1 John 2:7-8 ESV  Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.  (8)  At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

Dear Fellowship of the Burning Heart:

I read in Christianity Today Online that Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist Church, has died. His church is best known for its spewing of hate messages at military funerals and other kinds of events. That they have sought to be a messenger of the Christian faith is such a tragedy, because their message flatly contradicts the main commandments of the Bible. Love God and love others is the summation of what God expects from us, according to our Savior.

John is not writing something new to these believers. The message about love is as old as the Old Covenant. The law commanded that Israel love God (Deuteronomy 6:5) and their neighbor (Leviticus 19:18). The law expounded how love and justice were to be expressed within the community of faith. God expresses his love for his people and he encourages them to love him and each other. In this sense the commandment is old.

But he is also giving them a new commandment concerning love, not because it is new in time as much as new in expression and enablement. The new expression of love is found in the example of Jesus, expressing his love by giving his life for us. The new enablement is found in his provision of the Spirit, enabling  us to love as he loves. A new day is dawning, the darkness is fleeing, and this truth is being manifested in our lives, as it was in his.

Now, I believe that it is easy to talk about love, but I have served churches long enough (38 years) and been a part of churches long enough (all of my 58 years) to realize that the church can be a very unloving place. This saddens me and I believe it grieves our Lord, because love is our core value. God is love and we must show his love to a lost and longing world. As Francis Schaeffer put it, we must stop showing the world the ugliness that some call Christianity.

Let me be practical here. We must live in love. This means that we must stop the physical or verbal abuse we dish out when we are frustrated, disappointed, discouraged, agitated, or upset. We must find more appropriate ways to express these feelings, instead of taking them out on others. We must also learn how to communicate in loving and caring ways. Often, we talk to others in a tone or with an attitude that communicates more than our words that we do not love or care for those we address. It’s not that we aren’t loving or caring. It’s not that we are trying to hurt others. But when we use words thoughtlessly or carelessly, we fail to communicate love. We are also guilty of reacting without seeking to understand another person’s responses. We think we know what they mean and we respond accordingly, but I have learned that we often misunderstand others more than we realize. And we must reject harshness and rudeness as well.

Maybe we reject the loving approach, because we are afraid of being taken advantage of, being abused, not being taken seriously. The tough-guy approach (adopted just as readily by many women) says: “I will not be soft or vulnerable. I will be strong and stand against anyone who seems to be a threat. I refuse to be used, abused, disadvantaged, or dismissed.” We don’t even listen to ourselves, nor do we think about the example of our Savior. He was abused, despitefully used, ridiculed, mocked, abandoned, and maligned, yet he responded in love anyway. Neither can we use the excuse that this is just the way we are. He has come to change that, to make you a new person.

We who are repulsed by the messages and attitudes of the Westboro church are often just as guilty of casting an unloving cloak over the message of the Gospel. Maybe we purposefully act in unloving ways at times, but more often we do so inadvertently and thoughtlessly. But when others, especially the unbelieving world, perceive that we are unloving, unkind, or uncaring, we have failed to present the very message we say we stand for, and more especially, the very attribute our Savior most clearly manifested.

Maybe these thoughts will help you understand more clearly how to obey this command:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
(1 John 4:7 ESV)