Sermon Tone Analysis

Good Morning and welcome, It is good to see you here today on this Easter holiday.

I don’t know what exactly each one of you thinks about this holiday, wether you spend it hunting for eggs, having big Easter dinners, or going to visit the Easter Bunny at the mall, but no matter I am glad you decided to come and spend some time this morning with us looking into God’s Word.

Wether or not this particular holiday has it’s roots in pagan tradition, I like the idea of redeeming things if at all possible, to take something negative or neutral and use it for God’s glory.

One of my kids asked me this week, “what are you getting me for Easter,” as if Easter to them has just become some second Christmas where it’s all about me.

Leave it to the pastor’s kid.......

No, Easter is not about presents, chocolate, candy eggs, and bunnies, but rather it is a time where we can purposefully set apart some time to meditate on the finished work of Christ.

Where we celebrate not a dead Jesus, but a risen, conquering Savior, who defeated death and purchased for us redemption, and who is seated on the right hand of the Father in heaven, and we long for His return.........Something we should do every day.

So as we think about Easter this morning, and the resurrection of Christ, we must also think of all the other aspects that encompass the subject as well.

The resurrection was not an isolated circumstance, but rather the culmination of many things.

The resurrection was necessitated by first the death of Jesus at the crucifixion, but even before that, the crucifixion was a result of the hatred of Jesus due to His righteous life and the unpopular message in the truth He spoke.

But even His life was not really where this whole thing started, but rather Jesus was sent into the world by His Father to be the propitiating sacrifice for sin because........ of love.

First of God’s love for us:

First of God’s love for us:

of Jesus’ love for us:

1 JOhn 3:

We are going to spend our time this morning looking at what was the start of this process that ultimately culminated in the glorious resurrection and that is love.

Today we will see again one of John’s black and white tests and that is the test of your love for the brethren.

1 John 3:

Do you love the brethren?

Over the last several weeks that John is very polarizing in His teaching.

He leaves little room to be misunderstood or misinterpreted, and he does this by speaking in very plainly and by using things that by their very nature are at total opposition; love of God / love of the world, children of God / children of the Devil, darkness / light, love / hate.

We have learned over the last several weeks that John is very polarizing in His teaching.

He leaves little room to be misunderstood or misinterpreted, and he does this by speaking very plainly and by using things that by their very nature are at total opposition; love of God / love of the world, children of God / children of the Devil, darkness / light, love / hate.

This is not even the first time we have looked at the subject of love and it won’t even be our last.

This subject of love to John was a big one.

I believe that living with Jesus himself, seeing how he lived out this love in His care for others, experiencing this love by sitting and having his dirty feet washed by Jesus Himself, and then hearing Jesus’ words.....changed John forever.

When we think back to the upper room........

Then John saw the supreme demonstration of Christ’s love when He willingly went to the cross to die for our sins.

And so the former “son of thunder” became known as the “apostle of love.”

The love of Christ had a supreme, dynamic impact on John’s life.

If you ever get tired of hearing about love, if you ever get hardened or calloused to this subject and wonder why do we talk so much about love, it would be wise to remember that this letter from John, as well as the rest of God’s word was written through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, even the repetitive parts.

And you know an interesting thing about the Holy Spirit?

He knows us, like really knows us.

Not like others may know us by the things that we let people see in us, but really knows our hearts.

Brian Noble / General

“I the Lord search the heart.”

Good Afternoon, My name is Brian Noble, and I am the pastor at Coram Deo Church in Medford.

I would like to welcome you, as we have gathered here together today to remember Ronald James Joseph Dubeau.

The Lord knew that we needed to hear about love again and again and again.

What is ironic is that even though love is covered so often throughout the scriptures, our constant default position is not love, but rather selfishness.

Although this is a day to celebrate Ron’s life, for most this is a difficult day as well.

A day of many emotions, a day of hurting, a day of weeping, a day of reflection, and though today is a difficult day, the scriptures makes this promise:

Today in our passage John contrasts love and hate and forces us again to get real introspective and examine our hearts to see what it is that is inside and to press us to love one another, to love the brethren.

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

Pray: Lord help us to love, help us to see our selfishness for what it is, sin.

And help us Lord to love as you loved us.

This is a time when we need refuge and strength, and God is here to help.

As we look throughout the world, and our culture specifically, it doesn’t take very long before we realize that most people have no idea what love really is.

It might be difficult to believe, but the Bible says that it’s actually good for us to be here today.

In God's word says this:

The “love” we see around us everyday, and see in the movies, and hear in music is very often not love at all, but rather lust.

It is not sacrificial love, but instead a love that in itself is selfish.

Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties.

After all, everyone dies—so the living should take this to heart.

As we see the state of marriage in our time, with divorce rates sky rocketing, this is not due to the overwhelming understanding of love in our time, but in fact the misunderstanding of what true love really is.

I understand that this is not the typical passage you would expect to hear at a memorial service, but I think it is so applicable because it teaches us that sorrow is better than laughter, because sadness has a refining influence on us.

A wise person thinks a lot about death, while a fool thinks only about having a good time.

The love we see is inherently selfish.

How do we know this?

Because often, my love for you is really about me.

It is displayed as a strong emotion toward you as long is it continues to be in the best interest of me.

As long as I remain happy with you, as long as you meet all the needs I am looking for to be met by you, as long as a better option doesn’t come along that I believe will bring me more happiness, than I will love you, but when any of those other things happen..... I’m gone.

This may sound strange to you, but Solomon the writer of Ecclesiastes is saying that it’s better to go to a funeral than to a party, and I think there are at least three reasons for this.

This is not only true of the marriage relationship concerning love, but friendship, and brotherly love as well.

“I will love you...... until I don’t”

First, this is a time for us to celebrate the life that God gave to Ron.

We’re sad but we also want to remember Ron’s uniqueness.

Quotes on love: Several that don’t meet the mark.

"To be in love is merely to be in a state of perceptual anesthesia." - H.L. Mencken (American Journalist)

"Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness."

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired." - Mark Twain

"We're all a little weird, and life's a little weird.

And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."

— Dr. Seuss

And then there is this statement:

"Love is more than three words mumbled before bedtime.

Love is sustained by action, a pattern of devotion in the things we do for each other every day." - Nicholas Sparks

As we reflect on Ron’s life over the next days and weeks, there’s a story in the Bible I would like to bring to your memory.

And then there is this statement:

"Love is more than three words mumbled before bedtime.

Love is sustained by action, a pattern of devotion in the things we do for each other every day." - Nicholas Sparks

That, I believe, is a whole lot closer to the love which the Scriptures teach us we must have for one another as Christians.

It has nothing to do with emotion or hormones.

It is a command from God to be obeyed by us.

For some it may be difficult to talk about things without overwhelming emotion, but let me remind you of this story of Jesus, and a good friend of his by the name of Lazarus who had just died.

As we look again to our passage today it can be divided into two groups (love and hate), with two examples.

Jesus who loved by sacrifice, and Cain who murdered because of hatred.

It’s found in the Gospel of John, in the 11th chapter.

Here we read of a funeral that involved hard questions, deep feelings, and a coming hope.

These two groups, each with their representatives, serve as an example which point us to be able to answer the question, “Do I love the brethren, showing evidence that I have passed from death to life?” or “Do I hate like Cain and therefore abide in death?”

To understand more clearly, let’s first take a look at, and work out some definitions of love and hate.

You may be telling yourself that it seems that you know people, even those who are unsaved, but seem to show love, so what is it that John is saying here?

The word here for love here is again agape.

This is christian love.

This love has the sense of a strong, non-sexual affection and love for a person and their good as understood by God’s moral character; especially characterized by a willing forfeiture of rights or privileges on another persons behalf.

When John speaks of love, he points us to the supreme example we have in Jesus Christ who laid down His own life for us (3:16).

So a helpful definition of this kind of biblical love is: a self-sacrificing, tender commitment that manifests itself in seeking the highest good of the one who is loved.

Jesus sacrificed Himself because He cared for us and He is committed to seek our best interest.

And so if hatred is the opposite of love, we could define it here as, a selfish, insensitive attitude that shows itself in disregarding others’ good as I instead seek my own interests.