
Separation of Church and Hate
• Series: Termites In The Church Walls
Today we are going to look at the termite that begins with a heart that grows cold and shuts everyone else out and can eventually be a heart that harms other people. 1 John 3:11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. This is the first recorded killing in the Bible. This is the first recorded description of what happens when hatred enters into the heart. The way of Cain is marked by… - Anger - bitterness - being judgmental - slandering - having contempt for people - despising people - being hateful - being divisive - finding a way to hurt others - thinking about the demise of another person and how they deserve it. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. It’s easy to be a Cain these days. 1 John 3:16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. The other termite that John deals with is what he calls the closing of the heart. It’s time for a reset. When our father in heaven looked upon this earth and saw the evil what did he do? 1 John 3:16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 1 John 4:9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:16 God is love… God’s response is the response that radiates from the core of who he is; love. These verses are the very definition of love. Love turns judgment grace. And then John relates it to us. 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1 John 3:11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. I want to present to you a picture, a picture of you, a picture of you that maybe you’ve never thought of before. You are a heart, soul, mind, and strength complex that is designed for love. God has left you in the middle of this messy world to practice on a microscale what God has practiced on a macroscale; love.