Love Is Not Soft

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Abba, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Abba, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  1 John 2:3–6 (HCSB) This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” yet doesn’t keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is perfected. This is how we know we are in Him: The one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked.  CONSIDER THIS John is not pulling any punches. I can’t remember the last time I heard a sermon like this one. Here’s a rough paraphrase: I’m not going to ask if you “know God.” I don’t need to ask that question, because your answer is irrelevant. I can find out if you know God just by watching you from a distance to see if you are keeping God’s commands. If, in fact, you are keeping God’s commands, I will know that you know God. He doesn’t stop there though. More paraphrase: “Now, if you tell me you know God and it turns out you don’t keep his commands, then there’s a technical term for you: a liar. You are a liar, and your life is devoid of the truth.” How’s that for a poke in the eye? It’s as though John is grabbing us by the shoulders and shaking us a bit. It’s a pretty merciful gesture, when you think about it. If a person thinks he or she knows God but doesn’t, that is one self-deceived individual. Okay, so what does it mean to keep God’s commands? As we will see, John brings it back to the issue of our relationships and the presence of love therein. Sometimes I get pushback (which I always appreciate) on this issue of love. Such people claim that this is flimsy, soft, relativistic, and that I’m missing the mark when it comes to the way I define sin—which, incidentally, means “missing the mark.” So, I ask you: What is the mark? I think the mark is the holy love of God. When I talk about love, some think I’m going soft on sin. I’ll grant you that the word love has been decimated in the present age, but I don’t think there’s a better word. To make a distinction, I am using holy alongside love to indicate virtuous activity of another order entirely. The way I mean to talk about love has nothing to do with love being soft. Quite the contrary, love is hard. Look at how the second half of today’s text describes it: “But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is perfected. This is how we know we are in Him: The one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked.” Love is not about playing nice. We are talking about nothing less than taking on the supernatural nature of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can live a new life. The ongoing reality of salvation is not What Would Jesus Do? (WWJD). It’s more like, How Did Jesus Do It? (HDJDI). The reality of the resurrection means the resources available to Jesus are now available to us. Because Jesus died for our sins, we are dead to sin. Because the love of God raised Jesus to life, we are alive to holy love. Love is not an emotion. It is a supernatural power always creating the possibility to overcome sin by the holiness of God. It’s why John writes, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin” (2:1). THE PRAYER  Lord Jesus, I want to be one who keeps your commands, yet I know it is impossible to do so without your constant help. I need a new center of gravity, which is the power of your love. Lead me into the hardness of love that I might learn to trust you more deeply, until your love is my love. Come, Holy Spirit, and make the possible probable in my life. In your name, Jesus. Amen.