A Radical Kind of Love

Beautiful. I thought that was very inspiring and what a labor of love to put it together. So I appreciate Courtney Kavana's coordinating some of these things and all the work that's done on the part of the home office to prepare those for us. So I hope you were as inspired as I was. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us here as we are broadcasting in the Northern California area and to all those who are visiting us and joining this broadcast. I want to set the kind of set the scene here as I get into this second message. It was the master's final meal with his students, the culmination of three and a half years of instruction. There had been speculation of a traitor, perhaps in their midst. The disciples were debating what positions they would have in the future and who would be in charge. And the master had said he was leaving and there was excitement that something very important was going to be happening, but they weren't sure what it was going to be. And in the middle of these events, Jesus Christ decided to share one of the most foundational teachings of his entire ministry, really a capstone to years of teaching. Turn with me to John 13, verse 34 and 35, and let's read this capstone message together. In the midst of all these things that were happening and all the anticipation of what might be next, John shares the words that Jesus shared in John 13, 34 and 35. He said, If you have love, one for another. And so in the middle of all these events, Jesus defines the distinguishing characteristic of a follower of the way, those who would later be called Christian. And then the new word here is, according to the expositor's commentary, the Greek has a sense of a freshness as opposed to a recent or a different. And Jesus says that his disciples were to love each other as Jesus had loved them. And he loved his disciples, as was described in John 13 and the beginning of this chapter, as was shown by his demonstration of humility in washing their feet. And later in John 15, which we'll look at in a moment, of how he said that he was literally willing to lay down his life for them. But notice the response that John records to this capstone teaching of the identifying characteristic of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Notice the response in the next verse. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going?

What? Did we read that right? Did no one hear what Jesus said in verse 34 and 35? Because Peter went back to verse 33, where Jesus said, where I'm going, you cannot come. It's kind of like Peter never heard verse 34 and 35. Did any of the disciples hear it? I've looked and looked, and I can't find any formal response from the disciples to this powerful capstone teaching. It's kind of like a pearl of wisdom just rolled under the furniture and was lost and forgotten. And Peter wanted to know what was going to happen next. You know, why can't we come? And where are you going? Sometimes I'm wondering if we're any different from Peter here. He wanted to know the physical next steps. Where was Jesus going? Peter come. How would Jesus' departure play into the restoration of the physical nation of Israel, to the Jewish people, as was described later in Acts 1 verse 6? There were important events coming, and he wanted to know what was going to happen.

And in a great personal prophecy on the events of Peter's life, Jesus replies in verse 36 right after, he says, Where I'm going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow me afterwards. In other words, you won't get it right now, but you'll get it later. You will understand what love is and what I told you, but not now. And the rest, as we say, is history. We know the events, and it describes how Jesus said that the cock would crow three times and so forth, and he denied. But we live in historic times. We heard about that in the first message. Unemployment is off the charts, literally off the charts. 78,000 of our fellow Americans are dead in the past 10 weeks from the virus, and uncertainty about what it means for us as we go back to work as the various states and cities open up. And we heard about that at the feast, as we think about the feast. And during these times, many of God's people will start speculating about where we are in prophecy. I spoke last month about how we're receiving a certain foretaste, and we heard a little bit about that in the first message. And sometimes that interest can lead us to listen to speculation from the origins of the virus, which leads down all sorts of rabbit holes ranging from interesting to straight-up conspiracy theories. Was it released in a lab? Will there be another virus? Etc. And this kind of stuff is so much more interesting in many cases than to think about how to love our neighbor and fulfill Christ's command to love one another as Christ loved us, even during a pandemic. Peter skipped the most important thing in his quest to understand the next step in prophecy. Will we follow in his footsteps, or will we learn from his lesson? Today as events unfold, whether in opening or reopening, or surging or declining, or whatever it might be, I don't want to skip over the most important instruction that our Master gave us at such a tumultuous time as back then and as much a time as we live now. Because being aware of old events is important, but being aware of world events without love, without understanding this, means basically seeing our death coming and being stressed out by it. But being unaware of world events with an understanding of what this message of love means, means being pleasantly surprised by God's guiding hand. So if we're going to err, let us err on the side of learning to love as Christ loved and being surprised by God's guiding hand. The title of the message today is a radical kind of love, because it was a radical time then, and I think we're feeling this sort of once-in-a-century kind of experience. With this invisible enemy that is all around us now. And I want to cover three points. Learning to live the way of give, not the way of get. Learning to rejoice in injustice, even as we pray for deliverance. And finally, learning the radical nature of the love of Jesus Christ. Let's start our discussion in Acts 20, verse 35. If you turn with me.

Acts 20, verse 35. We'll see a command that was given by Jesus Christ that was not actually recorded in the Gospels, but is preserved by the Apostle Paul here. He writes in Acts 20, verse 35. Acts 20, verse 35. He says, Now, if there was ever a passage written for coronavirus, I think this is it. Most of the people who have died from this pandemic have had some kind of underlying health condition, or have been senior citizens. Physically weaker than the general population. And that's not to say younger and healthy people won't die of coronavirus. Absolutely. And none of us want to take that chance. But if you look at the statistics, I looked at the New York Health Department statistics as of April 14th. Over 72% of deaths in New York City were people 65 years and older. And 69% had underlying health conditions. So if you are under 65 and healthy, you are staying at home suffering for those less fortunate than you, or with some sort of physically weaker conditions. You are giving. And if you've been unemployed or furloughed due to these stay-at-home orders, then you are going above and beyond because you are truly suffering for the sake of saving lives of people who are 65 years and older and have an underlying health condition in the majority. Again, anyone can get this virus, anyone can die from the virus. But I think it's interesting how it talks about supporting the weak. Being at home wearing a mask, social distancing, and all the related practices are about giving back to the community, giving to those who are physically weaker and a greater chance to survive by reducing the spread of the virus. And this quote of, it is more blessed to give than to receive, it conveys what was later described by Herbert Armstrong as the way of give and the way of get. Our natural human tendency is to want things and then work to get them. Or maybe not work to get them, just wish they were given to us, they've rained from heaven, like the water or something. We hear songs like, You Don't Always Get What You Want, a very famous song. I still haven't found what I'm looking for. And when we don't get what we want, well, if we're a child, what do we do? We pout. And as we get older, maybe that pouting turns to anger or depression or frustration or irritability or whatever it might be. And when we focus on giving of ourselves as a way of thinking, as a way of being, then we don't get so bent out of shape by what we're not getting. But when we give, there's not a negative emotion like that. It's a whole different mindset. It's a mindset of putting others first. The Greater Good magazine, which is published by the University of California at Berkeley, shares this in an article, Five Ways Giving is Good for You. It's from December 13, 2020. It says, a 2008 study by the Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton and colleagues found that giving money to someone else lifted participants' happiness more than spending it on themselves. Despite the prediction that spending on ourselves would make us happier.

Continuing quoting it, in a 2006 study, Jorge Mol and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health found that when people give to charities, it activates regions of the brain associated with pleasure, social connection, and trust, creating a warm glow effect. Scientists also believe that altruistic behavior releases endorphins in the brain, producing a positive feeling known as helpers high.

And finally, a 1999 study led by Doug Alman of the University of California Berkeley found that elderly people who volunteered for two or more organizations were 44% less likely to die over a five-year period than were non-volunteers. Even after controlling for their age, exercise habits, general health, and negative health habits like smoking.

Now, of course, we shouldn't give to get, but the research certainly proves the truth of Acts 20 verse 35. Longer life, greater happiness, all of this comes from giving versus getting. The kind of giving Christ is describing, though, goes far deeper and much more profoundly to what we're supposed to live than just giving money or goods to others. Let's see now Christ's instruction on learning to give as a way of expressing love.

Let's go to John 15 verse 9. We'll follow up on that research here in a little bit. We'll find that the reasons we give may not always lead to us having that helpers high. John 15 verse 9 says, As the Father loved me, I also have loved you, abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love.

Not surprising, love is defined by following God's laws and commands. In John 14 verse 15, it says that if you love me, keep my commandments. That's what Jesus said. Continue in verse 11, These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends.

We see here the ultimate form of giving, giving everything we have in the form of our life. Jesus was ready to die for his disciples, and he died for them and for us. This is the ultimate physical expression of giving. Now, we may not make that kind of sacrifice. More likely, we will do what the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 12 verse 1. We won't turn there. But it says there that we are to be living sacrifices. That is, we are to dedicate ourselves to a way of life that is based on giving, of emptying ourselves for others, as Christ did.

And we won't take the time to read the rest of this, but it finishes by Jesus telling us that we have to bear fruit. There must be a tangible expression of this giving, of laying down our lives, of showing love towards our neighbor. If we find ourselves agitated or focused on achieving some goal, which may be as simple as making dinner or fixing something around the house, or grandiose is finishing a degree or changing to a different job or changing careers, I hope we step back from the goal and recognize that as noble as that goal might be to make dinner for your family, it is still something we are striving to obtain and to get.

And as we strive to obtain that goal, whether big or small, are we prepared to submit ourselves to others and their needs? Are we prepared to give? Now, I'm not talking about an either-or, or what's often called the tyranny of the or. Generally speaking, it doesn't need to be about, you know, giving up something to achieve the goal. It may be just taking a pause, or reorganizing, or rethinking, or considering how we are pursuing the goal differently. Getting a new job or pursuing education is a good thing that will help us in many ways, but maybe we're not doing it in the most conducive manner for the well-being of those close to us.

In certain cases, maybe it does mean completely giving up our plans, but in those cases, of course, we get advice. The point is, where do we put our mental energy? Is it on ourselves and our needs? Is it on our families, which to some degree can be an extension of us, or is it on others? Can we make room in our schedules to volunteer? Can we make room in our schedules to share our financial resources, to take the time to think wisely about how that fits?

Not recklessly giving and hurting ourselves and our families, but wisely considering taking the time. Can we take time out of our schedules to find a way of showing concern? And at the same time, identify our natural tendency to get what we want and change that way of thinking. Right now, in between the days of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost, through self-examination, we should have identified our growth areas leading up to Passover.

And then during the days of Unleavened Bread, we should have put away certain behaviors. And now, as we lead towards Pentecost, we should be seeking God's guidance through the power of His Spirit to implement those lasting changes. Giving as an expression of love, learning the way of give. I think this is what Jesus wanted Peter to hear.

And I hope we can hear it, especially during times of like we live in right now. Let's go to our second point. Learning to rejoice in injustice, even as we pray for deliverance. Let's start at 1 Peter 1, 2 to 18. We'll sort of consider Peter was the one who responded to that Capstone message. And he also, 30 years later, was writing very profound things in these letters to the churches. Let's look in 1 Peter 2, verse 18.

This is a section where he's describing submission to various governments and masters. And in this concept, in this section about masters, he says, servants, 1 Peter 2, verse 18, Be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.

For this is commendable if because of conscience towards God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer for it, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. I think it's interesting that Peter himself shares this teaching given his reaction decades before, at that pivotal moment in history, right before the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because it is not enough to learn the giveaway of life as a means of showing love.

Peter makes clear that after we give, or as he says here, do good, we must learn to suffer for giving of ourselves. We must learn to take it patiently, to take patiently harsh treatment, unjust treatment, as something as a reward, as it were, for our giving. You see, intuitively, part of why we give is the feeling we get to give. The release of those endorphins, the helper's high that I described in that research. But what if when we gave, what if when we loved, what if when we laid down our lives for our friends, our friends judged us harshly, condemned us, even beat us, as Peter describes here.

Would that be a high? I don't think so. Behavioral scientists would argue that this would be a massive disincentive to give. There's no way we would want to do this. This is completely counterintuitive to our human nature, and yet this is what is being described. In 1968, Dr. Kent Keith created a famous list of what he called the Ten Paradoxical Commandments. The Ten Paradoxical Commandments. You can click raise your hand if you've heard of those. I can see how many people you want to click. Raise your hand there if you have on your keyboard.

See how many. I've got a few people raising their hands there. If you've heard of the Ten Paradoxical Commandments. I've quoted from these before. Not as many as I would have thought. A few. I see a few hands.

I've quoted these before, but I wanted to share them again here. I listened to an interview with Dr. Keith where he described how at the time the United States was going through a major upheaval with the Vietnam War. There was great division in the country. He wanted to find a way that people would work together and come together. He was a college student originally from Hawaii, and he was invited to speak at different college campuses around the country. This list was his way of provoking people to work together, to reconsider how they work together.

I may not take the time to read all of them, but I want to read some of them anyway. The first item, the first of the Ten Paradoxical Commandments written by Dr. Kent Keith in 1968, is people are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway. People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway. I'll read the last one again. I won't read them all here. The last one is, give the world the best you have, and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway. I think Dr. Kent expands well on the instruction that Peter gives us as disciples of Jesus Christ.

We are to love, to give, to do good, and we should expect that instead of praise and thanks, we will receive injustice and retribution. As the old saying goes, no good deed goes unposhed. Can we rejoice in this? Let's continue reading in verse 21. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who committed no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled did not revile in return.

When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. You see, not only will we receive injustice, but it is our calling to receive injustice. It is our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ and how we follow him and understand the kind of love that he had for his people, for us. This is the kind of depth, this is the kind of deep, radical, selfless love that Jesus had and that we are called to learn.

When we are treated unjustly, we are not to revile in return. We are not to threaten, but to commit ourselves to God who will judge righteously. And this is so hard. You think about the story of Joseph, Genesis 37 to 50.

He was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, betrayed by his master's wife, and condemned to life in prison. And he was betrayed in prison by his colleague and abandoned. At every turn, and for likely 13 long years, Joseph did the right thing. He helped others, and he suffered for it. You know, when we get married, or if we're thinking about marrying someone, we might be tempted to think about what we're going to gain from being with that person.

The adventures we'll have, what we'll do together. But if we think about marriage in this way, I think we're going to be disappointed. Because, likely, the other person's not going to live up to our, probably, unrealistic expectations. On the other hand, if we think about how we can give to that other person, how our talents can support that other person, and then be prepared to be misunderstood often along the way, I think as couples, we're going to be much happier.

Now, I'm not talking about enabling or tolerating abuse, or, you know, if someone's concerned about abuse, or getting into abusive relationship, you know, please get advice. But I'm talking about expectations, and the kind of love and the give way that's being described here. And when those little betrayals happen, Peter writes that Jesus committed himself to the Father's judgment. And when those big betrayals happen, again, we commit ourselves to our Father's righteous judgment. God will see, and He will guide, and He will lead, and He will resolve it in His time and in His way.

Now look in verse 24. Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sin, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Our former way of thinking and responding must be changed. Jesus knew the power and the implication of His death, and even though human beings would initially reject it, it would ultimately be received with appreciation.

And the temporary injustice was a minor price to pay for the greater good. And this brings me to my final point today. Learning the radical nature of the love of Christ. The radical nature of the love of Christ. Let's turn to Luke 6, verse 27.

Luke 6, verse 27 to 35. We learned from Peter this principle of doing good and suffering for it in 1 Peter. But really, that instruction was just a shadow of the original instruction given by Jesus Christ Himself in this passage. This is a radical form of love. A radical form of love, which Stephen Cole, a mainstream Christian pastor, calls the Mount Everest of Christian behavior. I like that phrase, the Mount Everest of Christian behavior. This is that ultimate summit. Let's read it together.

But I say to you who here, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. From him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods, do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.

But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies. Do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return. And your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the highest. For he is kind to the unthankful and evil. He is kind to the unthankful and evil. The way of give is a radical love rarely seen. There are not endorphins released here. No parades of gratitude for a life given in sacrifice. Reflecting on this kind of radical love, C.S. Lewis in his book, Mere Christianity, writes this, Love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the feelings, but of the will.

We love in a time of pandemic not because we believe everything we hear on the news, or because our neighbor is being reasonable, or because we always agree with what our national and local leaders are doing. We love them in spite of all these things. We are patient with their errors because we are thinking less about what we are missing and not getting, and more about how our actions can contribute to God working in people's lives and bringing them into his kingdom in God's time. It is during a trial, it is during a time of deprivation, it is during a time of distress, that we can more clearly see our motives for giving to others about our frustrations and why we have those frustrations. And many people do have frustrations, legitimate frustrations about what all this means, and what is going on around us, and when we are going to get back to our routines, and what that routine looks like.

But do we focus on what we want, or do we focus on what God wants?

Jesus loves you. He loves me. Will we reflect that love towards others during this time of difficulty? Will we learn to give and not to get? There's going to be a lot of frustration that's going to happen. It's going to occur in the months ahead. There's going to be a start and a stop and go back to work and no, don't go back to work, and oh, well, there's this and there's that, and there's going to be waiting in lines, and there's going to be wearing masks, and there can be people close to us not wearing a mask, and there's going to be frustrations with that. There's going to be a lot of things coming down on us. And just like Peter, we're going to want to know what's next. But I think Jesus gave us an instruction that despite all of these just remarkable events, there's one thing that we need to learn, which is to have love one for another, to have that way of give, to receive no praise but instead retribution, and to be prepared for that when that comes.

In conclusion, let me share that yesterday marked the 75th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi fascism in Europe. The greatest conflict the world has ever seen, but celebrations were muted in the face of this epidemic. And yet, will we learn the lessons from that conflict? That's why we commemorate these things, that we might be reminded. And yet we were not quite able to be reminded because we have something else in front of us. Our national debt has climbed from 64% of GDP in 2006, prior to the Great Recession, to 104% today. We're going to be running nearly a $5 trillion deficit in a single year. And with the coronavirus pandemic, it's expected that our debt as a percentage of GDP will reach the highest level in the history of the United States, higher than even during World War II. And countries around the world are going to face similar debt crises. Many historians agree that the Great Depression of the early 1930s and the policies that were implemented thereafter contributed ultimately to the Second World War.

We cannot expect that things will return to the pre-2020 world. Who would have known the 2020s would begin this way? And as we share together the uncertainty of these times, I hope we can learn the lesson that Peter ultimately learned. To not focus on the next prophetic event, but rather how we need to have this radical kind of love that Jesus Christ shared that we might be found in His likeness at His coming. Thank you.