Being Love / Based on 1 John 4:7-21 / Delivered on April 29, 2018 to CCH

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