God's Love

 As we quickly approach another election, things continue to become more contentious. And I continue to see people - who are friends - continue to fight and argue. It seems there are few things on which many can agree anymore. And just when you think you may have found common ground – you realize you're not actually talking about the same thing…

I recently had an experience like that with a friend from college. She stated that what we really need in this country is more love. - Finally! We can all agree we should treat one another with love! But then she defined love as completely agreeing with and fully embracing all of her political talking points. The world has co-opted the whole concept of love! 'Love' for many has now become ignoring every Biblical value for the sake of peace and unity.

I do agree that we need more love in our world. But I want to look at what God says about 'love' - real love. The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:8 (NIV)...

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

God is love, but love is not God. The confusion comes when some people make 'love' their 'god'. Love is a defining characteristic of God, but it's not God. Genuine, God created love, as God intended, reshapes us and redefines our priorities and motives. It transforms our actions and ultimately changes our lives! Love is not about 'blissful blind acceptance' or rebellion or fighting for our rights - but rather a denial of self.

God created us and God created love - and He demonstrates love as a selfless act. And I think we should start with the fact that…

I. Love requires a relationship

For any kind of love to exist there must be two parties involved. - The one giving love and the one receiving love – a relationship between the two. Love is not centered on me and what I can get or do - love's focus must be on the one receiving love. That's God's design for the relationship.

We recognize that love is experienced as an emotion, a feeling. But we also understand that love is demonstrated as an action. Both go hand in hand. Love without action is useless and love without feeling is perhaps just going through the motions.

I'd like to look at two relationships that Jesus points to in which love is essential for the Christian.

Matthew 22:34-40 (NIV)

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. (35) One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: (36) "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" (37) Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' (38) This is the first and greatest commandment. (39) And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' (40) All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

In order for them to work the way they are supposed to work, both of these relationships require emotion and action. The first relationship that Jesus pointed to is our relationship...

A. With God

According to Jesus, the first and greatest commandment is to love God. And since Jesus is God in the flesh and God was the One who wrote the law in the first place – Jesus understood the motivation behind the law. We are commanded to love God and a large part of that love is to be shown in obedience. Let's look at John 14:21 (NIV)...

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.

This loving relationship with God is defined by obedience. We can't deny the huge role that grace plays in even allowing us to respond to God - but our obedience demonstrates our love. And of course grace picks up where we fall short - but there has to be an attempt to obey. There has to be a genuine attempt to repent, to turn away from our ways and follow His ways.

- While singing praise to God may show our love to Him; while giving our offerings to God may show our love to Him – obeying God confirms our love. Being faithful to what God commands in His Word demonstrates our love. Being faithful to God in our relationship with Him is how we love God 'with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind'.

Jesus then pointed out that the second greatest command deals with love as well - 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' So let's look at our relationship…

B. With others

Our mission of KNOW GROW GO there on the wall – the first part deals with our relationship with God – knowing God and growing deeper in our relationship with Him. The second part is about growing deeper in our relationship with others and going out and serving others and sharing the message of Jesus.

And here's the tough part that people may confuse - we can't fulfill the second command to the exclusion of the first command. You can't place loving others higher than loving God. Loving others can't be defined as selectively rejecting some of God's commands in order to make a person feel loved and accepted. Loving others, the way God intended, isn't easy.

Jesus explains what He means by 'loving your neighbor as yourself' when he takes his disciples aside in John 15:12-17 (NIV)...

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. (13) Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. (14) You are my friends if you do what I command. (15) I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

(16) You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (17) This is my command: Love each other.

When Jesus says 'love each other', he's not just talking about a nice warm feeling. Jesus doesn't see love solely as embracing or celebrating other's actions that go directly against God's Word. We know God's commands - we have His Book! We're called to lay down our lives, to deny ourselves and put His priorities higher than ours! And we're called to persuade others, through love, to follow Jesus and His commands!

And it's hard when even our attempts to show God's love can be called 'hate' or judgmental or 'mean spirited'...

- I have a confession to make. The older I get, the less I seem to like some people. And I'm completely aware that that's an awful thing for a minister to admit. But the more I see of people, the more I see their anger towards each other, the more hostility and hatred I see expressed towards Godly things and values - the harder some people are to love.

But just because it's hard doesn't mean I should just give up and stop loving people. - I'm reminded that it wasn't the tax collectors, or drunks or thieves or prostitutes who plotted Jesus' execution and shouted "Crucify Him!" It was the 'self righteous', the 'morally legalistic' who demanded His death. - Knowing God's Word and living it out are two separate things.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NIV)

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. (2) If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (3) If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Does my relationship with God move me to love and serve 'sinners'? There's a reason Jesus put the two commands in that order - Love God and then love others. If I can't understand why Jesus was drawn towards the least deserving sinners in society - I may just be a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I attend Church services every Sunday, if I give 10% in the offering, even if I preach a message but have not love I am nothing! When Jesus says, 'love one another' – it's not just a sentiment from a greeting card.

II. Love gives everything

The kind of love that Jesus was talking about is not easy – it's not cheap. Loving God and truly loving others according to His Word may cost you a whole lot. Jesus set the example of this kind of love. Let's look at John 3:13-18 (NIV)...

No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven - the Son of Man. (14) Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, (15) that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. (16) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

(17) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (18) Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."

That's Jesus talking about 'the Son of Man' (Him) being lifted up – being lifted on a cross! Jesus demonstrated that love gives everything! We are called to love God and to love others. We've discussed that loving God is about faithfulness, about following God's commands.

- You may recall the story in the Old Testament of how God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac. God asked Abraham to kill his own son to show his love for Him. Has that story ever bothered you a bit? I have to admit, that as a father – I can't imagine being asked to prove my faith in such a way.

Now, we know the rest of the story – how God stopped Abraham's hand, allowed Isaac to live and provided a ram for the sacrifice and even blessed Abraham for his faithfulness. But can you imagine the anguish that Abraham had to be feeling in order to be faithful to what God had asked of him?

Why did God test Abraham like that? While I can't claim to fully know the mind of God – there are a few things to keep in mind. God knew, before He asked, that Abraham was going to obey. God knew all along that He was going to spare Isaac and that He would provide the ram for the sacrifice. Why did God test Abraham like that?

Perhaps it wasn't a test so much for God's benefit, but for Abraham's benefit? After experiencing just how far he could follow God and to see how, no matter how crazy or how much it would cost, God would always be faithful – that certainly would have helped Abraham to follow God anywhere He would have asked him to go.

Perhaps, a test like that let Abraham prove to himself just how much he loved God. We are called to love God, to obey His commands - to love others.

A. Do you love God?

I want to look at a passage from 2 Corinthians 13:5-6 (NIV)...

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test? (6) And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.

When was the last time I really tested myself? - Do I really love God? (Well of course I do!) - Not to over simplify it, but we can begin to test that by truthfully examining the characteristics in our lives that will naturally flow out of us if we have His spirit in us...

Galatians 5:22-24 (NIV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (24) Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

Do I love God? Am I loving, joyful, peaceful… Are those characteristics that are growing in me over the years? Are those characteristics that others would use to describe me? If not, I have some work to do. Do I love God? We can also tell…

B. By actions

How do I live out my beliefs? How do I act towards God and others?

John 14:23-24 (NIV)

Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. (24) He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me."

God knows whether we love Him or not. Perhaps we need to test ourselves to see just how we're doing and where we might need some work.

So What?

Think about this again - why did God test Abraham the way that He did? God wasn't actually demanding Abraham kill his own son - since God put a stop to it. It was foreshadowing God sacrificing His own Son for us! God was establishing very early on just how deep His love is for us! And He showed it very clearly...

The world is more than willing to shout and demonstrate on TV and in movies what they think love is. There are those who will protest to persuade others to their way of thinking on their view of love. It's time that the Church reclaimed its heritage of love! And sure, there will be those who say standing for God's truth, standing for Godly values - there will be those who claim it to be 'hate'.

We can't control what they say and do - but we can control how we respond. And we need to respond in love. We can't personally heal this great division in our entire nation by showing love, but we can show it to those around us.

Are we committed to sharing God's love with those in our families, those in our neighborhoods and those at work? If God gave you a test right now – how would you do? I've witnessed some of you go through times that really tested your faith. And I am extremely grateful to those of you who have showed me how to stand firm in faith in the face of loss, and trials and pain. Thank you for showing us it's possible through the power of God!

And to all of us - this week, make sure you show God your love by obeying His commands and by caring enough to show love to each other!