the world.
When we live with a desire to meet the moral standard of God...
Or if we live to do the right thing because God’s Word says it’s the right thing to do then the world will not accept us
In the world we will be met by individuals who oppose us and think at best that we are strange and may even see us as the enemy
-Why will they see us this way?
-Their hearts are not indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God and they do not know any better
-Why do cows moo or dogs bark?
-Because it is their nature and they don’t know anything different
Those in this world without Christ oppose believers because they don’t know any different
To be angry with the unbeliever for their actions is like being angry at a cow for mooing or a dog for barking
-We need to have compassion on unbelievers
-We need a radical transformation of our thinking
We need to get back to the original message that we personally heard in the beginning
That Jesus loved us
That Jesus died for us
That all we needed to do was trust Him and ask forgiveness
At some point someone had the compassion towards us to love us enough to share the gospel with us
-We need to renew our minds to not see unbelievers as the enemy but as those who are in need of Jesus just like we were
Transition #3-
How do we live this out in our context? (Application of the biblical truth to us personally)
How should this change my thinking. (Mental understanding and/or reasoning?)
We need to come to the understanding that even the liberal politicians or those with different religious beleifs…they are not the ones we are in a battle with
-We need to be reminded of what Paul says in Ephesians 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
The unbelievers are nothing more than prisoners of war and need the Gospel message to rescue them
How should this change my heart? (What do I love?)
We will not love them and have the compassion necessary until we change our thinking...
Then our compassion will come in and prayerfully give us the drive to see lost souls saved
POW’s of this spiritual war liberated by the gospel
How should this change my whole being? (Behavioral change)
Once I change the way I thing and feel towards the unsaved I will then be compelled to give them the Gospel
It will be then that Romans 12:1-2 comes full circle
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
When we surrender to Christ, we transform the way that we think about unbelievers…through our newfound compassion for them we will display the good and acceptable and perfect will of God; the salvation of the lost from their sins
Conclusion
Review-
But we need to get back to the heart of the Gospel
We need to get back to the heart of God
The Gospel
The desire for lost souls to hear the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection
That is the will of God
We at times get our priorities out of place
We need priorities
They help to keep our doctrine pure
They may even keep our hearts and behaviors pure
But the Lord Jesus himself called us to one priority
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
This is a call to not only chronologically declare the gospel first
But to make the gospel and its spread a priority in our hearts
First in priority not first in chronology
I suppose then we could think of it this way...
Can I have…lets say....doctrinal purity without love?
Can I walk the walk (Suit and tie, clean shaven, not tattoos or piercings) and not have love? I don’t wear a tie because God demands it, I wear it because denominationally it is required and I love you all more than I love not wearing a tie.
In a couple week we will elect a man to the position of deacon
If when thinking about an individual for that position…if your first thought is anything other than how much he loves God and loves others you missed it
Can I be politically conservative and yet not have love?
There has been much respect and prayer for Donald Trump....will you continue to respect and pray for Joe Biden?
Will you defend him when conservatives slander and attack him the way Donald Trump has been defended?
We get it backwards and then forget love
We try to get the behavior fixed hoping that the heart will change
Friends, your behavior flows from the abundance of your heart and you need to pray and change your thinking in order to live up to God’s moral standard
We need to start with love…biblical love
Then the rest will follow
I can be filled with love and have doctrinal purity
I can be filled with love and not match the cookie cutter image of the perfect Christian
I can be filled with love and not meet your political standards
What is the first and greatest commandment? Matthew 22:37
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
What follows directly after that?
Not how you look or dress, not your doctrinal stance, not your political affiliation
Matthew 22:39
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
When you correctly love God you will desire to love others
If you have a form of love for God and do not love others the question is do you really love God
Or do you love the genie in a bottle form of God you worship?
The Christian life begins with a love for God…that produces a love for others
Have you noticed what isn’t in the list?
Self-love
The Bible knows our hearts and that we have no problems loving self
Call to action-
I want you to go home this afternoon and make a list
The first thing I want you to put on that list is your heart…pray for a heart of love in your own life
A heart of love first and foremost for God!!
Then a heart of love for others
Make a list of people you interact with that are unbelievers
And then at the top of the list write Prayer List
Pray for them
Then make another list below them that fall in line with 1 Timothy 2:2
For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
Joe Biden
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Nancy Pelosi
Chuck Schumer
Tony Evers
Satya Rhodes-Conway
You get the idea
Pray for them
Why do they propose the legislation they do?
Why do they oppose certain legislation?
Because they are living out their nature
They do not know any different
To consistently and persistently pray for another person is the surest way to develop compassion for them
Let’s be a church of compassion
Let’s be a church of prayer
Let’s be a church motivated by the gospel
Closing song-
429- Take Time to be Holy