19 Jun LOVE = REACH Day 9

READ: John 13:23

“Now there was leaning on Jesus’ [chest] one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.”

John the Beloved. : He was the author of three epistles in the New Testament; he also wrote the Book of Revelation.

If you were to glimpse into John’s life, there would be a few things that would be very pronounced about him. One of the things that you would pull away is that, humanly speaking, when Jesus was walking in the flesh, on the earth, there was no one closer to Jesus than John the Beloved. So, John was unique in that way. He also had a great understanding and love for the local Church, for the bride of Christ, and we see that throughout his life.

And so, John is a major player in the New Testament Church, in the early Church, and so we all have a lot we can learn from this guy.

John would ultimately outlive all the other apostles. He would be the only apostle that did not die a martyr’s death. And so, because he would outlive all the other apostles, he would take His place, in his latter years, as the patriarch, or the primary influence, of the early Church. That leadership would continue to the end of the first century.

John was the guy that you find calling down fire on people – he had little empathy for others. He says, “Jesus, call down fire on the Samaritans.” So, John wants an entire city of people to burn– he devalues them so much. That’s what he wants …this is the apostle of love. So, John had some issues, to say the least.

John is right there with the fishermen. He is rugged. He is hard-edged. He is intolerant. He is explosive. He’ll blow your face off with judgments, in a heartbeat. He’ll let you know the truth. He’s quick to judge. He’ll tell you how it is, whether you like it or not. He can’t wait to get you alone, just for five seconds, so he can tell you the truth. “I’m going to tell you the truth! I don’t care how you feel. I don’t care what you’ve been through. I don’t care where you’ve come from. I don’t care what your story is. I don’t care what your upbringing is.” John is going to get in your business, and he’s going to tell you like it is, whether you like it or not.

So, John has some issues. He’s reckless. He’s brash. But like many things in life, John ages well. And I think this is an important part that we consider, because the body of Christ, as a whole, I think we all can admit, has some issues.

One of our issues – there are many that we have to consider. One of our issues is, we really do find ourselves, at times, falling into this category where we feel like we’re the answer man: We’re the one. We need to let the whole world know that they’re sinners.

We kind of become the self-appointed FBI agents of the body of Christ. Like, we’re walking around, and everybody’s wrong, and we’re right.

And so, John learns that is unnecessary to turn a brother into an enemy. It is unnecessary, just because there are some things we don’t completely agree on, interpretation wise – there’s no reason to cut that relationship. Rather, we should work on building a bridge to one another. John, in the beginning – no, he’s walking around; he’s cutting everyone. He’s got his sword out, his edge on truth out.

But later in his life, he grows up a little. Later in his life, he matures a little. And the epitaph that is given to him is “the apostle of love.” As an elder statesman, you find he’s very tender. You find he has a great love for Christ, his church, and even more so, for people. But if you read his writings, without knowing who he is, as a person, you can really misinterpret John. If you just read the things he says, without knowing his tone, you can really miss John significantly.

I love what Tommy Barnett said one time. He said, “Whenever you’re talking to someone about their sin, do it with a tear in your eye.” In other words, you have to be careful, not just in stating truth, but in making sure that you care, making sure that you build. They say you can’t drive a 5,000-pound vehicle of truth over a bridge that’s only weighted for 1,000 pounds. In other words, if you have not established the love to actually carry the amount of truth you’re trying to drive across, then, many times, you find things crumbling and collapsing, as a result.

There is an equilibrium that every Christian has to find. There’s a balance, a tender balance, between the concepts of love and truth. And they don’t work against each other. It is important to be courageous, it is important to be bold and driven, but without love, all of that loses its decency. Truth, without love, really, is brutality. But for all of the Kumbaya Christians that are here – they’re like, “Yeah, we just need to love everybody , just love everybody, just embra – no standard, no truth, anything goes,” you need to know, equally, just as truth without love is brutality, love without truth is hypocrisy.

And so, it’s not love or truth. It’s not one or the other. It’s love and truth. They are actually stronger together. You actually find their strength when they work together. There is a necessary tension between the two. The tension that exists between the two has got to be there, or you never find the strength of love, or you never find the strength of truth.

For example, Moses goes to Mount Sinai. God gives him the Ten Commandments – bam, there it is: rules, commandments. We love those, right? He gives us all the “thus sayeth,” “Don’t do this; do that. Don’t do this, do that.” He gives us that stuff.

Now, he walks away from there. He gives the instructions for the Tabernacle. Why? Because God already knows people are not going to be able to keep the rules, right? So, He wants them to have a place where they can go and experience His presence. When they break the commandments, they go to a place where they have forgiveness. Why? Because God wants there to be the tension between truth and love. They both work together.

The primary issue people had with Jesus, if you study Him at all, is who He associated with. They could not believe He hung out with sinners, and adulterers, and prosti – they could not believe that He showed the compassion and the love that He did, to the kinds of people He showed it to. It literally was something that the religious system of His day had no tolerance for, and they killed Him for it. And He says, “If you just invite Me in, I’ll come in and dine with you.”

What’s He saying? He’s saying, “Listen, I want relationship with you. I want to start a conversation with you. I don’t need you to become SuperChristian. I need you to take Me, untouched by the hands of man, untouched by this situation, or that scenario, or this one – and I need you just to open up. And if I come in –” He said, “I want to begin a relationship with you, just like you are, right where you are, no matter what it looks like. You don’t have to get anything any better than what it is right now. You just invite Me in. Let Me begin a relationship with you.” And Jesus, through His relationship with each of us …

I’m so glad that He just found me where I was. I’m so glad that He just entered my life, and began a relationship with me, in that place. And He didn’t expect me to become something that I wasn’t. He just began a relationship with me. And it’s amazing how that relationship has changed my life. I’m so different today, not because of truth alone. And I’m so different today, not because of love alone. I’m different today because of the tension that works in my life, when truth and love are invited in to work together.

REACH:

Have there been moments when you spoke truth without love? Are there people you can go back and inject love into a relationship that is crumbling because of the weight of truth you have driven over it?