“The Evidence of God’s Love”

Scripture: 1 John 3:16-24

Have you ever tried to actually define the word “love”? The American idiom has far too many interpretations to really do the word justice. “I love chocolate ice cream!”; “That baby is so cute – don’t you just love her?”; “I love my new car!”; “Do you love my new hair-do?”; “I love the Red Sox!”; “I love my wife.”;
How about “Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) Where do we even begin in trying to understand the meaning of “love”?

I even went to my Webster’s Dictionary for some help on what love is, and discovered that they list 9 general definitions of love, with quite a number of sub-categories. The word has been so overused and cheapened, that no one really knows what the word means anymore.
I did a word search in my computer bible, and discovered even the various translations of scripture differ on the use of “love”. The number of hits varied, but most were in the range of 450 to 550 occurrences in each translation or paraphrase. I think I was actually surprised that there weren’t more! But maybe that’s the point– if we’re careful on how we use the word, we just might eliminate the trivialization of “love”!

But John’s first epistle uses the word “love”, on average, more than any other book of the Bible, except for the Psalms. And it is always in the context of the love that God has for his creation. We know that this is a profound and unshakable passion, but how do we know just how deep his love, his true love, really is?

Read 1 John 3:16-20

We discover the depth of the Lord’s love for us, not by his words, but by his actions. Actions don’t lie; actions aren’t vague; actions give us insight into the act. “I love spaghetti!” Really? How often do you eat it? How much do you eat at any one sitting? When I was in Navy boot camp at Great Lakes Training Center in the mid 60’s, there was a period of 10 days in which we had spaghetti 3 times a day, but then only twice a day for the rest of the month. I used to “love” spaghetti, but since then I can only say that I “enjoy” it! It seems that “love” can get worn out!
God’s love isn’t like that, though. If we experienced his love 3 times a day, or 30 times, or even more, I doubt that any of us would never tire of that kind of love. As a matter of fact, God’s love is something that we could never get too much of! Why? Because his love has nothing to do with him – it is always directed toward his creation, and specifically, toward us. The Lord’s love is, primarily, all about humanity, and we see that love in every single thing that God does on our behalf.

But the evidence of this - where’s the proof?
John begins with the most convincing confirmation of all – that Jesus “laid down his life for us.” So what does that do for us? It affirms the opportunity for eternal life in him. And on our part, it only requires a commitment to his way. No payment, no reciprocal act, no obligation, not even an expectation of our rejoicing over his sacrifice for us. And what did the Lord gain from that incredibly selfless act? Nothing but pain, suffering, humiliation, insults, lies, hatred, death, and all of the sin that we ever have and ever will commit – and he willingly accepted all of this so that we might avoid the condemnation and judgment that we so rightly deserve. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) That’s a love unlike any other, and it is the truest example of what love must be!!

So how do we show the Lord that we value his gift of life above all else? By living our lives in a way that brings honor and prestige to his name. Now, I will readily admit that this is easier said than done! How could we possibly do anything that could bring glory to the One who IS glory? But whether you know it or not, we can! We can live the kind of life that Jesus led. Oh, I know that we will never do that perfectly, but in this case, desire and intent and effort and heart DO matter.
John gives us a few ideas on what we can do to live a Jesus kind of life, but they certainly go against all semblance of secular reason! And I won’t go into the list that is presented in the letter – you can read it again for yourself - but just let me say that every item in the list has one thought in common – if you have a resource that someone else needs, don’t even hesitate – give it willingly and joyfully for their benefit.

I was once asked about that level of generosity, that the person had been so humbled by a gift like that. So I asked a question in reply. I said “Why do you think the Lord allows some folks to have more resources than they need, while others are in extreme need?” The person replied that they didn’t know. So I answered my own question with “So we can help each other.” The unspoken answer was actually “So we can be Jesus to each other.” That is how we bring glory to God – by setting our secular humanism aside so that the spiritual side of our life can immerge.

Read 1 John 3:21-24

A man was seated on a park bench when a small lad about 5 years old sat down and started winding what appeared to be a prized possession - a Mickey Mouse watch.
“What a neat watch! Does it tell you the time?” The stranger asked.
“No”, the boy replied, “You ‘gotta look at it.”
- Homeletics on Line

In our fast paced world, we don’t want to take time to look for ourselves, to do our own research, our own study – we want to be fed with every answer and every need of life. We want life to be served up on a silver platter, we expect that a fork will be provided for our use, that someone will put the food in our mouth, and that someone else will help us to chew and swallow the nourishment. We want all the benefits of life, with very little, if any, involvement in the process.
The author of our letter writes “if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God”. When we lack involvement with the Lord in this life, it means that we have no confidence in the teaching that Jesus spent 3 ½ years presenting to us. And without confidence and trust in Christ, and the living out of his teachings, we will never even begin a movement away from the condemnation that is already in our nature. John writes that we must “obey his commands and do what pleases him.” LIVE his love with others!

But you are probably thinking “How in the world can I ever live out all of the commandments in scripture?” There are over 600 of them, but most of the laws in Scripture are from Moses, not the Lord. If we scour the gospels to discover what Jesus taught about those difference, we will have a much smaller number to worry about, and even those can be boiled down into 2 commandments. When the Pharisees grilled Jesus on which of all the commandments is the greatest, he told them that there are actually two – that we are to truly love the Lord our God with our entire being, and that the second is comparable to the first – that we are to love our neighbor as our self. He then added “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:34-40)

Loving God and loving our neighbors! If we truly love God, how could we ever be content with the plight of the people around us? And if we truly love our neighbor, how can we possibly ignore all that God has taught us and called us to do? And by the way, John further identifies what loving God is all about – and that is believing “in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,”. We are to let the power and love of Christ live within each of us, to the point that it is unmistakable. And that comes to be by letting the Holy Spirit work in and through us.

John’s letter has put quite a challenge before us today – to live and love in Jesus’ way, and not by the world’s ideals. The ways of earth are, generally, a whole lot easier and a lot less controversial than God’s, but they will never bring a single ounce of glory to the name of Jesus. We can never ignore the people of earth, but at the same time, we can never acquiesce to their standards.

“And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” When we love God and all that he is, we will live as his Spirit directs. That is the evidence that proves our love for both God and neighbor, and a life in faith displays the evidence of God’s love for us.

There can be no other way. Amen.