The 21st Century Disciple: Love One Another

For the last few weeks, we've been looking at God's Word to understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus in the 21st century.

To live for Jesus, 2018, here in Kenosha, southeastern Wisconsin.

And we began by looking at Luke 9, the words of Jesus himself.

He said, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

And those two words, follow me, that came from the lips of Jesus himself almost 2,000 years ago.

When those two words are received by repentance and faith, it changes everything.

One goes from being sinfully self-centered to graciously God-centered in all that they do and think.

And so those two words, follow me, are game changers because they come from the lips of Jesus.

And so here's what this means for us.

To follow Jesus today is to live intentionally for Jesus in every area of our life.

So those two words were as true then as they are now.

Jesus is alive.

And he calls all of us to follow him.

Then we looked at 2 Timothy 3.

We looked at God's word, this book.

It is vital for us to live for Christ.

It is God's word.

So they are powerful.

It's profitable and purposeful.

And so we as followers of Jesus, we don't stand over the book.

We come under the book.

This book is life to us.

And then last week, we looked at how essential prayer is to following Jesus.

We pray big.

We pray bold.

And we pray believing because we've got an awesome God.

And so now we turn this morning to God's word once again to look to God's word and teach us about loving one another.

And what we're going to see is Jesus commands us to love one another.

It's not optional.

It is essential to following after him.

So in order to just kind of raise this a little bit, I thought we could take a straw poll by show of hands.

How many Christians in this room find it difficult to love another Christian?

Raise your hand.

Now I'm particularly interested in Christian husbands and wives.

And if there's this going on right now.

But now just for another step of honesty.

How many of you Christians in this room have come to the realization that you too can be difficult to love?

How many realize that?

Yes, me too.

So here's what that means for all of us.

We need help loving one another.

And we need that help from God.

We have hard times loving other Christians.

And other Christians have a hard time loving us.

We need help.

And thanks be to God.

He speaks right to it.

If you'd open up your Bibles to 1 John chapter 4.

1 John 4 · chapter mention

1 John is towards the end of your Bible.

Back of your Bible if you don't know.

If you're new to the Bible, just find Revelation which is at the backside and do what I do.

You start moving left until you find 1 John.

So Revelation.

I just skipped over a few books.

And now I'm in 1 John.

Now hear God's word.

This is God speaking to us about loving one another.

1 John 4 chapter 4 verses 7 through 12.

Beloved.

Let us love one another.

For love is from God.

And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

And anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.

In this, the love of God was made manifest among us.

That God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him.

In this is love.

Not that we have loved God.

But that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Verse 11.

Beloved.

If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

And verse 12.

No one has ever seen God.

If we love one another, God abides in us.

And his love is perfected in us.

Let me just tell you up front what I believe God is telling us here.

His word is saying God's love for us compels us to love one another.

It's a simple cause and effect relationship.

God's love for us compels us to love one another.

How are we going to love one another?

It starts with understanding God's great love for us.

So there is a kind of a progression of thought that the apostle John has here.

1 John 4, 7 through 12.

And we're just going to follow through his progression of thought about loving one another.

It starts with the love requirement in verse 7.

And then we're going to move to the love assessment.

The love test in verses 7 and 8.

And then we're going to see love demonstrated in verses 9 and 10.

And then we're going to see the love cause and effect, verse 11.

And then we're going to land this plane as John lands this plane in verse 12.

The love result.

This is about loving one another.

God's love for us compels us to love one another.

So let's look at verse 7.

The first few words, we read the love requirement.

Beloved, this is the apostle John speaking with the authority of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Let us love one another.

It is an exhortation.

He is calling us to love.

It's not optional.

It's essential.

Now, as I have been pastoring for years now, one of the things that I have noticed is an interesting mindset among some Christians.

Typically, these are Christians who have been burned by other Christians.

And so what happens is they have this kind of me and Jesus mentality.

All's I need is Jesus.

I don't need everybody.

I don't need all the other Christians.

I just need Jesus and I just need me and maybe some select few other Christians that I can trust who aren't going to be risky, who aren't going to hurt me.

And I'm just going to hold up and I'm going to follow Jesus, he and me, me and Jesus, all the days of the rest of my life.

Here's the deal.

Being in meaningful relationship with other Christians gets messy.

It's not easy.

Being in a show of hands in the room, how many of us in this room have been hurt by another Christian, I think all of our hands would go up.

And so when Jesus says, I'm going to read in a second, love one another.

He's not giving us a pass.

Let us love one another.

Even when things get tough.

Even when you get hurt.

Even when you're wrong.

Our Lord Jesus gives us no passes to say, okay, I can selectively love the easy people and I'll just kind of pass by the tough folks.

We are to love one another.

This here is a command to love.

And I just want to make sure you understand where this command is coming from.

So it's the apostle John here in 4-7.

Beloved, let us love one another.

And if you look down at verse 11, you read something similar.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

And then in verse 21, in this commandment we have from Jesus, whoever loves God must also love his brother.

And if you scroll back into 1 John, you come through 1 John 3 and 1 John 2 where John is also talking about the love of God.

And he makes a really interesting reference.

He says something like, just as you've heard from the beginning, love one another.

And so it starts raising the question, what was he talking about?

What beginning?

Now keep your finger in 1 John 4 and now flip back to John 13.

Now the man that wrote 1 John was also an eyewitness to Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.

He was with Jesus on the night that Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper at Passover.

And he was part of the whole deal of finding the empty tomb.

Well, he has an account in John 13, verses 34 and 35.

John 13:34

This is right after the Passover.

Jesus has just instituted the Lord's Supper.

He's been alluding to the fact that the Lord's Supper, this Passover now, is all about him.

And so they're on their way out to Gethsemane.

And Jesus pulls his disciples over and he says this.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you love, if you have love for one another.

Now when Jesus said to his disciples, just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

This is before he's crucified.

He's just hours out.

They don't fully realize the degree by which Jesus is about to show his love for them.

By laying down his life for them.

But it is right there.

When they would look back on these words, they would be like, oh, he loved us by laying his life down for us.

So the person that ultimately requires us to love one another is Jesus himself.

And as 21st century followers of Jesus, we see this as not an optional command, but an essential command.

This is a requirement.

And so what is love?

What kind of love are we talking about?

Well, essentially, Christians are to love one another in the sense of commitment.

Love is a commitment.

And it's a certain kind of commitment.

In light of John 13, it is a sacrificial commitment to one another.

It's a sacrificial commitment to one another for each other's greatest good.

So Christian love is a distinctly Christ-like love for one another.

And if there's any questions about who we are to love, we are to love one another, says John in 1 John 4, 7.

And of course, he's referring to other Christians, those who've been bought by the blood of Jesus.

So here's what this means for us.

In our church, we don't have the option to selectively love some and not other Christians.

Jesus calls us to all love one another.

And so, regardless of neighborhood, regardless of education, ethnicity, grammar, tax bracket,

Jesus calls one Christian to love another Christian.

And that is a sacrificial commitment for one another's good.

I hope you're feeling the weight.

This kind of love is a distinctly Christian love.

Christ-like love.

And what we're about to see is this is a supernatural love.

So we've looked at the love requirement.

Now let's look at the love assessment.

The love test.

1 John 7, we read, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.

And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.

Now just a little bit background.

I know we've just kind of jumped into 1 John.

So let me just give you a sense of 1 John.

1 John was written by the Apostle John to a bunch of first century Christians.

And he wrote them in order to assure them that they belong to God, that they were children of God.

And the way that he does that is very interesting.

John lays out three tests that he weaves through the book of 1 John.

There's the truth test.

What do you believe about Jesus?

Do you believe he's God in the flesh who died in the place of sinners?

And then there's the obedience test.

Are you obeying the commands of this Jesus?

And then there's the love test.

Are you obeying the chief command to love one another?

And so all these commands, all these tests are woven throughout 1 John.

And when it comes to the love test, there are three places in 1 John where the love test shows up.

Can I just point you there?

Look first at 1 John chapter 2 verses 9 and 10.

1 John 2:9

John's talking about love and he says,

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.

Whoever loves his brother, verse 10, abides in the light and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

And so here's the love test shown up in 1 John 2.

If you hate your brother, you're not in the light.

You're in the darkness.

You're not a believer.

But if you're loving your brother, you are in the light.

You have been brought into salvation by God's grace.

Now if you look at 1 John 3 verse 14, we read,

1 John 3:14

We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers.

Whoever does not love abides in death.

Again, here's another love test.

But instead of talking about light and darkness, he is talking about life and death.

And so whoever loves his brother, he's passed out of death into life.

He's been born of God.

He's been given eternal life.

God has made him alive in Jesus.

But if he doesn't love his brother, he still abides in death.

He's dead to God.

Dead in his sin.

And so you see how this love test is operating in 1 John?

And so we show up in our passage, 1 John chapter 4 verses 7 and 8.

1 John 4:7

And again we read,

For love is from God and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

If you're loving, you've been made alive by God and you know him.

But then he says in verse 8,

Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.

And so what this test does, it reveals whether you've been born again or not.

It reveals whether you're a follower of Jesus or not.

Are you loving those who've been bought by the blood of Jesus?

If you are, you've been born of God.

If you're not, chances are you're not a follower of Jesus.

Maybe you're wondering, well, what does this kind of love look like?

How do I know if I'm loving another Christian or not?

Well, if you page over to 1 John 3, 16, we have a classic example.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us,

and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

That sounds, in principle, really good.

Look how John applies it.

Verse 17,

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need,

yet closes his heart against him, doesn't love him,

how does God's love abide in him?

Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and truth.

See how that shows up?

One of the ways Christians love one another is

if one Christian who has the world's good

sees another Christian who is struggling and they need help,

that one who's got the world's good

should love that other Christian by helping them out.

That's one way.

Other ways in which Christians love one another

is bearing with one another.

You've got a brother or a sister who's going through a hard time,

and it's going to be inconvenient and uncomfortable for you to go

because this person is crying a lot,

and they talk a lot,

and it's going to be a huge commitment of time.

You could just avoid it.

But love compels us to go

and to bear with that brother or sister experiencing hardship.

When a brother sins against me,

love compels me to forgive them.

When I sin against a brother,

love compels me to go to my brother and say,

I've sinned against you.

Will you forgive me?

It's love brings about peace and unity in the church.

In Ephesians chapter 4,

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

we see love exercised in speaking the truth in love to one another.

And that's just not a truth grenade

that you throw in and you duck from.

It's listening carefully

and then speaking words of encouragement

and comfort and correction if need be.

How are you holding up?

How do you stack up?

Let God's word have its intended effect.

How are you loving the brothers and sisters in Christ?

Are you loving them?

Or are you not?

If for some reason you don't think you are,

do you know what you need the most?

You need to experience

the love of God in Christ Jesus.

You need to become a Christian.

That's what that reveals.

This kind of love that we're talking about here,

it's a supernatural love.

We're born of God

to love one another.

So, for us here living in the 21st century,

to intentionally live for Jesus

means intentionally loving

those who also belong to Christ,

who God has placed in our midst.

God's love for us

compels us

to love one another

in a Christ-like fashion.

That's the love test.

Now, let's look at

the ultimate demonstration

of love

from God

that humans have ever seen.

We've seen the requirement.

We've had our hearts exposed.

Now, John, like a good pastor,

points us to

what God has done.

We read this in verses 9 and 10.

In this, the love of God

was made manifest among us

that God sent His only Son

into the world

so that we might live through Him.

And this is love,

not that we have loved God,

but that He has loved us

and sent His Son

to be the propitiation

for our sins.

John just said,

gave us the love test,

and he closes verse 8

with three words,

God is love.

And in verses 9 and 10,

he says,

this is how that love

has been made known,

how it's been revealed.

And I want to draw your attention

to the word this

in verse 9.

We read,

in this,

this specific,

concrete event,

God,

the love of God

was made manifest among us.

What is it?

That God sent His only Son

into the world.

And this is the love of God.

God's costly,

sacrificial commitment

for our greatest good

was made manifest

in His sending

of His only Son,

His unique

and exclusive

Son

into the world.

The very people

who were rebelling

against Him,

God demonstrates

His love

by sending

His one and only

Son to them.

And this demonstration

is purposed.

in this,

the love of God

was made manifest

among us

that God sent

His only Son

into the world.

Why?

For what reason?

For what purpose?

So that we might

live through Him.

God lovingly sent

His Son

so that we

who were in darkness

and in death

could live

for God.

That we could be

born of God.

That we could know God.

That in the words

of John 10.10,

that Jesus came,

that we might

live abundantly.

And that is talking

about eternal life.

An eternal life

that doesn't start

when you die.

An eternal life

that starts

the moment

you believe

in Jesus.

At the moment

that God

awakens you

to who Jesus is

and what He's done

and you put your faith

in it.

He moves you

from a sinful,

self-centered way

of being

and He radically,

graciously

moves you

into a God-centered

way of living

and it changes

the way you love.

Now over here,

if you're self-centered,

you're loving

other people

usually selfishly.

But when God

moves you

by His grace

through what Jesus

has done

and He gives you life,

you are God-centered

in all that you do

and now I am loving

people not for myself

but I'm laying down

myself

to love them

to Jesus.

Does that make sense?

This,

this is the love

of God

that He sent

His Son

that we may live

a radical change.

there's another

this in verse 10.

And this

is love.

Not that we

have loved God

but that He

loved us

and sent

His Son.

John is helping

us to understand

what kind of love

this God loves with.

And he says,

don't make the mistake

of trying to define love

by looking at

your own love

for God.

That's not the

gold standard

of love.

the gold standard

of love

is God's love

for us.

And again,

it's in the sending

of His Son.

Did you notice that

in verse 10?

That He loved us

and sent His Son

and then we're,

then we're

confronted with

a very big

theological word.

Sent His Son

to be the propitiation

for our sins.

What does that mean?

Verse 9,

God's love is demonstrated

in the sending

of the Son

for the purpose

of giving us life.

Verse 10,

God's love is demonstrated

in the sending

of His Son

through the means

of Jesus' death

on the cross.

Let me help you

understand.

propitiation.

The word propitiation

is a big word

that's capturing

a very important idea,

a very important truth.

A propitiation

is a sacrifice

that satisfies

God's wrath

for sin.

And what John

is talking about

is what takes place,

took place

on that first

Good Friday.

Jesus on the cross

and God's wrath

being poured out

on Him

for the sin

of all of those

who would one day believe.

Jesus bore

our wrath

so that

we could

live

for God.

Christ's loving

cross work

removed

God's wrath

that was hanging

over our heads

for our sins

and it enables us

to live

for Him

now.

It's because

of Jesus'

wrath

satisfying death

that we

who are in Christ

are now able

to live

for God.

So,

here's Captain Obvious.

Do you notice

where John

points us

to show

us

the greatest

example

of God's

love

known to man?

Where does

He point us?

He points us

to God

sending His Son

to die

on the cross

for sinners

so that

we can live

for God.

You know,

there's another way

to describe that?

The gospel.

The good news

that God

sent His

one and only

Son

to die

for sinners

so that

we can sin.

and here's

the point.

John's just

not showing

us this

so that we

can have

a working

definition

of propitiation.

God,

John is

showing us

this demonstration

of love

to motivate

us.

To motivate

us.

Look at

verse 11.

Beloved,

if God

so loved

us

that He

would send

His Son

to die

in the place

of sinners

so that

they could

live,

if God

loves us

that much,

we also

ought to

love one

another.

This is

the love

cause and

effect.

You could

also call it

the gospel

cause and

effect.

It is a

chain reaction

of God's

love that

He initiates

in us

and that

we can't

help but

love one

another because

we've been

radically

changed.

Cause

and

effect.

Do we

have any

Fixer Upper

fans in the

house?

Chip and

Joanna?

Gaines?

Magnolia?

Whatever?

They flip

houses.

And what

they do is

at the

beginning of

the show

there are

these before

pictures of

these dumps

and they

get involved

and they

turn a

dump

into this

glorious

piece of

real estate.

There's

this cause

Magnolia

real estate

properties,

Chip and

Joanna Gaines,

that comes

in and

completely

flips this

house.

And the

effect,

is a

whole new

building.

Here's the

cause and

effect of

the gospel.

God

comes in

with his

love,

demonstrated

in Christ,

that takes

away our

sin and

gives us

new life

and he

radically

reorients

us.

He radically

changes.

He loves

us so

much.

love.

It is a

gospel

causation

of love

and that

cause

impacts us

to such a

good degree

we must

love other

people.

We've been

radically

changed.

God's love

for us

compels us

to love

other

Christians

cause

God's love

effect.

we love

others.

Think about

it this

way.

God's love

is a

vertical

love that

impacts us

internally

and the

result,

the effect

is our

love goes

horizontal and

has an

external

effect.

here's what

John is

helping us

see.

He's

showing us

how to

love.

Okay,

so raise

your hand

if you

know a

Christian

that is

difficult to

love.

Oh,

we're all

there.

How do

you love

them?

John's

showing us

how.

You don't

turn to

yourself

first.

You don't

start doing

all sorts

of observations

and lists

of how

difficult

this person

is to

love.

The place

that you

start in

order to

love

somebody

is with

God's

love for

you.

When you

realize how

much God

has loved

you,

it compels

you to

love other

people,

even when

it gets

messy.

Let me

read you

something from

this book.

It's a

gospel primer

by Milton

Vincent.

He says

it this

way,

when my

mind is

fixed on

the gospel,

I have

ample

stimulation

to show

God's

love to

other

people.

For I

am always

willing to

show love

to others

when I

am freshly

mindful of

the love

that God

has shown

me.

You want

to know

how to

love other

people?

Dwell on

God's love

for you.

That love

demonstrated

most clearly

in Jesus

Christ.

So let

me press

this a

little

further.

When you

think about

God's love

for you

that initiated

towards you,

1 John 4

19 says

we love

because he

first loved

us.

The chain

reaction

started with

God loving

us.

God's

love for

us that

initiated

towards us

compels us

to initiate

with others.

I'm not

going to

wait for

them to

call me.

I'm not

going to

wait for

them to

flag me

down.

If I'm

seeing

something I'm

moving there.

Which brings

us to the

next.

God's love

for us

showed up

in the

sending of

his son.

God

crossed

all sorts

of boundaries

in order

to love

you.

Jesus came

from heaven

to earth.

He left

his glory

to come

here.

He was

dwelling

in his

spectacular

glory and

then he

took on

a seven

pound baby

frame.

Crossed

all sorts

of boundaries

and that

sending,

that crossing

of boundaries

compels us

as Christians

to love

over

boundaries

with other

Christians.

To love

over racial

boundaries.

boundaries.

To love

over

financial

boundaries,

neighborhood

boundaries,

cultural

boundaries,

any kind

of differences.

God's love

for me

compels me

to move

through the

barriers.

others.

God's love

initiates,

so I

initiate.

God's love

moves towards

others,

so I

move towards

others.

God's love

sought my

greatest good

to give me

life in

Christ,

so now I

am going to

love other

people for

their greatest

good that

they would

live in

Christ.

Christ.

And of

course that

comes at

cost.

God's love

for us

to live

for Christ

came at

cost.

He laid

down his

own life

in order for

that to

happen.

So we

lay down

our lives

to love

other brothers

and sisters

for their

greatest

good.

could you

imagine what

happens in

a church

when a

church starts

loving one

another like

this?

What's going

on there?

God's love?

God's love

taking root?

God's love

making a

difference?

God's love

compelling us

to love one

another?

I hope you

see that there

is no room

here for

self-reliance.

There's no

room here for

trusting in

myself and

loving of

other people.

We look to

our God and

we experience

his love in

order to love

others.

And that brings

us to the

loving result.

We've seen the

cause and effect.

Now let's look

at the loving

result in

verse 12.

No one has

ever seen

God.

If we love

one another,

God abides in

us and his

love is perfected

in us.

No one has

ever seen

God.

He's talking

about God

the Father.

God the

Father dwells

in inapproachable

light.

Nobody has

ever seen

him.

But then he

says something

very interesting.

If we love

one another,

God abides

in us.

It evidences

God's presence

in us.

When God is

dwelling in a

people, he is

going to compel

his people to

love one another.

It's evidence

of the unseen

God dwelling in

his people.

love one another.

And then look

at the result.

And his love

is perfected

in us.

Don't miss

the language.

And his

love is

perfected

in

us.

When we love

each other with

a Christ-like

love, not only

does it evidence

that God is

present in

our midst,

his love is

being perfected

in us.

And that word

perfected, think

about it as

fulfilled or

complete.

It's the

completing of a

circuit.

Here's another

way to think

about it.

God's love

for us is

incomplete

until we

love others.

It's a

potent love.

It's intended

to come

vertically

and then go

horizontally.

you want to

know a really

cool thought?

God loves

us

through

one another.

His love

is perfected

in us.

So,

could you

imagine

this?

God

intends

in our

church

to use

the brothers

and sisters

in this

church

to

communicate

his love

for

each other.

God

intends to

use us

that way.

He wants

to use

me

and others

in your

life

to communicate

his love

for you

in Christ.

But it

also means

this.

He wants

to use

you.

He wants

to use

you

to

communicate

his love

to other

brothers and

sisters in

the church.

His love

is

perfected

in us.

and it's

a powerful

witness.

Back to

John 13

35.

Our love

for one

another,

it displays

Jesus in a

unique way.

It gets

around this,

hey, you

know what,

I'll take

Jesus, but

you can

just keep

all the

other

Christians.

No,

our love

for one

another is

a strong

apologetic

against that.

let's wrap

this thing

up.

We started

by asking

the question,

hey, do

you as a

Christian have

difficulty loving

other Christians?

You're like,

yes, we do.

And then I

asked, okay,

are there

Christians that

probably have

difficulty loving

you?

And you're like,

yes.

And then we're

like, do we all

need help?

Yes, we all

need help loving

one another.

Lord, and

here's the

good news.

God's love

for us in

Christ is

the help.

It's the

love with

which we

love one

another.

It's God's

love for

us, compelling

us to love

one another.

So maybe the

response is you

realize you

don't love God's

people and it

just shows that

you're not a

Christian.

You just need

to become a

Christian.

Put your faith

in Jesus.

Turn from your

sin.

Or maybe this

means confession.

You realize you

are a Christian

but you've been

avoiding other

Christians because

they're a mess and

you don't want to

deal with them.

It's not loving.

Maybe it means

seeking someone's

forgiveness.

Maybe it means

giving someone

forgiveness.

Maybe it means

visiting someone

who's going through

hard times and

dealing with the

inconvenience and

discomfort of that.

Maybe it means

simply loving

people with your

ears.

Listening to

people.

Hearing them

out.

Understanding one

another.

And that

positions you to

speak a timely

word from God

out of love for

your brother or

sister.

there's some of

you in here that

may be in the

category of you

know what there's

someone I know I'm

supposed to love but

I don't want to

love them.

Here's what I would

encourage you to do.

Go to your God.

Ask him to remind

you to show you of

his great love for

you.

And ask him to

tenderize your heart

towards your brother

or sister that you

don't want to have

anything to do with.

A 21st century of

Jesus Christ

lives

out every area of

their life for

Christ.

And that includes

loving other

Christians.

Christians.

It's not optional.

It's part of

living for Jesus.

Let's pray.

God in heaven we do

thank you so much for

your word and we

recognize that your

word calls us to

things that we in

of ourselves sometimes

don't want to do or

don't feel like we can

do.

So God I do pray that

you would by your

spirit impress upon us

your great love for us

and that would move us

towards others.

so that we can love

them in a way that

honors you and for

their good.

In Jesus name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.