Well, good evening to all of you.
If you're new, joining us for the first time, I'd especially again like to welcome you.
This evening we're going to continue a study that we've started some time ago.
Actually, back in January, we've been picking our way slowly through 1 John, the first pastoral
letter that John wrote.
And this letter has a lot of wonderful things in it.
We've been focusing on one of the central themes in this letter, and that is what it
means to know God.
We've been asking that question as a community.
What does it mean to know God?
Not just to know the theology, not just to know the correct answers, not just to know the philosophy
or way of life, but what does it mean to actually have a relationship with God and what sets
that apart?
And if you've been following in this letter or if you know anything about 1 John, John
does not write in the way that Paul writes.
In other words, John doesn't write in a linear fashion, laying out his propositions and his
points.
John's writing is much more like a spiral, and it can be really frustrating at times because
he has themes and he will spiral around and around and he'll come back to the same themes
again and again and again.
And the main themes that we have seen are the themes of truth and obedience and then
love.
And tonight, we circle back for the final time.
This is the apex.
This is the pinnacle of the letter where John talks about love and what love really is.
What is true love?
In light of the events of this past week in Baltimore, this is an incredibly relevant
topic, but it's also something that's very central and close to the heart of the Christian
faith.
Love, what it is and what it means.
We've, well, I'll just tell you honestly, I was originally looking at this passage.
I was looking at 1 John 4, verses 6 through 12, and my plan was to cover all of that tonight.
It's just a few verses, and I thought that would be no problem.
And then the more I looked at this, the more I began to realize how much there is here.
It's so central to our question of what it means to know God.
It's so central to the Christian faith.
And really, it's just beautiful.
And I felt like we would be sitting down to this beautiful meal and rushing through it.
And, you know, if you sit down to a beautiful meal, sometimes you just want to slow down
and enjoy each bite.
You want to savor it.
And so I felt as I was preparing that we really needed to do that with these verses.
And so rather than preaching a three-point sermon, I'm going to break this up into three
weeks.
So you're just going to get point one tonight, essentially.
And so we're just going to look primarily at one verse here.
We're going to look at 1 John 4, verse 8.
And in particular, we're going to look at this statement.
God is love.
And we're going to look at what this means, and then I'll give you five reasons why it
matters.
So let's pray for the Lord to help us.
Father, we do recognize that this is your word.
But for it to become more than ink and paper, we need your spirit.
We need you to illuminate and enliven your word.
Lord, we need you to open our hearts.
And so we ask, Lord, just as you have shown us mercy through your Son, so in your love
and your grace, you would enable us to hear you.
We know that the same word that brought existence, brought this world into being at creation, now
in our midst, has the power to recreate us.
And so we pray that it would, for your glory, in your Son's name.
Amen.
So first of all, I want to look at this statement that John makes, this profound, mysterious
claim that God is love.
I'll give you a little bit of the context, starting in verse 7.
He says,
So he's saying God is love.
In other words, he's saying, he's not saying God is loving.
He's not saying that God feels love.
Love is not just an attribute that he's putting on a list.
Rather, he's saying that love is of the very essence of who God is.
It's of his very nature.
And this is one of those places in the Christian faith where, if you try to explain it too much,
you risk losing a sense of the mystery.
You know, there's a, in the early church writings and in Scripture, we see this word mysterion.
The sacred mysteries at the heart of the Christian faith.
This is one of those.
That somehow there's a God who is one, and yet a trinity.
And within those three persons, there is a love that is eternal, that has always been.
And somehow, in the mystery of God's nature, love resides at the very center.
Love is his very essence.
And what this means, especially in light of the context, is that God is the source of love.
He's the source of love.
That's why it says in verse 7, love is from God.
So many of us like to hike.
And you know if you're hiking in the woods, and you're hiking on a hillside,
and you come across a stream of water, a little trickle of water,
immediately when you see that stream, that tells you that somewhere up the mountain,
probably beyond where you can see, there's a source where that stream emerges from the rock
and begins to flow down the hillside.
You know that there's, because of the spring, you know that there's a source.
And just as the stream points to the source up the mountain,
so the sheer existence of love in the world points to the source of love beyond the mountains.
That any time, in any way, in any place, we observe the reality of love in the world,
there is an inherent promise to that, that somewhere beyond the mountains,
there is a source from which all of that love has come into the world.
All of the love everywhere that we see, the love between dear friends,
the love between parents and children, the love between lovers, husbands and wives,
the love that we have, the love that we share, all of these different kinds of love,
you know, the Greeks like to categorize these kinds of love.
But really, they're all tributaries, flowing from the same source beyond the mountains.
And so all love is, in one way or another, a sign of God's goodness and His blessing in this world.
And the thing is, even if you don't believe in God,
some of you are here and you don't believe in God,
maybe you don't know what you believe.
But even if you don't believe in God,
our experience of love in this life
only makes sense if there's a source beyond the mountains.
Our experience of love alone can only really fully be understood
if there is a source beyond the mountains.
And the reason is this.
It's because our experience of love in this world
always falls short of what we would hope for.
It always falls short.
In other words, we have the capacity, and not just the capacity.
We have a deep down, innate desire, a need, a hope for a kind of love.
And that hope is never fully satisfied.
And if you think about your life,
think about your experience of love in the world,
you will find that to be true again and again and again.
In all of your relationships, you know,
we idealize when we're young.
I'm lucky my kids are still in this phase,
but not for much longer.
When you're very young, you idealize the love of your parents,
and they are perfect, and they're infallible,
and they love you unconditionally,
and you can't imagine a more perfect love.
And then you get older,
and you begin to see your parents for who they really are.
And you realize that sometimes even the best parents,
their love is conditional.
Or you realize that maybe you had siblings,
and maybe there was a clear sense of favoritism,
even though your parents said,
we love all of you the same.
You know.
Maybe your love kind of,
their love is kind of maybe based on your performance
a little more than you would like to think.
And then you see your parents making decisions,
and it really seems like they're motivated by self-love,
rather than love for you.
And you go through these,
and it's disillusioning,
and you realize this isn't that perfect love.
Right?
And then you idealize your love for a friend,
and I just want to find a best friend
with whom I can share everything.
And maybe you have an amazing friend,
and thank God for this incredible friend.
But maybe there's also a bit of rivalry.
And maybe your friend has some success
that you didn't enjoy,
and there's also kind of jealousy and bitterness there.
Maybe you just grow apart in your interests.
And you realize that that wasn't really the love
I was hoping for.
Right?
And then you think,
well, maybe when I get married,
then I'll find it.
And you get married,
and it's great,
and it's bliss,
and you fall in love,
and you're surging with hormones.
Right?
And you can't think straight.
And then after about a couple of years,
normally, on average,
the hormones kind of run out.
And you,
who are you?
We share a life now.
And you begin to get to know your spouse
about two years into marriage.
And you get to know them,
and it's great,
but life is really mundane,
and sometimes life,
for long stretches,
just seems like you're paying bills
and fighting over who washes the dishes.
And sometimes it's really hard,
and sometimes the sex is amazing,
and sometimes you have maintenance sex.
And more often than not,
maybe you have maintenance sex.
And then more often than not,
you find that there are times
when neither one of you
really even cares about sex.
You would much rather go to sleep
because you're tired.
And that sounds so much better than sex.
And all of these realities begin to set,
and you realize we love each other,
and at times it's bliss,
and at times it's really hard,
and at times,
sometimes we kind of feel like we hate each other.
And you realize this is marriage,
and the love is good,
but it's not perfect.
It's not perfect.
And then maybe you think,
well, you know what,
when we have kids,
then we will be able to pour all this love in,
and it will be amazing.
And then you have kids,
and it's incredible,
and that moment in the hospital
is unlike anything else.
And then you move forward,
and it's great,
and you're losing sleep,
but it doesn't matter
because you still love them,
and then they break stuff,
and it's okay,
and you still love them.
And then they don't do anything you say,
and it's okay,
you still love them.
And then they hormones kick in,
and then they say,
hey, I hate you.
And it's okay that you hate me
because I know you don't mean it,
and I still love you.
And then,
and this is if you're a successful parent,
they leave.
And then you try to figure out,
what do I do now?
The love of my life,
my heart,
my flesh
just walked out,
and now they're getting married,
and now they'll visit once a year at Christmas.
And then what do you do?
And again and again and again,
our experiences with love are wonderful,
but there's something in us
that says there's got to be more.
There's got to be something out there
that will fulfill me,
that will satisfy this gnawing hunger in me,
this thirst that I have.
So here's the question.
Why would we have such a desire
for such a love
that goes so far beyond anything
we can experience in this world?
How could we explain that
unless there is a source
beyond the mountains?
And there's something in us that knows it.
And even if we don't know
that's what we're longing for,
that's what we're longing for.
So God is the source of love.
He's the source beyond the mountains.
And now I want to spend the rest of our time
just considering why this matters,
why it's worth spending a whole sermon
on this statement.
So I want to just go over five reasons
why I think this matters.
The first reason,
why does it matter that God is love,
that he's the source of love?
Why does that matter?
Well, first of all,
it matters because it reminds us
that love is not God.
That love is not God.
There's a philosopher, Simon May,
from King's College,
wrote a book called Love, a History.
It's a fascinating book
tracing the evolution
of our cultural approach
and understanding of love.
And basically,
May makes a statement
that we've gone in our culture,
as Christianity has occupied
less and less and less a place in culture,
that that vacuum has been filled with love.
And May writes that we've gone
from being people who say
God is love
to being people who say
love is God.
And that's a really popular idea
among religious people,
non-religious people,
conservative, liberal,
doesn't matter.
Everybody loves the idea of love.
And particularly,
we are deeply formed by romanticism.
And so we love the idea
of romantic love.
And so it's very common
in our culture
to hear people say,
you know,
the only real difference
between religions,
the differences don't matter.
They can all be boiled down
to love.
We just need to love each other.
That's all that really matters.
When we look at romance,
we say,
well, as long as two people
love each other,
whatever they want to do is fine
because the love is there.
The love is the thing
that makes the difference.
And in all of these ways,
we have gone from
believing that God is love
to believing that love is God.
And the Apostle John
is aware of this.
People were making similar claims
in his day,
and so he makes it very clear
that this is not the case,
and this is getting
a little technical,
so I apologize.
But if you look
at the original Greek,
John does something interesting.
In the original Greek,
the word God
has an article in front of it.
The word love does not.
You don't need to know
much about that.
The only thing you need to know
is what that means is
is that it's not reversible,
is that you can only
accurately translate this,
God is love.
You cannot say,
love is God.
It doesn't work
with the grammar.
And he did that
intentionally, I believe.
And this matters
because all of our definitions
of what love is
and how it behaves,
and there are many
in our culture.
The ways that we define love
are many and varied.
But if God is love,
if God is the source,
then it means that
our definition of love,
our understanding
of what it is
and how it behaves,
has to be drawn from God
if it's going to accord
with reality.
If it's not,
then it's a fiction.
So that's the first thing.
It reminds us that
rather than enthroning
human love as God,
that we're able to take
our love in all of its forms
and place it before
the throne of God
and ask God,
what is this supposed
to look like?
And that leads us actually
into the second point.
The second reason
this matters is this,
that knowing that God is love
matters because it means
that we cannot claim
to know God personally
if there is no evidence
of love in our lives.
We're going to get to this
more in two weeks.
But we cannot claim
to love,
to know God personally
if there is no evidence
of love in our lives.
And specifically,
he's talking about
the love that Christians
have for one another,
the new commandment
that Jesus gives.
that that is to be the thing
by which God's people
are recognized.
It's the real core
of hypocrisy
is people who claim
to be Christians
without love.
This leads us to the third reason
why this matters.
The third reason why it matters
that God is love
is this,
is that it reminds us
that we are not
the source of love.
I don't know about you,
but that is something
that I need to be reminded of
many, many, many times.
The way you know
that you believe
that you're the source of love
is when you look at yourself
and you look at your life
and you listen to something
like what I just said.
You can't claim to know God
if there's no love
in your life.
And if you're like me,
you look at your life
and you think,
oh my gosh,
there's a massive deficit
in the area of love.
There's a massive deficit.
And the way you know
you believe you're the source
is if your response to that
is to say,
I gotta try harder.
I gotta buckle down.
I gotta become more loving.
The Bible says
that doesn't work.
In fact,
I think that that creates
more of a hardness
than anything else
because you resent
having to do it.
We can only love others
to the extent
that we believe ourselves
to be loved.
And that means
if you look at your own life
and you see a deficit there
like I do,
the answer is not to try harder.
The answer is to go to the source.
It's no coincidence
that John,
as he addresses his people,
repeatedly calls them what?
Beloved.
What he's saying is
before your job,
before your race,
before your ethnicity,
before anything else,
his desire,
pastorally,
is that our primary identification
be as beloved.
And he would never ask you
to love
if you weren't beloved.
Only God's beloved
can love in the way
that God loves.
And so the way
to become more loving
is to go to the source.
Not to say,
I'm going to try harder
to love,
but to say,
I'm going to open myself up
more
to what it means
that I am beloved.
To allow myself
to experience
that love.
So that's the third reason
why it matters.
We're not the source of love.
The fourth reason
that it matters
why God is love
is because this shows us
what love should look like.
It shows us
what love should look like.
Let's go back
to the stream
in the woods metaphor.
Right?
You come upon a stream
in the woods,
say you're hiking,
you're out of water,
you're really thirsty,
do you drink it or not?
Do you drink it or not?
Have you ever heard giardia?
Giardia?
If you've ever had giardia,
you won't drink it.
Right?
If you haven't,
still don't drink it.
Right?
Do you drink it or not?
One of the things
that really matters
is how close
is that stream
to the source.
Because the further
downstream
that water goes,
the more pollutants
get mixed into it.
Right?
And the more
that gets mixed in,
the more impure
the water becomes,
the more it's probably
going to make you sick.
And so if you drink water
right on next to the source,
you're a lot better off.
But the further down you go,
maybe you can drink it,
but at some point,
the chances that it's
going to make you sick
get higher and higher
and higher
until there's almost certainty.
Somewhere down there,
it's no longer even water,
it's just mud.
You know?
It's just wet dirt
and muck.
But if you're thirsty enough,
you'll drink it.
And it's the same way
with love.
You know,
we spend time
in West Virginia
from time to time
and along the Shenandoah River.
And you know,
the Shenandoah near the source
is pretty clean.
But the further down
the Shenandoah you go,
there's chicken farms
all along the Shenandoah.
And you can imagine
what happens when it rains
and all that runoff
just goes into the water.
And so further down
the Shenandoah,
it actually poses
a health hazard
to animals and humans.
You know?
We found that out
the first year
we told our kids,
yeah, you can swim.
And then we're like,
rinse off, rinse off.
The further down you go,
the more polluted it gets.
It's the same with love.
The further love is
from the source,
the more polluted it becomes
because all kinds of junk
gets mixed in.
And love can be life-giving
or it can actually sometimes
be so polluted
that while there is
a kernel of real love there,
it can actually begin
to do harm, right?
It can be a harmful,
destructive,
kind of twisted form
of love.
There's something in there
that is of the Lord,
but there's a lot
of other stuff mixed in
that does damage.
Like the friend
that you have,
and there's a part of you
that loves this friend
and you do loving things
for that friend,
but there's also
a bitter, jealous rivalry
between you.
And you can't enjoy
the successes
of your friend
because of the jealousy.
That's a pollutant
that's been mixed in
with the love
and it's unhealthy,
you know?
Or like the couple
and they really genuinely
marry each other,
love each other.
They're really genuinely
committed to the marriage,
but there's also
a lot of jealousy
and there's not
a lot of trust.
And they check each other's
Facebook accounts
and they follow each other's
email correspondence.
And from time to time
they check the credit card statement
to see if anything unusual
is happening.
And you see that mistrust
is kind of mixed in
with the love.
These are kind of pollutants
that will do damage.
And what we see is
the healthiest forms of love
are those that are
closest to the source
and what does that mean?
It's love that accords
with God's character.
That's why it's really important
to note that you can't say
that love is God,
only that God is love
because although God is love,
He's much more than love.
In fact, in the same letter
He says that God is light.
And so what this is telling us
is we have a source
against which to measure
the love in our lives.
To know is this close
to the source,
is this reflecting
the same kind of love
clearly,
as clear as water would?
Or is it dirty water?
Is it polluted?
Is there stuff mixed in
that needs to be cleaned out?
So what this tells us is
we can learn how to love
our kids,
how to love our friends,
how to love our spouses,
how to love people
we don't know,
how to love our enemies
by looking at the source of love
and seeing how did He love?
How does He love?
So that's the fourth reason.
Knowing that God is love
matters because it shows us
what love should look like.
And the fifth and final reason
this matters is this.
The reason it matters
that God is love
is that it shows us
what to do
when love fails us
in this life.
It shows us what to do
when love falls short.
As we said a moment ago,
it will.
Parents, friends, kids, spouse,
it will.
It won't be a failure,
but it will fall short.
You will be left wanting.
And there are really only
two options when that happens.
The first option
is to look elsewhere
in the world.
Is to say,
well, that was this relationship.
Surely there's a relationship
out there
that will be better,
that will fulfill me completely.
And romanticism drives
a narrative,
for instance,
that marriage is that thing.
Romanticism drives
this narrative
that if you can find
the right person,
your soulmate,
which by the way,
that's a pagan myth.
That's Greek mythology.
That's not Christianity.
But if you find
the right person,
they will fulfill you.
Not true.
It's a lie.
It's not true.
King Solomon,
one of the wisest people
that ever lived.
700 wives.
300 concubines.
Do the math on that.
That's a lot of women.
Right?
You know,
we hear this
and we say it's absurd,
but,
you know,
guys,
if you counted up
the number of people
you imagined
having sex with,
if you were to marry
all of them,
maybe the number's
not quite as absurd
as it sounds, right?
So Solomon was honest.
But you look at a person
like that
and all of his wisdom,
all of his wealth,
all of his learning,
and yet he's still
looking for love
in these women.
The kind of love
that can only be provided
by God.
And we know,
actually,
if you read 1 Kings 11,
you realize
that it was his,
it says literally,
1 Kings 11 tells us
that Solomon
clung to these women
in love.
That he was looking
for that fulfillment.
And he clung
to these women in love
and because of that
it pulled his heart
more and more
and more away
from the Lord
until he abandoned the Lord
and he started
worshiping other gods.
G.K. Chesterton,
this quote
is attributed to him.
Every man who knocks
on the door
of a brothel
is looking for God.
Every man who knocks
on the door
of a brothel
is looking for God.
It's that deep down hunger.
You know,
you look at things
like this,
you look at our desire,
our fascination
with, you know,
Fifty Shades of Grey
or pornography
or whatever,
brothels, you know.
And you realize
that even though
within that
is a deep fear
of intimacy,
even though within that
there's a whole
power dynamic,
even though there's
all these,
we can psychologize
it all day long,
that at the core
there is that hunger,
that gnawing hunger,
that gnawing thirst
for that love.
It's there.
So that's the first option
is that you can kind of
get into that
romanticism-fueled loop
of looking for love
and failing,
looking for love
and failing
and going again
and again and again
and again,
700,
1,000,
2,000,
more and more
and more and more
and more.
Or,
or the second option
is to look for the source
beyond the mountains.
In John 4,
when Jesus meets
the woman at the well,
he knows,
and he reveals,
he knows that she's
had five husbands,
and he says,
and the one you're with
now is not your husband.
And yet he knows
down deep beyond that,
below it,
behind it,
that this is a woman
who is in search
of the kind of love
that will fill her up
completely.
And that's what he speaks
to in verse 13.
He says,
everyone who drinks
of this water
will be thirsty again.
He's not talking
about the water,
by the way.
He's talking about
the husbands.
He says,
everyone who drinks
of this water
will be thirsty again,
but whoever drinks
of the water
that I will give him
will never be thirsty again.
And she says,
where can I find it?
He's saying,
the kind of love
you most need,
the kind of love
that will fill you up,
can only be found
at the source.
And this is the good news
of Jesus.
And this is the news
that we will look more at
next week,
actually,
in great detail.
The good news is this,
that the love
that we long for
the love
that we look at
and we know
it can't be found here
and we know
down deep
that there is a source
beyond the mountains
that although
even if we were
to go looking,
we would never be able
to find it on our own.
The good news is this,
that that source
in Jesus Christ
has come down
and he has found us.
And that is the promise
of the Christian faith
and the certainty
of the love of God
that we share.
let's pray.
Let's pray.