God Is Love Series

GOD IS LOVE

(1John 4:7-21)

Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all of the books he was carrying along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove, and a small tape recorder. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered articles. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry the burden.

As they walked Mark discovered the boy’s name was Bill, that he loved video games, baseball, and history, that he was having a lot of trouble with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend. They arrived at Bill’s home first and Mark was invited in for a Coke and to watch some t.v. The afternoon passed pleasantly with a few laughs and some shared small talk, then Mark went home.

They continued to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice. They ended up at the same High school where they had brief contacts over the years. Finally the long awaited senior year came, and three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk. Bill reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met.

"Do you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things from school that day?" asked Bill. "You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn’t want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away some of my mother’s pills and I was going home to commit suicide. But after we spent some time together I realized that if I had, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up my books for me that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life."

Jesus Christ did a lot more than just healing the sick. He did not only live a perfect life in our place; He died for us so we can have eternal life. He rose again from the dead to warrant that we will also be risen and live with Him forever and ever.

This passage probably contains the greatest single statement about God in the whole Bible, that GOD IS LOVE. I am amaze how many doors this single statement has unlocked and how many questions it has answered.

LOVE ORIGINATED FROM GOD

v. 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

v. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

God is love. It does not say God is grace nor God is mercy although we know God is all-gracious and all-merciful but it says God is love. God did not create an emotional feeling or expression at the time when He created man in His own image. He Himself is the personification of love. Within the Godhead there is love. Love finds its origin in God. He gives out love. When He demonstrated righteous indignation in His humanity, it was because of His love for man who is sinful in thoughts, words and deeds. There was not a time that God started loving and would stop loving. Love didn’t begin when God created the universe. Love was already there. There is love within the triune God. Where God was, there was love. Where God is, there is love. Where God will be, there will be full of love. So when we join Him in His eternal glory, the heartbeat of our eternal home, which is heaven, is love—that includes joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. For God is love. It is not to say that God loves. That is true, but John is putting emphasis on the character of God that God is love.

ILLUSTRATION: God’s love is not the kind which John Lennon sang in his song entitled “Love”)

Love is real, real is love,

(It’s true that love is real if it comes from God . But not all things that are real personify love. Sin is real. Killing is real but they don’t have the character of love at all)

Love is feeling, feeling love,

(feeling is an element of love but not all feelings mean love. If I say I feel like killing you, slapping you, hating you they’re not feelings of love. Or if someone who is married and expresses to another another girl he loves her, that is not true love.)

Love is wanting to be loved.

(Love is not for the asking. Though we’re sinners, God loved us. Love gives; self-less; sacrificial)

Love is touch, touch is love,

(Another element of love is affectionate touch but not all touches mean love.)