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God Is Love (I John 4.7-21)

I. Introduction

• Saying it is so easy, is it not? – we can say “God is love” almost without thinking about it – we have said it so often, and we say it so often, it becomes a sort of a mantra, or a phrase that we say to convince ourselves it is true – but it is more than that, it has to be more than that – it has to be more than words
• This idea is one of the central ideas of the Christian New Testament, but we repeat it so often that we may not hear what it says – so because it is such an important idea in Jesus’ teachings and in the churches, we need to think about it and speak about it in new ways

• In last week’s sermon, from I John 3.16-24, I tried to make the point that love can never be simply a word or a thought – love demands action – I said that the author of the letter points to Jesus, who laid down his life for us – therefore, according to the author, we ought also to lay down our lives for one another – this does not necessarily mean that we have to die for one another, although in some situations we may have to put our bodies or our lives on the line – but the example the author gives is that we see someone in need and give what we have of the world’s goods to meet that need – whatever we do, loving one another and laying down our lives for one another is a costly thing
• In today’s text, the author carries that idea even further when he says that God does not love the world in word or thought alone – even God, or perhaps especially God, enacts and embodies love through the life, ministry, teachings, and self-sacrifice of Jesus – for followers of Jesus, there is no need to guess or to speculate about God’s love for the world – it is clear in what God has done – followers of Jesus do not have to hypothesize about what God is like because it is apparent in what God has done through Jesus
• The author encourages readers to love one another, not only because God commands them to do it, but because love is from God – then there is this beautiful phrase that I have to wonder if some people have read – everyone who loves is born of God and knows God – do you hear that? – can you see what it could mean? – in this particular case, the author is not saying that whoever knows Jesus knows God – the author is not saying that whoever has a relationship with Jesus has a relationship with God – instead, and more powerfully, the author says that whoever loves is born of God and knows God
• This is not to say that Jesus is not important – in fact, Jesus is extremely important because Jesus is the revelation to the world of God’s love for the world – Jesus is God’s love in action – Jesus is God’s word of love in the body, God’s love incarnate
• Now I want to challenge you a bit – not long after I came to Columbus I wrote a newsletter article in which I said that I wrestle with the meaning of Jesus’ crucifixion – I said that I cannot accept the traditional understanding of the crucifixion that views Jesus’ death as the requirement of blood to enact reconciliation between humankind and God – this understanding says that God’s demand for justice regarding our sin requires a sacrifice and because the weight of our sin is so great, the only sufficient sacrifice is Jesus – as an innocent person taking the place of guilty people, Jesus satisfies the requirement of God’s justice and appeases God’s anger
• As I have thought more about this, I have come to the conclusion that God is not angry because of our sin – and by sin I mean our broken relationships – defining sin as doing bad things (whatever they may be) or as not doing good things (whatever they may be) is too simple – sin is more than behavior – sin is part of our human condition because we live in a broken world and in broken relationships – but our sin does not anger God, it saddens God because God is love
• I have long thought of Jesus’ death on the cross as an expression of God’s love – but it is more than that, too – God did not require blood, humans did – human anger, human violence, human vengeance, human sin, these required Jesus’ sacrifice – humans thought of Jesus as a sacrifice to the necessary demands of God’s justice, but in reality, Jesus was God’s sacrifice to us and for us – by being a willing sacrifice, Jesus subverts all of those human requirements – Jesus’ giving of himself in love frees us from the need to live in our sin, in our brokenness – Jesus shows the world that because God is love God has nothing to do with anger, violence, vengeance, or brokenness – in his self-sacrifice, Jesus ends the need for any more sacrifice of this kind
• It is all because God is love that Jesus is able to do what he has done and continues to do for us, in us, and through us

• The message that God is love is indeed at the center of who we are – it is the center of our lives and it is the center of our life together – it is who we are as individuals and as communities
• Love is not easy for us – in a way, I suppose we find loving God simpler than loving other people – we have this idea that God is somehow “out there” in the universe – we keep God at a distance, as we are wont to do – we keep God under control in the little box we call “church” – so our love for God is often abstract, theoretical, and thus not all that difficult to do
• But the text of this letter reminds us repeatedly that love is not abstract – it is as concrete as anything in the world – God incarnated love in the human body of Jesus – Jesus demonstrated God’s love in bodily ways: healing the sick and broken, feeding the hungry, restoring sight to the blind, giving hearing to the deaf, in dying on a cross
• God’s love is perfect, says the author – God’s love is indeed perfect, without fault or failure – God’s love is without limits or conditions – God’s love is mature, full, and complete – in one sense, God’s love is impersonal – that is to say that God’s love does not depend on its object – God is love, God loves – and God loves everyone everywhere – in another sense, however, God’s love is the epitome of personal – God loves every person as that person is – God loves all people, not in spite of who they are, but because of who they are
• We, however, are not perfect – too often our love is full of brokenness, limited, and loaded with conditions – as a whole, we human beings invest ourselves in the things that divide us and keep us apart – we give ourselves to national identities, to families and clans, to political parties, to denominations, and so on – and when we think of others, too often we think of our differences
• But God is love – God loves and the author says God wants us to love as well
• University Baptist Church is a welcoming and affirming congregation – we invite and we welcome all people – we exclude no one – but I have seen that often we are not tolerant of others when they do not agree with us – the challenge for us is to love those people, even if they do not love us in return
• Are we willing and able to love all people regardless of where they are on their journeys? – are we willing to love people who do not agree with us, or who hate us, or who condemn us? – can we go as far as God has gone? – do we even want to?
• This I know – more than that, this I believe: God is love – if I cannot love, then God does not abide in me
• Love is costly – it cost God God’s own beloved child, and it costs us everything – but it also brings wholeness, reconciliation, restoration, and authentic relationship

• If God’s love is in us, we will love others, regardless of who they are – if God’s love is in us, others will know who we are and whose we are because of our love
• God is love – I pray for the day when we can say that of ourselves, too