The Church of Eleven22 - S02E26 - Love One Another Deeply

Episode Date: October 4, 2021

Welcome to Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we're praying this message helps you deepen your relationship with him. Now let's dive in. Hey, church family, welcome back to week 26 of the Deep and Devo. Our one another today we find in 1st Peter chapter 4 verse 8. And Peter says, above all. So anytime the Bible tells you that this is the most important thing, you should really pay attention.

So he says, above all else, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins. So what are you doing in a world that is seemingly falling apart and people are letting you down? And every time you turn on the news, it's bad news and bad news and bad news. And you go to church with people and guess what? Church people are people too. what do you do with broken relationships, with broken promises,

what do you do with people that you love and committed to, but they're not perfect? Peter says this, above all else. Love one another deeply or earnestly. That means don't stop. Why? Because love covers a multitude of sins.

Well, this past week, we talked about the cross of Jesus Christ. And quite honestly, the word crucifixion leads to the word that we get excruciating from. It means from the cross. And it was even excruciating just to walk through what Jesus did on our behalf. And the reason that he did that was for the glory of his father, but it was also to demonstrate his love for us.

So what extremes should we go through in order to demonstrate our love for one another? Well, Jesus said these words. to his disciples before he went to the cross. He said, greater love has no one than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends. Now, think about this. When Jesus looks at you and I, if you were in Christ, he does not primarily see you as a servant.

He primarily does not see you as a tool in the hand of God in order to accomplish another thing, that Jesus himself, the second person of the Trinity, the one that created all things, the one that is offended by every sin, because every one of our sins, are offensive against an almighty God. That Jesus Christ says that he loves us so much that he would lay down his life for us, and he calls us his friends. In Romans chapter 5, verse 8, the Bible lets us know that God demonstrates his love for us

and that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. that above all else, God deeply and earnestly loved you, and deeply and earnestly loved me. And his love covered a multitude of sins, all of them. Jesus is sitting with his disciples, and he says these words. He says, I give to you a new commandment. A new commandment.

And I'm sure the disciples were ready. All right, here it is. Is it going to be a new thing we can or can't eat, a new place we can or can't go? And he says, you this new commandment. Love one another. And they thought, that's not new. And then he says this, as I have loved you. So you also must love one another. So Peter says, based on his relationship with Jesus Christ, Peter was in the room when these words were spoken by Jesus. And so later in life,

he says, above all, church, love one another deeply, love one another earnestly. Because, because you're going to You're going to rub up against each other. There's going to be friction. And where there is friction, there is heat. And when there is too much heat, then it will break down a body. And so the motor oil to the engine of relationships in the church is this. Above all else, love one another earnestly or deeply. Why?

Because it covers a multitude of sin. Now, we've talked about this before, but the word in English love is for sure overused. There were multiple Greek words for love. there was eros which was an erotic kind of love there's filo which is like a brotherly or friendship kind of love there's this word agape which is the kind of love that describes god's sacrificial love for his people you've heard me say that i my definition of love that i made up is is my joy in the lord towards you at great expense to myself that's what love is and in first john chapter four the apostle John gives us an incredible description.

He teases out what it means to love one another. He doesn't say that love is just a feeling, while there are feelings associated with love, but love is demonstrated. 1 John chapter 4, verse 7, John says, Beloved, let us love one another. So don't run by that first word too quickly. in order for you to love, first and foremost, you have to understand that you need to be loved.

And this only works in English, but the covenant name of God is Yahweh, I am that I am, or literally to be. And what John wants us to know that love is an infinite resource. And the reason that we know that love is an infinite resource is because God is love. And in order for us to be able to love one another, first and foremost, we have to allow ourselves to be loved by God. So be loved it. Also, it could be in English, it could be a sentence all by itself. Hey, church, be loved. Because love people, love people. So beloved, let us love one another. How, John? For love is from God. And whoever loves has been born. of God and knows God. And then here's a warning. Whoever does not love does not know God because God

is love. This is very important that God is love. God is stirred to anger. God is stirred to wrath, but God is love. Do you see the difference? And if God is in you, if you've put your hope and faith in Jesus Christ and the spirit of God lives in you, then love lives in you. That the reason that love that's first in the lineup of the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. The reason that love gets lead off is because God is love. Now, in our culture, our culture thinks love is God, like the ultimate thing is love, but it's not the ultimate thing is God, and God is love, and God defines love. So he says, anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.

Maybe you've known some very religious people and they know their Bible like crazy, but they're just mean. Maybe you know some very religious people and they know the religious traditions really, really well, but they don't love people. Well, what John would say is those folks are not beloved. And the reason that they are not loving one another is because they don't understand how much God loves them.

Oftentimes, folks that are mean, religiously mean, or biblically mean, it's because they don't understand the love of God. And they think that by their own actions, they are trying to impress God, earn their own right standing before God. And John would say, no, no, no, no, no, that's not how it works. Anyone who does not love does not know God

because God is love. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us. How do you know God loves you? Here's how he manifested it. That God sent his only son into the world, so that we might live through him. And this is love. The Bible is about to define for us what love is.

In this is love. Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us. Let's just stop right there. Do you know why you love God? Because you were responding to God's love for you. If you love God, it's not because you're the smartest person you know. It's not because, theoretically, you figured everything out. There should be a real humility,

your faithfulness as a Christian because it's not because you woke up one day and said, I got an idea, I'm going to start loving God. But the reason that we can love is not that we have loved God first, but that he loved us and he sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. In church, you know what this means. Propitiation means that Jesus is the payment that satisfies. That Jesus at the cross, when he says it is finished, he satisfies the wrath of God.

He satisfies the justice of God. He says, to Telestai, paid in full, because all of the law has now been fulfilled in Jesus, all of the broken law has been paid for in the death of the perfect righteous Lamb of God. And so now, if Jesus is the payment that satisfies, then God is not dissatisfied in you. And this is how and why he loves you. and this is how and why if you are in Christ, then God made Him who was without sin to be sin for us, that we would be made the righteousness of God,

that Christ's perfect life is imputed unto us, and when God sees you, he's not looking at your mistakes, he's not looking at your faults, he's not looking at your sins and struggles, those things have been nailed to the cross, and what he is looking at, he is looking at the justified you, just if you'd never sin before, and he delights over you.

He loves you. He is not disappointed in you. Verse 11 of 1 John 4. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. If you know that God loves you, if you believe that God loves you, if you have tasted and seen,

if you have experienced the love of God, then we also ought to love one another. And when you have that person in your life and you think, oh man, but they're just not lovable, all right? Well, you weren't that lovable either. You and I were enemies of God. You and I were traitors against the Holy King. You and I were children of wrath, but God being rich in mercy, pours out his love on us.

And there's no way that we should be cul-de-sacs of the love of God, but we are supposed to be conduits of God's love. If you want to love people better, then you get really focused on receiving God's love towards you. You hear that? You do that in things like sitting under gospel teaching. You do that in things like making much of God in worship and spend a whole bunch of time receiving God's love because the human vessel will not be able to contain the love of God. John's also going to say, oh, what manner of love the Father has lavished upon us that we would be called children of God. lavish means more than enough that God pours more than enough love on you so that it rolls

through you it rolls off of you it gets on everything around you that loved people love people beloved if God so loved us we also ought to love one another no one has ever seen God if we love one another God abides in us and his love is perfected in us so church above all all else, above all else. Love one another deeply. Love one another earnestly. How? If you understand, Beloved, that God has so loved us by sending Christ to the cross to die on us, when we didn't deserve it, when we didn't ask for it, he initiated his love towards us. It was a one-way love towards us, and our natural normative response to that love once we understand the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to love him back. Therefore, with that kind of perspective of God's

great love for us, may you and I love one another deeply and earnestly, not because these people deserve it, and not because they're perfect, and not because it serves us well, but simply because God has first loved us. Let us love one another deeply, because love covers multitude of sin. Let's pray. Your God, we thank you that you are love. and that out of an overflow of your love for yourself, you created us as image bearers of the Most High King and that we have been given, the ability and the capacity to love one another

to give and to receive love and be in right relationship with one another and in right relationship with you. God, we pray for those folks in our life right now that maybe we have not been loving well. May we love them the way you loved us. May we pursue them. May we humble ourselves. May we serve them.

may we may we not make it all about us and think about what we get out of this relationship but just like you were willing to lay down your life for us may we be willing to lay down our lives for one another and Lord we pray that your love because you are love and demonstrated your love that your love would cover over a multitude of sins and God we thank you and we praise you that at the cross Jesus's love towards us covered over all of our sins and so God by the power of the Holy Spirit would you give us, would you give us the desire this day to above all else love one another deeply? We prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for joining us for Deepen with Pastor Jobi Martin.

If you're looking for additional resources to help you further deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ, visit C-O-E-22.com slash resources. We're praying this message you heard today helps you experience God. in a unique and fresh way. And as always, be free.