My name is Mitchell Palermo, I’m a member here at verse by verse, and I’m honored to have the opportunity to be teaching tonight. 

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Let’s grab our bibles and turn to the passage we’ll be studying tonight. 

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1 John 3:11-18

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Let’s get warmed up first with a little review.

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I want to review some of what Pastor Tony went through last week so that we’ve got all the necessary context.

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Last week Pastor Tony talked about the identifying markers or distinguishing attributes of a child of God and a child of the Devil.

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I won’t go through all of them now - but if you didn’t hear that sermon, definitely go back and complete your paternity test.

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If you don’t know what I mean, go listen to the sermon later.

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Now the main theme from last week is going to be helpful to us as we go tonight.

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Here it is:

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A child acts like his father - not perfectly, but increasingly.

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That simple statement offers so much clarity as you’re reading this book.

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There’s a lot of blunt statements that have no qualifiers, or clauses. And that can cause some confusion if we don’t have that understanding.

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We need to know that we can’t fulfill the directives in the book perfectly, but we should be striving to fulfill them more and more.

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Have you guys been enjoying this series?

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I’ve really enjoyed it.

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1 John is like the Bible’s greatest hits. 

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It’s got such strong, clear, direct imperatives. 

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It’s punchy, aggressive, and in your face. 

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If it was a greatest hits album there would be no slow songs - just an album full of bangers.

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When I was younger, I had a greatest hits album. It wasn’t divinely inspired though. 

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It was a greatest hits album from The Beatles.

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So....less than divine.

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Anyone remember when the beatles were all still alive and playing together? 

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Did you get to go to a concert? 

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Anyways - it was the ‘1’ album - and it had every number 1 hit song from the beatles on it. 

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So I had this CD and I had my boombox and I would just listen to it over and over again. 

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 One of the songs on that album was called “All you need is love”. 

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Anyone remember that one? 

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It was this loose gooey song written about the power of love. 

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And from their perspective I see how makes sense.

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Because there’s nothing better as a musician than when people love your music.

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It’s validating!

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The approval of your listeners validates the songs that you’re writing which sometimes flow out of the deepest part of who you are.

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But it’s clear that the Beatles didn’t practice what they preached 

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If you know the history of the band you might even say that love tore them apart. 

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Yoko Ono and John Lennon’s relationship seeded tensions that eventually destroyed the band. 

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They didn’t have enough love to keep the band together.

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Or maybe they never had it in the first place.

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But one thing they did have was a hit song that unwittingly echoed with John’s message in our scripture tonight.

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How’s that for an intro? 

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Let’s dive in

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1 John 3:11 “11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” 

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The way our passage starts off probably sounds familiar to you

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We’ve heard John use similar phrases before. 

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1 John 1:5 “5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” 

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1 John 2:24 “24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.” 

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1 John 1:1 “1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—” 

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John is appealing to a message that’s familiar to his readers. 

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Just as it is to you!

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You’re probably tired of hearing about loving the brothers. 

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Week in and week out - love love love

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All we talk about is love on Wednesday nights

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But that’s too bad because sometimes the bible doesn’t care about your feelings.

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And if the bible doesn’t care about your feelings, then I don’t either. 

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That’s called tough love. 

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What a way to start, right? 

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Okay back to it

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Now this first opening verse sets the theme for us

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It’s like the thesis statement of this scripture and of this entire book. 

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We should love one another

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And there’s an interesting word in this first verse that I think we should be curious about

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The word beginning

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When is the beginning? 

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Is it like the beginning beginning? 

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Like when things were formless and void? 

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Or maybe the beginning of Jesus’ ministry?

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Maybe the beginning of the 1 John? 

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There’s lots of a beginnings to consider here

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Well let’s think for a second,

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what is a beginning that all of John’s intended readers experienced in their lives?

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The beginning of their walk with the Lord. 

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Which started with them hearing the gospel.

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John is referring to the gospel. 

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John is telling them to remember the gospel.

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Or rather the heart of the gospel

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Which is that Christ loves us, without limits or conditions. 

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This love is so powerful and strong it overcomes our sin nature. 

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It kills our old spirit and replaces it with a new one.

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And that reversal allows us to love others,

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I mean truly love them.

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It’s not just a love that’s nice to think about - it actually changes us.

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It modifies who we are. 

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His love reverses the polarity of a sinful heart.

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This act of love removes the stain of sin from our lives and makes a way for us to spend eternity with God. 

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Jesus’ love cleans us and gives us a new life with Christ.

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If you don’t know this love - I want to let you know that there’s nothing standing in your way from knowing it.

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Nothing you’ve done, nothing you’ve said or thought will disqualify you from knowing the love of Christ. 

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Put your faith in Jesus Christ and let His love wipe away your sin. 

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If you feel stirred by something I’ve said - or if you have questions please come talk to me after the service. 

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Okay so, let’s zoom back out

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John tells us to remember the gospel.

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The gospel’s message is one of Christ’s love for us 

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And Christ commanded us to love one another.

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So when the apostles preached the gospel, they passed on Jesus’ commandment to love one another

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To them it was a matter of first importance and so they included it in their message from the beginning.

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And John is again calling our attention back to that essential commandment of Christ. 

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Reminding us of the gospel that we heard from the beginning. 

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Nothing new, no secrets.

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You’ve heard gnosticism referenced in this study before.You’ve heard almost everyone reference John’s battle against gnosticism. 

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You’ve already heard this before throughout the series - but as way of reminder, gnosticism was a belief that enlightenment came through knowledge. Specifically through secret knowledge. 

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Of course only certain people had that secret knowledge. And so if you wanted to learn it yourself you had to follow them. 

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This is so anti-Christianity. The pursuit of Christ is an open book test, nothing secret, nothing new. Everything you need is in here.  

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No new revelation or keys to unlock different dimensions.

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So if you ever come across somebody claim to have brand new insight - or a sparkly modern revelation...be very skeptical.

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I used to run in circles that were a lot less Bible based than this church.

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It was super common for teachers to parade through the pulpit touting some morsel of knowledge that unlocked this, that, or the other.

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People with come up with keys they discovered to unlock the power of prayer. 

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You probably heard something like this before. They use language when talking their prayer lives being revitalized by one thing they started doing. 

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But they’re pulling the wool over your eyes, shifting attention away from scripture on onto themselves. 

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That’s one of the things that I love so much about this church and the men who teach the bible here. They never point to themselves. 

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They could die and be forgotten, and what we need would still remain. 

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God’s word will continue on into eternity. 

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This reminder from John is so important for us. Especially, this age of marketing.

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In our modern world, marketing doesn’t stop with products, but continues into, sermons and books and strategies for spiritual disciplines and discipleship. 

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All of it trying to get your time, attention, and sometimes your money.

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But listen to what John says.

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This is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

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Cling to the basics of the gospel. Pick up your Bible and read it.

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That’s what John is calling us to. 

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All we have to do is be committed to not get distracted. 

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Pastor Tony and others have pointed out - John is masterful with using contrasts to draw out a point. 

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We see another example of that here in verse 12. 

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1 John 3:12

12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.

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That’s quite the contrast, right? 

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Love/ hate fueled murder

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John doesn’t want us to be confused here at all. 

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In case any of you thought that murder could be mixed up in love - you’re wrong. John says so.

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Are we all clear on that? 

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So John is bringing up one of the earliest human characters in the bible - Cain, the eldest son of Adam and Eve. 

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Cain was a farmer. Scripture called him a worker of the ground. 

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He had a brother named Abel who kept sheep. 

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In Genesis 4 we read that Cain becomes angry with Abel after God is accepts Abel’s offering that came from his livestock, but shows no regard for Cain’s offering of the firstfruits. 

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This story can be a little confusing without the proper context - so let’s get into it a little bit. 

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Both Cain and Abel brought a sacrifice to the Lord, but one was obviously different than the other. 

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Cain brought produce from the ground. So his wheat, barley, or some other sort of plant. 

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Abel brought the firstborn of his flock and the choicest portions of the flock as well. 

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We can start to see the differences in the offerings immediately.

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Cain’s offering was vegan. Plants only - which is a very common type of sacrifice.

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Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered What Is a Grain Offering?

Instead, the purpose of a grain offering was to worship God and acknowledge His provision.

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So Cain’s offering is solely meant as a nod to God. 

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Abel bring an animal sacrifice. 

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This difference is really significant because of the purpose and function of animal sacrifices. 

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The killing of an animal, and the shedding of its blood reflects the sin-canceling sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. 

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So in short - Abel comes with a sacrifice that shows his humility and acknowledges his sinfulness. 

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Cain shows up with the bare minimum, and no hint that he recognizes his sin or need for God’s forgiveness. 

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Abels’ righteousness is in his attitude toward God.

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He comes in admission of his guilt and his need of God’s forgiveness. 

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God accepts his sacrifice. 

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And standing in stark contrast we have Cain. 

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He threw down some grain out of compulsion and then became angry when he wasn’t shown the same favor as Abel. 

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This is not God being fickle or playing favorites. 

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Cain could’ve have gotten a lamb from his brother to sacrifice. 

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Some scholars think that Hebrews 11:4 implies that Abel secured a grain offering for himself.

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So it’s not like each brother was limited to the commodity he produced.

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No, Cain’s sacrifice was unrighteous. Done out of an evil motive - he was clearly looking for recognition and was upset when he didn’t get it. 

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In contrast, Abel’s sacrifice showed his righteousness. 

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Alright, everybody good? 

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Got the context? Great.

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So what is this verse telling us? 

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Well Cain killed Abel “because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous”.

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Cain didn’t kill his brother because his brother did anything to him. 

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It’s not like Abel said something nasty to Cain, or stole from him. 

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He simply offering a sacrifice to God that was pleasing. 

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And in doing so - his righteous deed laid bare the rotten foundation of Cain’s motives. 

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John is telling us not to be like Cain. 

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Which when we hear that we think - duh. 

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Don’t kill. Got it. 

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But there’s something else here.

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I think 2 Corinthians offers a helpful lens through which to view Cain’s actions. 

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2 Corinthians 7:10 says

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2 Corinthians 7:10

10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

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Paul is telling the Corinthian church that he has rejoiced at their grief because it was Godly. 

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Paul had called out the Corinthians for their sinful behavior and caused them to grieve into repentance. 

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The grief they felt motivated them

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It pushed them to turn away from their darkness.

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Cain had the opposite reaction. 

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Cain experienced worldly grief when his evil deeds were shown. 

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And this worldly grief led to death. And not only the physical death of his brother. 

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But his own eventual spiritual death. 

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John is pleading with us - don’t be like that. 

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Rejoice in the righteous acts of your brothers.

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And if their actions should cause you to feel grief let Godly grief push you to repentance.

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Don’t lash out against your brothers. 

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That behavior is typical of the world. 

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So much so in fact that John writes

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1 John 3:13

13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.

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This brings us to our first point tonight. Brothers in Christ love their brothers and expects hate from the world

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When the church acts righteously, in accord with God’s word the world cannot stand it. 

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The evilness of their actions becomes self-evident and their only choice is to justify their actions 

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and demonize believers.

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When Christians stand for what they believe in, the world takes notice. 

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And they rarely approve.

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Of course scripture is filled with examples of that. 

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In Acts the apostles were jailed repeatedly for preaching the gospel despite being warned and intimidated. 

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In Thessalonica Jason, a believer who assisted Paul, was attacked and dragged before the authorities of the city for hosting Paul. 

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If you think “yeah but that was in the wild west of Christianity. America is a relatively safe country for believers” 

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You would be partially correct. I don’t think people are being slain in the streets for the faith in San Antonio. 

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But don’t think you’re too safe. 

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Anyone remember the name Jack Phillips? 

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He’s a baker in Colorado who refused to make a wedding cake celebrating a same-sex couple’s so-called marriage. 

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He refused to make the custom cake on the grounds of his Christian faith, but invited the couple to purchase anything else in the shop.

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They got their cake from a different bakery in Colorado - but they also filed a lawsuit against Jack Phillips. 

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In order to not comply with state orders to accomodate same-sex couples, he stopped selling wedding cakes of any kind. 

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That cost him 40% of his business. 

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Phillips lost 40% of his business and dealt with an 8 year legal battle that was eventually decided in his favor by the Supreme Court. 

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This is just one of the lawsuits brought against Jack Phillips and his bakery. 

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He was also sued by Amber Scardina who asked for a custom cake celebrating a gender transition.

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When Phillips declined to make the cake on the basis of his Christian faith he another lawsuit was brought against him. 

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This man knows what it is to be hated by the world. He’s been in court for over 10 years. And it’s still ongoing. 

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He’s been targeted because he has made up his mind to not violate his beliefs.

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He’s made up his mind to act righteously.  

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And the world hates him for it. 

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That’s what John is telling us. 

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He’s echoing Jesus’ words in John 15:18

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John 15:18

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

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It’s like He’s saying “Get in line, Pal. The world has been hating me long before it hated you.” 

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This word applied to Jesus’ disciples in the early church, it applies to Jack Phillips, and it applies to us. 

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Don’t expect the world to embrace you for clinging to Christ. 

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When you disapprove of your buddy’s fornication. He’s expecting a high-five and you respond with brokenheartedness over sin. 

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If you choose not to attend the same-sex wedding ceremony of a close friend’s child. 

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Maybe you choose not to attend a bachelorette party that’s aimed at having a “good time” because you don’t want to be involved in unrighteous behavior.

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Nobody is going to applaud you for that. 

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Or maybe you advise a young-woman not to get an abortion

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All of these examples of sin in the world should cause brokenness in a Christian.

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And when you choose to obey God, it will inspire either godly grief in that person, or worldly grief which will give birth to hatred. 

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John is telling us to be prepared for the latter.

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John is preparing us to live in a sinful broken world where Christians, like Christ before them, will be despised when they show themselves to be committed to righteousness. 

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But John doesn’t leave us there.

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That would be such a dour sermon!

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1 John is about love and John can’t stay away from the main theme too long. 

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He comes back to the resonant theme of this book really quick

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1 John 3:14

14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

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John is giving us a litmus test for our salvation.

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He’s laying out 2 categories. And then he provides a very simple way to sort yourself into one of those categories. 

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He gives us the category of death and the category of life

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As in many other places in scripture, the category of death is synonymous with a lack of belief in Christ.

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And the opposite category life is representative of those who have faith and will live with Christ and the rest of the body for eternity. 

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And then comes the sorting technique - loving the brothers. 

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“14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.” 

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Loving the brothers is evidence of our salvation. 

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Think about the diversity of the church

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All ethnicities, all backgrounds, all kinds of different struggles, all kinds of upbringing, all different levels of wealth

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It’s like a box of chocolates as Forest Gump would say - you never know what you’re gonna get. 

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And the fact that we all coexist, and not just that we tolerate each other, but we love each other is amazing!

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You just don’t see that out in the world. 

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People tend to stick to their tribe. People who look and talk like them. 

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And it’s common for unbelieving folks in the world to feel uncomfortable or even hostile towards people who are different than them. 

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But that’s not true of the church. 

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How is that possible? How is it possible for such a large group of different people to all coexist and love one another? 

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Our common bond of salvation in the death of Christ. 

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Differences between unbelievers is a breeding ground for prideful divisiveness. 

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“My salary is bigger than your salary so I’m better than you”

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“My family isn’t as consumeristic as yours so I’m better than you”

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“I graduated from Texas A&M, and you graduated from Texas so I’m better than you.” 

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If you’re mad about that last one you should know that I’m not partial to either. I don’t care - I’m not from here. I’m pandering right now. Trying to give the people what they want. 

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But those differences in the church become nothing more than another reason to glorify God that he would choose to save so many different types of people. 

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Those differences melt away because we know what we’ve been forgiven of. There’s no room for elitism at the foot of the cross. 

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His love levels the playing field.

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Jesus’ love for us allows us to love others.  

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It empowers us to follow through on the commandment he gives to us in John 13:34

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John 13:34

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

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This commandment, straight from the mouth of our savior cannot be fulfilled without first being loved by the savior. 

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To borrow from chapter 4 of this book 1 John 4:19 “19 We love because he first loved us.” 

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We have to experience His love before we can imitate it.

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That’s our second point for tonight.

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Brothers in Christ experience and imitate Christ’s love.

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And when we do that it’s noticeable to the world. 

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Jesus intended this. If we read one more verse in John 13 he says

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John 13:34–35

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

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Our love for another is evidence of our salvation. 

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And our love for another is the world’s evidence of our relationship with Christ and His supremacy in our lives and creation.

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Are you sacrificing those evidences? 

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Are you letting a wedge come between you and someone in this body? 

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Maybe a look they gave you, or the way they said something. 

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Or that time when you weren’t greeted after service? 

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Or maybe they assumed something about you that wasn’t true, and now you hold that against them. 

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What about the universal church body? 

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You don’t like the way the church down the street teaches. 

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You think their worship is too flashy. So you badmouth that church.

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Would you sacrifice your witness over something so petty? 

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Because I promise you - when you start talking smack to an unbeliever about someone at church or a different church in the city, you no longer look any different than someone beating their chest about their alma matter. 

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Now I want to be clear - it’s good to call out false doctrine, or cults masquerading as Christianity. 

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Don’t be a raving lunatic about it - but be willing to point out the differences and explain what’s true.

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Now what if you don’t love the brothers? 

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What if you don’t have that spark of affection for the children of God? 

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John says “Whoever does not love abides in death.” 

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And we can infer from earlier that talk about death, what’s he’s really saying is… 

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“If you don’t love God’s people, you are not one of them.” 

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John has been giving a lot of these ultimatums throughout the book. 

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“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness”

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“If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” 

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“Whoever practices righteousness is righteous”

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And here’s another “Whoever does not love abides in death”

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If a person lacks love for the body of Christ it shows that they don’t share the same life as the believers. 

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It reveals that they aren’t saved. 

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It shows that they haven’t passed out of death into life. 

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And John goes on to develop that thought more

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He says 1 John 3:15

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1 John 3:15

15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

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You know one of the things that I love most about reading 1 John is how much of Jesus’ words are echoing through these verses. 

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When I read this verse I’m reminded of the sermon on the mount.

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Jesus is speaking about anger and just like in the rest of that sermon He’s setting the bar very high for personal righteousness.

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He says Matthew 5:21-22

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Matthew 5:21–22

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 

22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

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In those verses Jesus is telling His listeners that evil thoughts are as good as murder when God is judging. 

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And that presents a problem for us

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Because every single one of us has felt anger at a fellow believer before. 

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The greatest example of this is the apostle Paul.

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This guy was "breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord"

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This guy who hosted the stoning of Stephen the martyr? 

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Paul, a man who murdered many believers, was saved by God and turned into a major figure in the early church

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So we've got a contradiction here - or at least it seems like we do. 

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How can a hateful murderous person like Paul have eternal life abiding in Him when John seems to say right here that it's not possible.

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Furthermore nobody would have eternal life! We've all had a hateful thought at one time or another! 

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I think the answer to this lies in a phrase that I've heard Pastor Tony use throughout this series. 

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"Not perfectly but increasingly" 

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As a believer continues to love the Lord and pursue Him - they will live righteously. 

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Not perfectly, but increasingly. 

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They won't be free of anger or hate for good as soon as they come to faith. 

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But through dependence on God for peace and by walking in the Spirit in day to day life that person will become increasingly free of those thoughts and feelings. 

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So after all this talk of love, John gets a little practical with us.

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1 John 3:16

 ESV

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

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Remember back when Jesus said - “just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another”? 

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And a few chapters later He said John 15:13 “13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” 

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If we are going to love like Jesus love, we need to be ready to lay down our lives.

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Think about a list of things that you would die for.

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Would you die so that your favorite sports team would win the big game?

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Some of you will answer yes to this - and that scares me.

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I hope the real answer to this question is no. 

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What about for a stranger? 

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Would you give your life for a stranger? 

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What about a coworker? 

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What about your spouse?

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Or your child?

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I’m a father now and I can tell you I would make that choice without hesitation.

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That’s love.

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That’s the love that Jesus is commanding us to have for one another. 

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Jesus is the definition of love 

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He was the most powerful, the most deserving of sacrifice, the most worthy of life - in fact the only one worthy of life - He gave himself for us.

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He subjected himself to humiliation, torture, mocking, and a shameful execution for us

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So we could avoid the punishment that we were due. 

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And we have an inkling of understanding of what that love is like when we consider dying for our closest family.  

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That’s what Jesus is calling us to for one another.

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Do you feel that love for one another? 

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If you don’t - why not? 

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Are you putting yourself in a position where you can?

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We’ll talk more about this in a few minutes.

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Before we leave verse 16 I wanted to bring your attention to one thing

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I want you to see the contrast between Cain and Christ. 

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John is a great writer and like I mentioned earlier, you’ll find a lot of contrasts in this book.

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Here’s another one. 

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Cain took the life of his brother because of his unrighteousness.

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Jesus Christ laid down his own life because of our unrighteousness. 

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Rather than requiring our lives of us to pay for our sin (which was justified), He laid down His own life and gave us true life and a hope for the future. 

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It’s an artistic contrast

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And it should help underline for us the quality and purity of the love that Jesus loved us with. 

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It’s not often that a believer is given the opportunity to express their love for the brother by laying down his own life. 

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So John gives us a more everyday example. 

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1 John 3:17

 ESV

17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?

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Suppose you’re fortunate enough to own multiple vehicles. 

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A brother in your small group is having car trouble and needs transportation to get to work. 

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You have the option of doing nothing. Which would be so easy right? 

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Nobody would fault you - they might not even know that you have multiple cars.

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What if they get into an accident? What if it breaks down on them? What if they need it longer than you want to loan it out? 

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You can go about your life without the inconvenience or risk of loaning out an asset. 

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Doesn’t that sound nice? Just…don’t worry about it.

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“I’m sure someone else will fill the need. It’s not like they asked me directly.”

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You can just feel yourself sinking into a plush leather lazy-boy chair and putting your feet up - total ease, no worries.

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But that’s not love. And what’s more worrying is that John says that if that sort of attitude marks your life it’s dubious that God’s love abides in you. 

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How do you react to a true need? 

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Do you clutch your wordly goods tighter and wait for the moment to pass? 

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Or you do you respond how Jesus has commanded us to and seek a way to help. 

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John is saying “we need to be willing to die for our fellow believer” 

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And everyone is enjoying this virtuous hypothetical version of themselves and they’re like “Yeah! I’m ready - just like Jesus” 

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And then John gets practical. He starts to apply the Word to our lives. 

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“Share your stuff with one another”

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It was given to you by God anyways.

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That sits a little differently with us.

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This verse should also remind us of earlier verse from this book that Tony covered in a sermon called, “The Love God Hates” 

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1 John 2:15

 ESV

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

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If you choose to close your heart against against a brother in need, you should check your heart. 

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Are you choosing to love the world over brother?

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Now there’s nuance to this for sure. You shouldn’t give the keys to your car to the first person who walks up claiming to be a believer

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But John is clear here - love the believer, more than the material possessions this world has to offer.

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In an effort to make his message as plain as possible John lays it all out in verse 18

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1 John 3:18 

 ESV

18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

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Don’t just talk about love practice it. 

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That’s our third point for the night. 

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Brothers in Christ share life and resources with their brothers.

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Actions speak louder than words. 

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It was as true in John’s day as it is in ours. 

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If I tell you that I love you - but offer no reason for you to believe me, do I really love you? 

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This is why so many people dislike politicians.

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Many of them make promises with words - but do nothing to back it up.

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They talk a lot about their plans to serve the community and then never follow through.

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There’s another old term that describes that behavior - lip service.

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Words or promises that are empty - meant to tickle the ears or get someone off your back. 

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Imagine your spouse or a close friend tells you they love you and then behaves in a way that doesn’t back that up.

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They’re rude, dismissive, inattentive, uninterested BUT they tell you they love you every chance they get. 

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Is that love? Is that real? 

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No of course not. 

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That unloving spouse is saying the right things, but their behavior doesn’t match their words.

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What kind of connection do you think that couple has? 

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They become roommates. Two people who use the same space to sleep and keep their stuff.

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That’s what the church can become without love in action. 

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Without that true - working love we’ll become like strangers in a grocery store. 

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“I don’t know you, you don’t know me. I’ll be polite and make sure my cart isn’t in your way, but other than that I have no interest in your life.”

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That’s not what Jesus intends for his body. 

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The biblical picture of the body of Christ is a unified, loving, sharing, joyful community.

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Don’t you want that? 

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If you don’t feel like you have that - I encourage you to ask yourself if you’re loving the body. 

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Are you?

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Do you share your life with the people sitting around you? 

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Do you have affection for the people sitting around you? 

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Do you even know the people sitting around you. 

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Let’s not treat the church like a grocery store, politely staying out of each other’s way. 

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Let’s commit to loving each other in deed and truth.