Love Gets in the Way (1 Jn. 4:7-12)

6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. 7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.

Reading #2, main text:

1 John 4:7–12 ESV

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

“Propitiation” object lesson

Prep/materials:

Water balloons filled and tied in a bucket

Different “shields”: cardboard, cuttingboard or cookie sheet, beach towel, blanket, Whiffle bat, toy shield, whatever is available to make a good potential blocker.

Store the shields in a crate, which can also be offered as a shield. (Use an opaque crate if possible, which keeps the contents out of sight and unrevealed.)

Initial partnering and pairs’ choosing of an item:

Ask for volunteers, and instruct volunteers then to “partner up.” (The crate and the bucket of water balloons are in their sight—but the contents of the crate are not yet revealed at this point.)

Once the volunteers have partnered, then the objects in the crate are revealed, and one person from each pair picks an item to be their team’s item.

The object of the game still at this point is unrevealed to keep some suspense. (The items are not announced as “shields” at this point either.)

Both members of the pair may make a decision together to choose an item from the crate—but still it is “one item per pair.”

A pair may indeed choose a water balloon as their pair’s item.

A pair may also choose to have the entire storage crate as their item.

(The game leader should especially consider standing in close proximity to the crate and the chooseable items, to see if anyone surmises that the game leader is available to be chosen, too!)

The reveal:

Once each pair has chosen an item for themselves, then the game leader announces that the chosen items will serve as “shields” used to block a water balloon toss.

Even if a pair chose a water balloon from the bucket, that will be their shield to block their water balloon toss, too!

If any pair member seemed like they were choosing their item connivingly or mischievously to sabotage their teammate—then consider now making this person be the one assigned to hold the “shield” while the other teammate now throws the water balloon at them.

Make sure there is safe space between each pair, to prevent injury.

Also do a quick assess of each pair to make sure the pair member with the “right demeanor” is the one holding the shield, who will potentially get wet and perhaps even get walloped by their teammate’s water balloon throw.

The game:

The pairs line up, pair members standing across from each other—and with ample room between the pairs for safe distance preventing injury.

One at a time, but in quick enough succession to prevent audience boredom, the pair member with the water balloon throws the water balloon at their other pair member: preferably aiming for the shield, but at least throwing in the particular direction of their teammate.

The teammate with the “shield” should catch, deflect, or even absorb if they wish, the water balloon that’s coming at them—using only the “shield” though and not with anything else.

This use of the shield includes using the game leader, or any other audience member, if they were initially chosen to be the team’s item!

At the conclusion of all the pairs having tossed their water balloon, then debrief and discuss with the audience and the team-pairs: what happened, what “shields” worked “best” (whatever “best” might mean to anyone!), which shield kept someone driest, which made someone wettest, etc. Use dialogue and “back-and-forth” with the audience to keep interest and involvement going from as much of the audience and teams as possible.

At the conclusion, thank the volunteers and allow them back to their seats in the audience, if they haven’t already returned.

Explanation

This all as a game was taking what “P.K.” had taught me as his intern about what propitiation is, and it made P.K.’s verbal description and explanation into a visual object lesson and fun way of acting it out.

“Propitiation,” what is it??

We see it in the ESV in 1 John 4:10, the Son is “the propitiation for our sins”.

NIV says “atoning sacrifice” there instead; or

NLT just abbreviates altogether as “sacrifice.”

P.K.’s explanation:

Propitiation pairs up with expiation.

Expiation is the removal of the barrier that sin builds up, between God and humans—but also between humans and other humans.

Propitiation is the shield, which stands between humans and blocks them from the righteous and justified wrath of God that our sin rightly deserves.

Deserves for causing the barrier

Deserves for breaking the fellowship

Deserves for assaulting God’s holiness and perfect purity

Expiation is the ultimate goal that God deserves;

Propitiation is the shield, and wrath-blocker, that God “divvys out” and provides.

In John, the Son is the propitiation for our sins.

Even the literal Greek is more abrupt than our English—literally, “God loved us and sent his Son, the propitiation for our sins.”

So in case you missed it:

Son = propitiation for our sins

Jesus is the shield, not against a water balloon but against the Father’s own wrath.

This is why Jesus was sent into the world—how we “live” (v. 9) because Jesus was sent, and how Jesus came then to die, and to be forsaken, and to be made to feel all the wrath and anger and alienation that we had instead deserved to feel. — But he absorbed it all on our behalf, and for our sake!

The title of the message is “Love Gets in the Way.”

The same particular Greek word is used for every instance translated as “love” in our verses: AGAPE.

It’s not brotherly love (philia), not romance (eros), it’s not storge (familial love, or parental love).

It’s agape—“divine love.”

And love, as propitiation, gets in the way.

And John says, verse 11, “Beloved, if God so loved us (i.e., in that way of, verse 10, propitiation), we also ought to love one another.

Love “gets in the way.”

Love requires interaction. It requires bumping elbows…rubbing shoulders…crossing paths.

Love gets in the way.

And it’s to be the love that we exercise, and demonstrate, and give to one another.

1 John 4:7 ESV

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

There are stories of people who visit churches: and they come, and they leave, without anyone in the building ever having come to them, or welcomed them, or said “hi” to them.

It seems obvious here to say—but this should not be!!

This is the love that those must show who were “first” loved by God! (1 John 4:19 “19 We love because he first loved us.” )

How terrible, then, if we’re loved and then we turn around and ignore someone whom God also loves!

Love is for “one another,” i.e. the body of believers and the body of those whom Christ has saved and redeemed. —

There are of course passages, even 3 John, that talks of the shunning of those who are obviously set on devouring the congregation and leading them astray. —

But otherwise if they are coming into contact with the body, and they’re seeming sincere or at least unknown and are getting acquainted: then we should consider them as one of the “one another”…and we should love them just as much!

Greet them, welcome them, learn about their lives, invite them into your home, call them back during the week and say you so enjoyed getting to know them and want to get to connect with them more!

But for goodness’ sake, love them and use the full effect of the life that the body has been given for being rooted and connected to Christ, where we “abide” (verse 12)!

Remember John 15:13,

John 15:13 ESV

13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

And remember in that, that the Son is the “propitiation.”

He had no reason to do it, except for pure grace and kindness—and he stepped into the wrath, and he absorbed the whole of the eternal death and curse and punishment that we had otherwise brought on ourselves and entirely deserved.

But Jesus stepped in, and he absorbed the entire blow on our behalf and on our account.

And for his agony at the cross—we were kept shielded from the almighty wrath of almighty God. And we were made to “live” for God, and all the while reflect his “love”, one to another.

And that’s a good task and goal to take with us!

So take with you these words of Jesus, the Son, too:

John 13:35 ESV

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 15:9 ESV

9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

In Jesus’ name, literally...

Amen.

Parting blessing:

2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Translation/notes:

7. Beloved-ones/dear-ones/esteemed-ones (those especially loved/particularly loved) NOUN, let us love VERB one another (each other; i.e., “among ourselves”), because love NOUN is from God, and everyone who loves VERB is born from God and knows God.

8. The one not loving VERB does not know God, because God is love NOUN.

9. In this the love NOUN of God was shown/made-clear/manifested/realized/made-known in us, that God has apostled/sent/dispatched his only-begotten Son into the world/cosmos/gen., “creation”/spec., “earth”/order/universe, so that we would live through him.

10. In this is love NOUN, not that we have loved VERB God, but that he loved VERB us and apostled/sent/dispatched his Son, the propitiation/appeasement for/on-account-of our sins.

11. Beloved-ones/dear-ones/esteemed-ones (those especially loved/particularly loved) NOUN, if God loved VERB us this way, also we ought/owe/are-bound/are-obliged/are-indebted to love VERB one another (each other; i.e., “among ourselves”).

12. Nobody ever/at-any-time has beheld/looked-on/visited/seen/watched/observed God. If we love VERB one another (each other; i.e., “among ourselves”), God abides/remains/dwells/stays/continues/lives/endures/stands in us, and his love NOUN in us exists, being completed/matured/perfected/fulfilled/accomplished (Jn. 5:36-40; 17:23; 19:28, 19:30; 1 Jn. 2:5, 4:17-18).

6x as noun, 8x as verb

See Jn 13:35 “35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

Also Jn15:9-10 “9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” And Jn15:13 “13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”