WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:03.279 The second reading is from 1 John. 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:09.119 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:13.839 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:16.000 And why did he murder him? 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:20.160 Because his own deeds were evil and his brothers righteous. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:23.839 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:28.719 We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:31.359 Whoever does not love abides in death. 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:37.600 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:45.280 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:53.759 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:59.520 Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:04.799 By this we shall know that we are the truth and reassure our heart before him. 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:10.640 For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:22.319 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God, and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:31.280 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:35.519 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:41.840 And by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us. 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:43.840 The word of the Lord. 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:45.920 Thanks be to God. 00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:59.840 So an ancient voice of spiritual wisdom once said this to a lonely pupil. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:06.319 Fear is the path to the dark side. 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:13.520 Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:25.039 Now, if you recognize this quote, it's not from Plato and it's not from Aristotle or Confucius, it's actually from Yoda, from Star Wars. 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:45.120 Talking to a young Darth Vader who feels out of his element, off his home planet, and the caution that this little green guy has for a young Darth Vader is that the attitudes of your heart translate into the actions of your life. 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:50.639 And not just for you, but they will have consequences for those around you. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:53.280 Yoda's warning is about fear. 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:59.599 But for Christians, we know that this principle is true as well. 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:08.800 See, the attitude of our hearts testifies to what path we're on, what path we walk. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:18.000 The attitudes of our hearts become the actions of our lives, and that's true not just with fear, but it's true with hatred as well. 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:25.680 And that's what John is writing his congregation to warn them about in the last half of chapter three here. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:30.960 See, we looked at the first half of chapter three last week. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:38.479 We explored what it means to be a child of God, so we are in Christ Jesus. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:44.560 And we saw many facets, indeed, there were many facets of what it means to be a child of God. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:54.879 And the one we glimpsed at last week is the fact that children of God love their brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:03:56.080 --> 00:04:02.240 The attitude of the heart for a child of God is one of love. 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:05.120 This is what characterizes us. 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:14.719 In fact, this is what John says is the message that we've heard from the very beginning that we should love one another. 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:25.120 Love becomes the determining attitude for those who are in Christ, for those who are children of God, and it leads to an eternal life. 00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:27.519 That's what we see in verse 15. 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:37.040 But what we see here in chapter 3, verses 11 to 15, is a fork in the road. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:40.879 We see two pathways we can walk. 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:56.160 We see a way of Cain, a way of hatred that leads ultimately to death, and we see what I might call the way of the cross, a way of love that leads to life. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:05:08.480 And not just any kind of life, not just the life that comes having avoided the consequence of death, but an abundant life, a flourishing life, a full to overflowing kind of life. 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:15.120 This is the message, John says, You've heard from the beginning that we should love one another. 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:22.480 And friends, this message is no trivial matter. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:26.319 This message is a matter of life or death. 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:28.879 That's what we see in verse 14. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:33.199 Whoever does not love abides in death. 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:46.800 So it seems to me that understanding the difference between the way of Cain and the way of the cross, the difference between the way of hate and the difference of the way of love, is to know the difference between death and life. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:06:02.560 So, friends, those of us who endeavor to follow after Jesus and to be his disciples, we have to explore this morning John's powerful warning and his exhortation to love one another. 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:08.319 Let's explore these two ways together: the way of Cain and the way of the cross. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:10.959 First, let's look at the way of Cain. 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:14.800 The way of Cain is a way of hatred that leads to death. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:22.399 And what John wants us to see is ultimately a sin-corrupted world follows Cain's lead. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:24.720 Let's begin in verse 12. 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:31.680 John warns us we should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one, who murdered his brother. 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:33.519 And why did he murder him? 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:38.639 Because his own deeds were evil, and his brothers righteous. 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:48.079 See, immediately we know that John is hyperlinking this principle with an Old Testament story that we find in Genesis chapter 4. 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:55.600 So we better zoom the camera lens out a little bit and understand what exactly John is getting at in Genesis chapter 4. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:07:02.399 Now, the thing about Genesis chapter 4 is it's preceded by Genesis chapters 1 to 3. 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:04.560 You're welcome, that one's for free. 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:09.600 But it's what happens in Genesis 1 to 3 that's so significant. 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:15.920 Genesis 1 and 2 offer us complementary accounts of the creation story. 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:29.199 What we see in Genesis 1 and 2 is that an abundant, life-giving God decides to create a creation out of love and delight. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:41.279 He calls forth not an okay creation, certainly not a violent creation, he calls forth a good creation, a peace, a shalom-bearing creation. 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:43.519 And he's delighted to do so. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:08:12.319 And he crowns this creation with human beings who are very good, who bear his image, who are called into a life of perfect communion and loving relationship with God and with one another and with creation around them, and they're commissioned on an adventure to go and cultivate creation around them and enjoy a life of flourishing and fullness. 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:21.600 But what we see in Genesis chapter 3 is that our first parents disobey God. 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:24.639 God gave them one commandment. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:32.480 It was the context of faithfulness, a context of trust in the Lord, and they transgressed that commandment. 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:48.799 They ate from the one tree that God commanded them not to, which is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is to say they decided to choose for themselves, to determine for themselves what is right and what is wrong, and not trust in the Lord's word to them. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:53.039 They transgressed God's law. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:58.720 Sin, we learned last week, is lawlessness, and that's been true since Genesis chapter 3. 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:07.360 It's introduced all kinds of devastation and destruction and corruption into an otherwise good creation. 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:30.000 But where God was perfectly within his right to do away with those who've transgressed his commandment, those who committed the sin, God instead, out of his abundant mercy, commits himself to a rescue plan for these creatures created in his image and for creation. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:39.279 In Genesis 3.15, God is addressing the serpent when he says this, the serpent that deceived Adam and Eve. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:47.840 God says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:56.480 He, this promised child, will bruise your head or crush your head, and you shall bruise his heel. 00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:02.399 So in the midst of this devastating fall, God has made a very important promise. 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:08.720 This woman is going to conceive a promised child, or from this woman will come a promised child. 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:16.879 Yes, you'll deal a lethal blow to this child, but he will ultimately crush you under his feet. 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:21.440 So we might know where the story's going. 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:23.919 We might already have that in our minds. 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:26.000 But what if we pause? 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:35.279 And what if we pretend we're among the first audience reading this story and ask where we expect it to go? 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:40.559 Who is it that we meet in Genesis chapter 4 after this promise is uttered? 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:42.960 We meet Cain. 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:45.679 We meet this woman's offspring. 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:49.679 So our expectations should be high. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:11:05.600 God's promised an offspring, a child coming from this woman, who through faithfulness can undo the power of sin, who might rescue creation, or through whom creation might be rescued. 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:07.600 Cain could be the one. 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:12.960 He could be the one who through faithfulness rescues a fallen creation. 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:18.480 And so when we meet Cain, our expectations are high. 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:23.039 He and his brother, well, he's a worker of the ground. 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:23.679 He's a farmer. 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:26.559 His brother Abel is a keeper of sheep, we learn. 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:27.919 He's a shepherd. 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:31.200 In the course of time, they both offer offerings to the Lord. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:34.559 Clearly, God's given them some instruction in right worship. 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:37.600 And so they offer what they have to the Lord. 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:41.600 It's not saying that shepherds are objectively better than farmers. 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:46.639 It's to say that they've been called to this vocation and called to be faithful in it. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:48.559 So far, so good. 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:50.960 Our expectations are high. 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:54.080 And then Genesis 4, verse 4. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:12:02.559 The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:07.200 So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:16.399 See, it's not immediately obvious to us why it is that the Lord accepted Abel's offering and rejected Cain's. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:38.799 But if we measure this passage of Scripture against Scripture, if we let Scripture interpret Scripture, which is always a good principle in biblical interpretation, what we learn from the author of Hebrews is it's by faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous. 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:41.759 That's Hebrews 11, verse 4. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:48.799 See, it seems to me that faith has made the difference between Abel's offering and Cain's offering. 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:59.279 Abel has approached the Lord with an attitude in his heart of dependence, of humility, of reliance upon God and not upon himself. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:07.039 It seems to me that Cain has not approached the Lord or offered sacrifice with this at his very heart. 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:13.519 So what we see happen next translates that attitude of the heart. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:15.600 Cain is very angry. 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:16.720 His face fell. 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:20.879 Cain is furious, he's hateful, he's despondent. 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:24.879 The Lord knows this and he gives Cain a warning. 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:26.480 Why are you angry? 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:28.480 Why is your face fallen? 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:31.279 If you do well, will you not be accepted? 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:33.200 What's the condition of doing well? 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:36.240 I think Hebrews 11 tells us that's faith. 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:38.799 If you do not do well, will you not be accepted? 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:40.960 And if you do not do well, sin. 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:42.799 Make no mistake, Cain. 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:44.879 Sin is crouching at the door. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:46.879 Its desire is contrary to you. 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:48.159 You must rule over it. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:56.559 Cain, you have to realize the destructive power of sin in all of its ugliness is ready to eat you for lunch. 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:00.960 But your desire has to be contrary to it. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:08.559 So what happens next for the first readers must truly be devastating. 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:10.799 Cain spoke to Abel, his brother. 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:12.240 They were in the field. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:17.519 Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:21.200 So much for our expectations. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:26.159 So John warns us we should not be like Cain. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:30.159 But in what way we might want to ask? 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:33.200 Well, certainly we don't want to murder. 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:34.720 That's a bad idea. 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:39.679 But I think John is getting at something even more fundamental than that. 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:51.519 I think John is talking about the difference between a lively faith which relies upon God and depends upon him and approaches him humbly. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:54.720 And heart of self-reliance. 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:56.720 It translates into hatred. 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:00.000 It tears life from the world. 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:02.399 We should not be like Cain. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:10.879 We should not reject God's word and thereby reject our brother, but rather obey God's word and live in a context of life and love. 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:16.559 See, John's point is that a sin-corrupted world ultimately follows Cain's lead. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:18.799 Cain has blazed the trail. 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:21.440 He's the first murderer in Scripture. 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:30.080 He's something of a prototype or a figure of destroying life where God desires to see it flourish. 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:37.519 So John warns his congregation: don't be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:43.600 We know that we have passed out of death and into life because we love the brothers. 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:47.360 Whoever does not love abides in death. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:54.559 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:56.639 What does Cain show us? 00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:00.720 Cain shows us a journey from hatred to death. 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:05.279 The death of his brother, but his own spiritual death as well. 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:09.600 John warns us don't be like Cain. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:15.679 Because we have passed from death into life because we love the brothers. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:20.320 Whoever does not love abides in death. 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:28.159 See, abiding in death means we don't abide in life. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:30.720 And who's the source of our life? 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:35.519 It's God in his life and in his love. 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:39.679 Abiding in death means a rejection of God. 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:42.399 This is what Cain shows us. 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:58.000 John wants his congregation to be aware that there's been a fundamental conflict between those who have humbly depended upon God in accordance with his word and the world around that despises the righteousness of God's children. 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:01.600 Don't be surprised when you're despised, is what John says. 00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:10.720 But lest we get too self-righteous, we need to pause long enough to ask ourselves: do I harbor hatred in my own heart? 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:20.559 See, the warning of Cain is not just a far and away, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away kind of story. 00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:24.160 It's a story that causes us our own reflection. 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:29.279 Do I harbor hatred or do I harbor any of its cousins? 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:32.240 Resentment or bitterness or cynicism? 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:37.039 Do I delight when my enemy suffers misfortune? 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:40.400 Do I harbor these attitudes in my own heart? 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:46.960 Do I walk a little closer to the way of Cain than I might otherwise want to admit? 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:51.440 See, John is picking up on what Jesus has preached in the Sermon of the Mount. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:59.759 Jesus says in Matthew 5, You've heard it said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to the judgment. 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:04.880 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother is liable to the judgment. 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:12.480 Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the counsel, and whoever says, you fool, will be a liable to the hell of fire. 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:15.920 We might be inclined to say, boy, this sounds a little extreme. 00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:16.960 And you know what? 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:28.079 There is, there might be a practical, well, the blast radius of something like murder and something like calling someone an idiot might seem different, but Jesus is saying the heart is the same. 00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:33.039 The heart is one that wants to destroy the brother. 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:37.519 The heart is one that wishes ill upon another created in the image of God. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:39.279 This is the heart of Cain. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:45.200 Perhaps Jesus is just willing to be a little more honest about the condition of our heart than we are. 00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:52.000 It's been said that resentment is a poison that we drink, hoping that the other will die. 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:54.720 I think there's truth to that. 00:18:54.880 --> 00:19:04.400 I think we could also say that resentment and all of its cousins, anger and hatred and malice and bitterness, these are poisons that we drink, hoping that the other will die. 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:13.759 And if it doesn't happen, then maybe like Cain, we raise up our hands against our brothers or our sisters, take matters into our own hands, as it were. 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:18.400 This is a time for self-examination. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:24.720 Do I harbor that kind of resentment, bitterness, malice, or ill will in my heart? 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:26.880 And John's warning is clear. 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:37.920 If this is where we choose to live, if we choose to, if we choose to abide in that kind of resentment, then we choose to abide in death. 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:41.200 Because God is love and life. 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:43.839 And apart from God, there is no love. 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:46.000 There is no life. 00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:48.240 There is no eternal life. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:52.880 See, here we are, east of Eden and west of the new creation. 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:57.359 And apart from grace, humanity lives in the way of Cain. 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:01.519 And this way of Cain weaves its way through our own hearts. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:05.200 So the solution might seem easy at this point. 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:15.200 If we're willing to be honest with ourselves, we're willing to recognize that we too are prone to that kind of hateful attitude that leads to destructive actions. 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:18.400 Maybe we say, okay, I'm going to pick up my bootstraps. 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:20.319 I'm going to love that much harder. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:23.119 We might be inclined to say that. 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:27.599 But what we need is not self-help. 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:29.759 We need rescue. 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:32.240 We need rescue from the way of death. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:39.119 This is the message that John says, you've heard from the beginning that we should love one another. 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:44.640 Maybe it resonates with the new commandment that Jesus gave in John chapter 13. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:46.880 We heard it on Maundy Thursday. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:48.480 Love one another. 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:55.519 By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us. 00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:01.599 See the way of Cain leads from hatred to death. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:08.480 John understands that it's only the way of the cross that leads from love to life. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:11.200 By this we know love. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:15.279 That we just have a lot of fuzzy feelings for one another. 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:19.039 Boy, that we just get all gooey inside when we get together. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:20.799 Is that what he says? 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:25.599 By this we know love that he laid down his life for us. 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:28.480 John wants to point us to the essence of love. 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:32.880 It's not the gooey feelings we may or may not have on the inside. 00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:42.160 Love, in the words of one commentator, is the willingness to surrender that which has value for our own life to enrich the life of another. 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:51.440 This is the agape love that John is talking about, a self sacrificing love for the other's benefit, giving what I have for your sake. 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:58.000 In fact, Jesus says greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 00:21:58.240 --> 00:21:59.519 So how do we know love? 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.680 We go to that place where we see the ultimate sacrifice. 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:05.519 We go to the cross. 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:10.240 We know love because he laid down his life for us. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:15.519 For us, the cross becomes the image of God's ultimate love for us. 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:24.720 His complete self-giving, withholding nothing, and calling us to know his complete self given for us. 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:30.480 Not something we just know in our minds either, but something we know at the very core of our being. 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:35.519 Because we know the one who has died and rose again by his Holy Spirit. 00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:41.119 We know personally this love of God in Christ on the cross. 00:22:42.559 --> 00:23:02.559 It's this love that gives everything, that empties himself, Paul writes in Philippians chapter 2, that takes on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:06.880 It's humble, it's sacrificing, serving love. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:13.759 See, Jesus is the promised offspring that Cain failed to be. 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:16.720 We had high hopes for Cain, didn't we? 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:18.720 This could be the guy. 00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:24.480 And yet the way of Cain led from hatred to death. 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:36.079 But Christ, in bearing his cross, has given himself completely for our sakes out of love and opened to us the door of everlasting life. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:41.680 In Christ, we see the promised offspring that Cain failed to be. 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:46.240 We see the very essence of love when we behold the cross. 00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:48.960 But we're called to give evidence of this love. 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:53.039 Those of us who know the love of Christ cannot help but show it forth. 00:23:53.200 --> 00:24:02.880 So that's why John writes in verse 16 that knowing love in Christ means we ought to lay down our life for the brothers and for our brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:10.319 But if anyone has the world's good and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:17.039 Little children, he writes, let us not love in word or talk, but indeed and in truth. 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:22.480 See, we cannot help but be transformed when we encounter this love of God in Christ. 00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:24.559 He's given everything for our sake. 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:27.839 So what right have we to say, no, I think I'm just going to withhold that? 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:29.119 Thank you very much. 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:34.000 We're called into a radically renewed way of being human. 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:44.559 To participate in this renewing and restoring and rescuing work that God is doing in a fallen creation, it requires an open heart and not a closed heart. 00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:51.359 Cain's heart was closed towards his brother because fundamentally it was closed towards his God. 00:24:52.480 --> 00:25:01.119 An open heart that receives the love of God in Christ is a heart that opens up to brothers and sisters and to our community. 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:10.240 It's a love that asks itself, what provision do I have that I steward, that I can pass along? 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:16.000 Because how could we say we love someone else when we can meet their needs but refuse to do so? 00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:26.720 We're called to love indeed and in truth, and not just word and talk, and boy oh boy, if anything convicts me about this, it's right here. 00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:32.400 We're not just called to talk the talk, but to walk the walk. 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:33.519 C.S. 00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:43.759 Lewis famously writes that it's easier to be enthusiastic about humanity with a capital H than it is to love individual men and women. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:51.519 Especially, he writes, those who are uninteresting, exasperating, depraved, or otherwise unattractive. 00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:58.160 Loving everybody in general may be an excuse for loving nobody in particular. 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:00.000 Holy smokes. 00:26:01.359 --> 00:26:03.279 You might say it this way. 00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:07.759 I love humanity, but it's people I can't stand. 00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:20.000 Little children, let us not love in word and in talk, but in deed and in truth. 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:23.759 God didn't just talk sentiment to us. 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:28.079 He didn't just whisper sweet nothings. 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:31.440 He loved us in deed and in truth. 00:26:31.599 --> 00:26:33.680 And the cross is proof of that. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:45.359 So if we're called to be his disciples to take up our cross by grace and follow after him, so too are we called to offer our complete selves for the sake of others. 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:54.880 So the way of the cross is a journey from love to eternal life, a renewed resurrection life. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:00.079 But true love requires self-sacrifice. 00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:08.480 It requires us to ask, Am I willing to lay down my life and deny myself as my Savior has for the sake of others? 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:14.559 Not just in theory, not just a general, oh, I love my community. 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:16.640 I love my church. 00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:18.000 I mean, those are wonderful things. 00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:19.599 We should feel that way. 00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:30.720 But what actions of love do we put into practice that testify to this transforming love of Christ in our hearts? 00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:32.799 Friends, it requires grace. 00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:38.319 This is not something we can just pull up from ourselves and tighten up our bootstraps. 00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:44.880 It requires a renewing, transforming presence of God's love in our very hearts. 00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:51.119 And this is the promise of the Holy Spirit that John tells us about in verse 24. 00:27:51.519 --> 00:27:55.920 He guides us into all truth, we read in John 16. 00:27:56.319 --> 00:28:01.599 We read that he dwells in us, he abides in us in our gospel reading today. 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:06.720 The Holy Spirit is God's empowering presence of love in our very hearts. 00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:15.920 If we open our heart to him, we open our heart to receive his word, our hearts will inevitably become open to those individuals around us. 00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:22.799 We will find us called into the adventure of loving our neighbor as we have been loved in Christ. 00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:34.559 This is a this is what scripture witnesses to, and theologians use this word sanctification, becoming holy as he is holy. 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:39.920 Friends, holiness and love are not opposed to one another. 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:46.880 Growing in the holiness and the life of God in Christ is growing in love for our neighbors. 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:54.960 Eugene Peterson writes, we learn how to love, not by being told to love, but by being loved. 00:28:55.359 --> 00:28:58.319 This is who you are, loved by God. 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:04.240 But by being loved, pardon me, but being loved is not all there is to it. 00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:12.880 Being loved creates a person who can love, who must love if that person is going to be fully human. 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:17.440 Getting loved is a launching pad into giving love. 00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:25.519 So, friends, what does it look like to walk the way of the cross, a way from love to eternal life? 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:33.359 Well, perhaps it begins by praying for that open heart to receive that love of God in Christ. 00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:38.319 The Lord wants to transform and renew our hearts. 00:29:38.559 --> 00:29:48.640 In a way that Cain's heart was closed and hardened, he wants us to give us tender hearts, joyful hearts, hearts that are full and overflowing of his love. 00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:57.839 And in being transformed by the loving presence of the Holy Spirit, we now go forward and carry that love to those around us. 00:29:58.079 --> 00:30:01.680 Perhaps it begins by recognizing what God has given us to steward. 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:10.160 Some of us have treasures, some of us have time, some of us have talents, some of us have a combination or all three. 00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:23.759 God calls us to take what He's given us and like Abel, offer that back to Him as a sacrifice, to give of what He's given us for the sake of others and to the glory of God. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:30.400 We have to recognize what God's given us to steward, and then to look around to see the needs around us. 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:32.240 Maybe we need to go hunting. 00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:47.599 Maybe we need to get into our community, have those conversations with those individuals around us, and ask the Lord for wisdom to show us how we can show Christ's love to them and meet their needs in a wild way, maybe an unexpected way. 00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:52.079 Friends, we're in the middle of a pandemic, and it's not hard to find needs around us. 00:30:57.279 --> 00:31:01.119 We love indeed, not just in talk. 00:31:01.359 --> 00:31:04.079 Just like James says, faith without works is dead. 00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:08.720 We put this love into practice by taking the actions of love. 00:31:09.279 --> 00:31:17.759 I think in taking the actions of love, we discover a cure for resentment, for this hatred that was characteristic of Cain. 00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:30.559 We are renewed and transformed by the presence of the Holy Spirit into those who show forth God's love in his world and become agents of renewal and redemption. 00:31:31.599 --> 00:31:36.960 So, friends, the attitude of our heart becomes the actions of our lives. 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:46.960 For Christians, the attitude of our hearts testifies to where we abide, to what path we're on. 00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:56.240 Friends, our fallen nature weaves its way in and through the way of Cain, of resenting our brothers, of hating them. 00:31:57.200 --> 00:32:00.000 And a sin-corrupted world follows this lead. 00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:17.680 But friends, we are called to take up our cross, to give of ourselves, to love in a way that leads to abundant and overflowing life, because we see the heart of love in our crucified and risen Lord Jesus, and we have his very Holy Spirit dwelling within us. 00:32:18.799 --> 00:32:32.880 So, Father, would you show us what it means to love our brothers and sisters, to be overflowing with love and life, to walk in the way of the cross and give of ourselves for their sake. 00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:44.799 Lord Jesus, show us what needs we can meet generously as you have met our needs and rescued us so generously. 00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:49.119 Help us to be agents of your renewal in your creation. 00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:51.279 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:32:51.519 --> 00:32:52.160 Amen.