And What Is This Love? -- 2/11/07 (Eternal Realities)

Sunday, February 11, 2007

AND WHAT IS THIS LOVE?
(More of I John)

Two weeks ago we spent some time dealing with the term "brother" here in I John. Our study makes it clear that John uses the term to designate a Christian brother or sister. The brothers and sisters of whom John speaks are those who share the life of Christ in common. John makes it clear that God intends these brothers and sisters to love one another. As a matter of fact, he sets up this love for the brethren as a test of life. Such love gives evidence that you have passed from death to life and indeed have the life of Christ. On the other hand, if you don’t have this love, then you don’t have the life of Christ. As John bluntly states it, "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar" (I Jn. 4:20).

While this love for the brethren is emphasized in I John, that does not mean that God’s people are not to love outsiders, those who are not a part of God’s family. We know this especially from what Jesus said. When asked what was the greatest commandment, He responded by saying… (Matt. 22:37-40)
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38. This is the first and great commandment. 39. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Later, Jesus was asked to define who the neighbor was. And what was Jesus’ definition? Do you remember? Jesus answered by telling the story of the Good Samaritan. In that little story, Jesus illustrates that our neighbor is simply the person who is in need.

So while we are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, that does not exclude love for our fellow-man in general. But again, the first proving ground of that love is within the family of God, those with whom we have the closest relationship. Last week a brother reminded me of a verse from Galatians which puts these two loves in perspective. Gal. 6:10, "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." While the word "love" isn’t used, Paul speaks of loving action (more about that later). While we are to love all people, there is a special love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We understand that by comparing it to family love. While we may be fond of many people around us, there is a special affection for the members of our own family.

Now all of this talk about love is good, but there is a nagging question with which we must deal. Actually, there are probably a couple of them, but there is one we must address this morning. And here it is: "What is love? What does love look like? What does it mean to love my brother, or my neighbor?" Of course, one of the reasons we must deal with the question is because the concept of love is so perverted in our world. I remind you that the love we are talking about is "agape" love, that special love whose source is God Himself.

We have been talking about how love is one of the tests of life. We test our relationship with God by our love for the brethren. But now we must test love itself. How do we know what we are calling love is really love? A couple gets married, vowing they will love each other as long as they live. A few months or a few years later they split up. Is that love? Everything that advertises itself as love is not the real thing. So let’s look into the nature of this love which is mentioned no less than 46 times in I John.

I. This Love Is Expressed Through Action

Let’s begin by attacking one of the greatest misunderstandings concerning love. Let’s nail down two things that love is not. First of all, agape love is not a matter of words. While words can be used for the glory of God, they can also be cheap. Jesus quoted from the prophet Isaiah, when He spoke these words to the Pharisees and scribes, "He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me" (Mk. 7:6). How many young ladies have heard a young man say, "I love you," only to find out that the letters "l o v e" did not express real love from the heart.

Let’s read it from I John 3:18, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." We can never accuse John of beating around the bush; his command could not be clearer. Love is not a matter of what we say, but what we do. Agape love must be expressed through action. That certainly doesn’t mean it is wrong to talk about this love, but it means nothing, if it isn’t expressed through action. The proof is in the doing of it.

Let us also be clear that this love isn’t a feeling. We have talked about this many before, so it shouldn’t be necessary to say too much. There is nothing wrong with feelings. God made us with emotions. But this agape love from God will never be directed by feelings. Feelings will follow, but they will not lead the way. A person may demonstrate this love of God without having warm, gushy feelings. At the same time, a person may have those feelings and still not truly demonstrate this love.

Now let’s come to the classic biblical passage concerning this agape love. It is sometimes called "the love chapter." And where do we find it? That’s right – I Cor. 13. As most of you know, in the King James the word "love" is not found. Rather, the translators used the word "charity." That word has a very different connotation in our world today. For that reason, I am going to read it out of the New King James Version. However, having a different word is not all bad, in that it distances God’s love from the worldly love all around us. Now let’s I Cor. 13… (NKJV)
1. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 4. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5. does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6. does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7. bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away11. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 13. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

While that entire chapter is familiar and precious to many of us, we are going to focus on verses 4-8a. It is these verses which emphasize the truth that this agape love is expressed through action. Let me simply read through these verses again slowly, allowing us time to think about each statement. Most of this is self-explanatory and needs very little comment…
… Love suffers long and is kind (does not retaliate)
… Love does not envy (where there is envy, there is not love)
… Love does not parade itself (it doesn’t call attention to itself)
… Love is not puffed up (pride and love do no co-exist)
… Love does not behave itself rudely
… Love does not seek its own (where you find selfishness, there is no love)
… Love is not provoked
… Love thinks no evil (While it is expressed through action, actions begin in the mind and heart.)
… Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth
… Love bears all things
… Love believes all things
… Love hopes all things
… Love endures all things
… Love never fails

Regardless of your claim to love, do you suffer long, refusing to get revenge? Are you kind? This kindness is in the context of longsuffering. In other words, are you kind to the people who wrong you? Regardless of how loving you may appear, do you envy? Envy will eventually express itself outwardly. Do you find subtle ways to call attention to yourself? I challenge you to get your Bible and go through the whole list with a prayerful attitude. I don’t think you can find a better definition of love in the entire Bible. Let God use this passage to search your heart.

You know this verse: "For God so loved the word, that He tenderly said, ‘I love you.’" No, that isn’t the way it reads. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." God loved, and He expressed that love through action; He gave us His Son.

II. This Love Is Exemplified In Christ Jesus

While this definition is very helpful, we might still ask the question: "But is there an example of this love in action? Yes, God the Father expressed His love through action, but is there someone on this earth I can look at in order to see this love played out in real life?" And, of course, we know that God has given us an example. And who is that? Yes, it is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Before we look at this love through the example of Jesus, let me ask you a question: How many times did Jesus say "I love you"? We read that Jesus loved the rich young ruler, that He loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. We find five times the mention of "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (the apostle John). Jesus also said that He loved the Father (Jn. 14:31). Then on three occasions, Jesus tells His disciples that He has loved them. For example, John 13:34, "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you" (also Jn. 15:9,12). He also speaks of loving in the future. John 14:21, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." So Jesus says "I have loved you," and "I will love you," but He never says "I love you."

That doesn’t mean it’s wrong to say, "I love you," but it does indicate that saying the words doesn’t reveal the whole story. Jesus loved, but He didn’t go around saying, "I love you." Loving someone is more important than saying you love some one. The principle is in I Cor. 13; the living proof is in Jesus.

Now here in I John the love of God the Father and the love of Christ the Son are tied up so closely together that we can hardly distinguish them. That is exactly what we might expect, for Jesus said, "I and my Father are one" (Jn. 10:30). Let’s read it in I Jn. 3:16a, "Hereby know we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us…" Who laid down His life for us? The Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what Jesus Himself said on the night of His arrest. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (Jn. 15:13). Hours later Jesus did exactly that by going to the cross.

Now to I John 4:9-10…
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

At first glance, we can look at this and say, "No, this speaks of the Father’s love, not the Son’s love. But look closer. The Father expressed His love in sending the Son. But what did He send the Son to do? To be the propitiation for our sins. Therein is the love of the Son, the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again in I John 2:2, "And he [Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins…" We looked at propitiation in depth a couple of weeks ago. If that doesn’t express love, what does? Jesus drank the cup the Father gave Him, and that cup did not consist of the physical sufferings He bore on the cross, as agonizing as they were. No, that cup was nothing less than bearing the wrath of God. We were under the wrath of God, but Jesus stepped in and bore it in our place. This is the supreme example of love. Many of you know Gal. 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Jesus love us; He expressed it, He proved it, by giving Himself for us.

Now let me pause for a moment. Perhaps some of us are thinking: "That is exactly right. Amen. Well said. And by the grace of God, I am willing to follow Jesus’ example and lay down my life." But what does that mean? We often think of being willing to die in the crisis. Suppose someone burst into this building with a machine gun and said, "Either deny Christ or die? If you are willing to deny Him, then get out of this building. I will open fire in one minute." Would you stay?
Some of us may some day face that option, but all of us will face a more pressing option. Will we lay down our lives for Christ today? I want to remind you that Jesus laid down His life long before the day He went to the hill called Calvary. Early in His ministry, Jesus said, "My will is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work" (Jn. 4:34). In order to say that, Jesus had to lay down His right to His own will.

Think with me for just a minute. We marvel at Jesus’ willingness to die on the cross in our place, and we certainly should marvel at that. But I want to remind you of what it must have been like living in the shadow of that cross every day. I don’t know exactly at what point Jesus knew He was going to the cross. We could debate that issue. However, we know that He was aware of it long before He entered Jerusalem the last time. How do we know? Because Jesus clearly told His disciples. Matt. 16:21, "From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day." So for months, maybe more than a year, Jesus lived with that knowledge every day. That required a continual laying down of His life.

Imagine what it was like as He dealt with the religious leaders, knowing that they would engineer they would secretly plot against Him, engineering the circumstances that would lead to His death. Imagine what it was like for Jesus to wash the feet of the very men who would forsake Him. Imagine what it would be like to rub shoulders every day with the man who would betray Him and sell Him out for 30 pieces of silver. Yet never once did He claim His right to His own life.

Yes, Jesus is our supreme example of love. Though we may find other examples among those who follow Him, His will always stand above all others.

III. This Love Is Explained (Defined) By Obedience

Now come to the very next verse in I John, 4:11, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." Or go back to I Jn. 3:16, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." And that doesn’t just mean being willing to die a physical death, but it means a daily laying down of our lives for the sake of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Or go back one more chapter to I Jn. 2:6, "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." As Jesus gave His life for us, we are to give our lives for others. This is love, and we are commanded to demonstrate this love.

Notice in each of these verses we just read – 2:6; 3:16; 4:11 – we find the word "ought." It is interesting that the Greek word so translated appears only in these three places in I John. We ought to walk as Jesus walked; We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren; we ought to love one another. Growing up, I often heard the concept of "ought" expressed something like this, "I know I ought to do it, but I’m not going to." But here in I John, this is the divine "ought." This is the supreme "ought" of life. We ought to love one another by laying down our lives for one another, just as Jesus did.

You see, we can never separate love from obedience. How do we express love for God? By doing what He says. It’s as simple as that. Isn’t that exactly what Jesus said in Jn. 14:15, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." And what is the commandment He had just given them a few verses earlier? "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (Jn. 13:34). Or go the other way, a little bit later the same night in Jn. 15:12, "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." And down to verse 17, "These things I command you, that ye love one another." When Jesus says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments," understand that obedience begins with loving one another.

Go back for a moment to 1 Cor 13:3, "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." That sounds like love expressed through action. And isn’t that the love that was exemplified by our Lord when He gave His body on the cross? But wait a minute, Paul says that a person can do that and not have love. How can it not be love? It isn’t in obedience to the Lord’s command.

Hear me. This is very important. We are living in a day when humanitarianism is taking hold in some circles of our society. The other day I heard about families who were taking their vacations to do things for other people. One such family went to Cambodia to build wheel chairs for the disabled. Is that not love? I don’t know. It may be, but it may not be. While it is certainly a noble thing to do, and surely it is better than spending time and money on self, it is only the agape love of I Cor. 13, if it is out of obedience to the Lord.

Apply this principle more personally. Everything the world judges as a good deed does is not necessarily an expression of agape love. Suppose you were to give $10,000 to a missions organization. Is that love in action? It might be, but it might not be. Paul says it is possible to do that very thing and not have love. Is it in obedience to Jesus command to love?
Love is not only exemplified in Christ and expressed through action, but it is also defined (explained) by obedience. When we follow Christ in doing things for others out of obedience to Him, that is a powerful demonstration of His love.

Conclusion

Perhaps you were looking for a dictionary definition of love. I’m not sure a dictionary definition is as good as simply coming to some of the passages we have come to this morning (see bulletin), but if you need such a definition, you might try this… "treating others with their best interests in mind." Of course, you have to define "best interests" in terms of Christ, the glory of God, etc., but that may be helpful for some of us.

Let me emphasize again what love is not. Love does not consist of feelings or of mere words. Don’t misunderstand. Feelings are not bad. Emotions are not evil. But we must always remember that when it comes to this agape love, feelings can’t lead that way. They will often follow, but they must not dictate our actions. And who doesn’t appreciate someone saying, "I love you?" Nevertheless, that is not the essence of love. If given a choice of telling a person you love him or actually loving him, there is only one godly action. Of course, many times part of the active expression of that love will include our words, because our words are part of our total make-up.

Let’s close with a verse from John 17. You will remember that this is the prayer Jesus prayed the night of His arrest. There in the presence of His eleven apostles, He poured out His heart to His Father. From time to time, we emphasize various portions of this prayer, but often we stop before we get to this verse. It is the last verse, 17:26, "And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." Let that soak in. Jesus prayed that the same love the Father had for Him might be in us. Wow! Not only did Jesus command this love, but He also prayed for it. And didn’t Jesus say that the Father always heard His prayers?

Praise God for that prayer! What hope that stirs up within us. We long to love, but we see the imperfections within us. But now we look at this prayer and must exclaim, "Lord, you have prayed that I might possess the very love of the Father, and I know that the Father answers your prayer."

But surely this is too good to be true. How can it be that I could have within me the love the Father has for the Son? Read it again: "that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." We forget the glory and wonder of having the life of Jesus Christ within us. And that is the key. When we truly have the life of the Son within us, we can have this love. When we have Jesus, we have the life of God. And when we have the life of God, we have this love, for God is love.