October 5, 2025 • 37 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:05):
My name is Charlotte Thomas.
I am in sixth grade and I go toVenetian Middle School.
I'm going to be reading 1 Johnchapter 4, verses 7 through 21.
Beloved, let us one another, forlove is from God, and whoever
loves has been born of God andknows God.
Anyone who does not love doesnot know God because God is
(00:26):
love.
In this the love of God was mademanifest among us that God sent
his only son into the world sothat we might live through him.
In this love, not that we haveloved God, but that he loved us
and sent his son to be thepropagation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, wealso ought to love one another.
(00:51):
No one has ever seen God.
If we love one another, Godabides in us and his love is
perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide inhim and he in us, because he has
given us of his spirit.
And we have seen and testifiedthat the Father has sent his son
to be the Savior of the world.
(01:11):
Whoever confesses that Jesus isthe Son of God, God abides in
him and he in God.
So now so we have come to knowand believe the love that God
has for us.
God is love, and whoever abidesin love abides in God, and
whoever God abides in him bythis is the day of judgment
(01:32):
because he is also because as heis, so also are we in this world
has to do are we in this world?
This there is no fear in love,but perfect love casts out fear,
for fear has to do withpunishment, and whoever fears
(01:54):
has not been perfected in love.
We love because he first lovedus.
If anyone says, I love God andhates their brother, he is a
liar.
For he who does not love hisbrother, whom he has not seen
God, and this commandment wehave from him: whoever loves God
(02:15):
must also love his brother.
This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00 (02:25):
She just knocked out 14 verses.
Uh, for those of you who haven'tbeen here um before, um, what
we're doing is we're going verseby verse, we're teaching through
the Bible.
Specifically, right now, we'vebeen going through these three
letters in the back of the NewTestament called first, second,
and third John.
John actually wrote a big book,we'll call it the Gospels
earlier um in the New Testament,but that's where we're hanging
(02:46):
out.
I'm gonna wrap up chapter fourtoday.
Um, Charlotte just did a greatjob.
So that was awesome.
See you guys next week.
Um, but before I jump in um tothat, just a quick reminder
announcement.
This coming Saturday, we got areally big event.
Some of you guys may even got amailer from it in the mail.
Um, we're asking everyone toplay, like it's an all-skate.
(03:06):
For those of you who rememberthe skating rink days, this is
like an everyone participate.
So it's called like fall familyflannel festival, something like
that.
But you can put them in anyorder, they all work.
It's a family festival, it's afall flannel thing.
But what we're doing is we'recoming together for a couple
hours this next Saturday, andwe're gonna represent this place
in this community, and we'regonna show the love of Christ.
(03:28):
But it's a good first, like easyentry because maybe you've come
here and then it's easier tohave a conversation about coming
to uh to Christmas because yousaw where the bathrooms are at,
you saw where to park, you sawthat the walls didn't fall down,
all of that good stuff.
There's great weather.
But here's where we also needyou to skate.
We would love your help.
Um, we have some QR codes out inthe lobby.
Um, whether it's like helpingpeople park, whether it's like
(03:50):
making sure people find theirway out of the giant hay maze.
If you've seen hay out there,we're building a big maze for
you get lost in.
It's gonna be awesome.
We'll have races.
I don't know.
Uh, there's pumpkin catapults,there's like bounce houses,
there's face painting.
I'm a face painter this year,and this is what it's just my
hand.
It's just my right there.
I was like all day, I got thison people's faces.
Let's go.
(04:11):
That's not actually true.
Anyways, if you're better thanthat, we need you.
So uh this next weekend, don'tjust come.
You can invite someone, but alsocome and um work it.
Just represent this place andshow it off and love the
community in this next season.
So let's hop in.
Let me start with a questionthat I think is bigger than it
(04:32):
looks, honestly.
It's this how do you know lovewhen you see it?
Like, not the like I sent you aheart emoji kind of love, or
like the we share a Spotifyaccount or networks password
kind of love.
Or I got this one for you.
Brad, you're gonna love this.
Like the socks that you can wearthat hold hands, right?
(04:54):
Hold on.
That's for you, buddy.
Yeah, Amazon just made money.
Not that kind of quit looking atmy feet.
You guys are like, what'shappening?
I mean the kind of love thatactually like carries weight.
Um, our our world runs like anon-stop seminar on love.
(05:14):
Uh, your feeds dish out hottakes, uh, your group chats,
they all have opinions, yourfavorite shows give you case
studies every single week.
And we're still left askingconstantly, okay, but like what
is it?
And how do I get to the realthing?
And John, as we've been readingthrough the last living apostle,
(05:35):
answers with clarity that slicesthrough every trend.
He says, This, beloved, let uslove one another, for love is
from God because here's right,this is the big one.
God is love, not love is God,like some mystical thing we
worship.
No, no, no.
God is love, meaning love has aname, it has a character, it has
(05:56):
a crucified risen face attachedto it.
And John doesn't keep it justtheoretical here.
He grounds love in history, justjumping right to verse 9 and 10.
He says, In this the love of Godwas made manifest among us, that
God sent his son, his only son,into the world, so that we might
live through him.
(06:16):
He loved us and sent his son tobe the propitiation of our sins.
Now, some of you guys are like,propitiation sounds like a
scramble power move.
It's not, by the way, but it isa 10-point move if you get a
triple letter score for thosenerds in the room.
But propitiation, it simplymeans this that Jesus stepped
into the courtroom where you andI stood guilty, absorbed the
(06:39):
sentence that you and Ideserved, and then paid the debt
which we couldn't touch.
And if love never costs youanything, it probably isn't
love, friends.
It's just branding.
And God's love isn't just thisvibe, it's a verdict that He's
letting us know that it'sdeclared over you because of the
cross.
And John says, if that is thekind of love that you and I have
(07:02):
received, then that's the kindthat we're actually called to
live into.
Let me frame the journey thatwe're on today.
If you're one of my youngerfriends in the room today,
chances are you're navigatingidentity stuff at a high speed.
Uh, whether it's new cities, newroommates, new majors, new
bosses, relationship statuseswith punctuation you didn't even
(07:24):
know existed, right?
And in the chaos, it's easy tomistake reactive feelings for
love and also strategic nicenessfor love.
And John here won't let us dothat.
He actually gives us adefinition, a diagnostic, and
then a direction.
The definition is the crossshows you what love is
(07:46):
ultimately.
The diagnostic is your love forpeople is actual evidence that
you actually know God.
And the direction is movingtoward others, the way God moved
towards you first, sacrificiallyfor their good.
You could sum up this wholepassage like this today.
(08:10):
Loved by God, we love like God.
So, first, verse seven, Johnlooks us straight in the eyes,
and this is what he says.
Beloved, let us love oneanother.
Now notice right off the bat,notice the order of this.
He calls you beloved before hecalls you to love, identity,
(08:32):
your beloved comes before thenyour activity of loving.
That you aren't just sent tothis like relational gym to
grind out love so God will thennotice you.
God, no, because he alreadyloves you, then he sends you to
the gym so you can let this loveflow through you.
And if love is from God, thenwhen you love, you're not just
(08:55):
being a good person.
What you're doing is you'reactually demonstrating the
family resemblance.
John says, beloved, let us loveone another.
And whoever loves, they've beenborn of God and God and knows
God.
Essentially, what this is sayingis that love that's born from
God, think of it like the 23 inme of faith, right?
(09:16):
Instead, you swab the heartinstead of the cheek.
Because here's the deal you canhave knowledge about God, but
you can't fake a life steadilyshaped by cross-shaped love.
A quick reality check.
A lot of us in here maybe grewup hearing like, God is love.
But that was kind of in a waythat meant like God approves of
(09:37):
whatever I currently feel.
And that sounds comfy, buthonestly, it's upside down.
If love is God, then love getsdefined by trending feelings and
popular opinion, and that'sdangerous.
But John says, no, no, no, Godis love.
So therefore, love is defined byGod's holy, self-giving
(10:00):
character.
And that means some of what wecall love today, frankly, isn't
love.
I mean, think about somecircumstances.
Are you ghosting somebody toavoid an awkward, honest
conversation?
That's not love.
Are you flirting to harvest thetension that you actually never
intend to commit to?
(10:21):
That's not love.
Are you dragging somebody inyour group chat uh so you can
score points with the squad?
That's not love.
And John could have written tous, I think, thou shalt not
subtweet.
That is not love.
Real love is more than kindness,it's cruciform, shaped like a
cross.
Uh, let me give you a story realquick that might sound
(10:43):
uncomfortably familiar.
Uh, I have a friend who did likea full identity change, like a
reboot online.
New aesthetic, new handle, newhot ticks, like all this stuff.
And on the timeline, it feltlike he was bold and funny and
you know, free.
But in real life, he was lonely,brittle, and he was actually
terrified of being seen becausebeing truly known meant someone
(11:07):
might bump up into the partsthat he couldn't filter.
So he built a brand of love thatreally was applause.
And then when people agreed withhim, you know, he called that
support.
And when they didn't agree withhim, he called that hate.
Basically, his love language atthis time was like likes and
retreats.
And the cross says, love isn'tthe applause that you win, it's
(11:31):
actually the price that you andI pay.
That God didn't send a statementto us, he sent his son.
God didn't double tap your post,he carried your cross.
And that's why John says inverse 10, and this is love.
Not that we have loved God, butthat he loved us.
(11:52):
Notice that the subject here inthis verse is God.
The verb in this verse is loved,and the object is who?
Us.
Even while we were still a mess.
You weren't a consumer choosinga product, you were spiritually
dead, and get this love himselfactually came for you.
(12:13):
And so, if that's true, thenthis sentence, we also ought to
love one another, is not guilt.
Frankly, it's gravity.
It's the most natural thing inthe world for forgiven people to
become forgiving people.
John says something breathtakingnext.
(12:35):
No one has ever seen God.
If we love one another, though,God abides in us and his love is
made perfect in us.
Here's really what this meansthe invisible God becomes
visible through the visible loveof his people.
Let me say that again.
The invisible God becomesvisible through the visible love
(12:59):
of his people.
Students, your campuses can'tsee the Trinity.
But they can see how you wererefusing to gossip about
someone.
Your coworkers can see you givecredit a way that you could have
hoarded.
Your roommates can see that youdo dishes and you didn't use the
(13:21):
hard conversation against themthat you didn't want to have.
Yes, even the one of who keepsall the hair in the sink, that
gross one that talk, right?
Friends, the God no one can seebecomes seeable when the church
loves like Jesus.
Now, let me just pause for asecond.
Who's the church?
(13:42):
Hello.
Welcome to church.
It's you and I.
It's you and I.
Frankly, that's why we're doingwhat we're doing this next
Saturday.
And that's why we're saying weneed you.
We need you to partner up.
We need you to wear your weirdsocks and hold hands and do this
together.
Because the God no one can seebecomes seeable, becomes seeable
(14:06):
when you love like Jesus.
You're not just talking aboutGod.
We have this big word out there.
What you're doing is you'rerepresenting him when you love.
Let's talk about power for asecond.
He says this in verse 13.
By this we know that we abide inhim and he in us, because he has
given us of his spirit.
(14:28):
Now it's really important tounderstand the spirit is not
this vague, you know, uhspiritual caffeine shot.
It's this personal presence ofGod, making the power, making
the love of God real in yourbones and then practical in our
behavior as this evidence.
The spirit is the one who,frankly, it's the one that
nudges you when you're about tosend that really petty text.
(14:50):
Y'all know what I'm talkingabout right now?
He's the one who opens yourmouth to confess that Jesus is
the Son of God when you'd rathertalk about literally anything
else.
When someone's like, You dochurch, you Jesus person?
Right?
He's the one who whispers toyou, don't quit on them when
your patience is literallyrunning on fumes.
Uh, to help some of you with theidea of the Trinity, because I
(15:12):
know it sounds like this foreignlanguage, I want you to maybe
think of it like this.
The Trinity is made up of theFather, the Son, and the Spirit.
So the Father sent the Son.
This is mission.
The Son saved, this is atonementor covering for Uranized sins.
And the Spirit assures it's thisindwelling that we actually have
in us.
Love in you.
Literally, the a Trinitarianelectricity.
(15:36):
And so, if that's the case,here's what this means for
confidence.
John says, by this is loveperfected with us, so that we
may have confidence for the dayof judgment.
So, what does he do?
Whoa, what are you talking abouthere?
Well, he's talking about afuture appointment that frankly
none of us can reschedule.
Standing before God.
It's gonna happen, right?
(15:57):
And most of us probably relateto that day, like we would
relate a week, you know, gettingready for a finals or some big
project to do date thing.
And then what do we do the nightbefore?
We panic, right?
We're like, oh my gosh, I wasn'tready for this.
And John says here, maturedlove, God's love, having its
full effect in you, actuallyevicts panic.
(16:17):
Why?
Because this is how love isperfected, right?
You have been united withChrist, which means you share
his status.
And that means that the judge isalso the one who bled for you.
And when you see love that deep,the punishment fear begins to
(16:40):
lose its grip.
Says there is no fear.
There is no fear in love, butperfect love casts out fear,
which means God is basically theworld's best addiction notice.
And fear has to do, frankly,with punishment for most of us.
John says that whoever has fearhas not been perfected in love
(17:03):
here.
Here, he's not saying that youcan't have like adrenaline and
nerves and things that takeplace.
What he's saying is if your viewof God is of this like cosmic
probation officer just waitingto bust you, then you haven't
stared at the cross long enough.
You haven't actually acceptedwhat that even means.
And the one who took yourpunishment is the one who now
(17:24):
holds you.
That kind of security doesn'tmake you reckless.
What it does is it actuallymakes you fearless and fearless
enough to actually love.
Okay, let's bring us down to thefloor where we actually live
right now.
John ends with this kind of likegut level test.
Says, we love because he firstloved us.
(17:46):
And if anyone says, I love God,but hates his brother, he is a
liar.
Now we've heard this a lot fromJohn.
These are strong words because alot of us are going, geez, I
might have done some of that,right?
And John's not being crankyhere, some old guy.
He's being kind, actually.
He's refusing you and I to likelive in this contradiction where
(18:10):
we sing vertical love songs onSunday, and then we practice
hostile, hostile, horizontalhostility on Monday and
Wednesday, right?
Uh verse 20 says, Whoever doesnot love their brother, whom
they have seen, cannot love God,who they have not seen.
And if that stings, this week itdid for me a little bit.
(18:31):
I say good, right?
Why?
Because a wound is where much ofthe healing can actually get in.
And God loves you too much tolet you protect resentment in
his name.
Just uh to show you a couplecase studies, you know, with
this example.
So, first, like the roommatestandoff, those of you guys
(18:53):
who've experienced that.
You know the one is like fourdays of passive aggressive
clanging in the kitchen and amount effort of laundry in
places around the shared spacesor those weird Vimmo requests
for a dollar and eighty-threecents.
And you're like, who even doesthat?
$1.83?
Like you're just not in a goodplace, right?
What does love do?
It moves first, right?
If God loved us, we also oughtto love one another.
(19:15):
Now, does moving first meanbeing a doormat?
No.
It means that you start with aconfession, not an accusation.
Like maybe, like, hey, I've beenreally petty.
I've been keeping a mentalspreadsheet and a physical one
of every dish you didn't wash,and that's not fair or loving.
(19:36):
Can we reset?
The spirit empowers you withthat kind of grown-up courage.
Uh, another case study for you,the relationship DTR.
For those of you who don't knowa DTR, it stands for define the
relationship, right?
The relational DTR that neverquite happens.
What does that mean?
(19:56):
Like, have you ever been there,you're stuck in a situationship,
right?
Because clarity actually costs,and ambiguity feels cheaper.
And in love is not the thrill offlirting without commitment.
What love is, is it's actuallyseeking the good of another,
even if it costs you the comfortof the undefined.
(20:18):
So love says, hey, we need totalk.
I care about you as a person,not just a vibe.
If we continue, I want to bewith you with clarity and honor.
And if we can't, I want torelease you well.
And that for so many of us feelsreally risky.
Because love, perfect lovethough, casts out fear that
(20:40):
keeps us from using people aslike emotional snack bars.
Because JFK, nobody wants to beor deserves to be your 1 a.m.
DoorDash craving.
Case study number three.
This is a whopper.
Church conflict.
Oh, yeah, we're gonna go there.
You ready, church?
Somebody said something, right?
(21:02):
Then somebody else repostedsomething, and now your whole
small group has a fracture linerunning through it.
Now remember the logic of John.
The invisible God becomesvisible when believers do what?
Love one another.
What that means, friends, is howwe handle conflict is actually
(21:22):
part of our worship.
Love means that we actuallyrefuse to assassinate each
other's character in privatewhile smiling in public, right?
It means we actually go to theperson and not about the person.
It means we seek to understandbefore we seek to be understood.
(21:43):
Verse 12, if we love oneanother, God abides in us and
his love is perfected in us.
And what happens really is thespirit turns conflict into a
classroom where we begin tolearn and understand the
language of grace.
So now what about boundaries inall of this?
That's fair.
(22:04):
Maybe uh in your currentclimate, it's time for a peak
boundary talk.
And sometimes that's a way ofhealing, honestly, and sometimes
that's a way of hiding.
Well, why?
Well, because love withoutboundaries is enablement, and
boundaries without love isavoidance.
And honestly, Jesus shows usboth.
He says, Come to me, all who areweary, and then he also
(22:28):
disappears to pray.
So maybe you need to say no tosomeone's manipulation while
saying yes to praying for theirgood.
And here's the beautiful part isthe cross frees you from people
pleasing and frees you forpeople serving.
One flows from fear, and theother flows from love.
(22:53):
Uh, real quick, back to myfriend who reinvented himself
online.
He told me later um that hedidn't actually want love.
Uh, he wanted admiration, andand and he wanted that without
intimacy.
Where I was like, oh, right?
Really, what he wanted wasfollowers, not friends.
And you and I can understandthat real love actually requires
(23:16):
presence.
John's favorite word aboutpresence was actually this word
called abide.
We've we've read it a ton: abide, to remain, to dwell, to (23:21):
undefined
make room, to make that kind ofyour home.
That's why it's so importantthat we can't just microwave
this, that love grows in theslow cooker of actually abiding,
where you learn the voice of thespirit, not by speed running
through your differentdevotionals, but staying,
(23:42):
actually sitting there longenough to actually listen and to
receive.
Abiding forms you into the kindof person for whom love is
increasingly the defaultsetting, not the occasional
upgrade.
And there's actually missionhere too.
So we have seen and we testifythat the Father has sent his son
to be the savior of the world,that love's not just an
(24:06):
introvert's escape or anextrovert's party trick, it's
actually our witness.
It's our martyrdom.
The world's starving for lovethat doesn't, that doesn't
collapse when it's put underpressure.
And if all we offer, honestly,is just a slightly nicer version
of the same transaction thateveryone is already playing,
(24:30):
like I'll like you if you feedmy brand, we're useless.
But if we offer a cruciform,spirit empowered, enemy
forgiving, neighbor serving,truth telling love, that gets
(24:51):
attention.
Now it might feel really weird,but it's different.
Oh man, is it holy?
And it's the one apologeticJesus promised would work.
He said, by this all people willknow that you're my disciples.
If you actually have love forone another, let's work on some
(25:14):
practices that will pull thisout of the clouds and just
something we can do this week.
Practice one.
Move first.
Take a deep breath because I'mgonna give you some examples.
Think of one strainedrelationship and take the first
step.
Not with a sermon, but with asentence.
(25:35):
Like, can we talk?
I want to own my part.
Practice too.
Make love visible, make itseeable.
Like put 20 bucks in your nextpaycheck towards uh someone
else's need, or go find someoneto babysit for free, or that
couple that's in your group thathasn't had a date night for
eight months, right?
(25:56):
Or here's a really easy one forthose of you who work.
Leave your noise cancelingheadphones in your bag while you
invite some lonely coworker tolunch and actually have a
conversation, right?
Practice three.
Here you go, buckle up.
Pray for some of yourhard-to-love person by name for
seven days.
Ooh, I'm gonna tell you rightnow, you're gonna be a different
(26:19):
person after day five for reels.
And you're gonna might maybeactually like it.
And here, do this one.
Pray for something specific andgood to happen to them.
Not just like make them a betterperson, Lord, right?
Don't take that out.
No, no, no.
Pray for something specific andgood to happen to them.
And don't tell me that prayingfor them to be a good person is
(26:40):
specific and good.
Some of you guys are arguingwith right now.
You're like, that actually isreally specific and would be
good, right?
Practice more.
We'll move on.
Confess Christ openly inordinary conversations.
And it just some of this is likeput you in panic mode, right?
You don't have to force it.
Can I you can just say thisseriously?
Honestly, following Jesus hashelped me not live from fear
(27:00):
like I used to.
It's just part of yourtestimony.
What is your thing?
Just share it out.
Let me speak to fear againbecause this it's sneaky and it
actually is wrapped up in a lotof this.
Some of us are not unloving.
We're just afraid, right?
There's a ton of fear packedinto that, right?
We're afraid of being rejected.
We're afraid of being boringlike Lamer, right?
(27:21):
We're afraid to be vulnerable orto look weak.
We're afraid to set a boundary.
We're afraid to keep one, right?
The gospel doesn't shame yourfear, it invites you into the
light where love can do itseviction work.
Perfect love doesn't mean thatyour hands don't shake, right?
What it means is that your handskeep moving forward while they
(27:45):
shake.
And if punishment fear is thesoundtrack that keeps playing in
your head, keeping you fromdoing this, like God's
disappointed, God feels sodistanced, God's got to be done
with me.
Let the cross, remember that?
Linger over the cross, let thecross turn the volume down and
hear the louder song.
(28:08):
Paul reminds us in Romans 8,verse 1.
This one might be just one youneed to write down.
There is now no condemnation forthose who are in Christ Jesus.
Now, here's some wildlypractical things for your
judgment day confidence thatJohn is talking about as he's
wrapping up chapter four.
(28:28):
Imagine your future standing,not collapsing, smiling, not
sweating, because you're inChrist.
Now take that moment and try toreverse engineer that whole
thing, the rest of your weekfrom that moment.
That if that is truly your end,where you're gonna sit in
confidence, how then, feelingthat way, would you treat the
(28:52):
hardest person in your lifetoday?
What text would you send?
Who would that person become?
What apology would you make?
What bitterness would you nowfinally just put to the curb?
And I think you'll find it'sactually amazing how future
assurance actually creates a lotof present courage in your life.
(29:14):
And when the end of the story issecure, you have the bandwidth
to love in the messy middle.
Let's talk about honesty when itcomes to the messy middle just
for a second.
Love without truth issentimentality, but truth
without love is brutality.
(29:37):
You need to be careful.
But John holds both of thesetogether by rooting them in God.
If God is love, then speakingtruth is part of love because
truth tells the reality as Godsees it.
Not as you see it, as God seesit.
So, yes, the loving thing mightto be have that.
(30:00):
Little hard conversation with afriend about the
self-destructive choices thatthey're making.
But the cross shapes how you doit.
Not as a prosecutor trying towin, but as a brother or a
sister trying to rescue.
Remember, we ought to lovebecause we've been loved first.
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You aren't coming from thismoral, you know, superiority.
You're coming from mercy becauseyou've experienced it.
And some of you, maybe you hearall of this and you think, I
have failed to love in so manyways.
Well, welcome.
My name's Lawrence, and I'm inrecovery too.
(30:47):
Join the club.
And the good news is that thewhole passage starts with this.
Do you remember?
Beloved.
That's your starting line.
It doesn't start with performer.
The love John commands is thelove that Jesus supplies.
And you can't pour out, friends,what you haven't already
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received yourself.
You can't display what youhaven't beheld first.
So the action step before allother action steps is this.
Do you remember?
Abide.
Just abide.
Just wait and sit in thepresence of the one who loved
you first and loves you still.
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Maybe a good way for abidingthis week is just to sit in the
gospels slowly, which again, thegospels is the good news, is
what it stands for.
The life of Christ.
You can find those in Matthew,Mark, Luke, and John.
Those are the first four booksin the New Testament.
Or maybe abiding is justlingering over the cross.
Like, what does this actuallymean?
What does this thing actuallymean?
And let the spirit preach toyour condemnation addiction.
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He loved you before youimproved.
He isn't surprised.
And get this, he's not movingout.
And then John's test slicesthrough.
If you cannot love a brother ora sister in front of you, then
you can't claim you love theunseen God.
And that's not him being mean.
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That's just scripture beingmerciful.
And honestly, I get this.
Some of you carry church hurtbecause it's made full of
people.
You're sitting all around them.
Or you've seen leaders who uselove to control, or you've
watched Christians devour oneanother online in the name of
truth.
(32:38):
Hear me kindly and gently say,those are violations of 1 John
4, not examples of it.
God is not asking you to pretendharm didn't happen in your life.
What he's doing is he's invitingyou to bring harm over to the
cross where justice and mercyactually meet.
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And then, and I think only thendo you have the power to forgive
without minimizing, or to setboundaries without bitterness,
or to actually begin to re-enterto community without wearing
armor 24-7.
And I'll tell you this from myown experience the spirit is a
(33:18):
better healer than time.
So what do we do now?
Real fast, three closing moves.
First, receive.
Just receive it.
Before you hustle to fixanything, just sit long enough
to let the spirit say, beloved,beloved.
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And for those of you who are whohave never trusted Jesus, this
is your moment.
Your moment to say, Jesus, I'mdone pretending.
I'm ready to receive your love,your cross, your life.
The second thing is to repent.
This is a tough one.
(34:03):
Actually, ask the Spirit to puthis finger on where your love
has been counterfeit, cowardly,and conditional.
And then here's the best part: confess it. (34:12):
undefined
The blood of Jesus doesn't justforgive guilt, it actually
detoxes your shame.
And then third, finally,re-engage.
Pick one person and move towardsthis week with cross-shaped
(34:32):
love.
Not because they deserve it, butbecause you've actually been
loved like that.
Loved by God.
We love like God.
And then the world finally seeswhat it's been scrolling for all
along.
I want to pray words over youthe way John would with a
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pastoral heart.
If you would join me and bowyour heads.
Father, thank you.
Thank you that love began withyou and not actually us.
Thank you for sending the Son,not a memo.
Thank you for pouring out theSpirit, not leaving us just to
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muscle this out ourselves.
And for every place that fearsits heavy, would you allow
perfect love to cast it out?
For every relationship knottedwith bitterness, give the
courage to us this week to movefirst.
And for every heart exhausted bypretending, would you give the
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freedom of being the beloved?
Make us into the people whoseeveryday lives make the
invisible God visible.
And we ask this in the power ofJesus Christ's name.
You stay with me?
Amen.
(36:01):
Amen.
Well, this morning you guys aregoing to have a chance to
respond.
My name is Charlotte Thomas.
I am in sixth grade and I go toVenetian Middle School.
I'm going to be reading 1 Johnchapter 4, verses 7 through 21.
Beloved, let us one another, forlove is from God, and whoever
loves has been born of God andknows God.
Anyone who does not love doesnot know God because God is
(00:26):
love.
In this the love of God was mademanifest among us that God sent
his only son into the world sothat we might live through him.
In this love, not that we haveloved God, but that he loved us
and sent his son to be thepropagation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, wealso ought to love one another.
(00:51):
No one has ever seen God.
If we love one another, Godabides in us and his love is
perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide inhim and he in us, because he has
given us of his spirit.
And we have seen and testifiedthat the Father has sent his son
to be the Savior of the world.
(01:11):
Whoever confesses that Jesus isthe Son of God, God abides in
him and he in God.
So now so we have come to knowand believe the love that God
has for us.
God is love, and whoever abidesin love abides in God, and
whoever God abides in him bythis is the day of judgment
(01:32):
because he is also because as heis, so also are we in this world
has to do are we in this world?
This there is no fear in love,but perfect love casts out fear,
for fear has to do withpunishment, and whoever fears
(01:54):
has not been perfected in love.
We love because he first lovedus.
If anyone says, I love God andhates their brother, he is a
liar.
For he who does not love hisbrother, whom he has not seen
God, and this commandment wehave from him: whoever loves God
(02:15):
must also love his brother.
This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00 (02:25):
She just knocked out 14 verses.
Uh, for those of you who haven'tbeen here um before, um, what
we're doing is we're going verseby verse, we're teaching through
the Bible.
Specifically, right now, we'vebeen going through these three
letters in the back of the NewTestament called first, second,
and third John.
John actually wrote a big book,we'll call it the Gospels
earlier um in the New Testament,but that's where we're hanging
(02:46):
out.
I'm gonna wrap up chapter fourtoday.
Um, Charlotte just did a greatjob.
So that was awesome.
See you guys next week.
Um, but before I jump in um tothat, just a quick reminder
announcement.
This coming Saturday, we got areally big event.
Some of you guys may even got amailer from it in the mail.
Um, we're asking everyone toplay, like it's an all-skate.
(03:06):
For those of you who rememberthe skating rink days, this is
like an everyone participate.
So it's called like fall familyflannel festival, something like
that.
But you can put them in anyorder, they all work.
It's a family festival, it's afall flannel thing.
But what we're doing is we'recoming together for a couple
hours this next Saturday, andwe're gonna represent this place
in this community, and we'regonna show the love of Christ.
(03:28):
But it's a good first, like easyentry because maybe you've come
here and then it's easier tohave a conversation about coming
to uh to Christmas because yousaw where the bathrooms are at,
you saw where to park, you sawthat the walls didn't fall down,
all of that good stuff.
There's great weather.
But here's where we also needyou to skate.
We would love your help.
Um, we have some QR codes out inthe lobby.
Um, whether it's like helpingpeople park, whether it's like
(03:50):
making sure people find theirway out of the giant hay maze.
If you've seen hay out there,we're building a big maze for
you get lost in.
It's gonna be awesome.
We'll have races.
I don't know.
Uh, there's pumpkin catapults,there's like bounce houses,
there's face painting.
I'm a face painter this year,and this is what it's just my
hand.
It's just my right there.
I was like all day, I got thison people's faces.
Let's go.
(04:11):
That's not actually true.
Anyways, if you're better thanthat, we need you.
So uh this next weekend, don'tjust come.
You can invite someone, but alsocome and um work it.
Just represent this place andshow it off and love the
community in this next season.
So let's hop in.
Let me start with a questionthat I think is bigger than it
(04:32):
looks, honestly.
It's this how do you know lovewhen you see it?
Like, not the like I sent you aheart emoji kind of love, or
like the we share a Spotifyaccount or networks password
kind of love.
Or I got this one for you.
Brad, you're gonna love this.
Like the socks that you can wearthat hold hands, right?
(04:54):
Hold on.
That's for you, buddy.
Yeah, Amazon just made money.
Not that kind of quit looking atmy feet.
You guys are like, what'shappening?
I mean the kind of love thatactually like carries weight.
Um, our our world runs like anon-stop seminar on love.
(05:14):
Uh, your feeds dish out hottakes, uh, your group chats,
they all have opinions, yourfavorite shows give you case
studies every single week.
And we're still left askingconstantly, okay, but like what
is it?
And how do I get to the realthing?
And John, as we've been readingthrough the last living apostle,
(05:35):
answers with clarity that slicesthrough every trend.
He says, This, beloved, let uslove one another, for love is
from God because here's right,this is the big one.
God is love, not love is God,like some mystical thing we
worship.
No, no, no.
God is love, meaning love has aname, it has a character, it has
(05:56):
a crucified risen face attachedto it.
And John doesn't keep it justtheoretical here.
He grounds love in history, justjumping right to verse 9 and 10.
He says, In this the love of Godwas made manifest among us, that
God sent his son, his only son,into the world, so that we might
live through him.
(06:16):
He loved us and sent his son tobe the propitiation of our sins.
Now, some of you guys are like,propitiation sounds like a
scramble power move.
It's not, by the way, but it isa 10-point move if you get a
triple letter score for thosenerds in the room.
But propitiation, it simplymeans this that Jesus stepped
into the courtroom where you andI stood guilty, absorbed the
(06:39):
sentence that you and Ideserved, and then paid the debt
which we couldn't touch.
And if love never costs youanything, it probably isn't
love, friends.
It's just branding.
And God's love isn't just thisvibe, it's a verdict that He's
letting us know that it'sdeclared over you because of the
cross.
And John says, if that is thekind of love that you and I have
(07:02):
received, then that's the kindthat we're actually called to
live into.
Let me frame the journey thatwe're on today.
If you're one of my youngerfriends in the room today,
chances are you're navigatingidentity stuff at a high speed.
Uh, whether it's new cities, newroommates, new majors, new
bosses, relationship statuseswith punctuation you didn't even
(07:24):
know existed, right?
And in the chaos, it's easy tomistake reactive feelings for
love and also strategic nicenessfor love.
And John here won't let us dothat.
He actually gives us adefinition, a diagnostic, and
then a direction.
The definition is the crossshows you what love is
(07:46):
ultimately.
The diagnostic is your love forpeople is actual evidence that
you actually know God.
And the direction is movingtoward others, the way God moved
towards you first, sacrificiallyfor their good.
You could sum up this wholepassage like this today.
(08:10):
Loved by God, we love like God.
So, first, verse seven, Johnlooks us straight in the eyes,
and this is what he says.
Beloved, let us love oneanother.
Now notice right off the bat,notice the order of this.
He calls you beloved before hecalls you to love, identity,
(08:32):
your beloved comes before thenyour activity of loving.
That you aren't just sent tothis like relational gym to
grind out love so God will thennotice you.
God, no, because he alreadyloves you, then he sends you to
the gym so you can let this loveflow through you.
And if love is from God, thenwhen you love, you're not just
(08:55):
being a good person.
What you're doing is you'reactually demonstrating the
family resemblance.
John says, beloved, let us loveone another.
And whoever loves, they've beenborn of God and God and knows
God.
Essentially, what this is sayingis that love that's born from
God, think of it like the 23 inme of faith, right?
(09:16):
Instead, you swab the heartinstead of the cheek.
Because here's the deal you canhave knowledge about God, but
you can't fake a life steadilyshaped by cross-shaped love.
A quick reality check.
A lot of us in here maybe grewup hearing like, God is love.
But that was kind of in a waythat meant like God approves of
(09:37):
whatever I currently feel.
And that sounds comfy, buthonestly, it's upside down.
If love is God, then love getsdefined by trending feelings and
popular opinion, and that'sdangerous.
But John says, no, no, no, Godis love.
So therefore, love is defined byGod's holy, self-giving
(10:00):
character.
And that means some of what wecall love today, frankly, isn't
love.
I mean, think about somecircumstances.
Are you ghosting somebody toavoid an awkward, honest
conversation?
That's not love.
Are you flirting to harvest thetension that you actually never
intend to commit to?
(10:21):
That's not love.
Are you dragging somebody inyour group chat uh so you can
score points with the squad?
That's not love.
And John could have written tous, I think, thou shalt not
subtweet.
That is not love.
Real love is more than kindness,it's cruciform, shaped like a
cross.
Uh, let me give you a story realquick that might sound
(10:43):
uncomfortably familiar.
Uh, I have a friend who did likea full identity change, like a
reboot online.
New aesthetic, new handle, newhot ticks, like all this stuff.
And on the timeline, it feltlike he was bold and funny and
you know, free.
But in real life, he was lonely,brittle, and he was actually
terrified of being seen becausebeing truly known meant someone
(11:07):
might bump up into the partsthat he couldn't filter.
So he built a brand of love thatreally was applause.
And then when people agreed withhim, you know, he called that
support.
And when they didn't agree withhim, he called that hate.
Basically, his love language atthis time was like likes and
retreats.
And the cross says, love isn'tthe applause that you win, it's
(11:31):
actually the price that you andI pay.
That God didn't send a statementto us, he sent his son.
God didn't double tap your post,he carried your cross.
And that's why John says inverse 10, and this is love.
Not that we have loved God, butthat he loved us.
(11:52):
Notice that the subject here inthis verse is God.
The verb in this verse is loved,and the object is who?
Us.
Even while we were still a mess.
You weren't a consumer choosinga product, you were spiritually
dead, and get this love himselfactually came for you.
(12:13):
And so, if that's true, thenthis sentence, we also ought to
love one another, is not guilt.
Frankly, it's gravity.
It's the most natural thing inthe world for forgiven people to
become forgiving people.
John says something breathtakingnext.
(12:35):
No one has ever seen God.
If we love one another, though,God abides in us and his love is
made perfect in us.
Here's really what this meansthe invisible God becomes
visible through the visible loveof his people.
Let me say that again.
The invisible God becomesvisible through the visible love
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of his people.
Students, your campuses can'tsee the Trinity.
But they can see how you wererefusing to gossip about
someone.
Your coworkers can see you givecredit a way that you could have
hoarded.
Your roommates can see that youdo dishes and you didn't use the
(13:21):
hard conversation against themthat you didn't want to have.
Yes, even the one of who keepsall the hair in the sink, that
gross one that talk, right?
Friends, the God no one can seebecomes seeable when the church
loves like Jesus.
Now, let me just pause for asecond.
Who's the church?
(13:42):
Hello.
Welcome to church.
It's you and I.
It's you and I.
Frankly, that's why we're doingwhat we're doing this next
Saturday.
And that's why we're saying weneed you.
We need you to partner up.
We need you to wear your weirdsocks and hold hands and do this
together.
Because the God no one can seebecomes seeable, becomes seeable
(14:06):
when you love like Jesus.
You're not just talking aboutGod.
We have this big word out there.
What you're doing is you'rerepresenting him when you love.
Let's talk about power for asecond.
He says this in verse 13.
By this we know that we abide inhim and he in us, because he has
given us of his spirit.
(14:28):
Now it's really important tounderstand the spirit is not
this vague, you know, uhspiritual caffeine shot.
It's this personal presence ofGod, making the power, making
the love of God real in yourbones and then practical in our
behavior as this evidence.
The spirit is the one who,frankly, it's the one that
nudges you when you're about tosend that really petty text.
(14:50):
Y'all know what I'm talkingabout right now?
He's the one who opens yourmouth to confess that Jesus is
the Son of God when you'd rathertalk about literally anything
else.
When someone's like, You dochurch, you Jesus person?
Right?
He's the one who whispers toyou, don't quit on them when
your patience is literallyrunning on fumes.
Uh, to help some of you with theidea of the Trinity, because I
(15:12):
know it sounds like this foreignlanguage, I want you to maybe
think of it like this.
The Trinity is made up of theFather, the Son, and the Spirit.
So the Father sent the Son.
This is mission.
The Son saved, this is atonementor covering for Uranized sins.
And the Spirit assures it's thisindwelling that we actually have
in us.
Love in you.
Literally, the a Trinitarianelectricity.
(15:36):
And so, if that's the case,here's what this means for
confidence.
John says, by this is loveperfected with us, so that we
may have confidence for the dayof judgment.
So, what does he do?
Whoa, what are you talking abouthere?
Well, he's talking about afuture appointment that frankly
none of us can reschedule.
Standing before God.
It's gonna happen, right?
(15:57):
And most of us probably relateto that day, like we would
relate a week, you know, gettingready for a finals or some big
project to do date thing.
And then what do we do the nightbefore?
We panic, right?
We're like, oh my gosh, I wasn'tready for this.
And John says here, maturedlove, God's love, having its
full effect in you, actuallyevicts panic.
(16:17):
Why?
Because this is how love isperfected, right?
You have been united withChrist, which means you share
his status.
And that means that the judge isalso the one who bled for you.
And when you see love that deep,the punishment fear begins to
(16:40):
lose its grip.
Says there is no fear.
There is no fear in love, butperfect love casts out fear,
which means God is basically theworld's best addiction notice.
And fear has to do, frankly,with punishment for most of us.
John says that whoever has fearhas not been perfected in love
(17:03):
here.
Here, he's not saying that youcan't have like adrenaline and
nerves and things that takeplace.
What he's saying is if your viewof God is of this like cosmic
probation officer just waitingto bust you, then you haven't
stared at the cross long enough.
You haven't actually acceptedwhat that even means.
And the one who took yourpunishment is the one who now
(17:24):
holds you.
That kind of security doesn'tmake you reckless.
What it does is it actuallymakes you fearless and fearless
enough to actually love.
Okay, let's bring us down to thefloor where we actually live
right now.
John ends with this kind of likegut level test.
Says, we love because he firstloved us.
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And if anyone says, I love God,but hates his brother, he is a
liar.
Now we've heard this a lot fromJohn.
These are strong words because alot of us are going, geez, I
might have done some of that,right?
And John's not being crankyhere, some old guy.
He's being kind, actually.
He's refusing you and I to likelive in this contradiction where
(18:10):
we sing vertical love songs onSunday, and then we practice
hostile, hostile, horizontalhostility on Monday and
Wednesday, right?
Uh verse 20 says, Whoever doesnot love their brother, whom
they have seen, cannot love God,who they have not seen.
And if that stings, this week itdid for me a little bit.
(18:31):
I say good, right?
Why?
Because a wound is where much ofthe healing can actually get in.
And God loves you too much tolet you protect resentment in
his name.
Just uh to show you a couplecase studies, you know, with
this example.
So, first, like the roommatestandoff, those of you guys
(18:53):
who've experienced that.
You know the one is like fourdays of passive aggressive
clanging in the kitchen and amount effort of laundry in
places around the shared spacesor those weird Vimmo requests
for a dollar and eighty-threecents.
And you're like, who even doesthat?
$1.83?
Like you're just not in a goodplace, right?
What does love do?
It moves first, right?
If God loved us, we also oughtto love one another.
(19:15):
Now, does moving first meanbeing a doormat?
No.
It means that you start with aconfession, not an accusation.
Like maybe, like, hey, I've beenreally petty.
I've been keeping a mentalspreadsheet and a physical one
of every dish you didn't wash,and that's not fair or loving.
(19:36):
Can we reset?
The spirit empowers you withthat kind of grown-up courage.
Uh, another case study for you,the relationship DTR.
For those of you who don't knowa DTR, it stands for define the
relationship, right?
The relational DTR that neverquite happens.
What does that mean?
(19:56):
Like, have you ever been there,you're stuck in a situationship,
right?
Because clarity actually costs,and ambiguity feels cheaper.
And in love is not the thrill offlirting without commitment.
What love is, is it's actuallyseeking the good of another,
even if it costs you the comfortof the undefined.
(20:18):
So love says, hey, we need totalk.
I care about you as a person,not just a vibe.
If we continue, I want to bewith you with clarity and honor.
And if we can't, I want torelease you well.
And that for so many of us feelsreally risky.
Because love, perfect lovethough, casts out fear that
(20:40):
keeps us from using people aslike emotional snack bars.
Because JFK, nobody wants to beor deserves to be your 1 a.m.
DoorDash craving.
Case study number three.
This is a whopper.
Church conflict.
Oh, yeah, we're gonna go there.
You ready, church?
Somebody said something, right?
(21:02):
Then somebody else repostedsomething, and now your whole
small group has a fracture linerunning through it.
Now remember the logic of John.
The invisible God becomesvisible when believers do what?
Love one another.
What that means, friends, is howwe handle conflict is actually
(21:22):
part of our worship.
Love means that we actuallyrefuse to assassinate each
other's character in privatewhile smiling in public, right?
It means we actually go to theperson and not about the person.
It means we seek to understandbefore we seek to be understood.
(21:43):
Verse 12, if we love oneanother, God abides in us and
his love is perfected in us.
And what happens really is thespirit turns conflict into a
classroom where we begin tolearn and understand the
language of grace.
So now what about boundaries inall of this?
That's fair.
(22:04):
Maybe uh in your currentclimate, it's time for a peak
boundary talk.
And sometimes that's a way ofhealing, honestly, and sometimes
that's a way of hiding.
Well, why?
Well, because love withoutboundaries is enablement, and
boundaries without love isavoidance.
And honestly, Jesus shows usboth.
He says, Come to me, all who areweary, and then he also
(22:28):
disappears to pray.
So maybe you need to say no tosomeone's manipulation while
saying yes to praying for theirgood.
And here's the beautiful part isthe cross frees you from people
pleasing and frees you forpeople serving.
One flows from fear, and theother flows from love.
(22:53):
Uh, real quick, back to myfriend who reinvented himself
online.
He told me later um that hedidn't actually want love.
Uh, he wanted admiration, andand and he wanted that without
intimacy.
Where I was like, oh, right?
Really, what he wanted wasfollowers, not friends.
And you and I can understandthat real love actually requires
(23:16):
presence.
John's favorite word aboutpresence was actually this word
called abide.
We've we've read it a ton: abide, to remain, to dwell, to (23:21):
undefined
make room, to make that kind ofyour home.
That's why it's so importantthat we can't just microwave
this, that love grows in theslow cooker of actually abiding,
where you learn the voice of thespirit, not by speed running
through your differentdevotionals, but staying,
(23:42):
actually sitting there longenough to actually listen and to
receive.
Abiding forms you into the kindof person for whom love is
increasingly the defaultsetting, not the occasional
upgrade.
And there's actually missionhere too.
So we have seen and we testifythat the Father has sent his son
to be the savior of the world,that love's not just an
(24:06):
introvert's escape or anextrovert's party trick, it's
actually our witness.
It's our martyrdom.
The world's starving for lovethat doesn't, that doesn't
collapse when it's put underpressure.
And if all we offer, honestly,is just a slightly nicer version
of the same transaction thateveryone is already playing,
(24:30):
like I'll like you if you feedmy brand, we're useless.
But if we offer a cruciform,spirit empowered, enemy
forgiving, neighbor serving,truth telling love, that gets
(24:51):
attention.
Now it might feel really weird,but it's different.
Oh man, is it holy?
And it's the one apologeticJesus promised would work.
He said, by this all people willknow that you're my disciples.
If you actually have love forone another, let's work on some
(25:14):
practices that will pull thisout of the clouds and just
something we can do this week.
Practice one.
Move first.
Take a deep breath because I'mgonna give you some examples.
Think of one strainedrelationship and take the first
step.
Not with a sermon, but with asentence.
(25:35):
Like, can we talk?
I want to own my part.
Practice too.
Make love visible, make itseeable.
Like put 20 bucks in your nextpaycheck towards uh someone
else's need, or go find someoneto babysit for free, or that
couple that's in your group thathasn't had a date night for
eight months, right?
(25:56):
Or here's a really easy one forthose of you who work.
Leave your noise cancelingheadphones in your bag while you
invite some lonely coworker tolunch and actually have a
conversation, right?
Practice three.
Here you go, buckle up.
Pray for some of yourhard-to-love person by name for
seven days.
Ooh, I'm gonna tell you rightnow, you're gonna be a different
(26:19):
person after day five for reels.
And you're gonna might maybeactually like it.
And here, do this one.
Pray for something specific andgood to happen to them.
Not just like make them a betterperson, Lord, right?
Don't take that out.
No, no, no.
Pray for something specific andgood to happen to them.
And don't tell me that prayingfor them to be a good person is
(26:40):
specific and good.
Some of you guys are arguingwith right now.
You're like, that actually isreally specific and would be
good, right?
Practice more.
We'll move on.
Confess Christ openly inordinary conversations.
And it just some of this is likeput you in panic mode, right?
You don't have to force it.
Can I you can just say thisseriously?
Honestly, following Jesus hashelped me not live from fear
(27:00):
like I used to.
It's just part of yourtestimony.
What is your thing?
Just share it out.
Let me speak to fear againbecause this it's sneaky and it
actually is wrapped up in a lotof this.
Some of us are not unloving.
We're just afraid, right?
There's a ton of fear packedinto that, right?
We're afraid of being rejected.
We're afraid of being boringlike Lamer, right?
(27:21):
We're afraid to be vulnerable orto look weak.
We're afraid to set a boundary.
We're afraid to keep one, right?
The gospel doesn't shame yourfear, it invites you into the
light where love can do itseviction work.
Perfect love doesn't mean thatyour hands don't shake, right?
What it means is that your handskeep moving forward while they
(27:45):
shake.
And if punishment fear is thesoundtrack that keeps playing in
your head, keeping you fromdoing this, like God's
disappointed, God feels sodistanced, God's got to be done
with me.
Let the cross, remember that?
Linger over the cross, let thecross turn the volume down and
hear the louder song.
(28:08):
Paul reminds us in Romans 8,verse 1.
This one might be just one youneed to write down.
There is now no condemnation forthose who are in Christ Jesus.
Now, here's some wildlypractical things for your
judgment day confidence thatJohn is talking about as he's
wrapping up chapter four.
(28:28):
Imagine your future standing,not collapsing, smiling, not
sweating, because you're inChrist.
Now take that moment and try toreverse engineer that whole
thing, the rest of your weekfrom that moment.
That if that is truly your end,where you're gonna sit in
confidence, how then, feelingthat way, would you treat the
(28:52):
hardest person in your lifetoday?
What text would you send?
Who would that person become?
What apology would you make?
What bitterness would you nowfinally just put to the curb?
And I think you'll find it'sactually amazing how future
assurance actually creates a lotof present courage in your life.
(29:14):
And when the end of the story issecure, you have the bandwidth
to love in the messy middle.
Let's talk about honesty when itcomes to the messy middle just
for a second.
Love without truth issentimentality, but truth
without love is brutality.
(29:37):
You need to be careful.
But John holds both of thesetogether by rooting them in God.
If God is love, then speakingtruth is part of love because
truth tells the reality as Godsees it.
Not as you see it, as God seesit.
So, yes, the loving thing mightto be have that.
(30:00):
Little hard conversation with afriend about the
self-destructive choices thatthey're making.
But the cross shapes how you doit.
Not as a prosecutor trying towin, but as a brother or a
sister trying to rescue.
Remember, we ought to lovebecause we've been loved first.
(30:24):
You aren't coming from thismoral, you know, superiority.
You're coming from mercy becauseyou've experienced it.
And some of you, maybe you hearall of this and you think, I
have failed to love in so manyways.
Well, welcome.
My name's Lawrence, and I'm inrecovery too.
(30:47):
Join the club.
And the good news is that thewhole passage starts with this.
Do you remember?
Beloved.
That's your starting line.
It doesn't start with performer.
The love John commands is thelove that Jesus supplies.
And you can't pour out, friends,what you haven't already
(31:11):
received yourself.
You can't display what youhaven't beheld first.
So the action step before allother action steps is this.
Do you remember?
Abide.
Just abide.
Just wait and sit in thepresence of the one who loved
you first and loves you still.
(31:32):
Maybe a good way for abidingthis week is just to sit in the
gospels slowly, which again, thegospels is the good news, is
what it stands for.
The life of Christ.
You can find those in Matthew,Mark, Luke, and John.
Those are the first four booksin the New Testament.
Or maybe abiding is justlingering over the cross.
Like, what does this actuallymean?
What does this thing actuallymean?
And let the spirit preach toyour condemnation addiction.
(31:57):
He loved you before youimproved.
He isn't surprised.
And get this, he's not movingout.
And then John's test slicesthrough.
If you cannot love a brother ora sister in front of you, then
you can't claim you love theunseen God.
And that's not him being mean.
(32:17):
That's just scripture beingmerciful.
And honestly, I get this.
Some of you carry church hurtbecause it's made full of
people.
You're sitting all around them.
Or you've seen leaders who uselove to control, or you've
watched Christians devour oneanother online in the name of
truth.
(32:38):
Hear me kindly and gently say,those are violations of 1 John
4, not examples of it.
God is not asking you to pretendharm didn't happen in your life.
What he's doing is he's invitingyou to bring harm over to the
cross where justice and mercyactually meet.
(32:58):
And then, and I think only thendo you have the power to forgive
without minimizing, or to setboundaries without bitterness,
or to actually begin to re-enterto community without wearing
armor 24-7.
And I'll tell you this from myown experience the spirit is a
(33:18):
better healer than time.
So what do we do now?
Real fast, three closing moves.
First, receive.
Just receive it.
Before you hustle to fixanything, just sit long enough
to let the spirit say, beloved,beloved.
(33:42):
And for those of you who are whohave never trusted Jesus, this
is your moment.
Your moment to say, Jesus, I'mdone pretending.
I'm ready to receive your love,your cross, your life.
The second thing is to repent.
This is a tough one.
(34:03):
Actually, ask the Spirit to puthis finger on where your love
has been counterfeit, cowardly,and conditional.
And then here's the best part: confess it. (34:12):
undefined
The blood of Jesus doesn't justforgive guilt, it actually
detoxes your shame.
And then third, finally,re-engage.
Pick one person and move towardsthis week with cross-shaped
(34:32):
love.
Not because they deserve it, butbecause you've actually been
loved like that.
Loved by God.
We love like God.
And then the world finally seeswhat it's been scrolling for all
along.
I want to pray words over youthe way John would with a
(34:54):
pastoral heart.
If you would join me and bowyour heads.
Father, thank you.
Thank you that love began withyou and not actually us.
Thank you for sending the Son,not a memo.
Thank you for pouring out theSpirit, not leaving us just to
(35:18):
muscle this out ourselves.
And for every place that fearsits heavy, would you allow
perfect love to cast it out?
For every relationship knottedwith bitterness, give the
courage to us this week to movefirst.
And for every heart exhausted bypretending, would you give the
(35:39):
freedom of being the beloved?
Make us into the people whoseeveryday lives make the
invisible God visible.
And we ask this in the power ofJesus Christ's name.
You stay with me?
Amen.
(36:01):
Amen.
Well, this morning you guys aregoing to have a chance to
respond.
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