True Love
1 John 4:7-12

1.     INTRO:

Ø    Valentines Day is Tuesday… Guys!!

Ø    I think these images capture much of the idea of romantic love that we celebrate on Valentine’s Day. (jpg’s)

Ø    And here is an anti-example of romantic love…, a perfect way to fail to show love when proposing.

Pride & Prejudice Clip: Man gives several terrible reasons for marrying!

Ø        Romantic love is a mixture of the false & sublime.  At its best it’s the crucible in which we learn true love.

Today we’ll see what John tells us of the incredible, deeper love of God, and how this love can actually become part of our character.

2.     Scripture, 1 John 4:7-12

3.     TRUE LOVE MUST COME FROM GOD

A.    God loves unconditionally!

Ø    The statement, "God is love" teaches us that every action of God is an expression of His heart of love.

Ø    How did God best demonstrate this?  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Vs.9-10 (Selfless, Sacrificial)

Ø    God’s love is not a warm fuzzy that overlooks sin, but a decision to love and forgive sin!  He knows…, and yet He still loves us… you… and me.

B.    The agape love of God is unnatural!

Ø    “The love that Christ commands is not easy, even for people who are blessed with great natural warmth of heart. And it is not impossible, even for those of us who tend to be crabby and short-tempered. For Christian love is not the result of a pleasant spirit!

Ø    It is decision of the heart that causes us to seek the welfare of others—including people we don’t particularly like…” Louis Cassels.  How do our hearts learn to love like God?

C.    We must be born of God

Ø    1 John 4:7, Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

Ø    John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.”

Ø    The Love of God is ours through the Holy Spirit.  Galatians 5:22 “The fruit of the Spirit is love…”

4.     GOD’S LOVE MUST BE EXPRESSED TO OTHERS

Ø    1 John 4:11 “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another”

Ø    John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

Ø    As Jesus laid down his life for us, so we lay ours down in love for others.

Ø    One does not have to literally sacrifice his or her life in order to lay it down. Laying down one’s life for a brother or sister can be done through servanthood and putting others first.

Ø    The non-Christian, Greek writer Lucian who lived from A.D. 120-200 made an observation about Christians. He said, “It is incredible to see the fervor with which the people of that religion help each other in their wants. They spare nothing. Their first legislator [Jesus] has put it into their heads that they are brethren.”

The Terminal, Big Idea: Love is laying down your life for your friends.  Jesus is the greatest example of someone laying down His life.  He asks us to do the same.

Ø    Newlywed wannabes, one day when romance is wavering, even then you will have this special love that is untied to circumstances.  And learning to love like this with your “special love” will help you love the unlovely.

5.     CHALLENGES TO LOVING

A.    It is a challenge to love others when we have had a bitter life.

Ø    “Give me such love for God and men as will blot out all hatred and bitterness.”  Deitrich Bonhoeffer.

B.    It is a challenge to love others when they have hurt us.

Ø    We need to be as the little four year old girl, who hugging a doll in each arm, looked up at her mother and said, “Mama, I love them and love them and love them, but they never love me back.” We should love even if people do not love us back.

C.    It is a challenge to love others when they have created their own troubles!

Ø    A preacher was riding on a bus, & a drunk comes stumbling on, sitting down beside him.  The preacher was irritated, and took out his Bible & began reading to the man.  Then he announced to the drunk,  "You know you’re going to hell, don’t you?" The drunk: "Dang! I got on the wrong bus again!"

Ø    1 John 3:17 “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?”

D.    It is a challenge to love those with whom we do not agree.

Ø    “The world does not understand theology or dogma, but it understands love and sympathy.”  D.L. Moody

6.     Invite:

TEDDY STALLARD: GREAT FICTIONAL ILLUSTRATION