Sermon Tone Analysis

God’s Love is Distinct

1 John 4:

Let me pray for us as we begin.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.” - 1 John 3:1

I.

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person.

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

-

“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

-

Let me pray for us as we begin.

21

Let me pray for us as we begin.

I. ME - ORIENTATION

Mill City has been in a conversation about “Everyday ways to talk about God.” We’ve talked about how the Gospel is about declaring that Jesus is both Savior and Lord…or that He is the one who has brought salvation to us through his death and resurrection.

And as Lord, he guides and leads our lives.

A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Steph talked about the power in the name of Jesus and the importance of knowing how to have conversations about Jesus.

This morning, we continue this conversation to talk about something that I would say is talked about more than anything within the church.

There have been more worship songs written on this topic than anything else, and I would even be bold enough to say that all at once, it’s the word used most to describe God also the word that causes people to question God the most.

If I polled this room and on asked you how you’d define this word as it relates to God, we’d probably all have different answers.

So what is this?

It’s God’s love.

I would be so bold as to say that if you were to re-watch every sermon you’ve ever listened to, every

II.

WE - IDENTIFICATION (Tension #1)

II.

WE - IDENTIFICATION (Tension #1)

II.

WE - IDENTIFICATION (Tension #1)

There’s this phrase that is commonly used today: “love is a verb.”

You know, I was trying to figure out the origin of this phrase so I started to google it and just did some research.

There’s a book by Gary Chapman with the title “Love is a Verb,” there’s a song by John Mayer, there are all these different blogs about it too.

A mom who writes about loving her children.

A therapist who encourages self-love as a verb.

A million and a half blogs about romantic relationships and marriage and friendships.

Love as a force for social justice.

You name the specific topic, it’s been written and I came across it.

In general, it seems like people from every age, ethnicity and race, spiritual background, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status believe in this phrase, Love is a Verb.

So I was doing all this research and couldn’t really find the origin of it.

But then I had this pretty profound realization.

The origin of “love is a verb...”

You know where it comes from?

THE DICTIONARY.

And so after all this research I thought to myself, “welp, that’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back.”

But all that to say, what I discovered is that people, we have all these different definitions of what “love” is; everyone has a view on how to love people, on what the “right” way to love others really looks like.

But what does God’s love look like?

If you were here a few weeks ago, Pastor Steph read a passage from that said “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

This morning, we’re not just going to talk about God’s love, but God’s distinct love.

We’re having this conversation about everyday ways to talk about God because it seems like the world and cultures we live in today are making it more and more difficult to have conversations with people about God.

But what if it isn’t the different cultures that surround us, or even the political and social state of the world?

What if it’s the fact that we may not understand how God’s love is distinct from different kinds of love?

So this morning, I want to ask the question:

I just want someone to look at me the way

BIG IDEA

every direction what it looks like to love others and it’s becoming more and more difficult to have conversations with people that want to look at what it means that God’s love is distinct…unlike any other kind of love in the world.

Big Idea

What does God’s distinct love look like, and how are we called to embody that love to others?”

“What does it look like to know and experience God’s love, and love others in the same way?”

“Because we are loved by God, we are called to love others in the name of Jesus.”

The love of Jesus

What does God’s distinct love look like, and how are we called to embody that love to one another and to others?”

To dive into this a little bit more I want to look at 1 John, which is the same author of the Gospel of John.

If you have your Bibles with you or an app on your phone, turn with me to .

As you turn there, I want to orient us to where we’re at in God’s greater story in Scripture.

John the apostle is writing to remind them of things that they already know, that they have known for a long time.

John is writing to remind them of things that they already know, that they have known for a long time.

It’s evident throughout this letter that John wants his audience to know that Jesus has already forgiven their sin, and that He is their advocate.

Second, John is writing to keep his audience focused on Jesus so the lens they use to live life with other people is reflective of the life and love of God.

III.

GOD - ILLUMINATION

1 John 4:

What John is saying here is that if we claim Jesus as the leader of our lives and are pursuing a relationship with Him, the other side of the same coin is that we love others.

It’s not just that the way God loves us is distinct.

But how he calls us to embody it and live it out.

When John says that love is not that we love God, but he loves us, it means that we are changed not because we love Him, but because we are loved by Him.

God’s love isn’t just the perfect form of human love.

Human love is evidence of God’s love, not the other way around.

Up until I was 24-25, the way I thought of God’s love was I thought of the person whose love for me was most pure and seemingly perfect.

My mom who would literally give me anything…there’s nothing she wouldn’t do for me.

And my dad…this hilarious guy (

My dad…this is the guy who watches wheel of fortune like he’s watching football.

He’s so intense about how people don’t know what they’re doing.

I love the Great British Baking Show.

And I went home last weekend and was watching an episode with my niece and nephew.

In the middle of the episode, I shouted at the TV, “YOU FORGOT TO TURN ON THE OVEN?

Amateur.”

And my nine year old nephew goes, “You sound like grandpa.”

And I was like… “I am my father’s daughter.”

My point being…when we love people, it’s meant to be distinct, it is meant to be the kind of love that people look at and say, “Who’s daughter or son are they?”

We

IV.

WE - SUPPLICATION (Tension #2)

God’s love calls out the oppressor and calls up the oppressed.

His love walked the dirt road to find Saul who was persecuting him, and then did not count it against him.

Instead, he said…you will be my main representative to all non-Jews.

His love did not look at Peter and say “I told you so” when Peter denied Jesus, but looked at him in such a way that caused him to actually become the rock of the church that Jesus said he’d be.

He looks at the crowds with compassion.

His love took two fish and fives loaves of bread and multiplied it to feed those in need.

His love literally stretched out his arms and absorbed the pain of the world so that they might someday choose him to be the leader of their lives.

The love of Jesus walks up to the woman at the well and told her the truth about the adultery in her life not to condemn or shame her, but to say “I see you for you, and not for what you do.