Being Love / Based on 1
John 4:7-21 / Delivered on April 29, 2018 to CCH
Hymns: My Jesus I Love
Thee, I’ve Got Peace Like a River, Take My Life and Let It Be
1 John 4:7-21
4:7 Beloved, let us love
one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and
knows God.
4:8 Whoever does not love
does not know God, for God is love.4:9 God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
4:11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.
4:12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
4:13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world.
4:15 God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.
4:16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.
4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.
4:19 We love because he first loved us.
4:20 Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.
4:21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
Good morning and happy
fifth Sunday of Easter to you! My name
is Darci Strutt McQuiston and it is my honor to be with you this morning.
This passage from 1st John is a familiar one to many of us. I’m going to add in a song based on this scripture in the end just because I can’t get it out of my head. I will also be bringing in a few verses from the gospel reading for today, Luke 15. I’m approaching the scripture in these ways:
God loved first
Jesus proved it
It’s our turn
God loved first
This reminds me of God’s
grace toward us. God’s love isn’t based
on our deserving it.
4:10 In this is love, not
that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning
sacrifice for our sins.
4:11 Beloved, since God
loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.Again, in verse 16 –
4:16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
God didn’t wait for us to
clean up our act. He didn’t wait for us
to become closer to deserving this love.
He loved first because that is who He is. God is love.
This passage from 1 John makes that quite clear.
We read this passage and
it seems obvious to us, yet for those first readers it would have been a new
teaching. They knew the Jews were God’s
Chosen People, but the idea that God’s love was pouring out whether they were
obedient or not was new. They had seen
God’s anger and worried about His love being withheld if they disobeyed the
laws of Moses. John taught God’s love
never stopped because that was God’s identity.
God was Love.
Jesus proved it
4:9 God's love was
revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we
might live through him.4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Jesus came to show us who
God was. Jesus didn’t withhold his
healing from those who had sin or from those who were not of the right
family. He taught “neighbor” meant
everyone. At his birth, Simeon gave this
prophecy in the temple;
Luke 2:30-32 For my eyes have seen your
salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for
revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”
God’s salvation was for
all nations whether the people were Jewish or not. All people are God’s creation and God’s
children.
In the New Testament
lesson from Luke for today Jesus describes himself as the vine.
15:3 You have already been
cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.15:4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.
15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.
This is a parable of what
it means to “live through” Jesus from our 1 John passage, “God sent his only
Son into the world so that we might live through him.” Jesus tapped into God’s powerful love. He was fully connected, one with God. He offers us that connection to himself like branches
connect to a grape vine.
It’s our turn
Wayne Dyer said, "If
you desire peace for others, you'll receive peace. If you want others to feel love, you'll be
the recipient of love." The Course
in Miracles says it this way, “To have all, give all to all.” My
page-a-day quote calendar happened to have this quote from Pope John Paul II
this week, “Anything done for another is done for oneself.” There you have it from three different
sources!
This is a principle I’ve
seen in action in my life. Give to
others what you hope for yourself. Be
loving and you will feel love in your life.
First John tells us that
God’s love is pouring out to us. We can
receive that love most fully when we are letting it flow through us to others.
4:19 We love because he
first loved us.
4:20 Those who say,
"I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for
those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God
whom they have not seen.4:21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
It is in giving that we
open the channel to receiving. Kind of
like you need to breathe out before you can breathe in. If we claim to be connected to God that means
we are being continually filled with God’s love for his children. If we are filled with love, then that is what
will come out of us.
We most often think of
love as a feeling. We do something
because we feel this feeling. Jesus demonstrated
that love was a way to act. 1 John and
other passages teach that love is a way to be.
God is love and when you love you are like him. We are called to BE Love, not just feel it or
act in loving ways.
Jesus uses the parable of
the vine to show this connectedness. We
don’t use the word “abide” very often.
In the old days your home was called your abode. That was where you lived. To abide was to be present in your home. It meant living within a place. We are called to abide with Christ in Luke 15:4
“Abide in me as I abide in you”, to abide with God 1 John 4:16b “God is love,
and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them”, which is to
abide within love.
First, we are asked to see
a feeling as a person and then we’re asked to see a person as a place to
be. It’s no wonder Jesus spoke in
parables to try and help us understand.
We are to become part of who God is.
We are to become love.
That final verse (21) says
it is a commandment, but I think it is a truth.
If love is not coming out of you then you are not connected to God. I like to image it as a river channel
connected to a source. If the river is
connected to pure water, then pure water is flowing out of it. If it has a connection to dirty water, then
dirty water is flowing out. We choose
where we receive our source and the result is what flows out of us. If we have lives of mud, then it would be
wise to check our connection. If we have
blocked the flow from going out, the initially pure water can become stagnant.
In the parable of the vine
in Luke Jesus says, 15:6 “Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a
branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and
burned.” I do not see this as a threat
but also as a truth. I love to garden, and I’ve seen firsthand what happens
when a stem is separated from the main plant.
It dies. It doesn’t die because
the main plant withheld nutrients. It
dies because it became separated from the source of those nutrients. This is a warning to stay connected to the
source of life, to Jesus and thus God, to live a life that is full and
productive.
4:7 Beloved, let us love
one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and
knows God.
4:8 Whoever does not love
does not know God, for God is love.
We can live in love
because we have been shown through Jesus life that we can live as God’s
children. If you want to receive more
love in your life, then let more love flow through you to others. Become a flowing river of love and you will
more strongly feel the love of God flowing into you. The more love you give the more love you will
see return to your life.
Love is a feeling, love is
a way to act, and love is a person to be.
Follow in the footsteps of your Father.
Strive to BE Love. People will
see the family resemblance.
Here’s the song I promised. I’m going to sing it twice so sing along!
Beloved, let us love one
another,
For love is of God, and everyone
that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.
Beloved, let us love one another.
First John, four: seven and eight.
Amen
