Maturing Faith: Of the Heart

4th Sunday of Easter

1st John 3:16-24

Love one another.

There were four children in my family of origin. I was the eldest, born in 1957; Tony came along in 1958, Rusty in ’63, and Tracy surprised us all in ’68 – eleven years my junior. As in most families, I suppose, as we aged, disciplining us became something of a “more difficult” task. We would fuss and argue about pretty much anything. We were experts at making sure Mom knew that the discipline meted out on any one of us “wasn’t fair” in comparison to how the others were treated. By the time I was in High School, Mother had started to resort to attempting to shame us into superior behavior. More than once she would look at us, and all she could say was “Children, love one another!!” It was all we could do to keep from cracking up.

That still happens from time to time, when we’re together. We have a strong competitive streak in our family, and occasionally we get into some kind of verbal argument about some absurd point, and Mom will watch from the sidelines until she can’t stand it any more, and then wade in with her admonition – “Children, love one another.”

Strangely, her words always made us stop short. You see, they weren’t her words – at least they weren’t original with her. Jesus first spoke these words, and then John took up the task of reminding us - as Christians, we are to love one another.

It never gets any easier to hear these words from John. Love one another. We have some questions. “John, are we supposed to love everybody, or just the people we go to church with? I mean, you know that we’re in a war right now, and that we’re having to pay nearly $3.00 at the gas pump, and politicians are worse than ever, and those other kind of Baptists really get our goat? Are we supposed to love all those people too, or just our families and our sisters and brothers at church?” Yeah – it never gets any easier.

Christ expects us to mature in our faith. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. Grow in your love for God. Mature – and as you gather more resources about you – resources of heart, soul, strength and mind – offer those resources to God as well. Love God, and show God that you love God by loving others.”

When we encounter 1st John, he challenges our growth – our maturity in love – by starting out with the example of Christ. “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.”

“Well, John – that brings up a few more questions. You say we ought to lay down our lives in love? Does that mean that we really have to? And like we asked a while ago – just who are these people we’re supposed to lay down our lives for? Arabs, Africans, Mexicans – or just Americans? Muslims, Jews, pagans – or just Christians? Catholics, Lutherans, and Methodists – or just Baptists? Just how far are you asking us to go in this “lay down your lives” thing?”

You and I know the answer to these questions – but our minds ask them anyway. Our minds and our hearts, calloused by the world, seek to limit the scope to which we serve God by loving others. The answer is simple, really – we are to extend the love of Christ to every person for whom Christ died. When you start to question whom you should love, remind yourself of John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world . . .”

There is a sense in which our love starts at home. John states it for us – “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” Our own homes, and our own church is the starting place. We prove the love of Christ first with those whom we already love. And the implication from John is that if we can’t start loving at home, how will we succeed beyond those reaches? Lest we be confused we are to take the love of God to our Jerusalem, our Judea, our Samaria, and to the farthest reaches of the world. You and I are called to share the love of Christ with people in Enid, folks in Oklahoma, neighbors in Kansas, and people outside of our country. That is the scope of the ever expansive reach of our love for others.

John has more for us to hear. “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” There is some evidence that the church John originally wrote these words to had some problems getting along with one another. Every church is like that to some degree, I suppose – and although our church does better than most in this area, we must constantly be on guard. We must constantly be concerned that our actions match our speech – that we don’t just “say” that we love each other, but that our actions prove the love we have for each other. John gives us the standard – and it’s a tough standard – individual conscience. Here’s the way we frame the question for ourselves – this day and every day – “Does the way I act toward my fellow church members prove to my own mind and heart that I love them?” I can tell you right now – as your pastor, I stand condemned on this one. I don’t do nearly enough to prove to my own mind and heart that I truly love each person in this congregation. God knows my heart – and I come up short.

When I was in seminary, and looking for some good commentary sets to fill my library shelves, the cheapest set of New Testament commentaries I could find was the Tyndale NT Commentaries. I think I bought the whole set for $60 bucks. Anyway, over the years I’ve taught 1st John probably 15 times to one group or the other, and I always go back to this Tyndale commentary for the structure to my teaching. John R.W. Stott is the author of this particular volume, and Stott makes the point that in 1st John, John lays out a three-fold test related to confidence in our Christian faith. The first test is the moral test – the test of obedience. It’s stated in 1st John 2:3 – “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” John says that one indicator that we are truly Christian is if we remain obedient to Christ by obeying the commandments of Christ. Then the third test in the series is the doctrinal test – we might call it the “belief” test – do we truly believe that Jesus is the Christ. But the second test – the social test – is what we might call the “love” test – John says that we can know that we are Christian by our love for one another. John begins his argument for the social test in chapter 2:7-11. In verse 9, he says, “the one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now, and the one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”

So, according to John there are three tests to our Christian faith – 1. Do we believe that Jesus is the Christ, 2. Do we obey His commandments, and 3. Do we love our brothers and sisters? John spends the rest of the book of 1st John elaborating on these tests, and considering them in combination.

Here, starting in verse 21, the sense of what John is doing is quite clear. He reminds us that our conscience holds us each to account, and if our conscience is clear, we can have confidence before God. Then He says that we can ask of God anything we wish because we keep the commandments of God, and then John reminds us that the greatest of the commandments is to love each other. He looks at the moral test and the social test in response to one another. We best keep the commandment of God by loving one another. That’s his point – we are commanded to love.

This week I read Will Willimon on this passage, and he titled his sermon study “Determined to Love.” He offers something of a different motivation for loving – one of personal, solid determination. He makes the case that Christians show a different kind of love than the world knows – one that is forged in personal determination to prove our love to Christ by loving those for whom Christ died.

The reason I mention these two resources – Stott and Willimon – is to point out that when it comes to love, motivation is important to consider. Here’s why – love is a sneaky thing, and the way the world looks at love doesn’t help the matter any. Our world would have us believe that love is something that we feel – period. We love because we are captivated by someone else – by their looks, by their beauty, perhaps by their personality or some other innate quality – and we simply can’t help ourselves – we fall in love. That’s the world’s definition of love. I suppose there’s something to it, but Christian love offers another viewpoint. We love as a choice. We choose to love.

Like God did.

God chose to send Christ. First God created us. That was a love choice. God didn’t have to create us, but God did. Then God gave us opportunity to live here, free on the earth. We took advantage of that opportunity, and we squandered it by choosing to live our lives apart from the will of God. We sinned. So, by God’s choice, God made provision for our redemption. God sent Jesus. God sent Jesus to pay the price for our redemption, and while He was here, to show us how to live. Jesus was the greatest example of love the world has known. You have questions about how to love – look to Jesus. He showed us – perfectly. He came to this world in love. He lived a life of service in love. He taught us about the Father in love. He stretched out his arms to die for us in love. And He rose from the grave in love. Then, again in love, Jesus sent the Spirit to abide in us, that we might know His love, and that we might share His love with others. All of this – in love.

About two years ago, I started collecting DVDs of Academy Award winning movies. My most recent acquisition is “Shakespeare in Love” – the story of William Shakespeare during the time he was writing Romeo and Juliet. You remember the story line of Romeo and Juliet. Young, star crossed lovers – greatest love story every written. Anyway, in the movie, there is discussion as to whether someone can write a love story that shows love at its zenith. Someone makes a bet, and Queen Elizabeth says, “Fifty pounds! A very worthy sum on a very worthy question. Can a play show us the very truth and nature of love? I bear witness to the wager, and will be the judge of it as occasion arises. I have not seen anything to settle it yet.”[1]

In the end of the story of Romeo and Juliet, the lovers unknowingly show their love for each other by taking their own lives. Queen Elizabeth is duly impressed, and commands that the wager be paid.

Shakespeare was on to something, I think. The greatest expression of love calls upon someone to give their life. That’s what Jesus did. He gave His life.

I have a question to ask us. Members of Cornerstone, I have a question for us. How do we lay down our lives for each other? I am the judge – for my conscience only. You are the judge – for your conscience.

Beloved, we ought to love one another. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another. Whatever motivation you need to get there - whatever encouragement you need – this is our calling – to mature in love for one another, even as Christ has loved us.

Richard W. Dunn, PhD.

[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138097/quotes