Because

Text: I John 4:19, "We love Him because He first loved us."

One of the questions that often confront us as believers is the "why" question. It relates to the very core of our existence as believers…

Why do you go to church?

Why do you pay your tithes?

Why do you pray?

Why do you follow your pastor?

Why do you lift up your hands in worship?

Why do you get up every Sunday morning and go to church?

Why do you sing God’s praises?

This interrogative question is simply answered with a calm answer. The answer is because I love the Lord, He heard my cry and pitied my every groan and long as trouble rise, and I live I’ll hasten to His throne.

But for some people, recitations from song lyrics aren’t convincing enough. For some people the reading of a few scriptures isn’t enough. The question again is why…

Why do you do what you do?

Why do you preach?

Why do you sing?

Why do you pray?

Why do you go to Sunday School?

Why do you usher?

Why do you serve as a Deacon?

Why do you give?

The world has a legitimate question and query. After all, why would you spend all of the time that you did this morning to bathe or shower, get dressed, apply makeup, comb your hair, eat breakfast, get into your car and come to this place?

Why would you fight traffic to get here?

Why would you waste gasoline to get here when it’s almost $3 a gallon?

Why would you spend valuable time in this building to praise God?

Why would you put clothes in the cleaners and wrinkle them by sitting in church for two hours?

Why would you risk the ridicule of friends, the ridicule of neighbors, the ridicule of your relatives, and yes, even the ridicule of those who you sit next to as you shed a silent tear or lift up a holy hand or praise God to the top of your lungs?

After all, you could have stayed home this morning. You could have done like more than 60% of the residents of Columbus and stayed locked in, in front of a television set, or worked in the yard.

You could have worked on your car this morning.

You could have got caught up on some sleep that you lost last night.

You could have gone to the mall, after all, the crowds are normally down on Sunday morning, and you could have found that outfit that screams out your name.

But you came here anyhow. And I’m curious why?????

After all, the choir is the same. They are not going to dedicate a song to anyone in this room. They don’t have agents or managers. They don’t have stage lighting and they don’t have record albums out. And yet every song – you know what’s going to happen – it’s going to have something to do about Jesus, it’s going to give praise to Jesus, it’s going to get excited about Jesus, it’s going to lead us into worship of Christ.

And I want to know why?

After all, the preacher is the same. His message is not going to change. You know what’s going to happen. He’s going to expound upon a passage. He’s going to look at the text from all angles and then no matter what he’s going to talk about Jesus dying on a cross, Jesus hanging between two thieves, Jesus hanging his head locks of his shoulders, Jesus buried in a borrowed tomb and then Jesus getting up with all power in his hand.

I mean is there anybody here from California, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Oregon, Georgia, Arkansas, Illinois, Florida, D.C., and other parts of the country, who have gathered in this place, with scents of perfume permeating the air, with cologne that is name brand or designer brand, with designer knock offs, filling the room.

Why???

Have you tried to explain to those around you about your faith?

In 1 John 4, the Apostle John writes this text, which has similarities but distinctive differences. He is now writing not as a young firebrand, but as a seasoned saint. He is up in his years, and he now desires to dispense fatherly advice. He writes, yes, to his spiritual children – those who he has led to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and as some writers have suggested, who are grappling with the lure of worldliness and the guile of false teachers.

John considered it necessary to set the record straight. After all, when you review the life of John it is not a pretty picture. John was a disciple of Jesus but he had his own ministry to deal with. John’s ministry would take him to the Isle of Patmos. John’s ministry would take him to a vat of oil. John’s ministry would see him persecuted for the gospel sake. John’s ministry would take him from the closest fellowships with Jesus to receiving Jesus’ mother at his crucifixion to his current position. An elder thinks of life in a different way. It is a time of reflection. You look back on things that you did right, you think about thinks that you did incorrectly. You start seeing that there are more days behind you than days that are available before you.