October 15, 2017am Ne w Hope R oad Joelton, TN 37080

Transcription

1 1 John 4:7-21 God Is Love October 15, 2017am Ne w Hope R oad Joelton, TN READ 1 John 4:7-21 KIDS Love means three things in 1 John 4:7-21. What are they? In 1867, the well-known revivalist D.L. Moody invited a young Irish evangelist, Henry Moorhouse, to preach a week long revival at his church. For six nights, Moorhouse chose as his text John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son While no one had complained about the sermons, many wondered why he did not select another passage to preach from. On the final evening, Moorhouse stood before the congregation and asked them to turn to John 3:16 again, adding For or a whole week I have been trying to tell you how much God loves you, but I cannot do it with this poor stammering tongue. If I could borrow Jacob s ladder and climb up into heaven and ask Gabriel, who stands in the presence of the Almighty to tell me how much love the Father has for the world, all he would say is, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Corey M. Minter Page 1 of 9

2 The text of John 3:16 molded much of Moorhouse s preaching ministry. When he was on his deathbed, he was asked for final words, and he replied, If it were the Lord s will to raise me again, I should like to preach from the text God so loved the world. The theme of God s love has been preached through the ages. It is the timbre of all the Bible. It is the most basic concept in all of Christianity. Toddlers understand it. It is also the most profound, leaving the brilliant theologians almost speechless, but that has not stopped the thousands of hymns that have been written to try and express it. Just about all of 1 John 4 is about the Love of Christ. John repeats his themes of true living, true teaching and true loving all throughout this small letter. In order to not continue to overlap one sermon from another, this morning we will take a very broad scope look at 1 John 4, instead of dissecting it verse by verse which is our norm. If there is one thing that I want you to get this morning, it is this Jesus loves you. His love for you is not dependent upon your having a clean track record or good behavior; He loves the terrorist and the innocent child equally. His love for you is not based upon you being His creation (although you are). His love for you is not contingent upon whether or not you will love Him back. Jesus loves you as you are, for who you are, because of Who He is. You heard that right. Christ s love for you has absolutely nothing to do with who you are and what you have done (good/evil), and it has everything to do with Who He Is. That is what makes His love for you so amazing. It is a love without any ifs or so long as. Corey M. Minter Page 2 of 9

3 Why does God love you? Because it is in His character as a righteous, self-sustaining God. If He had any, we could say that it is in His DNA to love you. Let s talk about that love. From verse 7 to 21, John will write that word in some form 26 different times, which prompted Augustine the early church father to write John has spoken many words, and nearly all of them about love. 1 God is love. 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. That is kind of a strange statement to make. God is love? Let me try to explain what I believe it means through a modern misunderstanding and an ancient definition. 1 The modern misunderstanding is that Love is God. You might hear someone say, Well, if God is so loving, why have I been diagnosed with cancer? Essentially, if God is so loving, why is there suffering/evil in the world? Or How could a loving God send anyone to Hell?! When we ask those types of questions, we are placing all of our preconceived notions and personal definitions about what we believe love to be and judging God accordingly. We do not get to impose our definition of words upon the Creator of the universe, the Author of language. Instead, what small, finite thing we do know about love ought to spark our Sam Gordon, Living in the Light: 1,2,, 3 John (Ambassador, 2001), p. 156 Corey M. Minter Page 3 of 9

4 understanding about Who God is. God defines love. Not love (or your faulty misconception of love) defines God. The ancient definition of God is love comes to us through the word choice that John uses throughout 1 John 4. The whole of the New Testament was written in Greek, an intensely descriptive language. As John wrote, he used a particular word for love that was out of the ordinary for his day. He did not use the familiar word storgé which describes a family love, a blood bond. He did not use the other common word for love philia which speaks of a love based upon sameness: Brotherly Love. No, he under inspiration of the Holy Spirit used agape. Strangely enough, while the word was rarely used in Greek/Roman culture because of its intensity, it was used very often when speaking of God throughout the New Testament, 320 times in fact. 2 I have talked about agape love numerous times before from the pulpit. The most basic understanding of what agape is, is that it is a love that does not make sense. In contrasting the different words for love in Greek, Stephen Davey wrote Philia says - I love you because you are so much like me. Agape says I love you even though you aren t anything like me. Storgé says I love you because you belong to my family. Agape says I love you and want to make you a member of my family. 3 2 Herschel H.. Hobbs,, The Epistles of John (Thomas Nelson, 1983), p Stephen Davey. God Is Agape id=2508 Corey M. Minter Page 4 of 9

5 If God is love (and He is) and we love God (and I hope we do), the what God says about love should be supremely important to the Christian. God is love means three things: 1. Love is defined by what God did. (9-10) 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1. He manifested (or made known) Himself to us. Deism. It is not such a popular idea today, but it was hugely popular in the s. In fact, many of America s founding fathers were deists. It is the incorrect belief that there is a Creator, but that He is so far removed from His creation that He does not interact with it. Many have called this the Divine Watchmaker Theory. God created, designed and set in motion this clock-like world, but He, as the Divine Jeweler, is not everyday working in the cogs of His creation. I say that it is not a popular idea today because people do not claim to be deists very often, but in one sense it it is very popular we sure act as though God is not involved in our lives at times. We would not know Him or even know of Him were it not for His making Himself known to us. Maybe today, you are Corey M. Minter Page 5 of 9

6 sitting in that pew, contented to live your normal life. The Creator of the Universe, the Redeemer of your very soul wants to have a personal relationship with you. He is making Himself known to you right now. How? In that, He sent His only begotten Son for you. 2. He sent His only begotten Son to us. Why? That we might live 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation is a word that we do not use every day, but it is a good one. Basically, it means satisfaction. So, we can read verse 10 as God loved us and sent His Son to be the satisfaction of our sins. That is a great base understanding satisfaction. But I think we can do deeper. I heard the perfect illustration for propitiation the other day when turning the news on watching the wildfires that have been sweeping across California. On some of the video footage, they showed brave forestry firefighters flighting the blaze. They used a lot of different tools, but the strangest to me was what looked like a blow torch. After some reading, I learned its actually called a fuss or drip torch. They literally fight fire with fire. By burning off a portion of field, it cannot be burnt by the wildfire. I have heard stories of families who lit their surrounding land on fire before a Corey M. Minter Page 6 of 9

7 wildfire swept through. They could stand safely on their land while the fire raged around them because it had already been burnt. They were standing on propitiated ground. It had already satisfied the blaze so it could not be burnt again. Some of you see the spiritual correlation. Christ endured every bit of the Hell that you would be sentenced to while He was on the cross. He satisfied the blaze, and now, you, accepting Him as your Savior stand on the grounds of His propitiation. 2. Love is defined by what God does. (11-19) Christ s once for all death has lasting ramifications for the world. Not only does it beckon for all to turn to Christ, but it ought to change our everyday life. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Let s take the simple urging of verse 11. If God SO loved us, we ought to love one another. 1. As a reminder to ourselves of our salvation (13) Corey M. Minter Page 7 of 9

8 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have talked a lot about assurance of salivation throughout our study of 1 John. I have found that often when we doubt our standing with Christ it is because we have an issue with an earthly relationship. Here John tells us that loving others with this agape type love is a sign of Christ in us. 2. As a testimony to the world of God s love (12 & 14) 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. How you act/what you do as a Christian directly reflects on Who you believe Christ to be. Verse 12 says that the closest the world will ever see God this side of Heaven is in our love. Verse 14 says a similar thing, that through our love for others we testify that God sent His Son into the world. Water Hose Illustration What is this? What does it do? Can it produce water? It is only useful if it is connected to the water source. If it is connected to the spigot, then water pours through it. Basically, what verses 12 and 14 say is that we, as Christians (those connected to the source of love), ought to be pouring love everywhere and on everyone. We ought to be spilling, spewing, and drenching this world Corey M. Minter Page 8 of 9

9 with the agape love that Christ gave us. When we are not pouring out agape love on others around us, there is a problem. 3. Love is what God demands. (20-21) Verses 20 and 21 says that love for others is so important to the foundation of the Gospel that God demands it of Christians. If a person is not loving others, then they probably are not really a Christian. The water hose is not connected to the spigot. 20 If someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. Corey M. Minter Page 9 of 9