Scripture Introduction
It is a favorite joke among boy scout dads, so I have heard it 7 or 8 times in the last two years. Two guys camping in Colorado crawl out of their tents one morning only to see a grizzly bear charging. The first man begins frantically to put on his tennis shoes, at which the other fellow yells: “What are you doing? You can’t outrun a grizzly bear.” The first man says, “I don't have to outrun a grizzly. I just have to outrun you!”
That’s only a groaner if you have heard it too many times. It is funny because it puts in a clever story form that tension we all know: the competing desires we have between saving our own skin and being the kind of friend who would lay down his life.
One pastor said, “Some people make enemies instead of friends, because it is less trouble” (E. C. McKenzie). Friends can be a lot of trouble; but in spite of many difficulties, God commands his people to love one another. In fact, in all of the teaching of Jesus, I think that only this command is specifically said to be a living witness to others of the reality of our new relationship with Christ: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13.35).
Jesus said that in John 13; now (in chapter 15) he returns to that idea. After reminding his followers that true love for him results in obedience, Jesus challenges us to love one another.
[Read John 15.12-17. Pray.]
Introduction
Pastor Chuck Swindoll wrote in one of his books: “Do you ever feel like a frog? Frogs feel slow and low, ugly and putty, drooped and pooped. I know. One told me. The frog feeling comes when you want to be bright but you are dumb. When you want to share, but you are selfish. When you want to be thankful, but you are filled with resentment. When you want to be great, but you are small. When you want to care, but you are indifferent; yes, at one time or another each of us has found himself on a lily pad, floating down the great river of life, frightened and disgusted, but too frightened to budge.”
Of course, you know how the fairy tale ends: the frog was not really a frog, though he looked like one because a wicked witch had cast an evil spell upon him and only the kiss of a beautiful maiden could save him. (For some reason unexplained, beautiful maidens feel a strong desire to kiss frogs.) And sure enough, one day a beautiful maiden lays a big sloppy kiss on those little slimy frog-lips, and crash, boom, snap – he is changed into a handsome prince. And they marry and live happily ever after.
The task of the church, then, is…kissing frogs, so to speak. And allowing ourselves to be kissed. Faithful Christian love has a way of rescuing kings and queens from their “frogness”
Probably the best example of Christian friendship in the Old Testament is that of Jonathan and David. Jonathan was the son of Saul, next in line to be king. But the people loved David, and wanted him as their new king. This was, of course, God’s will, but I’m not sure Jonathan knew that. What he did know was that he would lose everything which by right belonged to the son of a king – all would become David’s. Now that is a sure recipe for great antagonism! How would you feel if your career and inheritance were stolen by a rival? Jonathan fought the Philistines and saved the nation; now his hopes and dreams would die to save the nation.
1Samuel 18.3-4: “Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.” With that act, Jonathan gave up his life for his friend.
Martin Luther correctly observed: “It is the duty of every Christian to be Christ to his neighbor.” Jonathan was Christ to David; loving with a ministry that lifted and exalted his friend. Jesus commands the same of us. In order to obey the Word of the Lord, I believe we must do more than wish we were different; we must be very intentional about creating in the church a loving community. I would show you three reasons from our text this morning.
1. We Must Be Intentional About Building a Loving Community Because of the Reason for the Command (John 15.12a,17)
No one tells their children how to be selfish before they find their four year old distressing his younger sister by taking from her a toy. Hamas had no difficulty finding ways to torment and mistreat the Israelis they so much hate. Certain things come “naturally” to fallen mankind – sin and selfishness is bound up in the heart.
So Jesus must command love – not once, but twice within six short verses: love one another. Would God have said this so clearly, and then repeated himself, if this were easy? I take this repetition, combined with the fact that Jesus, with all the commands he could issue, chooses to highlight loving one another – those two facts together convince me that we must labor hard at love.
Or we could say it this way: as a church, we must actively promote serving love. A church which is not intentional in creating a loving place, an accepting community, a fellowship of mutual service and sacrifice, will (I believe) always lose this trait. Many churches are intentional about insuring that the preaching is doctrinally sound; others may be intentional with their evangelistic outreach; some are intentional about their favorite ministry. But too many churches leave loving one another to chance. Have we?
Pastor Matthew Henry: “No one duty of religion is more frequently inculcated, nor more touchingly urged upon us by our Lord Jesus, than that of mutual love, and for good reason.”
This need to change in this area is not new to us. Charles Spurgeon warned his congregation about “crab-tree Christians.” He condemned Christians that have, “mixed such a vast amount of vinegar, and such a tremendous quantity of gall in their constitutions, that they can scarcely speak one good word to you. They cannot speak for their dishonored Master without being angry with their opponent; and if anything is awry, whether it be in the house, the church, or anywhere else, they conceive it to be their duty to set their faces like flint, and to defy everybody. They are like isolated icebergs, no one cares to go near them. And though, good souls, we shall be happy enough to meet them in heaven, we are very glad to get rid of them from the earth! Don't you be like this, my brethren. Imitate Christ in your loving spirits; speak kindly, act kindly, and do kindly, that men may say of you, ‘He has been with Jesus.’”
The apostle John wrote the book we are reading, so the repeated command must have pressed heavy on him. I would guess that he, therefore, maybe more than other disciples, sought to obey this word from his loving Lord. How revealing then, that a few years later, John would write in the letter we call, 1John, this sentence: 1John 3.14: “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.”
Do you hear this apostle? He is telling you that here is a sure sign of conversion, a sure internal testimony of your outward profession of faith: do you love your fellow Christians?
Let the weight of this sentence bear on you. If it were easy to love those of us in the church, it would be no sign of a miraculous work of God. If love for the brothers were natural, you would not know that you have the life of the Spirit coursing through your souls when you are able to love! If loving one another were something we could do apart from prayer and humble dependence on the grace of God, then that love would prove nothing! But John says: “Here is a sure sermon for your own soul, a testimony that you are abiding in Christ, if you can love Christians!” Oh, but they are a crusty lot, prickly and painful to be around. Not simply kissing frogs, but hugging porcupines. Jesus commands such love because otherwise we would avoid it.
Kaleo Church is a non-denominational congregation in San Diego, part of the Acts 29 movement and some other really cutting edge ministry. Often contemporary churches like Kaleo are criticized for being light and fluffy, not serious about their faith. But membership at Kaleo requires signing the “Community Covenant”: “Because of Christ's great love and commitment to me, I covenant to love His bride and to show the same commitment to one another in His church. I promise to be members of one another, to honor one another, to live in harmony with one another, to build one another up, to be like-minded toward one another, to accept one another, to care for one another, to serve one another, to bear one another's burdens, to be kind to one another, to forgive one another, to abound in love, to comfort one another, to encourage one another, to stir one another up to love and good deeds, to confess my sins to one another, to be hospitable to one another, to greet one another, to fellowship with one another, to submit to one another while not passing judgment on one another, not provoking one another, not envying one another, not to hate one another, not to slander one another, and not to bear grudges against one another.”
Love cannot be left to chance; we must passionately pursue the development of it.
This is precisely why I have placed before the elders this draft of part of our vision for our church: “We believe that God calls us to be a transformed community, a place of hope and healing, a living demonstration of the power and privilege of adoption into his family. Therefore, we will be active and intentional in promoting a “one another” culture, a community known for compassion and care.”
The reason for the command is that it crosses my selfishness. And since God does command, the church must be active and intentional in creating a caring community.
2. We Must Be Intentional About Creating a Loving Community Because of the Standard for the Command (John 15.12b-16a)
We recently saw how fickle people can be when Mr. Obama invited Pastor Rick Warren to pray at the inauguration ceremony. Pastor Warren is an evangelical who teaches against certain cherished sins among the politically correct and culturally elite. So those who professed love for Mr. Obama poured out gall and bitterness when he did what displeased them. If any human standard were the reason we should love one another, then we might not feel pressed to work so hard to create and promote a different kind of community.
But the standard for nothing less than God’s perfect love for us: “love one another as I have loved you” (12b).
Jesus loved us by giving his life. Sometimes in human relationships, a man sacrifices for a dear friend. We have heard of the soldier who falls on a hand grenade to save his comrades. Or the heroes of 9-11, who sacrificed themselves to save others they love. The Apostle Paul speaks of this love in Romans 5.7-8: “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Jesus also loved us by making us his friends. He visits us when we call upon him; he bears our weaknesses and sees the best in us; he suffers when we suffer, and delights in our blessing and prosperity; he prays for us before the Father and sides with us against the accuser. What a friend you have in Jesus!
Third, Jesus loves us by freely telling us what God the Father says. Every family has secrets – those special stories and nicknames and ways of communicating that are unique to the closest relationships you have on earth. In fact, one of the ways we bring other people into closer friendship is sharing with them some special aspect of our family life. Friday night we had dinner with a family in the church, and, among other things we talked about a little way we have of teasing our spouse about their wanting to purchase something they feel is important but we do not. We shared that little story with another couple as a way of saying, “I trust you and value you and will prove it by opening up a special story to you.” Now look at what Jesus says: John 15.15: “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”
Fourth, and finally in this passage, Jesus loves us by choosing and appointing us to bring God glory in the world through the fruit we bear. Everyone with young children knows the frustration of helping them do something; and the temptation to say, “It’s easier to do it myself.” Don’t we think that God could have found an easier way to evangelize Forest Park and Fairfield than by working with the Church of the Covenant? But Jesus loves us, and appointed us to bear this fruit in this place at this time. With such love as our standard, ought we not to work hard to create opportunities to develop and demonstrate love for one another?
Conservative churches often exhort men to love their wife as Christ loved the church. That is good and proper; it is a clear biblical command. But rarely do we talk about loving fellow believers as Christ loved the church. Yet here Jesus says, “This is my commandment.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 28-29: “Even when sin and misunderstanding burden the communal life, is not the sinning brother still a brother, with whom I, too, stand under the words of Christ? Will not his sin be a constant occasion for me to give thanks that both of us may live in the forgiving love of God in Jesus Christ? Thus the very hour of disillusionment with my brother becomes incomparably salutary…. If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ.”
The standard of our love for one another is Jesus’ love for us.
3. We Must Be Intentional About Creating a Loving Community Because of the Power for the Command (John 15.15b-16)
I see a three-fold power for loving one another, all three of which have to do with the word, “word.”
First, the word of God: Christ has made known to us that this is God’s will. He has not held this as a family secret. This is a crystal clear commandment in the Bible. And the Word of God is living and active, so it does not simply enjoin, it empowers.
Second, the Word incarnate: Christ himself chose us to bear this fruit. Jesus is God in human flesh; he does not fail. When he commands love, he also ensures its fulfillment. With Jesus on our side, we must succeed in transforming this church into a visibly loving and caring community.
Third, we have our words: our prayers. Whatever we ask the Father in Jesus’ name, he gives. When we pray for the grace to love even some frogs, I think God will show himself strong and powerful to answer that prayer.
You think about that, amen.
