Pastor Dan Eddy
1 John 4:7-12
Love is the answer
12-18-11
I.
Introduction – Love – simple message in a cluttered
world
As a pastor, I get
probably an average of about 25-50 emails on a typical weekday. This does not
count the emails I get in my personal account, which is at least another 25-50
with a lot more junk email. It takes me an average of about an hour and a half
to properly read and/or respond to just my pastoral emails.
People forward me the
latest videos, cutest poems, unique pictures, political messages, or some human
interest story that is sometimes so hard to believe that I have to click on
snopes.com to begin checking its authenticity. Many of the times they’re not
true, or only partially true. It’s a
sign of the clutter, chaotic, overloaded cyber century in which we live.
But every once in a while
someone sends me an email that I can’t help but pause and contemplate its
contents.
There’s one person that
every time he send me an email, no matter what the message, always ends his
emails with the following message right before his name:
Love is the answer to all of
mankind’s problems.
God is love.
Jesus is God’s love expressed perfectly to all mankind.
Jesus is the way.
Now this person, who wrote
this, is not a pastor, missionary, or evangelist. He does not have a
theological degree and does not sell religious material. And no, Denver Broncos
quarterback Tim Tebow is not emailing me.
But what a loving way for
this person to express his faith in Christ to not just me, but to whomever this
person sends an email. I’m going to guess that this person wishes everyone a “Merry Christmas,” not just a “Happy Holidays.”
What I like about this
brief confession of faith is that it takes one of the most overused, least
understood words in the English Language, “love”,
and breaks it down to its simplest, but most powerful definition. “God is love,” reflecting very
accurately our text this morning from 1 John 4:7-12, the Apostle John’s first
Epistle to the early Church.
II.
Love relating to God and His Word
You see I don’t know if
you know this but the word “love” is
used in the English Standard Version translation of the Bible almost 800 times.
In the Ancient Greek language three words are translated into English as “love.”
There’s ἐρᾶν where
we get the English word “erotic.”
It’s a passionate love where we desire sometime for ourselves. We might call it
a self-centered love; a love that regards me, first. It can be a love for
sinful pleasures. By the way, this word appears no where in original Greek New
Testament.
Then there’s φιλία or φιλέω.
A love that concerned for the well-being of others…from one family member to
another, one church member to another, one American to another, one human being
to the other. You know this word best when you hear the name
Then there’s the word for
love that is used every time in the Bible when referring to God. It’s ἀγαπάω or known as Agape love…defined as the love of “the higher lifting up the lower, elevating
the lower above all things.”
It’s self-sacrificing
concern for others. It’s loving without expecting anything in return. The other
loves expect something in return. But this agape love can only be attached to God, because it is the love that can only
come from God. It defines God as indicated
in verse 8, where God is equated with this love.
And this text is saying if
you don’t know this love by faith, you can’t be born of God, and therefore you
can’t really know God.
This love is so powerful
that in Matthew 5:43-44 Jesus uses agape as a way to love even our enemies….to
love those who have hurt us. The love of ἐρᾶν
and φιλία have no room for that, but God’s love does.
III.
God’s love manifested in you
You see whether you want
to believe it or not, our sins makes us an enemy to God. And what do nations do
to their enemies? What do people do to their enemies? They insult them, maim
them, and can kill them and destroy them.
The enemy to God, the
opposite of love, is evil as reveals itself in Satan and sin. And because we
possessed sin the day we were born as a condition of our nature…and have
committed sins since….God’s agape character still loves you even though we, by
ourselves, are His enemy possessing no agape love. As a result, God has every
right to destroy us.
But instead of taking His
wrath out on you, He took it out on His Son at the Cross. That’s what the word “propitiation” means in verse 10. God
took out the wrath of your sins on His beloved Son, Jesus…so He wouldn’t have
to take out His wrath on you.
Can you think of any act
more loving than that? It’s this loving act that results in God saying in
Christ Jesus: “I love you and forgive
you.”
And just to make sure we
understand agape love clearly….In verse 10 John sharply contrasts these two
concepts: we don’t love God to earn His
favor. Rather, God loves you to give you His favor, His grace, earned by Jesus.
You were born of God at
Your baptism. There He put Himself, His agape love inside of you with His Word
through the waters to receive the Holy Spirit. That’s when you were given true
love. This morning love will be fed to you in the bread and the cup of Jesus’
true body and blood.
Love conquers all evil,
because love is possessed in the Son of God, who conquered all evil at the
Cross, who descended to live a lowly life which began in an animal feeding
trough…He lowered himself to Earth to be lifted on the Cross, so that through
Him we, the lower, can be lifted high above all things.
This is the love God
established before time; established from the cradle, the Cross and the Crypt;
It’s an ancient, priceless love that is still alive today and will be forever.
IV.
God’s love lived out in life – a great example
Now John’s purpose in
writing these verses was not just to make it clear where true love comes from,
but to also make sure that if God’s love is abiding in you by faith in Christ
Jesus…that we think, speak and show it to others. Verse 11 said another way
would be “So beloved…if we have this
love we owe one another a continuing act of loving.”
I think of that every time
I read the end of an email from the person who writes:
Love is the answer to all of
mankind’s problems.
God is love.
Jesus is God’s love expressed perfectly to all mankind.
Jesus is the way.
I’d like you to meet the
person who put this at the end of each of his emails. You know him very well,
because he has been your beloved brother in Christ and your organist here these
past 18 years. Lambert, would you come up here, today?
If you don’t know….this is
Lambert’s last Sunday as our organist here at
When Lambert told me about
this opportunity, he told me how difficult it was for him to make this
decision, because he loves it here at
So if it were a matter of
his personal preferences and comfort level…he would stay here and tell
Wollaston to find someone else.
(Pick up Advent Gift Box)
But you see when Lambert
looks at God’s love; he sees it in the relationship of His faith in Christ. He
sees God advancing His faith from the perspective of hope, peace, joy and
especially love.
And because of that, he
feels a special calling to play for a service for a congregation who have lost
members because they currently don’t offer this very traditional liturgical
service that requires someone with his four decades of experience.
Lambert is demonstrating
God’s agape love with his self-sacrificing concern for others. He is showing
God’s love without expecting anything in return, because as he said the congregation
could change their mind and drop the service after a few months. He has no guarantees,
except the guarantee of God’s love.
So as a small token of the
love Lambert has shown here throughout these years, I have this card given on
behalf of the congregation. And the congregation is currently planning a
farewell party for you that we will be hosting in the New Year.
And as we’ve done with
others who have left our congregation to explore the mission field…so we would
like to at this time put you in the center and surround you with God’s love
with a word of prayer and His blessings.
If the congregation could
stand and do that at this time….let us pray:
Lord of Love, You are the very definition and
essence of agape love, given to us by Christ Jesus propitiation, shown to us in
the Word, assured for us in Your Sacrament. As a result we thank You for Your
love Lambert has shown here in this congregation for almost two decades. Bless
him as he leaves here that the talents You’ve given him will shine in his
playing for the Wollaston congregation. And as a result will bring more to Your
Church and back to the Wollaston congregation. We pray this in the simple
message of love expressed by faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
God bless you Lambert with
His agape love…that it may be heard in your playing, seen in your action,
spoken by your faith in Jesus. Amen.