Lavish Love Lavishly Shared Series

You can listen to this sermon at https://www.npbc.org.au/podcasts/media

1 John 3:1-24

“Lavish Love Lavishly Shared”

Today our focus is on 1 John 3. We are not going to read the whole chapter because a lot of what John writes in chapter 3 is spoken about in other parts of the letter.

Topics like not being hypocrites and constantly turning away from sin. We have covered those.

This chapter also talks about prayer – which will come up when we look at chapter 5.

This leaves us in chapter 3 with the topic of love … specifically the love of God to us in Christ.

As we think about this love I’m going to start by making a statement.

Parents can be less than perfect … yet we know that they love us.

There will be times when our parents took us for granted, or they weren’t listening, or they were distracted.

Maybe they forgot us – literally forgot us.

Our parents may have said words which hurt, or were really discouraging.

There might be some very painful memories.

But, despite their failings we knew our parents loved us.

And as we look back we know they were trying to do the best they could.

Parents can be less than perfect … yet we know that they love us.

That is a dynamic we can agree upon.

If less than perfect parents can still express love … then what sort of love can we expect to receive from the perfect parent?

John answers that question in 1 John 3:1

1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

It isn’t obvious in the translation but that first word … “See” … it is a command.

You have to see this. You don’t have a choice.

Not just glance … but really see … the love the Father has lavished, and keeps lavishing, upon us. Stop and see, because it is this love that makes you His children.

God is the ultimate parent … the ultimate Father. And our Father has lavished His love on us. When we read through the Gospel and letters of John we see that John loves to talk about the love of God.

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

9 This is How God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

1 John 4:9-10

God’s love … the agape – being willing to sacrifice all for others – love.

God’s agape love was given to the world.

… the world who thought they knew better than God.

… the world who took God’s perfect creation and ruined it.

… the world who set themselves up as God’s enemies.

The world …

It is so easy to point away from ourselves and say … hey that is the world.

But we … all of us … we were part of that “world”. We were destined to perish … to be eternally separated from God in the judgement of the lake of fire.

And now, even though we have been saved, we still struggle with the temptations of the world.

The world … us. That is who God loved.

Did He come to us because He saw something amazing and lovable in us.

Did He see us as stunningly faithful, and beautifully spiritual?

Did He rush to love us just in case someone else saw our loveable beauty and snatch us away?

Nope. Not even close. God looks at us and sees.

… darkness.

… sin.

… guilt.

… brokenness.

… worthlessness.

… a truckload of nothing except baggage.

That’s what we bring to the relationship.

We are not loved by God because we somehow express a love that is attractive to God. Quite the opposite.

We don’t deserve that love.

We didn’t earn that love.

If given the choice, we might not even show that love to ourselves.

Yet God loves us. Why? Because He did not want us to perish.

God loved us so much that He gave His Son

… to be in our place.

… to take our punishment.

… to be the atoning sacrifice.

This is God’s love.

God does not put us in a box … or only look at our past … or write us off. God’s love is not based on external appearances. It’s a love which will take us as we are.