…..but the greatest of these is love
The title of my message is taken from the final few words of the famous chapter on LOVE – 1 Corinthians 13… and actually verse 13b. But I am not going to speak on that chapter…. you will need to wait for the next wedding you attend to get more on this chapter, but it is the inspiration to where I want to take you next.
A question – Why is love the greatest? Are not faith and hope also pretty good?
Yes, they are…. and so important in our Christian lives, but the reason I think “LOVE” is the greatest is seen in verse 8b of the passage I want us to briefly look at today:
1 John 4v8b
………because God is love!
Love is what God is all about! He created us in love, He sent His own son to die for us in love, and he will receive us one day into heaven in love….because GOD IS LOVE.
And because God is Love, when we love, above all other things, then we reflect the image in which God made us. Jesus summed up all the commandments in these TWO simple love centred phrases:
Matthew 22 v :37-40
37 Jesus replied: “‘LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘LOVE your neighbour as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
We all know, and God also knows, that for many, actually all of us I think, these words are more easily said, than done. And that is OK, as Christians we are a work in progress, God knows that we will make mistakes – we won’t Love Him and Love our neighbour on all occasions, as we should. But that is why God sent Jesus to be our Saviour, so that our failures, our sins, could be forgiven, as bit by bit we become more like Him.
Romans 5:8
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
GOD IS LOVE….
And so, to 3 short points from our passage today which is:
1 John 4 v 7 - 21
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. 13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
And so to the 3 points:
Christs Love (v10)
1 John 4 v 10
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
This is what makes Christianity so unique amongst religions. For most religions it is what we try to do – and normally fall short of doing – that will gradually work our way to deserving a place in the presence of god. As Christians, we also want to live in obedience to God and this is the most obvious way that we are following the 1st and greatest commandment. BUT it is NOT what will ultimately allow us to enter into the presence of God…. We are sinful beings and however hard we try in our own strength, we will never be sinless. The Bible is very straight-forward with this fact:
Romans 3 v 23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
But the amazing thing about the Christian faith is, our salvation is not reliant on our works, but on the work of God – who sent Jesus to be the “atoning” sacrifice for our sins.
Romans 5 v 8
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
GOD IS LOVE!
Complete Love (v12)
1 John 4 v 12
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.
What an amazing statement…. “God’s love is made complete in us”. As I contemplate on these words, I really wonder how that can be… can I really be a part of the LOVE-PLAN of God? And the answer is yes…Alastair, God needs you, …… Brenda, God needs you, …..Eric, God needs you….. Does that send tingles through you? It does me! I am that important to God, and Jesus made this very clear when he told the parable of the lost sheep
Luke 15 v 3-7
3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
The whole of heaven is rejoicing because ….I….YOU….US….have been found, and in this way we are completing the love of God – incredible!
Before we leave this section, let us just reflect a little on v 17 where completeness is mentioned again:
1 John 4 v 17 – 18a
17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…..
I find the statement: “In this world we are like Jesus” a little hard to understand, but relating it to the LOVE theme of the passage, and the assurance we have in knowing the love of God, then we are like Jesus. It was not easy for Jesus to live in this world, to be amongst the joys and sorrows, hurts and failures, of the people he was mixing with. He was FULLY God and FULLY man, but what kept in on the path that He knew he had to walk, was His love for the Father and the Fathers love for Him…… and this is exactly the same for us, such that “in this world we are like Jesus”.
Luke 22 v 42
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
And because of this love relationship we are in, we need not have any fear.
GOD IS LOVE!
Community Love (v20)
1 John 4 v 20
20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
This comes back to the second greatest commandment – “Love your neighbour as yourself”. Christianity is a personal religion – we have responsibility as individuals, and each person needs to confess their sins and receive Christ into their lives. The community we live in, the family we have around us, the church we go to, can all be good, or not so good for our Christian walk, but we each need to be born again
John 3 v 3
3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again[b] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
But following this, the working out of our faith is in community and a living demonstration of God’s love for this world and the people living in it. Just look at Jesus and how responded to the needs of the people around him – give me….. heal me….feed me….help me…save me…. and each time, He responds in compassion, in love. The command at the end of passage is simple:
1 John 4 v 21
21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Hopefully we now understand a little bit more about the reasoning behind the title of this message:
….. But the greatest of these is love.
In summary……
GOD IS LOVE!
PRAY
Question for reflection
Why is it hard to love God and to love our neighbour?
What do you fear? How can love deal with this?
What one thing can I do this week to demonstrate that God is Love?
