Sermon for 6-2-24

Bible Studies

I John 4: 16-21

Trinity 1, 2024

 

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot[a] love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.  

 

+In the Name of Jesus+

 

What is love?   This is the question of all generations.   It is a question asked by theologians, philosophers, poets, young people, by betrayed spouses and abandoned children, by dreamers and cynics.    In our society today, we hear “love is love.”   In this definition, Love is whatever you want it to be.  This is the popular definition among many today.     We also hear “Love comes natural, hatred is learned.”    This is also an axiom of this present age and world-view.    Whether you think that is true or not does not matter to the people of this world; these are the beliefs of our age.

 

True “Love” suggests John, is what exclusively happens when it is inspired by grace alone through faith in the God who loved us first in the person of Christ and His work on the cross.   It is this love we consider this morning:

 

THE GLORY THAT IS THIS GIFT OF GOD CALLED “LOVE.”

God is love.

We love because He first loved us.

 

GOD IS LOVE

 

      “God is love.”    We have all heard this verse somewhere in our time as Christians.   Sadly, at times, these words have been used to justify any and all sinful behavior.   After all, it is said, “God loves everyone since God is love.”     The first truth that John has us understand in regard to God’s love is this: “Whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”    This means that God’s love has parameters.    God’s love is not up for human definition.

 

The word “abide” or “remain” here is the key.     God is love and only by remining in this love do we remain in God.   This “love” is in Christ.    That means repentance for sin, not justifying sin or excusing sin or continuing in one’s chosen sinful life.  The love of God is made evident in His sacrificial sending of His Son.    The love of God is not an emotion.     Rather, the love of God is a determined and deliberate action whether you feel it or not.   The love of God has succeeded in connecting itself with you through the Son’s holy life and His sacrificial death on the cross.

 

This connection is made by an act of God, not based on emotion, not based on what you do or what you accomplished.   Though a holy act of God He showered his love on you and in you.    This love of God is wrought in and through Word and Sacrament.      As St. Paul says of Baptism: “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”

 

John here is reminding us of what Jesus said in his Gospel, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.”    This word tells you about Christ crucified.   Without the sacrifice of Christ, without the confession of Christ which means that we know and believe the love of God, there is no connection to the love of God.    God’s love is directly connected to Jesus.     But as John says, “We have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.”   This is the glory that is the love of God.

 

This love of God in Christ has a goal: “By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.”    John follows Jesus in combining God’s love with the fact that we are not judged on the last day.    We must confess that our love for God falls short of the ideal.     But your boldness or confidence for the Day of Judgment rests not on your love for God, but on His love for you.

 

God’s love has the purpose that we confidently face death without fear, with our sins remitted, with Jesus as our Advocate.     If you still fear punishment from God you have prevented His love for you from remitting your sins and thus from planting sure confidence in your heart instead of this fear.

 

The remedy God in His love has provided for you is repentance.   And if you need to speak to your pastor about a sin that bothers your heart which may prevent your sure confidence, you need to come to your pastor in private.   Your confession will remain only between you and your Savior.

 

For your comfort now, St. Paul says that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.    As Jesus was in this world so are we.   In Jesus, we are without sin   In Christ we are holy.   In Christ we will be raised to eternal life.   In Christ there is no fear.  The love of Christ has removed all your sin; what is there left to fear?

 

      Yes, God is love.   God does not want those who have been born again of water and the Spirit to quake with fear at the thought of Judgment Day.    His love for you is meant to pull up this fear by its very roots and throw it out as though it were a poisonous weed.     To allay and fear of Judgment Day your Savior shouted from the Cross over your sin: “It is finished.”   When the devil assails you, humbly repent, look at the cross, and cling to those words of your Savior.

 

WE LOVE BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US

 

      I am going to take you back to the phrase, “love is love.”   Again, so often today, the premise in this phrase is to justify sin.   The love of God does not justify sin; the love of God justifies sinners.    God does not justify sinners because they are holy or lovable or more appealing to him than the really bad people such as rapists and murderers.     God justifies sinner because of His love as it comes in the gift of Christ Crucified.   So secondly this morning, John helps us understand this aspect of God’s love, “We love because He first loved us.”

 

It is this love which enables us to love our fellow sinner.    God’s love for you is the cause of your love for another.   This means that the unbeliever cannot love in a way that is pleasing to God.   This means that the idea of “Love is love” is an abomination.     But for you to know

 

  • that you are forgiven for your sin,
  • loved in the midst of your weaknesses,
  • saved by His mercy,
  • destined for eternal life with Christ,
  • all because you are valued by God—

 

this is to know the perfect love of God.   With the perfect love of God, we are in turn to forgive our brothers and sisters as our Lord has forgiven us.

 

So, John places before us a test: “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar.”

How well do you pass this test?    Is there someone who hate in your life?    How do you act in the face of insult.    What emotion fills your heart when someone cuts you off in traffic.    God does not give us permission to hate our brothers.   He even goes so far as to tells us that if we do not love our brother whom we can see, it is impossible to love God whom we cannot see.     What makes it impossible is that that individual is living a lie and worshiping a god of his own imagination and that is idolatry.

 

Earlier I quoted another belief of our secular society: “Love comes natural, hatred is learned.”     Our Lord notes that it is just the opposite: “Out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.”

 

Such sins as hatred and greed and murders and anger are natural man’s inclinations.   By nature, man loves himself and is self-centered.   God’s love must be taught.  And it is taught by calling us to repentance.    In the midst of your struggle with any kind of hatred, look to the cross of Jesus.

 

This is precisely what John proposes: “And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”   The love for your brother is defined in the Second Table of the Law.     John says, “As he is so also are we in this world.”       We are still in this world.   We are ambassadors of Christ.   That is a privilege the unbeliever does not have.

 

This is meant for your comfort.    Your Savior wants you to know your sins are forgiven by the directive He gives to you to love your brother.

 

Yes, God is love and His love is the glorious gift He has given to each one of you.   That love is displayed once again this day as your Savior invites you to His holy table for the forgiveness of all your sins.   Here in this Holy Supper lies the very heart of the Gospel: “We love because He first loved us.”  Go in peace; your sins are forgiven.   Amen.

 

Closing Prayer: O Gracious Father, God of love, who, loving us from everlasting, gave Your Son into death for us when we were yet enemies and desired us to know the love You have for us, and on our part to love You and our neighbor, we humbly ask You, remove from our hearts tormenting fear, and fill them with childlike faith and trust in You, cleanse us also from hatred and ill will, incline us to render one to another kindly dispositions and services of love, and grant us at the last boldness in the Day of Judgment; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, now and forever.  Amen.

 

 

Soli Deo Gloria