“A Christ-like Love”

Scripture: 1 John 3:11-24

Let’s start with a refresher on what we’ve seen in 1 John so far:
In week 1, we considered the ways that we come to know what God is calling us to, and how the Holy Spirit speaks to us and reveals his ways to us.
In week 2, we saw how the Holy Spirit brings holy light and vision into our lives to dispel the darkness that surrounds us in this world.
Last week, we considered the sinfulness of our lives, and how, in spite of our constant failure in this life, the Spirit continues to lead us ever closer to the heavenly perfection that awaits us.
This week, we consider the infinite love of Almighty God and what it means for our life – both now and for eternity.

Read 1 John 3:11-15

Hatred is synonymous with murder! Have you ever thought of it in that way? And why not? Hatred destroys relationships, and so does murder. Hatred is also a destroyer of our life, not just that of the other person, and murder destroys many lives. Hatred is based in selfish ambition, and murder is almost always grounded in the same. Hatred is usually the final act of a desperate heart, and murder is no less than that.

Consider the story of Cain and Abel. (Genesis 4:1-16) It’s interesting that when Cain and Abel decided to bring their gifts to God, it was by their own volition – God did not ask them to do this, they chose to. But Cain’s gift was incomplete; it was lacking something of great importance. Why? He brought “some” of his crops, while Abel brought the best from his flock. And when God showed his favor to Abel, Cain became jealous of his brother, and the jealousy lead to hatred, and the hatred lead to murder. John tells us that Cain’s actions were evil, and Abel’s were righteous. Why? I think that there are two reasons:
1. God expects that we will give our very best – not because he demands it, but because we should want to.
2. Cain couldn’t accept the fact that he had been caught in a deception, and that God called him on it. I expect that he had hatred for God, but couldn’t figure out a way to get even with the Almighty. And so, his hatred was poured out on the innocent one – the one who he saw as the reason for his humiliation, the very one who had done what was right in the first place.
It wasn’t Abel’s fault that Cain was chastised – the Lord told Cain that sin had been waiting at his door, and that he had given in to its evil. What does that have to do with Abel? Nothing! The love of God had been offered to both of the brothers, but Cain had side stepped it.

God’s love is just waiting for every single one of us, too – that marvelous, Godly love that was revealed to us at Calvary, and how many times have we struggled with what that love means for us, and how to respond to it in a righteous way?

Read 1 John 3:16-20

Real love, true love, is sacrificial. And the disciple tells us that unless we show that same love to others, there is no Christ-like love within us. This is not a love that most people strive for – it’s painful, it’s costly, and it contains little, if any, personal pleasure.

Dostoevsky writes in “The Brothers Karamazov”:
Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams. Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in sight of all. Men will give their lives if only the ordeal does not last long but is soon over, with all looking on and applauding as if on the stage. But active love is labor and fortitude.

--Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (Macmillan, 1922), 55.

“Active love is labor and fortitude”. It’s hard work! And that pretty much describes the love that Jesus showed to us throughout his ministry. And for the most part, we fall far short of living in that same manner. For many, it is a matter of neglect and a lack of caring.
But for some, their greatest fear is that they aren’t doing nearly enough, and guilt enters their life. If this is where you are, know that God knows your heart, and he calls us to love in unique and special ways – in the ways that he has created us to love. God is greater than our hearts, he is greater than our conscience, and he is greater than our guilt.
We should never expect to love in the ways that we think we should love – not in selfish ways, not in slipshod ways, and not in ways we are comfortable in - but rather in the ways that God needs us to love.

Is that God-kind of love easy? Not on your life! To give out of our abundance, whether we see it as abundance or not? To love the very ones who have never showed the slightest amount of love to us? To sacrifice on behalf of those who we don’t even know? To love those who are totally different than we are, those who don’t meet our standards for life, those who we know for certain are dirty, rotten, unworthy sinners? Of course, that includes you and me, doesn’t it?

It is easy to love nice people; the real test of a Christ-like love is to accept and love, as brothers and sisters, those who are grouchy, nit-picky and negative.
- Homiletics Online

Read 1 John 3:21-24

“We have confidence before God .. because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.” And this brings us back to Cain and Abel, doesn’t it. Cain gave a gift to the Lord, but it was by his standard and by his definition. Abel, on the other hand, gave God the very best that he had. Does Almighty God deserve our best or our leftovers? Do our gifts meet the standard that the Lord establishes, or the ones that we decide upon? Do our gifts please our Lord, or do they only please us?
It all comes down to this – that we must know what God would have us do and to who and how he would have us show his love – not our view of what God should want us to do, but his view - and then to have the commitment and fortitude to go and do it.

And how do we know if we’re on the right track? As a general rule, if the world wildly applauds our efforts, then we are probably missing the Lord’s target by a wide margin! And conversely, if they verbally condemn our actions, then we are usually pretty close to the mark. But what does all of this mean for us, for the Church?

In Matthew 10:22, Jesus tells us “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
But in John 7:7, he tells us the “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me.” The implication here is that when others come against us, they are actually showing hatred toward Christ and his word, and not to us. Cain showed his disdain for God by turning against his brother.

Why would the world hate a Christ-like love? For that is exactly what is happening today. Loving as Christ has loved has become passé. John 13:34 – “A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Jesus doesn’t give us much latitude here – love the people of this world to the extreme, but in a Christ-like way! Not as the world loves, but in his example.

“Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing”. Does that quotation make anyone here cringe? No one ever promised that a life in Christ would be easy, but we do have the promise that it will, one day, be glorious!
Love as Christ first loved.
Give as Christ has always given.
Live as Christ lives today.
And the light of the Holy Spirit will shine brightly on all who will experience that Christ-like life and love that is within you.