We're gonna move on to reading our scripture.
I'm gonna read it in Spanish. You can follow
along in English. es el mensaje que han oído
desde el principio, que nos amemos los unos a
los otros. No seamos como Caín que por ser del
maligno asesinó a su hermano. ¿Y por qué lo hizo?
Porque sus propias obras eran malas y las de
su hermano justas. Hermanos, no se extrañen si
el mundo los odia. Nosotros sabemos que hemos
pasado de la muerte a la vida porque amamos a
nuestros hermanos. El que no ama permanece en
la muerte. Todo el que odia a su hermano es un
asesino y ustedes saben que ningún asesino permanece
la vida eterna. En eso conocemos lo que es el
amor. in que Jesucristo entregó su vida por nosotros
así también nosotros debemos entregar la vida
de nuestros hermanos si alguien se posee bienes
materiales ve que su hermano está pasando necesidad
y no tiene compasión de él cómo se puede decir
que el amor de Dios habita en él queridos hijos
no amemos la palabra ni de labios para afuera
All right, well the last three weeks we're ending
a series tonight the last three weeks we've been
in a series in first John really covering We've
been kind of calling the basics of the faith
which We're looking kind of more individually
as a community comes together, what are the things
that Christians ought to prioritize as they are
gathering into a church? In week one of the series,
we looked at the measure of God's love for us,
and we saw that the measure of God's love is
defined in what Jesus did for us in laying down
his life for us, right? And so we know that we
are always loved and safe with the Lord because
Jesus laid down his life for you and I. In the
second week, we heard about the security that
we have with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
The triune God has been eternally secure within
himself. And so the insecurity that we carry
around in our life, what we're really looking
for is to belong to God who is eternally secure.
And so we can be secure with him, which means
we don't need to go through life with this scarcity
mindset, always holding on to what is ours. We
can give ourselves away. to others, right, if
we're secure with God. Last week, as we said
earlier, we talked about this problem of sin
and darkness and we compared sin and darkness
to sort of like the trauma of traumas and how
God is kind to us. You know, any kind of trauma,
we need someone to name it for us, right? Otherwise
we can't heal. We need someone to name our problem.
God loves us enough to name it. And so when we
confess our sin, we are agreeing with God that
we need his help to be made new. that we have
sinned and we need his help to make us new. Tonight's
message, I hope, is straightforward and to the
point, because I think our text is straightforward
and to the point. We have reached the application
of John's first letter. This is the application.
Everything he's been talking about, he now applies
for us. And you can see this in chapter three,
verse 18, which you have in your worship guide
printed out. John said, dear children, let us
not love with words or speech, but with actions
and in truth. Let us not love with words and
speech, but with actions and in truth. You see,
a lot of people can talk about Jesus. They can
quote scripture backwards and forwards, they're
well -versed in theology, they sound good on
a stage, but none of that matters, John said.
If you can't love with actions and truth, you
can't just talk about it, you have to actually
be about it. You know there's nothing more damaging
to the reputation of Christ than a church that's
all talk and no action. I've shared this illustration
with some of you recently, but I think to me
it's moving and powerful enough that I'm going
to share it again. And it's the musician Haley
Williams, who she's the lead singer of a band.
She's put out a solo album. And I am not recommending
her album to you. I went and listened to the
whole thing. I'm not going to recommend the whole
album. But she has one song in particular that
I think is powerful, and particularly powerful
because she performed it live on the Jimmy Fallon
show. So Saturday Night National TV. She performs
this song a few weeks ago called True Belief.
So she's up on stage, national TV. I want to
read you two verses from Haley's song that she
sang. It goes like this, I'm not going to sing
it. The churches overflow each Sunday, greedy
Sunday morning. Gift shop in the lobby, act like
God ain't watching, kill the soul, turn a profit.
They put up chain -link fences underneath the
biggest bridges. They pose in Christmas cards
with guns as big as all their children. They
say that Jesus is the way, but then they give
him a white face so they don't have to pray to
someone they deem lesser than them. What is she
getting at in those words? Christian hypocrisy.
Christians who are all talk and no action or
maybe worse, all talk and then actions that totally
disqualify their words. I don't share Haley's
song because I'm concerned about the American
church, the image of the American church in general.
That's a different message for another time.
I'm concerned about this church in this neighborhood
and who Jesus is calling us to be. Will we be
a church that loves and more than words? Not
the song and More than words, but also with our
actions and our deeds. Will we be a church that
loves more than our words with our whole lives?
Are we prepared to give our lives away the way
that Jesus gave his life away? That's The message
of our text and that is I think the challenge
before us as a church So as we enter into our
text, let's pray together and ask for Jesus's
help as we sit under his word. Jesus, we do ask
that you would pour out your spirit in our hearts
that we might sit under your word tonight. Please
don't allow us in our pride and our greed to
sit over your word thinking that we can judge
it for ourselves. We need you to pierce our hearts.
You have spoken and we pray you would speak to
us now in our time together. Amen. God's love
in Jesus Christ will transform how we love others.
That's my point. God's love in Jesus will transform
how we love others. So let's break this down.
The transforming love of Jesus, we see that here,
well all over the text, but we see it in particular
at verses 11 and 16. These are the two verses
that really drive like the engine of our passage
tonight. So first look at verse 11. John says,
I'm reminding you of a message you have heard
from the beginning. Now, what is he talking about
here? Remember, this letter was originally a
sermon that was preached to a congregation, and
then it was recorded and it was sent out. And
it was received by another congregation. It was
received after John had written his gospel. So
the gospel was sent first, and then sometime
later, 1st John, 2nd John, 3rd John get sent
to the same church. So when John says what you've
heard from the beginning, he's talking about
when you first heard the gospel, in my gospel
that I sent to you. And so what he's referring
back to is a teaching from Jesus in John chapter
13. John chapter 13, this is going to sound very
familiar. verses 34 and 35, Jesus said, a new
command I give you, love one another. As I have
loved you, so you must love one another. By this
everyone will know that you are my disciples
if you love one another. You hear the similarity,
don't you? Now slow down and pay attention to
what Jesus said. He didn't just say go love people.
That's silly anybody can say that What did he
say Love one another as I have loved you see
there it is The scriptures are not a self -help
manual but a guide to the transforming love of
Jesus Jesus's teaching is not simply go love
people. That's boring Nor does he say, go love
people so that you might earn my love. That's
not transformation, that's manipulation. Jesus
said, love one another as I have loved you. And
in case we forget how Jesus has loved us, John
reminds us in verse 16. This is how we know what
love is. By the way, there's some great 316s
in the Bible to memorize. This is another one.
This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ
laid down his life for us and we ought to lay
down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
Please, I want to be clear on this. We don't
do anything to earn love or security or favor
from God. That's not what this is teaching. I
want to be clear because I think in our head
we read this but we hear it something different.
This is not saying if you love in a certain way
you are going to earn Jesus's love that's that's
backwards Right. We have already been loved Profoundly
by God and and he's and so Jesus is saying through
John love in the same way I have loved you. Jesus
says, I've given you my love and my presence
and my security and my forgiveness as a gift.
And these gifts are given to us by Jesus when
he laid down his life for us. And if you know
the measure of that kind of love, it's gonna
change how you love other people. That's what
John's saying. If you know how much Jesus has
loved you, that is going to change how you love
other people. You know, when Christianity exploded
on the scene in the first few centuries after
Jesus died, do you know how the church grew?
It wasn't because there was awesome preachers.
I mean, there was a few good ones, but it wasn't
because there was rock star preachers. It wasn't
because you had big mega churches with light
shows and smoke screens. It wasn't really well
-worked programs that were like well rehearsed
and all of that. It was none of that. It was
Christians who loved their neighbor in the face
of suffering, trial, and persecution. That is,
you look at any church historian, they're going
to say unanimously, that is how the church exploded.
I want to read one account for you. This is from
260. It's a man named Dionysius. And one of the
things that happened in the first few centuries
was several plagues broke out in Rome. So the
Christians, they're living under persecution.
They're being hunted by Romans. At the same time,
there's always plagues breaking out. So everyone's
dying. And whenever the plagues would break out,
the priests of the Roman temples, they would
flee the city to safety. But you know what the
Christians did? They stayed. Here's one account.
Most of our brothers and sisters showed unbounded
love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and
thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger,
they took charge of the sick, attending to their
every need and ministering to them in Christ.
And with them departed this life serenely happy.
For they were infected by others with the disease
drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors
and cheerfully accepting their pains Many and
nursing many in nursing and caring for others
transferred their death to themselves and died
in their stead The best of our brothers and sisters
lost their lives in this manner a number of elders
deacons and laymen winning high commendation
so that death in this form, the result of great
piety and strong faith, seems in every way the
equal of martyrdom. Why were the Christians so
hated? Malcolm gave this example last night.
Emperor Julian was one of many Roman emperors
who articulated his deep hatred for Christians,
and it wasn't because they were wrong, it wasn't
any, it was any, it was because they put the
Romans to shame in how much they loved everybody
else. And so Julian articulated that the Christians
are putting us to shame because they don't just
care for their own poor and they're sick, but
they care for our poor and are sick better than
we do. And he hated it because that meant there
were people leaving the Roman religion to become
Christians. Instead, it made him sick. It made
him sick. Brothers and sisters, what I'm trying
to say to you is if we as a church are going
to be put to shame in the eyes of the world,
let it not be because we're hypocrites who hoard
our treasures and build bigger temples for ourselves.
Let it be because in the eyes of the world we
are fools who give too much of ourselves away.
That's the kind of love that when that takes
up root in a church, it transforms the way a
people of God live together. And that's my prayer
for our church. Now John, he breaks this down
in two ways. The way our love is transformed
for others. First he says in a general way and
he compares. what he's been talking about, he
compares this to Cain and Abel. This is another
way of articulating what he had been talking
about with light and darkness. So Cain is a manifestation
of darkness, Abel is a manifestation of the light.
And so some of you know this story from Genesis
3 and Genesis 4, Cain and Abel, they're Adam
and Eve's first two sons. And so Genesis 4, you
have this account where Cain and Abel, one day
they both go and they make sacrifices to God.
And it says that God accepted Abel's sacrifice,
but he rejected Cain's sacrifice. We're never
really told why, and I think it's not the point
of the story, which is why we're not really ever
told why. Because the point of the story is not
what was wrong with the sacrifices, the point
of the story is to show us how quickly sin destroys
everything. Adam and Eve fall into sin in Genesis
3, and Genesis 4, their children are already
killing each other. Anyone who says that sin's
not that bad, Scripture says otherwise. So, John
is recalling this story to mind because he wants
you to recall that Cain, after Satan, Cain is
the first villain we meet in Scripture. He's
the textbook picture of hatred, jealousy, and
murder. And John said that if any of us hold
hatred in our hearts in any way, we are like
Cain. We're murderers. You say, wait a minute,
I've never killed anybody. I've never thought
about killing anybody. How can I be like Cain?
Jesus said in Matthew 5, 21 and 22 that anyone
who hates a brother or sister in their heart
will be judged like a murderer. So those are
the stakes. Those are the stakes. Now here's
what this is not saying. This teaching does not
mean that you should go and be everybody's best
friend. We're not all quarry. We're not all gifted
that way. Okay? Brother, we love that you could
be everyone's best friend. I can't. Okay? It's
not saying that you should let your guard down
around people who have proven themselves that
they're gonna wound you and they'll probably
do it again. It's not what it's saying. It's
not saying that you're gonna be naive. John is
saying that the follower of Jesus can't go through
life with a vengeful heart. You can't go through
life wishing destruction and harm on other people.
You can't be the kind of person who bears a grudge
forever. You can't find joy and violence. Instead,
If you've been loved by Jesus, then you're going
to become the kind of person that he describes
in the Beatitudes. Meek, dependent, merciful,
compassionate, patient, generous, the kind of
person that Paul describes in Galatians five
with the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
and self -control. In other words, in a general
way, you're gonna become more Christ -like in
the way that you love. Your general attitude
is gonna grow in the way that you love others.
So there's kind of a general application point,
but then John drills this down into the specific
application. I want you to look at this in verse
17. You say, okay, John, that's still, I still
don't know how, that's still not specific enough.
Well, he's gonna give you something very specific.
Verse 17. If anyone has material possessions
and sees a brother or sister in need but has
no pity on them, how can the love of God be in
that person? See, God's people ought to be marked
by a special love for the poor, the suffering,
and the oppressed. The clearest evidence that
Jesus is at work in someone if they are taking
care of people in need, if you are sitting in
your seat and you know the person in front of
you is struggling to make ends meet and they're
struggling to put food on their table for their
kids and then you just go home from here and
you don't do anything about it, how can God's
love be in you? If a church exists in a neighborhood
where people are struggling to keep their lights
on, they're struggling to pay their bills and
the church does nothing about it, how can the
church say that the love of God is in that building?
Do you see? Do you see? Love is not expressed
as a feeling, but as an action. Jesus didn't
stay in heaven and yell down, I love you, and
then do nothing to relieve us of our distress.
He took action to relieve us of our misery and
our need. The people of God cannot stay back
and say, we love you. and do nothing to help
people in their need. Nothing about that is demonstrative
of the kind of love that Jesus has shown to us.
A gift shop in the lobby might impress the world.
A large megaplex building or a big, beautiful
cathedral might draw a crowd, but a group of
Christians who will not prioritize the needs
of the oppressed and the suffering and the poor
are still in death and darkness. And that's just
1 John 3, friends. We live in a world you and
I this is where I think you and I need to be
challenged on this Because we live in a world
where people love to talk about justice and equality
and mercy But nobody wants anything to change
And I think we Probably more than we want to
admit are shaped by this kind of logic. This
is what Dr. Foley was getting at last night.
I'm coming at it in a little bit of a different
way Here's an example of what I mean. Years ago,
when then candidate Joe Biden, soon to be President
Biden, when he was campaigning to become president,
he gave a speech in a room of very wealthy Wall
Street donors, all the top 1%. And after naming
the problem, of income inequality. So he names
the problem. There's income inequality in this
country. He goes on and he says, I promise you
that nothing will fundamentally change for you
if I'm elected president. He said, I need you
very badly. And if I win this nomination, I promise
I won't let you down. See, this is the politicians
promise, and I think this is the way many of
us have been trained to think about justice and
mercy. We might put our finger on problems, but
we like it when people tell us, I'm going to
fix everything, but nothing's going to change
for you. You're never going to have to lift a
finger to help. You can still be comfortable.
Nothing has to change. That's what the politicians
tell us. Jesus isn't a politician. Jesus is the
King. He's the Savior. He's the Redeemer of the
entire universe. And Jesus doesn't ask us to
vote for him. He doesn't ask us to sign up for
an ideology. Jesus asks us to follow him. And
when we follow him, he says, then we have to
be willing to get very uncomfortable because
he says, I'm going to change everything for you.
If you follow me, I'm gonna change everything.
I'm gonna change the way you spend your time.
I'm gonna change the way you spend your money.
I'm gonna change the way you relate to people.
I'm gonna change what you do with your resources
and your energy and your talents. Everything
is gonna change if you follow me. Will we follow
Him and His call for everything to change? Everything
has to change because Jesus gave us everything
when He laid down His life for us. Jesus never
promised us follow me and I will make you a comfortable
well -adjusted person He said follow me as I
lay down my life I Want to think about this in
three ways And then I'm done I think churches
churches typically have a hard time bringing
people together across different income levels.
And I think one of the reasons, one of the significant
reasons why churches have a hard time bringing
people together across different income levels
is because if you're gonna bring people together
who have a wide gap in how much money they make,
then to have an honest community, that means
you're gonna have to talk about money in the
church. And nobody wants to talk about money.
Nobody wants to admit that they don't make enough.
And nobody wants to admit that they make too
much. So we'd rather worship with people who
make the same amount of money as us so we don't
have to talk about money ever. Friends, do you
see how foolish that justification is? And how
contrary to the purposes of Jesus that is? So
three things I want you to think about. Number
one. Proximity I'm kind of reviewing a little
bit of what dr. Foley talked about last night
But I think this is some of you may have this
practical practical question of like so what
does this mean? For us as a church, and I can't
answer all that you can ask me later, but I want
to Remind us of the principle of proximity We
can't fix everything we can't help everyone Which
I think is one of the reasons why as a church
it's important for us to say this is our this
is our focus This is what we can do right? which
is why we've kind of put our finger down on Hawville.
We can do something about Hawville. We don't
have enough to do anything about the East Side,
which other people might be called to the East
Side. We're not called to the East Side. And
I'm going to tell you personally what that means
for me when I'm out driving around the city.
If I'm on the East Side and I see people asking
for help, I say, I probably can't do anything
for this person because I'm giving as much as
I can away here to the people here. I'm giving
all my money to this to this church to Stuart
and I give to our immediate neighbors here I
make an impact here Right, I can focus my time
here and and a group of people we can do more
if we keep in mind this principle of proximity
We focus together on a particular area of need
rather than trying to do everything for everyone.
We can't we're finite our resources are finite
I'd encourage us to remember that But then two
more things There is really two sides of what
John is instructing us here. If you are someone
who has needs that are not being met, you have
to ask for help. There is a way in which following
Jesus for you might mean letting go of whatever
it is where insecurity, pride, whatever, you
don't want to let people in to help. There has
to be a willingness to ask for help, right? Now,
I also want to encourage everyone has something
to give. Everyone has something to give right
resources time energy gifts So everyone here
has something to give but you may also have needs
and that means you have you have to open yourself
up and ask for help And the other side of that
is there are some of us in this room And we have
too much we have too much and as dr. Foley challenges
the call is back to a kind of self -examination
of how can I need less so that I can share more?
But I think this prayerfully we've discerned
is the calling for this congregation is to be
a congregation that shares and to give ourselves
away the way that Jesus has given himself away
to us. And so I hope that for years to come,
Jesus might continue to do a work in us, to open
ourselves up and give ourselves away so that
people might know him and know his love. Let's
pray. Jesus, we thank you for just how clear
your word is to us. And this charge you've given
to us, it's not easy, but it is simple. Call
us to share. And to let go. And ask for help.
I pray that you would pour out your love into
our hearts that we can be a community that does
these things with one another. And that if we
would be put to shame in the eyes of the people
around us, it would be because they say, what
on earth is going on over there and why do they
just keep giving more? of themselves away. We
can say, because that's what you did for us.
That's what you did for us. Move in our hearts,
we pray. Jesus, amen.