The 5^th Sunday After Epiphany

SERMON

Text: 1 John 4:7-17

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, as He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

In Christ Jesus, who loves us and would have us love one another, dear fellow redeemed:

On the evening before Jesus died, He gave His disciples one commandment, which in effect replaced the entire Old Testament law. He said, "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12). Paul would later tell the Christians in Rome, "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law." After listing the commandments of the second table of the law, Paul concludes, "Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law" (Romans 13:8,10).

It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Yet, it is so difficult to do! Who among us can claim to have fulfilled this very basic and simple command? None of us can, for as we have already confessed, we are all poor, miserable sinners, deserving God’s temporal and eternal punishment. God tells us to love yet our words do not always show love even to those with whom we are most close. Our actions do not always reflect proper love, especially when we are dealing with individuals who irritate us. What can we say of our thoughts? They, too, often lack love, as our hearts are controlled at times by anger, lust, or selfishness. Yet, Jeus has commanded us to love!

Love is so important in our lives, for it is the greatest of all Christian virtues (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3,13) and it reflects God’s own love for us. Because of this John urges us in our text, and I would join him in urging us all this morning—BRETHREN, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

I.

Let us do so, for love is the natural fruit of saving faith! John writes, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." When children are born they do certain things naturally. They breathe, they suck, they cry. These are things we expect. If they fail to do them something is generally wrong. In the same way, individuals, who have been born again through the Holy Spirit and who have come to know God through personal experience as their loving and forgiving Savior, will love. They will love God and others. Believers love for love comes from God and best describes His essence. If individual believers do not love, something is wrong!

Paul once exhorted the Corinthians, "Examine yourselves" (2 Corinthians 13:5). While it is important to examine what you believe, so that you know you are standing upon the solid truths of God’s Word, it is also important that you examine your Christian life for signs of genuine love. If such love is lacking, John says, the problem is that you do "not know God"—you really don’t understand completely what He has done for you in the past and what He means both to your present and your future. The only solution is to grow closer to Him through the regular study of His Word. In this way the Holy Spirit can work a better understanding and greater appreciation of God in your heart. Then He will be able to help you apply that understanding in your life, and you will come truly to "know" that "God is love." Then His love will flow more freely in your life. Therefore, "examine yourselves!" Is your heart often filled with resentment, jealousy, anger, or bitterness? Do those things reveal themselves in critical and hurtful words and actions? If this is true, then it is time to repent. Come before God and confess your sins. Ask God to change your heart so that as He is, so you might also become! BRETHREN, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER! Love, after all, is the natural fruit of saving faith!

II.

Note, however, that love is defined by God’s act of salvation! There is tremendous confusion in our world when it comes to the true nature of love. Many people confuse love with lust and so equate love with the sexual side of life. Others view love—perhaps even unknowingly—in a very selfish way, assuming that if someone truly loves them they will fulfill all of their wishes and desires. The true nature of love, however, is not something man defines even in his most noble moments. Rather, as John states, "In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." God defines love for us and has defined it in definite and active terms. True love involves emotions—genuine feelings, which desire to help, to befriend, and to meet the needs of others. True love involves actions—actions that are good and merciful, intending to meet the utmost needs of those who are loved. Such love looks beyond self-interest and in fact expends itself for others.

Such love finds its greatest expression in the God-ordained, redemptive work of Jesus Christ. God saw us poor sinners, not helpless victims but active rebels, and yet He desired to help us. He determined to act by sending "His only begotten Son into the world." Why did He do that? He did so because He is love! He sent His Son to die—to pay the all-sufficient price for our sins, so that our guilt might be removed. In this way and in this way alone, we then by faith "might live through Him!" An unknown author penned these words in our hymn "God Loved the World So that He Gave"—"God would not have the sinner die, His Son with saving grace is nigh, His Spirit in the Word doth teach how man the blessed goal may reach" (The Lutheran Hymnal, 245:3).

This love, then, is the heart and core of the Christian, gospel message. It is the object of our faith, and it is the example for our lives. Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends" (John 15:13). BRETHREN, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER! Let us do so with a love defined by God’s act of salvation!

III.

For such love is the proof of God’s presence in our lives! John writes, "No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, as He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit." At this point John is simply amplifying the words of Jesus, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). Love is the distinguishing feature of our lives as Christians. Not that we will love perfectly, but when we love, John says, very special things happen—"God abides in us," "His love (is) perfected in us," "we abide in Him," and "He (gives) us His Spirit." Notice, first of all, that when we "love one another," that is, when we focus on meeting the needs of others rather than our own, a very special relationship develops between our God and us. God will be present in our lives personally with His special blessings. What those blessings are may not always be quantifiable. In other words, when we "love one another" we may not be guaranteed a great return on our financial investments, or we may not always be found driving a new SUV. But God’s presence brings comfort; God presence brings confidence; God presence brings contentment; and God’s presence brings strength to those who love!

Notice, secondly, that as we love, we are told that God’s love, "has been perfected in us." The thought here is not that we become perfect, or even that our love will always be perfect. Rather, the thought is one of reaching God’s complete and intended goal. When we "love one another" we find ourselves fulfilling God’s fullest intention for us, so that His will is accomplished through us, which brings blessing into our lives and well as into the lives of others, for wherever God’s will is done, His blessings become evident. Therefore, BELOVED, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER! Love is the proof of God’s presence in our lives!

IV.

Let us realize however, that genuine and godly love is based upon a true confession of Christ! John writes, "We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him." John wrote these words towards the end of the first century AD. Already by that time Greek philosophy had begun its assault on Christian truth. In particular there were individuals, influenced by Greek philosophy, who denied the deity of Jesus Christ. They claimed that He was not the true Son of God, a part of the Trinity, and so equal with God. Rather, they claimed, He was the highest created being of God, above all other created things including the angelic hosts, but inferior to God the Father. Such an assault undermines not just the teaching of the true nature of God, but also the validity of God’s plan of salvation. The Bible clearly tells us that our salvation depends upon the fact that Jesus is both true God and true man. We have been saved because by faith we possess the righteousness of the Son of God (cf. Galatians 4:4-5). Our sins have been removed because the blood that was shed on Calvary’s cross was the blood of the Son of God (cf. Acts 20:28).

This assault of Satan upon the deity of our Savior Jesus begun already in John’s day continues in our own. Many who claim the name of Christ are willing to sacrifice His deity upon the altar of modern theological opinion and a supposed "scientific" approach to the study of the Bible. John’s response then and our response today is that genuine Christian faith, which is the source of true and godly love, must rest upon a true confession of Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the Bible. We need not be ashamed of standing up for biblical teachings, for it is the inspired Word of God (cf. 2 Timothy 3:15-17). BELOVED, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER, recognizing that love is based upon a true confession of Christ!

V.

Love is, finally, the reason why Christians can be confident! John final words are powerful words, "Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world." God’s ultimate goal for us all is to restore to us His divine image in all of its perfection and to have us dwell in His presence forever. While the thought of standing before a holy God is terrifying for unbelievers, God’s love fulfills one of its important goals when it removes fear from our hearts and fills them with a proper "boldness" in the face of Judgment Day. The child of God need not fear Judgment Day, for in Christ we have the righteousness required to stand before God. In Christ our sins have been washed away. In Christ we have been declared God’s children and heirs. In Christ God remains not a fearsome Judge, but rather becomes our loving Father. Therefore, we need have no fear, for when we stand before Christ on Judgment Day, we will without fail hear Him say, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34).

Therefore BELOVED, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER! As we love one another, we reflect the very essence of God—love, in the midst of a world which so lacks it, and which so needs it! Amen.