Sermon Tone Analysis

I thought it was fitting today to place the celebration of the Lord’s Supper right in the center of the service, because as we examine the theme of Advent bringing love today, there is not greater examination of love, God’s faithful, covenant, steadfast love, than in the remembrance of the offering of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

Last week, Fred Thompson gave us some great reminders about hope from Psalm 23.

I didn’t tell Fred ahead of time about our themes of Hope, Love, Joy, Peace.

But the Holr Spirit knows how to speak even when we don’t plan it that way.

There is great hope in these words.

Even walking in death’s shade, there is hope.

Even walking in great distress, there is hope.

Even walking in great uncertainty, there is hope.

This Wednesday, a number of us gathered up at Frank and Nancy’s home for the first of three Advent Bible readings.

After we read the account of Zechariah and Elizabeth, the theme of hope could not escape my mind the rest of the week.

There is immense hope displayed both personally, and also nationally in that story.

There is immense national hope, because some of the last words in the Old Testament talk about a curse that will only be broken at the time when Elijah the prophet comes back.

Well, what was the promise to Zechariah?

That his son would come in the spirit and power of Elijah.

The promise and birth of John the Baptist was the first real turn of the gears of God’s redemptive work in 400 years.

There had been 400 years of prophetic silence.

400 years of waiting, but in those years there was hope for many.

Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous people, trusting the Lord, serving the Lord, waiting on the Lord.

And God came through.

But there was also immense personal hope.

When Zechariah was in the temple, administering the offering of incense before the morning’s burnt offering, the Angel Gabriel appeared to him and said “your prayers have been answered.”

What prayers?

Well, perhaps prayers for the Messiah, but also prayers for a son.

They were in there older years, and they were barren.

And in a time where barrenness was seen with an amount of reproach, perhaps the hope of that changing had dwindled.

Yet, God came through in a miraculous way, and began the work of ushering in His Kingdom and new creation, as John the Baptist would prepare the way of the Lord.

So there is great hope, but this is not a sermon on hope - that was a bonus.

If you remember last week, Fred said that Psalm 23 was probably most well known Bible Passage around the world, and I think he’s right.

But he also mentioned another verse that is probably the most well known single verse in all the Bible, do you remember what that was?

Yes, John 3:16

That great, simple, yet profound truth.

That verse displays the heart of our Gospel Message, the message that there is truly Love in God, and that love was a primary cause of him sending Jesus Christ, His sinless son, so save whoever would believe in Him.

That really is the Advent, that really is the crux of the issue.

And it is wrapped up in love, isn’t it?

It is not that love is the greatest of the themes of Jesus’ coming, there are none of God’s attributes that are greater or lesser really, God is who He is in perfect harmony.

But as we examine love today, know that it is great, it is certainly not the least.

The Christian church goes through ebbs and flows and movements and changes where sometimes it feels as if God’s love is overemphasized to the detriment of all His other characteristics, but sometimes it seems as though we would like to avoid talking too much of God’s love, or else people might get the idea that there is no need of forgiveness or repentance.

“How few of the saints are acquainted in their experience with this privilege of holding direct communion with the Father in love!

With what anxious, doubtful thoughts they look on him!

What fears and questions they have about his goodwill and kindness!

At the best, many think there is no sweetness at all in him towards us, except that which is purchased at a high price by the blood of Jesus.

People are afraid to have good thoughts of God.

They think it is presumptuous to view God as good, gracious, tender, and kind, loving.”

May that not be true of us today!

May we experience something of fellowship with God in His love today.

Today, let us marvel in God’s love for just a few minutes.

We have already marvelled and reveled in it in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

So I don’t intend to blather on too long this morning,

“False Information”

but I do want to focus on 1 John 4:7-12 together and observe the main focus of that passage.

And I think together we will see this.

The Entirety of Christ’s Advent was the greatest manifestation of God’s love, and our love continues to manifest God’s love.

1.

The Big Idea: God is Love

This is that famous passage in which we read the great and telling words, that God is love.

There is no greater degree to which you can display something than for it to be said that you are something.

To “be” something like this is to personify it, to show it perfectly, to exhibit it always, to never diminish or tarnish or blur the meaning of the thing.

Of course, only God can “be” something perfectly like this, and it is a wonderful thought to think that God “is” love.

But before the passage says that God “is” love, it first says that “love is from God.” Notice that in verse 7.

That is important, because it is one thing for God to be love, but God could be love without ever there having been humans, or an earth, or creation at all.

God dwells in perfect love in His own being.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all exhibit and experience this perfect love in unity in a way that is mysterious and unimageineable, and if it was just the Godhead and nobody else, it would still be a tremendous existence of love.

Yet, there is more than just the Godhead, there is creation, and specifically, there are people, humans, who are made in God’s image.

People, humans, who can know and experience something of God’s nature, and love is one of those things we can know and experience.

That is why “love is from God” is so critical to us, because that is where “God is love” comes into our experience.

“God is love” doesn’t do us much good without “love is from God.”

There is a transfer, a sharing, a display.

Now, we see that in a big way a little bit later in the passage.

But for now, think of those things together.

Love as an attribute of God is seen and known by us because God is not just love, but love is from God.

Having come through Thanksgiving, perhaps that verse or others like it came across your thinking.

We know that God is love, and because God never changes, that means His love is faithful and never changes either.

Now, we often think of God’s love being shown mostly in the New Testament, but think of this verse all the way back in the Pentateuch.

God’s love is nothing new, his people have always been recipients of it.

And in that verse, we see that it is faithful, and it is part of his promise.

So as we think of Advent, we don’t think of God’s love coming as something new, we simply think of it being displayed in a grand way.

The love was always there, as God was always there, but in the Advent of Jesus Christ, perhaps the curtain was pulled back a bit more, the paper on the gift was torn away a bit to reveal the grandeur of it all, and that is the main portion of this passage today as well.

2. The Big Event: God’s Love on Display

Verses 9-10 really say it about as clearly as any passage in scripture.

John has started with the foundation that God is love, and love is from God.

Now he tells us where we primarily see that love that is “from God” coming to us.

Verse 9 and 10 almost restate one another, just in a different way.

We see that a lot in the writings of the Old testament, like the Psalms, where things are restated for emphasis and for learning.

John really wants us to understand this.

What is the great manifestation of God’s love?

What is love when we boil it right down?

It is the sending of Jesus Christ to the world.

That last verse has always been a favorite of mine, and it really helps underline one of the big themes in this passage in 1 John.

Because God’s love is said to do something, and what does it do?

Well, really two things.

First, it gives life.

“so that we might live through Him.”

This is new-creation.

This is old things passing away, all becoming new Like Paul spoke of.

John says it this way in His Gospel Record.

So this love of God, God’s love, that comes down to us, gives us life.

Among other things, the promise of life was one of the things lost in the fall.

Death had no rightful place in God’s creation, but by sin and curse it entered in.

So it is only fitting, that in the new creation, one of the main benefits is life - eternal life.

But what else does God’s love coming to us do?

It also gives propitiation.