LEARNING to LOVE (or possibly: WHAT the WORLD still needs)
Learning to LOVE
1 John 4:7-16
Sunday, February 03, 2008
It’s ALL about Love. It is ALL about LOVE. God is all about LOVE.
Jackie DeShannon sang in the 1970’s: What the WORLD NEEDS now is love sweet love – that’s the only thing that there’s just too little of…”
What did she mean?
Did Jackie DeShannon mean that we are to enjoy the romantic love of a woman? Did she mean that we are to be more sympathetic for one another in a world filled with intolerance?
Did she mean that the world is empty of God’s sacrificial love?
Well I suppose we’ll never know.
We are confused about love more than ever before. Our sick, sorry, fallen world is no closer to the love of God today than we were 2,000 years ago. But let us remember that some 2,000 years ago God sent us a man to show us what real love is all about. Jesus Christ lived a life of LOVE. Jesus not only told us to LOVE our enemies, he modeled the behavior for us. From the cross one of Jesus’ last words were, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” As His life was in the act of being taken from Him, Jesus was in the act of GIVING away His love.
One man, not a Christian, not a believer, looked upon this pivotal event in human history and saw the soldiers nailing Jesus to the cross – spewing their anger and their hate – and then he took a long look at Jesus. All he saw was love. And he left us with one of the most powerful sentences in the Bible: “Behold, how He loved them.”
Do you know today that God loves you? It’s all about LOVE!
What does the world teach us about love?
Tennyson’s great lines: “’Tis better to have loved and lost – than never to have loved at all…” Sounds good to me. But what about a wife who has spent twenty years of her life loving a man. Together they have some children. And one day, in the darkest night, he slips away quietly and leaves the “love of his life” with a note: “I have found someone else. We met online. We are in love. I am sorry but I just want to be happy.”
The world often learns about love through Hollywood. What a teacher!? I remember this as a very young man. Back in the early 70’s a movie was released that broke every box office record in history. LOVE STORY told of a love between a man and a woman. They “fell” in love. Do we “fall” in love? Lose all control. Slip and slide. In the movie the famous lines are:
“Love means NEVER having to say you’re sorry….”
Really? Is that real love? Is that the best we can do? On our own my guess is YES!
Of course, I like the higher realm of intelligencia. Remember Forrest Gump? “Jenny, I’m not a smart man, but I know what love is…” To which we all say, “RUN, Forrest, Run!”
What the world still needs today is LOVE. We need the love of God. We need to receive God’s love. We need to learn how to love one another. When we learn to love one another we can show the world that we belong to God.
1. We LEARN to love when we RECEIVE the Love of God. 1 John 4:7-10
We often read a passage like this and we hear in a Sunday school class – “We are to love one another.” We hear sermons – so many of them through the years and the preacher says, “We do not love one another as we ought. We must love one another- this is a command!” “God will not bless us if we do not love one another.” If the truth be told, I bet some of you have heard sermons or Bible Studies like that at least a thousand times. And you know what we do with all that great teaching and preaching don’t you? We go on living our lives the way we want to, the way we have always lived. And still, we find it the hardest thing in the world to do.
We still have not learned about love.
What’s the problem here?
I have thought a lot about this these past couple of weeks. I am convinced, through reading this passage over and over. We cannot love one another until we first RECEIVE the love of God.
When we RECEIVE the love of God it changes everything.
When we RECEIVE God’s love we open our lives to God’s best gift to us.
Listen again to John’s letter. “Love is of God…God is love.”
Bethlehem and Calvary reveal the heart of God’s love toward you. The God who was “UP THERE” came “DOWN here”. Why did He come? It’s all about LOVE. Why did He die? It’s ALL about love.
You can never “love one another” until you first learn to RECEIVE God’s love. John tells us why this matters so much…
God’s love has been revealed to you - 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. 10 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...”
2. We LEARN to love when we put God’s love in action. 1 John 4:11-12
Love is based on our Union with Jesus Christ. Because we have received the gift of God’s love, then we will begin to love one another as He first loved us. This is NOT natural, it is SUPERNATURAL. We only put God’s love into action when we maintain a close and consistent walk with our Heavenly Father.
Let me ask you this morning, have you seen God’s love in action?
My guess is you have maybe, a few times at least I hope. When you see God’s love in action you often see a person demonstrating in a personal and powerful way the love of God.
Exegete this passage…
This passage says, “God’s LOVE has been revealed/manifested.
This word means “to make visible…”
The world agrees with this – we say, “don’t tell me you love me, SHOW me your LOVE.” We say, “The PROOF is in the Puddin’!”
God proved His LOVE for us – he sent us His Son!
This passage says, God sent us His son, jesus Christ…”
That word “sent” is our English word “Apostle”.
I wonder what that “Send-off” was like? Best in history! Jesus was leaving all the glory and pleasures of Heaven to come to this dark and diluted earth – BECAUSE of HIS LOVE.
But John isn’t the only Biblical writer who majors on LOVE. Listen to Ephesians 5:1-2: “Be imitators of God, as dearly LOVED children and LIVE a LIFE of LOVE, just as Jesus loved us”
LIVE A LIFE OF LOVE…how does that sound to you today?
Sounds pretty hard to me.
Live a life of LOVE – PUT God’s LOVE in action. Make it a part of your life this week, this month. I challenge you to LIVE a life of LOVE this week. To do this, you first will need to RECEIVE the Love God offers you. Next, put the word in your heart and make it a part of your life.
The world will not be changed by education.
The world will not be changed by improving the environment.
The world will not be changed by legislation.
The ONLY HOPE for this world is LOVE.
The only HOPE the world has of learning about LOVE is through you and through me. LIVE a LIFE of LOVE. It will change your life. It will change your family’s lives. It will change our schools. It will change our church – If we LIVE A LIFE OF LOVE it will cost us. Time. Money. Critics. We will have to build a new church, a bigger church – because when our community RECEIVES God’s Love, we will be changed. Then, we will put God’s LOVE in ACTION.
John closes out this passage: “Perfect LOVE casts out FEAR.”
Have you ever SEEN perfect love? John also says that if we ABIDE in the Father His love will be PERFECTED in our hearts.
Maybe the greatest Missionary who ever lived was a man named Jim Elliot. Jim went to share God’s Love to the Auca Indians. He was killed by the very Indians he went to love. Jim learned the lesson of LOVE. “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot LOSE.”