Bible Talks - Family Church (9:45am)
Series: Christian Calling · Talk No. 1
Called to Love
Sunday, 10 July 2005
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This morning we are commencing a new series of sermons titled “The Christian Calling.” We will be examining various things to which we as Christians we are called.
- Called to Love
- Called to Holiness
- Called to Service
- Called to Suffering
- Called to Fellowship
- Called to Obedience
- Called to Glory
- Called to Rule
Today we’ll be looking at our calling to love.
Jim Packer in his famous book “Knowing God” starts his chapter on the love of God with this statement, “St John’s twice-repeated statement ‘God is love’ found in 1 John 4: 8 and 16 is one of the most tremendous utterances in the Bible – and also one of the most misunderstood.” He goes on to say that to know God's love is indeed heaven on earth and the New Testament sets forth this knowledge, not as the privilege of a favoured few, but as a normal part of ordinary Christian experience.
As we read the New Testament we realize that knowing this love of God for us is to be reflected; that is we are to love in return. We are commanded by Jesus in John 13:4 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” And then the two great commandments we heard in this morning’s reading ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ And there is yet another command to love that we find in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:44 “Love your enemies”
So the command to love is pretty comprehensive. So what we are called to is:
- To know the love of God
- To love God ourselves
- To love our Christian brothers and sisters
- To love our neighbour as ourselves
- To love our enemies
When you think about it there is virtually no-one that we are not commanded to love. The only omissions I can think of are Satan and his evil spirits.
So firstly we are to know the love of God. “God is love” is not saying the reverse, that is “Love is God” as though the fact that he is loving is the only thing to know about him, but rather “God is love” means that love is one of God’s fundamental characteristics. Love is bound up in everything that God does.
We sometimes find this difficult to comprehend when we read that God is also the God of righteousness, the God of Justice and the God of judgment. When we feel that we’re on the receiving end of God's righteousness and judgment, it is probably helpful for us to recall these words from Hebrews 12, “Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
There are many who want God to be love but not righteous and just and what they end up with is a watered down namby-pamby concept of God that is not the true God at all.
The true God does not shy away from his righteousness and his justice but rather reconciles them with his love in sending Jesus to endure the just demands of his righteousness for the sake of those he loves. God love for us is shown in his grace and mercy towards us.. God has shown love towards creatures who through their sin have become unlovely and to anyone other than our loving God, unlovable.
As the recipients of God's wondrous love we are called to love in response. Firstly to love God. We are to love him “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” That is without reservation. The whole of your being is to be involved in your love of God. And if you stop and think seriously about it for a few moments you will realize that you don’t do it. You don’t do it and I don’t do it. No one loves God like that because that is the nature of our sinfulness. God is not fully enthroned in our hearts, all sorts of other things occupy our allegiance. God is not fully in control of our souls, we still cling to that notion that somehow I can win my salvation by what I can do. God is not the motivation or the recipient of everything we do. We strive and work not just in doing God's will but very much for ourselves, our own gratification. And God is not at the centre of our mind. We do not interpret all reality in the light of God's truth but cling onto other ideas that to us explain what it’s all about.
The wonder of God’s love is that he loves us not because we love him first or even in return, but simply because he loves us.
Next we are called to love our Christian brothers and sisters according to Jesus new commandment. When we think of our church in this community. What are we known for? Our attractive buildings and grounds? Our annual fete? Our welcoming smiling faces on Sundays? Jesus says the thing we should be known for is our love for one another. Look at those Christians at Toongabbie Anglican Church. Look at how much they love one another. They must be Jesus’ disciples. They love each other just like Jesus loves them. The mind boggles at the though of anyone actually thinking like that but Jesus says that’s how all people are to know we are his disciples -- our love for one another.
Have you ever stopped to think about how we should show this love for one another? Being polite to each other. Being concerned for each other. Helping each other. Caring for each other. Supporting each other. Putting up with each other. Remember 1 Corinthians 13 we looked at a while back. “4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
Next we are to love our neighbour as ourselves. This includes our fellow Christians but goes far beyond it. The point of the parable of the Good Samaritan is that the person in the parable who showed neighbourly love was one of those hated Samaritans. In our day age and culture we tend not to have absolutely despised and hated enemies like between the Jews and the Samaritans of Jesus’ time. These days we might get some idea of enmity between the two groups if we made them Jew and Palestinian, Ulster Liberationist and Orangeman, Hutu and Tutsi. It is so easy to hedge around the commandment to love our neighbours as ourselves by limiting who we regard as neighbours. Should we limit it to only people like us. People with the same ethnic background. People who speak the same language, attend the same church, had the same education, have the same religion, wear the same clothes, part their hair on the same side, break the same end off a hard boiled egg. Jesus’ parable shows that our neigbour is not limited by any of these incidental differences but is anyone who crosses our path, be they like us or totally different.
As we widen the circle of those we are called to love we come to our enemies. Those people we feel least affinity to. Those people whose natural inclination is to do something nasty to us. Those who have wronged us. Jesus tells us we are to love them too. From Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
That last statement is the clue to all this loving business “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” We are not perfect. None of us. We cannot of ourselves love God, love each other, love our neighbour, or our enemies because of ourselves we are not and cannot be perfect. Yet we are called to love as our Heavenly Father has loved us. We can only even approach this as we trust in God in the strength of his Spirit to make us more like him, like Christ.
As Jesus was being nailed to the Cross, in that ultimate demonstration of God's love for us, he said of his enemies, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” When Stephen was stoned to death for his witness to Jesus his last prayer was, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” God’s love means that he is concerned for our welfare, no matter what. Our love for others must show that same concern and we will only do that as we trust God.
Let us pray.
