Three Tests of Faith: Believe, Live, Love

And then John says very plainly, if somebody rejects this, if somebody rejects this, and that's a strong word. In other words, if you have examined, sifted, reflected, and reject this. Not just if you struggle with this, if you're wrestling with this, if you're exploring this, if you're wondering about this, if you're enticed by this. But if you have come to a place of rejecting this, John says this is not from God. Doctrine matters. What we believe is important. [00:21:17] (39 seconds)  #DoctrineMatters

But he says it's a natural, reflexive, joyful, life-giving response to God's spirit in our life. It's a response to the spiritual genetics of Christ living within you. There's a doctrinal test, what we believe matters. There's a moral test, how we live matters. But even that is not enough. He goes on to a third test, and he says, how we love matters. How we love matters. [00:26:48] (39 seconds)  #LoveIsTheProof

``You can believe the right things, you can do the right things, and you can still miss Christianity entirely if love is absent. Let me say that again. You can believe the right things. You can live the right way, but still miss Christianity entirely if love is absent. Without love, you don't have Christianity. You have a religion, but not Christianity. [00:27:31] (37 seconds)  #LoveIsChristianity

You have the legalism of the priest and the Levite, who had all the right beliefs and all the right morality, but they saw the injured traveler, and they passed by on the other side of the road because they didn't have love. Without love, you have this sort of bizarre disconnect in people that Jesus describes as those who see somebody who's hungry, see somebody who is sick, see somebody who is in prison. And do nothing about it. [00:28:08] (33 seconds)  #LoveInAction

In other words, I'm not moved to compassion at the plights and challenges that another person faces. They call him Lord. Their theology is correct. Their morality on the outside looks clean. But Jesus says, I never knew you. [00:28:41] (21 seconds)  #CompassionOverCorrectness

Verse 10 says that God's love is revealed in sacrifice. Not only is God self-revealing, but God is self-sacrificing. God's love is revealed in sacrifice. Jesus freely giving himself for us. And that's so important. Freely giving. So it's worth making two clarifications. The first one is sacrificial love. It's freely chosen love. It's not coerced, and it's not resentful. [00:35:19] (31 seconds)  #SacrificialLoveIsFree

And so, on the one hand, we misunderstand sacrifice if we think it means letting people walk all over us, becoming a doormat for people. If we avoid conflict in order to gain approval, or to avoid distress or discomfort, that's not love, it's fear. And on the other hand, we also misunderstand sacrifice when we take responsibility for what others are capable of doing for themselves. In other words, whether that's over-parenting, or enabling addiction, or any of a hundred other ways that that shows up, that's not love either. It's control. [00:36:22] (45 seconds)  #SacrificeIsNotControl

Some of us, in this coming year, will evaluate our lives and will say, there are some places where the family resemblance isn't so much a resemblance. There are some places in my life where I'd like to live more in step with the character and the purpose and the values of Jesus. All of us will look at our lives and say, we can grow in love because love is the signature. And wherever that love is growing, however imperfectly, you're seeing the real deal. You're seeing the spirit of God because authentic Christianity always leaves a mark. And that mark is love. [00:40:24] (55 seconds)  #LoveLeavesAMark