Loving With God's Love.

Nate Schlomann

[0:00] My name’s Nate, I’m one of the pastors here, [0:01] and we again are so glad to have you here [0:03] with us this morning. [0:04] If you’re new here, you’re welcome, we’re glad to see you. [0:07] I don’t know where all of you were in May. [0:09] We may have reevaluated this one service plan

[0:12] if you’d been here then. [0:13] We’re gonna have a good summer together here at 10 a.m. [0:17] I am also glad that you got that message. [0:19] We gave Steve a week off finally. [0:21] He’s had a good run. [0:23] Too long of a run, truthfully.

[0:25] He’s tired, he needed a break, [0:27] he had a good week at the beach. [0:28] But I’m happy to be here with you this morning, [0:31] sharing with you from First John. [0:32] Before we get there though, I do wanna remind you [0:35] of one thing on the calendar coming up,

[0:36] and that is the church picnic. [0:37] It’s gonna be June 23rd, 10 30 a.m. [0:40] on the property right here. [0:41] We’re gonna meet outside actually, [0:43] so it’s gonna be bring your own lawn chair. [0:45] So do that if you want a place to sit down.

[0:47] But it’s gonna be a good time. [0:48] We’re gonna gather for a little bit at 10 30, [0:50] and then we’re gonna have a picnic right after that. [0:52] There’s gonna be lots of food, plenty of food, [0:55] fun stuff for the kids. [0:56] It’s gonna be a good time together

[0:57] with our church family. [0:58] So we do hope to see you out there to that. [1:01] There is a sign up for side items. [1:03] If you’d like to bring side items to that, [1:05] we’d love for you to do that. [1:06] Go on the website, sign up for what you can bring.

[1:10] If you have friends, please invite them out to this. [1:12] They don’t need to bring anything. [1:13] You can just tell them, please come on out. [1:16] We’d love to have you at the picnic. [1:18] They don’t need to bring anything, [1:19] but it’s gonna be a great time.

[1:20] Just spend a couple hours, get to know some people [1:22] you haven’t gotten to know before, [1:24] and spend some time with your church family. [1:26] So we’re definitely looking forward to that. [1:28] Go ahead and turn to First John chapter four. [1:31] We’ve been in the letter of First John

[1:33] for nine weeks now here at the village, [1:34] and it’s been a challenging series. [1:37] John writes his gospel, the book of John, [1:40] and it tells us about everything that Jesus did, [1:42] and it tells us about that so that we would believe in him. [1:45] But then what John does is he writes this letter,

[1:48] this epistle, telling us what the result [1:51] of that belief should be. [1:53] What does our belief in Jesus look like? [1:56] A lot of the epistle of John looks like [1:58] here’s some characteristics that should be true [2:00] of Christians, and if these things are not true of you,

[2:03] that means you may not be a believer. [2:04] That’s some tough stuff week after week after week. [2:08] It really leads you to need to make some changes [2:10] in your life and to evaluate where you are. [2:13] You can’t be passive about that. [2:14] You have to approach the book of First John

[2:16] with an attitude of these are things [2:18] that must be true of me if I’m gonna be a follower of Jesus. [2:22] I don’t wanna oversell this this morning, [2:23] but I think what we’re looking at this morning [2:25] when we talk about love, [2:27] because that’s what we’re talking about

[2:28] in this passage here, what is real, genuine love, [2:30] I think what we’re looking at this morning [2:31] is one of the most critical issues facing the church today. [2:35] I think whether or not we get this right [2:37] determines a lot about whether or not the church [2:39] remains faithful to what Jesus has called us to

[2:42] in the next coming years. [2:43] So I’m excited about what we’re doing. [2:45] We’re looking at what is love. [2:46] That’s our topic this morning. [2:48] What is the definition of real love? [2:50] And we’ve already said a few times in this series

[2:53] that love is kind of a subjective thing in our culture. [2:56] And we have a lot of different ideas about what love is. [3:00] Love can mean I love my food. [3:02] Love can mean I love my family. [3:04] Doesn’t really match up. [3:05] Does it love can mean I love God?

[3:06] Love can mean I love my dog. [3:08] I’m not trying to pick on your dog, [3:09] but those can’t be the same thing. [3:11] Your love for God and your love for your pet. [3:14] It can’t be the same. [3:15] And so we have a very subjective view of what love is.

[3:21] And as we’ve said when it comes down to it, [3:23] a lot of times when we talk about loving others, [3:25] what we’re really talking about is kind of we have [3:27] this idea that we’re trying to be nice to people. [3:30] If we’re loving others, [3:31] we’re trying to have kindness for people.

[3:33] We’re trying to be caring and kind. [3:35] And that’s kind of the basic general idea [3:37] of what the world thinks about when they say [3:39] we need to love people. [3:41] And that’s a problem because when we’re kind of that [3:44] subjective and that shallow about love,

[3:46] because what does it mean to even be kind? [3:48] And what does it mean to be nice? [3:49] We end up being very subjective about our faith. [3:52] And in fact, we end up ultimately compromising [3:56] truths of Jesus because it’s very easy to get along [3:58] in the world just simply if you reduce love to being nice.

[4:02] That’s a lot of what Steve talked about last week. [4:05] Now, of course, this idea of love, [4:07] it doesn’t come out of nowhere. [4:08] In fact, it’s a scriptural thing. [4:10] Jesus’s great commandment is to love, right? [4:12] Let’s read that real quick.

[4:13] It’s Matthew 22, starting in verse 36. [4:16] It’ll be on the screen. [4:18] This is someone talking to Jesus. [4:20] It says, teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? [4:24] And he said to him, this is Jesus talking, [4:26] you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart

[4:28] and with all your soul and with all your mind. [4:30] This is the great and first commandment. [4:32] In a second is like it. [4:33] You shall love your neighbor as yourself. [4:36] On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. [4:39] So that’s pretty clear, right?

[4:40] We need to love God and we need to love people. [4:43] This is the great commandment. [4:45] But what we do in the church is we take things like this [4:47] and we end up making kind of pithy little catchphrases. [4:50] I think one of the most dangerous little catchphrases [4:53] that the church has come up with in the last 20 years

[4:55] is the idea that love God, love people, that’s Christianity. [4:59] Love God, love people. [5:00] And I think it’s dangerous not because it’s not true. [5:02] Of course it’s true. [5:03] That’s a paraphrase of this inspired text [5:05] that we just read.

[5:06] It’s very true. [5:07] It’s true in the way Jesus meant it. [5:10] It’s not true in just any way that we want it to mean. [5:13] And so I think it can be very dangerous [5:14] in a culture where love is subjective [5:16] and you have a little catchphrase

[5:17] where half the words are love. [5:19] Pretty soon that ends up being our whole faith’s objective. [5:23] What is love is the ultimate question. [5:25] And I think we also run into this problem [5:27] with if you have a mindset in church [5:29] that love God, love people, that’s all I gotta do

[5:31] and I’m good. [5:32] We end up with a lot of people [5:33] who have kind of set their spiritual lives [5:35] on cruise control at five miles an hour [5:37] because they think they’re good. [5:38] Because all these things we’ve talked about

[5:39] the last eight weeks in 1 John, [5:41] if you’re struggling in those areas, that’s rough. [5:44] I’m not sure if I’m there. [5:45] But the great commandment is love God, love people. [5:47] I got that down. [5:48] I think I love God, feel like I love people.

[5:51] I feel like I love people. [5:53] And all the commandments are wrapped up in that. [5:54] So if I’m good there, I guess I’m good, right? [5:57] I think that’s put us in a dangerous place [5:59] and I think that’s put a lot of people in a dangerous place. [6:02] When we throw out terms like love God, love people,

[6:05] and it’s that simple, when we throw that out to the church [6:07] is if we preach the entire, you know, [6:10] what the great commandment means, [6:11] we end up with 100 different ideas of what it is to love [6:14] God and love people. [6:17] And the problem with that is not so much the disunity

[6:20] that that causes, although that’s a problem. [6:22] The real problem with that is only one person’s opinion [6:24] on that matters. [6:25] And that’s God’s. [6:26] And what does he think love is? [6:28] And that’s what we’re gonna find in our section

[6:30] in 1 John today. [6:31] What’s God’s definition of love? [6:33] That’s the one that we need to pay attention to [6:36] because that’s the one that will help us know [6:38] how to love God, how to love people. [6:40] And in those things, all the commandments are summed up.

[6:43] So 1 John chapter four, join me in verse seven.

[6:48] Beloved, let us love one another. [6:50] For love is from God, and whoever loves [6:52] has been born of God and knows God. [6:55] Anyone who does not love does not know God [6:57] because God is love. [6:59] So we see here, love is clearly very important.

[7:02] I don’t think I need to prove that point to you, [7:04] but it’s not just that love is important, [7:06] it’s that love is an indicator of whether or not [7:09] we know God. [7:10] I mean, I think anytime scripture says, [7:12] if you don’t do this, you don’t know God,

[7:14] we need to pay attention to what scripture [7:16] is saying right there. [7:17] And again, that’s what the whole letter of 1 John is. [7:20] It’s the legitimate life. [7:21] These are things that need to be true of you [7:23] if you’re a follower of Jesus.

[7:24] So it’s not hard to say that we need to love one another. [7:27] That seems good, that seems right, that makes sense. [7:30] The question is, what does it mean to love one another? [7:33] And that’s where John’s actually about to go [7:35] right here in the letter, but I wanna point out [7:37] a few things, first of all, from this verse

[7:39] before we move on. [7:40] It’s gonna kinda start to help us get our minds around [7:43] what is this love that John is talking about [7:46] and that God is telling us about here in the scriptures. [7:49] The first is verse seven tells us that love is from God. [7:53] So we know that the love that John’s talking about

[7:55] and the love that God is gonna be describing [7:56] is not just any kind of love. [7:59] People that don’t know God can certainly love. [8:01] People that don’t know God can love their families [8:03] and love them well. [8:04] People that don’t know God can love others

[8:06] and love them very well, but the love that we’re talking [8:08] about here in scripture has got to be a different [8:11] kind of love altogether because this love is from God [8:14] and not only that, and here’s the key. [8:16] This passage says that people who have this kind of love [8:19] know God.

[8:21] So if you have the kind of love that we’re talking [8:23] about here, this means you know God, you are a Christian. [8:26] And again, people can have love and not know God, [8:29] so we’re talking about a special kind of love here. [8:31] Don’t miss that. [8:32] The other thing I wanna point out real quick

[8:33] is the end of verse eight, it says God is love. [8:36] Not that God is loving, but God is love. [8:38] And that’s gonna be key too because that helps us clue in [8:41] on the idea that this kind of love that we’re talking [8:43] about here is definitely a special kind of love.

[8:49] Join me in verse nine, because that’s exactly [8:51] where John’s gonna go as he starts to define what that is.

[8:56] In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, [8:59] that God sent his only son into the world [9:01] so that we might live through him. [9:04] In this is love, not that we have loved God, [9:06] but that he loved us and sent his son [9:08] to be the propitiation for our sins.

[9:11] In this is love, we’ve got to pay attention here. [9:14] God’s love was made manifest, it says. [9:17] Made manifest, that means made clear, made specific, [9:19] made understandable, made tangible. [9:22] God’s love was made manifest in that he sent Jesus [9:26] to save us.

[9:28] That’s how God’s saying that his love is defined. [9:30] He sent his son into the world that we might live [9:33] through him. [9:33] So first this morning, God defines love [9:35] as reconciliation through Jesus. [9:38] Love is defined first and foremost

[9:40] by what God accomplishes through Jesus, [9:42] not by other attributes. [9:44] Love cannot be boiled down to just a whole bunch [9:46] of niceties. [9:47] God’s defining love as I sent Jesus to save you. [9:51] That’s love, and God’s point here is not just

[9:54] that he sent Jesus to be a sacrifice, [9:55] but what that sacrifice accomplished. [9:58] Jesus’ sacrifice accomplished our reconciliation with God. [10:03] So it’s not merely the sacrifice itself. [10:05] Love is that Jesus was the propitiation for our sins. [10:08] He was the sacrifice that removed the wrath from us

[10:11] and allowed us to be reconciled to God. [10:14] God said his love is made clear and specific [10:16] by him sending Jesus as a sacrifice [10:19] so that we can be reconciled to him. [10:21] We see the same idea from Paul in Romans five, verse eight. [10:24] It’ll be on the screen.

[10:26] But God shows his love for us [10:27] and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [10:30] Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, [10:33] much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. [10:37] For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God [10:39] by the death of his son, much more now that we are

[10:43] reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. [10:45] More than that, we also rejoice in God [10:47] through our Lord Jesus Christ, [10:49] through whom we have now received reconciliation. [10:52] A lot of times we look at these verses here [10:54] and kind of we focus in on the fact

[10:56] that God loved us while we were still sinners, [10:57] and that’s essential. [10:59] But don’t miss in these verses, [11:01] and it’s all throughout there how God loved us. [11:04] He loved us by reconciling us to himself. [11:08] When God talks about love,

[11:09] he defines it by saying that love is this, [11:11] and he does this in several other places [11:13] through the scriptures that we’re not gonna be able [11:15] to go all to this morning, but he says, this is love. [11:18] I sent Jesus to reconcile you to me. [11:22] But what is reconciliation?

[11:24] What does that mean? [11:24] I mean, yes, reconciliation means our guilt’s removed. [11:28] Reconciliation means we have forgiveness, [11:29] but at the end of the day, [11:31] reconciliation means that we get to be with God. [11:34] It means that we get to know God, that we get God.

[11:37] That is reconciliation. [11:40] And so again, it’s not just the sacrifice of Jesus. [11:42] Yes, Jesus’ sacrifice is important, [11:44] but it’s what that sacrifice accomplishes. [11:46] Jesus’ sacrifice allows us to be with God, to get God. [11:50] God defines love as giving himself to us.

[11:55] Think about love that way. [11:56] God defines love as him giving himself to us. [11:59] This is the truth that we’ve got to wrap our minds around [12:02] if we’re gonna understand what God’s definition of love is [12:05] and how God wants us to love others, [12:07] because genuine love, right,

[12:08] is wanting the best for a person. [12:10] If you love someone, you just want the best for them. [12:13] And is there anything better than God? [12:16] Is there anything better than knowing God [12:18] and being with God? [12:19] Absolutely not.

[12:20] And so genuine love, then, is God giving himself to us. [12:23] It was the only way God could love us [12:26] would be for him to give himself to us, [12:28] and that’s what happened through Jesus. [12:31] The highest thing you could desire for a person [12:32] and hope for a person is that they would know God.

[12:34] It’s more than that they would have health, [12:36] more than that they would have success, [12:38] more than that they would have happiness. [12:39] All those things are bankrupt compared to hoping [12:42] that a person would know God, [12:44] and that’s how God, in fact, defines his own love.

[12:47] My love is that I sent Jesus so that you could know me. [12:51] So with that kind of in our minds, [12:53] we can look back at verse eight now. [12:55] Verse eight is where John said that God is love. [12:58] So what does that mean, God is love? [12:59] I think this is a pretty famous phrase, right?

[13:01] God is love. [13:02] I think we come to that and we think God is love. [13:05] This must be describing just how loving God is. [13:08] How loving is God? [13:09] Well, God is so loving that he actually is love. [13:13] Whoa.

[13:14] That’s kind of true in that, yes, God is as loving [13:16] as you can imagine him to be. [13:18] That’s true of a lot of the attributes of God. [13:21] But I don’t think that’s what John is really teaching here [13:24] about God when he says that God is love. [13:26] What John’s really teaching us here

[13:27] is much more about what love is. [13:30] John’s, remember John’s reason for writing [13:32] is to tell us how to live the authentic Christian life, [13:34] and John’s telling us we need to love, [13:36] and then he says God is love. [13:38] John’s point here is that God is love defines love.

[13:42] It doesn’t define God. [13:43] God’s not defined by love. [13:44] Love’s defined by who God is, and that’s a huge difference [13:47] when it comes to how we’re gonna practically [13:49] love other people. [13:51] Loving someone means wanting the absolute best for them.

[13:55] The best for them is God, for John’s logic is God is love. [13:59] We want the absolute best for someone, that’s God. [14:03] And that’s the application John makes. [14:05] We participate in the only real loving act of God [14:08] when we participate in him giving himself [14:10] to us through Jesus.

[14:11] That’s what love looks like, and in fact, [14:13] that’s exactly where John goes in verse 11. [14:17] So 411 says beloved, if God so loved us, [14:20] we also ought to love one another. [14:23] No one has ever seen God. [14:25] If we love one another, God abides in us,

[14:27] and his love is perfected in us. [14:30] So here John goes directly after how we’re supposed [14:33] to love others, since God loved us by giving us [14:35] himself through Jesus. [14:37] All right, we’re supposed to love others in that same way. [14:40] And it says right here, it says if God so loved us,

[14:42] I wanna talk a little bit about the so loved. [14:44] Because I think this is another passage, [14:46] we kinda have a tendency to approach [14:47] a little bit the wrong way in scripture. [14:49] What does so loved mean? [14:51] And it’s because of John 3.16, we have in our minds,

[14:53] God so loved the world, how much God loved the world. [14:56] But so has some different meanings, and so here [14:59] really doesn’t mean how much God loved. [15:01] So means in the particular way that God loved. [15:04] God loved us so. [15:06] In fact, a lot of translations will actually translate

[15:08] this verse, if God loved us in this way, [15:10] we ought to love one another. [15:11] Or if this is how God loved us, [15:13] we ought to love one another. [15:15] And in fact, of course, that is how God loved us. [15:17] Because God loved us so, because God loved us

[15:20] by sending Jesus to reconcile us to himself, [15:23] we need to love in the same way. [15:25] And it’s not just that we need to sacrifice for stuff, [15:28] because Jesus sacrificed for us. [15:31] It’s that our love needs to be the sacrifice [15:33] so that people will know about Jesus

[15:35] and know that they can be reconciled to God. [15:37] It’s what Jesus sacrificed for that is the important part. [15:41] That’s what God’s concerned with. [15:42] Jesus sacrificed so that people could be reconciled [15:45] to God so that he could do the ultimate loving act [15:47] of giving himself to people.

[15:54] That’s specifically the love John’s talking about. [15:57] John is talking about the specific love [15:58] of us sacrificing and giving in our lives [16:01] so that other people could know God. [16:04] And we see this several other places in scripture. [16:07] First John 3, 16 says,

[16:09] By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, [16:13] and we ought to lay down our lives for the brother. [16:14] So we see it very plainly right there, [16:16] but it’s not just any laying down our life [16:19] that John has in mind here. [16:20] It’s a specific laying down our life for the brother

[16:23] so that they would know more of God. [16:25] We also see this idea from Paul, Ephesians 5, verse one. [16:30] Says, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, [16:32] and walk in love as Christ loved us [16:34] and gave himself up for us, [16:36] a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

[16:39] Paul’s very clear here. [16:40] How God loved us, first of all, [16:42] we’ve already talked about that, [16:43] but then how we’re supposed to love. [16:46] Imitators of God, loving the same way he loved. [16:49] God loved us by reconciling us to himself through Jesus.

[16:52] We love others with that same love. [16:54] We love others by participating with God [16:58] as he gives himself. [17:00] So as God gives this ultimate gift of love himself, [17:03] we love others as we participate with him as he does that. [17:07] And scripture’s telling us more than simply

[17:09] just like Jesus’ sacrifice, you also need to sacrifice. [17:12] I mean, it certainly does mean that, [17:14] but there’s a lot more there. [17:15] In 1 John 412, we see that God abides in us, [17:18] and we know that God has made us [17:19] his messengers of reconciliation,

[17:21] that’s 2 Corinthians 5. [17:23] And so when we put these together [17:24] and we love the way that God loves, [17:26] that is the ultimate act of being the hands and feet [17:29] of Jesus. [17:31] God’s perfect act of love,

[17:32] that he would give himself to us, [17:34] we actually participate in that very act of love [17:37] when we participate with God as he gives himself. [17:41] That’s why the text can say in 1 John 412, [17:44] that God’s love is perfected in us when we love like this. [17:47] That’s what that means.

[17:49] God’s perfect love, him giving himself to people, [17:52] is perfected when we also participate with him [17:55] being known to people. [17:57] That’s an amazing thing. [17:58] We get to participate in the actual love that God gives. [18:02] Our love is not just some imitation love

[18:04] where we kind of love like God. [18:06] God’s our example, Jesus is our example, [18:08] and so Jesus loved, he was a really good person, [18:10] so we can love like him. [18:12] That’s not the love that we have. [18:13] We have the actual love of Jesus.

[18:16] The actual love of Jesus is that people [18:18] would be reconciled to the Father, [18:19] and that’s the love that we give [18:21] when we get to participate with God on mission with him.

[18:26] If you’re a child of God, [18:27] your love is not just some cheap knockoff, [18:29] it’s the real thing, the Holy Spirit lives in you [18:31] to the point where when you are offering reconciliation [18:34] to others through Jesus, the text can say [18:36] that is the love of God perfected in you.

[18:39] That’s a pretty astounding thing. [18:41] In 1 John says one way that we know [18:44] that we’re a follower of Jesus is if we love like this. [18:48] That’s one of the indications [18:50] of whether we genuinely know Jesus. [18:52] So practically speaking though, here’s the question.

[18:55] Practically speaking, what does that mean [18:56] and what does that look like? [18:58] What does it mean to love people in a way [19:01] that we participate with God [19:02] as he gives the gift of himself? [19:05] Best gift that there could be.

[19:06] How does that practically look in day-to-day life? [19:09] And that’s what I wanna spend a few minutes unpacking for us [19:12] and looking at here with the rest of our time this morning, [19:15] because I think that’s a lot of times where we get tripped up. [19:17] We hear this big idea into love like God loves. [19:22] But what does that actually result in

[19:24] and look like in my life? [19:25] And there’s two things I wanna talk about this morning. [19:28] I think in the end, love end up the way God defines it, [19:31] ends up looking like mission [19:33] and I think it ends up looking like community. [19:35] And so I wanna talk about both of those things.

[19:38] First though, God’s definition of love looks like mission. [19:42] Loving like God loves requires mission. [19:44] When we talk about the mission of God, [19:45] we’re talking about God’s redemptive story [19:47] through all of scripture [19:48] to save people to himself through Jesus.

[19:50] This is everything we’ve talked about so far this morning. [19:52] God’s ultimate gift of himself. [19:54] That’s the mission of God. [19:57] And for us, being a part of that mission [19:58] means participating with God in that story. [20:01] I’ve heard it said, and I’ve heard the concern

[20:04] that words like mission and being on mission for God, [20:07] it doesn’t really sound particularly loving [20:10] because it sounds like maybe we have an agenda. [20:13] Maybe we’re making people into a project [20:15] and if we’re on mission for God and this is our act of love, [20:18] isn’t love just supposed to be with no strings attached?

[20:22] Isn’t that what love really is? [20:24] I can tell you, I’m sure glad that God had an agenda [20:27] when he loved us. [20:28] I’m sure glad that he had the agenda of Jesus [20:31] and that was his agenda. [20:33] And so we need to have that same agenda.

[20:35] Whatever word that you want to use, [20:37] we’ve got to get at the idea [20:38] that being a part of God’s story means [20:41] that God is up to something in the world. [20:44] He’s up to something and it’s something [20:45] that we can participate in.

[20:47] And that something is calling people to himself [20:49] so that they can know him. [20:51] Whatever word you wanna use is fine. [20:53] Words come and go. [20:54] Mission happens to be a good one to explain that. [20:58] And I think one of the other reasons

[21:00] we buck against the idea of loving on mission though [21:03] is because if we love on mission, [21:05] it means we’re gonna have to do something. [21:06] And I know particularly to my generation [21:08] that can be offensive to my sense of freedom. [21:11] You know, I want to come and go as I please,

[21:13] try making plans with someone from my generation. [21:15] It can be tough. [21:16] I want to be free to come and go and do what I want. [21:19] And if the love of God is expressed through mission, [21:23] through us participating in God and what he’s doing, [21:27] that means I’m not gonna be as free.

[21:28] That is going to inconvenience me. [21:32] All right, that is gonna mean [21:33] that my will has to be subject to God’s will. [21:37] If I’m following him on mission [21:38] and I’m being a part of what he’s doing, [21:40] it’s gonna take time.

[21:42] We saw in 1 John chapter one [21:45] that being on mission with Jesus, [21:47] presenting the love of God [21:49] so that other people can come to know him is our joy. [21:52] Go back, read 1 John chapter one. [21:54] It’s pretty awesome sometimes.

[21:55] You’ll see our joy is this idea [21:57] that we are spreading the truth and love of God. [22:01] So how do we do that? [22:02] All right, I’m getting really practical now. [22:04] First thing though, we’ve got to have that desire. [22:07] I mean, here’s a question.

[22:08] Do you desire for people to know God? [22:11] Is that a desire in your life? [22:13] It needs to be. [22:15] In 1 John would kind of suggest [22:16] if that’s not a desire in your life, [22:18] you may not know Jesus.

[22:20] You need to think about that. [22:21] You need to talk to someone about that [22:22] if that desire is not there. [22:24] Do you genuinely desire that people would know God? [22:29] That desire is there though. [22:31] What do we do with that?

[22:33] How do we do that? [22:33] If it’s not there, pray for that. [22:35] Pray for that and talk to someone. [22:37] Assuming we get there, how do we do that? [22:39] Well, here’s some practical steps. [22:41] This is not at all an exhaustive list by any means,

[22:44] but it’s just some ideas of how we love on missions, [22:47] some things to think about. [22:50] First way we love on mission [22:51] is there’s got to be a relationship. [22:53] We have to have a relationship with people [22:55] if we hope to ever be able to share with them

[22:58] the gift of God, God giving himself. [23:01] That’s why things like bull horns on street corners [23:03] don’t really work. [23:04] We can tell the truth, [23:05] but it’s not effective if there’s no relationship. [23:08] It’s got to start with the relationship.

[23:09] And this takes time. [23:11] This is where we lose some of our freedom. [23:13] This is where we have inconveniences imposed on us. [23:17] All for the sake of the mission of Jesus. [23:20] Having relationships means that we are in people’s lives [23:23] and we are rearranging our priority.

[23:25] Loving costs something. [23:28] All right, if loving’s not costing you anything, [23:31] it’s really not love. [23:32] And the biggest thing that love costs us in our society [23:34] in this day and age, I’m telling you, [23:36] love is going to cost you your time.

[23:39] There’s absolutely no way around that. [23:41] If you’re gonna love people, it’s gonna cost your time. [23:45] Secondly, we have to care. [23:46] I hope in things we’ve talked about, [23:48] like when we talk about love [23:49] and how love can’t be boiled down to kindness,

[23:52] that’s so true, but it doesn’t mean we’re not kind. [23:54] I hope you hear that. [23:55] It doesn’t mean we don’t care. [23:56] When we have to meet the real needs of people, [23:58] we saw this in chapter three of 1 John. [24:01] We have to love in deed and truth.

[24:03] First deed, we’ve got to be able to meet needs. [24:05] We’ve got to have genuine care for people [24:07] because we love them, because we want the best for them [24:10] and that we want them to know God. [24:11] And that means caring for their physical needs. [24:13] That means caring for their spiritual needs.

[24:15] That means caring for their emotional needs. [24:17] There’s got to be care in our relationships [24:20] if people are gonna know God. [24:22] Thirdly, you’ve got to show [24:23] that your hope is in Jesus alone. [24:24] That’s gotta come out as a part,

[24:26] a natural part of your relationship. [24:28] Is your hope found only in Jesus? [24:30] If your hope’s found in this world, [24:32] then everything you’re talking about [24:33] when you’re telling people that God is the biggest gift, [24:36] they’re not gonna hear it.

[24:37] You’re not gonna be able to give people a gift [24:40] that you don’t have yourself. [24:41] Is Jesus genuinely your devotion, [24:43] your biggest hope in this world? [24:46] Fourthly, you have to help people [24:47] understand sin and judgment.

[24:49] And this is the hard part. [24:50] There’s not a lot of easy ways for this to happen. [24:53] But if people are gonna understand their need for a savior, [24:56] they have to understand their own sin, [24:57] they have to understand they need Jesus. [24:59] This has to happen and occur

[25:01] in the course of our relationships [25:03] if we’re gonna ever hope to give the gift of God. [25:05] At one point, that gift was given to us in that same way. [25:08] And we have to have love with that same love. [25:11] And then lastly, that’s it. [25:13] The reason I say that is not

[25:14] because I think I covered every possible way [25:16] that you might love on mission, [25:17] but I want to get this idea. [25:20] Once we have had a genuine relationship, [25:22] we care for people, we’re spending time, [25:24] Jesus is our devotion,

[25:26] and we’re including truth on who Jesus is [25:28] and that he’s a savior that we need because of our sin. [25:31] The rest is up to God. [25:32] I mean, it truly is up to God to change hearts. [25:35] We have not failed to love [25:36] if people in our life have failed to be reconciled to God.

[25:41] We’ve not failed to love. [25:42] We’ve failed to love [25:43] if we’ve failed to give them that opportunity. [25:45] We’ve failed to love [25:46] if we’ve failed to organize our lives intentionally [25:49] so that Jesus can be shown through our lives.

[25:51] But we’ve not failed to love [25:53] if we don’t see people reconciled. [25:55] That part is up to God. [25:57] Our responsibility is to proclaim Jesus [25:59] and to make him as clear as we can [26:02] with the love that we have in our life.

[26:05] Now, none of this is easy. [26:06] Absolutely none of this is easy. [26:08] And it doesn’t sound like it happens in some ordered list. [26:10] One, two, three, four, bam. [26:11] People are loved. [26:12] It doesn’t work like that.

[26:13] This is part of our life. [26:15] And so these are just ideas [26:16] that have to be part of our life. [26:17] Don’t hear that because the ultimate definition of love [26:20] is that God gives himself to people, [26:23] that that means that that specific topic

[26:25] has to be the topic of all of our conversations. [26:27] And that’s ridiculous. [26:28] Yes, God has an agenda. [26:30] And yes, that agenda needs to be our same agenda, [26:33] to love people by giving himself to people. [26:35] But this idea of mission has to be part of our lifestyle.

[26:39] All right, it can’t just be talking points [26:41] like we’re salesmen. [26:42] All right, this idea of mission has to be an overall part [26:44] of our lifestyle that just infiltrates [26:47] every part of our life as we form relationships, [26:50] as we care about people,

[26:51] and as we seek to share Jesus with them. [26:53] It’s gonna take a lot of patience and a lot of time [26:55] for that sin and judgment conversation to happen. [26:58] It could take years. [26:59] But I do wanna make it clear though [27:00] that we do have to make that clear.

[27:02] If we’re gonna love people by giving them God, [27:04] they have to get to the point [27:06] where they understand that they need a savior. [27:09] So we understand, I think, that love is mission. [27:11] We understand that in order to love people, [27:13] we have to tell them about God and who God is.

[27:17] But what about all the people in our lives [27:19] that already know God? [27:20] And for a lot of us, [27:21] that’s probably a lot of the people in our life, right? [27:23] A lot of the people in our life [27:24] are already reconciled to God.

[27:26] How do we love them? [27:27] Because the command to love is a command to love everybody. [27:31] And so we’re commanded to love the people in our lives [27:34] that already know God. [27:35] And if love is just means mission and giving people God, [27:38] and they already have God, does that apply here?

[27:41] I think it absolutely does apply here. [27:43] And I think part of God’s definition of love [27:45] looks like community. [27:47] And here’s what I mean. [27:48] I think this same idea, [27:49] this idea that love is God giving himself to people.

[27:52] It doesn’t stop when we get saved. [27:55] Yes, we’re supposed to be messengers of reconciliation, [27:57] but we’re also supposed to be [27:59] continually being reconciled to God. [28:03] And so I think that same love [28:04] that we love people with who don’t know God

[28:07] is the same love that we love people with who do know God. [28:10] Because how do I wanna be loved? [28:12] I wanna be loved by getting more of Jesus. [28:14] I wanna be loved by experiencing more of God. [28:18] And I think this idea is actually [28:19] the basis of Christian community.

[28:21] When two people come into a relationship [28:23] with that same agenda, [28:25] I want you to know more of God, [28:27] you want me to know more of God. [28:29] That’s Christian community. [28:30] That’s what it looks like.

[28:31] And that’s how we’re to love one another. [28:33] And this infiltrates and filters its way down [28:36] through every relationship that we have. [28:39] Husbands and wives, [28:39] I think if we could learn to love this way, [28:41] this would solve so many other issues that we deal with.

[28:44] Husbands, if you could learn to nourish in your wife [28:48] a love for God, that God loves her, [28:50] that God cherishes her. [28:51] Wives, if you could learn to support in your husband [28:54] this gift of God giving himself to him, [28:56] that he would know more of Jesus,

[28:58] that he would grow in his walk with God. [29:00] If that is our top priority and top agenda, [29:04] all the other ways that we need to love, [29:05] and we do, and there are other ways, [29:07] that’s gonna filter out of that, [29:08] because that’s gonna lead to that ultimate love

[29:11] of desiring for someone to have more of God. [29:14] I hope this is how we love our kids. [29:16] I hope our top agenda with our children [29:18] is that they would have more of God. [29:21] How do you love your kid? [29:21] That needs to come into every thought,

[29:24] about every decision that needs to be made with your child. [29:27] Is this gonna get them more of God? [29:29] Is this going to increase their love for God? [29:32] Is this going to increase the amount [29:34] of God giving himself into their lives? [29:37] And different situations will have

[29:39] different amounts of that. [29:39] It’s got to be our top concern. [29:42] And of course, that starts in the home first and foremost. [29:44] Is your home a place where God is being poured [29:47] into your children’s lives, [29:49] where you actually are loving with, like we said,

[29:51] the very love of Jesus, [29:53] that God would reconcile himself to us? [29:56] That’s the love that you love your kids with. [29:59] It’s gotta be our top priority. [30:00] Our Christian friendships look the same way. [30:03] And again, this doesn’t mean with all our friends

[30:04] we get around and bam, we’re talking about the cross. [30:07] That’s what we talk about. [30:08] We just, we talk about the cross, that’s love. [30:10] Jesus came, he reconciled us to God. [30:12] God wants us to have leisure. [30:14] God wants us to enjoy his creation.

[30:16] God wants us to enjoy everything [30:18] that he’s given us in this life. [30:20] It doesn’t mean our specific conversation [30:22] is that every time, but it does mean [30:24] that for two people that know Jesus, [30:26] there is a bigger agenda in their relationship.

[30:29] We do have an understanding that [30:30] I want you to have more of God. [30:33] You want me to have more of God. [30:34] And that is gonna fuel how we love each other. [30:38] That is the definition of how we love each other. [30:40] And hopefully we’re structuring the church in that way.

[30:43] That’s what we have with community groups. [30:45] That’s the reason why we have a specific place [30:47] where you can go into a community group [30:49] and enter with this group of people [30:50] and know these are people who want me to have more of God. [30:54] And I hope you caught a few weeks ago

[30:55] when Steve said that that needs to also be our goal [30:58] when we go into community group. [30:59] We’re not going into community group to get more of God. [31:02] We’re going into community group to love others, [31:05] that they would get more of God. [31:06] And when this happens, this is the basis

[31:09] of real Christian community, people striving [31:11] that other people would have more of God. [31:14] And then of course we also very much [31:16] encourage intentional discipleship. [31:18] What does that look like when you’re really entering [31:21] to some relationships for the specific purpose of this?

[31:23] I’ll tell you, there are some relationships in my life [31:26] where we do get together and we talk about the cross. [31:29] How does Jesus affect this situation in my life? [31:32] Because it does impact everything. [31:33] What is the gospel speaking to in this life? [31:36] I’ve got places in my life where I’m gonna go

[31:38] and I know that actually is what’s gonna be brought up. [31:41] Do you have some intentional discipleship [31:43] in your life that looks like that? [31:45] That’s one of the ways that we love. [31:48] So we started this morning [31:49] by talking about the great commandment.

[31:51] Great commandment is love God, love others, [31:54] in that all the laws are summed up. [31:58] If God’s definition of love, [32:00] is I am, if God is, and God’s saying [32:03] I am the greatest thing that there is for you, [32:06] me giving myself to you is my act of love for you.

[32:09] That is how we love God and we love others. [32:13] We love God by receiving that gift. [32:15] We love others by sharing that gift. [32:18] And in that, yes, all the commandments are summed up [32:21] because God’s whole story from Genesis to Revelation [32:25] is his plan of how he accomplished that.

[32:28] So everything in there is ultimately about that thing, [32:30] that God gives the gift of himself to people. [32:33] That is God’s ultimate act of love. [32:35] And so if we’re loving in that way, [32:36] if our definition of love is grounded in that, [32:40] then yes, we can love God and love others.

[32:43] And yes, it is that. [32:44] It’s not simple, but it is helpful. [32:48] It is very profound to understand [32:50] that just by loving God, loving others, [32:52] that they would have more of Jesus. [32:54] That wraps up all the commandments of Jesus.

[32:56] It’s just, the only trick there is it involves [32:58] that we need to know all the commandments of Jesus. [33:01] So it means that’s the starting place. [33:03] When we’re seeking to love people [33:04] that they would have more of God, [33:06] that means we dive back into the Bible

[33:07] to know everything that Jesus said [33:09] so that we can love better and give them more of God. [33:12] That’s the legitimate life. [33:13] So the question for you this morning, [33:15] a lot shorter than Steve, [33:17] the question for you this morning,

[33:20] do you have a legitimate life? [33:22] Are you loving in this way? [33:24] Can you point to people in areas in your life [33:27] where that’s what love looks like? [33:29] Is that your concern? [33:30] Are you thinking about that?

[33:33] Get involved in community. [33:34] That’s the way that it happens. [33:36] It just is. [33:36] That’s the way you start to reorient your life about this, [33:38] but start to think about your relationships [33:40] with people who don’t know Jesus

[33:41] as if I’m gonna love them, I have to give them God. [33:46] We’ve got a love like that [33:47] if we’re gonna live the legitimate life. [33:49] So as the band comes up, [33:51] we take communion every week here at the Village.

[33:55] In communion, it’s a special time for us. [33:58] We do it because Scripture says [34:00] we should do it as often as we meet, [34:02] and so every week seems like as often as we meet. [34:05] We also do it because we started to enjoy it [34:08] after we started to do it pretty often,

[34:10] and so that’s one of the reasons why we do it. [34:11] We like to take communion. [34:12] It gives us a chance to think about and to consider [34:17] what it is that God has told us. [34:18] And so I hope this morning as you take the bread [34:21] and as you take the cup, you do consider

[34:22] this is God’s ultimate act of love for you. [34:26] This is God’s ultimate act of love displayed for you [34:30] in taking communion. [34:31] So take it with a thought of this is God loving me, [34:35] but this is also the love that I need to take forever [34:39] to other people.

[34:40] If you’re with us this morning and you know Jesus, [34:42] these tables are open for you. [34:43] There’s six stations throughout the room. [34:45] We hope that you would participate with us in that. [34:49] If you’re a guest this morning [34:50] and you’re not really sure what this is all about yet,

[34:52] feel free to stay at your seat. [34:54] No one’s looking around judging you, [34:55] seeing who’s getting up and who’s not, [34:57] but we want you to know that if you know Jesus, [34:59] you are invited to participate here. [35:01] If you don’t know Jesus,

[35:03] this isn’t gonna mean anything to you right now, [35:05] but it could. [35:07] It could mean something to you today. [35:08] We hope that you’ll take that step to know him [35:11] so that you can know that love. [35:12] I’ll be hanging out right over here

[35:14] by those doors or it’ll be those on the floor [35:16] you can step out and talk to. [35:17] We’d love this opportunity to tell you [35:20] about God’s ultimate love that he gave for you. [35:23] So when you’re ready, go ahead and come.