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All You Need Is Love?

Sermon by Rev. Paul Fahnestock — September 2, 2007
 

The apostle John contributed much to our understanding of Jesus Christ and Christian doctrine. Besides the Gospel of John and Revelation, he wrote three letters (known as 1, 2, and 3 John) to a particular church. Various scholars believe that the church may have been the church in Ephesus, one of those for which John had oversight in the latter years of his life.

John was a young man when he was called and appointed an apostle by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. John followed Jesus throughout his three-year earthly ministry. He had heard Jesus’ teachings and had witnessed the miracles. John was there when Jesus was crucified and watched the body removed from the cross and laid in a tomb. And John was with this same Jesus risen from the dead. He touched him, ate with him, and listened to his final teaching in those forty days before his ascension to the right hand of the Father.

The reason we have this letter as a part of the canon of Holy Scripture is precisely because it represents the truth of the Christian faith as received by one who intimately knew Jesus Christ. At the writing of his second letter, John is an old man imparting wisdom from having lived his life for his Savior and Lord. We, like the church of Ephesus, receive this letter as representative of the true Christian faith.

Let’s begin looking at the Second Letter of John.

The elder,
      To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth — ²because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:
      ³Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.
      ⁴It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. ⁵And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. ⁶And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

2 John, 1-6 (NIV)

Do you remember that popular Beatles song All You Need Is Love, written and sung by John Lennon? It was first recorded in 1969 on the "Yellow Submarine" album. Let’s look at the lyrics.

Love, love, love.
Love, love, love.
Love, love, love.

There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game.
It's easy.

Nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.
It's easy.

All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.

I really love that melody, and I used to think it had a really heavy message, but John Lennon’s advice is meaningless unless the nature of love is defined and unfolded. You can’t live by the words in this song. This is precisely the apostle John’s point in this letter, as he explains that Christian love expresses itself only as it follows divine guidelines.

First, let’s look at the context of John’s letter. John is writing to a first Century church that is under attack from without and from within. Imagine yourself in this church founded by the apostle Paul. You have given up everything for Jesus. The Jewish leaders call you heretics and attack you unmercifully. The Roman government believes you are a sect disloyal to the Roman Emperor. You have watched Roman soldiers take your friends away to jail or even to be executed. In all of this persecution, by God’s grace, your faith in Jesus Christ has remained strong.

But now there is another threat. Some teachers have come into the church and their teaching has caused a division. They say they have a new teaching, secret things that the apostles did not know. What they teach does not agree with the words of Jesus, or the teaching of the apostles, but they have convinced some and caused division in the church.

It is in this context that the elder John writes to give them instruction and to encourage them. He writes to the “chosen lady and her children.” This is a metaphor for “the church and its members.” “You may have trouble,” says John, “but you are the beautiful bride of Christ. And, furthermore, you are not alone. I, John, love you in the truth, and all others who know the truth, also stand in solidarity with you and love you.”

John loves them in the truth. This love is not a feeling or a sentiment. Christian love is rooted in the truth. It is the truth of God’s love in Jesus Christ that John and the church share in common, that creates the bond of love between them. Love without truth is not Christian love. All you need is love . . . and truth.

John uses the new word for love found in the New Testament which expresses the particular kind of love shown by God to men and women, and the same love which must be shown by men and women to God and to one another. This Greek word, agape, was rarely found in secular writings, and it was a word needed to express the special elements of Christian love. Contained in the word agape is much more than warm and affectionate feelings for another. It is a verb of action which includes caring for other people, showing loyalty to them and seeking their good, in contrast with only seeking one’s own enjoyment in the object of love or of mutual attractiveness and affection. Christian love — agape love — is, above all, giving love.

John describes this agape love as one not of word or speech, but of truth and action. It is costly. As Christ laid down his life for us, John exhorts us to lay down our lives for one another. If we see a brother or sister in need and have the means to help, God’s love compels us to do so (1 John 3:16-18).

Christian love is, first of all, active caring for others and not an emotional feeling. But in the act of caring for others and being conscious of their needs, feelings of sympathy, compassion, and affection will naturally and spontaneously arise. Agape love will be expressed in a real affection and concern for each other.

Can you understand how this understanding of love is crucial in the relationship of marriage? Love in marriage is often inverted. Husbands or wives think they must first “feel” love and, then, caring, giving and loyalty will follow. But Christian love is first of all about seeking the other’s good, meeting the other’s needs, and the feelings and affection will follow. Agape love is a discipline, not a feeling. It is this agape love that brings joy and longevity to Christian marriages.

Christian agape love means that we live in accordance with God’s revelation in the Bible and by all the standards contained in it. Thus we fulfill the commandment of the Father. Agape love — Christian love — is the fulfillment of the law of God. Jesus summarized the law in his teaching, saying that “you should do to others as you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12).

I believe a passage from chapter 14 of the Gospel of John helps reinforce this principle that John is teaching.

      "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. ²In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴You know the way to the place where I am going.”
      ⁵Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
      ⁶Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
      ⁸Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
      ⁹Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. ¹²I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
      ¹⁵”If you love me, you will obey what I command. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever — ¹⁷the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. ¹⁸I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

John 14:1-21 (NIV)

John was there with Jesus. You can understand why John stresses that the Christian relationship to love is not just in knowing the commandment, but in walking in obedience to it. Christian love, then, is a deliberate, joyful, and willing obedience to God’s word. John wonderfully ties together this relationship of obedience, God’s word, and love. Our willing obedience to God’s word is our act of love. All you need is love . . . truth and obedience. That’s all you need.

In the second half of his letter, John begins a second exhortation to the church — beware of false teachers. There is a solid connection between John’s two exhortations in this letter. His concerns are easily understood in light of his clear teaching that Christian love and Christian truth cannot be separated from each other. Therefore, it follows that those who follow false teaching about the Christian faith will no longer walk in the truth and, therefore, no longer practice Christian love.

      ⁷Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. ⁸Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. ⁹Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. ¹¹Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.
      ¹²I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
      ¹³The children of your chosen sister send their greetings.

2 John, 7-13 (NIV)

John is not concerned here with those in the church who might disagree on whether the Lord’s Prayer must be said every Sunday or whether traditional hymns must be sung in order to have a true Christian worship experience. He’s not concerned with how much water is used at baptism, or even whether you are an infant or an adult when baptized. John warns against those who oppose the heart of Christian belief.

There was a group of philosophers in the first Century known as Gnostics. And these ancient Gnostic thinkers entered the church and taught that there was no lasting union between the divine Christ and the human Jesus and, thus, the incarnation was not lasting and eternal, but only temporary. This teaching attacks the very core of Christian faith. It questions the incarnation of Jesus Christ. It is a new teaching different from what Jesus taught about himself; different than what the apostles taught and wrote about Jesus; and different than what the rest of Scripture testifies concerning the Messiah.

John proposes a clear test of orthodox teaching. He states that the false teachers do not “acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.” They deny the orthodox core confession of the church. These teachers claimed to be Christians and said they had a deeper truth, but John says the truth was not in them; they are the antichrist.

John does not try to be politically correct. He is emphatic. “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; and whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” It is impossible to separate the Father from the Son in Christian experience. This is not something John dreamed up on his own. Jesus is the one who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” It is on the authority of Jesus’ teaching that John warns that if you move past Jesus’ teaching to something else, then you have moved completely past Christianity and you have not found God, because Jesus is the only way to God.

How, then, should the church deal with these false teachers? John instructs the church, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching (that is, sound orthodox teaching), do not take him into your house or welcome him.” I know some of you are thinking, “What kind of love is that?” It is easy to conclude here that John is recommending an unloving attitude toward those who hold unorthodox and errant views and doctrines. How can we win back such a one to the truth if we refuse to offer love and fellowship?

But I believe that John is not suggesting that the church refrain from showing love and concern for those who are in biblical error. Yes, he does teach that the church should not encourage and help false teachers to spread their faulty teaching. In John’s context, the first Century church, the provision of hospitality to traveling preachers and teachers was a means of helping their work. In our context, when we give hospitality to a person in biblical error does not necessarily imply that we are promoting or agreeing with their views.

Do you see the difference between giving a person love and hospitality as opposed to providing them with a base for their work? John’s advice to FPC today would be to not invite a false teacher to preach or lead a Sunday school class. This puts a big responsibility on us. It means that we must know the difference between what is true and what is false, between what is God’s word and what is not. Are we doing our homework?

I agree that not every Christian will be a Bible scholar, but virtually every Christian can study the Bible in depth and gain a profound understanding of its teachings. Some people avoid studying the Bible because they are convinced it is too difficult or complex to grasp. The vast majority of adults — young and old — are able to understand much more than they have bothered to learn. The better one understands the Bible, the better one will be able to discern biblical truth from error. Otherwise, how will you know when there is a false teacher in your pulpit?

Within North American Christianity, immersed in a pluralistic society, talk about absolute truth is uncomfortable and, to some, intolerable. “Can’t we all just get along and live together in peace?” The answer is “no.” Peace cannot be purchased at the expense of truth. There is an inviolable core to the Christian faith. Harsh as it sounds, to violate that core is to place ourselves outside the Christian tradition. This is the essence of John’s warning against false teachers, and his warning is valid for the church today. The fact is that truth is never supplemental but always fundamental to Christian community.

All you need is love? True. God is love (1 John 4:8). And we love because the truth lives in us. It is not a dead letter, but a living, personal influence within the Christian. Jesus is the Truth; he lives in us and will be with us forever. Amen.

In conclusion, let us together confess what we believe as Christians using the Apostles’ Creed, a confession of the church for over 1,800 years.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.