The Lord’s Message:  The Gospel Makes the Difference:  Love One Another

The Lord’s Message:  The Gospel Makes the Difference:  Love One Another
Date:  November 10, 2024
Where:  Tilghman Methodist Church
Scripture Reference:  1 John 3:11-24

            Anybody remember the chorus to Tina Turner’s song, “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”  “Oh-oh-oh, what’s love got to do, got to do with it?
What’s love, but a second-hand emotion?
What’s love got to do, got to do with it?
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?”

            When it comes to the Gospel, love has everything to do with it.  It is the reason that God sent Jesus to die on the cross.  It is the reason that Jesus died on the cross for us.  It is the reason that Jesus calls us to love one another. 

            The Bible is God’s love letter to all of us.  It begins in Genesis with God creating the world because of His love.  It continues with the fall of mankind into sin because they rejected God’s love and wanted to be God.  God then redeems us by His Son, Jesus’ death on the cross.  God does this because He loves us even though we have fallen in sin and are enemies of God.  It continues all the way to Revelation where God will create a new heaven and new earth, one that can never be ruined by our sin.  God does all of this because of His love for us.  He wants to have a relationship with us.  Our loving God does not manipulate us like robots, but instead He gives us free will to accept or reject Him.  God’s love is not a feeling, but an action.  God is actively working in this world, even when we cannot see God or recognize God’s action. 

            If God’s love was only a feeling and not an action, this is what the Gospel message would look like.  For God had feelings about the world that he thought about sending his only son to die on a cross for our sins.  Jesus had feelings for the world, and He thought about giving up His life on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.  Is this the kind of love that you want God to have for you?  I do not.  This is the kind of love that Tina Turner is singing about, love is a feeling or an emotion or a thought.  There is no action or commitment in this love that Tina is singing about.  This is not true love, but hollow love or fake love. 

I hope and pray that we want the kind of love expressed in the Gospel Message found in John 3:16-17.  In the Gospel, God is actively at work in world, because of His love.  Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.  God resurrected Jesus from the dead.  After being on this earth, alive for 40 days, Jesus ascended to Heaven and sits on the right hand of the throne of God.  One day, very soon, Jesus is going to return and take all the believers with Him.   That is true love.  That is God’s love for us. 

Last week, we looked at the love of God lavished on us.  This week, we are going to look at how this love changes us and changes our interaction with others around us. 

            Let us pray.

            Please open your Bibles to 1 John 3:11, page 1901.  “This is the message you heard from the beginning.”  The Apostle John is dealing with someone, or a group of people, trying to make people believe in a different gospel than the one that Jesus taught and lived out.  Most likely during this time, there were Christians who would say that Jesus did not bodily die on the cross and the body was never buried in a tomb.  Instead, they said that it was Jesus’ spirit that died on the cross and was buried in a tomb.  I call that fake love.  Not what the Gospel proclaims.  Even today, they are Christians that are saying that Mary was not a virgin.  Jesus was never fully human as well as being fully divine.  Paul warns about his in 1 Timothy 4:1-2.  There are all kind of problems that are created out of this thinking.  If Jesus was not fully human, then Jesus could not give Himself as a perfect sacrifice for us.  If Jesus did not bodily die on the cross and was never buried in a tomb, then we are still burdened by our sins and the grave will be the end of our lives.  The Good News, the Gospel Message is that Jesus out of His love for us, willing gave up His life, so that God could place our sins, past, present, and future on the body of His Son.  His Son became the perfect sacrifice to redeem us from our sins.  The empty grave proves that there is an eternity that all believers in Jesus can have with God. 

            Now, because God has lavished His love on us, He calls us to pass on this love to others.  Look at the end of verse 11, “We should love one another.”  What are the two greatest commandments in the Bible that Jesus taught, Mark 12:30-31? 

            Now, before we define how we should love one another, we must define what love is not.  Love is not hate, envy, jealousy, or murder.  The Apostle John gives as an example of a person in the Bible who embodied all of these feelings and actions.  In verse 12, he says, “do not be like Cain.”  Cain killed his brother Abel for God choosing Abel’s offering over Cain’s.  Cain was the firstborn of Adam and Eve.  Cain’s name in Hebrew means to create or to acquire.  Abel’s name in Hebrew means empty, vain, or transitory.  I am just thinking off the top of my head. I have no basis for this, but maybe since Cain was the first born, he received all the attention and love from his mom and dad, until Abel was born.  After Abel’s birth, then Abel received the attention and love.  Cain became very jealous of his brother.  This led to anger and hatred.  When God accepted Abel’s offering instead of his, that was the last straw and Cain murdered his brother.  This all boils down to the amount of love that Abel was willing to give to God his finest.  Cain simply gave out of his excess.  What are you willing to give up for God?

            John leads us into another truth in verse 13 that the world hates followers of Jesus.   I find it very interesting that people can talk about all kinds of other religions, but if you mention Jesus Christ, that causes people to get upset.  Case in point, last year, CJ Stroud, quarterback for the Texans, lost to the Ravens in the playoffs.  The reporter asks him what his thoughts and feelings were about losing in the playoffs.  Without hesitation, he responded, “I give all praise and glory to God and Jesus Christ my Savior.”  Then he went on to tell how he could have done better, and he would learn to be better prepared when the next time comes.  Later on, when it aired, the sports agency had cut off his praise to God and Jesus Christ his Savior.  In John 15:18-21, Jesus told his disciples that the world would hate them.  Should we expect anything else?

            In verses 14 & 15, John gives us a dire warning.  If we hate our brother, then we are a murderer and will not enter into eternity to be with the God who loves each one of us.  We need to confess any sins of hate that we have and ask forgiveness from God.  Hate, envy, jealousy, and murder is not love.

            So, what is love?  In verse 16, Jesus gives us the example of what love is.  Jesus gives up His life for us.  We should follow His example by giving up our lives for others.  How can I give up my life for another?  John gives us an example in verse 17.  Give up our possessions to help another.  In James 2:14-18, James tells us that if we see a brother or sister in trouble and do not help them, what good is our faith.  Do you know that most of the hospitals and schools in this country and around the world were started by Christians?  Putting love into action.  Most of the soup kitchens and food pantries were started by Christians.  Not to mention the many missionaries that have given their lives so that others may know the love of God.  This all starts with living out our faith in love as it says in verse 18. 

            Faith and love are bound together as a single package.  You cannot have love without faith, and you cannot have faith without love.  Ronald Cole-Turner says, “Faith in Jesus Christ is faith that transforms the believing heart, making it a self-sacrificed heart.  Faith and love together are the gifts of single grace-they are God’s doing.  We can not receive one without the other.”

            God has given us all a device for us to know if we are truly faithfully loving one another.  That is the heart.  The Apostle John says in verses 19-22 we will know that we are truly loving one another, when our hearts do not condemn us.  When your heart says that you must go to see this person, go, and see them.  When your heart says that you must call this person.   Call them.  When your heart says that you must invite them to church.  Invite them.  Whatever your heart is telling you, just do it. 

            In verses 23 & 24, we do this not to receive the praise, but we have received the Good News.  Jesus lives in us by the Holy Spirit and move us to faithful acts of love. 

            Do you want the love that Tina Turner sang about?  No!  Do you want the love that God has for each one of us that moves us to faithful acts of love.  Yes!

            “What’s love got to do with it?” When it is the love that God has for us, everything.   Every day is an opportunity for followers of Jesus to show our love of God through our actions to one another.  The Gospel makes the difference:  Let us love one another.  That is how we will grow together in faith.  Amen.