Knowing God Through Love
1 John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewHow can we experience the love of God so deeply we begin to live out that love in our lives?
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Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Why is love not
coming naturally?
Love is from God...
It is not,
natural human behavior.
John says,
Whoever loves,
has been born of God.
People talk about
being born again.
But I think John is saying
this is what it really means
to be born again...
BEING LOVING.
The verse starts with:
a command to
love one another...
If we have been
born of God,
know God
experienced God’s love
we must
we will
learn to love each other.
Every time
I think I’m making
some progress
in Christian love.
I get in fight
with wife.
I realize
I am so
selfish.
It is amazing
marital fight
are about
dumbest things.
I haven’t had one
honorable fight.
The fight is never,
someone stole money from us
we try to decide whether
to sue them or not.
No!
it is always
thermostat
cleaning
being on time.
We had big fight yesterday
she came out of endoscopy
very hungry
wanted to get favorite food.
I wanted to get home
internet guy
finish cleaning
mow lawn
etc.
You would have thought
it was WW3!
I’m going to be honest
with you saints.
I don’t feel qualified
to preach a sermon
about loving each other
not today
not tomorrow.
Give me the topic of
last day events
sanctuary systems.
But now I have
to preach about
most basic
concept of Christianity
and I feel
unable preach.
I have been a Christian
for most of my life.
I can explain the most
complex passages of scripture.
Yet, I feel like
I’m as far away from
reflecting God’s love
as I have ever been.
The last thing
I want to do right now
stand in front of you
preach sermon about
how to love people.
I’m pretty sure
I’m failing at it.
Vampire bats live in Central and South America. They feed on blood, but there’s something more surprising. If a bat goes a single night without food, it can die. That’s how delicate their survival is. But here’s the part that stunned scientists: when a bat comes back to the roost full and another bat is hungry, the full one will regurgitate blood to feed the other.
And get this — they don’t just feed their relatives. They feed unrelated bats. Sometimes even bats who haven’t “paid them back.” Why? It’s not entirely clear. But one thing is: this kind of unearned, undeserved generosity is rare in nature. And yet… there it is. One creature giving life-sustaining nourishment to another — not because they have to, but because they choose to.
Apparently,
bats that drink blood
are more thoughtful than me!
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Ouch,
the one thing
I thought I had
as a pastor is
knowledge of scripture.
But apparently,
knowledge of scripture
is not equivalent to
knowing God.
Knowing God
is knowing love.
Knowing love
is being loving...
My father used to say
the more I know
the less I know.
As his knowledge grew
he realized how little
he knew previously.
Then the realization set in...
How little he knew
about the things
he still doesn’t know!
_____________________________
I’ve been a bit
of a know-it-all.
Dad was trying to teach
if you think you
know-it-all.
you know very little.
The more you learn
the more you realize
how little you are.
how small is your intellect.
That reminds me
of a powerful quote
from the book
Step to Christ
by Ellen White:
The closer you come to Jesus, the more faulty you will appear in your own eyes; for your vision will be clearer, and your imperfections will be seen in broad and distinct contrast to His perfect nature. This is evidence that Satan’s delusions have lost their power; that the vivifying influence of the Spirit of God is arousing you.
- Step to Christ p. 64
It is profound
that what we need most
is to see how broken we are.
Because then,
if we surrender,
Jesus can help us.
Next verse:
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.
God is love.
What is love?
How did he example love?
He sent his son.
Complete sacrificial service.
Now we are supposed to love.
We are commanded to love one another.
How?
Like that...
Like what?
By being willing to
completely selflessly
dying for one another.
Listen,
When you have figured it out
you come tell me.
I haven’t.
I’m still in preschool.
"The science of redemption is the science of all sciences; the science that is the study of the angels, and of all the intelligences of the unfallen worlds... the science that will be the study of God’s redeemed throughout the endless ages." — Sign of Times April 18, 1906
I guess,
we are all in preschool.
But some of you
closer to graduate
preschool than me.
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.
We didn’t love God.
God loved us first.
He says that
more explicitly
in verse 19:
We love because he first loved us.
Love is not
natural for us.
We certainly didn’t
take the first step.
He takes the first step.
we respond to his love.
We see him
willingly choose to
be our substitute
and die for us...
We stand in awe of Him...
and we say..
I want to learn
to love like that.
In the animated movie The Iron Giant, a mysterious robot falls from the sky into a small American town during the Cold War. At first, the people are terrified. He’s massive. He’s different. He could be dangerous.
But a young boy named Hogarth sees something more. He befriends the Giant and teaches him about right and wrong, about kindness, about love. Slowly, the Giant begins to change. He learns that he doesn’t have to be a weapon. He doesn’t have to be what others fear he might be. He can choose who he wants to be.
And then — the unthinkable happens. A missile is launched toward the town. It’s going to destroy everything and everyone. And the only one who can stop it… is the Giant. So what does he do? He flies upward — straight toward the missile.
And just before impact, he closes his eyes and whispers one word to himself — the name the boy gave him when he was learning what it meant to love: “Superman.” Then, he disappears in a flash of light.
The town is saved. Not by force. Not by violence. But by sacrifice
Next verse says:
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Now we are supposed to
love people.
How?
Like this.
Like how?
Take the first step.
Love when it hurts.
God’s example of love
is to love people
who didn’t love him back!!!
This is no Hollywood love!
Love without risk
is not love at all.
That answers the question,
If God knew that
Lucifer would rebel
why did He make him?
He had to make Lucifer
it was the only way...
Love demanded that
God make Lucifer.
Even though
God knew
how much it would cost Him!
God could have
said no...
That is too painful.
God’s love forced Him
to pursue pain
to preserve love.
God loves
His enemies.
During the American Civil War, the battlefield was chaos. Men on both sides lay wounded — bleeding, screaming, dying. Supplies were short. Doctors were overwhelmed. And most people avoided those front lines at all costs.
But not Clara Barton. She ran straight toward the suffering. Clara was a schoolteacher and clerk before the war, but when she saw the need, she became something more — a nurse, a supply coordinator, a fierce advocate for the forgotten. She showed up at the front lines with wagons full of bandages, food, and love.
But here’s what sets her apart: Clara didn’t ask which side a soldier fought for. She didn’t ask about politics or uniforms. If someone was bleeding, she treated them. Union or Confederate, black or white, friend or enemy — they were all children of God in her eyes.
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
How do we become perfect?
What is perfection?
Perfection is
loving others
like Jesus loves us!
Newspaper columnist and minister George Crane tells of a wife who came into his office full of hatred toward her husband. "I do not only want to get rid of him, I want to get even. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me."
Dr. Crane suggested an ingenious plan "Go home and act as if you really love your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you love him. After you've convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him, then drop the bomb. Tell him that your're getting a divorce. That will really hurt him." With revenge in her eyes, she smiled and exclaimed, "Beautiful, beautiful. Will he ever be surprised!" And she did it with enthusiasm. Acting "as if." For two months she showed love, kindness, listening, giving, reinforcing, sharing. When she didn't return, Crane called. "Are you ready now to go through with the divorce?"
"Divorce?" she exclaimed. "Never! I discovered I really do love him." Her actions had changed her feelings. Motion resulted in emotion. The ability to love is established not so much by fervent promise as often repeated deeds.
Appeal
Appeal
LOVE.
LOVE UNTIL IT HURTS.
THEN LOVE SOME MORE.
