Love Christian Style

Everyone deals with the pressures of life! The pressures of life could be financial, maybe relational, family, work, or a combination of things. You know throughout my years as a pastor, here is what I found, often times the pressures of life are traps to take us away from being faithful to God.

They take us away from being obedient to the Word, in coming to church on a regular basis, or praying daily, or reading, and studying the scripture, these traps can also keep us away from serving God and others. That’s really what we see in this series.

The apostle John is reminding the believers who have been persecuted, who have had troubles in life and those who are in the church who are falling into the trap of false teachers who God is and where our faith should be.

Now you may remember that Gnostics are people who believe that they possess an elevated knowledge, a “higher truth” known only to them.

Gnosticism comes from the Greek word “gnosis” which means “to know.” Gnostics claim to possess a higher knowledge, not from the Bible, but acquired on some mystical higher plane of existence.

Here is the interesting thing about them in biblical days they shared some of the same characteristic of the Jewish religion and Christianity. Yet they saw themselves as a privileged class, elevated above everybody else by their higher, deeper knowledge of God. Some Gnostics don’t believe that Jesus had a physical body, but only had a mystical spirit in the form of a body. And of course, their views and teachings got into the early church community and began to lead people down the wrong path.

Have you ever noticed that when things are going good, some group or person begins add their 2 cents in and chaos erupts?

Because of that I think that we as today's church can identify with what the Apostle John is writing about.

In today's world we see see the persecution of believers, we all have life problems. I don't know about you, but I also see that there are false teachers and preachers out there. Just like in biblical days, we also have people today leading others astray. Amen?

That’s why this book is so important to us today. John begins to deal with these issues by reminding the church community then and even us today of the basics of our foundation of our faith.

Lets look back at what we learned so far: In the first week we talked about how we are to have vital sign or pulse of our spiritual life. And that pulse is called Spiritual Fellowship. Spiritual fellowship is the fellowship that we have with God and with brothers and sisters in Christ.

The second week we discussed that our Father in heaven is the light of the world. We talked about how we are to walk in our heavenly Fathers shoes. When we walk our Fathers shoes we begin to become more and more like Him. And God’s light must shine through us into the darkness of the world.

Then last week - The Apostle John reminded us that even though we have been sentenced to death, believers have also been pardoned for life.

Meaning that sin is no longer a part of a our lifestyle.

Brother Mark taught about three important facts about our faith.

Think about like this, life is like living on death row; Why

1.Sin is a death sentence.It is deadly

But

2.Jesus pardons us from our sin.

3. The proof of the pardoned life is in us.

We can be assured of our new life if we keep His commands, Love like He loves and walk as Christ Walks.

Which bring us to today.

If you have your Bible with you today, and I hope that you do, I invite you to open it with me to the New Testament book of 1st John.

Remember that 1st John is the 5th book from the back of the Bible working your way forward. Revelation, Jude, 3rd John, 2nd John, and then 1st John. Chapter two is were we will be this morning.

The Apostle John we can estimate to be close to 100 or so years of age. He probably at this point is the last person alive who personally witnessed the resurrection of Jesus.

He is the grandfather figure to the church as we see him address the recipients of the letter as “my little children”, this is not only a term of endearment but also reminding them that the He is their elder and as being the elder comes with respect and as such he begins to speak to the believers about love.

If you are there in 1 John begin reading with me from verse 7. This is the Word of God and it begins like this:

1 John 2:7-11“Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

Friends, I want you to know that each time we open this Holy Word of God it unravels what is broken in our hearts and in our world. It speaks to us in a magnificent way as to say it was written for us, right now, in this moment, for this very time. And that is what we see in today's scripture.

Here again the Apostle John writes in contrasting statements between the light and darkness. Light is God, its good, Light is love, Light provides life.

But on the other hand there is darkness. Darkness is the devil, it is bad, hatred, it is sin, and it ends with death.

Now we have seen in the last few weeks darkness unfold through senseless killings, hate speech against people, the withdrawal of Afghanistan and the executions by the Taliban.

Gayle and I witnessed it first hand as we were walking into a restaurant in Tennessee and this guy filled with rage began started spewing racial slurs at us and using the N word, then began to talk about God.. I love what Gayle said to him she said that we will be praying for him...

Counteracting the hate with Love.

What we need to know is this, this is a struggle with the darkness of this world. And when times seem to be the worst as a believer we can see best comes out in the end.

Before that end comes with either Jesus returning or our physical death to join Him in Heaven– John reminds us that how we are supposed to not only be the light, but how we are to respond to others around us. In other words, how to be the example God’s light and how we are to treat others.

And that brings us to our TAKE-HOME TRUTH for today:

THE TAKE-HOME TRUTH IS THIS:

LOVE IS THE CORE OF OUR FAITH.

I read an article that said: “If you ask some people, they would say that Christianity is founded on guilt and fear. Guilt that we have sinned and fear of the consequence of sin which is hell and its suffering throughout eternity. Although these are true, We also see that God’s love has been manifested through His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him no longer has to have the guilt of sin and wrath of God.

So, when we look at that very nature we find that God is Love and that He acted out of the love for us.

The implications of that love are profound!

And that is what the Apostle John is getting at. He is really talking about love Christian style or should i say Love God’s style.

You see the goal of our faith is found in the saving grace of God through His love for us, therefore this causes us to love God and to Love others as God loves us.

A true mark of a disciple of Jesus.

The Bible tells us in John 13:35 that Jesus said: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Last week we said to be sure about our salvation we must obey His commands. Can you agree with me that God made us with little quirks? One of those quirks is the need to know.

Wouldn’t you agree with me that we want to be assured in what we are doing truly comes from God?

and what is funny is that we want to make those decisions by seeking God, and when we have the answer we go back to God and pray for the confirmation and we do it over and over.

Ill...

You might have said something like; God I know that you just answered me but, I want to be sure so can you send me a third sign for me?

Paul set us up here…. Here he has given us a fourth sign that measures if we are truly walking in the light or a fourth confirmation that we have salvation. And that is love, because love is the core of our faith.

When you peel God down to His very core, you will find love.

So today I want to give you two core statements about love that the Apostle John makes.

THE FIRST CORE STATEMENT THAT JOHN MAKES IS THAT LOVE IS THE HEART OF GOD.

Look back at verses 7-8 with me: “Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

I have found what is sometimes old seems it is old when it comes to us in the original packaging. However, something old can be “made new” by taking that which was old and restoring it to a condition that is acceptable. As John states, the “old” commandment is “at the same time” - “new commandment”. it is the same as before but packaged in a different way.

The other day my wife and I went to a McDonald's.

Have you noticed that most of the fast food restaurants are improving their businesses? McDonald’s when I was a kid was all about the Golden arches, how many burgers were sold and Ronald McDonald, today they have the same food, but they have a new style, the counters are different, the set up inside the restaurant is different- you can order on a app, they have updated dinning areas and building colors. they have taken something which was old and restoring it to a condition that is acceptable for today consumers.

They are the same McDonald's, but they are re-branding it for those in today's culture.

That is what we see as John says I am not writing you a new command but an old, and yet in itself it is a new command. The way that we view it, the way that we see it. The Old Command that John is speaking is about Love and it is rooted (Follow along with me) rooted in the Old Testament law as God commands “you shall not take vengeance, nor bear bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love you neighbor as yourself” Leviticus 19:18.

God commands us to love others because He is love. In fact John says this in 1st John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

Now when people think about the Old Testament they think about the Law of God. The first 5 books of the Old Testament are called the Tora or the Pentateuch meaning the Law of God.

Now I am not making a theological breakthrough in this text. I am simply stating the what the Bible tells us that God in the Old Testament Commands us to love because He is love and HE is the source for our own love.

In Chapter 4 verse 19 John states that “we love because He first loved us”

Now, in today’s New Testament era. A lot of preachers call us the New Testament Church and a lot believe that the Old Testament is obsolete, because we now have Christ in the resurrected state. While that is partially right, what we learn from Jesus is that God loved the World so much that He sent His Son. We learn about the Love of God not through the command, although the command is still there, but through Gods action.

One day Jesus was asked by an expert of the law, who was testing Jesus with the question: “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” (Matthew 22:36-40).

Now notice with me that Jesus did not say that greatest command is something that is new, but rather he quoted THE Old Testament law which comes from Deuteronomy 6:5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your strength”.

But in retrospect of the Law we learn about God’s Love through the work and ministry of Jesus Christ.

This is the true light that John speaks about look back at verse 8. “Yet I am writing you a new command, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.”

The true light is Jesus Christ Himself. It is this hands-on principle that God initiated.

God’s Love was manifested through the interaction of God with His people and the ultimate love that was provided to us by Jesus dying on the cross.

The key phrase to the new command is to understanding the nature of this newness is the phrase, “which is true in him and in you.”

This command to love is true “in Him,” in Christ, in God.

Now watch this.... Jesus repackaged this command by giving it a new look in John 13:34.

Let me set the stage, Jesus and the disciples are the last supper, Jesus washes the feet of the disciples and says to them “I have given you an example that you should also do just as I have done for you”

Let me say here that this was meant to be an expression of love that the disciples were supposed to reciprocate to all people. The last Super continues and Jesus predicts that Judas is going to betray Him. Then hours before Jesus’ death His says these words “a New Command”.

John was there when He said it, John witnessed it firsthand. The New Command: “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Did you see what just happened the old commandment is still there, it is still the same but Jesus took it and repackaged it to look new.

What this means is that if Jesus’ life and especially His death epitomized love, then those who claim to follow Him are obligated to live in love because love is at the heart of God.

#1 The First core statement that John makes is that Love is at the heart of God

#2- The Second core statement is LOVE IS AT THE HEART OF ALL BELIEVERS.

Look at verses 9-11 with me:

“He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

I want to admit to you that I struggled with addressing the darkness here in these verses, because the focus is on love and light.

However the world is all about darkness and really to understand the power of love we all must know that we are living in the darkness of the world.

I hear people all the time say things like “I cannot believe how sick people are”, or “I cannot believe someone would do that” - listen we are living in a dying, sick, dark world, where darkness is trying to prevail.

Look at what John says, turn over with me to the fifth chapter - 1st John 5:19 John says “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”

Look back at our verses look at 2 things what Darkness brings:

#1 Hate- we see that in the world today- in politics, in Government, in prejudice, in the law, in killing ones own baby, it is all around us- no wonder Jesus said that loving one another is what will mark us as believers to the rest of the world – because this love is counter culture. It goes against everything.

#2 Blindness – people who are walking in darkness are blind to God. Take for example the Apostle Paul before His conversion: At that time His name was Saul- His story begins in the book of Acts. He was a Pharisee, He was entrusted at destroying the New Church called the Way.

He stormed after the believers, persecuting them, creating fear, putting people in Prison, having them punished for believing in Jesus.

CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT?

He killed the disciple Stephan by having him stoned to death. He was on his way to Damascus; the Bible says he was breathing murderess threats.

He hated what the way represented, He hated believers, he was blind to the very love of God.

That’s what darkness does to a person and we have people like that in our society today.

But look at what the turning point is in Verse 10 “The one who loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”

Saul experienced the very love of Jesus that one day when Jesus changed His life.

There was a light from heaven so bright it blinded him and he fell to the ground and heard the voice of Jesus. He was pardoned for His sins and made into a powerful man of God.

The Old Command – “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

The New Command- “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Notice with me that the new command is like the old command, and that Jesus added something to it, He is not taking anything away.

He adds love as I have showed you, as I have taught you, as I have given an example- Love like I love you.

Later throughout the discourse with His disciples Jesus is teaching them so much, He circles back around and says this in Johns Gospel chapter 14 “This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.”

Again, God teaching us what loves entails sacrifice.

After Jesus said those words He would soon be arrested, beaten, and sacrificed.

I believe what Jesus is teaching us is that loving one another is an essential mark of a true believer and disciple of Christ.

The first mark is to love God- the second mark of is to love other people.

So then the question arises; How do you love someone?

Jesus said: John 15:12 “This is my new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you”

I want to share with you THREE PRACTICE WAYS that you can do starting today to love people how Jesus loves you.

Three practical ways to Love others today:

#1 is Sacrifice

Love is more than a feeling, it is more than an emotion, it is a sacrifice.

Jesus put aside His own identity of being God, to be the sacrificial offering for the atonement of sin, which tangibly shows God’s incredible love for us.

Sacrifice is the most difficult way to show others love because it requires us to do something contrary to our self-preserving, selfish, sinful nature.

Although the ultimate sacrifice is giving one’s life for another. In our daily lives when we put our own needs, desires and wants aside to focus on other people’s needs and wants that is a sacrifice.

This can be a simple as allowing someone to go ahead of you in line or taking the time out of a busy schedule to help someone in need. The thing about sacrifice is you must be prepared to be obedient, it also requires a positive attitude. The Bible says in Romans 12:1

“Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.”

It pleases God when we sacrifice ourselves for others. It pleases God.

#2. Be Forgiving:

Forgiveness is a choice.

In the fast lane of life people can get hurt, stepped on and broken hearted with words and actions. It doesn’t take much to offend another person.

If you want to offend me just cut me off when I am driving. I give that look, some of you know that look.. (SMILE). My wife and I were watching an old western with Clint Eastwood called High plains drifter- in the movie he gives this look and my wife said that’s the look you give people…

The truth is people will hurt us- just like that guy in Tennessee saying all those hateful things.

I read of this story of a family who’s daughter was killed by a man, In that story it talked about her parents forgave their daughters killer and then they started to visit him every month while in prison.

The Bible says that “if you don't forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing.” God’s love is found in the ultimate forgiveness of sin.

When you forgive others, you show them the immense love that God has for you and for them.

Then #3 Serve Others

When Jesus washed the disciple’s feet, he took on the role of the house servant, he tied the towel around His waist and He washed their feet without complaining to them, without being condescending to them. Without being mean to them. He became the servant because He loved them. He even washed the feet the of the disciple Judas who He knew was going betray Him.

When we serve others, we must do so with the right heart attitude.

The Bible says in Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

When we serve others, it shows them the love of God that not only we have in our hearts, but also the love that He has for them.

THREE PRACTICAL WAYS TO LOVE OTHERS IN TODAY'S WORLD.

#1 Sacrifice yourself, #2 Forgive them #3 Serve them.

WHY?

BECAUSE LOVE IS THE CORE OF OUR FAITH-

Shown to us through God’s own heart

So that Love could BE AT THE HEART OF ALL HIS DISCIPLES.

Invitation

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