Tony Evans - Practicing Christian Love
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First of all, to love God with all of our heart, mind, might, strength and soul, to love God first. We’ve already seen that week after week. God wants to be in the front of the line of your life. He does not wanna be an afterthought when you’ve tried everything else. First, love the Lord your God. But then he says, «Second, love your neighbor as yourself». And so you and I have been called to participate in this concept of love that we saw last week is to be personal, not esoteric or otherworldly. Beneficial, not simply organizational or merely governmental, but it has to do with your personhood. So I wanna take you today on this next level of what it means to love your neighbor and to love them as yourself.
In 1 John chapter 3, that’s the love letter. 1 John is the love letter in the New Testament. It’s full of this love thing. He says beginning in verse 13, «Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren». First of all, I want you to catch the context of John’s discussion of love. It’s family related.
In fact, you can go back to chapter 3, verse 1. «Now see how great love the Father has bestowed on us that we would be called children of God». So you’ve got Father, children, brothers. That’s family. Galatians 6:10 puts it this way, «As you have opportunity, do good to all men, but especially those who are of the household of faith». In other words, while God wants us to show love as broadly as we can, we are obligated first and foremost to express love within the family of God. What would you think about a father who fed all the neighborhood kids while his kids starved? Not much. You would say he’s shirking his responsibility to his own home.
So when God saved you and me, he said, «I want you to become part of a spiritual family,» the church, and as part of the spiritual family where God’s the Father, we’re the children, and you’ve got brothers and sisters who make up the family, «I want you to have a family to practice love in». Let me put it another way. One of the reasons God wants every child of his to be part of a spiritual family is to attack our natural bent towards selfishness. We are naturally bent towards selfishness. In fact, most of us came here today wanting God to do something for us. And most who came here today wanting God to do something for them, in most cases, I’m sure there are exceptions, probably didn’t ask, «And God, while you’re doing this for me, here’s what I want you to do for somebody else».
We probably came here today mostly focused on, «I need the Word, I need the blessing, I need the help, I need the encouragement, I need the deliverance, I, I, I, I, I». We are built that way. And that’s not wrong to want God to do something for you, but the reason why God wants you to be part of a family is just not only about you. It’s our Father who art in heaven, not my Dad who is in heaven. It’s a family affair. And so what God has done is created an extended family. That’s why when people join a church, they say, «I need a spiritual family,» to practice family, to be reminded, you’re not an only child and God does not want you merely to be a reservoir to receive his blessing, but an aqueduct to also convey it. He wants you to be a tool of dispensing, not merely a container of receiving.
And so, he’s made this second, this love thing horizontally, not just loving me, but how we touch others as critical. When the man asked, «What’s the greatest commandment»? Jesus said, well, «The first is that you love God». And then Jesus said, «But the second is like it». The man never asked about a second. He only asked about a first. But the way Jesus answered is, «We haven’t completed it with just answering the first unless I continue with the second, because the second is like the first. They are hinged together like two hinges on a door. This door won’t swing right unless both hinges are in sync».
And so God has called us into family. «Do good to all men as you have opportunity». We’ll go into that in a moment. But especially if you have to prioritize, you prioritize at the household of faith. Many of God’s children come to church and say, «Feed me. Feed me the word, feed me the truth, feed me the Scripture, feed me. Now, don’t ask me to do anything». So he makes it a family affair. Brother, brother, brother, we’ve seen that. Why is this important? This is what I’m gonna say now, it’s critical, don’t miss this. Please notice what he says in verse 14. «We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him».
What I’m gonna say here is deep. John is not writing to non-Christians, he’s writing to Christians. That’s why he talked about your little children, he says, your brother, okay, family of God, your Father. He’s writing to Christians all the way through the book, it’s clear he’s writing to Christians. But he says to Christians, «Those of my children who do not operate on this principle of love are abiding in death». But he’s talking to Christians. «And they do not have eternal life abiding in them». What does he mean? If I’m saved, don’t I have eternal life? Well, let’s make a few distinctions. He’s not discussing everlasting life, how long you’re gonna live forever in the presence of God. He’s discussing eternal life. Eternal life is not merely a length of time. Eternal life is a quality of existence.
Jesus says in John 17, «This is eternal life, that they will know me and you whom you have sent». So let me define eternal life. What you have now, you have everlasting life, but eternal life is your experience of God. You see, many of God’s children don’t experience the God that they have. God is a distant stranger to them even though they’re in the family. And he says why. He says, «Because if you do not learn and operate on this principle of love,» he says, «You are abiding in darkness». Okay, in 1 John chapter 1, he says, «God is light and in him is no darkness at all». So God does not exist in darkness. In fact, the only definition that the Bible gives of God is light unapproachable, okay.
So, if you think of the sun and what the sun means to the earth, then that’s what God is to his creation. He is light. He dwells in unapproachable light. There is nothing about God that is dark, but the one who does not love, he says, lives in darkness. But since God is light and in him is no darkness at all, the Christian who does not learn the love principle and operate on it is operating in a location where God is not. You’re operating in a place where he does not operate. So if you’re praying, but you’re praying in darkness, you’re praying to somebody who’s not there, experientially there, if you are crying out but you’re crying out lovelessly, you’re crying out in a dark room where God is not operating 'cause God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
So one of the reasons so many of God’s children are not experiencing the reality of the Father is they are operating in a realm where he won’t even visit. For God is light and in him is no darkness at all, but if you do not love, you’re operating in darkness, but since he is not darkness, he won’t go to darkness. You’re operating in a realm he won’t show up in. And he says, «Not only are you operating,» he says, «You’re abiding there». Abiding is where you hang out. Abiding is where you’re loitering. Abiding is where you’re staying. So, many Christians are living in darkness and wonder why they’re not hearing from the light, 'cause in him there is no darkness at all. And he says, «The distinction between light and darkness is a distinction of love, its presence or its absence».
If God is operating in you, love is gonna come out of you. If God is alive in you, love will be coming from you. If God is not alive in you, he calls you a murderer. Now we’ll explain that in a moment. But what he says is that this principle is so deep, it affects whether you are in or out of fellowship with God. So the reality is many Christians are living out of fellowship with God and don’t even know it. You know why? 'Cause you can be in the dark so long you think dark is normal. See, you can be so used to the dark, there’s nothing, there’s no life of God operating. And when you in dark, it’s a bad place to be, to be in the night and think it’s the day. He goes further. What does this love look like? Or in fact, before I even go there, let me just take you to 1 John 4, just right across the page.
Notice what he says, he says in verse 7, «Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, for the one who does not love does not know God, for God is love». He doesn’t say you’re not born of God, he says you don’t know God. He said in other words you’re not experiencing God’s reality. He goes on to say in verse 12, «No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us». So he says, «If you love one another,» as we’re getting ready to explain it to you in a moment, God’s gonna hang out where you hang out, abide, and when he hangs out where you hang out, you’re gonna find love you didn’t even know was located there. Love will be perfected. He’s gonna develop it in you. That’s why a lot of couples are so miserable. They’re so far from God they can’t even love the person they’re living with.
And so he goes on in verse 18. He says, «There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If someone says I love God and hates his brother, he’s a liar. For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen». So he says, «Stop telling me you love God and you hate your sister or you hate your brother». I’m not talking about like. I’m not talking about emotional attachment. I’m talking about a decision of the will to compassionately and righteously seek the well-being of another whether or not you have butterflies in your stomach toward them. That’s why love in the Bible is called a law, 'cause it’s a commandment, not an emotion, or it can be an emotion, but it’s not necessarily an emotion.
Okay, let’s go a little deeper. He breaks it down. Somebody say, «Break it down». All right, thank you. I’ll be glad to. Verse 16, «We know love by this». So love is knowable. Love is not abstract. It’s not up in the pie in the sky. You know, he says, «This is how we know love». This is how we know love. «We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren». He says, «You know love by the laying down of the life». Watch this. He’s gonna explain. Jesus laid down his life for us, died on the cross, demonstrating his love. So we know love by its demonstration, not merely its articulation, okay? We know love by demonstration, and it involves the laying down of the life. Oh wait a minute, then how can I love a whole bunch of people at a whole bunch of different times if I got to die? No, he explains what he means. He says, «But whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him»?
So let’s go back a week to our last week sermon. You remember the Good Samaritan? Three things. He saw a need, he felt the need, and he addressed the need to the extent that he was able. He saw it, he felt it, and he addressed it. That is the action of love. Jesus saw a need, we were sinners. He felt the need, God so loved the world. And so he addressed the need by dying on the cross. He uses the three things, same three things in verse 17. You see your brother in need, okay, and you have this world’s goods, you have a substance or some level of ability to address the need, and then he says, «But you close your heart». Okay, that’s feeling the need. That’s the compassion.
So here are the three things. You see it, you feel it, and you have some capacity to address it. That’s how he defined neighbor in Luke 10 last week, and that’s how he finds meeting the need of your brother here this week. So what he is saying today is that love is an issue of action, not merely an issue of words. Love has to be demonstrated in order to be declared real. And if it is not demonstrated, it’s not what God calls love. It’s some other word, it’s like on steroids. But it’s not love, because he says biblical love is demonstrable, and watch this, it’s demonstrable by sacrifice. You give up something. You give up something. If there is no giving up, if there’s only the request, the demand, but there is no giving up, «For God so loved the world that he gave,» he said, «Now this is love».
So if you wanna know real love, God wants to define it, 'cause God is love, chapter 4, verse 8 says. So this is the definition you are to use of love, and what does it do? Love addresses the need of another. A need you see, a need you feel, and a need on some level you can address, okay? Every need you don’t see and every need you see you don’t necessarily feel, and every need you see that you feel, you can’t necessarily do anything about. But when you see it, feel it, and can address it, and watch what he says, and close your heart. Here’s how you know you and God are not on the same page. 'Cause in order to close something, it has to be opened.
So God, through his Spirit, we’ll see that in a moment, opens up your heart to feel this thing. You see it, and you didn’t just see it, it grabbed you. It got your gizzard. It got inside you. It grabbed you and wouldn’t let you go. But you say, «Oh no, no, no». And you slammed the door, even though you could address some or all of the need. He says, «You just missed God». How does the love of God abide? You just, you didn’t just say no to that need, you said no to God who had your heart open to the need, and you slammed the door. See the mere fact you have to slam the door meant God had your heart open to it or you wouldn’t have had to slam it. He says, «And you closed your heart». That is, you resist it. The Scripture that was quoted earlier, James 1:27, «Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this, to visit the orphans and widows in their distress».
So you’re dealing with a distressful situation. Or James chapter 2, verses 14 to 16, «What use is it my brother, and if someone says he has faith but he has no works, can that faith save him? If a brother or sister,» see it’s family, «is without clothing and is in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warm, be filled, ' and yet you do not give him what is necessary for the body, what use is that»? You don’t give him what is needed and you obviously have the capacity to 'cause he says you have this world’s goods, so there’s a capacity there, and you close your heart when God had your heart opened. He says, «God’s love is not with you 'cause you closed the door on God,» and what you don’t understand, what I don’t want you to miss individually or also miss as a church, when you close your heart to that person or people, God is the one who’s been shut out from you. I’m gonna prove that to you in just a moment.
See, you didn’t just miss the person. You just let God miss you. So a lot of us are operating in the realm of darkness because we talk a good game of loving God, but we keep slamming the door when God wants us to do something as an expression of his love for us through us to others. No, it’s more than talk. That’s why he says in 1 John chapter 3, «Little children,» 'cause it’s a family issue. «Let us not love with word and with tongue, but in deed and truth». Don’t just talk a good game. Let’s walk a good game. Now, now we being a spiritual family. Not just a place to come eat every Sunday morning, but a place who shares food, shares what God brings our way. That’s love. By this you know love. You don’t know love 'cause somebody can say it right. You know love 'cause somebody can do it right. Act, deed, and truth, not just words. Then it comes to the zinger.
See we haven’t hit the zinger yet. You’ve already been zung and we haven’t hit the zinger. The zinger is how he closes out in verses 19 to 24. Let me read it to you. «We will know by this that we are of the truth and will assure our hearts before him in whatever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. And whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. This is the commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he commanded us. The one who keeps his commandments abides in him and he in him, we know by this that he abides in us by the Spirit which he has given us».
Okay, so we got the Father, we have the Son, and now we’ve been introduced to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit operates in the realm of the heart. He operates in the realm of heart. So all through verses 19 to 24, you keep reading the word heart, heart, heart, heart, heart. He operates in the realm of the heart, that centerpiece of the soul, that place where you feel things and experience things most deeply, and that feeds the rest of you. It’s in the heart. It is in the heart he breeds confidence. It is in the heart he demonstrates his reality.
So here’s the deal. Here’s what he’s saying. When you love God first, we’ve already established that, and second, love others, needs you see, needs God, opens up your heart by his Spirit and needs that you have the capacity to address, so you’re responding to God. He says now God will abide with you, and when God abides with you, in other words, you are sensing and experiencing a new level of his presence and operation in your life. And when he, watch this, abides with you because you are operating the way he has prescribed, loving him and then loving others, based on that criteria, when you do that, he says, «Whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandment,» which is believe on Jesus and love others. Oh, do you hear what he just said?
Now you’ll begin to see your prayers answered. «Oh, you mean to tell me my prayers may not be answered because I’m a loveless Christian? I’m asking my Father to do something for me, but my Father can’t ask me to do something for somebody else, but I’m upset with my Father 'cause he hadn’t done it for me yet». In other words, not loving blocks answered prayer. It shuts the Spirit down in your heart. It shuts him down. The Spirit has to back off because he’s operating in a dark world in there. He’s not comfortable in there.
If you want to experience, here’s the bottom line, if you want to experience more of God, he’s got to see first and second. He’s got to see you put him first in your decision making, and he’s got to see that you are a vehicle through whom when those three things come together legitimately, seeing, compassion, and ability and it’s legitimate, a legitimate need, then what you’ve just done is you’ve opened yourself up to move out of the darkness into the light. And into the light is where God does his work. And it is the only place he does his work. And once you retreat back the darkness, he’s over there, you’re over here, your prayers are not getting there. But he says his Spirit is working in the heart, ready to do his thing.
I’m telling you now, with the sermon you heard today, that’s revelation, okay? That’s revelation. You start practicing this, it’s gonna become illumination. And when the Spirit starts moving, he’s gonna give you confirmation. And he’s gonna give you confirmation about the compassion that he’s been working in your heart. My challenge to you today is to not be satisfied with eating a sermon, but experience God by living a sermon, and you live it by love.