LOVE IS A VERB
Text: I John 3:16- 24
1 John 3:16-24 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. (17) How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? (18) Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. (19) And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him (20) whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (21) Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; (22) and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him. (23) And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. (24) All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us (NRSV).
The story is told of a Sunday School teacher who asked his class of junior high school students back in the 1990’s to name the persons they most admire. The teacher was startled when he read the list. Tom Cruise, Hulk Hogan, Elvis Presley, Sean Penn, Arsenio Hall, Eddie Murphy were all there. “Where”, he asked “was Jesus Christ in the thinking of the boys?” Silence. The teacher persisted. Finally, a voice at the back of the room mumbled, “Well we don’t want no wimp.” (William P. Barker. ed. Tarbell’s Teacher’s Guide. 87th Annual Volume, Elgin, Illinois, David C. Cook Publishing, 1991, p. 172). Christianity is not for wimps! Consider I John 3:13: “Don’t be surprised, if the world hates you” (CEB). Compare I John 3:13 with John 15:18 -19 where Jesus tells us Himself, “If the world hates you, know that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own” (CEB). The cross demonstrates how God’s love was illustrated in the face of the world’s worst! Not to mention the persecution of Christians through the ages.
Since we are God’s children, we are called to live out God’s love and truth through our deeds by keeping God’s commandment to love one another in the name of Jesus Christ (I John 3:23)! Love is a verb because the kind of love that today’s text is talking about requires us to go beyond words and put love into action. Today we want to talk about being loving in a world that is often hostile to God’s love and God’s people. Let us talk about the heart, love and obedience.
THE HEART
Can the heart be like a harbor?
1) Harbor: According to God’s Word the answer is yes. The heart is like a harbor where hate pushes out love or love pushes out hate! Both love and hate cannot co-exist in the heart successfully because they are incompatible polar opposites.
2) Warning: Matthew 12:34-37 …. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (35) The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure. (36) I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; (37) for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned" (NRSV). The treasury of our hearts depends on whether we are in harmony with God or in opposition of God.
3) Condemnation: How often do we think about how we could be condemned because of our words? Matthew 5:22 says “But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire” (NRSV). How often do we make light of this warning about how we will be judged for our words?
4) Heart: The New Testament speaks of the heart in terms of our emotions, thoughts, actions, speech, our behavior and its motives as we can see from Matthew 12:34 - 37.
5 )Speech: Proverbs 18:21 tells us that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits” (NRSV).
What does the treasure---the contents of our hearts look like? We all follow a code or a creed that we live by. A creed or honor code is based on a value system in our daily living.
1) Creed: “Bertrand Russell said, “Few people can be happy unless they hate some other person, nation or creed”. Those words express a truth upon which Hitler and every other despot recruited the energies of the masses to help expand their empires”. (Herb Miller. Actions Speak Louder Than Verbs. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989, p. 71). What we harbor in our hearts determines how we will live our lives.
2) Truth detector: Hebrews 4:12 tells us that “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides” soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (NRSV). How can the Holy Spirit guide us to the truth of everything that Jesus teaches us in scripture if we are not staying in step with God’s Holy Spirit?
3) Eye candy factor: While we are so busy worrying about the eye candy factor---the outer appearance of what things look like at face value, when God looks at the heart (I Samuel 16:7).
4) Fruits: We are known by our fruits. We might be good actors who can fool people but we can never fool God. Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (NRSV). Without God’s help through the conviction of His Holy Spirit, we could easily find an exemption clause or a loophole that we could use to justify ourselves or claim our innocence while would we would condemn others.
5) Truth: Like sheep, we have all gone astray (Isaiah 53:6) because we are all sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God! (Romans 3:23). We can no more hide our faults and sinfulness from God than dirt can hide from a vacuum cleaner! Only through Jesus Christ can we know the way to live a godly life through His Truth that sets us free (John 14:6 & John 8:32).
HATE
What does hate look like? Satan considers hate like a sport for wounding God’s children and sabotaging the forwarding of His kingdom here on earth.
1) Lettering jacket: If Satan had it his way, then he would probably give out lettering jackets like those that are given to High School Varsity athletes. Satan wants everyone to get their big letter H for “hate” on their lettering jackets!
2) Satan’s motto: Satan wants our motto for enemies to be, “How do I loath you? Let me count the ways”. Satan hides behind his lies and disguises and uses wolves in sheep’s clothing to kill, steal, destroy. Satan’s purpose only purpose is to divide God’s children and subtract from God’s blessings.
3) Blind: Satan would love nothing more than to be blind to hate! One of the things that Satan does to increase his odds is to blind people from seeing the light of the Gospel (II Corinthians 4:4).
4) Hate’s consequences: Hate, is or can be, legionary in a crowd, legendary, lengthy, wordy, generational involving bad deeds and even in worse case scenarios hate can be lethal. I John 3:12 says, “Don’t behave like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. … why? He killed him because his works [deeds NRSV] were evil, but the works of his brother [Able] were righteous.” (CEB). When hate involves words, words can be like bullets where people shoot to kill! What would you say if you were asked to compare hate and love in less than two sentences? Would you say that hate is selfish and genuine love is unconditional love aka agape love which is selfless?
What does God want us to do with hate? Let me answer that question with another. Have we been transferred from death to life (I John 3:14)? We can easily be deceived because of how hate can cloud our judgment. Proverbs 8:36 put it this way,”but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death” (NRSV). Hate can lead us astray and keep us from finding God because of how our hearts can be deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). Amos 5:15 tell us that we should “Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate” (NRSV). How can we hate what is evil , hold fast to what is good and expect to be genuinely loving without a change (Romans 12:9) in our hearts? How an we be transferred from death to life without repentance?
1) God’s will: God wants us to go from death of the old life to embracing the new life that Jesus gives to those who believe.
2) God’s surpassing power: The Apostle Paul seems to echo the message of I John. Consider 2 Corinthians 4:6 -7: For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (7) But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us (KJV). How wide have the eyes of of our hearts been opened (Ephesians 1:18) to see the excellency of God’s power at work in our lives (II Corinthians 4:7)?
3) The Whole truth: “Those of us who believe have received from the holy one to know all truth” (1 John 2:20). We are called by Jesus to pick up our crosses and follow in His footsteps (Mark 8:34 -36). Jesus came to help us learn how to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13 -16)!
LOVING OBEDIENCE
Are obedience and love connected? Of course the two are connected. In the dictionary, it will tell you that love is a noun. But, in the Bible it will tell you that love is a verb because it is connected with obedience.
1) Love is a verb: In John 13:34-35 Jesus said,”I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. (35) By this [the fruit of our obedience] everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (NRSV). Jesus mentions how love and obedience are connected three more times in John 14:15, 21 and 23. Then in John 14:24 Jesus tells us that those who disobey Him don’t belong to Him! I John 2:4 says,“If we say that we know him, but do not obey his commands, we are liars and there is no truth in us” (GNB).
2) Obedience and belief: Obedeince and belief are two sides of the same coin. In John 10:26-27 Jesus said to the unbelievers in the crowd “… but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. (27) My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (NRSV). This echoes John 10:14 which comes form the Gospel (John 10:11- 18) section of the lectionary for today.
In his book The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote “Only he who believes is obedient. Only he is obedient believes”. Listening to the Lord are connected with our love and obedience to His Word.
3) False obedience: If Jesus were to come back today would we be ready? Would we thoughtlessly say “Lord, Lord wanting to enter heaven while slighting obedience to God’s will? (Matthew 7:21 paraphrased). Obedience does not happen by default!
4) God’s knowledge and truth: God has anointed us with the Holy One and has given us knowledge (I John 2:20). We know the truth and we also know that no lie comes from the truth (I John 2:21). God sent the Holy Spirit to to remind us of everything that Jesus has taught us (John 14:26) who guides us in all the truth (John 16:12).
What about obedience and our free will? There is the story of a man who was flying in a plane with his 52 year-old friend who was the pilot on June 17, 1998. All was well until the pilot slumped over dead while flying from Indianaplois to Muncie, Indiana. Robert Kupferschmid was the 81 year-old passenger friend of the pilot. He had no flying experience. As the Cessna 172 single engine aircraft began to nose dive Kupferschmid grabbed the controls and radioed for help. Two nearby pilots heard the call and gave Kupferschmid instructions on how to get control of the plane. They circled the runway of Mount Comfort which was nearest airport as they gave detail by detail instructions on how to safely land the plane. Emergency vehicles were dispatched to prepare for a possible disaster. Witnesses noticed the plane bounce a few times as Kupferschmid eventually got the plane safely on the ground as it ended up in a soggy patch of grass near the runway. “This [inexperienced] pilot followed those instructions as if his life depended on it---and it did.” (paraphrased and quoted from: David P. Barrett. ed. Perfect Illustrations For Every Topic And Occasion. [PreachingToday.com]. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 2002, pp. 195 - 196). God is not willing that anyone should perish but that all repent, believe and receive His gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
We can use or abuse our free will, based on how we listen and obey or disobey God. God did not call us to feel our way by groping along walls like men without eyes (Isaiah 59:10 paraphrased).
The cross demonstrates how God’s love was illustrated in the face of the world’s worst! Not to mention the persecution of Christians through the ages. As we mentioned at the beginning, we are God’s children, and we are called to live out God’s love and truth through our deeds by keeping God’s commandment to love one another in the name of Jesus Christ (I John 3:23)! Love is a verb because the kind of love that today’s text is talking about requires us to go beyond words and put love into action. The epistle of I John makes it very clear that hate is not of God! I John 2:4 tells us that “The one who claims “I know him,” while not keeping his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in this person.” That is why Jesus told us that others will know that we are His disciples by the way we love. God obviously wants His children to help in changing the world with His love. Does God’s love abide in your heart? God wants us to remember to keep His commandment to love one another! Jesus wants us to love others even if they oppose because He loved us and died for us even while we were sinners (Romans 5:8 paraphrased). Christ want us to keep the commandment to love others by the help of God’s Holy Spirit (I John 3:23 -24) because others will know that we are Christ’s disciples by the way we love (John 13:34- 35).
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
