Sermon Tone Analysis

We have come to the last in our Advent Series…Advent ends tomorrow night, and I hope you will join us for our Candlelight worship at 8pm.

It will be a family friendly service and children of all ages are welcome.

This morning we are looking at LOVE, its a word we use a lot in our culture:

I LOVE this song

I LOVE coffee

I LOVE gymnastics

I LOVE you

In English we use the word to express several different things.

In Classical Greek there are several words for love, and I’m going to break it down to four basic ones:

Erao, eros

Phileo, Philia - We also get Philadelphia and Philanthropia

Stergo, storge

Agapazo, agapao

So though we see six different words in the Classical greek we really see four basic roots that speak much of the intent of the love.

In our passage this morning Agape is the one that is used.

If you have your Bibles with you, turn to 1 John 4:7, we’re going to read through verse 21.

AMEN!

There is a lot in this passage, so I’d like to spend the next couple of hours unpacking that for us…but of course we don’t have time for that here this morning.

So let’s just focus on some highlights.

Love one another, for love is from God.

In this Advent season, we wait in expectation for Jesus’ return, because Jesus came to this earth - that’s what we’ll be celebrating in a couple of days, and Jesus will return, that too is what we celebrate and await during this season.

There is the expectation of Jesus return, and will we be ready?

Love is from God - Jesus is God’s love sent down to us.

When we love - as Jesus loved, giving up everything for us, we emulate Jesus and exemplify being born of God and knowing God.

In his Commentary on 1 John, Gary Burge wrote:

When verse 8 says “God is love” (cf.

v. 16), it is important to note what John is not saying.

He is not saying that “God is loving” (though this is true).

Nor is he saying that one of God’s activities is “to love” us (though this is true as well).

John is saying that God is love, that “all of his activity is loving.”5

Love is the essence of his being.

But the reverse is not the case.

We cannot say, in other words, that “love is God,” as if any display of affection suddenly qualifies as divine.

All of God’s activity is loving - Love is the essence of his being.

That’s not true with us, even at our most generous we can be selfish.

Compare to Paul’s “love chapter” 1 Corinthians 13.

The comparison is powerful.

The command for us to love is evident, and many people will read 1 Corinthians 13 that way, but as we compare it to our text here we recognize that God is love.

What are our motives for love?

We can do all the loving things, but if we don’t have Christ it’s like a noisy gong or clanging cymbal, an empty faith, it’s nothing.

Let’s read on in John’s letter:

Read 1 John 4:9-12

It is through Christ that we live.

God first loved us.

Paul wrote something similar to the Romans:

We had done nothing to earn God’s love - and God loved us.

Wow - propitiation, now there’s a word to throw around at your next Christmas gathering.

What does THAT mean?

The biblical meaning is in general “to appease the wrath of God by prayer or sacrifice when a sin or offense has been committed against Him.”

The word occurs several times in the NT, and means to remove an obstacle on man’s part to his relationship with God.

So What John is saying here is that Jesus death is effective in restoring the relationship between God and humankind, a relationship that had been damaged by sin.

One could read this then as God love us and sent his Son to remove sin which was blocking our relationship with God.

Let me continue here a bit and summarize:

Read 1 John 4:11-16

And then we get tot his verse:

I especially want to emphasize that second verse there, v. 18.

There is NO fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

The opposite of love is not hate, it is fear.

FEAR creates distance.

FEAR has to do with punishment.

FEAR says, I’m going to get hurt.

FEAR is why so many people don’t want to talk about Jesus.

FEAR is the reason why so many in our world are afraid to consider Jesus as their Savior.

FEAR IS A LIAR!

FEAR of not being good enough

FEAR of what we’ve done in the past being discovered

FEAR of who we are - we see the ugliness in sin in our selves

FEAR of failing

FEAR of

LOVE CAME DOWN!

Verse reminders:

As Christians we need to be reminded and to remind:

Love Came down!

God so loved the world - the cosmos, all that was created!

God so loves you, and me, the beggar and the street, the executive in the office, the worker in the factory, a person in the nursing home, the child at school…God loves us all -

And we as Christians need to remember to live in that love!

WE are loved - live like it!

And he ends with this wonderful exhortation:

As you go out today, and throughout this week, shine the light of God through your love for others.

Be people of immense gratitude for the simplest of gifts.

Be generous in your praise.

Be a listener, and let people share their stories.

Remember God’s love is perfected in us.

You are loved - love others.

Let’s pray.