All You Need is Love (The Beatles)

Scripture Readings

WWTW- Me?

Introduction- Finding God in the Music Volume Two

I have been looking forward to this day for about a year now!

For those of you who missed last year, this is an idea that I’ve totally stollen!

Brian Zahnd from Word of Life Church in Missouri came up with the idea.

That even in secular music, music which had no intention of proclaiming the gospel at all, even there, God’s word speaks to us.

Last year, we did a lot of music!

John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.

u2’s Forty.

Coldplay

OK GO

And more!

(This feels like one of those “Now that’s what I call Music” ads!)

But I realized in doing that series last year, that I left off some of my absolute favorite artists.

So this year, because this isn’t at all democratic, it’s just what I want to preach about, we’re doing a J’s greatest hits!

The bands that I most love are going to get the air time.

As a reminder to you at home, we can’t play these songs on the live stream, so we’re going to cut away, but you can scan a code, and Jeremy’s going to pop a link in the chat so you can hear today’s song.

Today’s artist, and indeed the song, actually need no introduction at all.

Today’s Song- All You Need is Love

The main question: Do you believe it?

Again, John Lennon in his time was actually very against the Church.

But, if we place the lyrics to All You Need is Love up against our text today from a rather different John, there’s a lot that rhymes between these two texts!

These guys agree with each other, even if they would say they didn’t.

Let’s break it down a little bit.

God is love

This is so important, that John says it twice.

He says it once in verse 8, and again in verse 16.

God is love.

There is such a temptation to make this more complicated than it is, but let’s just settle in to the simplicity of the scripture.

What would God think about that particular people group? God is love.

What would God say we should do about this particular problem in the church? God is love.

What would God tell me to do about this issue that I’m wrestling with? God is love.

There is no situation or scene we can come up with where the answer would be anything less than love.

Though, it might be worth asking: what do we mean by love?

Agape Love- Verb!

We’ve spoken about this before, but the word Agape in Greek is the kind of love that values the recipient above the giver.

And this is tricky, because the same action can be Agape, or it can be something else.

To make it simplistic, if I do the dishes at home, even if that’s my least favorite chore, because Sarah is the best and I value her above my own selfish desires, that’s Agape.

If I do the dishes at home because I want Sarah to repay that kindness by baking me a batch of her world famous chocolate chip cookies, that’s not Agape, that’s something else.

So Agape love is always checking it’s motivation in us, isn’t it?

If we give to the person begging on the street because we feel guilty, that’s one thing.

But if we give because we value the recipient above our own needs, that’s agape.

If we offer our home and our hospitality to someone in need because we want to make sure we have a place to crash when we visit them, that’s one thing.

But if we offer it because we value the recipient above our own needs, that’s agape.

If we offer what we think of as “tough love” to someone when in reality it’s just us insisting on our own view point, that’s something (and in fact something quite ugly).

But if we offer actual love, love that listens and carries an open mind to someone who’s view may be different than our own, that’s agape.

And so John the evangelist is right, there is no finer example of Agape love than God, and particularly God in the person of Jesus.

Jesus could have held on to his own Godly advantages, but instead gave it up to come to us, because he loves us.

Jesus could have lived forever, but instead laid down his life for us, because he loves us.

Jesus could have held on to the power of resurrection for himself only, but instead offers resurrection and grace to us because he loves us.

God is love.

God is love.

God is love.

If we don’t know love, we don’t know God

John the Evangelist would have been, I think, every bit as baffled as I am that there are Christians who publically do not present the world with love.

There are Christians who choose judgementalism over love.

There are Christians who choose a political position over love.

There are Christians who feel justified in their hate at the expense of love.

There are Christians who are just mean and nasty and grumpy all the time, and who seem to just not know love.

To them, John would ask, “Have you met God?”

1 John 4:8 “Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

We show the world who God is through our love

I have heard numerous times, in fact just a few this week have emailed me or texted me something like this: I wish more people knew God.

John lays it out here for us pretty plainly:

1 John 4:11–12 “Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

If you want more people to know God, then we need to do a better job of loving people.

That’s no knock on any of our efforts to love so far.

It’s just to say that the prevailing view of Christians in this country is not one of a loving group of believers, so we have our work cut out for us.

We need to be in our communities showing God to people through our actions of Agape love.

We show God to the world through little things like holding the door open for someone.

We show God to the world through speaking kindness over someone.

We show God to the world through the spreading of a simple smile.

We show God to the world through a relentless lack of selfishness, but instead with abounding generosity.

We show God to the world by never asking “What’s in it for me?”

We show God to the world by casting out every single judgmental bone in our bodies.

Perfect love casts out fear.

This is one of my top ten (thousand) favorite Bible verses:

1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.”

And I’ve got to say, I’ve had some conversations in the wake of my last couple of sermons, and it seems that we as a church are in a really neat spot:

A lot of folks have come up to me and said that they’re scared, but they want to proceed bravely.

Talking to others about our faith is scary, but I’m ready to go folks are saying.

Being generous with our resources can be scary, but we’re set.

Change, oh dear Presbyterians, is scary. But let’s give it a shot.

And I so appreciate both the honesty to admit that we’re a bit scared about what comes next, and also wanting to proceed with bravery.

To do it afraid, as Kent Chavileer told us a bit ago.

But! This verse gives us so much more than a “Let’s be brave” motto.

When we’re afraid to share our faith, remember that God is love, and love casts out fear.

When we’re afraid to share our resources, remember that God is love, and love casts out fear.

When we’re afraid of the changing nature of the church, remember that God is love, and love casts out fear.

It turns out that both John the Evangelist and John…Paul George and Ringo…have it exactly right.

All you need is love.

Prove it!

If you want to have a better church experience, all you need is love.

Is there room in this church for rivalry?

Is there room in this church for judgement?

Is there room in this church for grumpiness?

No. Because if we want to gather in this place, if we want to be a church that is set apart from the churches around us, all we need is love.

God is love, so we love our brothers and sisters in this place.

God is agape love, so we train ourselves to set aside our own wants and desires for the sake of lifting up others.

God is love, so we learn how to disagree well in a spirit of mutual affection.

God is love, and the Church that worships God ought to reflect that.

And the best news is that we can always grow in that kind of love in here!

There’s no ceiling on how much we can love.

Maybe we work on the snarky comments a little bit.

Maybe we show up a bit earlier for each other.

Maybe we volunteer a little bit more.

And we do it all in Agape love.

If you want to see the culture transform around us, all you need is love.

Again, of late, I’ve heard a lot of folks complain about various issues in our culture.

Sometimes that’s legitimate, and sometimes it’s just sour grapes.

But in either case, sitting around and complaining about it isn’t going to help.

If there’s an issue in our culture that you take offense to, the answer is love.

If you don’t like what’s on the media these days, turn it off in favor of acting out of agape love.

If you don’t like the tone of social media, dedicate yourself to being a voice of love in a loveless space.

If you don’t like the rash of homelessness popping up in our city, make a generous move in love.

I really racked my brain on this one, I don’t think there’s an issue on this earth that can’t be solved with love.

All. You. Need. Is. Love.

If you want to maintain your sanity during an election cycle, all you need is love.

Personally of late, I’m in the “let’s turn the news off for a little bit” camp when it comes to politics.

But, if you’re engaged in it, if you’re worried about the way this is all shaking out, if you’re worried about how this country will respond whether their side wins or loses, you know what you need?

Love.

Agape love listens first, and argues second. Have you listened in good faith to the other side?

Agape love is not at all interested in name calling and food fights. Have you asked someone to stop speaking ill of their fellow Americans?

Agape love doesn’t care about teams. It cares about relationships. Can you improve your relationship with someone who disagrees with you politically?

And don’t forget, agape love is proactive.

The God who is love didn’t wait for us to come around.

God acted first.

We love because he first loved us.

Neither should we wait for our brothers and sisters to come around to our point of view before we offer love.

We offer love right here, right now.

If you want to enjoy a relationship with God, all you need is love.

Gone are the days where we try to scare people into the kingdom.

Perfect love casts out fear.

Gone are the days where we wonder what our standing is with God.

We know that God is love, and that we are recipients of that love.

Gone are the days, Lord help us, where the church is known for anything other than love, because that’s how we know that God. We love our brothers and sister, and we abide in God’s love.

Do you know that love from God?

We tend not to ask that question too often around here, maybe assuming too much that everyone knows.

If you don’t, if you’ve never opened yourself up to that kind of love, come see me after the service. We’ll talk!

Because truly, when it comes to this life of faith, when it comes to our relationship with Jesus,

Love is all you need.