Introduction
The first Sunday of each month is a transformation Sunday when we take a break from whatever series we are on and talk about how the Holy Spirit transforms us to be more like Jesus Christ. Talking about transformation is just another way of talking about our sanctification, that is, the process of our dying more and more unto sin and living more and more unto righteousness. That means that every last one of us who believe in Jesus Christ is committed to a life of change. There is no such as a static Christian, a Christian who thinks that he/she has arrived at a place in his/her life that does not require any more growth. Today we should be a little more like Christ than we were yesterday, but not quite as much as we will be tomorrow.
I am convinced that essential for our transformation in Jesus Christ is understanding and practicing love, God's love for us and our love for each other. Everybody seems to be talking about love these days, though. Saying I love you is commonplace and is thrown around carelessly. In our culture, love is this abstract thing that means whatever we want it to mean. Usually we make it mean something that appeal to us. Reality is that love has become a fuzzy concept. What in the world is love anyway? Where do you go to find out what it is? Wikipedia? Instagram?
"The reality is that love is not best defined by a set of abstract concepts. Love is best defined by an event." Paul Tripp in What Did You Expect? I am heavily indebted to Tripp's chapter Ready, Willing, and Waiting for this sermon.
1 John 4 is incredibly helpful and practical in defining love.
I. A Definition of Love
A. We get our best definition of love from the most important event in human history.
1. We get our best definition of love from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. We look to what he did on the cross for what love is and what love does.
3. 1 John 4 tells us about the cross of Jesus and calls us to a cruciform love, 10-11.
a. God in Jesus Christ loved us by sending Jesus to die on the cross in order that our sins may be forgiving (propitiation).
1) He initiated that love.
2) And he did it while we were still in our sins.
Rom. 5:8 – But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
b. God loved us by giving and John is clear here: if Jesus loved us in this way, we too ought to love one another in this way.
B. So what does cruciform love look like? Paul Tripp offers the following definition that we will be using throughout this sermon.
"[Cruciform] love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not require reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving."
II. Breaking down the Definition
A. Love is willing.
Jn. 10:18 – No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
1. The decisions, words, and actions of love always grow in the soil of a willing heart.
2. We cannot force a person to love, though they can learn to love.
B. Love is a willing self-sacrifice.
1. There is no such thing as love without sacrifice.
2. Think about what love calls us to do.
a. It calls us to go outside the borders of our own wants, needs, and feelings.
b. It calls us to invest time, energy, money, resources, personal ability, and gifts for the good of another person.
c. It calls us to lay down our lives for others.
d. It calls us to serve, wait, give, suffer, forgive again and again.
e. It calls us again and again away from our instinct and comforts.
C. Love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another.
1. Love is excited at the prospect of alleviating burdens and meeting needs.
2. It wants the best for the loved one and works to deliver it.
D. Love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not require reciprocation.
1. Remember: Jesus died for us while we were still sinner – not nice people.
2. If he had waited till we could return his love, there would be no hope for us.
3. Real love is motivated by the good that will result in the life of the person being loved, not by some notion of return on investment.
E. Love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not require reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving.
1. Christ went to the cross for our sin precisely because there was nothing that we could do to earn, achieve, or deserve the love of God.
2. If we are interested only in loving people who are deserving, we are not really motivated by love for them, but love for ourselves.
3. Love stays the course while refusing to quit.
F. There is never a day in our lives when we are not called to love each other with this kind of love – true of all relationships.
G. You may be thinking, "Where in the world do I get this kind of love?" John answers in 4:19.
1. Love grows best in the nutrient rich soil of gratitude for the love of God for us in Jesus Christ.
2. It is true that love is a duty, but not than that it is a response to God's love for us.
3. When we remember the lavish, faithful, patient, forgiving, and empowering love that God has poured on us that we could have never earned and will never be able to fully reciprocate, we will want to give that love away to someone else – filled to overflow.
4. John says that if we want to know the true character of our love for God, we should examine our relationships with the people near us, 4:20.
a. When our relationships are not marked by love, something needs to change.
b. And what needs to change is your view of, and love for, God.
H. So, let me ask you this: are your relationships fueled and motivated by real God-worshiping, other-focused, self-giving, willing love?
III. Love in Practice – A through R.
A. Love is being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of those around you without impatience or anger.
1. Remember Jesus who was willing to face all the complications of life in this fallen world in order to meet our greatest need, salvation!
2. One of the greatest challenges of love is being willing to abandon our demand for a comfortable and predictable life.
B. Love is actively fighting the temptation to be unbiblically critical and judgmental toward those who are around you, while looking for ways to encourage and praise them.
1. This is a difficult one, at least for me.
2. The grace of God is key here: when we affirm our need of grace and celebrate the grace we have been given in Jesus Christ, we then delight in giving grace to those around us.
C. Love is daily commitment to resist the needless moments of conflict that come from pointing out and responding to minor offenses – love is patient.
D. Love is being lovingly honest and humbly approachable in times of misunderstanding, and being more committed to unity and love than winning, accusing, or being right.
E. Love is a daily commitment to admit our sin, weakness, and failure and to resist the temptation to offer an excuse or shift the blame.
1. It is so tempting to think that we are more righteous than we actually are.
2. Self-righteousness is a common enemy that we must face daily and fight it.
F. Love means being willing, when confronted by those around us, to examine our heart rather than rising to our defense or shifting the focus.
1. As long as there is sin remaining in us, we all carry around in our minds that inner lawyer, who is ready at any moment to defend us at any cost.
2. Love will tell the lawyer to be quiet and listen to what is being said.
G. Love is a daily commitment to grow in love so that the love we offer to those around us is increasingly selfless, mature, and patient.
H. Love is being unwilling to do what is wrong when we have been wronged but to look for concrete and specific ways to overcome evil with good.
I. Love is always being willing to ask for forgiveness and always being committed to grant forgiveness.
J. Love is being faithful to our promises and true to our words.
K.Love is speaking kindly and gently, even in moments of disagreement.
L. Love is being unwilling to flatter, lie, manipulate, or deceive in any way in order to get people around you to give you what you want.
M.Love refuses to find our identity in the people with whom we have relationships.
N.Love is the willingness to have less free times, less sleep, and a busier schedule in order to be faithful to what God has called us to be and to do as a brother/sister in Christ.
O.Love is a commitment to say no to selfish instincts and to do everything that is within our ability to promote real unity in our relationships.
P. Love is the willingness to make regular and costly sacrifices for the sake of those around you without asking anything in return or using our sacrifice to place them in our debt.
Q.Love is refusing to be self-focused or demanding but instead looking for specific ways to serve, support, and encourage, even when we are busy or tired.
R. Love is daily admitting to ourselves and to God that we are not able to live this way without God's protecting, providing, forgiving, rescuing, and delivering grace.
Conclusion
Jesus suffered in love so that in our struggle to love we would never, ever be alone. Look at what John says, 4:9. As we give ourselves to love, Jesus showers us with his love, so that we would never be without what we need to love. He was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice of love because he knew that that was the only way that we would ever get what it takes to love as we have been called to love. So, walk forward, be transformed, in hope and courage. Commit yourself to real, active, and specific cruciform love, knowing that his grace really does have the power to make you do so.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2016/06/what-in-world-is-love-1-jn-4.html
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