Showing Our Love

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning, the 6th of August, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  A recording should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

I mentioned two weeks ago that the Apostle John is very concerned with the subject of love.  In our Bible, he is often referred to as the beloved disciple or the disciple beloved of Jesus.  And he returns that love by emphasizing love, both in his Gospel account and in his letters to the early church.

John reminds us constantly of how much God loves us, that He sacrificed His own Son so that we might be washed clean of our sin and gain eternal life in heaven.  And he encourages us to love one another, for this is what Jesus commanded us to do.  John certainly followed Jesus’ command during his life, and he left us a lasting legacy of love through his writings.

This morning, we are going to continue reading John’s 1st letter to the early church, picking up right where we left off the week before our sing-along.  In the first part of the 3rd chapter of this letter, John had been telling us how to know the difference between children of God and children of the devil.  Those who keep on sinning and do not love others do not belong to God.  They belong to Satan and are his.  But those who live in Jesus and refrain from sinning, who love other believers, and who live righteously, these are the children of God.  So it really boils down to love.  True children of God show their love for Him by their love for others.

So let’s not be too surprised if John stays on the topic of love as we finish chapter 3 of his 1st letter, verses 11 through 24, reading today from the Contemporary English Version of our Holy Bible…

11  From the beginning you were told we must love each other. 12  Don't be like Cain, who belonged to the devil and murdered his own brother. Why did he murder him? He did it because his brother was good, and he was evil. 13 My friends, don't be surprised if the people of this world hate you. 14  Our love for each other proves we have gone from death to life. But if you don't love each other, you are still under the power of death.

15 If you hate each other, you are murderers, and we know murderers do not have eternal life. 16 We know what love is because Jesus gave His life for us. This is why we must give our lives for each other. 17 If we have all we need and see one of our own people in need, we must have pity on that person, or else we cannot say we love God. 18 Children, you show love for others by truly helping them, and not merely by talking about it.

19 When we love others, we know we belong to the truth, and we feel at ease in the presence of God. 20 But even if we don't feel at ease, God is greater than our feelings, and He knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if we feel at ease in the presence of God, we will have the courage to come near Him. 22 He will give us whatever we ask, because we obey Him and do what pleases Him. 23  God wants us to have faith in His Son Jesus Christ and to love each other. This is also what Jesus taught us to do. 24 If we obey God's commandments, we will stay one in our hearts with Him, and He will stay one with us. The Spirit He has given us is proof that we are one with Him.

--1 John 3:11-24 (CEV)

Let us pray…  Almighty God, Thank You for saving the writings of the Apostle John for us so we can know just how much You love us.  By John’s words we know that we belong to the truth, we belong to You.  Thank You, Father, for bringing us into Your family.  Sadly, though, Father, sometimes we have trouble loving other people, even other believers.  Some folks just aren’t all that loveable.  Forgive us these times, Father, when we struggle to do as we are commanded.  Please help us be more like Jesus.  Help us love without conditions, as He loved.  Remind us that we bear His name, the name of Your Christ, so it is important that we represent Him in the best possible light.  And please protect us, Father.  Shield us from those who serve Satan and carry out his evil works.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe in the days ahead.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Help us show Your love through our real service, and not just by giving lip service.  Help us stay one in our hearts with You and with Jesus, so that You will stay one with us.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Back in 1962, the following ad appeared in the San Francisco Examiner newspaper: 

"I don't want my husband to die in the gas chamber for a crime he did not commit.  I will therefore offer my services for 10 years as a cook, maid, or housekeeper to any leading attorney who will defend him and bring about his vindication." 

One of San Francisco's greatest attorneys, Vincent Hallinan, read or heard about the ad and contacted Gladys Kidd, who had placed it.  Her husband, Robert Lee Kidd, was about to be tried for the slaying of an elderly antique dealer.  Kidd's fingerprints had been found on a bloodstained ornate sword in the victim's shop.  During the trial, Hallinan proved that the antique dealer had not been killed by the sword, and that Kidd's fingerprints and blood on the sword got there because Kidd had once toyed with it while playfully dueling with a friend when they were both out shopping.  The jury, after 11 hours of deliberation, found Kidd to be not guilty.  Attorney Hallinan refused Gladys Kidd's offer of 10 years' servitude.

You may ask, what has this to do with showing love?  Well… everything.  Mrs. Kidd was willing to subject herself to base servitude because she loved her husband.  Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”  Mrs. Kidd was ready to lay down 10 years of her life to anyone who would help her husband.  Mr. Hallinan must have been impressed with this show of love, for he gave his services free of charge, which is another act of love: love for his fellow man.

Now it’s easy to understand a person loving their spouse enough to sacrifice for them, for we tend to do more, to give more, for the people we love.  But to sacrifice for a complete stranger - to give of ourselves, our time, our resources – that is the kind of love Jesus commands of us.

There’s an old saying: “Give until it hurts.”  Well, I think Jesus would have said, “Give until it hurts, then give some more.”  This is love: giving until it hurts then giving even more.

Now family, I know it must seem to you that I’ve been talking about love and loving others a lot lately.  Maybe you think enough is enough, that I’ve exhausted the subject by now and I’m just repeating myself.  Well, in a way, that’s true – I am repeating myself.  But there’s a very good reason for it.

As I’ve mentioned before, when we read something in our Bible in more than one place, it is because this is something that is important for us to grasp, to understand, to remember.  God is repeating Himself to make sure we get the point.  The more it is repeated, the more important it is for us.

Love – love for God, God’s love for us, love for others – love is a constantly recurring theme in our Bible.  It is our commandment: to love others as we love ourselves, as Jesus loves us.  In my way of thinking, this is the most important thing for us to do, or else it wouldn’t be repeated so much.  And it may just be the hardest thing for us to do.

It’s hard to love the unlovable.  It’s hard to love someone who has done us wrong, who hates us, who wishes us harm.  It’s hard to love those other people who aren’t like us, who don’t think like us, who don’t look like us.

Sometimes it’s even hard to love our own sibling.  John, who is all about love, starts out today’s scripture reading talking about hatred.  And he gives Cain and Abel, the very first siblings, as an example.  There was no love in Cain.  He hated his brother because Abel did good in the eyes of God, while Cain cared more about himself because he was under the control of the devil.  So John warns us that the world will hate us, does hate us, when we do good in God’s eyes.  And it is our love for one another that shows we are doing good, that we are no longer under the power of death.

John also says that hating another person is the same as murdering them, in God’s eyes, just as hatred led Cain to murder Abel.  Jesus Himself warned us of this, in His Sermon on the Mount, when He said that if we hold hatred for one another, we will face judgment for it, just as will a murderer.

But we know that hatred and love are closely entwined.  Sometimes it’s far easier to hate than to love.  Of course, if loving others was easy, anyone could do it, and we know that so seldom happens.  Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if everyone did?  If everyone loved each other as they loved themselves, there’d be no more wars, no more crime, no more killings, no more hunger or homelessness or thirst.  But the world only knows hatred, because the world only knows Satan.

So loving each other is important, to ourselves and to God.  Hating is bad, loving is good.  But there’s a lot more to love than just saying, “I love you”, isn’t there.  I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone say, “So-and-so hardly ever said, ‘I love you’, but he showed it every single day.  I knew I was loved.”

What is love?  How can we show it?  Poets and song-writers have tackled the subject for thousands of years, with varying degrees of success.  I think the Apostle Paul says it best, in the 13th chapter of his 1st letter to the church in Corinth, verse 1 through the first part of verse 8 when he writes…

1 What if I could speak

all languages of humans

and even of angels?

If I did not love others,

I would be nothing more

than a noisy gong

or a clanging cymbal.

2 What if I could prophesy

and understand all mysteries

and all knowledge?

And what if I had faith

that moved mountains?

I would be nothing,

unless I loved others.

3 What if I gave away all

that I owned

and let myself

be burned alive so that 

I could brag?

I would gain nothing,

unless I loved others.

4 Love is patient and kind,

never jealous, boastful,

proud, or 5 rude.

Love isn't selfish

or quick tempered.

It doesn't keep a record

of wrongs that others do.

6 Love rejoices in the truth,

but not in evil.

7 Love is always supportive,

loyal, hopeful,

and trusting.

8 Love never fails!

--1 Corinthians 13:1-8a (CEV)

Love never fails.

The ancient Greek philosophers acknowledged three kinds of love, and they gave a name to each.  There is eros, what we would consider romantic love.  There is philios, from which we get filial love, or love of family and close friends; a warm, affectionate love.  And there is agape, the unconditional, sacrificial love for others that Jesus commands us to do.

This is the love that Paul touts, a love that is patient and kind, just as a parent for their child.  A love that is never jealous, never boastful, never proud, and certainly never rude.  Jealousy is a form of self-centeredness, and being self-centered has no place in love, because love isn’t selfish.

Oh, and love doesn’t keep a list of all the wrongs that others do, but instead, like God, chooses to forget them and forgive.  Love is supportive, encouraging, uplifting.  Love is loyal, faithful, ever hopeful, always trusting.

So yes, family, I am repeating myself.  And as long as our Bible keeps reminding us to love one another, I’ll keep on repeating myself.  For love is important to God, because God is love.  He loves us so much, He sent His Son to save us.  And all He asks is that we love in return.

If we truly believe in Jesus, if we really are following Him, we will love as He loved.  It’s not easy.  It requires constant attention, constant reminders.  But we have God’s own Holy Spirit within us to remind us when we forget, or when our anger or prejudices get the best of us.

Listen to the Holy Spirit, listen to Jesus, and love one another.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the one true Son of God.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for loving us so much that You would have mercy on us and send Your Christ, Your Son, to offer us forgiveness and freedom from our sin.  Thank You for stressing how important love is for us, not only that You love us but that we should also love You and love others just as much as we love ourselves.   And thank You for giving us Your Holy Spirit to keep reminding us to love.  Forgive us those times, please Father, when we find it too difficult to love unconditionally, sacrificially.  Forgive us when we are unwilling to give of ourselves.  Forgive us when we allow hatred to take control.  Please help us be more like Jesus.  Help us see others through His eyes, loving them enough to not want to see them suffer eternal damnation.  And please, Father, shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith and tries to pull us away from You.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You love us so much that You gave up Your mortal life for us, to set us free from our sinful ways, to give us new life in You.  And all You ask is that we love one another and show our love by helping others.  If we truly do love one another, including our enemies and those who would do us harm, then we will try to help make disciples of them, so that they too can be saved from eternal torment and punishment.  Please forgive us when we let hatred and prejudice get in the way of loving.  Forgive us when we don’t listen to the Holy Spirit and let the world lead us astray.  We pray, dear Lord, that You please help us ignore the world and its hatred and cruelty.  Help us be more like You, loving as You love: unconditionally, selflessly, sacrificially.  And Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from the world’s lies and empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.

And Jesus, please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Please heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.