I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to 1 John 4:7-12, 19-21
1 John 4:7-12, 19-21
New International Version (NIV)
7 Dear friends, let
us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born
of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is
love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son
into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we
loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for
our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one
another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in
us and his love is made complete in us.
19 We love because he
first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is
a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have
seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command:
Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
-- as we
begin this morning, I have a question for you: “What is love?”
-- love is one of those words that we just throw around a
lot -- you hear it everywhere, especially leading up to Valentine’s Day
-- if you were in town a couple of weeks ago right before
Valentine’s Day, you literally had the word Love
shouted at you from the various displays of Valentine’s Day items that the
stores were encouraging you to buy for your loved ones -- Kim and I were went
to town the weekend before Valentine’s Day, and when we walked into the store,
the very first thing we saw was a man pushing a ginormous teddy bear in his
buggy that had the word, “Love,” written on its chest -- other people were
snatching up heart-shaped boxes of candy with “Love” on the outside or other
items to show the people they loved just how much they cared -- it was
everywhere you looked
-- but just seeing the word “love” plastered around our
stores doesn’t answer my question -- what is love? -- what does the Bible mean
when it tells us that God loves us and we are to love one another?
--
a group of child psychologists wanted to know what kids thought about love --
what they understood about the idea of love before their ideas began to be
shaped by culture and societal norms -- so they got together a group of kids between
the ages of four and eight and asked them the question, "What is
love?" -- here are some of their answers:
--
"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her
toenails anymore, so my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his
hands got arthritis too. That's love." Rebecca - age 8.
-- "When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth." Billy - age 4
-- "Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is okay." Danny - age 7
-- "Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." Elaine - age 5
-- "Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt." Chris - age 7
-- "Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." Bobby - age 7
-- and I really like what eight-year-old Jessica had to say -- "You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."
-- "When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth." Billy - age 4
-- "Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is okay." Danny - age 7
-- "Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." Elaine - age 5
-- "Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt." Chris - age 7
-- "Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." Bobby - age 7
-- and I really like what eight-year-old Jessica had to say -- "You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."
--
people forget -- wow! -- words of wisdom from a child -- people forget -- maybe
that's why God tells us so many times in His word that He loves us -- it's impossible
to read the Bible and not find that message shouting out to you -- God loves us
-- but do we truly comprehend it? -- do we really get what He's trying to tell
us?
--
John did -- out of all the disciples, John understood love because he lived with
Love for three years -- he saw Love touch lepers and other people society
refused to touch -- he saw Love heal people who had been crippled and rejected
their whole lives -- he saw Love feed people just because they were hungry --
he saw Love take our place at the cross, just so we wouldn't have to -- he saw
Love in action
-- through
his experience with Jesus, John came to know and understand true and perfect
love in his own life
-- the love
of God defined him -- in fact, in the gospel of John, John doesn't even name
himself -- he calls himself by the phrase, "the disciple Jesus loved"
-- for John, it was Jesus' love that gave him life and made him who he was --
that’s why John tells us here in 1 John 4:8 the profound truth that “God is
love” -- he had come to know this in a real and personal way
-- at the
time this letter of 1 John was written, John is an old man -- scholars think he
could be in his 80s or 90s -- he's lived a long life serving God -- preaching
and teaching and sharing with countless others the good news of Jesus' death
and resurrection -- but now, at the end of his life, he can't help but give
away what Jesus gave to him -- and that was perfect, unconditional love
-- it’s
practically all he can talk about -- all he can think about -- all he cares
about
II. Scripture Lesson -- 1 John 4:7-12 and 19-21
-- look
with me now at 1 John 4, starting in verse 7, and let’s see what John has to
say about this love that literally changed his life forever -- and let’s see
what we can learn about God’s love for us and what God intended us to do with
His love
-- verse 7
1 John 4:7 Dear
friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves
has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God,
because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his
one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is
love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an
atoning sacrifice for our sins.
-- I had a friend who went to hear a well-known
theologian speak at a United Methodist meeting one time -- this man was
well-respected as a student of God's word -- a renowned professor -- a retired
bishop -- someone who knew theology and who knew God's word intimately
-- he had been asked to speak on what he felt was the
most important theological message for the 21st century world to understand --
what was it the church and this world needed to know most from God's word? --
as the great theologian approached the lectern, every ear strained to hear his
words -- placing both hands on the lectern and looking out over the crowd of
pastors and theologians and church leaders, he said, "After a lifetime of
walking with God and studying His word, I have concluded the most important
theological message and biblical doctrine is found in this one concept: 'Jesus
loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.'"
-- that's what John is trying to get us to see in these
verses -- in the King James Version, verse 7 doesn’t open with the words, “dear
friends” -- it opens with the words, “beloved” -- do you know what that means?
-- beloved means “dearly loved” -- “you who are loved”
-- John is trying to get us to see the spiritual fact
that the retired bishop finally understood -- God loves us -- He loves us so
much that He sent His one and only Son into the world so that we might live
through Him -- He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to take our place on the
cross as our atoning sacrifice -- to take the punishment that we deserved and
to die for our sins -- so that we might live with Him forever
-- in answer to the question, “What is love?” -- John
points to Jesus and says, “He is”
-- that is the over-arching message of the Bible -- that
is the good news that we proclaim every Sunday morning and that we have been
called to share with the world -- God loves you and He wants to spend eternity
with you -- that’s what John is saying to us in these verses -- it’s all about
God’s love -- all of it
-- the Bible tells us repeatedly that love is not a
feeling -- it’s not an emotion -- it’s not a box of chocolates or a ginormous
teddy bear -- love is a person -- and that person has a name -- as John tells
us here, God is love
-- and He shows us His love through Jesus -- the love
that saved us on the cross of Calvary -- the love that came to us when we were
unloved and unloveable -- the love that took our place so that we might live in
love with the Father forever
-- love like this demands a response -- but what can we
do in the face of such unconditional and sacrificial love? -- knowing this love
from God, how now should we live, especially in relation to others?
-- verse 11
1 John 4:11 Dear
friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one
has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is
made complete in us.
-- what are
we supposed to do with this love of God that we have? -- Jesus told us in John
15:12 and John tells us again here in these verses -- love one another
-- people
are always wanting to know God’s will for their lives -- they’re always wanting
to know what God’s plan is -- this is it -- love one another -- it’s that
simple
-- do you
want to do what God is calling you to do today? -- do you want to be the people
He’s calling you to be? -- then just go out and love one another -- that’s it
-- Jesus
said that this is how people would know that we belonged to Him -- through our
love
-- and,
honestly, I think this is something that Christians are pretty good at --
loving one another -- within our churches, love abounds -- it’s something
that’s more than a feeling -- it’s tangible -- it’s there in the way we care
for one another -- in the way we meet the needs of one another -- in the way we
relate to one another
-- loving
one another is actually pretty easy -- it’s easy to love those who love us -- I
mean, even the Pharisees got that right -- but Jesus wants more from us than
just to love those we like -- to love those who love us
-- hold
your place right here and turn with me to Matthew 5:43-48
Matthew 5:43 “You
have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that
you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the
evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If
you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax
collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you
doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore,
as your heavenly Father is perfect.
-- now that
changes everything -- so what Jesus meant when He said, “love one another,”
wasn’t that we were just to love those who love us -- to love those we liked
-- no, He
meant that we were to love those we didn’t like -- to love those who even hated
us -- to love our enemies and those people who are hard to get along with --
and that’s not easy
-- look
back at 1 John 4:19
1 John 4:19 We love
because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or
sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they
have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us
this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
-- so what
Jesus and John are saying here is that we shouldn’t just love the people who
are easy to love -- we should love everyone, always
-- you’ve
heard that before, right? -- love your enemies -- it’s something we know --
it’s something we say -- but it’s not always something we do
--
sometimes it’s easier to agree with Jesus about something than to actually go
out and do it -- but Jesus didn’t want just want our assent -- He didn’t just
want us to agree with Him that this is a good idea -- He wanted us to do what
He said -- He wanted us to go out and to actually love one another -- and, by
that, He means even our enemies -- especially, our enemies -- for that’s where
love is made real
-- John
says here that you can’t really say you love God if you hate your brother --
because God is love -- and when God’s love fills your heart, hate can’t live
there
-- your
love for others -- your love for your enemies -- for difficult people -- for
hateful people -- for hurtful people -- your love for them is a measure of your
real love for God
-- in his
book, “Everybody, Always,” Bob Goff said something that really resonated with
me -- he wrote: “It’s easy to love kind, lovely, humble people -- I mean, who
wouldn’t? -- these are the ones I’ve spent much of my life loving -- [but, I
have discovered that] I’ve spent my whole life avoiding the people Jesus spent
His whole life engaging…the difficult people…the creepy people…[the people who are
hard to love]”
-- you’re
never going to become like Jesus until you start loving the difficult people in
your life
-- and
that’s not easy -- in fact, it is impossible apart from the grace and power of
God -- we just don’t have that capacity within us -- but, as John writes here,
when God’s agape love -- the unconditional
and sacrificial love of God -- fills our hearts and touches our lives, then the
Spirit will make you able to love even your enemies
-- when I
reflect on Jesus’ command to us here -- the command to love our enemies -- to
love one another, meaning everyone we come into contact with -- I can’t help
but think about a story that Corrie ten Boom shared in her book, “The Hiding
Place” -- you may have heard this before, but it’s so relevant, that I have to
share it again:
“It
was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, a former S.S. man who had
stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He
was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And
suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing,
[my sister] Betsie's pain-blanched face.
“He
came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. ‘How grateful I
am for your message, Fraulein.’ He said. ‘To think that, as you say, He has
washed my sins away!’ His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had
preached so often to the people… the need to forgive [the need to love], kept
my hand at my side.
“Even
as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus
Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I
prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggled to
raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth
or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I prayed, I cannot
forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.
“As
I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my
arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my
heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I
discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that
the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies,
He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”
-- “God is our source of love, and
his supply never runs low. When you have trouble loving someone, whether friend
or enemy, ask God for the love you need. He will surely supply it, for it is in
his very essence and will.” -- as John wrote, “God is love” -- and His love
fills us and empowers us to love one another, even our enemies
IV. Closing
-- let's
bring this to a close
-- In his commentary on Luke's
gospel, pastor and author Kent Hughes tells the following story:
-- “Several years ago, one of my
wife's friends took a missionary furlough with her husband and family after an
unusually tiring stint of service. She had been looking forward to this time
with great anticipation. For the first time she was going to have a place of
her own, a new, large townhouse-styled apartment with a patio. She is very
creative and made the patio the focus of her decoration.
-- “After a few months some new
neighbors moved in. The word to describe them would be "coarse."
There was loud music day and night along with a constant flow of obscenities.
They urinated in the front yard in broad daylight. They totally disrupted her
peace. She could see nothing good in them.
-- “She asked the Lord to help her
be more loving, but all she got back [from her neighbors] was disgust and
rejection. The crisis came when she returned home to discover that her
neighbors' children had sprayed orange paint all over her beautiful patio—the
walls, the floors—everything! She was distraught and furious. She tried to pray
but found herself crying out, "I cannot love them; I hate them!"
-- “Knowing she had to deal with the
sin in her heart, she began to converse with the Lord in her inner being, and a
Scripture came to mind: "And beyond all these things put on love, which is
the perfect bond of unity" (Colossians 3:14 NASB). In her heart she
questioned, "Lord, how do I put on love?" The only way she could
picture it was like putting on a coat. So that is what she determined to do—she
chose to wrap herself in the love of God! As a result, she began to experience
a deeper life of Christ within her.
-- “She made a list of what she
would do if she really loved her exasperating neighbors, then did what she had
listed. She baked cookies, she offered to baby-sit for free, she invited the
mother over for coffee—and the most beautiful thing happened! She began to know
and understand them. She began to see that they were living under tremendous
pressures. She began to love her "enemies." She did good to them. She
lent to them without expecting anything back.
-- “The day came when they moved—and
she wept! An unnatural, unconventional love had captured her heart—a
supernatural love—the love of Jesus.”1
-- “We love
because He first loved us -- Whoever loves God, must also love his brother”
-- what is love? -- this is love --
this is the love that Christ commands of us -- this is the love that is
supposed to define who we are -- this is the love that is supposed to point a
watching world to Jesus -- and they’re not seeing this love in His church today
-- what does it take to love like
this? -- how is this possible in our day and time?
-- it is
only possible through Jesus -- through Jesus' atoning, sacrificial death on the
cross we come to know true love -- we come to experience the love that forgives
-- the love that heals -- the love that empowers us to love and to perform
sacrificial acts of love in our own lives -- even to our enemies -- especially,
to our enemies
-- it's not
rules -- it's not about church -- it's not about doing right -- it's about love
-- you can
only love like this if you first know love -- you can only love like this if
you know God through His Son Jesus Christ
-- so, as
we close, let us think about two things:
-- first, let's
think about the relationship we have with Jesus -- do we know Jesus? -- do we
know God? -- are we in love with Him? -- have we asked Him to love us and to
forgive us of our sins? -- if you’re unsure of your relationship with Jesus --
if you can’t remember a time in your life when you personally asked Jesus to
forgive you of your sins -- then please don’t leave here today without making
that plea
-- and, second,
let's think about our relationship with others -- are we loving others with the
same agape, sacrificial, unconditional love that we have experienced through
Christ? -- and, by this, I mean not only those who are easy to love -- those we
like -- those who love us back
-- are you
loving even the difficult people -- the creepy people -- your very own enemies?
-- if not,
then we need to start moving in that direction through the power of God's love
in our lives
-- start by
thinking of how you relate to those you disagree with -- of how you respond to
them in your conversations and on social media -- do your messages reflect the
love of Christ to them, even if you don’t agree with them? -- do you avoid
certain people because you don’t like them and don’t want to be around them?
-- the
people you avoid -- the people you don’t like -- these are the very ones you
should love the most
-- as we
close, I invite you to respond to God's word as you feel led -- breathe in His
love -- receive His agape love -- and then breathe that love out into this
world -- love as Jesus loved -- share His love with one another
-- what is
love? -- God is love
-- and, who
are we to love? -- everybody, always
-- let us
pray
---------------------------------------------
1
Kent Hughes, Luke, Volume One (Crossway, 1998), p. 229; submitted by Lee Eclov,
Vernon Hills, Illinois
