An Incarnational, Missional People
Becoming Loving & Sacrificial
1 John 3:11-24
Is there enough evidence to convict you of being a Christ-follower?
Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge John Burlew was on the bench in April when Eric Hine, 43, of Cincinnati, came before him on a charge of receiving stolen property. Hine’s attorney asked for a low bond, saying Hine had a full time job and was a regular churchgoer. Burlew told Hine that if he could recite the entire 23rd Psalm, he’d let him out of jail with just his signature. Hine recited all six verses. Hine didn’t receive preferential treatment because he was a Christian but rather his quoting of Scripture validated his attorney’s claim. (This story is found at http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/04/25/national/a135852D63.DTL&type=bondage)
I was impressed that Hine could recite the entire Psalm. I can paraphrase the entire Psalm but I’m not sure that I would be able to give it verbatim.
I once attended a church that had a large sign up in their activity room that read, “If You Were Arrested For Being A Christian, Would There Be Enough Evidence To Convict You?” That question has stayed with me through the years. Am I so loving, giving, and forgiving that people would conclude, “Oh, he must be a follower of Christ”?
How do people experience and know you? What does the evidence say about your life?
In our study through 1 John we closed last week with 3:10 that declared “It is obvious who is a child of God and who is a child of the devil.” It is obvious. John said that the child of God was a man or woman who practiced righteousness (right living) and practiced love.
We’re continuing today to examine what John meant by practicing love.
[read 1 John 3:11-24]
“This is the message you heard from the beginning.” Certainly from the beginning of the ministry of Christ people were hearing about the importance of love. Jesus would declare that it is by loving others well that people would know if you are His follower. But John takes the “beginning” back even further. He brings up the relationship of Cain and Abel.
“Do not be like Cain” was a common Jewish refrain. In Jewish literature and the New Testament, Cain represents those who rebel against God (IVP New Testament Commentary). He became a stereotypical prototype for wickedness (e.g., Jubilees and 1 Enoch; Pharisees sometimes associated Cain with the Sadducees and their denial of the life to come); one pre-Christian Jewish text calls him “the unrighteous one” (Wisdom of Solomon 10:3).
Cain is the embodiment of someone that is in proximity to God but doesn’t love God and doesn’t love others. I believe that John still has in mind the former members of the church who got caught up in heresy and left the church. The current believers are trying to figure out what happened that these former friends and members of their community would leave their fellowship. John is saying that they left because they were like Cain, a child of the devil.
It sounds harsh to my 21st century context but John is responsible for shepherding this 1st century church and guiding them in the ways of God and being a deterrent to their going the way of the world. That’s a huge, eternal responsibility for which I feel a kinship with John.
Let me say it clearly one more time. Anyone who grew up in the church or has spent significant time around the church but eventually gives up on the church and walks away is a “Cain”. This is so important, not because we want to be condescending toward others but rather because we want to be concerned for their souls and that of our own. John considers those who walked away from his church to be lost and in need of a saving relationship with Christ.
Over and again today you hear this commentary about the church: “I don’t have a problem with Jesus. It’s the church I can’t stand.” Friend, if you tell me that you like me but you can’t stand my wife, you can forget having friendship with me. Part of liking and loving me is growing to love and accept my wife.
You can’t love Christ and not love His church. To love Christ is at the same time to love His bride, the church. That doesn’t mean that we pretend that the church doesn’t have problems or that there has been sin and corruption in the church. It does mean that we recognize that Jesus died for the church and that His strategy for “seeking and saving” this world is through His church.
This is where a great deal of our life transformation takes place. Because the church is filled with fallen, broken people who have various degrees of being dysfunctional of course it can be difficult to love one another. It takes the grace and power of God to love more than 50% of the people in most churches. Those who are like us and easier to love don’t help us to grow. Anybody outside of Christ can love the “easy to love” people.
Our families and Small Groups are the primary arenas where we practice loving each other. If you’re serious about advancing in the faith, extending the kingdom of God and bringing great glory to Christ, then you’ll be interested in being in a group where it is not easy to love each other but something of a challenge. This is one of the great benefits of our multiplying our groups. When you have to get together with a new group and learn to love another set of people after you had just spent months learning to love the first group, this accelerates the forming of Christ in you.
“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers.” Here’s the evidence that would convict someone of being a Christian in a court of law.
I heard a story about a relatively new Christian talking with an atheist. The atheist was questioning the new Christian about various historical matters related to Christianity. The new Christian could not answer most of the questions. The atheist commented, “You sure don’t know much about Christ. Are you sure that you want to commit your life to Christ?” The new Christian replied, “I’m embarrassed that I don’t know more answers to your questions but what I do know is that Jesus has delivered me from my drinking; He has saved and restored my marriage; my children have opened their hearts to me again; and I now face each day with sanity and serenity.”
(story originally given by Maxie Dunnam)
The test of Christianity is not how much theology or biblical history you know (though it is important) but whether you love God and others well.
Do you remember the movie “Hook” from the early 1990’s? According to Stephen Spielberg, when Peter Pan grew up he became a self-absorbed, ladder climbing, workaholic baby boomer. So goes the story line of the movie.
In some early scenes Peter promises his son numerous times that he would come to see him play in his baseball game. Time and again Peter tries to make it to the game but allows business to interrupt the plan and he misses the games. One time Peter even sends one of his office assistants to the ball game in his place. The movie goes on to depict the tension this creates between Peter and his son.
What do you think about a father who promises his son numerous times that he will come and cheer his son at a ball game and yet never comes? You may think that too much is made of sports these days. I would agree with you but don’t let that observation cause you to miss the point. It could have been a music recital or school play or academic performance. The point is, the ball game was something that was important to the son and the father made and broke promises to be at the games. What do you think about that?
Does that father love his son? Again, be careful about how you answer. Remember, love is primarily NOT a feeling. Love is something that you do. Love is a way of treating someone, caring for someone. Does that father love his son?
Does that father support his son? Support is not just saying, “I’m for you.” Support is being there when someone needs you.
Does that father value his son more than his work? You know what the correct answer is. “Of course he values his son more than his work.” Then why does the work always get the nod before his son does? Why didn’t the dad break business appointments instead of breaking ball game appointments?
You see, next to action words mean very little. I love you. I support you. I value you. These mean very little when your actions declare something else. Can you see that?
You ask, “What does it look like to love others well?” Good question. I asked many of you that question this past week in an email survey. Thank you for your responses. Here’s what a few of you said.
One person commented, “The question asks, ‘What does that LOOK like’ - not feel like, so it is not as easy to answer.” Good observation.
Someone else said, “Loving others well for me looks like action; engaging others well by reaching out to them, taking a genuine interest in them, stepping out of my comfort zone and engaging with them deeply. It includes apologizing when I’ve wronged them. It also includes being vulnerable with them.”
Another said, “When you are loving others well you are putting their needs, their concerns above your own. You are loving others as Christ loved us, without agenda, without expecting anything in return.”
Here’s one more, “I go into their space. It’s not about me at that point. It’s about them. It’s about where they are. What’s going on in their world? It’s being there for them.”
John said, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. We ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” (3:16)
What does it look like to “lay down your life?” Is it a matter of going out and dying for someone? Sometimes. But, most of the time laying down your life is a matter of sacrificing in a way that meets the need of another.
“Whoever has the world’s goods…” The “world’s goods” (NASB) or “material possessions” (NIV) is the translation of the Greek “kosmos” which means world, and “bios” which means life. In short it is the idea of having something in this world that can sustain life. That could be material things like money or food or clothing or shelter. It could mean intellectual goods like ideas or knowledge that can make a difference.
If I have “material possessions” (NIV) then I have stewardship/responsibility for how I use it. God expects that the goods will be at His disposal. If He prompts me to give to a person or a cause then I love Him and others when I obey.
Not having the goods to give to others because I misspent the stuff on things for me is not only an unacceptable excuse but is sin. If I’m spending money on furnishings, technological gadgets, vacations and trips or even eating out at restaurants, and I haven’t checked in with God about those expenditures, then I’m misspending the goods that God is entrusting to me. His Lordship in my life means that I proceed about anything only when I have a sense of His pleasure to do so.
When I give a tithe (10%) of my income, that is an expression of worship and testimony to say to God, “I recognize that You own 100% of everything in my possession.” The tithe is not the end of stewardship but the beginning.
Imagine that I buy an additional car and tell my son, “This is my car but I’d love for you to use it. The only thing I ask is that at any point that I need it you immediately release it to me for my use.”
So my son agrees to the terms and he gets to drive my car everyday to go to work, to recreate, to hang out with friends. Then I learn that a friend of mine needs transportation on Wednesday so he can take care of an important matter. I offer my car to my friend and he accepts. I call up my son and say, “Wednesday I want my friend to have the car.”
At that point I don’t want to hear my son say, “Dad, I already had plans to use the car on Wednesday.” I want to hear my son say, “Dad, how can I help your friend get access to the car?”
John said, “Whoever has material possessions and sees…” Seeing is what Christ does and what His followers do. Not seeing is no excuse. Closing my eyes, pulling the blinds, or erecting walls that block my vision do not excuse me from seeing.
“Whoever has material possessions and sees his brother’s need but has no pity” (NIV) or “closes his heart” (NASB) creates the literal picture of choosing not to feel or be moved by what I see. (gk: “splagchnon” refers to the inward parts rather than heart, like bowels)
John pleads, “Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” The reference to love speaks of a type of love, agape, which in the example of Jesus is:
1. Voluntarily; Jesus gave Himself because He chose to
2. Sacrificial; it cost Jesus His life to love/give
3. Life-giving; Jesus’ love brought life to the one loved
Conclusion:
It’s scary to me to think about the numbers of people who accept some theological precepts about God and Jesus and think that they are saved or have eternal life. This text makes it clear that belief is linked with action (loving God and others). Belief without love isn’t belief (cp. James).
That’s the negative way to think about John’s message. The positive way is how he articulated when he said, “This is how we set our hearts at rest in His presence.” (3:19)
When you live connected to God and obedient to His promptings about when and how to love others it puts your heart at rest in His presence. You develop a confidence about your relationship with God.
John said we become so confident in our relationship with Christ that we “receive from Him anything we ask…” (3:22). How can that be? John said it is because we “obey His commands and do what pleases Him.” That doesn’t mean that our obedience earns us points with God so that He is obligated to answer our prayers. It simply means that our obedience has us walking with God in such harmony that we have divine direction about how to pray and what to pray for.
Is that the kind of obedience found in your life? My obedience to God results in my loving others well. I learn to trust God in the carrying of other’s burdens.
The Ant and the Contact Lens
Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing. Although she was scared to death, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took hold on the rope, and started up the face of that rock. Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda’s eye and knocked out her contact lens.
Here she is on a rock ledge, with hundreds of feet below her and hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she looked and looked and looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn’t there. Far from home, her sight now blurry, she was desperate and began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her find it.
When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for her lens, but there was no contact lens to be found. She sat down, despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting for the rest of them to make it up the face of the cliff.
She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of that Bible verse that says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." She thought, "Lord, you can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and you know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me." Finally, the group walked down the trail to the bottom.
At the bottom there was a new party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?"
Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it!
Brenda’s father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words, "Lord, I don’t know why you want me to carry this thing! I can’t eat it, and it’s awfully heavy. But if this is what you want me to do, I’ll carry it for you."
[Elisabeth Elliot published The story above in her 1995 book, "Keep A Quiet Heart" (Servant Publications, Ann Arbor Michigan). She says the story is a first-person account given to her from Brenda Foltz of Princeton, Minnesota.]
How God leads us to love others may not always make sense in the moment but it will always make a difference in eternity.
