What Makes Christian Love Different?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | Good Monday morning, everyone.
00:00:05.560 | It's a big week ahead for us
00:00:07.120 | because today we launch week number 500 in the podcast.
00:00:12.120 | 500 weeks.
00:00:14.800 | Incredible, that's a lot of sustaining grace
00:00:16.960 | and it's not possible without you.
00:00:18.420 | So thank you for your prayers and your support
00:00:20.400 | and your questions and your listens.
00:00:22.860 | We don't take any of this for granted.
00:00:24.560 | So thanks for listening while you wait in airport terminals,
00:00:28.000 | while you ride in subways or do your daily mundane chores,
00:00:32.440 | the dishes, the laundry, walking the dog,
00:00:34.680 | or when you're driving to work or shuffling kids around town
00:00:37.480 | or even through your iPhone speakers as you end your day.
00:00:40.880 | However, and whenever you listen,
00:00:43.200 | thank you for listening and making this podcast
00:00:46.120 | a part of your busy life.
00:00:48.280 | And now for 500 weeks, humbly.
00:00:53.000 | And we begin week number 500
00:00:55.240 | with a question from a listener named Joe.
00:00:56.960 | Pastor John, hello and thank you for this podcast.
00:00:59.280 | What would you say is the difference
00:01:00.280 | between the kind of love that is produced
00:01:01.920 | in the Christian's heart for others through the new birth?
00:01:04.840 | 1 John 4, 7, 1 Peter 1, 22 to 23,
00:01:08.200 | compared to the charitable and often self-sacrificial love
00:01:11.080 | that we often see demonstrated in the world
00:01:12.780 | among non-Christians.
00:01:14.680 | Pastor John, how would you explain this difference?
00:01:17.200 | The difference between secular love and Christian love
00:01:24.880 | is that secular love is not rooted
00:01:29.120 | in the cross of God's son
00:01:31.320 | and is not sustained and shaped by the power of God's spirit
00:01:37.800 | and is not acted for the glory of God the Father.
00:01:41.660 | So the source of it is different
00:01:45.440 | and the sustaining power of it is different
00:01:48.240 | and the goal of it is different.
00:01:51.360 | So let's think about each of these one at a time
00:01:53.680 | and see if we can fill it out.
00:01:55.840 | First, there's a different source for these two loves.
00:02:01.940 | 1 John 4, 19, we love because He first loved us.
00:02:06.940 | 1 John 4, 19.
00:02:10.920 | And how did He first love us?
00:02:14.040 | Well, John says in 1 John 3, 16,
00:02:17.440 | "By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us.
00:02:22.720 | And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."
00:02:26.480 | So Christian love is rooted in Christ's sacrifice
00:02:31.480 | for me, for you.
00:02:33.960 | By this, our sins are forgiven.
00:02:38.900 | We're justified, accepted, loved by God.
00:02:42.740 | We have the hope that everything in life
00:02:46.880 | will work together for our good
00:02:48.340 | and bring us to everlasting joy
00:02:49.960 | so that fear and greed, the great barriers to love,
00:02:54.960 | are taken away as we trust what God is for us in Christ.
00:03:01.800 | And when Paul calls Christians to have compassion
00:03:06.840 | in Colossians 3, 12, he prefaces that command
00:03:10.560 | with three identifiers of who we are.
00:03:14.540 | He says, "Put on then as God's chosen,
00:03:19.660 | God's holy ones, God's loved ones,
00:03:24.660 | compassionate hearts."
00:03:26.760 | Now, this is the root of the source of compassion.
00:03:32.640 | God chose me, God consecrated me,
00:03:36.760 | made me holy, set me apart for Himself.
00:03:39.600 | God loves me.
00:03:40.760 | And all of this is provided for us
00:03:44.040 | because of Christ's death in our place.
00:03:47.560 | No other way.
00:03:49.700 | That death for us provided the hope
00:03:54.040 | from which love flows.
00:03:56.880 | Colossians 1, 4, "We heard of the love
00:04:00.700 | that you have for all the saints
00:04:02.920 | because of the hope laid up for you in heaven."
00:04:05.960 | And that hope is purchased by Jesus on the cross.
00:04:10.960 | Christ's death also provided the joy
00:04:16.380 | from which love flows.
00:04:19.860 | 2 Corinthians 8, 2, "In a test,
00:04:24.200 | a severe test of affliction,
00:04:26.580 | their abundance of joy overflowed
00:04:30.300 | in a wealth of generosity."
00:04:32.020 | In other words, joy overflows in love.
00:04:34.240 | Christian love is the overflow of joy in God
00:04:39.040 | that meets the needs of others.
00:04:40.520 | And that joy is a blood-bought joy
00:04:45.580 | from the death of Jesus.
00:04:47.860 | So the first difference between secular love
00:04:50.260 | and Christian love is that our love is rooted in
00:04:55.260 | and is the overflow of the work of Christ
00:04:59.440 | and its effects in our lives.
00:05:01.820 | Second, Christian love is sustained and shaped
00:05:06.820 | by the work of God's spirit,
00:05:09.100 | whereas secular love isn't.
00:05:11.820 | Paul calls it the fruit of the spirit.
00:05:14.860 | Galatians 5, 22.
00:05:16.440 | It is the spirit that takes the death of Christ
00:05:21.460 | and causes it to be real for us
00:05:24.900 | and gives us new hearts so that the death of Christ
00:05:27.660 | has a love-producing effect on us.
00:05:31.640 | John says, "We know that we have passed out of death
00:05:34.540 | into life because we love the brothers.
00:05:39.180 | Whoever does not love abides in death."
00:05:41.740 | Love in our lives is the evidence
00:05:45.180 | that the spirit of God has brought us from death to life.
00:05:50.180 | And the spirit not only gives us life
00:05:53.540 | at the beginning of our Christian walk in new birth,
00:05:57.740 | but he sustains our faith and life as we go along,
00:06:02.740 | moment by moment, depending on his power
00:06:06.740 | so that we can make the sacrifices necessary
00:06:09.660 | that love demands.
00:06:13.020 | It's the Holy Spirit that sustains our faith
00:06:16.640 | so that we can continually lay hold of the promises of God
00:06:21.140 | for hope, for joy that free us for love.
00:06:26.300 | And we could go on and on how the spirit forms
00:06:30.720 | and sustains our capacities to love
00:06:34.100 | by overcoming the great love killers
00:06:37.740 | of fear and greed and selfishness
00:06:39.780 | and directing our hearts over and over again
00:06:43.020 | to the truth of God's commands and promises
00:06:45.380 | where we get the wisdom and boldness we need to love
00:06:47.780 | and humbling our pride so that we don't need to be somebody
00:06:52.780 | and instead can take thought for the interests of others
00:06:58.600 | and not just our own and on and on
00:07:01.380 | that the work of the spirit sustains
00:07:04.440 | and shapes Christian love, but not the love of the world.
00:07:08.620 | Third, finally, Christian love has a different goal,
00:07:14.700 | not an entirely different goal,
00:07:18.540 | but a radically different goal.
00:07:21.540 | It's not entirely different from the unbeliever who loves,
00:07:26.540 | not entirely different because secular love often aims
00:07:31.540 | at the physical and emotional and psychological
00:07:35.420 | and relational and economic well-being of other people.
00:07:40.420 | And Christians care about these things.
00:07:43.420 | There's this overlap.
00:07:44.620 | But when Christians ask, what is good for people
00:07:50.980 | in all those areas, what's really good?
00:07:55.360 | The answer is always essentially different
00:08:00.880 | from the answer of secular people.
00:08:04.720 | Because for Christians, what's good for human beings
00:08:09.720 | is always defined so as to include their relationship
00:08:15.080 | to God in Christ.
00:08:18.420 | What is good for people is that they trust Christ
00:08:22.580 | and depend on his spirit and walk in obedience
00:08:26.300 | and live for the glory of God.
00:08:28.740 | Therefore, when Christians talk about seeking
00:08:32.260 | the physical good of a person, for example,
00:08:36.280 | we do so in the hope that they will experience
00:08:40.200 | this physical good as a gift of God
00:08:44.220 | and receive it in the name of Jesus
00:08:46.740 | and rely on the Holy Spirit to use it for his glory.
00:08:50.560 | If all those Godward dimensions are missing,
00:08:55.880 | our love is falling short of its goal and we grieve.
00:09:00.880 | Christian love is keenly aware that life on earth
00:09:05.400 | is a viper followed by an eternity,
00:09:08.800 | either of exquisite happiness in the presence of God
00:09:12.720 | or eternal suffering cut off from his presence.
00:09:16.280 | And therefore, Christians care about all suffering,
00:09:20.040 | but especially eternal suffering.
00:09:24.280 | The Bible tells us to do everything to the glory of God.
00:09:28.480 | So we should love people for the glory of God.
00:09:33.480 | And when someone asks, is it truly love for a person,
00:09:38.560 | love for a person, is it truly love for a person
00:09:43.440 | if we are motivated by the hope that God will be glorified
00:09:48.440 | through our love for this person?
00:09:51.380 | I know people ask that question.
00:09:53.000 | I've heard it recently.
00:09:54.520 | And the answer is, it is love, the greatest love.
00:09:58.960 | And the reason the answer is yes,
00:10:03.120 | it is love when you love someone
00:10:06.060 | in order that God would be glorified.
00:10:08.420 | The answer to the question why goes like this.
00:10:12.620 | Love is doing whatever it takes
00:10:20.040 | to enthrall the beloved
00:10:23.360 | with the greatest and longest happiness,
00:10:26.620 | even if it costs you your life.
00:10:29.740 | And what will enthrall the beloved
00:10:33.500 | with the greatest and longest happiness
00:10:36.260 | is the glory of God.
00:10:38.000 | All that God is for them in Jesus.
00:10:42.460 | Therefore, love for people means doing all we can
00:10:47.820 | at whatever cost to ourselves, like Jesus did,
00:10:51.840 | to help people be enthralled with the glory of God
00:10:55.280 | now and forever.
00:10:57.520 | When they are enthralled
00:11:00.240 | with all that God is for them in Jesus,
00:11:04.120 | then they are satisfied fully and forever.
00:11:07.920 | And God is glorified in their being satisfied in Him.
00:11:12.640 | That's what makes us tick at desiring God,
00:11:16.080 | this glorious, profound biblical insight.
00:11:19.500 | Therefore, loving people and glorifying God
00:11:23.520 | are not alternatives.
00:11:25.480 | They're not at odds.
00:11:27.040 | They are profoundly one thing.
00:11:30.920 | So in those three ways,
00:11:34.000 | Christian love is different from secular love.
00:11:39.000 | Different source, the death and resurrection of Christ,
00:11:42.400 | different sustaining power, the work of the Holy Spirit,
00:11:47.080 | different goal, full and everlasting joy in God.
00:11:52.080 | - Very helpful distinction here, Pastor John, thank you.
00:11:55.760 | And thank you for the great question today.
00:11:57.160 | That's why we're here 500 weeks later,
00:11:59.760 | because you are perceptive Bible readers.
00:12:01.760 | You are articulate with the challenges of the Christian life
00:12:04.680 | and you send us some great articulate questions.
00:12:07.320 | And if you have one of those on the brain,
00:12:09.080 | type it out and send it to us
00:12:10.360 | through our online home@desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:12:15.360 | Speaking of Christian love,
00:12:17.840 | another key factor in genuine Christian love
00:12:21.920 | is dying to the love of money.
00:12:26.020 | That must happen.
00:12:26.880 | We must die to the love of money
00:12:29.960 | for our love to be genuine
00:12:32.400 | and for our worship to be genuine.
00:12:35.720 | It's a great connection.
00:12:36.600 | Pastor John, we'll make it next time
00:12:38.340 | as we work through week number 500 on the podcast.
00:12:42.220 | I'm your host Tony Reiki.
00:12:43.060 | We'll see you back here on Wednesday.
00:12:45.060 | (upbeat music)
00:12:47.640 | (upbeat music)
00:12:50.220 | [BLANK_AUDIO]