Untitled Sermon (6)

Scripture Reading: Advent Reading

Passage: 1 John 4:7-11

Title: Advent Candle 2: Love

Intro: Good morning everyone. It is such an honor to be here this morning, on my first Sunday as pastor of Procter Baptist Church. Typically, you will find that I preach through books of the Bible. In fact, come January we will start a new Sermon Series called Expectations: Where we will look through the books of 1 and 2 Timothy to see what God expects from us to become the church he has called us to be. So I am excited for this series to come, as we seek to be revitalized into the church Christ has called us to be.

But for the next few weeks are going to be in a series of advent. This is my first time to ever really celebrate advent, so when I heard that we typically do the advent candles I was excited. But I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what Advent is. So I looked it up. Advent is the four Sundays that lead up to Christmas. and it is a time to preparation and expectancy to celebrate the Birth of Christ. That is what we started to celebrate last week, and this morning when we lit the second candle: the candle of Love.

And this morning we are going to look at what love really is. See we live in a world that confuses love. Society will tell us that love is an emotion that one feels for someone else. The problem with this definition is that in this defininition love is seen as an emotion, and just as we looked at a few weeks ago with happy, happy is an emotion that comes and goes. So love is more than a mere emotion.

Love has also become an euphemism for sex. If you have watched any tv lately you probable have heard the phrase, “Make love.” Again this definition cannot be the church’s definition of love. For love is much more

Passage Context: See in the book of 1 John, the author John defines love. And the love that John defines cannot be defined by people who are outside the church, because people who are outside of a relationship with Jesus have not and cannot experience the love that John describes in this passage. Remember who the author of this passage is; John the disciple of Jesus. Also known as the disciple in whom Jesus… loved.

See John is an authority in defining love, because he experienced this first hand love from Jesus. He knew that Jesus had compassion, and care for him, he knew that Jesus loved him. So now John is writing this letter to mostly second generation believers, remember that most of apostles, and most of the people who personally knew Jesus have died. So John is writing this letter to the second generation of believers. So he is telling the church that he wants them to experience the same love that he experienced from Christ. And this love is true.

READ PASSAGE HERE

Passage explanation:In chapter 4 of John’s first letter to the church we see that John is going to shift from telling the church how to know true believers from false believers. To now stressing the importance of Love, and the importance of loving one another.

Before we see John’s definition of love, I want to remind you of who John is talking to, and who John is talking about. Often you will hear these verses encouraging believers to love non-believers. Yes, that is important. We should show the love of Christ to those who are outside of the church, but notice that John is writing his letter to church members, telling them to love other church members. So what is stressed in this passage, is loving each other so much, that you can tell who the true believers are and who the imposters in the church are because of the love that they show each other. So when you walk into a local church, you should feel the love that everyone has not only toward Jesus, but towards each other as well.

Main Point: The main point of this passage is tell believers the importance of loving one another in the church. See this is the main point and to defend this main point John gives four subpoints to defend his main point.

Call to Action:This passage gives five truths and descriptions about what love truly is.

Point 1: Love is an action that believers are called to take. 1 John 4:7

Explanation: Look at what John says in verse 7, “Beloved,” Now before we go any further, look at how John addresses the reader, Beloved, he doesn’t say “Christians, or church members, but instead he says beloved,” And beloved means dearly loved. So he is talking to the church member, and he says, “Dearly loved.” Right off the bat you need to realize that if you are in Christ, you are loved. If you know Jesus as your savior, you are loved. Look during this time of year, I know that there are people who may seem like they are alone, maybe they are now a widow or widorer, so maybe you feel like you are unloved. But listen to me, you are loved. You are loved so much that God sent his son to die for you.

But after John calls the reader “Beloved” look at what he says, “Let us love one another.” Now there is something that you need to know about me. When I am reading Scripture, I want to know what the Scripture is saying, so what I like to do is fill in the pronouns. So we see the first pronoun, us, who is the us? The us is the church, its the believer, now look at one another, who is the one another? Well other church members. So we see that John gives the directive to the church to love other members of the church. So look at what John is saying, “You who are so deeply loved that God sent his son to die on the cross for you, You, the church member should love other members of the church.

But then John says why the church members should love one another, “For love is of God.” So notice that John says that an attribute of God is love. Realize church that we serve a God that is given attributes such as just, good, and now we see that he is given the attribute of good. Realize that John is describing God. You cannot have the God of the Bible without his goodness. If God is not love, he is no longer God. So John is saying that love is this attribute of God, and if love is an attribute of God, it must be an attribute of his people.

Illustration:

Application: Realize something church, we are given the charge to love one another. How do you know a true Christ loving church from just a meeting of people? It should be by their love. I want you to realize something, if you are apart of this church, you are apart of this family. The church is called to be a family that loves one another. Now I don’t know about you, but so times I can get annoyed with my family. Sometimes it might not feel like I have a lot of love for my family at times. But we are are family. SO at the end of the day, I love my family.

Look you might be annoyed by someone in the church, someone in the church might drive you crazy, but at the end of the day, you are called to love that church member. We are called to love one another. So church if there is someone that you do not get along with who is in this church, you need to make it right, you need to forgive those who have wronged you, seek forgiven for those who you have wronged, and love one another. That is what seperates a church from a country club, the love that we must have towards one another.

Transition: After John gives the charge to the church to love one another, he gives the condition of ones heart who does not love.

Point 2: Love reveals those that are in a true relationship with Christ. 1 John 4:8

Explanation: Look at what John says in verse 8. “He who does not love does not know God.” So look at what John says, that those who do not love and do not show love towards one another, do not know God. Now we need to look at this phrase “know God” is the Greek Phrase “gignosko” yes it means “to know” but better phrase that this can translate to is intimately know. To have a relationship with. So John states that those who not know do not have a relationship with God. Realize that Christianity is not just a religion, it is a relationship that one must have with the Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit. So if John is saying that if you do not show love, you do not know God.

And then John explains why, “For God is love.” So John makes the argument, God is love. So to know God, to have a relationship with God you must show love. You cannot know God without showing love.

Illustration:

Application: Have you ever walked into a church, and just for some reason, it feels like there is no love in that church, or you’ve been in that church a while and just feel like the church is missing love? Well a good reason for that might just be that the church has allowed and is now filled with unreginerate church members. Meaning that the church has allowed those who have not been transformed by Christ into the membership, and thus they do not love. Church, God is love. And if you are filled with God and the Holy Spirit then you will love. If you do not love you need to question if you truly know Christ as your Lord and savior.

Transition: After John states that those who do not show love do not know Christ John explains why.

Point 3: Love is defined by the actions of Christ. 1 John 4:9-10

Explanation: The reason why someone who does not show love does not know Christ, is because Christ showed his followers the ultimate action of love. Thus believers should show love to others. Look at verse 9. “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world.” So look at how John defined love. See at the first part of this verse he says, In this, this gives the introduction to the definition of love. Then he continues, “the love of God was manifested toward us. And he says, that not only is the definition of love that he is about to show, but he says that the definition of love was even shown towards the church. God gave this action and lived out his definition of love.

So what is the definition of love that John gives the church? Well it is in the next line, “That God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” So what is love? It is life through Christ. Now how do we get this love? By God sending his only begotten son. Now what does John mean when he uses the term begotten? Well John uses the term begotten to show the uniqueness, not the the literal birth. See Jesus is the begotten son, we are the adopted sons and daughters. See what John is saying is that Jesus is God’s unique son, he is the only son. And John says that true love is God sending that son to this world, so that the church can live through him.

Realize that John is saying that true love is the action that God took, the action we celebrate on Christmas, of God sending his son in the form of a child to grow up, never sin, and give a way for man to get to God.

See then in verse 10 we see the complete definition of love. “In this is love” He is saying, this is what love is, this is what love looks like, “not that we loved God, but that He loved us” Lets pause here. True love is not that God said, hey those people love me, so let me do an action for them. But true love is God sending his son to die for man, when man is at emnity with God. And that is what Romans 5:10 tells us. That God sent his son while we were enemies with God. SO the ultimate act of love as defined by John is God sending his son and that God first loved man.

But look at what God loving man and sending Jesus did for man, “to be the propitiation for our sins.” Now alot of times we see this term propitiation or other big theological words and just shut down. But don’t do this here. Propitition is a big word, but has a simple meaning. (Go to illustration and come back). He is the complete sacrifice. Made once and for all. Unlike in the Old Testament sacrificial system where you would make a sacrifice, then the next day sin again and need to make another sacrifice, Jesus is the propitiation, He is the complete sacrifice who pays for not only our past sins but our present and future sins. He is the complete sacrifice.

Illustration: Propitiation means complete sacrifice. Think of it as paying a price. You go to the store, you owe 100 dollars, and the person behind you pays it in full. That is the idea. That Jesus paid in full for our sins.

So notice something, if you are defining love outside of Christ, your definition of love is short of the true meaning of love.

Also realize this, you will never know true love, or the fullness of love without having a personal relationship with Christ.

Application: True love is God sending his son who died on the cross for our sins. Do you want to define love for your life? It must start with the action of Christ. It starts with Jesus dying for the sins of man.

Transition: Now look at what John says to conclude this point:

Point 4: Love is an action that we must reflect from God. 1 John 4:11

Explanation: Look at what John says in verse 11. “Beloved,” Again, John calls the reader, the church member, beloved. “If God so loved us,” So now he says, if God loved the church so, that he sent his son to die for the sins of man, to rescue those who call upon the salvation of Christ from Hell, then look what the bare minimum that we as the church can do, “we also ought to love one another.

Now realize something, John is making one main point. That the church must love one another. And then John uses these subpoints to show why. But we as the church must love. Love one another. Love forgives, love cares, love remembers that without the love and forgiveness of Christ, we would not be here if it was not for the love of Christ, so now we must love one another.

Illustration:

Application: So realize something church. We are called to mimic Christ, Paul said follow me as I follow Christ. SO if we are to reflect Christ, then we must show his love to one another. Be kind, be gracious, and be loving.

Conclusion: As we are reflecting on advent we reflect on love. What greater love was shown to us when Jesus died on the cross for our sins. And as John 3:16 says, Jesus died for you. Today you can enter the church by giving your life to Christ. By saying, Lord I want to die to self and pick up your cross, because you have first loved me. That is true love. But do not wait for tomorrow. Because tomorrow is not guaranteed.