God's Love And Ours

God’s love and ours 1 John

“I like you” he said shyly

“I like you too” she responds

Encouraged, he added “I like you more than I said”

“Me, too”, she murmurs blushing

“I love you”, he blurts

“What? She asks breathlessly

“Nothing” he mutters.

“Go on, say it,” she urges

“Ojay, but don’t laugh. I love you.”

“I love you too”. She says smiling.

Bells ring, fireworks explode. Another romance has blossomed. What a wonderful thing love is. Everywhere you go, every magazine you turn to will give you advice on how to get in love, to stay in love, to keep that feeling of love, some of them will even try and advise you how you can love 2 people at the same time. Countless pop songs have been written about it. Countless books are aimed at helping people find it, and the media would have people think that life is not complete without it.

But in all these things people are looking in the wrong place. They are looking at shadows, counterfeits, poor reflections of a deeper reality. I will put it to you today that you can spend all your time looking for love on a horizontal dimension around at others – but you will never truly be able to find what you seek.

Tonight we will be thinking about God’s love and ours.

In tonights passage we see the famous words “God is love”

Many people say “I don’t see God’s love in the world”

I see wars, famines, stories of young people being raped. Where is your God of love. And it is good and right for people to ask questions. If the Bibel says God is love we ned evidence and proof of that. “Come on God – show us your love?”

Suppose I was to come up to you and told you that I never speak to my wife at home, I never remember her birthday, I never do anything to help her round the house, and I never say thankyou to her for all the things she does – but I were to tell you that “I really do love her”

What would you say to me?

Only way thay someone know they are loved/cared is by that they that they do and how they treat us. Love is only any good if it is put into action. Only way Jayne will know that she is loved is if I do spend time with her, I do remember her birthday, I do help around the house, and I do say thankyou for all the things she does for me.

Accoridng to John something absolutely amazing has happened. Something so amazing has happened that no-one will ever be able to doubt God’s love again. Something that demonstrates really what true love is.

That to everyone who all say “Come on God show us your love” – will be silenced. John is saying

‘If you want to know where God’s love is and how to experience it, open your ears.’

This is how God showed his love among us – read vs 9 & vs 10

John is saying that God’s love and actually “true love” is seen by him sending His Son to die.

Yet how strange and bizarre – how can the death of Jesus make a difference.”

Imagine I was walking Jayne was walking along a riverbank with me and I were to say “Jayne – I love you so much – you are my true sweetheart – and I want to demonstrate my love to you so that you will know how true it is.”

And then with that she jumped into the water and drowned. I would be so confused – “What a waste”. How does James jumping into the water and dying show that she loves me.

In the same way one can think how does the death of Jesus show God’s love.

Well lets think about another riverside scene – here I am walking alone alon the riverbank, and this time I see Jayne drowning in the water. “Help, Help can someone save me”, know would I stop and think I have got a nice set of clothes on, or I’m already late for a meeting “No – I love her. I’ll dive in and rescue jer. As I rip off my shirt, revealing my broad rippling muscles and I save her. Here you can see a connection between me risking my life and my love.

This is far more similar to what Jesus has done by dying – a rescue operation.

But there is 1 big difference for me to rescue Jayne is a natural thing. For God to rescue us is amazing.

We did nothing to deserve God’s love – we lived our lives opposed to him. Each day we can rebel against him in our thoughts and words and deeds. Before we cam to know God – the way we had lived meant we deserved to be left to drown.