What is Love

Austin Ussery

1 John • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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Transcript

Intro

Hey Y’all, how is everybody? Everybody okay? The break is upon us! I know I asked y’all last week, but who is ready for the break?

What is everyone’s Christmas movie? Okay, those are pretty good. Does anyone have that movie as apart of their Christmas traditions? Like where you all get together and watch the movie or have it playing while you do something together?

Our’s we always watched “A Christmas Carol” which is based on the Dickens book of the same name. Not to be confused with the TNT 24 hours classic, “A Christmas Story” Both are pretty good, but for very different reasons.

Okay, but I have another question for you. And this one is going to be similar to what we talked about, which was truth. And we talked about what truth was. Or what does it mean for something to be true.

Last week I told you that we were going to be a little more philosophical than normal, we well we are going to be there again tonight.

So the question I want to ask you is, what does it mean for something to be? What does it mean for something to be? What does it mean for something to be something?

Any takers on that one?

Okay so I looked up the definition of be and it wasn’t as weird as last week with truth. The best definition I found was

having the state, quality, identity, nature, role, etc., specified

So that is where I want our head to be at tonight, what does it mean for something to be something. I know this sounds like we are just talking about things that aren’t going to impact you right this second but I promise, we live in a world where knowing these things and talking about them is vitally important for what and why we believe what we believe.

So tonight, we are still in 1 John chapter 4. We are actually almost through with 1 John. we aren’t going to finish chapter 4 tonight, but once we finish the book, we will do something different. Y’all have been doing great, we’ve been able to get progressively deeper as we have gone on in this study. So good job!

So before we really get in to it let me pray for us tonight.

prayer: Lord thank you for you, we come to you tonight seeking your heart. Jesus go before us in this text and make a way, holy spirit give us eyes to see and ears to hear, and father speak Lord for your servants are indeed listening, we ask these things in your name so that we know you hear us, amen.

Context

Okay cool, so if you have your bible, great! turn on over to 1 John 4, verse 7 that is where we are going to start tonight. If you don’t a bible and like one, throw a hand up and we will get you one. Like I say every week, bring your physical bible, I know we have them on our phone, but i promise you it will make it much better for study to have it physically in your hand. If you don’t have one at home, let us know, we will get you one, you can have that one if you like.

But anyways. Let me give you a little bit of context as we get in to this text. Last week we talked about testing the spirits and what truth means. We talked about what it meant for something to be true. We talked about how the world sometimes operates with out truth, or that truth can shift based on emotion.

We talked about how we need to know the word of God for what it says. Remember we played the Bible or Not game.

Tonights text sort of builds off of that idea, John is giving us insight in to what love means on a deeper level, and where that love comes from. We are also going to look at the some ways our world now has twisted some of these notions and what to do about it.

So lets get in to it.

God is Love

Read with me verse 7-8 and we are going to stop there and that is where we are going to be all night. just these two verse. so read with me.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Okay so right off the bat John is reenforcing the idea that we talked about earlier. That with out God we cannot love well.

Basically saying that God loved us first, and that we should also love one another, because God set that example by loving us, not be cause he had to, but because he wanted to. If we think about it God loving us is more than any of us have ever deserved. If God wanted to, he could snap his fingers and blow it all up. But he doesn’t, because He loves us.

I know you’re all about to go on break from school. But how many of you have ever been shown grace by a teacher? Like you had an assignment due and you missed it but the teacher gave you grace and let you turn it in.

I had a moment like that when I was in high school. But it was basically a whole class. So if you’ve ever heard me talk about school, I’ve probably said, “I hate math, or I’m no good at math, or just “Numberin’s Hard” But in 11th grade, I was in algebra 2 which should tell you that I was already bad at math. But I would go after class everyday for like three weeks in prep for the final, because if failed the final, I was gonna fail the class. My teahcer, Mrs. Olivaras worked with me probably at the detriment of her mental health. Cause I just couldn’t get it. My mind does not work in numbers it just doesn’t. But anyways, I get to the final, and going in to the final I have a 70.1 in the class. I’m literally 2 10ths of a point from failing the class.

And y’all guess who passed that final with flying colors! — not me! I nose dived that bad boy, I think I made like 42 or something like that.

BUT after the final, I end up with like a 73 in the class, which I still to this day am not exactly sure how or what kind of math my teacher did to let me wind up with that grade, but she did something. She changed something around and I passed the class and got to take algebra 3, which I’m pretty sure they just made up cause my dumb self wasn’t gonna cut in any of the other 12 grade maths.

But this is what God has done for us, because of His love for us. He could have been like, look I told y’all, and let us just wonder through this life, die, and face his wrath forever. But he didn’t. John is saying love one another, because God first loved us. Then he says something that I want us to really look at. John says at the end of verse 8, “God is Love.” So if your writing things down, write this down. God is Love.

Now, let’s look at what this statement means. Because this statement has been used and twisted to mean things that John was not intending for it to mean. This is actually a very deep statement. God is Love. John is giving us insight as to who and what God is. By saying ‘God is Love’ we are learning about God’s being.

So a couple weeks ago, we learned about Worldviews which was, beliefs that shape our view of the world. It is the lens in which you see the world. If you are a believer, you would have a Christian world view. Which means you would view the world through the lens of Christianity. Every one tracking? Stay with me, I’m about to go one step deeper philosophically. But this is so important to how we see the world.

Now last week I didn’t have a word, but a question that you should have the answer to. So let’s see. who can be the first one to stand up and give me the right answer to the question. From memory, not looking at your phone.

So let’s look about it. 123 go!

As Christians, where is truth found. — On Christ and His word.

Okay, so that is where the Christian world view is found.

So this statement about God that John has given us here at the end of verse 8 is an ontological statement about God. This is another thing that shapes our world view. So the Word Ontological would be a super good word for you to remember for after the break. Because Im going to ask you what that means. So say the word really quick. Ontological. Okay cool. The word means, “nature of being; essence.” Basically, what is something, what is their nature. So remember that word because I’m going to give out a (hopefully) DQ gift card.

Now before we move on. I’m going to issue a challenge for after the break. Let’s up the stakes to. Normally the gift card I give out is 5 dollars for the word. Which that is what that last word is going to be worth. 5 Dollars. BUT lets apply this word, and I’m going to give you some homework. But I will reward that with a 20 dollar gift card to (hopefully) DQ when we get back from the break, to the first person who can give me the basic “Ontological argument” for the existence of God. I’m not going to give you the answer, I want one of you to go out and read about it, and give me a quick version of that argument for the existence of God. First one to do so, will get 20 dollar gift card to DQ. Fair?

Okay. Let’s look more at this phrase at what this means for God to be Love. Why are we spending so much time on this?

So, God is Love. This tells us something about who God is, we already kinda knew that God loved us, but this tells us something about God, and about love.

So let me ask you, is God perfect? Okay, is God all powerful? Okay, does God know everything? Okay, Is God Good? Okay, is God just? Okay good.

Okay, so the first thing I asked you was, is God perfect. Which, yes, God is perfect in every way, which would mean that God is perfectly all powerful, perfectly knows everything, perfectly good, perfectly just. Which means God is perfectly loving.

This Love that John is talking about, that comes from God is perfect in every way.

The Love that God gives us changes us. To come to God, you do not have to do anything, scripture says to come as you are. Scripture says we cannot get to God through anything we can do in our own power. The whole of scripture is about what God has done to get to us. So we can come to God, just as we are, because He is perfectly good, and He loves Perfectly.

But, because His love is perfect, he is not going to let us stay as we are. When God comes to you, God doesn’t let you stay there. Through out this study, we have seen how John has made these distinctions about who is in Christ, who is a child of God. It is those who have ben changed by God. Those who have been changed by the perfect Love of God. Because God is Love.

And that is what the world we find ourselves in has missed. Our worldview and the world view of society have different versions of love.

This is part of the reason in chapter 3 of this book that John said “do not be surprised that the word hates you.” The love that the world has as correct is basically, how ever a person thinks is equally as valid as how you think. Like we talked about last week, if a person thinks there are 48 1/2 genders, then thats is valid to the standards of the world. Or if a person thinks it is moral basic healthcare to have abortions, then that is a valid moral truth. Basically happiness is the end goal of the world’s view of love.

But things get tricky when we really start to follow this out to it’s logical end. Think about it, if we wanted to we could justify anything we wanted to in the name of happiness and love, if we just say, well this makes me happy or this is how I show love, or feel about love. You know love is love. We can justify anything we want. You could justify kicking a dog, because it made you happy, or you could justify stealing from ingles, because you love to steal and that’s your truth. Or you could justify more extreme things, like say, The Nazis attempt at exterminating all the Jews on the planet because it made Hitler happy. He loved the german people so he murdered 6 million Jews to show his love. That was his truth.

I know that is an extreme point but this is the logical out flow of the world’s view of Love. A love that tolerates all things, and sees all things as permissible and good.

So what is different here? In the definitions of love? What is different about the world’s view of love, and the Christian’s worldview of love?

Truth. The world’s view of love is imperfect. It is devoid of truth. It has nothing to ground itself upon. Like we said a few weeks ago, it is like playing football with out end zones. It doesn’t mater.

So where is the disconnect with Christianity and the world? It is in love. The world has really only a half definition of love. Where as the Christian view of love has a complete view of Love. Love with truth. Like we said, When God comes to you, He meets you where you are at, but he does not let you stay there.

I ask this question a good bit, but how many of you have ever had someone teach you something? Where are my musicians at? Did you have someone teach you how to play? Okay, before you were taught, were you already a monster musician on your instrument? No. Because that person teaching you wanted to better you at that instrument. They met you where you were, but they didn’t get there and say, “okay, you’re terrible at this, i’m not gonna help you, give me 80 bucks for your lesson.” No. They didn’t let you stay there.

This is the kind of Love that God has. God’s love is perfect, because it is not devoid of truth.

Why does this matter?

Okay so why does this matter? Why talk about this tonight? Because we live in a world were the major view of love is not what we believe. And there are good amount of people in this world that do believe this imperfect view of love. And they need Jesus, they need the love of Christ.

Believers, this world needs the perfect love of Christ. As Christians we are called to go in to this world that is going to hate us, and love them like Christ loves us. We are called to show that Christ’s love leads to a better way. This love leads to a life everlasting.

Church, this text is telling us, that we will be know how we love. And that we must love with truth. We have to look at our lives and see how we can love well, and love better. How can we show the truth of Christ with the Love of Christ. This is our call to make disciples. If God is meeting people where they are at, we must do the same, and lovingly walk them toward the ultimate truth.

If anyone in here does not know Christ, know that life has no ultimate meaning apart from Christ. Any pursuit of love with the truth of Christ will lead to meaningless. if you want to know how to come to christ, come talk to me, talk to a friend, come talk to someone. Know that God will meet you where you are at, but will not let you stay there.

Perfect love is not devoid of truth, and God loves perfectly, because God is Love.