Do You Know Love?
Pastor Glenn Newton, February 16, 2014
1 John 4:7-21
God’s Love and Ours
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 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. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Do you know Love? The reason I ask is because that important word is thrown around a lot today, and it’s used in lots of ways…in fact, so much that the word can lose its meaning if we are not careful.
I could say things like this and really mean it…maybe you have too:
I Love my Dog…. I Love my Car….I love my Wife….I Love Tacos! All four of those statements could be true…but do they all mean the same thing?
Is my love for my Dog the same idea as the Love for my Tacos? Or my Wife? Of course not…and God’s Word teaches about the different kinds of loves….there is love for your there is Agape Love….God’s Love for You and Me.
Romantic Love is what causes a person to go out and buy flowers, candy, and Teddy Bears for their loved ones on Valentine’s day….it’s a feeling kind of love…butterfly kind of thing…
it’s the fire starter, it’s like the liquid lighter fluid that you put on the charcoal right before you light it…
Romantic love is fun and exciting, but it’s not what makes a relationship last, even though I listen to people talk all the time about how they have lost the “feeling” and now wonder if they are out of love……those folks don’t understand what True Love is all about…they are trying to live on a temporary high….that first burning flame when you light the match….but as you know, that fire always burns out and that real heat starts when the coals start to burn….no flame you can see…just that constant burn…it’s not flashy…but it’s what gets the job done…
Nothing wrong with Romantic Love…..My wife would tell you that I could use a refill on that…But God’s Word helps us understand True Love, and it gives us the Key to Lasting Love.
Let’s take a look.
1. True Love Starts with God in your Heart. V. 7-8
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Have you ever watched someone try to play a game, but they didn’t know hardly any of the rules? For me, it’s really hard to watch. We have been having inside recess for what seems the last month at school, so when it’s too cold outside, we let the kids play board games during recess time, so I have tried to watch these kids play chess…but I can’t hardly watch because they make up their own rules, their own moves to the point that the game doesn’t really look anything like chess….I just have to walk away before I go into a Chess Instructional Tirade…
The feeling that I have of frustration when watching kids play the game all wrong, is the same feeling I have when I hear people talk about their relationships, and the lack of feelings when it comes to love….Without God in your life, you can’t even begin to understand all the “rules” or Keys to a loving relationship…it’s like those kids trying to play chess without any knowledge of the moves…. Relationships without Jesus at the center are missing the heart of Love.
Where does Love come from? Verse 7 says it comes from God.
Our ability to Love our Family, our Friends, Our wives/husbands, our Children, our Church family and everybody else in between…it all starts with our relationship with God. Why?
“Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
If the only type of love that you have experienced in your life comes outside of the knowledge of God in your relationships, I want to tell you….you are missing the heart…you have been missing the Joy, the Peace, the Passion that comes from knowing God and having God in your relationships…. Why is this so important? God is the One person who Teaches us, who Shows us what True Love is all about…without Him, we are playing this game without the rule book.
Listen to this…
2. God Demonstrates what True Love is all about… 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
Jesus first loved me! Repeat that after me… Jesus First Loved Me. How do we understand true love? God showed his love…how? “He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him…..(God) sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Before I even knew anything about God…. He Loved Me.
Before I even knew I NEEDED God…. He sent His Son Jesus to die for me.
Before I even had a chance to say Yes or No….God said Yes.
Before I ever knew the name of Jesus…. Jesus loved me so much, He preferred Me over His own life….
Even when I was rejecting Christ in my heart and in my actions…. God still Choose me…Still Loved Me…Still Died for My sins.
Friends, True love has nothing to do with Feelings….how much someone might spend on you….or even how attracted you are to them….True Love is a Choice… A Choice to Prefer the Other Person over Yourself. It’s a choice to Prefer the Others Person over Yourself. That’s what Jesus did….that’s what the Father demonstrated when He sent Jesus to die for sinful man.
V. 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.”
This AGAPE Love has nothing to do with…. “if you treat me right, then I will love you” This love that God wants to teach us about has nothing to do with… “If you make me happy I will keep on loving you back”
When I hear people talk about Love being some kind of trade off…it makes me want to Puke… that’s not what love is….that’s a selfish, worldly imitation, fake love. Love has nothing to do with Taking…. Love is all about Giving with no strings attached.
Are you Loving your family with the Love of God? The truth is…your own self-generated, self-motivated, self-produced love with come up short, way short of what will be needed to keep the relationship healthy.
We must have God’s Love being poured out into the lives of our family, God’s Love needs to be poured out in our marriages, in our work relationships, in our church relationships…because without this Self-less, I prefer You.... I will Honor You kind of Love…it will fall apart.
How do you get ahold of God’s Love…..You have to Let God get ahold of You. Our sign outside says, Religion is Empty, Jesus is Life…and that is so true.
How can you Have this kind of Love? Give yourself 100% to Jesus…His Love will become the main ingredient in your life….His Love will just flow through you…
His Love will be your calling card…His Love will be the Characteristic of your Life….when Jesus is 1st in your life…His Love shines through.
3. The Proof is in the Spirit who Lives in Us! 13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.
We all have a great need for Love. Anyone who would argue that point is in denial. God created us to love Him, Love others…and love Tacos….
But without the Spirit living in us, we truly don’t know how to love anyone the way God intended, and all we are left with is an empty imitation…that the World has tried to fashion, and its based on lust, looks, and selfishness…..all opposite of what God would have us focus on.
True love starts with Knowing God personally, not with some cute guy or girls.
Ladies….you fall in love with Jesus…you let Jesus be your number one passion….and when that happens, you will know true love….and you will recognize it when you see it in that special someone that God has for you. Don’t settle for the imitation, don’t settle for slick words and compliments…wait for the real thing.
Men… Fall in love with Jesus…let Jesus be your number on passion…and when that happens…you don’t need to worry about being Mr. Romantic….God’s Love in you will make you so appealing, you won’t need the AXE cologne to attract the ladies….
Is God’s Love in you? Are you practicing this selfless, this I prefer you over me kind of Love? True Love acts on the behalf of the other before they make any attempt….that’s what God did for us. Will you love your family, even when they are not showing any interest?
Will you love your husband, your wife regardless of their effort? God’s love is selfless, a pouring out of yourself without regard to what might come back to you….
I’m am a blessed man to have a wife who demonstrates this Love that has to come from God…she is the most selfless person I know, she gives herself away out of a choice to love on a consistent basis…she loves her family, she loves her friends, Her love comes from Jesus living in her and is the only reason she has been able to deal with me for 26 years….
Do you Have Him?
Do You Know Love?
