INTRODUCTION
• WOODLAWN VIDEO
• SLIDE #1
• When you give your life to Jesus, what should happen in your life?
• Should you be the same person you have always been or should your life change, should who you are change?
• When one gives their life to Jesus they are not simply waiting to go to heaven, something wonderful should be happening in their life.
• SLIDE #2
• 2 Corinthians 3:18 (HCSB) We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.
• When one is in Christ, they should be in the process of BECOMING more of reflection of Jesus!
• This happens when we stay connected with Jesus.
• SLIDE #3
• John 15:5 (HCSB) I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.
• For the next few weeks we will explore WHO AM I BECOMING in Christ.
• Since God is not someone we see, the fruit that we produce in Christ will help us to have tangible evidence of our relationship with Him.
• Today we begin with the fruit of love. When one gives their life to Jesus, the way and reason we love will be different. Let’s see why.
• SLIDE #4
• 1 John 4:9–10 (HCSB) God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
• SLIDE #5
SERMON
I. God modeled true love for us.
• One of the reasons the way and the reason we love should change is because God modeled true for us.
• One of the problems we have when we start to consider the issue of God is the fact that He is not physically in front of us, He is the invisible God.
• In verse 12, which we will get to in an HOUR , we are told that no one has seen God at ANY time.
• So how are we to engage with a God we cannot see? Without getting into a deep apologetics discussion, according to the book of Romans, and probably common sense, God has made Himself known through creation.
• However, creation itself does not really offer one a full picture of the character of God, we needed something more!
• Verse 9 reveals HOW God revealed His character to us. God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
• We needed some visual aid for us to understand the character of God, and God offered us that visual aid through Jesus. John 3:16 reminds us that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.
• The word in verse 9 translated REVEALED is a word that denotes an OBJECTIVE FACT, not SUBJECTIVE KNOWLEDGE. It means something that is CLEARLY REVEALED to the mind, senses or to judgement.
• Jesus was something one could put their hands on, lay their eyes upon, to listen to with their ears. Jesus was something visible to the human eye!
• The verb tense of the word REVEALED points to a DEFINITE moment in the past when God’s love became visible in space and time, this time was the incarnation of Jesus!
• Jesus showed us the type of love that God possesses for mankind, and the love we are to express to others.
• In verse 9 we are told that God SENT Jesus. The word SENT expresses the thought to send away towards a designated goal or purpose. God sent Jesus here with a purpose.
• That purpose is revealed in verse 9 where we are told that, “God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him.”
• This the emphasis of verse 9. This is why God revealed His love by sending Jesus, so that we might live through Him!
• The word LIVE means more than existing, it means to live life to the fullest and to live a life a God would call one to live.
• We are further reminded in verse 10 that God loved us well before we even considered loving Him.
• This is important, I do not want you miss this.
• SLIDE #6
• Romans 5:8 (HCSB) But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!
• How do we tend to love? Human love is usually very conditional, how you look, how you act, how much money you make, etc.…
• God’s love is UNCONDITIONAL. When you were unlovable, God loved you. He does so because that is who God is.
• His love does not mean that He approves of the actions of sinners, but rather His desire is for the welfare of all. God proved that by sending Jesus, to be a propitiation for our sins.
• The word PROPITIATION is very difficult to translate into English, but the gist of the word in this context is that Jesus is the remedy for our sins.
• In ancient Greek literature it denoted appeasing an angry God, but that is not how it is used in the New Testament.
• Jesus modeled the love that God has for us, He laid down His life so that we could have eternal life.
• Jesus’ example of love was on display on the cross when He asked God to forgive those who crucified Him.
• Let’s look at verse 11.
• SLIDE #7
• 1 John 4:11 (HCSB) Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.
• SLIDE #8
II. You are called to show God’s love to others.
• Why did God send Jesus to model His love for us? It was not just about showing us something, it was about us taking what we were shown and offering the love to others.
• The phrase if God loved us in this way, does not question that God did love us this way, but rather it is a phrase to draw our attention to the historical event of Jesus’ ministry, and His death, burial and resurrection.
• When we become a Christian, we are saying that we are a follower of Jesus.
• Once we realize that fact, we MUST start to re-evaluate how we treat others, how and why we love others.
• This is maybe one of the most difficult things we are called to do in the Christian life on a consistent basis.
• What makes it difficult is we allow our feelings and circumstance dictate how we treat others. Some days we live the EYE FOR AN EYE philosophy and others, we can be more Christ-like.
• Paul tells us in this passage that WE MUST love one another. The word “MUST” conveys the fact that it is my OBLIGATION to love other people.
• As corny as it may seem, love does change the world. In the movie clip from the Woodlawn, which was a true story, when the love of Christ took hold of the team, the hate that permeated the team, the community, and the society was defeated to the point that the coach was baptized into Christ.
• Hate never changes things for the good.
• We have seen some oppressed athletes protest during the playing of the national anthem. They have a right to do that; however, they are missing the point.
• Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney in his comments on the situation stated, ““(The Bible) says, Love the Lord with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul. The second one is, love your neighbor as you’d love yourself. It doesn’t say love your neighbor from the same religion.
• It doesn’t say love your neighbor if they’re the same color as you. It doesn’t say love your neighbor if they pull for the same team as you.
• It doesn’t say love your neighbor if they’re the same gender as you, or whatever. (It doesn’t say) love your neighbor if they have the same sexuality as you. It just says, love your neighbor as you’d love yourself. If we all lived by that in this country, we wouldn’t have near the problems we have.” http://footballscoop.com/news/dabo-swinney-speaks-players-kneeling-national-anthem/
• The hated spewed by some of the movements in our country will never change hearts, love will!
• If you are a follower of Jesus, you are OBLIGATED to love others!
• SLIDE #9
• 1 John 4:12 (HCSB) No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us.
• SLIDE #10
III. Showing God’s love to others offers you and others proof of the existence of the invisible God.
• Verse 12 seems to be out of place if one does not understand the context from which John is writing.
• Gnosticism was starting to take root at this point in time, and without going into all the nuts and bolts, the Gnostics taught that one could know God via special knowledge and revelation and visions.
• John wants his readers to know the Gnostics were wrong and there are ways one can know they are connected to the God they cannot see with their eyes as of yet.
• When we show love to others, it helps us to know we are in a personal relationship with God, and it can be evidence to others as well!
• God abides in us as we continue to love others. This is why Jesus told us to love our enemies. We cannot do that on our own, we can love those who are lovable and who love us back, loving someone who does not love you or is your enemy is difficult to do.
• When God showed us His love through Jesus, God had this goal in mind, that we learn to love others.
• Love is not just an emotion, it is action. One cannot command emotions, but actions can be commanded.
• The word PERFECTED in verse 12 means to BRING TO COMPLETION, TO ACCOMPLISH, or to FINISH.
• When we obey God in this area, God’s love has accomplished it’s intended purpose.
• It is when God’s love is reproduced in one’s life that God’s love is perfected!
CONCLUSION
• Who am I becoming in Christ?
• Is my life changing to reflect the image of Jesus each day? When one’s life changes, when we stay connected to the VINE of Christ, we will produce fruit that is evidence of God’s presence within us.
• The fruit of love that we produce is something that can change not only our lives, but the lives of those around us.
• From the true story of Woodlawn, we saw what the limitless capacity of love can accomplish!
• Next week Jerry will examine another aspect of what we are becoming in Christ as he shares with us the concept of JOY!
