Love

Quotes

World

Love is not a product of reasonings and statistics. It just comes-none knows whence-and cannot explain itself. -Mark Twain

I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people. -Vincent Van Gogh

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. -Aristotle

Christian

Our culture says that feelings of love are the basis for actions of love. And of course that can be true. But it is truer to say that actions of love can lead consistently to feelings of love. -Tim Keller

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” -C.S. Lewis

Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me. -Michael Scott

Living by Love, not Fear

We can all remember a time when we let fear drive decisions that we made. How often are those decisions made in fear ones that we later regret? It wasn’t long ago that we heard on the news, or saw on Facebook that there was a worldwide pandemic that was deadly and spreading rapidly. It was highly contagious, and for weeks, that was all we knew. People who were found with the virus were being told to quarantine, then the whole world shut down. Lockdowns were put in place, we were told to isolate ourselves, even from our friends and families. Motivated by fear, we ran from the problem. Soon after, we gathered more information about the virus and we found out it was certainly deadly, but to a much smaller set of people that was originally thought. Apprehensively, the world reopened

1 John 4:7-21

I want to focus on 3 biblical aspects of love;

God is Love

Love is an action

Perfect love conquers fear

God in Love

v.7 Love is an attribute of God’s character, and one that we receive by knowing Him and through His Holy Spirit.

v.8 If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, you know God, and if you know God, you know the fullest and most perfect form of love to exist

v.9 On Christmas Day, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the manifestation of love that walked this Earth, then gave all of Himself for us.

v.10 When God sent Jesus for our sin, He sent Him as the propitiation, or atonement, or means of appeasing the perfect, personal obedience required for us to spend eternity with God in Heaven.

Love is an action

v.11-12 When we read that word, ought, that is to say that we owe it to God to love one another. Because God, Love Himself, showed us perfect love in sending His Son, we owe it to God to love one another. And though no one has seen God, His perfect love, in the form of the Holy Spirit indwells those who love Him, and when you look at that brother or sister in Christ, make no mistake, you are experiencing God’s love.

v.13-16 Abide is the verb for of abode, a home. God has come to make his home in you though His Spirit, and you get to live with Him for eternity, but eternity doesn’t start when this life ends, eternity starts the day you receive the Holy Spirit into your heart. God’s spirit lives in you today, and you, in Him.

Love Conquers fear`

v. 17 If you can take hold of this truth, that you are indwelt by God’s spirit, that He has made His home in you, and you in Him, then you can have full assurance for that day of judgement. Every sin was paid by Jesus’ blood. And why are we confident? Because as He is(righteous, just, seated in Heaven for eternity), so also are we.

v.18-19 We can’t fear when we know then end. Whatever it is that’s bringing you fear, in the name of Jesus, be free, because that fear is an attack from the enemy. You can trust that not a hair can fall from your head without the will of your Father in Heaven. You can trust that He will work out all things for your good and for His glory. You can live free from fear because you have the security of the love of your Father in Heaven now, and for all of eternity.

v.20-21 When we talk about fellowship and community being part of the core identity of Mazevo, this is what we’re talking about. We want to cultivate a family of believers that love one another, because they are loved by God.

Here, John is specifically telling us to love other believers, but the command of scripture doesn’t stop there. Jesus taught at great length about loving all those who bear the image of God. It’s not just believers who bear God’s image, but all mankind.

Matthew 5:43–45 ““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

If you believe that God is Love, if you know that the act of love precedes the feeling of love, and if the love that God is perfecting in you through His spirit overcomes your fear, then we can see that the command of scripture to love those who are the most unlovable is exactly what God did for us. We, when we were in our most unlovable state, received God’s free gift of grace out of His love for us. And motivated by that love, God’s love can be spread in truly remarkable ways.

Waodani People

To show this love in action, I want to share the story of a group of missionaries to Ecuador in the 1950s. Jim Elliott, Nate Saint, and 3 other missionaries came to know of an Indigenous hunter-gatherer people of the amazon rainforest, locally known as Auca(savages). The missionaries attempted to make contact with the tribe by dropping gifts Nate Saint’s plane. They make trips like this for several months before deciding to land on a beach and make physical contact with the Waodani people. They camp of the beach for several nights before they meet a few of the Waodani people, where they were able to communicate and share why they were there. The missionaries waited 2 more days, where they hoped to meet more of the Waodani people, but this time, they met them with spears and take the life of all 5 missionaries. Now, an important piece of this story is that this tribe believed that blood could only be avenged by blood. Two years later, Elisabeth, Jim’s wife, their daughter Valerie(3 yrs old), and Rachel Saint, Nate’s sister return to the Waodani people, but instead of coming armed with weapons, they come armed with the love of Jesus, to live with them and share that love. Their decision to put aside their own suffering for the sake of the gospel IS the gospel. They came to the Waodani people to share the love of the gospel, because they knew Love. They had an intimate relationship with Love. They knew that God is love, and that the only proper response to being loved by Love itself, is to share that Love with others.

Luke 6:27–36 ESV

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

When we celebrate the first advent of Christ, we celebrate love being made manifest on this earth. The love that saved your soul walked on this Earth, and His name is Jesus. The only proper response to receiving this kind of love, is to share it with your family, with your friends, and even those most unlovable. I encouraged you all to be bold around your Thanksgiving table, particularly when it comes to those family members you may see who don’t know Jesus. This Christmas, with that same boldness, I want each of you to put on full display the Love of Jesus, because He says in the gospel of John,

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