Parking Lot Theology

I've said this before, but I need to own this thought - not that it's mine exclusively, but I need to identify with it. Writing seems to help me do that. It's sort of a public declaration. I have no clever or smooth introduction, so I suppose I'll just say it (correct me if I'm wrong):

One cannot love God without also loving others. To put it another way, if you don't love others, you don't love God.

I stood in the parking lot of the church with a friend two nights ago and we discussed theology until the wee hours of the morning. It was so refreshing - edifying - restorative.

I brought up John 3:16:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." He reminded me that the response (and therefore purpose) of this verse is the glorification of Christ. Agreed. However, look at the reason for God sending His Son - it's out of His love for the world - for His creation.

John 3:17 continues, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

God's purpose was one of redemption - a restoration of relationship of us to Him. His glory was revealed out of love. You sacrifice for the things that you care about. And God sacrificed the most.

Loving God brings you into a closer relationship with Him. As hearts become closer, they become more unified. They become one. I think it's like this in our human relationships, too. Couples care about the interests of their beloved. As they come together, she might find out that she enjoys soccer and he might discover that going to tea is actually fun. This is a poor example because it's a flawed shadow of what our relationship with God is like, but I think it points in the right direction.

As we grow in our relationship with Christ, our hearts become more and more like His through the continuing process of sanctification. Thus, if we say that we love God we should also be loving people.

But what does that look like? Love is not just a feeling. In acting classes that I took during college we were told, "acting is not feeling something, it's doing. You have to show it." Love is an action. It's a choice. It's something we decide to do even when we don't feel like doing it. It's putting the needs and wants of another before our own (John 15:12-13). It's sacrifice.

It's risky. It's reckless. It means calling out for justice in a mindset of mercy (look at Micah). It's done through community. Love requires relationship, so it's not something that you can do alone.

The Church provides that community of love. But let's be honest - the Church is far from perfect. And how could it be? It's comprised of a bunch of broken, flawed people. But that's the way it was designed to be. The Church is like a hospital - you don't go there expecting to see a bunch of healthy people. Yet, those in the hospital have realized their need for help, their inability to heal themselves. The purpose of a hospital is to bring about the restoration of health. Similarly, the purpose of Church, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is to help bring about the restoration of relationship - to God and to one another. That's not to say that the hospital (or Church) should be chaotic. Mentally unstable people are not let out of the psych ward to go wandering about at free will. Similarly, there is discipline and boundaries within the Church.

Peoples' lives rub up against one another creating friction, revealing our rough spots that still need working out. And that's what community does. But out of love, we realize that we are all fallen. We are all sick. We are all rough. And so we love eachother. But we don't love out of our own power. There is nothing about you or about me that is so great that it deserves to be unconditionally loved. But God's love transforms our hearts so that we can grow to love others as He loved us - unconditionally.

And those are my thoughts. Loving God produces a love for others. It has to.