Pastor Slaughter
May 5, 2024
Easter 6
Text: 1John 4:7-11, 19-21
It’s all about Love
1)God’s love for us
2)Our love for others
Love. I think most people, if they are honest, desire to be loved. But to quote famous SNL skit, “What is love?” If you were to take a moment and fill in the blank what would you write? Love is___________. Did you put things like…Love is an emotion? Love is a feeling we have about someone. Love is an intense, deep affection for another person or thing. What is love? Is that how scripture talks about love? Is that the kind of love that God has for you? Is that the kind of love you are to show others? We are going to explore that more in the sermon for today.
When you look at the Bible it really can be summed up in one word, love. It’s God’s love story for you, for me, for the World. It’s all about love. The apostle John in his first letter really emphasizes that theme of love. One out of every 58 words in his letter is love. 18 of them occur in the eight verses that make up our lesson for today. It lends itself to our theme for today is “It’s all about love” God’s Love for us and our love for others.
When you look at the world around us, do you question God’s love? We hear people who don’t know God, come to the conclusion that God is either powerless, or mean, or imaginary. They question, How can there be a loving God in the presence of cancer, dementia, war, divorce, rape, sexual abuse, sudden death or tragedy. I think sometimes we too wonder if God is powerless, or mean or imaginary, when we experience or see suffering and tragedy.
But God has given to us the greatest response to human misery. It is found in the Christmas message, it is seen on Good Friday and Easter changes everything. We see God’s love. John talks about this love. He says in verse 9, “This is how God’s love for us was revealed: God has sent his only-begotten son into the world so that we may live through him.” This is the focus of God’s Word. This is the focus of the Bible…”that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world.” Why would God do this? Why would God promise to send a Savior in the garden of eden after Adam and Eve fell into sin? Why would God continue to be with the nation of Israel when they repeatedly turned away from him? Why would God send his son into a broken and fallen and sinful world? Because he loves us.
John goes on in verse 10, “This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” God didn’t just send his Son into the world but he sent his Son for a purpose. To be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. The sacrifice of atonement was something God told Israel to do. Once a year the High priest was to take the blood of the sacrifice and enter the Most holy of holies. And sprinkle the blood from the sacrifice on the Ark of the covenant which held the 10 commandments. So when God looked at people through his commands a sacrifice was already paid. Year after year. Sacrifice after sacrifice. They would repeat the same thing. It pointed to a need for the perfect sacrifice. One that would cost God the Father a great deal, his own son. A sacrifice that would cost Jesus his very life and suffer the crushing weight of everyone’s sins.
What is love? It was the fact that God was willing to give the life of his own son as our substitute. What is love? It was the fact that Jesus went to the cross to make amends for all the wrongs ever committed against him by us.
This love is so different then the love we see in the movies or in the world around us. We see love depicted as this mysterious emotional force that you simply respond to and that it must be obeyed. And when that mysterious force fades away you don’t feel any attachment or obligation. It becomes a physical, emotional thing that can change.
God’s love is different. Godly love is the willingness to inconvenience yourself to bring benefit to somebody else. Jesus chose to take on our flesh, not because he thought it would be fun thing to try out but because he loved so much to be the perfect sacrifice. Jesus chose to be the atoning sacrifice not because he wanted to experience what it was like to go through crucifixion but because he loved us.
We have this need to feel loved. And guess what? God loves you. You are loved even when you face cancer because he died for you. You are loved even when you experience that break up because he promises to be with you. You are loved even when you feel the guilt of your sin because his love forgives you. What is love? God willingness to inconvenience himself to being you forgiveness life and salvation.
What does God call us to do? John says a couple of phrases, Verse 7 “Dear friends, let us love one another because love comes from God.” Verse 19 “We love because he first loved us.” Verse 21 “The one who loves God should also love his brother.” The apostle John is making a connection between real faith and loving actions.
John is so straight to the point. Sometimes his words though… man they cut like a knife. It’s like he wants to expose hypocrisy and shine light on liars. He wants to make Christians uncomfortable with Christianity that is merely talk. John says, “If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For how can anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen love God, whom he has not seen?” There you have it. You can’t love God if you are consumed with hatred toward your brother.
Ouch. John doesn’t dance around the issue but gets straight to the heart of it. How can someone who has seen the love of God in their life not love those that God has placed in their lives? Yet at times we struggle with the hypocrisy in our hearts. Where we say we love God who suffered the cross for us, and yet we can’t suffer for someone who has hurt us? Godly love is a willingness to inconvenience oneself to bring benefit to somebody else.
John isn’t giving permission for someone to abuse you because allowing someone to sin is not the loving thing to do. John isn’t using a love in the sense of a feeling like how you might have for that crush or spouse you have. You may not even like neighbor but Christians are commanded to love one another.
We don’t do this perfectly. And the truth is we can’t do this perfectly. Lord have mercy on us! We so desperately need God’s love. But that is the amazing thing about God’s love. He did what we could not and he did it perfectly. He perfectly loved us and he perfectly continues to love us.
The temptation for us at times is to define love by the things we do. When we do that we end up falling short. And loving others the way God love us, a willingness to inconvenience oneself to bring benefit to somebody else, we might think is impossible. But God isn’t commanding the impossible. But the reality is that God’s love enables us to love. John says, “Dear friends let us love one another because love comes from God.” And “We love because he first loved us!”
I have heard people say, “The older you get the more holy you become.” I don’t think that is true. I think it is better stated, “The older you get the more you realize your need for Jesus.” The more you see your need for Jesus, the more you see his grace and his mercy in your life. The more the you see his grace and mercy in your life, the more you can love others.
My family in Christ, with heads bobbing “What is love?” Today we saw God’s love in sending Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for sin. Forgiving us for when we failed to love others. We are reminded that God’s love empowers us to love one another. If you take anything away from today, I pray that you remember that the more you see God’s grace, mercy his love in your life, the more you will be able to show that love to others.