“God is Love” (A message on true love for Valentine’s Day)
1 John 4:7-12, John 15:9-13
Robert Warren
February 10th, 2002
1 John 4:7-12
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how god showed his love among us; He sent his one and only Son into the world the we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love each other, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is the Sunday before Valentines day so you can be sure that all across this land preachers will be preaching on love. More specifically, they will be preaching about romantic love and most likely they will be condemning it. They will point to the futility of trying to find true happiness in the world’s definition of love. Love, they will say, is more than flowers delivered to your office, more than candy in a heart-shaped box, more than a sentimental card, more than a sappy song on the radio. Of course, they’re partly right about all that. Love is more than all that.
We can look at our world and see that a superficial love is like cotton candy, it looks filling but hardly makes a dent in your appetite. I’m sure that over 90% of all the songs on the radio are about love, yet you only need to take a look at the divorce rates in America or watch an episode of Jerry Springer (if you can stand to) to see that romantic love often falls short. We talk about love for our fellow man and sing songs like “We Are the World,” but then we see nations go to war with one another. We hold up the model of family love and then hear of mothers hurting and even killing their children, children disrespecting their parents, and brother turning on brother. Even the church, which should be the best example of a loving community, is often wracked with division and strife. Yes, our feeble attempts at human love often fall short of the mark.
Simply put, the love that we show one another, whether it be in romance, marriage, the world, the family, or the church is only a weak reflection of the way love is supposed to be. Blame it on our parents. No, not your mom and dad, but Adam and Eve, the father and mother of the human race. When they brought sin into the world by disobeying God they messed everything up, including love. It didn’t take long for the results of their sin to show up, either. First, they showed a lack of love to God by lying to Him and hiding from Him. Then the family was affected, with Cain killing his brother Abel. Before too long nation was hating nation and war and hatred became the norm rather than the exception.
But, as I hope to show you today, it wasn’t meant to be that way. God had better things in mind for us when He created us and it is possible for us to return to God’s plan of love. This is no minor thing, because love is what God is all about.
Yes, the first thing that I want you to remember from our scripture today is that God is love. People have long wondered why God created the universe. Some say it was so that He would have someone to worship Him. Others have suggested that He was bored. But, even though we will never know the answer to this question on this side of eternity, I have a good idea why He created the universe: He wanted something to love. Another minister and I were discussing the nature of God one day and we started talking about what God desires more than anything; that is, what is the most important thing to God? He stated that he thought that God wanted to be glorified more than anything. Thus, God did what He thought was best to bring glory to His name and the best thing that we could do as His subjects was to glorify Him. That means that we were created to glorify God and that if God could get glory by bringing a plague on Egypt or by condemning some people to hell than so be it, since that was God’s greatest goal. I had to respectfully disagree. I believe that God’s greatest desire is summed up in 1 John 7 and 8, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” The scripture doesn’t say that we should love because God commands it or expects it. No, it says that we should love because God is love. He’s not just loving, He’s not just loveable; He is love. This sums up God completely, He is love. When you consider the motives of God, the nature of God, the laws of God, the holiness of God...anything about God, you have to put it through the filter that God is love. Why did He create us? Because He is love. Why did He send Jesus? Because God so loved the world. Why is He patient with us? Because God is love.
This is an important point and one that I think is often missed. People think that God is all about control. They see Him as a God of wrath and judgement, just looking for an excuse to rain down some sulphur and brimstone. They know that God is holy and so they assume that God is more concerned about discipline and control than anything. But that simply doesn’t pan out in the bible. Over and over it is clear that God is love. That is His prime directive and method of operating.
When we understand that love is from God and that God is love, love makes a little more sense and becomes more real to us. Why do you think that love so important to us as humans? When you consider the effect that it has on us, the amount of time we spend in life pursuing it, the pain it can cause us, and the priority that it has in our world, it’s clear that we are obsessed with love. Love is important to us because it is hardwired into our being. We were all created in God’s image, therefore we were created in the image of love. When God created woman He took a piece of Adam, therefore He separated the whole love into two parts. We long for the closeness of being whole our entire lives. The very breath within us throbs with love and this is why we seek love from our parents as infants, love from our friends as children, love from our spouse as adults, and love from our children as parents, love from our community as neighbors, and love from God as created beings.
Love comes from God and God alone. The corruption that we see in the world is a direct result of sin destroying the love that we seek. Like all things, sin and the evil one have taken what God has created and made it illegitimate. What we need to seek this Valentine’s Day is a way to return to the love that God intended. There is nothing wrong with the mushy love of romance, but we must understand that as children of God we are called to pure love, not just the watered-down stuff that the world offers.
This brings us naturally to the next point: If we do not have true love in our hearts, we are not obeying God. Verse 7, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.” Love is the one thing that defines us as Christians, for love comes from God and as Christians we have returned to God. Jesus, when asked to sum up the entire Law of God boiled it down to one thing: love. An expert in the Law asked Jesus in Matthew 22:36, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” That’s incredible if you think about it. The entire Law of the Old Testament– Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy– all of the codes of holiness and behavior can be summed up with two commands: Love God and love your neighbor.
The implications of this are staggering. Verse 7 again, “Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” John says, let us love one another. In other words, love is a decision of the will that we make, not a matter of our emotions towards another. We are not just called to love our friends and family, but everyone. Jesus said in Matthew 5, “You have heard that is was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be songs of your Father in heaven... If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?” This means that no matter how religious you are, no matter how much scripture you have memorized, no matter how much you give to the church, no matter how much you pray, no matter how much you sacrifice; if you don’t have love you are not serving God because God is love. Paul says as much in the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” All these other things are important, but they mean nothing if we don’t have love. I knew a man at a church I used to serve who was thought of to be a very Godly man because of his outward appearances of religion. He would get up and sing in front of the church with great skill, able to move people to tears with his songs. He could preach up a storm, making powerful arguments and moving calls to action. He served in the church for many, many years, longer than I’ve been alive, as a deacon, a trustee, a treasurer and an elder. He was always in the church when the doors were opened. He had memorized many long tracts of scripture and could quote them word for word. He volunteered for many acts of service. He lived a morally pure life with no vices to speak of. He was a pillar of the church and a very religious man. Yet, he was also known as a very hateful man. Not only did he have a sour disposition, a cruel streak, a vengeful heart and an acid tongue, he was a member of a well-known Southern hate group. According to our Scripture, he did not know God, no matter how many outward signs of religion he showed. Without love all of his religion was useless, because he did not know the God of love.
Therefore, this is where we have to put into action what we read in today’s scripture: We must love as God loved us. We are God’s children only if we live like God created us, in love. Verse 11, “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” As the world celebrates romantic love on Valentine’s Day, we Christians need to be reminded and challenged to live with the kind of love that God has given us. It’s a tough love, a call to love those who are unloving, who hate us, who may even want to kill us. It’s the kind of love that does not keep track of wrongs, that forgives, that shows grace to the undeserving. It’s the kind of love that involves the will, not emotion. We don’t love because we feel love or because the other person shows us love first; we love because we have decided to love. How can you love someone who hates you? You have to will love for that person. How can you love someone who has hurt you? You have to decide that you will love that person. How can you love someone when you have fallen out of love? You choose to love that person no matter what.
We ought to love one another in the same way that God loved us. He did not love us because we were so lovable. It’s just the opposite. He chose to love us even when we sinned against Him, even when we rebelled against Him, even when we rejected Him, ignored Him, and walked away from His attempts to reconcile us to Him. He loves us not because of who we are, but because of who He is: He is unconditional love. He saw our need and met it with His love.
What does that kind of love look like? It’s not like the romantic love that the world celebrates. That kind of love loves only those who love you back. Christians are called to sacrificial love. We live like those who know God when we show the love that God has placed in our hearts. By forgiving those who have wronged us. By helping those in need. By showing love to people who deserve only our scorn. By overlooking the faults of others. By considering the needs of others above ourselves. We Christians have something to share with the world: true love. The love of God.
Can you imagine a world where marriages stayed together because people agreed to love no matter what, till death do we part? Can you imagine a world where people loved the sick and the poor with a sacrificial love? Can you imagine a world where people loved each other regardless of their race, religion, class, or ability? Can you imagine a world where families were strong with forgiving, unconditional love? Can you imagine that kind of love? It starts with you, loving others as God has loved you.
And that brings me to the most important point that we can take away today about love: the manner by which God loved us. The love that God showed us through Jesus Christ is staggering. It ought to bring you to your knees to consider it. How did God show His love for us? 1 John 4:9, “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. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” God demonstrated His love for us by sending His son from the glory of heaven to the shame of Calvary to die on a cross for an undeserving world. While we were yet sinners, rebelling against His love, He merely hung His head and died so that our sins might be removed once for all. Jesus said in John 15:9-13
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. There is no greater love than God could show us but dying for us. Imagine that: the Creator of the universe dying for our sins.
The cross is so many things. Today, it stands as an example for us of how to love. Is this kind of love easy? Not by a long shot: it cost Jesus His very life. He died for those who were jeering at him and calling him names. He died for those who abandoned him and denied his name. He died for those who beat him, spit on him, and pierced his side. He died for you and me, who could never deserve his love.
This is our standard of love. If we claim to know Christ then we must choose to love like Jesus did. We must forgive those who wrong us. We must love those who don’t deserve it. We must sacrifice for those who can not repay us. We must be willing to lay down our lives each day in love. Christ’s command is this, that we love each other as I have loved you. He showed his love by opening his arms and dying on the cross. We show his love for us by opening our arms and embracing our neighbor in sacrificial, sincere love. The world can’t understand this kind of love, it can only be seen by the eyes of faith.
If you don’t have this kind of love, then I invite you to come to the altar and meet the one who can give it to you; your Savior who gave his life for you. If you need some help with this kind of sacrificial love– if you are having trouble forgiving someone or having compassion– then come pray for a heart transplant as you seek the closeness of Christ. And if you have never been swept away by the love of Jesus, then come and receive the love and salvation that he offers so freely.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. Let God’s love be shown in His church as He lives in us and as we love one another.
