God is L.O.V.E. :: 1 John 4:16-21

The world around you will tell you there are four things we all need for survival: food, water, clothing, and shelter. If you have these four things, they say, you can survive for decades. 

But if you were paying attention to our readings today ... you learned something’s missing. You can have all the food, clothing, water, and shelter you think you need, but if you don’t have love, you have nothing (1 Cor 13:2). We all need love. Love is the universal need of man. We all need to be loved. We all need to feel loved. We all need someone to love. We all need love. People who are unloved, not loved, or who have never learned to love suffer terribly ... physically, mentally, emotionally. Love is the universal need of man.

1.

I haven’t watched it in a long time, but there’s a reality television show called “Alone.” It’s a fascinating competition. The show follows the daily struggles of ten people who are left alone in the wilderness with limited means to gather food, water, clothing, and shelter. Their goal is to outlast the others. The last man standing wins. The problem is, they’re left alone, without love. We all need love. It’s always amazing how quickly people tap out because they long for love.

Studies have shown that loneliness is likely to increase your risk of death by 26 percent. ... Being left alone ... without social contact ... is as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. ... Being left alone is worse for your health than obesity. Man was not meant to be alone. He was meant to love and be loved. ... He was meant to be in relationship with God and man. God is Love. Love is the universal need of man. 

Since love is so crucial in life, for many people, life becomes a search for love. The first place we find love and acceptance is in the intimacy of family: from our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters. Then we seek love in marriage. Some people mistakenly equate love with sex. They seek to find love from at least one person who will accept them intimately. Many more people instead turn to work ... or play ... they look for love in the camaraderie of sports and recreation. We all need love. Love is the universal need of man.

2.

But what is love? The world says love is a feeling or a vital impulse. We think we have it when we feel warm and fuzzy ... or affection and commitment. But that is fleeting. Some say love grants freedom. Others think love instills discipline. We think we can fall in and out of love. I will cut to the chase and tell you what it really is.

GOD IS LOVE ... L.O.V.E.

We know this on account of 1) the Language he has given you, 2) the Offering he has made for you, 3) the Victory he has won for you, and 4) the Eternal dwelling he is providing you. God is L.O.V.E. We all need the love that comes uniquely from God.

3. 

We’ll start with the language he has given you. The language of scripture talks about only two kinds of love: the love of mankind and the love of God. The first kind of love is φιλος, brotherly love. That’s a good kind of love. When Peter first speaks of his love for Jesus, this is the love he talks about (Jn 21:15-16). We all need this kind of love because as John put it in our epistle reading, If anyone says “I love God” yet hates his brother, he’s a liar (v. 20).

To love God, you need something more than φιλος: You need the true language of love ... godly love ... that is, ἀγάπη. This is the language of God, because as John tells us, God is love and love is God. When Jesus says he loves Peter, he loves him with ἀγάπη. This is the love of God: Not that we love him, but that he loves us (1 Jn 4:10). 

This love was first revealed to us through the language of the Law and the Prophets. This is why the world doesn’t understand what love is. As Jesus told the Pharisees, If [you] don’t hear the Law and the Prophets, neither will [you] be persuaded someone will rise from the dead (Lk 16:31). The world doesn't hear the law and prophets because it thinks of love as an emotion.

But God’s love is an action. God’s love is selfless and divine. God’s love requires faith to the highest degree. God’s love puts us to work. It requires us to hear the law and the prophets. God’s love is the source of true compassion and justice. God’s love compels men and women to give without thinking, to never worry about themselves. The goal of God’s love is that we have faith and trust in God’s only son ... to have faith and trust in what he has done for us through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension ... through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in us. 

4. 

This leads us to the second point of God’s love for us: The Offering he has made for you. God loves in this way: He sent his only begotten son into the world (Jn 3:16). God saw his magnificent creation ... he saw you dying in sin ... and he didn’t want that to happen. God didn’t send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save it. This is the love of God. He did something about it. He loved us first (v 19). He gave us the ultimate offering for our hopelessness. He saw our city rotting in poverty, and he put his love into action. The maker of heaven and earth ... who mourned the day that we destroyed creation by looking out for ourselves first ... made right the wrong we brought upon ourselves by becoming one of us. He who knew no pain, who knew no sickness, who knew no death ... became one of us ... one with us ... one for us ... to serve us. That is love. Jesus did for us what we don’t do, won’t do, can’t do ... obeying the Law of God and becoming the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We all need this love.

The Love of God then made an all-availing offering for us. He carried our sin to his cross. There, God poured out all of his righteous anger and wrath upon his beloved son. Jesus climbed the mountain called Golgotha and suffered the agony you deserve for your sin ... for your refusal to care for the needs of Lazarus’ of the Appleton City. Jesus suffered for your lust. He suffered for refusal to treasure and obey his word ... for your refusal to make amends with each other. He suffered for your insistence on paying lip service to the sacraments. He did this so that you will recognize your sin and your need for a savior. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, hear the language of love: Hear the Law and the prophets, and then repent! Recognize your sin. Turn back to God. Turn away from your feelings and ...

5.

And then remember the Victory he has won for you on Easter. Our Lord Jesus Christ was raised for your justification. Jesus has made you right with the Father. He has given you his righteousness and innocence in exchange for your sin and death. And because he loved us, we can now love each other in the newness of life. This is the command we have from him that the one loving God loves also his brother (v 21). 

On account of God’s love, he has made us his children by faith in Christ. We now know that no matter our station in life or the opinion of others, we have great personal worth in his eyes. He first loved us, so we can now say, God knows me, and loves me. And in this, love is completed with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment (v 17). 

When you don’t know the love of God in Christ, it is a fearful thing to stand before the living God. But y’all know the love of God in Christ. So you need not fear any longer. In fact, Jesus says, do not fear. His peace is yours (Jn 20:26). 

6.

Because of this: Our Lord Jesus is providing an eternal dwelling for you. 

We all need this love. God sealed this deal for you in your baptism. He poured out his Holy Spirit upon you, making you one of his very own beloved. Through baptism, He is now calling you forward to come and join the feast. You have been clothed in the robes of righteousness, so come to the altar for the Lord’s supper. Come with confidence and joy knowing the Love of God in Christ has secured this for you. As Paul reminds us in Romans, you died with Christ in baptism, and then were raised into eternal life. This gift is yours now and forever. He has made himself one with you: giving you his perfect LOVE.

The most complete answer to mankind’s deep need for love is found in the Gospel of Christ. It’s found ... or ought to be found ... in the life of Christ’s church. It is found here as you and I learn to be what we are destined to be ... the center of God’s love ... to hear the language of the Law and Prophets that point us to his all-availing offering and the victory of his resurrection, which lead us to our eternal dwelling.

To deny love to men is to deny our Christian calling. But to share the love of God is to share Christ (v 21). Prepare yourselves now to share it with each other. He has given you faith to trust that his word is true, and that you will receive the forgiveness of sins when he touches your lips with his greatest sacrifice: His own body and blood ... prepared in love for you ... in Jesus’ name.