No Loopholes in Love

Good morning, church family. I can say that now, can’t I? I was a bit nervous. I thought, “If they decline me, what am I going to do?” But the most nervous part of today is over, so I can get to the sermon.

Today we’re starting a new series about showing God’s love, working through the book of 1 John. For those who are new, our vision here has three parts: to know who God is, to grow as a community with each other, and to show that love to the world around us. We’ve covered know through our season of personal revival and the 14 Days of Prayer and Fasting. We’ve covered grow through the book of Acts and our focus on life groups. Over the next four weeks we turn to show.

I think this is absolutely crucial. It’s why we exist as a church and as followers of Jesus: to share his love with the people around us.

Today’s text is 1 John 2:3–11. Open your Bible or the Bible app on your phone. If you don’t have either, peek over the shoulder of the person next to you. Maybe ask first so it’s not weird. I’m reading from the New International Version.

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

— 1 John 2:3–11

The title of today’s sermon is No Loopholes in Love.

Father in heaven, thank you that you are a God of love. In eternity past you existed as Trinity, three in one, living in love. But you weren’t content to keep that love to yourself. It overflowed, and you loved us with a love so sacrificial and other-centred. And you didn’t only show us that love. You called us to love others as you have loved us. As we leave here today, may we love others better, with no strings attached. Be with us as we unpack your word. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The loopholes we look for

Let me take you back to some dark times in human history, not that long ago: COVID-19. It was a hard time for us Victorians. Put your hand up if you were here in Victoria then. Some of you were interstate living the good life, but we had it rough.

We had curfews. We had a 5-kilometre radius. Restaurants were shut. You could exercise for one hour a day with one other person. And we had to wear masks or we’d get in trouble. Sorry to bring it all up again. I know you want to forget it. It’s for the illustration.

There were so many rules, and there were loopholes in the rules. You had to wear a mask, unless you were exercising. Suddenly everyone got into cycling and running and would turn up puffed out to talk to you. You didn’t need a mask while eating or drinking, so people walked around holding water, juice and hot drinks. You could only exercise with one other person, but you’d just happen to “bump into” people on your walk. The curfew and the radius only applied to Metro Melbourne, so people like my cousin moved their address to regional Victoria. Very, very smart.

We love finding loopholes. And I think we often look for loopholes in our religious life too.

I grew up in a Sabbath-keeping household. For those who don’t know, from Friday night to Saturday night we made the day different from other days. It was a day for family, for God, for worship, community and rest. But as a child I saw it as the day I couldn’t do the things I loved. So my brother and I looked for loopholes.

We wanted to play basketball, so we invented Bible basketball: you shoot, and you say a Bible verse. We played Bible Boggle, where you could only find words that are in the Bible. “Is ‘the’ in the Bible? Surely that counts.” And we knew we didn’t go to restaurants on Sabbath because you’re making someone work. So surely vending machines were all right? No one’s working. It’s just a machine.

But I realised that if you get to the end of the Sabbath, or to the end of keeping God’s law, and you’re just glad it’s over, something is wrong.

I want to propose a way of living for Jesus where there are no loopholes in love. You’re not looking for the minimum standard. You’re asking how much you can actually give. You’re going above and beyond. That’s what I want us to see today: the way of love, the new covenant experience, is far better than religious dos and don’ts.

What is 1 John?

Some of you might be thinking, “I’ve read the book of John. What’s 1 John?” It’s a letter. Most scholars think it was written by the same author as John’s Gospel, John the disciple, the one Jesus loved. In his older age he’s overseeing a network of house churches, and he writes them this letter. It’s really more of a poetic sermon, and most of its key ideas come from John 13–17.

John writes partly as a reminder and partly as damage control. There’s been a lot of division in this community. Some people are denying that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. John is trying to heal the division and bring people together, calling the house churches to love one another as Christ has loved them.

Perfection is love in action

Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar… But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them… Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. (vv. 4–6)

John is speaking to people who claimed to be perfect and without sin, and he shows them they haven’t got there. He paints a picture of someone who claims to be enlightened. They go to church, do all the religious things and hang out at church, but they don’t live in rhythm with God’s commands, in rhythm with his way of love.

Look at the phrase “love for God is truly made complete in them.” The Greek word for complete can mean perfect. John is telling us what perfection is: biblical perfection is about love. That’s how Jesus taught it, how John Wesley taught it and how Ellen White taught it. Perfection isn’t trying your hardest not to trip over the letter of the law. It’s growing in love, learning to love one another more sacrificially. It’s love in action.

If we’re meant to be Christlike, it’s less about what you don’t do and more about what you do. Christ isn’t remembered for what he didn’t do but for what he did.

Marcos Torres, a pastor in Perth, put it this way:

No one remembers Christ because he didn’t eat pork. They remember him because he fed the hungry. No one remembers Christ because he didn’t sleep around. They remember him because he honoured women. No one remembers Christ because he didn’t steal. They remember him because he gave. No one remembers Christ because he didn’t do anything on the Sabbath. They remember him because he did good on the Sabbath.

John is saying that maturity is Jesus living in us, so that we love the way he loved. That kind of agape love isn’t something the human heart can produce by its own effort. It only comes through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. As we behold Jesus, we’re changed to become like him.

An old command that’s new

I am not writing you a new command but an old one… Yet I am writing you a new command. (vv. 7–8)

John seems to contradict himself. It’s an old command, and it’s a new one. Why the paradox?

I think it’s because the law of God existed before God’s covenant with Israel. It was woven into the fabric of creation. In eternity past the law of love was there. Adam and Eve had no written law because it was written on their hearts. No one had to tell them not to steal or not to murder.

After the Fall the law of love was no longer written on human hearts. People didn’t know what love looked like anymore. So the Ten Commandments at Sinai were a distillation of the law of love, a tool to lead people back to conviction and to the Saviour of the new covenant.

But you can’t really understand love by looking at tablets of stone. You can only truly know love through a person. That’s the beauty of Jesus. He shows us what love is really like, in his teaching and in his actions.

When someone asked him for the greatest commandment, he cleverly summed up the whole law: love God, and love your neighbour as yourself. I’m not saying the specifics of the law don’t matter. But we can get so fixated on details that we miss the big picture, and the big picture is loving God and loving others.

Jesus made the law simpler, but also far more demanding. He raised the standard. “If you hate your brother, you’ve committed murder. If you look at a woman lustfully, you’ve committed adultery.” He intensified the law and internalised it.

Adventist author Skip MacCarty writes: “The Old Testament commandments to love God and neighbour were expressed with the same words in the New Testament, but Jesus lived that love in a way that made the law of love shine with new splendour, almost as though it were a new law.”

“I’ve heard it all before”

Some of you are thinking, “Jeremy, I’ve heard this before. Loving your neighbour is basic. I’ve moved on from milk. Give me solid food.”

But the reality is we often miss it. How are you really going at loving people the way Jesus does? I know I struggle with it. Let me ask a few questions:

• Do you believe there’s a ritual that makes you right with God without your having to make things right with others?
• Do you feel guiltier about missing church than about mistreating someone at work?
• Do you enjoy giving your opinion on the worship service more than calling someone in the church and asking how they’re really going?

I think that’s the reality for many of us. I know it is for me.

Being part of the new covenant is less about a different set of laws and more about a different kind of experience. The old covenant experience asks how close we can get to sin without actually sinning. It pushes boundaries and looks for loopholes. The new covenant experience asks, “What does love require of me?” It goes for the maximum. It seeks to go above and beyond and to love everyone, including our enemies.

We’re invited into a kingdom of conscience where the law of love is supreme. You can’t cheat this ethic or find loopholes in it, because it keeps calling for more. You never quite arrive. You can always love more and love better. Jesus came so that we’d stop chasing the minimum standard and trying to earn religious righteousness by our own effort, and instead go above and beyond in love.

Love among believers

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. (v. 9)

Why is John so focused on love between believers? I think it’s because he experienced it with Jesus himself. These words echo John 13:34–35:

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Here’s what brings God joy: seeing his children get along. Parents, especially those with more than one child, you know this. Nothing gives you more joy than seeing your kids love each other and play well together. In a way, when they love each other, they’re loving you. That’s how God sees us. When we love each other well, it brings him joy. It’s a way of loving him.

So love for a fellow believer shows you’re living in the light. It isn’t how you eat, how you dress or your religious behaviour. It’s how you love.

Imagine the disciples sitting around the table hearing Jesus say, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Imagine what each of them heard:

Matthew, remember when you were an outcast, a tax collector, despised even by your own people? I called you. I saw something in you that you couldn’t see yourself. I loved you.

Mary, remember when you were a lost cause? I freed you from the demons that enslaved you.

Peter, remember when we first met and you said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man”? Remember how impatient and rash you were, how you kept thinking my kingdom was something it wasn’t? I still loved you.

Thomas, remember how patiently I answered your doubts and questions? Because I loved you.

This is radical. Jesus is giving a new command, almost adding to the Torah. He can do that because he’s Jesus. He embodies everything the law is about, and now he says, “Go and do what I’ve shown you. Imitate me.” You can’t truly love by reading words on stone or paper. You can only truly love through a relationship.

The early church got it

I believe the disciples understood this, because the early church lived it so well. In Acts we see a multi-ethnic community whose unity across ethnic boundaries was startling. It was a community of forgiveness and reconciliation in an honour-and-shame culture where vengeance was expected. It was famous for hospitality and for its love for the poor and suffering.

Here’s one example. First-century Christians became known for taking in abandoned babies. In the Roman Empire abandoning a baby wasn’t just legal. In some circumstances it was encouraged. It wasn’t considered murder, because technically you weren’t killing the child. You left it in the street and let the gods decide its fate. Babies were abandoned for birth defects, for being the “wrong” gender, or because of infidelity.

The early church was countercultural. One of the earliest Christian manuals said you must not kill what has been born. But they didn’t stop at condemning the practice. People went to the places where babies were left, took them home, adopted them and raised them as their own.

Here’s the thing: nothing in the Bible or the Hebrew Scriptures commands rescuing abandoned babies. So why would someone put their own family at risk to do it?

I believe it’s because they were convinced love required it of them. They weren’t living by the letter of the law or hunting for loopholes like the Pharisees. They were filled with the love of Jesus. They had experienced it, and they wanted to imitate it, because they knew Jesus would do this.

The early church got it. I believe we’re here today because Jesus’ disciples got it. And I wonder whether we can get it too.

What does love require of you?

Some of you still want deeper doctrines. But even the deeper doctrines should help us see the love of Jesus more clearly and grow in love. They aren’t there to puff us up, to make us feel like more knowledgeable Christians with all the answers who can tell everyone else they’re wrong.

Let’s not get so caught up in running the machine of church and going through religious motions that we miss the people sitting right here who are suffering, in pain, or coming off a hard week, while we play our silly games of religiosity.

Jesus is calling us to a higher standard. Stop looking for loopholes and start living the way of love, a way that asks, “What does love require of me?”

Let’s take his simple command seriously: love one another as he has loved us. Give someone a call and ask, “How are you going? How was your week? What’s been hard lately? How can I support you, help you, serve you?” Maybe it’s, “Want to grab lunch sometime? I’d love to hear how you’re really doing.” Maybe it’s serving food to people who need it. I don’t know exactly what it looks like for you.

But Jesus isn’t calling us to get as close to sin as we can without stepping over the line. He wants us to mature in love, to be perfect as he is perfect, and to love one another as he has loved us.