Mar 21, 2021 John 15 - We Should be Known By Our Love

John 15:18 ¹⁸ "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I told you: 'Servants are not greater than their master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.

We live for a different kingdom that is not here. That is where our citizenship is, in heaven. Jesus is telling them He is creating a new people – a new nation – in Chapters 13-18

Now we call this new people “Christianity” or “The Church” – we don’t use the term kingdom. And I want to talk about it locally – I know there is The Church – but let’s talk about local churches.

Local churches have an identity – something they are known for – some churches – are known for their teaching – or others, for their programs – or phenomenal worship at that church – or youth oriented – or friendly/welcoming – all good things for a church to have – as things that are positives and are strengths of the church.

However – the NT, and Jesus in particular, makes it clear that there is one thing the church is to be known for FIRST – you know what that is – LOVE!

Self-sacrificial humble service/love for one another.

The other things are important – they are good and valuable - but if you don’t have love for one another – great teaching – great worship – all of a sudden – have no value – if the people don’t have self-sacrificial, humble-service love.

John 17:6 ⁶ "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word…¹¹ I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.

So in His prayer for the disciples, He asks the father to protect them – first from the hatred of the world – but secondly – to protect them from the evil one – so they don’t become of the world – to fall back into a life of the world.

¹⁴ I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ¹⁵ My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

This is where the phrase, in the world, but not of it, comes from.

What are we not to be of, and yet, in?

There were two aspects of the world – in their context – the Roman empire, and its culture of immorality, greed, and violence.

The second aspect of the world – to not participate in – the Jewish religious system and structure. I am NOT saying – the Jewish faith. There is a huge difference. Jesus continually affirms the Jewish faith, but He continually affronts their religious system and structure.

And guess what – those are the things we are to not participate in – immorality, violence, and greed – we would all agree with that. We live in a world of violence and anger.

My daughter-in-law posted – they got a package from Amazon – and they live on a street where there is parking on both sides and not enough room… And a lady pulled in front of the amazon truck - … “Could you please back up?” – She wouldn’t and was going to call the police! So my son helped the amazon driver back up.

We cannot let that be part of the church – we must be wholly different from the world. Our idolatry is different today – we don’t have statues we offer to… sometimes you wonder… just put the word -ism in from of something and you have idolatry – consumer-ism, secular-ism…

But also, there are parts of our religious system and structure that cause us to become part of the world. I think that is hard for us to see – and I don’t mean – to look at a church we don’t agree with and say – yeah, there it is!

No, every church has aspects of its structure and system that cause us to be part of the world.

I’d like to get back to the first part – when we talk about the morality – and not being part of the world – we would say we all hold to traditional Christian values, and we don’t want to be part of the world – but we all understand – immorality is not of God…

But there is another way – we become part of the world and don’t realize it – what a Christian should value.

Matthew 6: ¹⁹ "Do not store up for yourselves treasures (values) on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I think this is our greatest danger – treasuring what the world treasures. If we treasure anything that can be stolen – moth and rust can destroy – then we, in that situation, circumstance, are living of the world.

And really, it is idolatry – he goes on to say -

²⁴ "No one can serve(worship) two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Treasures become idols – so Jesus warns…

³¹ "Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' ³² "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

We can treasure good and necessary things more than God! That is what He is saying here. The solution, in this context, we must have confidence in God’s love and care for us – otherwise we will be anxious about good and necessary things – AND we must seek His kingdom.

Anytime we mix the ways of the world with faith – anytime we worship and serve God using the strategies of the world – we are becoming of the world – we are mixing – we are sacrificing to God on the altars of Baal. Churches have struggled with this for centuries.

John said in one of his letters – the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes (morality and greed) – and the boastful pride of life – this ties to the religious structure and system.

There were those who had power in Israel, and they conformed to the Roman Empire to maintain their power and position.

When Jesus claimed to be a new king – that threatened their position and power, so they decided to get rid of him.

This also works out in self-righteous religious leaders – they hated the immorality of Rome – the Pharisees started off good. When we get to Jesus, we have all these problems. But these were the good guys, trying to get Israel back to Yahweh – keep them from falling away again. But self-righteousness almost always starts off as doing good – the desire to do right – and as you have success – hey, look at me! I don’t have a problem with this anymore! And that is a dangerous place to be.

I don’t know if you’ve followed the murders in Atlanta – it is the perfect example of this – a Christian who had this extreme focus on purity and it went haywire – obviously there was something wrong with the person –

But what the Pharisees were doing – Israel needs to be devoted to the Lord – and then they created these identity markers that kept everyone else out. No one else was good enough – and Jesus kept confronting them.

“The Christian task then, is not to be withdrawn from the world – our world is awful, but we are not to leave or withdraw or hide. Some would want to do that. NOR to be confused with the world – but to remain in the world, maintaining the witness to the truth by the power of the Holy Spirit. We stay here for the purpose of our witness.

AND – this is probably the hard part – absorbing all the malice that the world can muster. As we think about our relationship with the world – our tendency is to want to retaliate – give vengeance – but Jesus said to turn the other cheek. If they make you go one mile – go two! Love your ENEMY! Our witness of the gospel is completely tied to our ability to love the enemy. Jesus made it clear – the world is our enemy – and yes, they are also our audience

I want to look at one more -ism where the world has infiltrated the church – and many have a hard time seeing this:

John 17:17 ¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

²⁰ "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one

Love one another – be one

, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

In the past, when I have talked about idolatry – usually, in a culture – it is the thing that is best about the culture that people are tempted to turn into idols!

A great one in our situation – a good thing about our culture – there is a tremendous emphasis on personal rights and liberties. And that has also turned us into a people that is focused on SELF. That which is good has turned into an IDOL.

I think that has infected the church. And what Jesus’ solution to that – This isn’t wrong language, we talk about having a personal relationship with the Lord – but it tends to be very individualistic – self-oriented – kind of faith. The Bible speaks of a community oriented kind of faith.

When we read the Bible and it says – YOU do this – it is almost always PLURAL – rarely is it singular. YOU are a temple of God – not just YOU as a person, but YOU as a group! That was the thinking of Jesus and the disciples – but that is not our thinking – but it needs to be – if we want to have impact in the world.

²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one-- ²³ I in them and you in me--so that they may be brought to complete unity.

A large group? ONE. UNITY.

Now – can you imaging the church in our world being in complete unity? There is one way it could happen – if everyone believed as I do! That would be a mess

. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

John 13:34-35

If you love one another.

I would think people would know we are His disciples if we loved THEM. Yes, Jesus was an example of loving the outsider and the lost – but what is needed – for the people in the church to love one another self-sacrificially – and when that happens – the church is KNOWN for being that way – THJEN the world will know.

When we love one another – we tell the world – those who are not part of God’s kingdom – we show the world what the world is not and what the world can never be – because if we love one another with self-sacrificial love – what people will say – I have never seen that anywhere, because they can’t – it can only happen by the power of the Holy Spirit working inside of us – to love like that.

Let’s pray.

Lord, thank You – I ask tat You would help us – to have that ability and mentality. Teach us how – I pray that across this world that Christians would start loving other Christians the way Jesus loves them. And that includes Christians we disagree with on topics – that we would demonstrate that You were sent by the Father – to die on a cross for our sins – that we might have life in You.