SERMON: AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE DIVINE

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

Naylor, Georgia

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to John 4:1-26

 

John 4:1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

 

4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

 

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

 

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])

 

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

 

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

 

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

 

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

 

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

 

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

 

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

 

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

 

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

 

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

 

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

 

            -- in the book, "Dinner with a Perfect Stranger," the main character Nick Cominsky receives a dinner invitation in his office mailbox -- ordinarily, he would have just tossed it, but this one captured his attention -- written in calligraphy on formal paper was the notice, "You are invited to a dinner with Jesus of Nazareth, Milano's Restaurant, Tuesday, March 24th, Eight o'clock"

            -- he stared at it for a while, wondering if it was a joke or another outreach attempt by the church down the street -- he knew it couldn't be real, but still, he was intrigued -- so on March 24th, he made his way to Milano's Restaurant for his dinner with Jesus

            -- and as the story develops, we learn this is not a joke or an outreach by the church, but is truly an encounter with the Divine -- Jesus Himself had invited Nick to dinner to talk with him about his faith and his fears and his future in answer to a prayer Nick had prayed at the time of his father's death -- and even though Nick was not truly a person of faith and did not attend church, Jesus had taken time to perform a miracle and appear in person to him in this way

 

            -- while this is a fiction book, it does make a very poignant observation -- in the gospels, we repeatedly see Jesus engaged in encounters of the Divine just as in this fictional account

-- despite having the weight of the world on His shoulders, Jesus would take time from His schedule to stop for a word with an outcast leper -- to comfort a father whose daughter had just died -- and to show compassion to a woman whose outpouring of blood caused her to be rejected by her community

            -- He met with Nicodemus around His fire at night -- He called Zacchaeus to come down from the tree and sup with Him that night -- and He took time to cross cultural and societal boundaries to speak to a Samaritan woman at the well

            -- this morning, I want us to take a moment to look at the encounter with the Divine we see here in John Chapter 4 in the story of the Samaritan woman at the well -- for it is here we see the true nature of Christ displayed and a lesson for us in what is important in life

 

II.  Scripture Lesson

            -- so, if you would, please join me again here in John Chapter 4 starting in verse 1-4

 

John 4:1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

 

4 Now he had to go through Samaria.

 

            -- this story, as in so many of the gospel stories, begins with conflict -- even here at the start of His earthly ministry, Jesus finds Himself at odds with the Pharisees simply because He is not fitting their mold

-- He is not doing "church" the way they think it should be done -- He is not exalting the law of Moses to idol status, but instead is focusing on relationships – on the hearts and needs of the people of Israel -- even if that means healing them on the Sabbath or baptizing them in the Jordan River

            -- but at this point in His ministry, Jesus is seeking to avoid direct confrontation with the Jewish leaders -- so He decides to leave the region of Judea and travel home to Galilee -- the problem is the region of Samaria, which lies right in the middle of Jesus' most direct path between Judea and Galilee

            -- the problem with Samaria was this -- the Jews hated the Samaritans and the Samaritans hated the Jews – it all goes back to the time when the nation of Israel was split into two separate kingdoms – the northern kingdom of Israel was made up of 10 tribes of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah was made up of the other two – Judah and Benjamin

-- the northern kingdom of Israel turned away from God and began to worship idols – and their leaders and the people became corrupt and wicked in the eyes of the Lord

-- so, God allowed the Assyrians to conquer the northern kingdom and take the people of Israel captive – but when they did so, the land of Israel was mostly empty – and so the Assyrians repopulated the land with captives from other lands and their own people

-- there were still a few Jews left in Israel – the poor – the farmers – those tied to the land – and this remnant of Jews began marrying the foreigners who were now in their land – resulting in a mixed race of people who were not fully Jew or fully Gentile

-- and this intermarriage between the Jews and these Gentile foreigners also resulted in a mixing of religion – as the foreigners introduced their gods and their practices into their families – the end result was that the people of northern Israel began adopting religious practices that were part Jewish and part pagan and totally not acceptable to the Lord or to the Jewish people

-- over time, as the Jewish people came back into the ancestral land of Israel, these mixed people were concentrated into one area – the region of Samaria – and they were known as Samaritans

 

-- so, the true Jews looked down on the descendants of these people – the Samaritans -- and considered them tainted – with corrupt bloodlines and corrupt religion

-- they hated these people with a passion -- they looked down on them and considered them unclean -- they hated them so much, they would not set foot in Samaria – they would never consider entering the boundary of the region of Samaria, but would go around it if their travels demanded them to go from Judea to Galilee

            -- this is what good Jewish people did in Jesus’ day -- this is what was expected -- but Jesus never did what was expected

 

            -- in verse 4 we read, "He had to go through Samaria" -- geographically, it would make sense for Jesus to just cut right through the center of Samaria en route to Galilee, but I don't think that is what John means by this phrase

            -- when John says Jesus had to go through Samaria, I think this means Jesus had a divine appointment in Samaria -- there was someone who needed Him there, and Jesus was going to break all the rules to be in the right place at the right time to meet them

            -- Jesus still does that for us today -- He still meets with us when we need Him most -- and while He may not appear to us in person, He moves heaven and earth to meet us at the point of our need -- He sends other people to find us and speak His love to us -- He changes circumstances -- He does whatever He needs to to catch our attention and speak to our hearts

 

            -- verse 5-9

 

John 4:5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

 

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

 

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

 

 

            -- it is high noon in Samaria -- Jesus and His disciples have made their way to the town of Sychar, and He has sent them into the town to buy food -- that in itself is curious

            -- why would all of His disciples need to go to buy food? -- and if the reason they were there in Samaria is because they were fleeing the Pharisees, why would they risk leaving Jesus alone? -- it's because Jesus needed to be alone

            -- for at that moment -- after the disciples had left and at a time when women did not normally come to draw water -- Jesus had arranged a meeting between Himself and this woman

            -- this is one of those passages where we can clearly see the humanity of Jesus on display -- John tells us Jesus was tired -- He was obviously thirsty, as we can see because He asks this woman for water – and He was hungry, which is why the disciples went to buy food

-- it had been a long journey for Jesus – not only physically, but also emotionally and spiritually -- you know the weight of rejection by the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders had to be weighing on His soul – here He has come as the long-awaited Messiah, but the very people that He came for were rejecting Him and threatening His very life

-- but despite all that He was going through – despite His weariness and hunger and emotional rejection and hurt, Jesus still took time to reach out to this woman and speak to her – even though this went against the norm – even though His speaking to her was not an accepted practice for Jews, who refused to associate with Samaritans in any way

            -- there's a lesson there for us -- ministry does not always present itself when we are physically and emotionally ready – many times, the call to minister and the need to speak to someone or reach out to them in Jesus’ name comes when we’re tired and worn out and just feel like we can’t go on – but it’s at times like that, when we can’t do it on our own or in our own strength, that God gives us His strength and His power to do what He is calling us to do

-- as Paul told Timothy, we need to be ready in season and out of season to preach the word and minister to others -- not just when we have outreaches and programs and events planned – not just those times when the date has been circled on our calendars for months -- but also when we're tired and don't really feel like it -- when we're hungry or thirsty or in need ourselves

            -- when God places someone in our path like this woman, we must respond like Jesus – we have to reach out to them where they are and when they are, regardless of our personal state of being

 

            -- verse 10-15

 

John 4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

 

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

 

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

 

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

 

 

            -- when Jesus asks this woman for a drink, she rebukes Him for asking -- He is a Jew -- why would He ask her for water and why should she give Him any, given the way her people had been treated by the Jews?

            -- now we see the reason for this divine appointment -- this woman has been hurt -- her soul has been damaged through judgment and scorn -- both by the townspeople, who judged her for her lifestyle -- and by the Jews, who judged her because of her skin color and lack of true faith – this is a woman rejected by everyone

            -- and this is probably the reason why she came alone to the well at noon rather than in the early hours of the day with the other women -- not only was she avoiding the whispers and stares of the other women, but she had a need which water could never fill

 

            -- the same is true with all of us and with all of those we meet -- how often do we pass people and ask, "How are you doing?" and get back the same answer we give, "I'm doing good -- how about you?" – we’re just like this woman at the well

– we have needs in our lives – we’re going through difficulties -- but we never mention our hurts or our needs or how we're really doing because we don’t think anyone really cares – and we don’t engage other people and listen to their stories for the same reason – and so, we all just meet and say, “we’re doing good,” and we walk away without ever having our real needs heard and met

            -- remember this -- in every encounter you have with someone else, there is a need that is not being expressed and that will not be expressed until we truly ask from the heart – until we stop them from just saying, “I’m doing good,” and ask them, “No. Really.  How are you?”

-- as John Maxwell said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” -- people will open up to you if you will simply show them how much you truly care about them

            -- Jesus responded to the woman's rebuke by offering her the gift of living water -- Jesus wasn't offering her stale water from a well or stagnant water from a cistern that could only temporarily satisfy her thirst -- He was offering her what she truly needed -- He was offering her the source of life -- He was offering her Himself – He looked into her heart and saw her need and her thirst and said, “I can give you the water you truly need that will take away all the hurts that you are dealing with”

            -- and we see in her response the admission of her need -- "Sir, give me this living water -- give me this life"

 

            -- you all know how many times we get calls here asking for help -- people needing their light bills paid or food on their table or gas for their cars -- and you know how often we have tried to help and how frustrated we sometimes get that we just can't do more or that what we do doesn’t seem to help in the long run -- that we can only temporarily help those in need and can't really meet all the requests that come our way

            -- but we have to be reminded that we do have something to offer that is eternal -- something that may not meet their physical needs at the moment, but that will meet their heart needs for eternity -- we can do just like Jesus in these verses and offer them the living water that we ourselves have found -- and give them the joy and the hope that goes along with it -- and more often than not, this is what they are really seeking – this is what they are really looking for, even if they can’t express it

 

            -- verse 16-19

 

John 4:16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

 

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

 

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

 

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.

 

            -- Jesus knew full well this woman didn't have a husband -- he knew she had been married multiple times and he knew she was living with a man out of wedlock -- so why did He ask her to bring her husband to the well?

            -- it's because grace is free, but it's not cheap -- the grace of salvation came at a high price -- it cost God His only Son and it cost Jesus suffering and agony on the cross and enduring the penalty for all our sins

            -- the grace of the cross is freely offered by God to us, but it requires more than just mouthing the words of a sinner's prayer to be effective -- it requires a response from the heart -- it requires a change

            -- as Henry Blackaby points out, you can't stay where you are and go with God -- and for this woman to receive the living water offered by Jesus, she couldn't continue to live an immoral lifestyle

            -- Jesus' command to her to call her husband to the well was an invitation to confession and repentance -- it was an invitation to leave the past behind -- to turn away from that which had put a barrier between her and God -- and to turn from her sins to the loving arms of a gracious Savior

            -- we have to be careful that we are not offering cheap grace to those we meet -- grace without repentance -- grace without holiness -- Jesus didn't just die to forgive our sins -- He died to break the power of sin within -- to allow us to live holy lives through His presence and power that only comes through confession and repentance -- a new life -- a changed life -- an abundant and full life with Him

 

            -- in these verses we see the true need of this Samaritan woman portrayed for us -- why did she have so many men in her life? -- what was it she was seeking?

            -- she had a desire within to be loved by a perfect love -- her problem was she didn't realize this need within could not be met by man -- in trying to meet this need, she had been looking for love in all the wrong places -- and it had caused her nothing but heartbreak and rejection – but, as Jesus makes clear in His offer of living water, only God can meet our needs and fulfill our desires to love and be loved

            -- as Augustine said, "Thou has formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee"

 

            -- verse 20-26

 

John 4:20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

 

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

 

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

 

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

 

            -- only a couple of questions remain -- how do I worship? -- Who do I worship?

            -- as I said, the religion of the Samaritans had been tainted through the mixing of pagan worship with Jewish tradition -- they had been separated from the temple and had begun practicing their religion where they were – by worshiping and offering sacrifices on that very mountain where Jesus and this woman were at – so, she wanted to know, was this what she should continue to do or should she worship in Jerusalem as the Jews?

            -- Jesus' response seems to indicate that not only was the Samaritan worship tainted, but also that of the Jews -- their worship was no longer real and from the heart but driven by man-made laws and time-bound tradition

            -- true worshipers, He says, worship in spirit and truth -- they are not bound by geography or race or religion, for once they have been freed from the chains of sin and death and given the living water of grace, they will worship freely wherever they are

            -- worship should flow out of our redeemed spirits, and worship should happen in the everyday moments of life, as well as when we gather as a community to share in corporate worship

            -- Jesus is looking ahead to the moment when He would die on the cross -- when the veil separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple would be torn, making a way for all to enter into the presence of God freely and without restriction

            -- from that moment on, it didn't matter whether you worshiped on the mountains of Samaria or in the temple at Jerusalem, God would be found by those who earnestly sought Him – and we could worship and praise God with our whole lives, no matter where we found ourselves

            -- but how could the woman know this to be true? -- who was Jesus to tell her where to worship? -- "we are waiting for the Messiah," she says, "He will tell us all things and we should wait until He comes to discuss such matters" -- to which Jesus simply responds, "I am He – I am the Messiah – I am the Way and the Truth and the Life – do what I say – drink deep of Me – and you will experience new life"

 

III.  Closing

            -- I heard a story about a group of women who had gathered in a home for a time of intercessory prayer -- as they bowed their heads and began to pray, they were interrupted by the sound of items being moved on the coffee table

            -- one woman opened her eyes and noticed their host busily straightening up the living room -- picking up papers and putting magazines and books away

            -- "How dare she clean while we are in the midst of praying?" the woman thought

            -- the host glanced up and saw the woman's look of concern with her actions and explained, "As we started praying and inviting the Lord Jesus to come, it occurred to me I should make my home presentable since the King was coming to visit"

 

            -- I think that's something we should all remember -- divine encounters occur every day and God wants to use us to share His message of hope and love with others

            -- in order to recognize these divine encounters, we need to get ready -- we need to ask God to open our eyes to moments of grace -- to ask Him to help us get past the surface and see the true needs in other's lives -- we have to be ready to share His love with others

            -- and when we do this, we will begin to see living miracles every day -- People will show up on your doorstep or at the table next to you -- They'll start asking you about spiritual matters, and they'll wait for your reply -- looking for answers to questions they can't even phrase.

            -- And we are going to have to rely on God to work through us, by using our gifts and talents that He has given us. We are going to have to be like John and Paul and not worry about what we will say, but trust in the Holy Spirit to put the words in our mouth that the world needs at that moment.

            -- We might be led into areas vastly different from where we want to go or where we think we should be going -- but, when we ask God to use us, we have to be prepared for Him to do just that

 

            -- Let me close by giving you an example of what happens when you ask God to use you in divine appointments -- a few years ago, I did an experiment -- I prayed for God to use me -- I didn't tell Him how I wanted to be used -- I just prayed for God to use me. 

-- And all that week, people just started showing up in my office -- they'd come in there and they'd make small talk and all of a sudden they were spilling their guts over some issue in their life that they needed help with -- I couldn't do much more than listen, but I feel sure that this was what they needed and I feel sure that this is what God wanted me to do

-- These were divine appointments just like the one at the well in Samaria -- God wanted me to listen to these people and to allow Him to minister to them through me.

-- one thing I learned:  when you pray for God to use you -- when you pray for a divine appointment -- God will always answer this prayer

 

-- but maybe that’s not why you’re here this morning -- maybe you’re not here to minister to others -- maybe you’re here seeking a moment with the divine -- a moment with Jesus

-- maybe you are here because Jesus drew you here -- maybe you’re here because you have a need for healing and for a drink from the living water -- if that’s the case, then as we close in prayer, follow the path of the Samaritan woman -- confess and repent in your heart to Jesus -- bring your needs before Him -- ask Him to fill you -- to renew you -- to restore you -- to make you whole again

-- He’s here, offering the living water to all of us -- let it flow over you -- let it wash away all your hurt and your pain and your sin -- and feel His love and His presence today

 

-- let's pray

SERMON: OH, HOW HE LOVES ME

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

Naylor, Georgia

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to 1 John 4:7-16

 

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. 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.

 

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

 

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

 

            -- I had a friend who went to hear a well-known theologian speak at a United Methodist meeting -- 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, more than anything else, from God's word?

-- as the great theologian approached the lectern, every eye was upon him and 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 encompassed in this one profound statement: 'Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.'"

 

            -- that's what it's all about -- when you distill the Bible and God's message to its barest essence -- this is what you come up with -- God loves us -- the whole sweep of human history, from the creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to the fact that God created you and knit you together in your mother's womb and brought you here this morning -- it all points to one grand truth that reverberates throughout the universe and eternity -- God is love and God loves

            -- and not only are we humbled and awestruck by the fact that the Lord God Almighty – the Maker of Heaven and Earth – the Alpha and Omega – the Beginning and the End – is love and that He pours out His love into His creation – but we are humbled and awestruck by the simple fact that we learn from Scripture – God loves us -- He loves you -- He loves me

            -- He loves us in the same way that He loved Jesus

 

            -- in John 17, Jesus prayed to the Father in the Upper Room before He left to go to the Garden of Gethsemane and the cross – He prayed for His apostles – for those who were being left behind – and He prayed for us – for those who would come to believe in Him through their message

            -- as part of that prayer, we read in John 17:22-23 these words from Jesus to the Father – “I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in Me – so that they may be brought to complete unity – then the world will know that you sent Me and have loved them even as you have loved Me”

            -- hear what Jesus is saying in this prayer – He prays that the world would know that the Father sent Him to earth and that He loved us even as He loved Jesus – that He loved us as much as He loved Jesus – the Father loves us in the same way that He loved the Son

            -- and that is astounding – that is humbling – that is awesome – to know that God loves us in the same way that He loved Jesus – that He loves us – despite our sins and our stumblings and our failures – despite our feeble attempts to love Him back – His love for us is never diminished – His love for us is just as great as His love is for Jesus

            -- He loves us regardless of who we are and what we do – He loves us because He is love – and that is what He does

 

            -- we see the love the Father has for Jesus in the story of Jesus’ baptism – in Mark 1:9-11, we read that Jesus came to John at the Jordan River and was baptized by John – and rising out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove, and a voice came from heaven that said, “You are My Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”

            -- think about that for a moment – at this point in His life, Jesus has done nothing – His ministry is in the future – the miracles are in the future – the preaching and the teaching are in the future – the cross and the resurrection are in the future

            -- Jesus has done nothing for the Father at this point but be baptized – but see how the Father loves Him! – He calls Jesus His “beloved” – He says that He loves Him and is pleased in Him

            -- and I think it’s important for us to understand what the Father is saying here to Jesus and to recognize that if He loves us as He loves Jesus, then those words are for us, too

            -- and this tells us that God loves us for who we are – for who He made us – for who He is making us into

            -- we don’t have to do things to make Him love us – we don’t have to go out and do ministry or read the Bible or pray or do anything else – we just have to be – and in our being, God loves us – as Jesus said, the Father has loved us as He has loved Jesus – He loves us for ourselves – not for what we do – not for any works that we might do – but simply because we are His and we are one with each other and one with Christ – God loves us

            -- I want you to hear that – I want you to know that – I want you to feel that – and to know that that means that no matter what you do – no matter what sins you have done – no matter what great works you might have done – God loves you the same – simply because you are you

            -- and because of this great love for you, He sent Jesus to earth to show us how to live and follow Him in obedience and to be forgiven of our sins through repentance as we trust in Jesus by grace through faith

            -- God is love – and He loves you

 

            -- but what is love? -- love is one of those words that has lost its meaning through overuse -- we throw that word "love" around like it doesn't mean much anymore -- the same day we tell our spouse that we love them, we'll tell a coworker, "Man, I just loved that game last night" -- we sing about love -- we talk about love -- we even use "love" in advertisements -- "McDonald's: Just loving' it"

            -- do we really think God loves us like we love McDonald's? – that when the Bible talks about love and that God loves us just as He loved Jesus, that this is what He’s talking about?

            -- no, obviously not -- so, what is love? -- what is it about God's love that would cause a renowned theologian to boldly state in a key-note address that the fact Jesus loves him is the most important theological message in all of history? -- what do we mean by love? -- do we even know anymore?

 

      -- I read about this study by a group of child psychologists -- they wanted to know what kids thought about love -- what they understood about 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."

 

      -- 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 us -- God loves us – God loves you -- but do we truly comprehend it? -- do we really get what He's trying to tell us? – do we hear what He is saying?

      -- 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

      -- if John had been the one to write that children's Sunday school song, it would have probably said, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for He told me and showed me so"

            -- 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 purpose and meaning – the love of Christ made him who he was

            -- 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 gets back to the heart of the matter – to what’s truly important – and 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 – for he has truly understood at this point that God is love and that God loves him just as much as God loved Jesus -- so let's take a moment to see what the disciple Jesus loved can tell us about God's love for us

 

II.  Scripture Lesson (1 John 4:7-16)

            -- if you would, look back at verse 7-8

 

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.

 

            -- the NIV does not do justice to John's words in the opening to these verses -- in the King James Version, John opens this exhortation to his readers with the word, "beloved" -- this one word tells us so much about who John has become through the love of Christ and how he exemplifies what it is he's trying to get us to understand in this epistle

            -- beloved -- those I love -- listen to the words I am saying -- I am telling you this, not just because it is a theological principle -- not just because it's something you should know -- I'm telling you this because I love you and I want you to understand the love Jesus has for us and the love we should have for Him

 

      -- "let us love one another" -- it's important to know here what Greek word John has used in this passage -- as you know, the Greeks had more than one word to describe love, whereas in our language we only have one -- there was phileo -- brotherly love -- there was eros -- erotic love -- passionate love -- there was storgei -- familial love -- love between families -- and then there was agape -- unconditional love -- love without boundaries -- this is the type of love John is talking about here

      -- beloved, let us agape one another -- let us love each other like God does -- let us love each other unconditionally -- without boundaries -- extravagant and excessive love

      -- John knew agape love -- he had seen it in Jesus, probably for the first time in his life -- agape love is rare, because it is unconditional and we like to make our love conditional

      -- that's what John means in verse 8 when he says that whoever does not love does not know God -- people who don't know God -- people who haven't experienced God's love, can't love like God -- they just don't understand it

     

      -- do you remember the movie from several years ago, "God's Not Dead?" – it was one of those cheesy Christian movies, where the acting is not the greatest and the message is just right in your face – there’s no subtlety there – it’s very direct

      – but, for all its flaws, the movie portrayed a clear and obvious difference between agape love and the other kinds of love that the Bible talks about -- there were very clear distinctions between those who knew God and those who didn't -- not in their stated beliefs -- but in the difference of how they loved others

      -- the characters in the movie who didn't know God expressed love in self-serving ways -- when things went bad -- when the relationship got tough -- they quit, because they were not getting out of it what they wanted

      -- not to put a spoiler in here for those who haven't seen it, but in one scene, two of the characters in a relationship go out to eat at a fancy restaurant -- they are there to celebrate the man closing a big deal at work -- at the table, the woman tells him she has cancer -- the man just looks at her and says, "Couldn't you have waited until tomorrow to tell me that?"

      -- he didn't want anything to spoil his night -- his celebration -- his love for her was self-serving and self-motivated -- it was not agape -- it could not be agape, because they did not know God

      -- on the other hand, the characters in the movie who knew God loved others unconditionally -- their love was not self-serving, but other-serving -- other-motivated -- they sought to help others, even at their own expense

      -- John is telling us here that this is the way it should be for us -- because we have known God and His love, our lives should be characterized by that same unconditional, extravagant, agape love that God had for Jesus and that God has for us

 

            -- John closes verse 8 by telling us God is love -- not that God loves -- but that God is love -- God's essential being is love -- His nature is loving -- and love can never be absent from His being or any of His actions¹ -- God is the wellspring and source of all love -- and this love flows from God to His creation and it should flow from us to others

 

            -- verse 9-10

 

1 John 4:9 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.

 

            -- John says, "You want to know what agape love looks like? -- it looks like Jesus" -- God loved us so much He sent His son to be our atoning sacrifice on the cross -- even before we loved Him, He loved us -- even before we knew Him, He knew us and loved us

            -- as Paul writes, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" -- there was no condition there -- we didn't have to get right with God before  He would love us – we didn’t have to get right with God before He died for us -- we didn't have to clean ourselves up and get rid of all our sin before Jesus came -- He came in love and because of love and showed us His agape love – loving us so much, He even went to the cross for us to pay the price for our sins that we could not pay

            -- do you want to know what agape looks like? -- John points to the cross and says, "This is agape -- this is love"

 

            -- verse 11-15

 

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.

 

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.

 

            -- beloved -- those I love -- my dear friends -- since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another -- that word "ought" there in verse 11 -- that's the Greek word opheilo -- it implies a moral obligation -- what John's telling us is that we are bound to love others -- we have to love one another -- not because it's a law -- not because it's something we are going to be judged for -- but because God so loved us, we have to give back that love to others – that if we have experienced the agape love of God, we can’t but help passing that love on to others

            -- John knew what love was -- he had seen it expressed through Jesus -- he had experienced it himself -- and so he's trying to get the point across to his readers that if you want to know love, you have to experience it

-- to know love, you have to live it -- you can't just read about it in a book -- it can't just be a theological concept -- it can't just be something we sing about in church -- it has to be something real in your life

            -- when John says "this is how God's love is made complete in us" he is saying, "This is love with feet -- this is love with skin on -- this isn't just loving with your head -- this is real love -- and to know this love you must first have experienced God's agape love through Christ and you must give it out to others"

            -- in other words, the love that we proclaim and are obsessed with in our culture only reflects the love of Christ in as far as we have experienced that love in our own hearts -- to truly love you must have been loved -- to truly love you must know Jesus

 

            -- verse 16

 

1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

 

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

 

            -- know and rely -- that word "know" implies intimate, absolute knowledge -- to know God's love is to know God -- to rely on God's love means your faith is made complete by trusting in who He is -- because God is love, we can trust Him and rely on Him in all situations, knowing that everything that He allows to happen in our lives will be an expression and outpouring of His love for us

            -- "live in agape," John tells us -- "live in love" -- what a different world this would be if we lived in unconditional, extravagant love -- if all our motives, our thoughts, our actions, our being -- were completely and totally expressed through agape love

 

            -- there are days when I feel invisible -- there are days when I feel like no one notices me or cares about me, especially strangers – a lot of the time when I go to town and go to the store, it feels like everyone is just worried only about themselves – they’re wrapped up in their own little world – and they don’t care about anyone else – only about themselves and their desires and their wishes

-- they don’t care that they block aisles in the grocery store and no one can get by them -- they don’t care that they cause traffic problems when they drive as if they are the only people on the road -- they don’t care if their language is offensive to others and might be heard by young, impressionable ears -- they don’t care because they are being selfish -- they don’t care because they don’t love or know love

-- I truly believe that most of the problems that we face in life would be solved if people would stop thinking about themselves and start thinking about others – if people would stop loving themselves and start loving others as God has loved them

 

            -- I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where people did care like that -- where people did love  like that -- the closest I've ever come to that was at a Promise Keeper's event a few years ago -- you've all been to sporting events or concerts or large gatherings and you know what it's like to try to get in your car and out of the parking lot after the game -- it's like the epitome of selfishness -- everyone is only worried about themselves and no one else -- people won't let you in line and will gladly cut you off if they can get out five seconds faster than you

            -- but as I was leaving this Promise Keeper's event at the University of Tennessee, it wasn't like that -- guys who were sitting on their tailgates eating lunch would get up to help someone get out safely -- they would stop traffic and motion for others -- we almost had a traffic jam because everyone was trying to let the next person out -- they were more worried about others than themselves -- for that moment, they were living love -- they were living agape

            -- John says that is how we should live our lives -- not out of a sense of duty -- but because of God's love through Jesus -- because God loved us and because God is love, we should live in love

            -- that is the message of the Bible -- as Jesus said in the upper room on the night He was betrayed, "A new command I give you -- Love one another -- as I have loved you, love one another – for the Father has loved you as much as He has loved Me”

 

III.  Closing

            -- I want to close by sharing with you a story I once heard from Tony Campolo -- He was working a Christian kid's camp, and there was a kid with cerebral palsy there who couldn't speak or walk very well -- Tony said the other kids made fun of him unmercifully

            -- he said it broke his heart at how this kid was treated by the others, especially at this Christian camp -- at how they would mimic the way this boy walked and the way he talked -- this went on for a full week, and nothing the counselors said could make a difference -- the taunting and mocking continued

            -- on the final day of the camp the kids were supposed to give a short speech about their experience at camp and how it had affected their relationship with God -- one by one the kids all got up to give their speeches, but Tony said they were dead, lifeless, with no power

            -- then the boy with cerebral palsy stood up -- and as he walked to the podium you could hear the snickers from the other kids -- the boy stood at the microphone and said only seven words, but they were full of power because they were from the heart -- he said, "I love Jesus and Jesus loves me."  -- and Tony said that at that moment the Spirit of God descended on that camp in a real and powerful way and the hearts of the kids there broke and they all fell at the altar weeping before God and asking Him to forgive them for the way they had treated the boy with cerebral palsy

            -- love changes things -- love changes hearts -- love makes all the difference in the world -- this is love: not that we loved Him, but that He loved us and sent His only Son to be our atoning sacrifice -- God is love and because we know God, we must love

 

            -- we're going to close now, but I want to leave you with this final thought -- the most important in all the world: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so

            -- hear that – know that – live that – and love like that

            -- let us pray

-----------------------------

1 Shepherds Notes: 1,2,3 John; pg. 65