There is a lot said about love. In deed as
Christians we have a lot to say about Love: think how many time the word
appears in our sermons, our prayers, our hymns, in our Bible readings. In these
Sundays of Easter we have been reading from the epistles of John which have one
theme running throughout and it is Love.
Let us look in a little more detail at the
words John writes in the 4th chapter of his first letter, epistle.
In the two verses preceding our second
reading this morning we see John touch on two important aspects of love. In
verse 6, he writes, “And this is love,
that we walk according to his commandments.” Christian love is most full
understood as Love for God and in this verse he points to an important aspect
of Christian love, that is first and foremost obedience to God. Love is not
passive, not primarily an emotion we feel, love is something we do – obey God. Of course, when John says
this, he is reminding us of the teachings of Jesus about love for the Lord our
God being the greatest commandment. If we love God, we will obey him and the
depth of our obedience is the mark by which we know our love.
In verse 5, John simply writes, “Love one
another”, which echoes Paul’s teaching in Romans 8:8, “He who loves his
neighbour has fulfilled the law”. “Love one another” – it is such a simple
command… Christian love means to love others.
There is a lovely story told about John the
apostle who was the only disciple to live into old age. As the Bishop of
Ephesus, he lived a long time and had an active ministry to the day he died.
But shortly before he died, he grew so frail that he had to be carried
everywhere and he had little breath to preach for long. And time and time
again, he would preach the same sermon; a sermon that was only 5 words long: “Little
children, love one another”. Five small words that, for John, encapsulated the
Christian message.
Loving God and loving others – two practical
out workings of the Christian faith.
Turning to our reading verses 7-8: John tells us that God’s nature is love. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever
loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not
know God, because God is love.” Notice it says two things. Verse 7 says
that “love is from God.” And verse 8
at the end says, “God is love.” These
are not at odds.
Because when John says that “love is from God,” he doesn’t mean it’s
from him the way letters are from a mailman, or even letters are from a friend.
He means that love is from God the way heat is from fire, or the way light is
from the sun. Love belongs to God’s nature. It’s woven into what he is. It’s
part of what it means to be God. The sun gives light because it is light. And
fire gives heat because it is heat.
So John’s point is that for we who live in
Christ, we who renewed our baptism at Easter a month ago are acknowledging that
we are part the divine life of God and that an essential part of that life is
love. God’s nature is love, and in the new birth that comes with our baptism
God’s nature becomes part of who we are.
When we look at verse 12 of our second reading
we read “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us and
his love is perfected in us.”
In these words John is assuring us that the love
we have when we are born again through our baptism is no mere imitation of the
divine love, no it is an experience of the divine love and it is the divine
love that we pass on when we fulfill the commandment of our lord – that is to
love God and love our neighbour.
So the first way John links God’s love for us
and our love for people is by focusing on God’s nature as love and how when we
are made one with Christ, when we are born again, when we are baptized we are
connected to that divine nature.
John then goes on to speak of how the love of God is manifested in history
Verse 10 we read “In
this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be
the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Beloved, since God loved us so
much, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God;
if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
It is in Love, from
love, because of love, that God could no longer stand by but chose to become
part of the created order he has brought in to being through the word by the
power of he Spirit.
When we see that All
powerful, All knowing, Creator, Glorious but distant God moved by Love to
become part of our lives we see how and why we also get involved.
Once again the people
of this island have shown their deep desire to get involved in the life of
others who are in need in the amazing giving of £15 million to the suffering in
Nepal. But as impressive as this is it is does not really capture the meaning John
is conveying when he speaks about the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ and
our response.
Salvation history is
filled with examples of those who have been sent, as a donation is sent, to
guide, direct and even plead with humanity to love one another. In deed it is
the revelation of Christianity that shows that such an approach is inadequate,
Mohammad might well be the last of the prophets and peace be upon him, but
prophets beginning with Adam are only like a donation sent across the world.
The revelation of Christianity is that God himself travels across the vastness
of time, across the void that separated our world from his and shows us love.
John tells us in
verse 11 “Beloved since God loves us so
much we also ought to love one another” when he says, “We ought to love each other,” he means
ought in the way fish ought to swim in water and birds ought to fly in the air
and living creatures ought to breathe and peaches ought to be sweet and lemons
ought to be sour. As baptized people, we are born again and ought to love. It’s
who we are. This is not mere imitation. For the children of God, imitation
becomes realization. We are realizing who we are when we love. God’s Spirit is
in us. God’s nature is in us. God’s love is being perfected in us. so that when
people see us they see God, when people experience love they are experiencing
the reality of God
Why can’t we give love that
one more chance?
Why can’t we give love……
Cause Love’s such an old
fashioned word
and Love dare you to care
for the people on the edge of
the night
and love dares you to change
our way
of caring about ourselves
Under
Pressure by David Bowie
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