1 John 4:7-21

1 John 4:7-21 &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; “God is Love”

May 10, = 2009 &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; By= Rev. Kat= hy McDowell

Did you listen closely to todayR= 17;s scripture reading?

What was the one word that occurred more than any other?

(Love) (27 times)

This passage, which is from the 1st letter of John, is all about love.

Kind of nice for a Mother’s D= ay scripture, don’t you think?

But there’s a risk in preachi= ng about love on Mother’s day -

How can we say something that hasn’t already been said about love, =

something= that doesn’t trivialize love into something sweet, sappy and sentimental?

Because t= he kind of love that this scripture speaks of is more than that.=

It’s not just words, like we heard in the children’s message.

Real love is active. It takes risks. It makes sacrifices. It is committed. <= /span>

We’re going to try something a little different this morning

and take a look at a movie clip from a film called The Visitor =

in= which the mother in the story loves just like that.

This is a story in which a widowed economics professor named Walter Vale

discovers a young immigrant couple living in his NYC apartment.

It’s all a big misunderstandi= ng, because he actually hasn’t been in the apartment

for years since he owns a home outs= ide the city. <= /span>

He gets wrapped up in their lives w= hen the young man, Tarek, is thrown into a detention center. =

As we watch this scene, Tarek’= ;s mother Mona - a Syrian woman who lives in Michigan -

shows up at the apartment in New York just as= Walter is getting ready to leave.

She’s used to getting a call = from her son every day

and hasn’t heard from him in 5 days (let that be lesson to anyone out there who doesn’t call your mo= ther!)

Show scene

So this unlikely pair - concerned mother and widowed professor - both of whom have dropped everything to do what they can for Tarek - go to Queens where the detention center is located.

Because Mona herself does not have = the proper papers, she must wait while Walter goes in to visit the young man. B= ut when Walter tells Tarek that his mother is in town, he insists that his mot= her must go back to Michigan. She can’t do anything in NYC= .

Walter tells this all to Mona, but = she is resolved: “I will no= t go back to Michigan<= /st1:State>, knowing that my son is in that place. Even if I can’t see him, I will stay here.” =

The story continues with this mothe= r as well as Walter, taking other risks and making other sacrifices in an effort= to get Tarek released.

Now even though the word love is ne= ver mentioned in this clip, again and again, love is a recurring theme.

But this love is not your sweet, sa= ppy sentimental love.

This love is the kind that shows up= and takes action. This love makes sacrifices and is committed.

This is the kind of love we read ab= out in the scriptures - the kind of love we are to have in our Christian walk.<= o:p>

This is not your casu= al friendship or even romantic attraction. This kind of love was so different = and so important that the early Christians differentiated it from friendship or romantic love and called it agape = love. This agape love is active. It makes sacrifices. It is committed. And it’s God’s kind of = love.

Love is the entire theme= of this short letter found near the end of the Bible,

and is the first of t= hree known as the letters of John.

Biblical scholars thi= nk that 1 John was written

around the end of the= first century – that would ha= ve been 70 years or so after Jesus’ lifetime

and two or three gene= rations into Christianity.
Its style is a little different from other letters in the New Testament, and even the other letters of John.

It reads as an essay = or maybe an instruction booklet.

What is significant a= bout this letter is that it was written to address a conflict that first shows u= p in chapter 2. =

We don’t know w= hat it was for sure, but there has been a split in the church – <= /span>

over doctrine, leader= ship, or practice. Who knows what it w= as about?

Maybe people couldn&#= 8217;t agree on interpretation of the scriptures.=

Or leaders couldnR= 17;t come to an agreement over who was in charge.

Maybe they were argui= ng over worship practices.

This letter is a resp= onse to that conflict, a reminder to love = one another.

Even they - so close = to Jesus’ lifetime - had to be reminded to love one another. =

This reminder is writ= ten in a way that both comforts and challenges the community.

The passage begins wi= th that comforting tone: Beloved, let= us love one another because love is from God.

By loving, we are bor= n of God and we know God. <= /span>

And then in the words= that follow, the author weaves together a beautiful passage about love.

But this is more than= words. What the author is telling us is that love is an action. =

An action revealed wh= en God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

You can’t get m= uch more active than that. For the God= we worship is not some distant god,

but God made flesh and dwelling among us. Emmanuel - God with us.=

But this is only part= of the Christian story. The rest of = the story is where the challenge comes in.

The writer of 1 John = says that not only was God revealed in Jesus Christ,

but that when we love, we, too, reveal God.= No one has ever seen God, but when we love, God’s love is perfected in us. The commandment we have from him is this:

“Those who love= God must love their brothers and sisters also.”

We can’t have one without the other. Those who love God will love= each other. We can’t just talk the talk.&= nbsp; Each and every one of us must walk the walk of active, sacrificial, committed love.

This passage is a com= fort and a challenge. But it was also the good news to the early church that first h= eard this and to us today. In 3 unforgettable words that might very well sum up the entire message of the Bible,

we hear “God is love.” Love is not one thing that God does - everything that God does= is love. =

And what makes it the= good news is that God’s love is pure unconditional grace.

Remember that mother,= from the movie clip? Who came from Michigan to NYC to check up on her son?

Who was going to stay= there no matter what?God’s love is = something like that love - an active love, willing to make sacrifices. God’s love has a staying powe= r no matter who we are or where we’ve been or what we’ve done. We ar= e to receive it. To trust it= . To believe that God has the = power to help us live it with others.

If Jesus has taught a= nything to his beloved community through his life, death and resurrection, he has taught them this: Love is not= just an assurance about God - it is to be lived out in concrete actions in the world.

But God’s love = also is God’s initiative - not our achievement.

This love is a gift &= #8211; the original gift from God. <= o:p>

For God’s love = was revealed among us in this way:

God sent his only Son= into the world so that we might live through him.

God is love. God is love. God is love. For you, for me, for the world.

Thanks be to God. Ame= n.