Love And Truth - The Dynamic Duo! Series

Love and Truth – The Dynamic Duo!

Scriptures Texts:

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His One and only son that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.”

Loving someone God’s way always requires an Action!

1 John 3:16: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

How do we know love – real love – We look at the sacrifice of Jesus – then we should do the same with our lives for others – love see’s and responds with action – it’s truth in action!

1 John 2:15: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”

Two kinds of love one loves God the other loves like the selfish world!

1 John 3:1 - See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

The Father’s kind of love is giving even when we don’t deserve the gift.

1 John 5:3 “In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome…”

Loving God and Others means I keep the commandments of God – Love God – Love Others – which reflect on the Big 10!

Illustration: LOVED, TO BE LOVE from sermoncentral.com Jason Bonnickson shared this story:

One of the neatest gifts he ever received was this little, hand towel. It was given to him during his seminary commencement, and he cherished it ever since. The towel has a little saying on it: "Blessed to be a blessing" Isaiah 61:1. Isaiah 61:1-2 says: "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives... to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn."

Days after he arrived at his first church, he unpacked his boxes and placed that towel on his bookshelf. He said he kept it there to serve as a reminder of God's calling on his life. And, as he gazed upon that towel he said, “I've thought, Yes, I am blessed, and for that I need to be a blessing to others. But more than this, I am also so loved by God, and because I am loved by him, I need to love because of him. For, without the love of Christ, what does it mean to be a blessing anyway?”

You know, in some ways, I think it would be equally fitting if the towel read, "Loved, to be love" (John 13:34).

Thesis: Today we are going to focus – maybe refocus on Love – John was called the apostle of Love and He knew love and truth had to be linked together to be able to live in a world which distorted both love and truth! The two are a dynamic duo!

T.S. – Let’s take a moment and review truth for a moment from John’s writings. – we must have the balance of Truth (thunder) and Love (God’s Love)!

Introduction and Summary of last few sermons:

The Bible – God’s Word reveals Truth – It is the bestselling book every single year in the world – it’s sold more copies than any other book in history – The Bible reveals God’s truth – reveals God’s mission – for the salvation of mankind – This revelation from the Word of God brings freedom from sin – it breaks the chains of sin off us and gives us the grace and mercy of Jesus.

John’s writings in the New Testament were dominated by speaking absolutely about Truth! Jesus is the way the Truth and the life.

He speaks frequently about truth and emphasizes how black and white it is in knowing truth. He uses the word Truth 25x in the Gospel of John and in his three Epistles it is used 20x.

John is second only to Jesus in speaking so much about truth. But truth must be spoke in connection with love – the two go together like:

• James and John

• Batman and Robin

• Peanut butter and jelly

• Adam and Eve