Free to Love

On June 12, 2016 forty-nine people were gunned down and killed at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. People in our country were outraged. Many people called out for people to stop the hate and show love. I found this outcry to be interesting. In the history of the world there have always been people that hate some group of people whose life’s views are different from that of their own. What make people hate those who are different? Why can we not love everybody? Rodney King asked: “Can’t we all just get along? Is love the answer to our problems? Singer Dionne Warwick seems to think so. She recorded a song with the words, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of. What the world needs now is love sweet love, No not for some but for everyone.” Certainly the massacre in Orlando is a strong testimony to the biblical teaching that hate kills and love leads to life. What is love? Singer Tina turner asked the question: “What’s love got to do with it?” When the Bible speaks of God’s love is it the same kind of love that the world talks about? There are two questions that I want to address in this article. First, “Are we free to love?” If not, how can we be free to love? Second, why does the Bible also tell us not to love the world? In the writings of the apostle John there is a heavy emphasis placed on four words. The first word is “truth.” Truth is the reality of things seen from God’s point of view. Truth is eternal. In John’s writings this truth is centered on the declaration that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God and He alone is the means to human salvation from sin and restoration to a right relationship with God. He alone is the means to eternal life. The second word is “light.” John uses this word to denote knowledge of God and His ways. Jesus is the light (John 8:12) who brings knowledge of the Father to humankind. The third word is “darkness.” Darkness denotes ignorance of God. Darkness and Light are contrasted to each other. Light is good and darkness is evil. The fourth word is “love.” In his gospel and his epistles John like other New Testament writers uses the Greek word agapao. This love is not a feeling of affection for another person. It is not limited to a feeling of brotherhood and sisterhood. Agapao is a principle. It is rooted in the essential nature of God, “for God is love” (1 John 4:8). We will come back to this point. As I listened to the cries for love, I do not remember hearing anyone saying how a person can stop hating and start loving. They said these things without mentioning the love of God. I noticed that many of the people who were saying these things have already ridiculed the church and religion because in their view the “churches” are intolerant and they refuse to allow people to live their lives as they see fit. I contend that the churches have too often withheld the love of God from its own members and the world. I contend that being silent and tolerant is not love. Love confronts evil, calling it what it is, and offering freedom from evil through Jesus Christ. Christians are not to judge people, and they are not to categorize sin and sinners. It is evil to ignore some sin while condemning others. The blood of Jesus that saves the liar is the same blood that saves the drug addict. Jesus commissioned His disciples to make disciples of all people. They are to teach those who believe the gospel the commandments that Jesus taught them and accept them into the fellowship of the believers. Let us return to the ideal that love is rooted in the essential nature of God. In his writings John tells us that love originates in God. He says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (4:7, NASB). How do we come to know God’s love? John continues and says “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (vv. 9-10). A person is not free to love until he or she comes to know God. Armed with God’s Spirit and the teachings of Jesus the believer is free from the sin that cause us to hate others. In his gospel John makes two statements recorded from the lips of Jesus. The first says, ‘“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life’” (John 3:16, NASB). Again, in the Gospel John records Jesus’ command to His disciples: ‘“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you love one another. “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another’” (John 13:34-35, NASB). However, in 1 John he makes an interesting statement especially when compared to the first statement. John writes: “do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world” 1 John 2:15-16, NASB). How are we to resolve the differences between the first and the third statement and what does the second statement have to do with the two of them? In the book of Genesis God creates the world and declares that everything is good (Gen.1:31). However, the man and his wife sin and corrupt the world. Have you ever stained a piece of white cloth? You applied detergent and spot removers and washed it several times, but the stain you could not remove completely. That’s the way sin is in the world. The evil that came into the world cannot be gotten rid of regardless of the efforts of people. Since, God is holy; He will not allow sin, no matter how big or small, to enter into His presence. So, God sent His Son to die on the cross to redeem us from our sins. The grace that frees us from the guilt and penalty of sin also gives us the ability to live free of sins. John admits that Christians may sin, but he states, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1:9, NASB). In 1 John, John tells us to not love the world because love for the world does not come from the Father (1 John 2:15-17). In this passage John is not referring to God’s plan to save the world. Rather, he is referring to the attitudes and values that exist in the sinful world. John writes to the churches to warn the church not to put the attitudes and values of the world above the ethical requirements of the commandments of Jesus. These attitudes and values come from the “lust of the flesh,” meaning the cravings of the flesh, and the desires of our sinful nature. The “lust of the eyes” means the things that the eyes see that trigger the inward desires of the sinful nature. What we see with the eye can be perceived as something good, but the reality is that it can lead us to death. This is what happened to Eve when she believed what her eyes saw and perceived instead of staying obedient to God’s words. The “boastful pride of life” means the boasting of what one has accomplished on his or her own abilities. John warns the church not to live according to the flesh. They are to live according to the teachings of Jesus and His commandments. The world presents us with false teachers with false doctrines. They minimize and some eliminate the authority and teachings of Jesus (4:1-6). We cannot have fellowship with God without obeying His commandments (1 John 1:5-7; 2:1-6). In the writings of John sin holds us in bondage keeping us from the freedom that comes with knowing God. Thus, being free to love comes when we are forgiven of our sins. We abide in Christ and His Word and His Spirit abides in us (4:13). God did not demonstrate His love for us by being silent and tolerant of our sins. Jesus died to set us free from the bondage of sin. This brings us to the second scripture above, John 13:34-35. In John 13 Jesus is preparing His disciples for His death and return to the Father. He is leaving them with the commission to make disciples of all people regardless of human status (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus knows that they will face many obstacles and hardships. He knows that there will be false teachers that oppose the truth of God. They are to have a special love for one another. Their love for each other will serve as a testimony that they have been with Christ. Thus in 1 John, John tells the church to make their love for Christ their priority. When we love God and His commandments we are free to love all people. When we love the world it destroys our fellowship with God and other believers. Our testimony for Jesus becomes ineffective.