“God Is Love”
Sermon Title: God Is Love
Scripture: 1 John 4:7-12 NIV
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
Introduction
Do we really know that God really loves us, that God likes us? While we know that God loves us because He tells us through His Word, we struggle with the reality of life and who we are and our sins. It is hard for us to believe that God actually likes us.
Zephaniah 3:17 reveals an amazing truth that God rejoices and celebrates over us. He quiets us with His love instead of condemning us. He sings joyfully over us.
The Apostle John says “Dear friends, or Beloved.” This is not just a greeting, this is to be the attitude of our hearts towards each other and the church by God’s grace that comes forth from the Fruits of the Spirit. John continues saying, “let us love one another, for love comes from God.” When we are born again in Christ, we know God. How do we know God? By how we love. Love cannot be faked (for long) nor can it be manufactured. God’s love is divine and it is centered in the other, unselfish and sacrificial.
What if we do not love? Of course, there are times when we are in conflict in our relationships, when we are ugly and nasty in our worst moments, we all have those moments. However, the hatred that John is talking about is continuous, unchanging - maybe you are not really Christian. God is love. This is the fundamental character of God, and all interpretation of Scripture is founded upon love. Unlike much of our life is dictated by our culture and society which is authoritarian, but God is love.
Christlikeness is not formed by reading the Bible more or praying more - in fact, the action may actually make you less Christlike - what transforms you is the Holy Spirit. It is the grace of God.
The point is this: we can do nothing because it is all God’s grace, therefore, all we can do is receive. It is the gospel of grace. Even your struggle is not sin, it is part of your spiritual growth. We have nothing to because Christ said, “It is finished.”
The Communion Table is God’s love. It is a table of love that welcomes sinners. It is for those who are broken and “unworthy” because it was never about your worth or your merit that allows you to approach it. It was by the merit and righteousness of Jesus and it was made for you. God loves you and likes you.
If we love one another, we will abide in God’s love. When people see that love, they will see glimpses of God. It is a love that shows people God because God is love. Because God is love, 1 Corinthians 13 shows us that our salvation is secure.
God loves you and likes you, therefore receive it freely!
