Welcome everyone. Glad to see you here today.
Do you guys have favorites?
Do you have a favorite color? Blue?
Somebody here has red.
That's Becky, right?
Some people like purple. Mine is raspberry.
I love the color raspberry.
But I also like green and I like purple.
Raspberry is my favorite.
Favorite animal? Now the kids should have favorite animals.
Favorite animal? A cat?
A pony? A penguin.
Okay.
My favorite...okay.
A horse.
Well, you know I put my favorite down as a horse, but I like dogs and cats too.
And I've had all of those at one time or another.
A favorite place?
Anybody have a favorite place on planet Earth?
Hmm.
I love the Grand Canyon.
That's amazing.
And I like Yosemite. And I like Zion.
Amazing national parks. Okay.
A favorite relative?
Anybody have a favorite relative?
I can see lots of smiles and going, oh well, maybe.
My favorite relative is my husband.
How about a favorite author?
Anybody have a favorite author?
I've got several I really, really like quite well.
But my favorite author of all is...who's your favorite author?
Jeff.
Okay.
My favorite author is John.
Of all the authors in the Bible, I think it is John who most understood relationships.
Especially a relationship with Jesus.
And second would be Paul, maybe who understood that better than anybody else.
How about a book of the Bible? Does anybody have a favorite book of the Bible?
Isaiah.
Genesis.
Galatians.
When Jesus died on the cross.
Oh, that would be in all the gospels, wouldn't it?
Yeah.
Well, being as how John is my favorite author, you can kind of guess what my favorite book is, right?
John and First John.
I once shared my love of First John with a group.
I was answering a question by the group leader.
He said, what's your favorite book of the Bible?
And everybody sat there cold as stones.
And so I said, oh, I love First John.
And he replied, oh, that's such a nice book for baby Christians.
And I thought to myself, he doesn't know First John.
First John is a challenge to the most mature of Christians.
How about a favorite chapter in the Bible?
Anybody have a favorite chapter?
Which one?
Luke 15.
Okay.
Anybody else?
Favorite chapter?
Okay.
First Corinthians.
Jimmy.
You didn't have your hand up?
Okay.
Well, being as how John is my favorite author, you can pretty much guess it's going to come from there.
John 17.
Jesus' prayer.
Oh.
And First John 4.
So I kind of have two favorites, although, how about favorite verse?
Anybody have a favorite verse in the Bible?
John 317.
Okay.
And what was that other one I heard?
John 27.1.
Oh, Psalms 27.1.
Good.
And Elena?
Okay.
Well, now, even though John's my favorite author and has my favorite chapter, my favorite verse is in 2 Peter 1 verse, 1 verse 4.
The one that says we can be partakers of the divine nature.
Oh.
In my Bible, in the margin, in many places, I have a blue wow in caps written beside the verse.
And that's one of them.
That we could be partakers of the divine nature.
The wow, the wow verse is just kind of below my mind.
My favorite passage is 1 John 4, 7 to 21.
And that's what I'm going to share with you this morning.
And we're just going to clip highlights out of it because, boy, we could write a book on those 14 verses.
So I'm going to read the whole thing and then we're going to go back and we're going to take little snippets here and there.
1 John 4, 7.
Beloved, love one another.
For love is of God, and everyone who is born of God knows God.
Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
We touched on this in Sabbath school this morning.
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 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 is perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us his spirit.
And we have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of 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.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment.
But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
We love him because he first loved us.
If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar.
He who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
And this is the commandment that we have from him, that he who loves God must love his brother also.
So if I were to ask you what's the key word in that passage, I'll bet you could come up with it like that.
Love. That word is used 23 times in 14 verses.
Yeah, wow. OK.
If love is the key word, just maybe we ought to know what it means.
OK. In that passage, it says God is love.
Brotherly love. So agape.
And this is not phelio. This is this is agape.
But it also means brotherly love, affection, goodwill, love, benevolence.
And my own personal definition spread out over several dictionaries is agape love is doing what is best or necessary for the one that you love in spite of the cost to myself.
OK, that's my personal definition. And I've gleaned little bits from here and there.
Probably the best known definition comes from First Corinthians 13.
That was also mentioned in Sabbath school this morning.
First Corinthians 13 is Paul's definition of love, but probably four to eight is the best known.
Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself.
It's not puffed up. It doesn't behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil.
Does not rejoice in iniquity. Aha, he did it again.
But rejoices in truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. If God is love, then all that he is is love.
And Caleb has some papers for me. Can you pass them out, Caleb?
OK. And if you think this paper is a little funny, that's because it is.
It's tead-eyed paper. On here is a list of character characteristics.
It says God is love. And so you'll find in here a list.
And I'm not claiming that this list is exhaustive, OK?
I'm sure. You know, every time I think I've got it all, I come up with some more.
But this is a list of characteristics of who God is.
So if God is love, there are many different words that come underneath this word love.
And I thought this would be helpful so that you guys could kind of broaden your perspective a little bit.
So broaden mine, OK? Able, abundant, almighty, avenger, awesome, beautiful, compassionate, creative,
defender, eternal, everlasting, forgiving, faithful, generous, good, gracious, hearing, helper, holy, immutable,
impartial, infinite, jealous, just, kind, kingly, knowledgeable, light, long-suffering, love, majestic, merciful,
noble, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, perfect, powerful, pure, quickening, refuge, righteous, saving,
self-existent, shield, sovereign, strong, transcendent, truthful, unfailing, unchanging, victorious, wise,
wonderful, counselor, exalted, excellent, yearning, and zealous. All of those come underneath the umbrella of love.
God is love and he is all of that. And I think love is the overarching word of it all. This defines what love is.
So within our passage this morning, we find that God demonstrated his love. In this, the love of God was manifested
towards us, made known towards us, demonstrated towards us, that God sent his only begotten son into the world that
we might live through him. This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the
propitiation, atonement or payment for our sins. So God demonstrated his love by who Jesus is, by sending him to save us.
Love is kind of a necessary ingredient. The world would be in a world of hurt without it. But he goes on after he says
God is love. He says, beloved, let us do what to each other? Let us love each other. 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.
Have you ever run into someone that was difficult to love? Anybody have anybody like that in their life?
Oh, I don't see anybody wanting to own up to that one. I think we've all at one time or another had somebody who is
really difficult to love. I know I have. And yet, you know, you read this passage and it said God is love and he wants us
to love one another. And I had to come to the point one time, one of the few times God has directly spoken to me.
There was a group of people that really weren't very nice. They weren't being nice to me. They weren't being nice to my friends.
And they were church members of all things. And I was muttering one day and just as clear as anything I heard in my mind,
I want you to love those people. And I said, really? They're not nice. I don't like them. They're being mean.
I want you to love them. And I just had to throw up my hands in despair and say, Lord, if you want me to love those people,
you are going to have to put it in my heart because I can't do it. Have you ever tried to make yourself love someone?
Does it work? OK, it's not something you can do. It's not something you can manufacture.
It's something that God has to place within you. And so when I admitted that I couldn't do it and that I needed help,
it was amazing what happened. And it wasn't like, you know, turn a light bulb on and suddenly I was madly in love with everybody.
But over the process of two or three months, I suddenly realized that I genuinely cared about these people.
And I genuinely love them. And that's only the work of God, because that's not me.
If you aren't nice and you weren't kind and you're mean, I have a tough time with that.
I do. But God put that kind of love in my heart for those people.
So that's a part of this next thing. Let's see, where do I pick it? What does love look like?
That's a good question to ask, right? And we've already read it.
In this, the love of God was manifested toward us that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him.
And from the book of John, and my favorite part of the book of John is 14, 15, 16, and 17.
This comes from 15, 12, and 13.
This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.
And he follows this by saying, greater love has no man than this than to lay down his life for his friends.
And he repeats it kind of again in 1 John, 316. Not John 316, 1 John 316.
By this we know of, because he laid down his life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Well, we automatically first go to, that's giving up our life for someone, our literal life, literally dying.
Most of us aren't called to do that. It happens, it does happen now and then, and there are many stories of it.
But that's not always what we're called to do.
Have you ever thought about the fact that life is composed of time?
Life is composed of time. So laying down one's life can consist of spending time with someone and for someone.
It can be using one's resources for the benefit of others. After all, it costs us time to accumulate those resources, right?
There's many ways of laying down one's life for another person.
And that's probably the best definition of what love looks like, is giving of yourself to another person.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
I have a quote here that I collected many years ago, and I have kept it, or I can lay my fingers on it when I want it,
because sometimes I can't remember just enough key words to make the computer spit it up, so this one I kept, I kept.
And it comes from a manuscript in 1898.
As Christ has loved the disciples, so they were charged to love one another.
They were to show forth the love abiding in their hearts for men, women, and children by doing all in their power for their salvation.
Good definition to show love for mankind is to do all in our power for their salvation.
They were to see them as the purchase of the blood of the Son of God.
But, don't you love little words? I love little words.
I like the word is and the word in and the word but, okay?
Okay, so you're to see everyone as someone that God can save, but they were just reveal a specially tender love for all of their brethren.
Especially tender love for all of their brethren.
Okay, you and me in this group, what are we?
We're brethren, right? Or sisteren, however you want to do that.
We're to have a specially tender love for one another.
Now, granted, we can rub each other the wrong way sometimes, and I know I can do that.
I can rub someone else the wrong way.
But, I hope when I rub you the wrong way that you can remember that you're supposed to have a specially tender love for me.
And I'll try to remember that when you rub me the wrong way, okay?
Ask God to give you a specially tender love for all who are your brethren.
Even those that rub you the wrong way.
Okay, next session.
This one here has another keyword in it.
There are two keywords in this whole passage, so I'm going to read these and I'm going to ask you what's the keyword, okay?
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 and he in us because he has given us of his spirit.
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son, a Savior of the world.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God abides in him and he in God.
And we have known and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him.
What's the second keyword?
Abide.
Okay, so how does one love this way, the secrets in this passage?
We love in this way by abiding in Christ.
If you don't abide in Christ, there's no possibility because he's the one who places it within you.
The secret to agape love is abiding, living, dwelling, remaining in God.
And that's a whole other subject.
But to abide in Christ is to invite Christ to dwell within and spend time with him in prayer,
time with him in the word, and time with him in service.
So abide is spelled what?
Time.
What was laying down one's life spelled?
Time.
Okay?
So the only way that we can come up with that kind of love is to abide in him.
Spend time with him.
Well, what's the result of having this kind of love?
Here's another wow verse, okay?
The big capital W-O-W in blue in the margin of my Bible.
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.
What?
As he is, so are we in this world.
If that isn't a wow, I don't know what is.
Do I completely understand it?
No.
I don't completely understand that.
But it blows my mind.
As he is, so are we in this world.
That's beyond my comprehension.
I look at my list of character qualities, the one that I had Caleb pass out, this one here.
If I look at that list, there's a number of things on here I'm not and I'll never be.
Okay?
Everlasting, eternal, I don't think so.
Immutable, probably not.
Omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, I don't think so.
Self-existent, not me.
Transcendent, not me.
But you look at some of these other things, as he is, so are we.
He's able.
He's abundant, he can make me abundant.
I'm not almighty, but he is.
And being an avenger is not my job.
God said, vengeance is mine, I will repay.
So that's not something I can claim to.
Awesome?
God is awesome and only he is awesome.
Beautiful?
Well, I'm not.
Okay, most of us wouldn't claim to be beautiful, but compassionate?
Should we be compassionate?
Yeah.
Creative is a characteristic that a lot of people have and some don't have.
So to be creative, some have it in spades and some don't.
A defender, are you a defender of the faith?
Yeah?
Not eternal, not everlasting, forgiving.
Can you be forgiving?
Yeah, as he is, as he forgives with him, through him, abiding in him, we can be forgiving.
Faithful, generous, good, gracious.
Hearing, can we do that?
Can we hear what other people have to say?
Yeah.
Can we be a helper?
You know, just go down through there and look.
As he is, so are we in this world.
It blows my mind.
Do I completely understand it?
No.
But I think the bottom line is that we are to act in love.
We are to be loving towards people.
And some of those characteristics, if they don't, if you know you ought to have them and you don't,
there's only one way to get them.
And that's to ask God to live in your heart and to do it, to live in you and act out his life through you.
Oh, well, brief summary.
God is love.
Okay?
He demonstrated his love by how he treated people while he was on earth and by dying for us.
Number three, he tells us to love one another by laying down our lives for one another.
Number four, because of who he is, we can have boldness in the day of judgment.
That's pretty much a wow, too, right?
Because of who he is, we can claim the statement, as he is, so are we in this world.
I'm never going to measure up to that.
I just hope to tell you.
Only he can do that in me as I abide in him.
It is a goal to ever measure up to.
It's a goal to strive for by abiding in him in his strength.
I surely can do that by myself, not on my own power, by my own will.
Number six, we didn't get to this, but we're out of time.
Love casts out fear.
Under the umbrella of love, we need to fear nothing.
I'm told to love my brothers and my sisters quite clearly, many times, okay?
And to remember, while we're to love all men and desire their salvation,
we're to have specially tender brother for our brothers and tender love for our brothers and sisters.
Maybe it could all be summed up.
God is love, therefore love one another.
Let's pray.
Father God, you are love beyond what we can even imagine.
You showed us your love by sending us your Son.
Jesus came to show us what love is like, the way he treated people, the way he walked among them,
and ultimately by the way he died.
You are love and have shared that love with us.
And we thank you and we praise you for giving us such an awesome gift.
Now as we leave this place, we want to fulfill your command that we love one another,
that we love all mankind, but have a specially tender love for our brothers and sisters.
And sometimes, Lord, that's tough.
But we want to ask that you would live in us, that you would live in us and love through us
so that all men might know that we are your children, that we love you,
that we are your disciples, so that others will be drawn to you as well.
And we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.