John Gunter: Yes. That's alright. This bucket has given so many memories in just the short time we've used it. I love it every week. Loved it at our last church and it was exciting.
One day at our last church, I was actually up during the week, and I I thought, something's in the bucket. I went and looked, and it was a humongous lizard. I mean, it was the lizard that ate all other lizards. And I I jumped back, and I've got a picture of it somewhere. I won't share it here, the kids will be a little worried about it, but enjoy it.
Well, good morning. I'm so glad you're here. I did not realize that everyone was going with my wife to Arkansas, but we are thankful for those of you who are here, and we understand summer is just starting. I've got a holiday weekend, so thank you for worshiping with us. Started last week, we started on a series called Marks of a True Disciple Living the Character of Christ.
And today, we're gonna talk about being love driven. Love driven being the trait that shows that you are a true disciple. I wanna begin this morning with a true story, and I put the QR code up there if you do do that. Turn your volume down because you may just open up a YouTube advertisement really quickly. But this is a true story, and what you see on the screen in front of you is a is a black man with a clan member, and and you can't really see it, you may even see it better than I can, there's a cross burning in the background.
The man's name is Darryl Davis. He is a professional blues musician, and he spent years intentionally befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan. You imagine that. Including Roger Kelly, an imperial wizard, and Robert White, a grand dragon who had once tried to murder black men and bomb a synagogue. Daryl didn't approach them with anger, but he he approached them with questions and patience.
He was really driven by a question, how can you hate me when you don't even know me? And so that's exactly how he approached him. And actually, he got a his first meeting with one of them, he just asked his secretary, Hey, would you try to set up a meeting with this man and just tell him your boss wants to meet? And so he assumed he was actually meeting with a white man, and so he found out in the meeting he was not. But over time, through real conversations, shared meals, and unexpected respect, those clan member clan members not only became his friends, he would actually go to rallies with them, which is an interesting thing, and he shows within this video, but they eventually left the clan.
One even gave Daryl his clan robe as a symbol of that transformation. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine planning to have a conversation with someone who you know hates you? And again, he was driven by, how can you hate me when you don't even know me? Daryl didn't win them over with arguments or silence, he did it with presence, relationship, and radical love.
And the question we're going go through this lesson with is if that one man's radical love can disarm this kind of hate, can can change the hearts of men who were so set against him, what can be done with a congregation full of people who live like this? If we share that kind of love, this radical love that we see right here. We're gonna begin right here from John 13 and chapter chapter 13 verse 34. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you. You are also you also are to love one another.
So Jesus says, I'm gonna give you this new commandment, and I'm sure for them, and my Jewish friend would say, that is not a new commandment. That's not new. Don't you know anything about the old testament. Right? Leviticus nineteen eighteen, you shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
I am the Lord. And so, when Jesus says that, you might go, well, hold on. But what I wanna point out is this, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you. Jesus is not asking this theoretical thing. Jesus is saying, I am the standard by which you should measure this love.
The way that I love, you go out and love other people. This is not a sentimental love where I just say, I love you. Have you ever told somebody that and you'd be embarrassed to say it now, like you were in a relationship and, oh, I just love them. Then you found out not too long after that, no, I don't. We just had something something wrong in the in the the brain for a second.
This is not a sentimental love like this. This is the kind of love Jesus showed is sacrificial love. He showed love that is consistent, it is inclusive, and it is even cross shaped. And scholars will say, love like this, they'll use a couple of terms that you may or may not have heard. Number one is cruciform.
It is shaped by or in the shape of the cross. So you can see the love that Jesus is talking about by looking at what he did for us on the cross, that is cruciform love. Some people like to use the term Christoform. Well, as you can see on the screen there, that's just in the shape of Jesus, which is it's not an either or, it's just whichever one relate you know, resonates with you more. Do I do I think of it in the terms of just the cross, or do think of it in the terms of the way Jesus lived his life.
Right? And so, the way Jesus lived and loved is is the way we should live. That's what Jesus is asking us to do in John 13. In the way that I have loved you, that's the new commandment. Yes, you're still supposed to love people, but I'm gonna give you an example.
And so as disciples of his, we follow that. The next verse is, by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. So the very the very scripture says, okay, this is proof of our discipleship. If you're existing right now, calling yourself a Christian, but you don't love people in the way that Jesus loved people, guess what? You don't have proof that you're a disciple because love is the proof of your discipleship.
Without love, our faith loses its witness and its credibility. You can walk around saying you're a Christian, you can go and be faithful every time the the doors are open, as we might say, and sit in a pew. But if you don't have love, what is that getting you? Paul says it this way in in first Corinthians 13. He says, if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing. Now, I know a lot of us, if we saw people in our church that did the things that Paul just talked about, we may look at them and say, well, that's a faithful brother or sister. Can you believe how God has blessed them? They blessed John with prophetic powers.
Do you believe that? Right? He is a faithful disciple of Christ. And Paul says, well, you can do all of that, but if you don't have love, you are nothing. You don't have anything.
And I know a lot of church people that our faithfulness, or our view of faithfulness is just simply based on where your rear end is sitting on Sunday morning. Are you in a pew? Are you in a chair? Then you are or are not a faithful disciple, but that's not what scripture teaches. That there are marks of a true disciple, and part of that is how I love other people.
So let's talk about this for just a second, what love looks like. Number one, love is sacrificial. Love costs something, it lays down comfort and control. John fifteen thirteen, greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. And so that kind of love, you can't just say I love you.
That has to be proven, doesn't it? If I'm going to lay my life down for you, I will actually do something for you and lay and give my life. That's how much I care about you. And again, that's what Jesus modeled, was it not? Number two, what love is, it's got to be forgiving.
Forgiving love. Colossians three thirteen, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And so love releases others from debt just as Jesus forgave us. And if Jesus you know all the things that you have done in your life, don't you? If Jesus can forgive you of all of those things, how many little things do we hold against other people?
Right? We should have a love that gets over things, that gets past things, that gets through things together even when we don't agree. But often, it seems like Christians are the most sensitive to those things. Like any kind of slight or perceived slight, then we've got to break up this relationship, and that's nowhere in scripture. Scripture calls you to be, alright, more of this, forgiving, sacrificial.
And number three, or c on the board there, love has to be unconditional. Now, may be the toughest one up there. Unconditional love. Do you know that God loves you unconditionally? Can you love someone else unconditionally?
Luke six verses twenty seven and twenty eight, but I say to you who hear, love your enemies, and this is Jesus speaking here, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. Now, that is difficult to do, isn't it? But sometimes, we can't even get along with people who claim Christ and sit on the pew beside us. How in the world will we ever face someone and love someone who actually may be or may see themselves as our enemy. People who actually hate us.
How can you live a life like that as a disciple of Jesus? We have to love even those who oppose us unconditionally. It's not based on worthiness. If it was, we wouldn't be worthy. Right?
Let's talk about what love is not. Love is not simply kindness, and sometimes I think we frame it in that way that, okay, well, sister so and so, she's here on Sundays. I see her here. She sits on the front row, that's extra points. Right?
Nobody in front of you. You're vulnerable. Alright. Good. And she's also kind, and so we kind of base alright.
There, a very kind Christian woman. Well, kind is great. Right? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, that's a fruit of the spirit, but it is not simply kindness. Right?
How many parents do I have in here? Parents, grandparents, you were raising a kid in some capacity? Tell me if I'm right or not, your child or that person in your life would see you as very kind if you let them do every single thing that they wanted to do. That is very kind, but I will argue that is not loving. Right?
Because in being kind, you are not protecting. You are not guarding them. You are not helping them along the way. Right? So it is not simply kindness, and that's true in in this, you know, perspective as well.
Right? In church, it is not just being kind to one another. Oh, John is such a kind guy. That's great. But am I loving?
In Galatians one ten, again, for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God, or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. K. If all I'm doing out here is just people pleasing, well, that's not what we see in scripture. Right?
Jesus was the most loving person who ever lived. He loved us in a way that sent him to the cross, killed in a brutal way for us, for people who would reject him, people who had sinned against God, but he also confronted people. He confronted hypocrisy, he even flipped tables and told hard truths, didn't he? Well, that's love. Not just being kind, kind is great, and kind is is something we need, but it is not simply kindness because niceness seeks approval of other people, and again, if I'm just trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Love seeks the good of other people, does it not? And b, love is not tolerant of all behavior. We could use the same example. Right? Well, you just keep throwing that fit fit little Johnny, that's great.
I just wanna be kind to you. Right? That is not loving. Proverbs twenty seven six says this, faithful are the wounds of a friend profuse are the kisses of an enemy. Like many Proverbs that may need to sit with us just a second.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend. I mentioned in class this morning, I can take strong, hard truths from a friend, from someone who loves me and cares for me, and you can too. Right? You can think of that person right now that will tell you the truth. You know, you're calling them, hey, am I right or wrong on this?
Because they're gonna tell you. Okay? I can take that because I am in a loving relationship with this person. I can take a hard truth and be changed. Well, the second part of that is profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
Right? People who don't have your best interest at heart may be the kindest people around. You can see that when you're you're training your kids up, and like, hey, we don't want you involved in drugs and alcohol. People who are involved in drugs and alcohol, lot of times, are the most kind people, accepting people that you will ever meet. Come join us, you know, we all feel good together.
Right? Well, is that loving? Profuse are the kisses of an enemy. So just kindness does not mean you are loving, and certainly, we're not gonna be tolerant of all behavior. Love is not conditional or selfish, and Romans five eight, if you've got a bible with you this morning, I think it's one of the most important verses within scripture.
But God shows his love for us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It is not conditional. That verse does not read that for the baptized people, Christ died for you. Right? While you were still sinners, while you had nothing to bring to the table, you haven't responded to God, you haven't created that relationship with him, while you have nothing in your sin, Christ died for you.
So love is not conditional or even selfish. And d, love is not passive. Love is not something where we just sit back and and just watch. Right? First John three eighteen says this, little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.
It's one thing for me to say, oh, I love you. It's another thing for me to speak up, or to serve, or to show in some way that I do care about you. Right? We're trying to encourage people, and we've got some sign up sheets about when people come in, visitors and things like that. We wanna take the time to go eat with you.
Right? We wanna take time to get to know you. If we can do any of that, we want to show you that we care and love. It's one thing to say, and we've got a visitor this morning, we're a great loving church. Well, that doesn't mean anything if they don't experience love within the church.
Right? You can claim it, we can put it on the bulletin, Samuel fixed it up real nice, a lot nicer than I could, and we can plaster that all over the bulletin, but if what people experience in this room is hatred and disrespect, there is no love here. Right? And so, love is not passive. It does not sit back and and wait on anything.
It speaks up and shows up. So why does love matter so much? In first John four, beloved, let us love one another for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. To reflect God's love is to reflect God's very nature.
We talk about being the hands and feet of Jesus. Do you reflect the love that God has shown you to people around? And again, that's unconditional love. That's love for the person who just cut you off in traffic on I 10. I'm sorry.
I know. They're crazy. Shouldn't have done it. You ever notice that the person going slower than you is a moron, and the person going faster than you is a maniac? You ever notice that?
I am the standard by which all people are judged. Right? And that's kind of how we react within the world, but again, we are, we should be reacting with the standard of this is how Jesus lived his life. You remember the bracelets, what would Jesus do? Some of you are old enough, you were born back in the nineteen hundreds.
Right? I see some hands shaking, as my son would say, back in the olden days or the nineteen hundreds. It really is a question of, alright, what would Jesus do? How would Jesus live? But love breaks down barriers and builds bridges.
Love is not quick to flee. Love perseveres. Do you understand that? That if I truly love you, we can go through things together. And we can walk this life together, we can go through hard times and good times, and come out on the other side.
Love has power to disarm hate and rewrite someone's story just like it did in the initial story we talked about in Daryl Davis, and I believe love is the church's most powerful testimony. What I want you to take from this lesson, if you don't take anything else, is this. Love is not a spiritual option. It is not something to be chosen from a buffet, I'll take it or leave it. Love is not a spiritual option, love is the essential.
If you do not love, as we just read, you do not know God, you are not a disciple, you are not showing God's love. It is the essential, it is the foundation. It is the mark of true faith. That's what love is, because God is love. And so loving like Jesus begins in John 15 with receiving his love.
He says it this way, as the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. And so, if you are sitting here this morning as a baptized believer in Christ, you should be abiding and receiving the love of Jesus, but his love is not just to receive, it is also to reflect, to give to other people. That I'm going to live a life that receives that love, and I love doing that, but it's a lot harder to give it away because you don't earn it. Again, we we think of it a lot of times like, I judge myself on my best intentions, but I judge you on what I have assumed are your terrible motivations.
And so we judge more harshly other people when we should look at ourselves and say, while I was in sin, Jesus died for me. That's when he showed me his love. But doing this takes practice, doesn't it? It takes intentionality, it takes a spirit that says, I'm going to put effort into this. Well, guess what?
It's not always easy, is it? I've told you before, and one of my favorite statements to make is I I said for a long time that I can get along with anyone until I worked with a woman, a particular woman, and then I started saying I can get along with anyone who wants to be gotten along with, and that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I know who she is, I'd rather not work with her again. But guess what? Even her, who doesn't seem to be wanting to want anyone to get along with her, I need to show the love of Christ, even when that person's rude, even when that person uses language I don't like, even when that person treats me in a way that is very derogatory, I need to show love.
It's not that I just accept abuse, right? But I need to be able to show love, I need to put this into practice, and guess what? Every single day is an opportunity, isn't it? You may have a particular part of your day, you know you're gonna be tested, but every single day is an opportunity to grow. Love is not silent, it speaks the truth.
Love isn't safe, it risks being wounded. We don't like that, I don't think. Vulnerability. Love doesn't pick and choose, it welcomes and pursues because that's exactly the way Jesus lived his life. That loving people was not gonna mean he lived this wonderful life where he was not attacked.
Right? That he lived a life where he just sat on a throne away from everyone and didn't have to deal with all the crazies out there. No love meant, well, he's going to be wounded in some way. Of course, going to the cross for all of us. And so, is your love shaped by your comfort and only convenience?
I'm a fair weather fisherman. Anybody like that? Like, there are some things in your life I'm a fair weather fisherman, and what that means is I want it to be a nice, calm day. I don't know if there are calm days in Mont Belvieu, Texas, the wind blows constantly. But when I was in Arkansas, I wanted a nice calm day where the boat is not rocking a lot, I know we're going to catch fish, that's when I want to fish.
Well, sometimes we treat love that way, or Christian responsibility that when everything is right, meaning, when that person acts right and I feel like I can give love, then I'll do that. But we are to be light in the world, and that means when it's convenient and when it's not. When the weather's great and when it's stormy outside. And so, today, what you've heard is a story about the love of Jesus. The love of Jesus was bold, it was very costly, it was sacrificial, it was inclusive and even unconditional to people who didn't even want it.
But that is not something for us to sit in the the chair this morning and just say, man, I admire that. It is something that should challenge us to be better people, shouldn't it? And so maybe today you realize that your life hasn't been shaped by that kind of love. Maybe you have been holding back forgiveness. One of the biggest things that splits up churches is I'm not willing or able to forgive someone.
Maybe that's you this morning living with unforgiven things, living with bitterness because of these things, or maybe you've been loving only when it's convenient, or maybe you've never even stepped into a relationship with Jesus at all, and today is the day. So this morning, we're gonna have a song of invitation. If you're sitting here and you know your relationship is not right, you haven't shown the right kind of love towards your fellow man, we say come this morning for prayer. If you haven't begun that relationship with Jesus and would like to meet Jesus and meet him in baptism where the love of God and the grace of God come together, we say come this morning. Don't leave here unchanged by the words of scripture.
Don't leave here unchanged by the example that Jesus set for all of us. Leave here saying, God send me. Give me the opportunities and will you take them this week? Would you come as we stand and as we sing?