Love Loud Dare
1 John 3:11-20
A couple of years ago Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA made a movie that many of us have seen called Fireproof…we showed a clip from it a couple of Sunday nights back.
The premise of the movie is a fire fighter who is watching his marriage fall apart and his father steps in and encourages him to wait 40 days before taking any action.
During that time he is to go through a book called The Love Dare which consists of 40 daily lessons from Scripture and a challenge that would show his wife how much he loved her.
The end result was after 40 days, his marriage wasn’t fixed…but he continued with the Love Dare until he finally reached out to his wife and won her back.
Not only that, but she said she wanted what ever caused the change in his life…and that was a relationship with Jesus Christ.
That is the power of love, especially a love that is loud.
Do love loud?
When I say “love loud” I mean having a love that is not one you simply talk about, but one that is evident because it is both seen and heard.
Sadly, when we are loud…it usually isn’t about love, now is it?
We are loud about moral standards that we hold dear…and rightly so.
We are loud in our disagreements…even if the lost and seeker are witnessing it.
We are loud when we assume we are right...even when we might be wrong.
But are we loud in our love?
This morning, I want us to consider how to love loud together.
Read 1 John 3:11-20.
Dr. Johnny Hunt, President of the SBC, has challenged our denomination to “Love Loud”.
What would it be like if our congregation were to make this our personal challenge?
What would God do if we “dared” to love loudly?
What would our community see if we put the love of Christ in action? Today, I challenge you to the Love Loud Dare!
4 Truths about Loving Loudly:
1.Love is not an option (vs. 11)
If you are a born again believer this morning, you have no option but to love others.
Why?
Because it was Jesus Himself who said, “You must love...”
Listen to His exact words, John 13:34-35, 15:12-17.
It is a commandment, not a suggestion.
It isn’t even a recommendation...He said do it!
It is one of those commandments that we find not only repeated, but repeated often in Scriptures, and that should tell us something.
In fact, one of the few commandments we find more often in Scripture is “sing your praise to the Lord...”
But then again, that may be the issue.
We put so many restrictions on what we like or prefer, and allow our cultural preferences to dominate our worship...we have a hard time singing our praise to the Lord.
And if we can’t do something as simple as singing, no wonder we struggle with loving.
Yet, that doesn’t excuse from the fact that God has called us to love.
First of all, love Him...that is the first and greatest commandment.
And 2nd, to love our neighbor as ourselves.
And who is our neighbor, depends on where you are.
At home, the person next door to you.
In the store, the person in line in front or behind you.
At church...just look around.
Can you honestly say that you love others as you love yourself?
Can you truly love God if you don’t love others?
If you don’t love, perhaps you are experiencing the opposite extreme, which is hate.
Well, there is a problem with that, and that is our 2nd truth about loving loudly this morning...
2.Hate is a serious sin (vs. 12-15)
A born again believer should not capable of hating another person!
You might be able to not like something about them, or be discouraged about behavior...but hate is never, never, NEVER a feeling we should have for another person.
Don’t ever forget how heinous hatred really is...Jesus spoke about it in the Sermon on the Mount.
Read Matt 5:21-22.
Jesus is telling us that the emotion of hate is so vile, that to hate another person is no different than murder.
Think about that for a moment...and think about the last time you either said “I hate” or felt hate for someone.
It is no different than saying “I’m going to kill you...”
Hate is a serious sin, and for the born again believer it should not even be an option for us.
If you have been born again, changed by God’s grace from the inside out and filled with His Holy Spirit...there is no room for the emotion of hate for another person.
If you do hate someone, you need to repent...right now, seek forgiveness and ask for God to love that person through you.
If you are not willing to, I have to wonder whether or not you are truly born again...because God’s love and man’s hatred can not coexist together.
Proof of that is Christ Himself.
And this takes us to our 3rd truth about loving loudly this morning...
3.Jesus is our example (vs. 16)
Christ, the very persona of love, is the one we should look to for how to love loudly.
Back to John 15:13.
You see, God loved...and He loved by giving us His Son (John 3:16).
It was while we were yet sinners that He demonstrated His love (Romans 5:8).
And in Christ, that love was evident in that He chose to reach out to the least of these...which includes us, and offer us Himself.
He didn’t do with just words, but He did it with deeds.
He did it with His life.
No greater love...it was that love for you and me that compelled Christ to offer Himself.
No one took His life, no one killed Him, He freely gave it...because of love.
You see, when it is all said and done, love is a verb.
And that is our 4th truth this morning about loving loudly...
4.Love is a verb (vs. 18)
Not just words, but deeds.
It is too easy to say one thing and do another.
We need to demonstrate our love in what we do.
And since this God who is love who saved us by His love through His Son who is our example of love has given us His Holy Spirit...which is also love; we should have no problem living this one out.
The very first word mentioned in the 9 fold fruit of the Spirit from Gal. 5:22 is “love”, isn’t it.
Going back to the Love Dare book I mentioned earlier from the Fireproof movie.
I picked up a copy of it the other day when I was at the Christian book store and just kind of flipped through it...and was quite honestly blown away by the acts of love it requires of you.
Sadly in the back of my mind I couldn’t help but wonder, “But what if one of us wakes up in one of those moods...?”
Obviously, that would never be me...
Honestly though, when I’m in one of those moods where I don’ even want the dog being excited about seeing me...how am I supposed to do something loving for someone else?
And when I’m already cross, and my wife, who I do love dearly crosses my path at the wrong time...you see where I’m going with that.
Aren’t you glad Christ didn’t deal that way?
Can you imagine Jesus in the garden praying, “Lord, I know your will, but I’m just not sure they are worth the effort...”?
He prayed, “Let your will be done...”, which meant that love not only was a matter of being words, but the word became flesh and that flesh was pierced for my transgressions and your transgressions.
He gave His life, because love is best said in both word and deed.
Can the same be said of your love?
Do you say it, but not show it?
This week, I want to challenge you...in fact, dare you to show your love.
This is the Love Loud Dare.
A challenge to you to not just say you love, but to show your love to someone.
On the back side of the notes you will find a day by day breakdown of how you can love loud this week.
Explain...
Conclusion:
The best way to enter into this week is prayerfully, and that is what I want us to do right now.
Head down, eyes closed...maybe you need to come to this alter and pray for God to reveal Himself to you now and through you this wee.
Maybe you need to begin showing some love this morning to someone in here.
Or maybe you need to experience God’s love today...by receiving Christ as your Lord and Savior.
