Loving in Truth from Hearts of Truth

• 1. “God is not a square”; throwing mulch (I am as guilty as anyone else!)
  2. Original title of this message: “Loving Well amidst Theological Differences.” As I was putting together notes, however, I realized that I was really dealing with something much deeper—applies not only to theological differences, but to many other areas as well (as the above stories highlight.)
  3. Bill’s dream
  4. Jesus’ command 

¹² “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. (Jn. 15:12, CSB)

• 5. Perhaps the greatest obstacle to sincere, authentic, Christ-like love: The deceitfulness of the human heart. (In biblical thought, the heart=center of emotions, mind, and will [see, e.g., Mt. 9:4: “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” [ESV]).

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ¹⁰ “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” (Jer. 17:9-10, NIV)

• 6. 1 Corinthians 13, the “love chapter,” is one of the most famous passages in the Bible. Interestingly, Paul writes these words to one of the most disorderly churches in the NT: e.g., factionalism (1 Cor. 1:12), envy and strife (1 Cor. 3:3), boastful (1 Cor. 4:7, 5:2), still drinking milk (1 Cor. 3:1-2), thinking they were already kings (1 Cor. 4), immorality and failure to bring discipline (1 Cor. 5), lawsuits (1 Cor. 6), puffed up in knowledge (1 Cor. 8:12), dishonoring the Lord’s supper (1 Cor. 11), zealous for gifts of the Spirit but childish in their thinking and disorderly in their practice of them (1 Cor. 14:12, 20, 40), some denying the truth of resurrection (1 Cor. 15:1), putting up with false apostles (2 Cor. 11), failure to honor true authority (2 Cor. 10-12), etc. This body of believers was at times a source of great pain and heartache for Paul (see 2 Cor. 6-7). Although by the standards of NT discipleship this was one of the most foolish churches in the New Testament era, it had somehow come to see itself as wise! Their own view of their condition was the exact opposite of how God viewed it. Talk about deceitfulness of heart! Paul’s command to the church in Corinth:

⁵ Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail the test. (2 Cor. 13:5, CSB)

• 7. Jesus is calling us to put the “love chapter” back at the center of our lives and churches. He is the only one who can cure our deceitful hearts. His question to Bethany Church and other communities who bear His name in this urgent hour of history: “Will you be people who love in truth from hearts of truth?” At the end of the day, church life is first and foremost about heart issues and less about things like church models, strategies, worship styles, teaching styles, etc. Both house churches and high churches can quickly turn into Corinth-like churches if people aren’t loving in truth from hearts of truth. Today we want to come and lay our hearts bare before the God of love and truth, who truthfully searches the heart and lovingly examines the mind.

TESTS AND TIPS TO PROMOTE LOVE IN TRUTH FROM HEARTS OF TRUTH

• 1. Our Heart Posture towards God’s Word and Commands
     1. Do we realize how utterly serious Jesus is about His teaching and commands? E.g., Mt. 7:21-23; 28:19-21.
     2. Are we walking out the basics of the faith (those things that are straightforward and matters of little controversy!)? E.g., loving neighbor as self, forgiveness and graciousness (Mt. 6:14-15!), repentance, thankfulness vs. complaint, integrity and follow-through, fearing God, etc.
     3. Are we willing to embrace and declare the more difficult and uncomfortable truths of God’s Word along with those that make us feel happy? (vs. Lucky Charms Christianity)
     4. When we encounter something in the Bible that offends us, to whom do we give the benefit of the doubt? To God, or ourselves? (Decision several years ago; the Lord has been faithful)
     5. Are Jesus’ commands defining how we understand our conduct as His disciples (“my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church” [1 Cor. 4:17, NIV])? (e.g., therapeutic models, personality tests). Study God’s Word because… follow through on my commitments because…respect peoples’ things because… challenge insane ideas because…
     6. Are we as teachers being faithful stewards of God’s Word as the Bible defines that? Are we teaching His Word fully (Ac. 20:20), diligently (e.g., 1 Tim. 4), courageously (Ac. 20:20), wisely (Col. 1:28), consistently (1 Cor. 4:17), clearly (e.g., Ac. 17; Rom. 6:19), gently (2 Tim. 2:24), boldly (Ac. 18:26), accurately (Ac. 20:26; 1 Tim. 1:3), and in the knowledge of how high the stakes truly are (e.g. 1 Tim. 4; 2 Tim. 2; Jm. 3:1)? Teachers should humbly seek and be open to feedback, but without yielding to the fear and praise of man. (What kind of feedback would John the Baptist have received?) Ultimately faithfulness and trustworthiness are what God is looking for (1 Cor. 4:1; 1 Th. 2:4). 
     7. Are we as listeners giving God’s Word the honor and attention it deserves? Are we resisting “sluggishness” or “laziness” in hearing (Heb. 5:11), hungering for solid food (1 Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5:12-14), resisting “itching ears” (2 Tim. 4:3), and loving truth more than high-sounding rhetoric and flashy presentation (1 Cor. 2:1-4)? We as listeners also have a responsibility before God to do our part. God can speak powerfully even through weak and imperfect messages if we have ears to hear.
  2. Our Heart Posture towards Knowledge and Truth
     1. Are we becoming arrogant in relation to knowledge? The “everyone-is-a-heretic-but-me” syndrome (Battleship Christianity); “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor. 8:1); most of us do not enter into conversations assuming we are the ones with cloudy vision!
     2. Are we becoming indifferent toward matters of truth or falling into the relativistic mindsets of our surrounding culture? The “there-is-no-such-thing-as-heresy” syndrome (Slippery Soap Christianity). Although some things are harder to understand (2 Pt. 3:15), other things are quite clear and are non-negotiable.
     3. Are we falling into faulty ways of thinking (logical fallacies) that in various ways work against truth, trust, or relationship? E.g., part/whole and whole/part (e.g., hurt by “the church”; what do you mean? By whom? Etc.); straw man; attacking the person; appeal to majority; we need to remember that there are spectrums, and that we may agree in parts even if not the whole. (Augustine story)
     4. Are we always fixating on the smaller percentage of things over which we disagree, rather than consciously thanking the Lord for the greater percentage of things on which we share agreement? (Apologetics example)
     5. When we speak, are we speaking (or complaining!) ignorantly? E.g., this person is too…Reformed, charismatic, Arminian, Baptist, Dispensational, etc. What did this person actually say and teach? Etc. Wesley and Calvin would have had more in common with each other than with many who fill the pews of denominations who bear their names today! Need to focus on issues rather than “-ists,” “ites,” and “-isms.”
     6. Are we open to growth in, and challenge to, our current paradigms and what we think we know? (Story of Cambodian believers)
     7. How do we respond when we hear a simple biblical truth that we already know and have heard before?
     8. Which do we love and enjoy more: truth, or being perceived as a knower?
     9. If Jesus were to visit us in person and tell us that our interpretation on some controversial matter were wrong, and the opposing view correct, how would we respond?
     10. Do we have the right prayer-to-theological-talk ratio?

• 3. Our Heart Posture towards People, Church, and Authority
     1. Do we find ourselves regularly being quick to accuse motives without warrant or adequate proof? The standard we use with others is how we ourselves will be judged (Mt. 7:1-5). (Recent example)
     2. Are we waiting for others to obey Jesus as a precondition for our own obedience?
     3. Are we willing to take the time to have the cup of coffee? Often the real issue is something other than theology. (E.g., meeting with leader concerning friend)
     4. Are we communicating, and are we exercising good discernment in our communications? (E.g., is social media the best place for this discussion? Email? Texts? Length?) Communication is hard work and requires intentionality on both ends. Failure to send an email and failure to read an email both result in a breakdown of communication. (Though it might feel tedious, it is important to read the church constitution.)
     5. Are we following through on our word and commitments? (“Everyday we do what we say.”) This is one of the ways we most honor and become like God. What would happen if He didn’t follow through on His word/promise? Our salvation depends on the fact that God is a God of integrity.
     6. What is it that “wows” us? Big names? Big lights? Big numbers? Big music? Big buildings? Big events? Etc. Cf. 2 Cor. 10-13. Jesus is wowed by big love. I enjoy a quality worship set or listening to a gifted speaker as much as anyone else, but at the end of the day it is love, and not these other things, that carry weight in the Lord’s eyes.
     7. Are we actively and intentionally cultivating relationships of spiritual depth? (vs. Country Club Christianity). Are we inviting people over for dinner? Are we actively pursuing accountability? What priority do the things of the Lord have in our conversations? Are we making efforts to get to know different people in the church? Are we coming to church? Etc.
     8. Are we as leaders diligently, eagerly, and willingly watching over, and being examples to, the flock entrusted by Jesus to our care and oversight (1 Pt. 5:1-4)? Are we being people of integrity? To be a shepherd is to be entrusted with that which Jesus purchased with his own blood (Ac. 20:28). Leaders will give an account (Heb. 13:17).
     9. Are we as congregation members willing to obey and submit ourselves to our leaders (even if we disagree with them or think we know more, or more accurately, than them), so that they can carry out their responsibilities “with joy and not with grief” (Heb. 13:17, CSB)? How do we respond when we don’t agree with those in authority? To bring an unsupported accusation against a leader is a serious matter before God (1 Tim. 5:19-20).
     10. Are we starting to look more like the House of Representatives than a community of servants and forgiven sinners?
     11. Are we holding people to standards that we don’t hold ourselves to? Are we viewing and relating to people according to a set of unbiblical or unrealistic expectations? (Dishing and Dodging)

• 1. Jesus Himself loves in truth from a heart of truth. It is only when we, by the Spirit’s power, do the same, that the world will know that we are His disciples.

³⁴ “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (Jn. 13:34-35, CSB)

• 2. The good news: Jesus is patient with us, and He has the power to cure the heart.
  3. Encounter Service tonight. We will be praying from Philippians 1:9-11 (for love to abound). We invite you to join us and to invite others as we cry out to God together to give us power to love in truth from hearts of truth.