WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.120 We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christ Church. 00:00:05.740 --> 00:00:09.540 This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication, 00:00:09.900 --> 00:00:15.300 redistribution, or any other use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christ Church. 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:22.640 Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at ChristChurchEastBay.org. 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:28.780 Thanks for that scripture reading, Maddie, and good morning, Christ Church. 00:00:28.780 --> 00:00:31.380 My name is Andrew. I'm one of the pastors here. 00:00:31.500 --> 00:00:35.079 If you're new, we're glad you're here and looking forward to getting to know you 00:00:35.079 --> 00:00:38.620 and introducing you to our church and what we're about here. 00:00:39.100 --> 00:00:43.079 We're about to continue our series in 1 John, but will you join me in prayer 00:00:43.079 --> 00:00:45.579 before we hear what God has to say to us? 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:53.579 Father, we want to listen to what you have to say in your holy scriptures, 00:00:53.579 --> 00:00:57.460 your divinely inspired letter to this early church. 00:00:58.780 --> 00:01:04.760 And God, we want to be transformed more and more into the image of your Son. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:09.960 Would you do that among us today by the power of your Spirit? 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:15.079 Would you help us to be who we already are, 00:01:15.379 --> 00:01:17.520 children of God, people made in the image of God, 00:01:17.620 --> 00:01:20.180 who love like our Father? 00:01:20.180 --> 00:01:25.880 Would you inspire us, O God, but by your love for us? 00:01:26.300 --> 00:01:31.040 Would that make us different people and would that make our world a different world? 00:01:32.080 --> 00:01:36.360 We pray that earnestly this morning, God, in your Son's precious name. 00:01:37.160 --> 00:01:37.460 Amen. 00:01:37.459 --> 00:01:42.479 So we're making our way through 1 John, as many of you know. 00:01:42.979 --> 00:01:48.099 And what this letter is basically trying to communicate to its original readers is that, 00:01:48.219 --> 00:01:50.559 hey, I know that your community of faith, 00:01:50.659 --> 00:01:55.439 I know that your early church community has gone through a lot of painful loss. 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:59.979 And I know how disorienting and I know how confusing that could be. 00:01:59.980 --> 00:02:04.980 But, hey, dear children, my dear children, you made the right choice. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:08.000 You made the right choice to stick around in the church. 00:02:08.099 --> 00:02:13.020 You made the right choice to hold on to the original teaching of Jesus and his apostles 00:02:13.020 --> 00:02:16.920 and to keep their commandments and to walk in light and love. 00:02:16.980 --> 00:02:18.560 You chose the way of life. 00:02:18.840 --> 00:02:19.719 That's what 1 John is saying. 00:02:19.780 --> 00:02:23.259 You chose the way of life by staying and listening to the words of Jesus. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:25.939 You chose the way of abundance and eternal life with God. 00:02:25.939 --> 00:02:30.199 So hold on to what you heard from the beginning because, really, I promise you, it's saying. 00:02:30.579 --> 00:02:33.639 It's saying, I promise you, there is no better news than this. 00:02:34.259 --> 00:02:37.620 And then it says, see what kind of love the Father has given to us. 00:02:37.659 --> 00:02:38.340 This is the good news. 00:02:38.460 --> 00:02:42.620 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:44.120 And so we are. 00:02:44.219 --> 00:02:49.780 This is a one-of-a-kind love, a love like no other in all the history of all the world. 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:55.280 A father adopting hostile, runaway orphans into his family forever. 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:59.439 A father receiving broken children as they are. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:02.900 And yet resolving to make them everything they were meant to be. 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:05.039 For we shall be like him, right? 00:03:05.340 --> 00:03:07.120 For we shall see him as he is. 00:03:07.139 --> 00:03:08.120 And this Father, he does it, what? 00:03:08.199 --> 00:03:09.800 All at his own expense. 00:03:10.139 --> 00:03:13.060 At the expense of his only begotten son, his perfect son. 00:03:13.860 --> 00:03:15.020 What sort of love is this? 00:03:15.420 --> 00:03:16.319 What can compare? 00:03:17.219 --> 00:03:19.240 So 1 John's saying, hold on. 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:23.479 Hold on to this life, light, and love that you embraced from the beginning. 00:03:23.479 --> 00:03:31.899 Because when you do, even when the world, even when those who have left our church might suggest a million other alternative ways to live, 00:03:32.060 --> 00:03:36.539 when you walk in your heavenly Father's way of life, light, and love, 00:03:36.579 --> 00:03:41.679 you make it plain to all the world that you are truly children of God. 00:03:42.219 --> 00:03:44.759 That you truly belong to your Father in heaven. 00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:51.539 And when you love, this is how you will know, and this is how everyone else will know who and whose you are. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:54.479 Because they'll see your Father in you. 00:03:55.459 --> 00:03:58.259 You know, when my daughter, Cammie, was just a couple months old, 00:03:58.659 --> 00:04:02.519 we took her to the church where me and Chelsea started dating. 00:04:02.520 --> 00:04:07.620 And I remember just walking around, showing her off to everyone. 00:04:08.020 --> 00:04:10.120 And I took her to one of the elders of our church. 00:04:10.340 --> 00:04:13.280 And as he beheld our firstborn daughter, he said, 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:17.000 Wow, no DNA test required. 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:19.199 No DNA test required. 00:04:19.340 --> 00:04:22.699 See, this poor little girl, she looks like me. 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:26.160 And increasingly so each day. 00:04:26.280 --> 00:04:28.920 And she doesn't just look like me, she acts like me. 00:04:28.920 --> 00:04:32.759 She's a little goofball, she enjoys slapstick humor, 00:04:33.280 --> 00:04:37.780 and her idea of a perfect afternoon is a Disney movie with a bag of Cheetos. 00:04:38.420 --> 00:04:39.699 She's just like her daddy. 00:04:40.780 --> 00:04:45.520 And I look at her, and my friends and my family look at her as well. 00:04:45.780 --> 00:04:48.780 And just like my friend at this church, we all say, 00:04:49.200 --> 00:04:52.259 Yeah, no DNA test required. 00:04:53.100 --> 00:04:57.240 By what she looks like, by how she lives, by what she loves, 00:04:57.240 --> 00:04:59.000 it's unmistakable. 00:04:59.500 --> 00:05:03.740 We all know that this little girl is a child of Andrew Ong. 00:05:04.819 --> 00:05:06.680 And so it is with the children of God. 00:05:07.480 --> 00:05:13.300 We have the very DNA of our Father if we've been united with God in Christ. 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:16.939 The Father cannot but beget children of God, 00:05:17.019 --> 00:05:21.379 who increasingly look like Him, and who increasingly love like Him. 00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:24.579 And that's where we're at here in 1 John, verse 10. 00:05:24.660 --> 00:05:25.060 Look with me. 00:05:25.060 --> 00:05:28.040 This is how we know who the children of God are, 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:29.980 and who the children of the devil are. 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:33.319 Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child, 00:05:33.740 --> 00:05:37.280 nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. 00:05:37.780 --> 00:05:38.220 Verse 11. 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:40.540 For this is the message you heard from the beginning. 00:05:41.240 --> 00:05:42.879 We should love one another. 00:05:43.779 --> 00:05:45.579 We should love one another. 00:05:45.840 --> 00:05:46.100 All right? 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:49.060 Now maybe you're here today, and you're like, 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:50.740 love one another again? 00:05:51.240 --> 00:05:51.439 Right? 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:51.920 Yeah. 00:05:52.100 --> 00:05:52.500 Yawn. 00:05:52.939 --> 00:05:55.480 Tell me something I don't already know. 00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:59.199 And honestly, I had a long moment like that this week, 00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:00.879 where I was right there with you. 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:02.060 In my mind, I was like, 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:05.339 man, I came up here last Sunday without a sermon, 00:06:06.019 --> 00:06:08.339 and I don't want to shoot two air balls in a row. 00:06:08.420 --> 00:06:12.159 I hope this text gives me something good that I can really work with. 00:06:12.220 --> 00:06:13.860 And I came to this text, and it said, 00:06:13.959 --> 00:06:14.439 love one another. 00:06:14.500 --> 00:06:17.699 It's like, oh, something everyone already knows and agrees with. 00:06:17.699 --> 00:06:20.360 How am I going to make this fresh and interesting? 00:06:21.599 --> 00:06:23.459 And I think that for a lot of us, 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:26.939 especially for those of us who have been in the church for quite a while, 00:06:26.979 --> 00:06:29.639 when we hear this love one another stuff, 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:34.860 it's so easy to just sit back and cruise past this message we've heard a million times, 00:06:35.159 --> 00:06:38.639 even outside the church, but especially inside the church, right? 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:39.439 Yeah, I know. 00:06:39.539 --> 00:06:39.819 I know. 00:06:39.879 --> 00:06:40.240 I get it. 00:06:40.259 --> 00:06:40.560 I get it. 00:06:40.579 --> 00:06:40.980 I get it. 00:06:41.300 --> 00:06:42.319 Love one another. 00:06:42.539 --> 00:06:44.459 Sure, I could always hear it more, I guess, 00:06:44.459 --> 00:06:47.779 because I'm not perfect, but for many of us, love one another, 00:06:48.019 --> 00:06:51.680 it really just sounds more like a cliche platitude, right? 00:06:52.139 --> 00:06:54.359 It sounds like a forgettable reminder. 00:06:54.699 --> 00:06:58.680 It maybe just feels like a weak little brief slap on the wrist, right? 00:06:58.740 --> 00:06:59.279 Oh, love one another. 00:06:59.299 --> 00:07:00.859 Yeah, I should do that better, right? 00:07:01.679 --> 00:07:05.240 So it's like, thanks for the reminder, and I'll try to remember, 00:07:05.399 --> 00:07:06.959 but oh, hey, the sermon's done. 00:07:07.459 --> 00:07:08.139 Service is over. 00:07:08.259 --> 00:07:08.959 Bible's closed. 00:07:09.359 --> 00:07:10.740 Time to get on with my life, right? 00:07:10.740 --> 00:07:16.720 And you know, maybe some of us who are extra holy might be at Trader Joe's 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:22.620 and have an opportunity to share some groceries with that houseless person hanging out outside, 00:07:22.819 --> 00:07:25.620 and we'll be like, oh, yes, I applied God's word. 00:07:25.740 --> 00:07:27.780 I showed love to someone else. 00:07:27.860 --> 00:07:31.259 Maybe we'll go home and do an extra chore and say, oh, good job me. 00:07:31.420 --> 00:07:32.600 I loved one another. 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:33.960 I applied the word of God. 00:07:34.040 --> 00:07:34.600 Look at me. 00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:42.320 But this is such a shallow way of obeying the core ethical teaching of Jesus. 00:07:43.580 --> 00:07:47.220 Is this all that Jesus had in mind, doing nice things, 00:07:47.840 --> 00:07:51.040 when he commanded his followers to love one another? 00:07:51.200 --> 00:07:54.520 Just some garden variety, niceness, and decency. 00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:55.760 Is that all Jesus had in mind? 00:07:56.540 --> 00:07:59.900 Was Jesus just like, yeah, you know, just do some good stuff, send some positive vibes, 00:07:59.899 --> 00:08:02.719 be nice to people, try to put more love out into the universe, 00:08:02.979 --> 00:08:05.759 try to push the needle a little bit closer toward world peace? 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:10.500 Or didn't Jesus say that our love, when patterned after his own, 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:16.500 was supposed to be the most uniquely compelling thing that testified and bore witness 00:08:16.500 --> 00:08:20.959 to who exactly his people were in all the world? 00:08:21.959 --> 00:08:24.259 A new commandment I give to you, he says, 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:28.219 that you love one another just as I have loved you. 00:08:28.220 --> 00:08:30.560 You also are to love one another. 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:33.220 Just as God loves, you are to love. 00:08:33.340 --> 00:08:36.560 And by this, he says, by this, by your love for one another, 00:08:36.800 --> 00:08:41.180 all people will know that you are my disciples, 00:08:42.019 --> 00:08:44.160 if you have love for one another. 00:08:45.300 --> 00:08:47.740 And I want to let that sit with us for a second. 00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:49.580 Jesus' command to love one another. 00:08:50.420 --> 00:08:55.980 Because Jesus' command to love one another is about so much more than niceness and charity. 00:08:55.980 --> 00:09:02.800 This exhortation to love one another here in 1 John is not some repetitive command we're just supposed to obey. 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:04.200 You know what it is? 00:09:04.899 --> 00:09:08.899 It's an explanation of what human beings were always meant to be. 00:09:09.659 --> 00:09:15.019 It's an explanation of the truest, most beautiful expression of the human identity. 00:09:15.019 --> 00:09:17.000 Just as Jesus said, 00:09:17.159 --> 00:09:22.399 By this, all people will know who you are, my disciples, if you have love for one another. 00:09:22.539 --> 00:09:23.299 1 John is saying, 00:09:23.419 --> 00:09:26.759 By this, all people will know that you are children of God, 00:09:27.159 --> 00:09:28.860 if you have love for one another. 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:33.059 Loving one another is not just a mere suggestion. 00:09:33.059 --> 00:09:35.759 It is the very identity of people who are made, 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:40.619 of people who are in right relationship with their maker. 00:09:40.939 --> 00:09:43.919 It's what distinguishes children of God who are truly alive, 00:09:44.259 --> 00:09:47.039 and children of the devil who are actually dead. 00:09:48.059 --> 00:09:51.139 1 John is not simply trying to modify behavior 00:09:51.139 --> 00:09:56.519 and generically make us into more loving, compassionate, and empathetic people. 00:09:56.519 --> 00:10:03.079 It's not trying to just make the world a progressively nicer, kinder, warmer, gentler, more peaceful place, 00:10:03.179 --> 00:10:04.759 one good deed at a time. 00:10:05.639 --> 00:10:09.480 1 John is not simply commending niceness here like any one of my daughters, 00:10:09.639 --> 00:10:13.639 you know, Arthur and Fancy Nancy or Llama Llama Red Pajama books. 00:10:14.439 --> 00:10:19.000 1 John's exhortation to love is rooted in a far bigger story. 00:10:19.960 --> 00:10:25.220 A far bigger story than that naive, wishful story of human self-progress. 00:10:25.220 --> 00:10:31.139 1 John's exhortation to love as children of God is rooted in a better story. 00:10:31.460 --> 00:10:34.720 The ultimate story, the cosmic story of the world that's told in the scriptures, 00:10:34.860 --> 00:10:36.480 in which there are two kinds of people. 00:10:37.180 --> 00:10:39.580 The children of God and the children of the devil. 00:10:40.220 --> 00:10:43.440 The offspring of the woman Eve and the offspring of the serpent. 00:10:43.560 --> 00:10:47.759 The story of attention and an antithesis introduced into God's good creation 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:50.379 when his first children, made in his image, 00:10:50.740 --> 00:10:55.120 ignored the voice of their father and listened to the voice of the devil, the serpent. 00:10:56.220 --> 00:10:58.759 When 1 John speaks about loving one another here, 00:10:59.279 --> 00:11:03.899 it has in view this gracious, redemptive story of a father reaching out 00:11:03.899 --> 00:11:07.759 to transform the identities of his self-orphaned children. 00:11:08.740 --> 00:11:12.000 So again, you have to understand that love one another in 1 John 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:16.040 is not simply telling us to obey a rule we already know and we've heard a thousand times. 00:11:16.039 --> 00:11:20.779 1 John is saying that this is a matter of who and whose we are. 00:11:21.559 --> 00:11:24.000 Children of God or children of the devil. 00:11:24.899 --> 00:11:29.339 And thus it's a matter of life or death, of ultimate victory or ultimate defeat. 00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:31.459 As God foretold in the wake of the fall, 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:34.579 though the serpent would wound the heel of the woman's offspring, 00:11:35.259 --> 00:11:41.539 it would ultimately be that same wounded heel that would trample upon the serpent's head in triumph. 00:11:41.539 --> 00:11:46.500 So you see, our passage today isn't simply about obedience and kindness, 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:52.500 it's about who and whose we are in the grand and cosmic scheme of history before God. 00:11:52.759 --> 00:11:55.879 The God of creation and the God of new creation. 00:11:55.879 --> 00:12:01.080 And this is important because if we only understand love for one another as a rule 00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:04.879 or as a suggestion or as a noble principle to try to live by, 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:07.039 we will never feel the weight. 00:12:07.659 --> 00:12:12.799 We will never feel the urgency of God's deep and profound intentions for our lives 00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:14.879 and for who we were meant to be. 00:12:15.879 --> 00:12:18.580 See, to not love is not simply to break a rule. 00:12:19.299 --> 00:12:21.120 It's to be a child of the devil. 00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:23.879 It's to be even a murderer. 00:12:23.879 --> 00:12:28.580 Remember, look with me at how seriously 1 John speaks about what it means to not love. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:30.960 Look at the transition from verse 11 to 12. 00:12:31.899 --> 00:12:33.439 A literal Greek translation would say, 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:36.759 We should love one another not as Cain, 00:12:37.500 --> 00:12:39.939 who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:42.220 This is saying that you either love one another 00:12:42.220 --> 00:12:45.840 or you are just like murderous Cain. 00:12:46.860 --> 00:12:50.720 And for those of us who are unfamiliar with the story of Cain and his brother Abel 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:54.000 from the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, Genesis chapter 4, 00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:57.899 after the fall of creation, what happened was Adam and Eve, the first two humans, 00:12:58.340 --> 00:13:01.720 they had their firstborn child named Cain. 00:13:02.560 --> 00:13:08.379 And while Adam and Eve hoped that this offspring would help lead them into victory over the serpent, 00:13:08.540 --> 00:13:09.700 right, because that's what God had promised, 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:14.259 that some offspring from the woman would lead the world into triumph over the serpent, 00:13:14.259 --> 00:13:20.559 while Adam and Eve hoped that this offspring's heel would one day crush the serpent's head once and for all, 00:13:21.419 --> 00:13:22.659 Cain was not that. 00:13:23.240 --> 00:13:26.279 But instead, he actually trampled upon his own brother. 00:13:26.980 --> 00:13:32.000 In fact, he turned out to be the spiritual offspring of the serpent, a child of the devil. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:36.899 And so this firstborn son of theirs, Cain, when he saw that his younger brother Abel 00:13:36.899 --> 00:13:40.919 had offered a righteous and acceptable sacrifice to God, 00:13:41.340 --> 00:13:44.460 while his own lesser offering was not accepted by God, 00:13:44.539 --> 00:13:47.840 he raged at God and he raged at his brother 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:53.600 and he killed his brother with no remorse but only continual self-interest. 00:13:53.980 --> 00:13:55.840 The firstborn son of Adam and Eve, 00:13:55.940 --> 00:13:58.659 on whom they placed their hopes for the salvation of the whole world, 00:13:58.659 --> 00:14:03.000 killed the very next human being born to his very own parents, 00:14:03.059 --> 00:14:04.759 his own flesh and blood. 00:14:05.620 --> 00:14:09.360 And then he had the audacity to talk back to God. 00:14:10.019 --> 00:14:10.299 He said, 00:14:10.899 --> 00:14:12.319 Am I my brother's keeper? 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:14.219 Oh, my bad. 00:14:14.779 --> 00:14:18.360 Was I obligated to take care of my little brother 00:14:18.360 --> 00:14:21.959 to make sure that he lived and flourished and thrived? 00:14:22.699 --> 00:14:24.839 And in Cain's interaction with God, 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:26.860 we see that all he's actually worried about 00:14:26.860 --> 00:14:31.860 is the revenge people might take upon him for what he did. 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:36.740 All he cares about is the preservation of his own life. 00:14:37.399 --> 00:14:38.419 And then what does he do? 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:40.159 We learn that he goes and he builds a city. 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:40.460 Why? 00:14:40.680 --> 00:14:41.639 To protect himself. 00:14:42.500 --> 00:14:44.019 And he has offspring and they're skilled 00:14:44.019 --> 00:14:48.360 and they cultivate music and they make instruments 00:14:48.360 --> 00:14:51.539 and they are very skilled with livestock. 00:14:52.220 --> 00:14:55.440 But they're all just as self-interested as him. 00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:58.260 And even though they create good cultural things, 00:14:58.360 --> 00:15:01.580 they rule by power and might and violence 00:15:01.580 --> 00:15:06.040 because that is the only way they know how to survive and thrive. 00:15:06.740 --> 00:15:07.760 Through dominance. 00:15:08.300 --> 00:15:11.360 One of Cain's descendants, Lamech, he even sings. 00:15:11.960 --> 00:15:13.660 He even makes music about murder. 00:15:14.780 --> 00:15:18.000 That is the line of the children of the devil. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:21.580 And these are the beginnings of that worldly theory of life. 00:15:21.720 --> 00:15:23.100 Survival of the fittest. 00:15:23.220 --> 00:15:25.139 Survival by self-protection. 00:15:25.659 --> 00:15:28.440 And this has been the MO of all the devil's children, right? 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:32.080 And so much of this broken world that we live in. 00:15:32.179 --> 00:15:33.419 We see it all around us, don't we? 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:35.100 Even in our own hearts, right? 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:38.080 And so what 1 John is saying when it says, 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:41.000 we should love one another not as Cain, 00:15:41.520 --> 00:15:45.639 it's saying that the opposite of love is not just apathy or malice. 00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:50.040 The opposite of love is assault and murder. 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:56.540 To not love is not some inconsequential, insignificant breach of a rule book. 00:15:56.620 --> 00:15:59.060 It's the very way of the devil. 00:15:59.220 --> 00:16:03.500 It's participation in murder and inherently resentful opposition 00:16:03.500 --> 00:16:06.340 to all that is good and just and righteous. 00:16:06.340 --> 00:16:06.800 Verse 12, 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:22.399 To not love is to hate. 00:16:22.800 --> 00:16:27.600 And in particular, it's to hate what is good with a destructive, murderous intent. 00:16:28.460 --> 00:16:34.019 So whether or not we love, this is a life and death matter for us and for others. 00:16:34.019 --> 00:16:39.819 1 John is saying that there is a deathly quality about not loving others. 00:16:40.620 --> 00:16:41.139 Verse 14, 00:16:41.480 --> 00:16:44.919 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love each other. 00:16:45.539 --> 00:16:48.159 Anyone who does not love remains in death. 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:49.579 Verse 15, 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:53.240 Anyone who hates a brother or a sister is a murderer. 00:16:54.179 --> 00:16:58.360 And you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. 00:16:59.659 --> 00:17:02.120 So 1 John doesn't mince words here. 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:05.720 You either love and so prove to be a child of God, 00:17:05.940 --> 00:17:11.019 or you don't and so prove to be a murderous child of the devil. 00:17:11.619 --> 00:17:14.819 The Greek word here for murder is anthropoktanos. 00:17:14.900 --> 00:17:16.680 It literally means people killer. 00:17:17.539 --> 00:17:18.299 People killer. 00:17:19.140 --> 00:17:21.400 And I know that this may sound so extreme, right? 00:17:21.420 --> 00:17:27.299 To consider all those who don't love as dead and children of the devil and as people killers. 00:17:27.299 --> 00:17:34.960 But what 1 John is indicating to us with all this radical language is the radical nature of love. 00:17:35.879 --> 00:17:37.099 The radical nature of love. 00:17:37.180 --> 00:17:41.819 See, if we are truly to embody this loving ethic of Jesus, 00:17:42.539 --> 00:17:47.339 not in some superficial way that just treats love for one another as a mere rule to be obeyed, 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:50.680 but as central to our very identities as human beings, 00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:57.620 what we all need to understand is that loving others is not simply about niceness or doing favors or just helping people. 00:17:58.420 --> 00:18:03.279 No, according to 1 John, loving others is more than an add-on luxury we owe. 00:18:03.779 --> 00:18:04.460 I'm sorry. 00:18:04.900 --> 00:18:07.420 Loving others is more than an add-on luxury that we offer. 00:18:08.039 --> 00:18:09.640 It's the abundant life that we owe. 00:18:10.220 --> 00:18:10.840 I'll say that again. 00:18:11.140 --> 00:18:14.500 Loving others is more than an add-on luxury that we offer. 00:18:14.920 --> 00:18:17.320 It's the abundant life that we owe. 00:18:18.140 --> 00:18:19.060 And I want to unpack that. 00:18:19.059 --> 00:18:22.519 See, if to not love is to be a murderer, 00:18:23.659 --> 00:18:26.440 then to love is to be a life-giving presence. 00:18:27.099 --> 00:18:31.639 A presence that pursues the thriving and the flourishing of all whom we come across. 00:18:31.740 --> 00:18:32.980 I like how C.S. Lewis puts it. 00:18:33.259 --> 00:18:33.480 He says, 00:18:33.879 --> 00:18:35.480 Love is not affectionate feeling, 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:42.200 but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained. 00:18:42.879 --> 00:18:46.779 And if we think about love this way, as pursuing people's ultimate good, 00:18:46.779 --> 00:18:52.420 then the command to love one another is not something extra that we do, 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:58.000 like an add-on luxury given to some lucky people that we decide to love but didn't necessarily deserve it. 00:18:58.059 --> 00:19:00.180 No, if the opposite of love is murder, 00:19:00.299 --> 00:19:02.279 and if love is to be a life-giving presence, 00:19:02.740 --> 00:19:05.519 then love is more than an add-on luxury we offer. 00:19:05.639 --> 00:19:08.680 It is the abundant life we owe to all people. 00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:12.039 It's what we are obligated to do. 00:19:13.019 --> 00:19:15.460 We are our brothers' and sisters' keepers. 00:19:15.560 --> 00:19:19.740 We are obligated to pursue all human flourishing for all people. 00:19:19.740 --> 00:19:23.819 And this was quite a profound revelation to me this week, 00:19:23.880 --> 00:19:25.779 because, you know, when I was preparing for this sermon, 00:19:25.960 --> 00:19:26.700 and I was trying to figure out, 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:29.819 okay, God, what are you saying to me, personally, 00:19:30.460 --> 00:19:32.740 about how to love other people in my own life? 00:19:33.480 --> 00:19:36.400 Maybe you can identify with me that whenever you hear this love one another stuff, 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:38.539 your first instinct is pretty superficial. 00:19:39.099 --> 00:19:41.160 Like, I was like, okay, I guess I gotta figure out 00:19:41.160 --> 00:19:46.259 what extra tasks I might add on to the list of other good things 00:19:46.259 --> 00:19:47.579 I'm already trying to do for others. 00:19:48.279 --> 00:19:51.180 Maybe I'll vacuum for Chelsea this week or something like that, right? 00:19:51.700 --> 00:19:54.440 Maybe I'll invite some lonely people over to my house to have dinner. 00:19:54.759 --> 00:19:55.259 I don't know. 00:19:56.339 --> 00:19:58.299 But see, when I thought of loving others as simply about 00:19:58.299 --> 00:20:01.059 doing more nice things for people, 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:04.379 I was thinking of it primarily in terms of me 00:20:04.379 --> 00:20:07.019 being generous and gracious and charitable 00:20:07.019 --> 00:20:09.240 with my time, talent, and treasures 00:20:09.240 --> 00:20:11.400 in order to just give someone a little, you know, 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:13.079 a little bump of kindness for the week, 00:20:13.460 --> 00:20:14.480 make their day, maybe. 00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:17.720 You know, just grace my wife with the luxury 00:20:17.720 --> 00:20:19.980 of not having to vacuum at night. 00:20:21.240 --> 00:20:24.059 But if loving others is more about being 00:20:24.059 --> 00:20:26.759 an abundant, life-giving presence, 00:20:27.559 --> 00:20:29.420 then it shouldn't be primarily about 00:20:29.420 --> 00:20:31.360 what I might offer to some people. 00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:35.299 It's about what I owe to all people. 00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:38.299 My pursuit of their abundant life 00:20:38.299 --> 00:20:39.759 and their ultimate good. 00:20:40.579 --> 00:20:42.339 I think that the Dalai Lama was right 00:20:42.339 --> 00:20:43.079 when he said, 00:20:43.500 --> 00:20:45.819 Love and compassion are necessities, 00:20:46.399 --> 00:20:47.379 not luxuries. 00:20:48.399 --> 00:20:51.579 Without them, humanity cannot survive. 00:20:52.439 --> 00:20:54.240 Or consider the divinely inspired words 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:56.019 from Apostle Paul in chapter 13 00:20:56.019 --> 00:20:57.019 of his letter to the Romans, 00:20:57.459 --> 00:20:59.299 Owe no one anything 00:20:59.299 --> 00:21:02.619 except to love each other. 00:21:02.619 --> 00:21:06.000 See, when we think about loving others 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:07.519 in terms of what we can offer 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:08.619 rather than what we owe, 00:21:09.299 --> 00:21:10.299 it makes us casual. 00:21:10.899 --> 00:21:12.919 It makes us casual about Jesus' command 00:21:12.919 --> 00:21:14.159 to love one another. 00:21:14.539 --> 00:21:16.379 Like, love is just a charitable gift 00:21:16.379 --> 00:21:18.739 to bestow at our own discretion. 00:21:18.899 --> 00:21:19.859 There is no urgency 00:21:19.859 --> 00:21:21.599 because even though Jesus commanded love, 00:21:21.639 --> 00:21:22.899 it still somehow feels optional 00:21:22.899 --> 00:21:25.039 when we think of love as just something 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:26.719 that we can offer to others. 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:29.759 But if we think of love as something we owe, 00:21:30.500 --> 00:21:32.160 the whole conversation shifts 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:35.240 from what we do to who we are 00:21:35.240 --> 00:21:37.819 and who our neighbors are. 00:21:38.600 --> 00:21:40.140 See, it's all about identity. 00:21:40.980 --> 00:21:43.299 It's all about who we and our neighbors are. 00:21:43.420 --> 00:21:44.160 Every human being, 00:21:44.259 --> 00:21:45.519 a person of significance, 00:21:45.880 --> 00:21:47.620 with dignity and potential 00:21:47.620 --> 00:21:50.079 because we are made in the image of God. 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:51.019 Every human being, 00:21:51.100 --> 00:21:52.640 from the womb to the tomb, 00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:55.559 a person whom God himself wants to see thrive 00:21:55.559 --> 00:21:57.019 and experience the fullness 00:21:57.019 --> 00:21:59.359 of his abundant life and shalom. 00:21:59.879 --> 00:22:01.720 From the helpless unborn child 00:22:01.720 --> 00:22:03.819 to the vulnerable pregnant mother 00:22:03.819 --> 00:22:05.500 to even the most heinous 00:22:05.500 --> 00:22:06.960 and undeserving dictator, 00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:09.960 we owe every human being love. 00:22:10.019 --> 00:22:12.179 We are obligated to posture ourselves 00:22:12.179 --> 00:22:14.039 toward all people's flourishing, 00:22:14.539 --> 00:22:16.440 to open our hearts and our hands 00:22:16.440 --> 00:22:19.299 to all people seeking their ultimate good. 00:22:19.399 --> 00:22:20.619 That's what it means to love. 00:22:21.659 --> 00:22:23.119 It's more than vacuuming. 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:27.479 Now, I'm actually going to save verses 19 and following 00:22:27.479 --> 00:22:28.199 for next time. 00:22:28.299 --> 00:22:29.319 I wasn't able to get there. 00:22:29.619 --> 00:22:32.679 But I want to wrap up by looking at verses 16 to 18. 00:22:33.319 --> 00:22:36.639 And I want to talk about what this might look like to love. 00:22:36.959 --> 00:22:39.039 What does it look like to love in this way 00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:42.379 where we are trying to embody a life-giving presence? 00:22:43.579 --> 00:22:44.679 Verse 16 says, 00:22:44.680 --> 00:23:01.120 So in case you were wondering what the standard of love is, 00:23:01.259 --> 00:23:02.740 what the best illustration of love is, 00:23:02.779 --> 00:23:04.460 what the very definition of love is, 00:23:04.460 --> 00:23:05.460 1 John says, 00:23:05.460 --> 00:23:08.180 Look no further than at Jesus Christ, 00:23:08.539 --> 00:23:10.940 who laid down his life for us. 00:23:11.880 --> 00:23:15.100 Now, what does it mean to lay down our lives for others 00:23:15.100 --> 00:23:16.500 just like Jesus did? 00:23:17.240 --> 00:23:20.420 Well, Jesus himself uses this language in John's gospel. 00:23:21.140 --> 00:23:23.420 He uses this language to describe his love for people. 00:23:23.500 --> 00:23:24.559 In John chapter 10, he says, 00:23:24.980 --> 00:23:26.840 I am the good shepherd, right? 00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:28.299 I am the good shepherd. 00:23:28.600 --> 00:23:32.279 The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 00:23:32.279 --> 00:23:34.639 So let's consider that illustration. 00:23:34.779 --> 00:23:36.460 Try to imagine, try to envision that, right? 00:23:36.940 --> 00:23:39.279 Now, when we hear lay down his life, 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:43.619 some of our minds immediately go to the ultimate sacrifice of life at the cross, right? 00:23:43.639 --> 00:23:48.220 Where Jesus gave up his life to destroy death and sin forever and to save his people. 00:23:48.299 --> 00:23:51.500 And this is definitely an important part of this. 00:23:51.619 --> 00:23:58.160 Some of us might one day be called to embody this greatest sacrifice of love for another. 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:00.420 But what we also need to hear, 00:24:00.420 --> 00:24:03.900 and I think what 1 John has more in mind is that laying down a life 00:24:03.900 --> 00:24:08.240 is not just about a single sacrificial act and task. 00:24:09.120 --> 00:24:11.480 In his classic devotional, Oswald Chambers, 00:24:11.820 --> 00:24:13.519 it's called My Utmost for His Highest. 00:24:13.720 --> 00:24:16.660 And he talks about how Jesus laid down his life for us, 00:24:17.160 --> 00:24:18.539 not just in the act of the cross, 00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:22.180 but every single day, every single second of his life, 00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:23.940 all the way leading up to the cross. 00:24:24.140 --> 00:24:27.539 And even now, as he intercedes for us at the right hand of God, 00:24:27.539 --> 00:24:32.279 his whole life, his whole life was given to us. 00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:34.599 His whole life laid down for us. 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:37.379 So again, think about this shepherd, all right? 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:43.940 Sure, he might put his life at risk when a thief or a wolf comes to threaten the lives of his sheep, right? 00:24:44.379 --> 00:24:48.920 But a good shepherd doesn't just care for his sheep in their most dire moments, 00:24:48.920 --> 00:24:51.620 but also in their dullest moments. 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:56.240 A good shepherd has given the entirety of his life to one thing, 00:24:56.320 --> 00:25:00.259 being a life-giving presence to his sheep, day in and day out. 00:25:00.340 --> 00:25:02.860 Yes, protecting sheep from others and from themselves, 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:05.120 but also feeding them, guiding his sheep, 00:25:05.420 --> 00:25:07.560 mending their wounds, finding his lost sheep, 00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:08.980 rescuing them from ditches, 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:11.700 making sure they get along with each other and treat each other right, 00:25:11.700 --> 00:25:14.519 knowing them by name and personality and behavior, 00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:17.700 maybe even being physically affectionate with his sheep. 00:25:17.700 --> 00:25:21.019 So Christchurch, who might God be calling us 00:25:21.019 --> 00:25:26.340 to protect or feed or guide or mend or reconcile or show affection to 00:25:26.340 --> 00:25:29.840 or even to just see and recognize and acknowledge and know? 00:25:31.340 --> 00:25:33.840 And let's be open-minded before God about this 00:25:33.840 --> 00:25:35.420 and willing to think outside of the box 00:25:35.420 --> 00:25:37.680 because remember, Jesus also said, 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:41.100 I have other sheep that are not of this fold. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:43.039 I must bring them also. 00:25:43.120 --> 00:25:44.980 Who are the unexpected people? 00:25:44.980 --> 00:25:48.360 The not-so-easy, not-so-obvious people, 00:25:48.500 --> 00:25:53.839 God might be calling us to not just love with a random single act of kindness, 00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:56.480 but to lay down our lives for. 00:25:56.559 --> 00:26:00.940 Who might God be calling us to be a constant life-giving presence to? 00:26:02.299 --> 00:26:03.480 Verse 17 says, 00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:08.960 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need, 00:26:09.299 --> 00:26:10.559 but has no pity on them, 00:26:10.940 --> 00:26:11.620 literally in the Greek, 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:15.240 if anyone sees a brother in need but closes his heart to them, 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:18.980 how can the love of God be in that person? 00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:22.200 Whose needs do we see around us? 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:25.299 And are our hearts opened or are they closed? 00:26:26.059 --> 00:26:27.539 Or do we even see? 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.120 Do we even see the needs around us? 00:26:30.119 --> 00:26:34.479 Like, I wonder, even for those of us who want to put in that extra effort 00:26:34.479 --> 00:26:37.639 into being more fully human and thus loving more fully, 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:41.219 how much do we realize that this means first putting more effort 00:26:41.219 --> 00:26:44.419 into just seeing the need that's around us? 00:26:44.899 --> 00:26:49.139 Maybe for some of us today, the first question isn't how or who to love, 00:26:49.259 --> 00:26:52.699 but how to even see the need around us? 00:26:52.719 --> 00:26:57.239 How to even come into proximity with it and to understand it? 00:26:57.819 --> 00:26:59.459 This is why I love our Care Portal ministry. 00:26:59.460 --> 00:27:03.880 I just opened up a letter from the Care Portal organization this morning 00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:08.140 congratulating us, thanking us for the milestone of having served 10 families 00:27:08.140 --> 00:27:09.940 in this past ministry year. 00:27:10.440 --> 00:27:13.539 10 families that we were able to provide furniture for, 00:27:13.660 --> 00:27:15.299 maybe gift cards to help with groceries, 00:27:15.740 --> 00:27:18.460 help them get a bed, various different kinds of things. 00:27:18.539 --> 00:27:20.000 And I want to say thank you, Christ Church. 00:27:20.120 --> 00:27:23.100 I love Care Portal ministry because me, you know, 00:27:23.180 --> 00:27:25.200 in my middle-class suburban lifestyle, 00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:32.440 I often won't come across certain kinds of needs that are definitely out there. 00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:36.920 And I'm not, I shouldn't just merely depend on Care Portal 00:27:36.920 --> 00:27:39.279 to alert me to the needs in my community, 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:40.799 but this is a start, 00:27:40.980 --> 00:27:43.860 and this is why we encourage this ministry here in our church. 00:27:44.759 --> 00:27:45.700 We need to see. 00:27:46.460 --> 00:27:50.160 What are we doing to see better the needs of our brothers and sisters? 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:52.779 And I know this sounds like even more work, 00:27:53.380 --> 00:27:54.259 because it is. 00:27:54.840 --> 00:27:55.580 It is. 00:27:56.759 --> 00:27:58.759 But my dear children of God, 00:27:59.400 --> 00:28:01.000 we have to do the work. 00:28:01.580 --> 00:28:02.680 We have to do the work. 00:28:03.120 --> 00:28:03.779 All of it. 00:28:04.740 --> 00:28:06.580 Because as it says in verse 18, 00:28:06.920 --> 00:28:08.580 and this is the Andrew Wong translation, 00:28:08.579 --> 00:28:25.019 Yes, this is a high and a heavy, heavy calling. 00:28:25.960 --> 00:28:26.539 But remember, 00:28:27.480 --> 00:28:31.480 it's just a calling to be who we already are in Christ. 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:35.299 It's a calling to be our truest and best selves, 00:28:35.299 --> 00:28:38.079 children of God who have been shown the greatest life, 00:28:38.440 --> 00:28:40.879 light, and love the world's ever seen. 00:28:42.119 --> 00:28:43.480 For if the children of God, 00:28:43.579 --> 00:28:46.079 for whom Christ laid down his life, 00:28:46.859 --> 00:28:49.339 if the children of God who believe in the resurrection 00:28:49.339 --> 00:28:53.440 and have a shared imperishable inheritance with Christ 00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:56.119 of ultimate value that can never be lost, 00:28:56.799 --> 00:29:00.180 if the securest, most beloved children of our Father in heaven 00:29:00.180 --> 00:29:02.700 will not go in the name of Jesus 00:29:02.700 --> 00:29:04.259 and in the power of his Spirit 00:29:04.259 --> 00:29:07.259 to love and serve this world as a life-giving presence, 00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:08.519 laying down our lives, 00:29:08.660 --> 00:29:11.480 which we know are forever safe in the hands of God, 00:29:12.599 --> 00:29:13.319 who else will? 00:29:14.660 --> 00:29:16.039 Who else will? 00:29:16.579 --> 00:29:17.900 Who else can afford to 00:29:17.900 --> 00:29:19.619 but the children of God, 00:29:20.279 --> 00:29:21.680 adopted, redeemed, 00:29:22.119 --> 00:29:24.539 raised, and ascended in Christ? 00:29:25.259 --> 00:29:26.160 We must go. 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:27.740 We must go.