The Love of God for Others (1 John 4:19-21)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Excited to be here this morning. We're in 1 John chapter 4. We're going to pick up right where we left off last week, and we'll spend most of our time in 19 through 21 today. But I do want us to go ahead.
We're going to look at verse 7. We read this last week. We're going to start there and read from verse 7 to verse 11 to kind of recap this idea that John's talking about in this letter about the love that God has for us and how we know love and abide in love. Because what we're going to look at today, what he says at the end of chapter 4, kind of anchors in this. And so we'll start there. Verse 7.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. So we read this last week, this idea that love comes from God. All the human love that we enjoy and partake in is downhill from the love of God. And so whoever knows God abides in love, lives in love. Whoever's been born of God knows God. Whoever loves, it says anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.
So that we can't claim to know God and be unloving 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. So the way we see and know the love of God is through the person and work of Christ. That he makes the love of God palpable, tangible, visible. And so that it's in Christ that the love of God is made manifest. And John's kind of said these ideas over and over again.
He's talked about the love of God over and over again. He talked about it in chapter 2. He talked about the love of God. And he talked about how we see the love of God in Christ who gave himself up for us so that we might give up our lives for the brothers. He keeps going here in verse 10. 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.
That's the atoning sacrifice for our sins so that we know the love of God in the work of the cross where he takes our sin on himself, is punished for our sin and offers us forgiveness. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. So that's what we looked at last week, and he keeps going, but let's pick up in verse 19. We love because he first loved us. I want us to read that so that we understand the love that he has for us is shown to us in the cross. It's a sacrificial love.
It's a love that gives up yourself for the sake of another. That's the love that we know that we have in Christ for us. That we love because he first loved us. If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. John just calls it how he sees it, doesn't he? He's done this the whole, his whole book.
He'd be like, if you say this and you do that, lie. You will lie. That's what my dad would say to me growing up. You will lie. And that's what he says. You will lie.
You say you love God, but you hate your brother. You're a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. What he's saying is that your brother is in front of you. You see them. You see their needs.
They're actually on the same level with you in sinfulness and neediness. That you actually get to show your love to them in tangible ways. And if you say, no, I don't love them, but I do love God. He's saying you're actually, that's not how it works. That if you genuinely love God, then you will love your brother. And anyone who doesn't love their brother, but says they love God is a liar.
That's not, because that's not how it works. That it's in some ways harder to love God, to genuinely relate to God. And that if we do love God and relate to God, then we will love each other. Verse 21. And this commandment we have from him. Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
So John has said this over and over again. And now he's saying this is the commandment we have from him. That whoever loves God must also love his brother. You have to love your brothers that you have seen. Now, this is a beautiful theological reality for the church. That if you belong to Jesus, that every person in this room who's placed their faith in Christ, who's been redeemed by him, who's had him be the propitiation for their sins.
That every person gathered in the city and other rooms to proclaim Jesus. That every person around the globe, throughout all of history, who's placed their faith in Jesus, is our eternal brother or sister in Christ. That that word brothers in the Greek includes both male and female. That it's siblings. That's the way that word works. So that we belong to each other as family.
And that's a beautiful reality. That's why we talk about we want to be in community groups where we practice this reality. Where we try to walk out commands like this to love one another. We try to live in light of the fact that we belong to each other eternally. That there is no single solitary Christians. I always say that yes, you can be a Christian on an island.
But you aren't on an island. Which means that yeah, you can be a Christian with no one else around. But that's not your circumstance. So you actually have to have other people around. That you're meant to be in real relationships. Loving your brothers and sisters in Christ.
And I want to say that I'm so grateful to have been a part of this church. Where we try to live this out. Where it's not, we don't just get together on Sundays. Leave, see you next week. But we try to be in relationships with each other.
Try to commit to community groups where we're around one another. Try to make our community groups where we don't, aren't just meeting once a week with them. But trying to be around each other in life. And sometimes we get that going better. And sometimes not as well. But we're actively shooting for practicing this together.
This is something that we've taken seriously. That we're going to practice being in real relationships with each other. And it's one of the best things about our church. And it's quite possibly the most annoying thing about our church. That if you've been a part of our church for a while. The best thing that's been most helpful and most life giving.
And most joy filled for you. Is the relationships that you've built. Is you've committed to people. And the thing that you have been most frustrated with. Most annoyed by. Most often try to talk yourself into not being around.
Is because of the people that you've invested with. And built relationships with. That's what makes this so beautiful. And so good. And so helpful. And so what I want to do this morning.
I want us to look at this idea. And let's take seriously this command. To love one another. This is the seventh time. John in this letter. It's not a long letter.
I know we've made it seem like a long letter. With how slow we're going through it. You're thinking no this is a long letter y'all. It's not a long letter. This is the seventh time he's told us to love one another. It's the seventh time we've been commanded.
To love one another. To love the brothers. Love the brothers. Love the brothers. Love the brothers. It's the fourth time he's said it negatively.
Which is. If you don't you ain't. You don't love. You a liar. He's done that four times. Seven times he's said it in a positive direction.
Four times he's been aggressive with the. You don't get to be a part of things if you don't love people. Why? Well. My first answer to that. Is I think it's because it's important.
I think it's close to the heart of God that we love each other. I think it. It's as serious as he says it. Which is if we don't love the brothers. Then we don't know God.
So it matters that we're loving. But secondly. And encouragingly. I think it's because it's difficult. Isn't that encouraging to you? It's encouraging to me.
At times I think that you know the first. The early church just had it together. And everything just worked for them. And we're scrubs. And they were great. And the Holy Spirit was really working.
And they didn't have to try to. Like they just said no to sin. And when they saw their brother. They just bubbled up with love juices all inside. And how much they cared for each other. And it was just like.
I just came to our group. And I just looked at you. And I just love you so much. Seven times. The apostle John. It's the apostle who walked with Jesus.
Is going love one another. Love one another. It's a command y'all. Do it. And quit saying that you love God. And not loving each other.
He's repeatedly saying this. Because we need the correction. And the encouragement. And because this does not necessarily come naturally to us. Tim Keller in his book. King's Cross.
Where he's walking through Mark. I love one of the ways that he talks about this. He says that there are few people in your life. That are a genuine delight to love. That they're great. You enjoy them.
It's easy to love them. They enhance your life. He says that's wonderful. Love those people. Everyone else. It's going to be a trial to love.
It's going to be hard. It's going to take sacrifice. It's going to take difficulty. That loving people is difficult. And so I want us to look at this. We're going to put these verses together.
It's the beginning of 19. We're going to kind of hold this in our head. We love because he first loved us. And the reason I want that there. We're just taking out the negative statement in the middle. Where he says.
If you say you love. Then you don't. Then you're a liar. But I want us to have that there. Because as we talk about taking seriously the command to love one another. There's going to be a genuine temptation.
To try to anchor. Our ability to love people. In ourselves. Okay. I'm going to be loving. I'm going to do this.
And if we try to anchor this in ourselves. It will not work. We have to understand that the energy. The power to love is empowered by the Holy Spirit. Through the work of Christ. That we love because he first loved us.
That's got to be in your head as we talk through this. And then. That's the command we have for him. Whoever loves God. So secondarily.
First he loves us. Secondly we love him. That's the appropriate response to the love of God. Is that you see the love that he has for you. And you respond loving him. Because he's so wonderful.
Then. Whoever loves God. Must also love his brother. So third. Is that we love the brother. So.
There are. I want us. He said this a lot. We've talked about it a lot. We've talked about the theology of it. We've talked about the straightforward ideas of it.
And what I want to look at today. Is as we look at this. And hold in our minds. This idea. And take seriously this command. To love one another.
I just want to bring up four things. That I think. Make it difficult. Culturally. For us to love each other. That there are four kind of.
Currents. In culture. That we're used to. But that actually. Harm. They're enemies of.
Our ability to love each other. Things that we've gotten used to. That seem normal to us. As Americans. As Americans in 2022. But.
Ultimately though. Aren't in step. God. With the scriptures. And this. This happens to us.
I am. My wife and I. Have been married. For. I don't know. Just a year or two.
Something like that. And we went to go eat. Dinner. At my parents house. And when we got there. My dad said.
Hey I want to show you something. Come here. And he took us over to this. Like. Glass. Hutch.
Display case. Thing. That my mom has precious moments in. Precious moments. Are little big headed glass dolls. Uh.
My dad would give my mom. One every year. To celebrate. A precious moment. That had happened that year. So she has this little display case.
Of precious moments. He says. Come over here. I want to show you something. He says. Look at that.
And he points. And in this little display case. With light shining on it. Is a dead hummingbird. And he says. Look at it.
Isn't that cool? I found that. You don't usually get to see hummingbirds. Up close. And their wings flap so fast. You can't see them.
Look at how pretty their wings are. And I was like. Yeah. That's great. That's beautiful. You know.
Moved right on with our time there. We ate. We get in the car. We're riding home. And my wife goes. Oh my goodness.
I could barely even eat. While we were there. I said. Why? I said. What do you mean?
Why? Why? Because there's a dead hummingbird. Four feet from me. And I was like. And she goes.
That's weird. And it was at that moment. That it clicked. Oh yeah. No. That is kind of weird.
It's not weird to me. Because. That's not weird at all. To find a dead hummingbird. And put it in a glass case at our house. That was the.
The last in a long line. Of dead animals. My dad had excitedly shown me. But I had to have her next to me. To go. Do you see that this.
You see. You can see this right. Please tell me. You can see that this is a little bit. But. And that's what John's.
In some ways. I think if he were to sit next to us. In American culture. He. He'd have some things. Where he goes.
You see how that's going to make it hard. To love each other. Right. And so I'm just pulling out. This is just things that. I think.
We need to take. As we take the command. To love seriously. We need to be mindful of. There's some things. That we have gotten used to.
In culture. That are actually. Counter. To our ability. To follow. What he's telling us.
So. First one. Busyness. Busyness. Is an enemy. To your ability.
To love people. If you are. Moving at a frantic. Hectic. Pace. You cannot.
Feel loved by God. Spend time with him. Rest in the love that he has for you. And you do not have the time. To love other people. And we're busy.
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Age group. Gender. Race. You talk to people.
How are things going? Good. Just been really busy. Things are fine. I'm just really busy. I've just got a lot going on.
That's the pace of life for us. That we are busy. And we have a lot going on. And we. You may be the type of person. Who tells yourself.
I won't be busy. Soon. And you've been telling yourself that. For years. And to borrow a phrase from John. You're a liar.
If you're more honest. You'd say. Well I'm busy now. But in a couple of weeks. I'll be busy also. But after that.
I'm going to be even more busy. But eventually. I'll die. That's the pace of life that we have. And if we have that pace of life. That's an enemy.
To our ability. To love one another. That if you are. Frantic. And hectic. It messes you up.
If we are hurried. I got some of these ideas. That I'm about to share with you. From a pastor named John Mark Comer. He wrote a book called. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.
That would be helpful for. Everyone to read. But. There's this concept of hurry sickness. Which was. First brought around by a doctor.
Who was a cardiologist. In the 50's. He started connecting. Being hurried all the time. Being busy all the time. With heart disease.
He started realizing. That stress. Of always having things going on. Was causing problems. And so there's a book. Written by Rosemary Sword.
And Philip Zimbardo. They are time perspective therapists. So that's a thing. But they said this. They said. These are three ways to tell.
If you have. Hurry sickness. One. When you're. In a checkout line. You move from one checkout line.
To another. Because that one's moving faster. The second one they give you. Is that when you pull up to a light. You count how many cars. Are in each lane.
And you swap lanes. To be in a lane. That has fewer cars. The third one they give. Is that you multitask. To the point.
That you forget. What some of the tasks are. And when I heard this. My first thought was. Those are so normal. Why would you.
Why would I be in a line. At the grocery store. That was longer. What kind of an idiot. Does that. But that's the whole point.
Is that we are moving. So quickly. That this is so normal. For us. To be at such a. Breakneck pace.
We have no ability. To relate. To people. One of the ideas. He brought up. Which I had never considered.
Is he says. We do a thing. Called energy hoarding. Which is. We know. We're going to be.
So stressed out. That we won't give energy. To anybody. We have the time. Right now. But I know my week's so busy.
I just can't spend energy. On you. I. I just got to. Hold on to this. Because I know.
What's coming. In the next couple of days. Because we're so busy. It robs our ability. To love each other. I'm probably going to.
Pronounce this wrong. There was a. A man named. Kosuke. Koyama. Who wrote.
A series of essays. Called the three mile an hour. God. And he titled it that. Because. That's the speed.
At which you walk. Is three miles an hour. And he said. God walks. Slowly. Because he is love.
If he was not love. He would have gone much faster. Love has its speed. It is an inner speed. It is a spiritual speed. It is a different kind of speed.
Than a technological speed. It is slow. Yet it is the Lord. Over all other speeds. Since it is the speed. Of love.
And I just appreciate. The concept of. Jesus came and he walked. We're told to walk with God. We're told to. To wait on God.
We're told to be still. And know that he is. God. That there's this. Franticness. That we've all accepted.
That. Robs us of the ability. To be loved. And to love. And if we're going to take seriously. The commands.
To love one another. We're going to have to evaluate. What's in our schedule. And how fast we move. And we're going to have to figure out. How to walk a little bit.
And to not base. All of our value. Off of our productivity. Have you ever not been busy. And you felt like. There's something wrong with you.
That's. That's a cultural sickness. That's not a biblical concept. We're meant to have time. To love one another. Second one.
Self-care. Because. Of our chaotic. Frenetic. Pace. We have responded.
By needing to care for ourselves. And. That's kind of true. So. If you. Use this term.
The self-love. Self-care. And what you mean by it is. I need to exercise some. I need to eat. Healthy foods.
And the appropriate amount of foods. I need to sleep at night. I need to rest. Self-care. Okay. I mean.
If the idea that you have. Is like. When you're on an airplane. And they say. When the cabin pressure drops. And the bags drop down.
Put your mask on. Before you put on the little kid's mask. It's not because you love yourself more. It's because if you pass out. No one puts the kid's mask on. So.
If that's what you mean by self-care. Is that. I actually need to be a healthy person. Who's mindful of this. So that I can love.
Okay. Then. Then that's not what I'm addressing. What I am addressing. Is the. I have run at such a chaotic pace.
So anxiously flipped through my phone. So anxiously kept up with my calendar. That I now have no more energy for anyone. And what I have to do is cut ties with everyone. And just be a hermit for six months. I just can't.
I just got to care for myself. So I can't talk to you. If what you mean by self-care is. Relationships shouldn't be difficult. So if there is any difficulty in relationship.
Then I don't have to have that relationship. That sounds good to Americans. And it's very foreign to the scriptures. That if Jesus' approach was. If relationships are difficult. I don't have to have them.
We're not here. We're not singing to his glorious name. For redeeming sinners. There is no hope in propitiation. We don't even understand what love is. Because he shows us love.
And that he gave himself up for us. There's a book called boundaries. That I've recommended to people. It's been around for like 30 years. It's a good book. It is helpful for people who.
Don't have any boundaries. And don't understand how to say no to people. And how to set up kind of being a coherent. Separate entity from the people around them. It is a helpful book. But sometimes what happens is people read that book.
And they go I have boundaries now. I'm no longer friends with anyone. I'm just completely cutting everyone out of my life. And it's like yeah. That's a boundary. It's a bad one.
And the reality. To being a believer. And to loving others. Is that if you love people. They're inside your boundaries. For us to love people.
They're inside our boundaries. That's how it works. That there are some amounts of inherent difficulty. In loving others. And yes. There are some people who need to grow.
That are in your community group. And the first time they ask for help. You need to absolutely just help them. And the second time. Everything's an emergency with them. Well love is not.
I either give you everything you ask for. Or I cut you off. Love is. Hey. I actually am invested in helping you grow. So I'm here.
I can't help you. Bail you out every time this way. But I'm here. And we're going to help you become a more healthy person. That's. That's love.
And that's carrying out some boundaries. But this idea of. Love shouldn't be costly or difficult. Or. I'm exhausted. I'm just worn out.
This is too hard. That's a reality. To following Jesus. That there are times when we're exhausted. That we're pushed beyond what we can bear. And that we have to lean into him.
To feel the love that we need. To be able to move forward. And that he empowers that through his spirit. That there are times. That you're going to get hurt. If you think.
You know. I didn't realize this was going to be so painful. That's. That's. That's part of love. That if we're actually going to know people.
And care for people. That's part of love. And that brings us to our next one. Which is. Consumerism. Third enemy.
Of love. That culturally. We're just. So used to. We talk at. Give series.
Every year. We're raising money. We talk about consumerism. We're mostly having in mind. Just the spending money on things. We don't need.
That kind of. Our whole. Economic system. Is built around consumerism. That you. Buy more shoes.
Than you have feet. That general idea. And you buy shoes. Based off of the way they look. Not that they've worn holes in them. That kind of a thing.
So. It's consumerism. But it's a broader category. Which is a way to understand the world. In a materialistic way. And what I mean by that is.
The world. And this is all around us. It's not what we say we believe. But it's creeping in. It's infecting how we believe. It's that the world.
Is only what we can see. And feel. And taste. And experience. That there is nothing transcendent. There is nothing spiritual.
There is no eternity. This is what our culture. Beliefs. So that. You want to get rid of suffering. As fast as possible.
Because there is no purpose in suffering. Because there is nothing that happens after that. There is no eternal hope. There is nothing beyond. What we have right in front of us. So we should pursue pleasure.
We should get stuff. We should. This is the advice columns that will say. If you're not getting what you want out of your marriage. You're free to go. Because it's a belief that.
I'm only here for a limited amount of time. I got 60, 70, 80 years. And I better enjoy what I can enjoy. And I better not stay in a difficult relationship. And this has. Soaked into us.
Tim Keller says. That there's sometimes when it's raining so hard. That even if you're wearing a raincoat. And you're holding an umbrella. You're going to still get wet. This is one of those culturally.
Where it's raining so hard. That even as much as we try to defend ourselves against it. This still soaks into us. That we are consumers. One of the ways that I know this. Is that you could tell me you went to a new restaurant.
And I could pepper you with questions. And you'd be able to answer almost every single one of them. And you did not walk in there thinking. I'm going to write a Yelp review. I need to pay attention to everything. But you did.
You absorbed price to value ratio. How much food did you get? How did that compare to other places you've been to? If you would tell me this fried rice was good. But it's not as good as that fried rice at this other place.
And they were able to get things quickly. But the ambiance wasn't as good. Like you'd be able to tell me all kinds of information. About how much you enjoyed and appreciated your experience. The reality is you've done that this morning. That we everywhere we go.
We soak in how much am I enjoying this? How much do I appreciate this? This chair is comfortable. Didn't like that song. Did like that song. But they didn't like that part.
We just do this. The coffee is good. The coffee is bad. Coffee is too hot. Coffee is too burnt. I like this place because I like the coffee.
We constantly are taking in the information and processing it from a consumeristic viewpoint. Because we've been trained to do this. So what happens if you approach the church that way? Is you destroy your ability to follow this command. Because love is not about consumption. It's not about taking.
It's about giving. There's a real danger for us to read passages like this in John where he says, I command you to love and go, yes, I want to be a part of a church like that. Yes, I want to be a part of a place that loves. But somehow have flipped it in our head to not be a command about loving like I'm supposed to love, but to be a command about receiving love. I'm supposed to be in a loving place. Yes.
And if this place doesn't love me the way it's supposed to, I'm free to go. I've pastored long enough that I've sat down with multiple people who would say to me, we say we're a church family, we're a family, we need to be family, who would say to me, I just can't be a part of this group anymore because they're not being family. They just aren't family. And can't hear that that statement is the most unfamily statement ever. What is the qualification for family? Who your daddy is?
What are the other qualifications that have to be met? The bar for family to get in is so low. You're just in. Expectations are really high. But when someone says I'm going to leave because they're not being family, it's a consumeristic mindset of I'm not getting out of this what I want, so I'm free to go.
And if you want to be miserable and if you want to miss out on love, that's a good way to approach it. This is one of the reasons why we just place people in groups. We do a little bit of like what night can you meet? Where do you live? But then we just say get in this group.
And people are like, well, I want to go visit a couple of different groups. We really discourage that because it's like, well, that's putting you in sideways because you're going to somehow trick yourself into thinking you're looking for a group that meets your needs. And you'll set yourself up on the wrong foot to be miserable wherever you are. But if you show up with I'm supposed to give, I'm supposed to pour out, I'm here to love these people, you're going to love your group. Isn't that crazy? That if you just choose to love your group, you'll love your group?
See how that works? That there's a reality to a joy that's offered to us in this and that when we're looking for what we're getting out of it, we're robbing ourselves of it. It becomes transactional rather than sacrificial. And I don't know how we, and I'm including myself in this, how much we can talk about sacrificial love and appreciate the idea of sacrificial love and then balk every time I have to sacrifice to love. Yes, Jesus. Thank you so much.
Sacrifice, love. Yes. Hey, can you help me with this? Nah. Hey, I need to talk to you again. You too needy.
I can't be, you know, giving of myself. That might make me love you and then I would have something that Jesus offers to me. Like, I don't know how. We just, we roll out of it every time we get the opportunity. Last one. Freedom.
We have been sold that the route to happiness is freedom. And there are times in history and around the world where what people need is freedom. I'm a fan. I loved Braveheart. I'm good. Like, freedom is good.
But we have an unprecedented amount of freedom. And we're still told what we need is more freedom. I mean, off the charts amount of freedom. To go where we want to go. Do what we want to do. Wear what we want to wear.
Fit in, not fit in. You can pick the thing that you want to make you the weirdest person you can possibly be. There's 30 other people that will go do that with you. Like, it just, we have the amount of mobility that we have to pick a different Job, to move, to go on vacation, to choose. We have so much freedom. And what you're told over and over again is you just need a little more.
The reason you're unhappy in your marriage, you need a little more freedom. The reason you don't like your job is you need a little more freedom. You need a job that offers you a little bit more, a little bit more openness, a little bit. Well, guess what? You have to give up freedom to have a relationship. You have to.
Like, I couldn't have asked my wife when I proposed to her, I want to marry you. I love you. I want to spend my life with you, but I don't want you to infringe on my time. I want you to be there for me when I want you there for me, but then I want you out of my face when I don't want you there. Will you marry me? Like, if you're going to have the depth of joy that comes with having children, which it's not for everybody, and the Lord doesn't have that for everybody.
But if you're going to have that, oh, boy, you're going to sell some freedom. I remember looking at my wife when we had like a five-month-old and being like, I didn't realize how much I used to sit down. Why won't he let me sit down? Like, I don't feel like I've sat down. Like, what has happened here? But if you're like, I want the depth of relationship that comes with having a child.
I just don't want that to affect my time. Okay. You can have one or the other. And if we're going to have meaning and relationships, if we're going to have love, we've got to give up some freedom. I want to be a part of a place where people know me and I know them, where we serve each other, where we really love the way the church is meant to love. But I also want to be able to join an adult sports league and not be around my group for six months at a time.
Okay. You can have freedom or you can have a relationship. You can't have both. I want them to be there when I need them. I want to be able to show up and have everybody there. But I don't want to have to be like, I have to be there when they need me.
But it short circuits everything. You actually need to commit. If you are a Christian, you need to commit to a church. And if it's not here, you need to find another one, but you need to do it quick. You don't need to shop around because you'll convince yourself the way you're looking for is something that meets your needs and you will miss out on what he's commanded us to do. But you need to commit to a church.
If you want to commit to this church, you need to commit to a group. Because that's where we actually try to live this out. And by commit to a group, I don't mean just say I'm going to be in a group. I mean show up, be around, get to know the people, talk about yourself, be honest, listen, commit. And let me tell you what will happen. Love.
Empowered by the Spirit, life-giving love. And we will miss out on it if we don't do that. And some of you have been, I've been a Christian forever and I feel so dry and I feel so empty. I've been a Christian for however long. I've been a part of this church for however long. And by a part of this church, I don't know what you mean.
But if you haven't been pouring yourself out, Jesus says blessed. It's more blessed to give than to receive. That there's something that he does as we sacrifice and pour ourselves out where he fills us back up. And I want to help you see something. Some of you are like, no, I tried. I tried to love those people.
I tried to love those people and they just didn't reciprocate. That's not how this works. It says we love because he first loved us. That the power for our love comes from him. Whoever loves God must offer love his brother. It doesn't say whoever loves his brother will also be loved by his brothers.
That there's a personal freedom to the responsibility to love that isn't dependent on the response. And that actually sets us free and gives us the ability to love in a way that's so much better than if it's transactional. Well, I'm going to love them and we'll see. We'll see. I'll give it three months. I'm going to love them and then we'll see.
It's like, well, you're setting yourself up. That's not how it works. I'm going to love them because he loves me. And when I don't feel loved by them, I kind of expected that anyway. I'm going to go back to being loved by him and be empowered by him. And every time for some of us, we've had the opportunity to actually pour ourselves out and to have the power of the spirit to dump love in us and to channel love through us.
Every time we had that opportunity, we just moved out of the way. Because it was going to be too hard. I got a lot going on right now. I can't do that. And we've missed out on being filled with the empowerment of the spirit to know the love of God for us as we dig deep to pour it out for others. Because that's one of the best ways that we learn it is that as we love others, we get to see the love that he has for us.
We get to feel the love that he has for us. We get to know the love that he has for us. But for us to do that, for us to take this seriously, I do think, and there may be other ones. I'm sure there are. But I think you need to look at how busy you are.
I think you need to evaluate whether or not you're worried more about yourself than others. That if your love is based off of a self-love rather than a selfless love, I'll tell you that it's incompatible with what he's called us to. And if you're consuming, you're here to get what you can get, you miss out on what he's actually called us to. And if you want all your freedom, you won't have relationships. Those are things that were normal for us that we need to overcome, be mindful of, so that we might have what he has offered to us in our church family. And here's what's beautiful about this.
John needs to say it to us seven more times. The Lord's going to have to tell us over and over again this is how we're supposed to act. And he's going to have to empower it through his spirit for us to do this. And we're going to have to know the love that he has for us in order for us to be able to do this. And we don't love because we're loving. We love because we were first loved.
The empowerment for this is the gospel. And if you haven't trusted in Jesus and had him go to work in your heart, you will not be able to do this. And you will miss out on the real love that is eternal, that redeems, and that brings us home. Let's pray. God, I pray that we would be a people that love. That we would be, we would take seriously the command to love our brothers and sisters.
We're thankful that you have made us into a family and that we have hope in you. We thank you that you love us. And so the energy and the power and the ability to do this is not that we are loving people or that we're the good ones who can get it together. But that we are so loved by Christ who came to redeem sinners from self. That we get to live in that and be empowered by you to love one another. And may we pour ourselves out so that we might enjoy and delight in the love that you have for us.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Band's going to come back up and we're going to sing together.