connecting

The Affect of the Gospel
August 17, 2008

I John 4:7-12

Intro: 
How many of us are men?  How Many of us our women?  How many of us are human being?  All of us are human.  That is how God created us to be –HUMAN.

As humans why do we need love?
How do we define love?
Love is this risky dangerous place.  It requires you to open up and put your soul out there.  It requires that you engage with other human beings beyond the physical.

Erwin McManus:  “To give up on love is to choose a life less than human.  To give up on love is to give up on life….When love does not come to you, it breaks your heart, but when you do not give love away, it hardens your heart.”

Love affects us.  We are never more alive than when we are being loved and loving.  If we can’t find it we can’t function.  If we are wounded by it, it is devastating.

Some of us have given up on love; given up on the very core of what makes you human.  Hate has filled or is filling your heart. Hate is the absence of love. Hate is the absence of love.  You are deeply disappointed and long to be loved again and long to love.  Why?

God has created us in His image.  Love is who God is.  All human desire and need was created by God. In our brokenness we skew and contort those desires.  Jesus’ work on the cross is about redeeming those human desires.

 

I John 4:7

Beloved means “be loved” and “you loved ones.”  John is speaking of a settled state of loved-ness: you are loved by God.

Let us love one another – this is an action, a response.  This is something we are becoming, not just a command.

For love is from God – God is the source, the initiator of love.  God is love.  Love is not simply a great benevolent feature of God, a nice act that He turns on or off. It is at the core of His being. He cannot not love.

And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Being born of God is living in the reality of being completely loved by God.

I John 4:9

Manifest among us -- in connection with us, not just to us or for us.

 

I John 4:10

In this is “the love”
Why in this passage do we not see John say “love God?”  Matthew 22:37-38 says “love the Lord your God”

Loving God is carried out through loving others.

 

The Affect of the Gospel:

1.  In understanding “the church”:
a.  We become loving in response to God’s love
b.  The full experience of loving God comes in loving others
c.  John 13:34-35
d.  Erwin McManus “Admit you have issues”
e.  Small group – the gathering of people in which you know enough about each other to not like each other but you choose to keep loving each other
f.  Brennan Manning – there is a summons to live as forgiven & forgiving  children is radically inclusive.

2.  In knowing God’s will:
a.  The perfect plan for your life
b.  Being loved moves you to a place of trust
c.  Equation thought – none of us is big enough in the equation to disrupt God’s plan
d.  Illustration about when I was first asked to come on to staff.

3.  In responding to our emotions (tend to be self-centered):
a.  Shame/pride
b.  Fear/mistrust
c.  Hate/anger

Conclusion: 
Does God really love me?  Could it be true?  What if it is true?
Invitation lost
Invitation to followers who have been caught up in this life