Love is what God is

Love is a war of motivation, discrepancy, and duplicity. The love of Jesus will come again to bring restoration and to rescue and renew us.

Transcript:

So grateful to be able to continue in first John with us together and we just going through it we're seeing a lot about love uh different dimensions of love we hear so much about love through our culture do we not but yet scripture has a a lot to say about what it looks like and what we can do to live it out as people who have been loved. As I was preparing this week I was thinking about there was this time where my she's now 14 she's getting older my daughter she loves to walk around the house with her phone on and the music at full volume full blast and don't worry I got permission she's on one of the cameras right now but she

just said hey whatever stories you want to tell it's fine so now I have a ton of Leila stories to tell you um but nevertheless like her phone is just blasting and so I just come up to her and I'm like Leila you know how when you get in the radio and there's treble and there's bass with this cell phone that you're utilizing it's just such high treble so what I want to do is I want to buy you this it is an Anor sound core surround sound speaker with I mean that thing's small but it has some more base than you would expect it to have um so I got this for

her I got her this amazing gift but then the next day even though she has this fabulous gift I gave her she still

walking around with her cell phone you know just going and going through the kitchen and you know like you know how you get like passive aggressive and so I I started to get that look in my face and in my mind I was like how dare she not use my fabulous magnificent surround sound Encore stereo that I got her

like how could she just not even use it and so I I start sitting on the couch and just looking over at the kitchen you know how you kind of look over at somebody and you're trying to send a message you know but you're not talking you have kind of those silent messages going on so I'm kind of doing that and then Daisy walks down and Daisy knows that I bought this speaker as well and Daisy doesn't even say anything like she's supposed to have my back and say hey you need to honor my husband's amazing you know base filled Bluetooth portable speaker that he got you you know so anyway I just sat there and what's the temp what's the Temptation kind of in in a moment like that I think the Temptation in a moment like that is to get kind of self-centered is to get self centered in a moment like that this passage has so much to say to us and I believe that love is a war love love is a war right here love is a war right here and it's a war of three things it's a war of

motivation it's a war of discrepancy and it's a war of duplicity it's a war of motivation and in verse seven I think it's kind of like his thesis that he'll unpack and some of the themes he repeats and he proves and as AJ gave a great illustration about three weeks ago where he said that some passages are like a sandwich this passage is also like a sandwich as well and we will see that as we walk through this so let's just start at the top verse seven love is a war of motivation he says this beloved let us love one another for love is from from God I highlighted that and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God there's this concept that we are born of the spirit we are made new it's a rebirth all of us need to have but then he says this love is from God and here is what I would submit to you this morning love is not from you love is not from us here's why in the beginning our first parents Adam and Eve they enjoyed full trust full Harmony full love in perfect

relationship with our creator but then what ended up happening is is that there was a decision to not trust God there was a decision to distrust have any of you ever experienced a relationship that with something

happened but it caused some distrust in the relationship with Adam and Eve and our creator distrust occurred and so that there was a little stain on the relationship by consequence all of us inherit what's called a sinful nature from our first parents Adam and Eve we all have a sinful nature then that and we we call it selfishness or self centeredness or whatever the scriptures call it sin it's a nature that we have that's there unfortunately but here is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that God's love through Jesus Christ explodes out of our hearts as a demonstration of gratitude to what God has given to us let me say that again God's love explodes out of our hearts as a gift of gratitude that he gave to us and here is why that he gave us a love that is sacrificial he gave us a love that is unconditional he gave us a love that is Everlasting that's forever and so the word that's used in first John is called agape love it is a a word that really took a new form in first century uh because of the movement that we know as Christianity and it was from the fact that God although he is all powerful and all knowing and Transcendent he came to this world to sacrifice himself to bring forgiveness to the world and Reconciliation to humanity and so if there's pain if there's guilt here's what happens pain and guilt get transferred to the Cross pain and guilt get transferred to the cross of Jesus Jesus Christ and Jesus Takes pain Jesus Takes guilt and then in an exchange he gives us love he gives us forgiveness he gives us freedom he gives us restoration he gives us harmony with our creator and so this is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ yes uh love is a war of motivation um but here here is what I I think happens sometimes in the Christian Life do you guys ever feel like as a Christian you feel like you've arrived you ever do you ever feel like a sense of arrival okay uh some of you are tracking with me um I think that sometimes we're like yeah I I know uh the Old Testament pretty well I know the first five books of the Bible like what the point is I knew what I know what the gospels are supposed to be about I know what the Epistles are supposed to be about and so we can get to this thinking that hey we got like pretty good basic biblical knowledge and we're kind of we're arriving you kind of get settled in you get settled into a bit of complacency uh and apathy in your walk with God but here is what I would tell you the Christian life is never a fe it should never be a sense of arrival because we are being transformed into whose image the image of Jesus Christ who is perfect and on this side we ain't never going to be perfect but through the power of the Holy Spirit we're undergoing a process and we are a work in progress and so we're never arrived by

the grace of God we're leaning into and I and I hope you'll take take this away if you take nothing else from

today saturate yourself with the love that comes from God through Jesus Christ CU because we all need that we are all desperate for that love's not coming from here through our selfish sinful nature but it's going to come from above to us through God's one and only son and I was as I was praying this week over this passage and what it means for our particular Community it says love one another like you guys have heard that they will know we are Christians by our love and you're like well we kind of need to work on that

um and you guys are like yeah you need to work on that too um uh but here's here's kind of some

pastoral applications and I I say this with great affection um and I'm included we're all

included in this but I I just here are some applications that I want to share with you this

morning since I'm loved by God I will love those that are different okay this is different ages different races different socioeconomic statuses people who you might find uninteresting because what happens if we

don't love in that fashion man we're just like the rest of the world we just have our clicks and we

have people like us that we tend to like hang out with but what does the gospel

say there's neither Jew nor Greek slave nor free free male nor female but we are one in the

body of Jesus Christ since I'm loved by God I will initiate and make an effort

what would happen if none of us ever initiated a loving relationship uh with

somebody else a loving friendship with somebody else what would happen man we would just all be lonely

like no nothing I want to invite you as people who are loved by God and have received

the gospel of Christ to have the courage to reach out with the love of Jesus to

somebody else in the community since I'm loved by God I will seek to settle

differences man the New Testament because of the gospel because we have

been forgiven by Jesus because we have been reconciled to the father what are

we supposed to be about we're supposed to be a people of Peace Jesus Jesus said blessed are the

peacemakers Paul says so much as it depends on you live at peace as we've been forgiven so also forgive others that's man that's like every book of the New Testament if I could it's there and

everyone we're still too quick to just not settle differences and just leave something I want to invite you to man there's some of you write me emails or say hey we got to talk that's healthy I I'm grateful for that H keep having the courage to do that write to somebody talk to somebody that you need to settle something with get resolution because why we're supposed to be people who are peacemakers who've been touched by the love of God in Jesus Christ and so love is a war of motivation and when we get that gratitude in our hearts because of the Gospel we then have the power to extend it to others uh and then in addition love is a war of discrepancy why don't we just read this one together anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love and then check out the sandwich in verse 20 he unpacks it in a way that's kind of like wow he says this if anyone says I love God and hates his brother he's a liar for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen I think that I'm just as as I Was preparing this week I was kind of stunned by Just John's a straight shooter he's a liar and you're just like okay we say we love God but there's a contradiction because we're still indifferent to others we still separate from other

believers we still compare ourselves to others in a way that can bring out jealousy we still exclude others but yet we say we love God that's what he's what he's saying to us and that's what hit me as I prepared this week but check this out John is not saying there's a war in your heart between being selfish and loving others so just battle it just battle that that kind of that tug-of-war selfish other centered me centered other Center he's not saying that's the battle what he is saying is the battle is me centeredness versus your love for God that's what he's getting after now I wish I could you know just stand up here and say man every situation I get every situation that comes my way man I'm just batting a thousand and killing it I'm always loving God I wish I could say that see because like in this instance like what what's going on up here like I I want you know to get a little bit of Praise honor and Glory dad you are so knowledgeable about portable Bluetooth speakers you've blessed my life I want Daisy to walk down and be like man you always give us amazing benevolent presence you're you're so benevolent to our family and so there's a little bit of that in our hearts but it all comes back to what filling that hole that wants to go inward to fill it with the love of God Paul David trip who had a lot of good things to say about first John chapter 4 in my uh studies this week he says this me being the center is one place I will never be that place must be inhabited by God and God alone that's the invitation of the sermon so love is a war of motivation love is a war of discrepancy but here's what he's also saying love is a war of duplicity let's read the second half or I'll just read it the second half of verse 20 check out what he says he said for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen what's he saying there what's he saying what he's saying is this it's easy to come in to a sanctuary and meditate on and sing songs that are all about the love of God right but then but we can't see God but yet we can come in here and do that and it's so easy to do but what he is getting at is your public life versus your private life uh Paul David trip asked a group of people what do you guys think makes a mature believer what would you guys say what makes a mature believer foress see Mike Mike always gets a A+ in here Mike always kills it um some people would say Church attendance and praise God we should love the word and communion um some people might say giving yeah suppose we should respond to God in gratitude with our time our

talents our treasures and give back to the cause of Jesus and help others some might say volunteering and

serving praise God we should serve others in the name of Jesus some of you might say it's the people that are really mature raise their arms when they're singing you know so continuing it's easy to love or show a display of love in public but what's really going on here in the inner workings of our

being um in another community that I was a part of uh someone came to me once and she was like you know

um on display I'm loving I'm kind and I'm positive but then when I get home I

start just drinking some hard alcohol and then I just start putting everybody down in this building with my husband and then everything just comes out and I'm grateful that she came to me with that but what I would tell you is this or what I ask you for us to examine ourselves is are we a people who are

congruent like if I was a different man on Monday than I was when I preached up here on Sunday

you guys would start to be like man we I don't know if we can trust

him where are you at with being congruent congruent authentic like I'm

this I'm the same person today tomorrow like I am who I am by the grace of God

living in me and so there's a war of duplicity

and that Fallen sinful nature that heart that we have that's Fallen our selfish Hearts need to be

visited by Divine love our souls need to be visited by

divine grace and that divine grace from above comes to us in the person of Jesus

Christ and in a moment we're going to have communion and I want you to know that that's like a visitation from Divine to below to visit our hearts with the grace

and power of God and I want to just say this the way that we treat others the way we treat each other is a testimony to the Holy Spirit living in us that's our

witness that's our witness I said that this passage was like a s but I want to show you the meat of it all the men just perked up they're like verse 17 and 18 says this by this is love perfected with us it's talking

about God's love so that we may have confidence uh for the day of

judgment because as he is so also are we in this world so he wants the love of

God to come and visit us so much that we have confidence and then it says this there is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear isn't that a beautiful sentence for fear has to do with punishment and whoever fears has not been perfected in love and so I want to be just very Invitational to us today and say this may we

put away fear of comparison may we put away fear of judgment may we put away fear of man fear of other human beings but rather may we know this Jesus already took my judgment Jesus already took my friend's judgment my brother's judgment my enemies judgment and so as he has forgiven me and Love me so I'm going to love others as God has loved me and so God's love was displayed again when he rose again through Jesus Christ on that beautiful Easter morning and his love will come again to bring restoration to rescue us and renew us when his love comes and my prayer for us as a community when we hear this good news is this we're all invited to believe it and receive it right here in our hearts and now May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding may he guard your heart may he guard your mind through faith in Jesus Christ and it's in Jesus name we pray amen.