The Ins and Outs of Love / Based on John 1:1-18 and Ephesians 1:3-14 / Delivered January 3, 2016

The Ins and Outs of Love

Based on John 1:1-18 and Ephesians 1:3-14

Delivered January 3, 2016

John 1:(1-9), 10-18

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

1:2 He was in the beginning with God.

1:3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being

1:4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

1:7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.

1:8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

1:9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

1:10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.

1:11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.

1:12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,

1:13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

1:14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.

1:15 (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'")

1:16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

1:17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

1:18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.

Here we are on the second Sunday of Christmas. The scriptures for today still focus on Jesus Christ’s entry into the world.  I will be pulling from Ephesians as well as the Gospel of John.  Both scriptures share in poetic detail who Jesus is and the lavish gifts given to us through Christ’s coming to earth.  I call my message for today “The Ins and Outs of Love”.  We’ll explore together:

The Ins of love – which are the blessings given to us from God

Love itself – which is shown in the person Jesus, and

The Outs of love – which are our responses

We understand breathing.  We must both breathe in and breathe out.  Our breathing is part of a cycle to nourish us, and nourish the plants.  In and out.  Receiving and giving is also a cycle.  It is often said it is better to give than receive, but that is not quite true.  We must both receive and give.  Like breathing we need to both to continue the cycle.  Hold that idea in your heart.

The Ins of Love:

I read the scripture from John a few minutes ago.  Here is the scripture from Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:3-14

1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

1:4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.
1:5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,
1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace
1:8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight
1:9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,
1:10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
1:11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,
1:12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.
1:13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;
1:14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.

God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing.  The scriptures make it clear he didn’t just give a gift, he ‘lavished on us’ which means to give something in generous or extravagant quantities.  God chose us in Christ to be His children by adoption.  We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, the Holy Spirit as our guide, and the pledge of our inheritance.  My favorite definition of redemption is, clearing a debt.  Christ cleared out our debt so we can stand holy and blameless before God in love.

John also says “without him not one thing came into being”.  Our life itself is a gift.  I think we can agree we have all received, grace upon grace.  The passage of John sounded like the beginning of Genesis.  “In the beginning…”  One brought life, and the other brought eternal life.  Those are some of the “Ins” of love.

Love itself:

On New Year’s Eve a friend of mine spoke of watching the movie from the ‘70’s called Ice Castles.  The theme song has the phrase, “’til I found you…looking through the eyes of love.”  Of course in the movie it was about the mushy romantic form of love, but the phrase works with our scripture today.  For God so loved the world, he sent Jesus, and as John 1:18 says, No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known. “

We can see God by looking through the eyes of Jesus, who is the incarnation of God’s love.  God worked with his children on earth through sharing his word through the prophets in the Old Testament.  Yet God still remained a mystery to us.  We couldn’t quite understand.  Some call Jesus a prophet, but those of us who are called Christian believe he was much more.  In Jesus, God wrapped His word in human flesh so we could more easily see who God is. 

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.”  Seeing Jesus is the closest humanity will ever come to actually seeing God.  God put skin on the light, glory, grace, and truth of His nature. What does it look like to live as a ‘light in the darkness?’ Look at Jesus, and see how those divine qualities sound and act.  Jesus is our model as well as our savior.

So what is our response to this incredible gift?  We’ve reached the section I call the “Outs of Love”.

God has lavished his love on us.  Step one is to receive it.  John 1:12 “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.” 

Remember I said in the beginning giving and receiving is a cycle like breathing.  Air in, then air out.  Love in, then love out…repeat.  Our ego cannot stop God’s light and love from pouring down on us, but it can stop it from shining through us.  Do not let it!

One of the most powerful and hard to believe scriptures for me is John 14:12 “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

Yes, Jesus is God’s only begotten Son, but he is not God’s only child.  You and I have been selected for adoption.  Are we willing to be children of God in response to God’s willingness to be born a child for us?  This means choosing to let the light and love of God flows through us.  We are called to share the mind of God, and Ephesians tell us God has a plan to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Love came down at Christmas, we see God through the eyes of that love; through Jesus.  When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was in Luke 10:27 He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'  How do we learn to love like that?  Let Jesus mentor you.  He can demonstrate it in human terms.

So that is the Ins and Outs of Love.  Take God’s love in, and let it pour through you to heal the world.  In and Out.  It is so simple.  When someone asks what God is like you can point to Jesus, but my prayer for each of us in this new year is that the world can also see what God is like through us.

Amen