Word of Salvation – January 2022

 

We love because He first loved us

 

Sermon by Rev. John Zuidema, B.D. on 1John 4:7-12

Scripture Readings: Col 3:12-17; 1 John 4:7-12

 

Congregation, in today’s world there is much talk and singing about love and commitment.  Endless books are written about love, any number of songs, and poems, and yet when we look at this world, there seems to be so little love.

So often in this world love centers around self.  We’re happy to love so long as it suits our personal ends and ambitions.  When two people get married, there is love in the air.  And yet in nearly 33% of married cases according to 2021 statistics, and many other non-married relationships love has gone out the window and often for the most selfish reasons, by either both or one of the parties involved.

So why is there so much talk and singing about love in this world and sometimes even in the church and yet so often it goes missing?  Well, there are probably several answers. One is the effects of the fall on mankind.  Sin has had a devastating effect on our lives, not least on our ability to love. Thankfully, because of God’s common grace, love at least to some form is possible, even in the unbelieving world.

But now as redeemed sinners indwelt by the Holy Spirit, how can we love in a way that would make Jesus attractive in this fallen world around us?  The answer is that unless we know our Father in Heaven as the God of ultimate love, as he has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ, our incentive to love will always be lacking, because inevitably our pride, or an unforgiving heart or some other self-interest will take precedence.

In our text, the apostle John exhorts us to love one another.  It occurs in vv 7, 11 and 12.    John is not saying that we should love someone because they are nice or friendly or because they have done you a good turn!

As married couples we don’t just love our spouse because they make a great meal or do the washing or take out the garbage.   As children, we don’t love our siblings or parents because they give us what we want.  No, we are to love one another with no conditions attached.

We may not like what they do or say or even represent, in fact we may be vehemently opposed. However, that doesn’t mean we should stop loving.  We love because primarily our Father in heaven loved us even when we were unlovely and the other person is made in the image of God, just like we are.  That is why we are to love one another. It does not matter whether they are rich or poor, black or white, old or young, male or female.

Love takes no notice of how they dress, or how they look, or anything about their background.  We love because we know God as love and hence we see another person with the capacity to love God in Christ.  Here is another person struggling and facing the same problems of life as I do.  So, we desperately want to love them so that they will be drawn to God the Father through Christ and love him too!

So, we can only love a person like God wants us to do by first knowing God as the God of love!   That kind of love can only originate with God for God is this kind of love.  Where the life of God is present that love is found.  And if that love is not found, the life of God is not present.

It is no good claiming that you know God as your Father in heaven if the love of God is not found in your life.  If your reaction to those who offend you is one of opposition, rejection, and instant antagonism than it is no good saying you belong to your Father in heaven.

In fact, such negative reaction would show that your love for God as your Father isn’t what it should be.  As John mentions in verse 20; you cannot claim to know God and hate your brother or sister.  And please don’t play word games and tell me you don’t hate your brother or sister, but you can’t forgive them for something and hence not show the love God demands. That is rubbish talk.

And if you are inclined to say that, then at the very least your understanding of God’s love is flawed.  Let me explain God’s immeasurable love again, just in case you missed it the first time!

When the Bible speaks of God being love, it means that at the root of all God does is love. No matter how difficult it may appear to us to believe it, all of God’s activity stems from this self-giving love.  And it is driven for his glory and his children’s eternal salvation!

Note V9. And we know that God is love because he sent his Son. Those of us who are parents know how impossible that would be for us.  But such is the love of God.  And then v10 God’s Son was sent as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  In other words, he was sent to die and pay the price for our redemption!  This, dear friends is no small thing!

We should meditate and reflect on it often. Indeed we often sing about God’s love  – “How deep the Father’s love, how vast beyond all measure, that he should give his only Son to make a wretch his treasure.”

Congregation, you will only find that wonderful truth about God’s love in this Bible.  You won’t find it in any of the eastern religions, you won’t find it in the animistic religions of Africa.  You probably won’t find it on Netflix, Stan, Disney, or in women’s weekly or ‘Home and away’!  The Bible is the only book that reveals the full love of God.

Creation reveals his power, his greatness, and his might, but there is nothing in nature that says, ‘God is love.’  The only way we fully know is that God in his love sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Please notice again the character of love, it is the love for the unlovely.  “God so loved the world …” {John 3:16a}.  What world?  The world made up of men and women like you and me. The world described in our daily newspapers.  The world of murder, stealing, fraud, hatred, wars, terrorism, brokenness, abortion, child abuse, same sex unions, oh the list is endless.  And God, the God of love, sent his Son.

He came and lived among us and died upon a cross of shame to save sinners who repent and believe to eternal life!   By his death he has paid the cost of our sin.  We could never pay the price, matter of fact we didn’t want to.

So, if you ever want to measure love, then that is your standard. God’s love as he displayed in his Son is where the bar is set!    Don’t measure love by the warm affection of your heart toward God, or your feelings alone!  (v10) “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.”  That is the sign of God’s immeasurable love.

Stamped forever in human history, the greatest sign of love is a bloodied cross.  If you have ever been to that cross and seen the love of God there, you never can go back to a life of selfish indulgence and quarrelling behaviour.   In fact, where there is brokenness and distrust, the ‘bloodied’ cross should be your greatest incentive to initiate repair and healing!

Now, in verse 11 we see why it is possible for us to love.  If God so loved us, we ought to love one another.  There can never be a reason for us not to love. No excuses are good enough.   In fact, we’re duty bound to show that love. That is where the word ‘ought’ comes from in v11. We owe it. You “owe it” to love one another.

Please don’t come to me afterwards and say, ‘Pastor it is easy for you to say that we must love each other, but you don’t know that person – you don’t know what he or she is like!’

Please understand, I am not saying that there shouldn’t be changes on both sides, but since God so loved us – we love! That is the key.   “We love for God loved us first.  V19 picks up that idea too.  We love because God first loved us!

God loved us when we were shaking our fist at God!  When we didn’t want anything to do with him.  And it is only when we begin to understand that love, that we can begin to love like God showed his love to us in Christ.

Paul says in Romans 13:8; “Owe no one anything except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”   The command is not that we tolerate each other.  Or merely tolerate another for a time. That is not love. We must love, we owe it. Doesn’t depend on warm fuzzies.

It is not dependant on us at all.  Nor is it dependant on whether we like the other person.  Our love is rooted in the fact that God loved us, and he did so unashamedly.

In Col 3:12&13; Paul says, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

And then v14 – put on love!  That is part of the new creation.  We have put off the old, we have put on the new!

Please notice that this love isn’t just a feeling, but we are to put it on. It’s a conscious decision!  Love is not a victim of our emotions but a servant of our wills. That is what Christians do, they put on love!

It’s really putting Jesus on for that is what He was. “I am meek and lowly of heart!  Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Perhaps you’re here this morning and you have had a falling out with your parents, or a sibling, or even a business partner.  Perhaps you’re finding it hard to love again. It’s not that they don’t know you are a Christian, but you are thinking that it’s their turn to make the first move.

Let me tell you, put on love for love always takes the initiative.  I’m not saying it will be easy, but love always takes the initiative, just as Christ first loved us!

And then finally, missions!  Verse 12 tells us that God is invisible and no man has ever seen God. God is a Spirit, and therefore invisible.

Thus, the love of God cannot be demonstrated in nature, or be made visible in God’s creation.  But God’s love is made visible when we love one another.  God abides in us and his love is made complete in us.  Love reaches its final end, ‘in us.’  In other words, if we love one another, people can see God in us for God is love.   God’s great act of love in Christ is made complete when we love one another.

You can tell a hundred people in the world that God is love, but if they don’t see it in the way you love them, they will never believe you what you have to say about Jesus’ love for sinners either.  It’s when we start to love the un-loveable that people can see that God is love.  Then God’s dwelling in us becomes visible to them.   That is a bit scary, isn’t it?

There is a world dying for love. The word love is on everyone’s lips, they are talking about it on every side.  And we are the only channels by which the love the world is searching for can ever be loosed among humanity.  Therefore, above all else, put on love.

So, congregation, love one another.  May we all see God’s love in each other to the glory of God and extension of his kingdom on earth!  And when we have issues about showing that love, let’s remind each other afresh – look at the cross and remember what love was poured out for you.  Amen.

 

Prayer

Father what a barren world this is apart from the love we know from you in Christ. How empty life would be if this great act of love was unknown.  Father we thank you for these words of the apostle, that you alone are the source of this love, the only kind that satisfies, the only kind that meets the hunger of the heart.

So loving Father, we pray that these words may burn themselves into our hearts, and that we may recognize ourselves as called to be an abundant demonstration, of this kind of love.

We pray for each other that you by your word and Spirit would help us to love each other in Christ and that we may appreciate the depth of that love more and more as we live in this loveless world.

Father it is our prayer that we may all begin to reflect this great love in our own relationships and where there is hardship and brokenness, humble us in the light of your cross and bring healing to our lives.   In Jesus’ name. Amen.