Love Like a Christian

Nothing is more important than relationships!

Nothing is more important than relationships! Because God is love, & because he created you to love you, he wants you to learn to love. Learning to love is the #1 lesson God intends for you to learn here on earth. Jesus said that the entire Bible can be summed up in two commands: Love God with all your heart & love your neighbor as yourself. (Matt. 22:26-40) By choosing these two commands as the most important, Jesus tells us how deeply he values relationships. He values our relationship with God, & he values our relationships with each other. Nothing is more important than relationships!

The NT writers taught that learning to love God & each other is the most important lesson to learn.

-Paul wrote “Let love be your highest goal” (1 Cor. 14:1 NLT)

-John wrote, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” ( 1 Jn 3:14 )

-James wrote, “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right.” (Jam 2:8)

-Peter wrote “Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.” ( 1 Pet 4:8 NLT)

As Christians learning to love God & others is to be our highest goal, our greatest aim, our first priority, our deepest desire, our strongest ambition, & our constant focus. The more we learn how to love, the more like Jesus we become. Nothing is more important than relationships!

So how are we doing at demonstrating love for one another ? According to three recently published books: “The Essential Church, They Like Jesus but Not the Church, & The UnChristian”, we aren’t doing very good! The next generation believes our love is conditional, deceptive, & insincere. That’s why 2/3’s of the 18-22 year olds are leaving the church. According to one Gallup Poll, “7 out of every 10 Christians are hypocrites in the eyes of the younger generation.” Why? Because we have made other things more important than relationships!

When the next generation says that only 15% of us have ACTIONS that match our BELIEFS as followers of Christ, what they are saying is this: Christians in our culture are in large part undistinguishable! We may claim to know Christ & follow him, but to many people – there are no distinguishable marks of our Christianity. Christians in large part are not loving like God or others Jesus commanded!

Some people put Christian symbols on their cars & wear crosses—but if you ask Jesus: what's the mark of a Christian His answer is: " Love one another. As I have loved you…. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (Jn 13:34-35) Love is to be the distinctive sign of Christians. Nothing is more important than relationships!

How love works: We preachers have been guilty of skipping a step. We preach, “Love one another! Be patient, kind, be encouraging, & forgiving!” Max Lucado, in his book “A Love Worth Giving” says: Instructing people to love without telling them they ARE LOVED is like telling them to write a check without our making a deposit in their accounts. No wonder so many relationships are overdrawn! People have insufficient love in their hearts. The apostle John shares the right order. First he talks about the deposit: “God showed how much he loved us by sending his only son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us & sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”(1 John 4:9-10 NLT) Then he says to you & me to write out the check: “Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other”(v. 11 NLT).

So here’s the deal: The secret to loving is LIVING LOVED. Many people tell us to love. Only God gives us the power to do so. If we want to love as God loves, we start by RECEIVING His love. And it’s a good idea to daily thank Him for the love he has given you.

Differences Are Golden Opportunities to Demonstrate Love:

Inside the church we have differences that call for genuine & persistent love toward one another. How we experience & handle those differences is what demonstrates, to the people inside & outside the church, if we really are Christians, Christ followers!

Let me mention three "golden opportunities" for us at Perham.

1 - The way the Governing Board & I handle issues like the Angel of Hope Matter is a call for love. We could have handled the matter better than we did. We learned from the experience. I thank God for the love & grace that many of you have shown. No church leaders or pastor can live without the love & grace of others, because as the Bible says: "We all stumble in many ways." (James 3:2)

2 - There are the differences among us in our preferred worship style. What’s the preferred style of music: hymns, choruses, gospel songs? What are the preferred musical instruments: piano, organ, drums, guitar? These differences are threatening the unity & love of churches all over the world. Here is a golden opportunity to LEARN LOVE & SHOW LOVE in the midst of differences. The key question is not: “WHAT SHOULD WORSHIP LOOK LIKE?”, the key question is: “WHAT SHOULD LOVE LOOK LIKE AMONG CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE DIFFERENT WORSHIP PREFERENCES ?

3 – There are differences in the way we do church. Some believe that the way to do church is let the pastors do it & program it to the older adult generation. But the data says it takes the combined strength of pastors, parents & parishioners working together to reach this & the next generation. There is a clear connection between how young adults perceive the pastors, parents & parishioners whether they drop out or stay connected. Young adults connect to churches where the pastors, parents & parishioners are involved, caring, authentic, patient, welcoming & positive. Conversely, young adults drop out of churches where the people are uninvolved, indifferent, hypocritical, impatient, & negative.

We can make a big difference in the life of this & the next generation! How? By becoming involved, by being proactive in modeling love, practicing & teaching spiritual disciplines, being consistent in lifestyle, & remaining authentic in our struggles. The Bible says: “…let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.“(I Jn 3:18NLT)

Biblical love is "action in the best interest of the other person."

Love ISN’T mostly about feelings! It would be good to feel love & do love but loving others is most about the DOING. In other words, Christians love others even when we don't feel like it.

I long personally to demonstrate & grow in love! I long for us as a church to demonstrate & grow in love! So I take heart from what the Bible says about our ability to love: In Phil. 1:9 the Apostle Paul says, "I pray, that your love may abound still more & more in real knowledge & all discernment."That's what I want for us, as we get older together.

Our world is crying out to Christians: “Show me the LOVE!” May God help us remember: Nothing is more important than relationships!