“If we love one another”--for Nursing Home Service

Meditation on 1 John 4 for Renvilla Chapel

July 27, 2014

       Three children came forward for my children’s message this morning at Ebenezer—two little boys and a girl. And I asked them, “Who does Jesus love?” Well, the little girl answered first, “Everybody!” So then the other two said the same thing, “Everybody!” But what I was hoping they would say was Jesus Loves Me! We went through the words of the familiar song, “Jesus Loves Me,” so that they would be reminded of this very important message—that “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so!” I wanted to make sure they knew just how much God loves them personally! He doesn’t just love the world; he loves each one of us and knows us well.

     Then I told them that the Bible also tells us that because God loves us so much, we ought to love one another. That if we do not love other people, then we don’t really love God. I thought it was so important, that I said it twice—that if we don’t love other people, we don’t really love God.

     Then, I asked them how we could show other people how we loved them. They struggled a bit with that, but finally one said, “I could help my mom.” And the older boy said, “I play with my brother.”

     “How about giving someone a hug? I asked. “Do you give your mom a hug?” And they said, “yes.” But I could tell they hadn’t really thought too much about how they could show someone that they love them.

***  

      We find numerous times in 1 John the command to love our brothers and sisters in the faith. In 1 John 4:20, we read that those who hate their brothers and sisters whom they have seen are liars if they say that they love God, whom they have not seen! Jesus said something similar. He summed up God’s commands with love God and neighbor. But brotherly love is the particular emphasis in 1 John and the gospel of John 13:34, when Christ gave His disciples His “new” command to love one another as he has loved them so that everyone will know that they are His disciples—by their love.

      In 1 John 4:7 and 16, we find the very familiar passage that God IS love. 1 John is the only place in the Bible where we find this language. John means that God is the originator of love; love is a divine character trait. We cannot look at human love to know what love is; we are called to be imitators of God’s love. In 1 John 4:10, like 1 John 3:16’s “we know love by this,” John is again defining love by describing what it does! It isn’t a feeling! And it isn’t weak or wimpy; it has the courage to suffer and the power to conquer sin and death. “In this is love,” says 1 John 4:10, “not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

     God’s love is gracious and merciful. We don’t deserve His love, but He chooses to love us anyway. His love is what gives us boldness on the day of judgment, says 1 John 17-18, for “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment.”

     And we are told “to love one another” repeatedly in 1 John. In 1 John 4:17, we learn that “If we love one another,” then God’s love has been perfected or completed among us. “If we love one another”—meaning we have a choice! We can decide against loving one another. And we can also choose not to love God.

    God, who has chosen to love human beings while we were still sinners, sending Jesus to die for us, patiently and passionately waits for us to love Him and one another in return!

***

    I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the kids had never heard that if we love God, we should love one another. And that if we don’t love people, then we are not really loving God. We are certainly not being obedient to him. I think that may come as a surprise to some adults, too, who may go to church and say they love God, but then they don’t like some people—because frankly, some people may be hard to love or even like!

    But we can’t say that we all don’t know Christ’s greatest commandment—to love God and neighbor—or that we don’t know the new command that Jesus gives to his disciples—that they love one another so that the world will know they belong to Him by their love. And we can’t say that the command to love God and neighbor and love one another is just for Christ’s first 12 disciples. It’s for us, too!

    After the children told me some of the ways they could share their love with other people, I shared my love with them through a note that I had written for each of them. I handed them a paper with a heart on it that says, “Jesus loves you and I do, too! Love Pastor Karen.” Then I gave them another piece of paper with 6 little hearts on it and told them they could color them and write messages on them and give them to 6 people in their lives that they love. I couldn’t wait, I said, to hear who they had given the hearts to!

    Oh, and don’t forget to also tell them that Jesus loves them, I said. Because if you love someone, then you will tell them about Jesus and His love.

    Friends, people will come to know Jesus because of the witness of our faith and because our love for people that shows the world we are Christ’s disciples. For God’s love is made perfect, is completed, among us—if we love one another.

Will you pray with me?

Holy One, God who is love, thank you for your Word that leads us into the path of righteousness and keeps us from falling into error and sin. Thank you for Jesus, God come to us in human flesh, sent to show us the way to you—and to be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. Lord we pray for those who are still walking in darkness, who are suffering because they don’t know the truth of your love. Help us to be a witness to Jesus Christ and love one another, even those who may be hard to love—to show the world we are His disciples, by our love. In Christ we pray. Amen.