"Love Comes from God"
Over
the years I have done a lot of funerals. I would say that in talking to the families
of the deceased, almost all of them described that person as being loving. I
don't think they were being insincere, or just trying to say the right thing to
the pastor. I think that much of the time, we perceive the people who are close
to us as being loving. That is what Mother's Day is all about. Apparently, love
is something we do rather well, and we do it without a lot of instruction. At
least we think of ourselves as loving people.
Why
then was Jesus so concerned with his disciples that he felt compelled to command
them to love each other? Did he think that once he was gone they would not love
each other? Did he think there would be strife or division among his followers?
Why
was John so concerned with his church that he gave them instructions to love
each other? Why is his letter so much about love and so little about attacking
the errors of his opponents?
Why
are we called to love each other, when it seems that being polite and friendly
to each other should be enough? Why does the scripture actually command us to
love each other, when it seems that it should be commanding us to live more disciplined
or moral lives, given the kind of world we live in today?
Why
all the emphasis on love in the scripture?
We
look more closely at this first letter of John. We do not read it a great deal
in worship, mainly because we do not have the whole story. We do not have an
explanation of who this was written to and who was causing the problems in that
church, and what were they teaching. We just have the response, this repeated
message about loving God and others. So it is hard to grasp just what John is
saying.
What
can be said is that John writes to a church, or maybe several churches, in
which there is division and controversy. He does not spend much time describing
the errors of those causing the trouble, nor does he focus a lot of blame on
them. Rather, his focus is on love. It is God's love that comes into the
experience of believers and enables them to love each other.
Gary Burge writes about the situation in
John's church. He says that this was a "spiritual community." This was a church
gathered around a number of prophets and the activity of the Holy Spirit. Some
of these prophets were claiming to speak God's Word to the people. However,
whatever spirit it was that was leading them to speak was undermining the truth
of who Jesus Christ was. So, John tells them that they must test the spirits.
They must discern if the teaching of these prophets is indeed true.
The first test is found in verse 2 of chapter 4; it is the
principle that the Spirit of God always glorifies the Son of God. So if a
prophet claims to be speaking the Word of the Lord, and he says that Jesus is
not the Messiah, or that he is not risen from the dead, or that he did not
really die on the cross, then that is a false spirit leading the prophet.
The
next test is found in verses 4 to 6, and is that if the thinking of the world,
that which is opposed to God, celebrates the teaching of the prophet, then that
teaching is not of God.
In
verse 7 we find the next test: "Let us love one another, for love comes from
God." Love is from God, and is to
be expressed to others. A prophet who claims to speak the word of God and yet
has no love for the people is a false prophet. John writes in verse 19, "If we
say we love God and yet hate a brother or sister, we are liars."
The
heart of John's message is his insight that "Love comes from God." He goes on
to say that the love of God is expressed in the gift of his Son, and the death
of Jesus Christ on the cross. He goes on to say in verse 16, "God is love."
Burge points out that he does not say "Love is God." That would put the focus
in the wrong place.
Love
comes from God, and God is love. I love the musical Les Misérables and have
seen it a number of times. It is about the life of a man who learns to love,
and who gives his life to love, because he has been shown love. And at the end
there is a line, "to love another person is to see the face of God." I love the
musical, but I respectfully disagree with the conclusion. The scripture does
not teach that we find God by loving other people. It says that we find love by
coming to know God, and God's love enables us to love other people. We see love
in the face of God, and so we can love another person.
The
experience of the love of God can be quite powerful, even disturbing. It shakes
us, changes us. I was at a prayer retreat for pastors once, and on the last day
I had an experience of the Love of God during a communion service. It was not
comfortable. It rattled me. It filled me with energy. It broke some hardness in
me. I don't really want that to happen to me every day. A few times in a
lifetime is sufficient. But what I experienced, and cannot explain, is that I
left for that retreat upset with my church, disappointed in their actions and
attitudes and mad at them; and I came back with a great sense of love, a desire
to be part of their fellowship, and a very patient spirit. My experience with
the love of God changed my heart and attitude and actions towards the people of
the church. I believe that is what John is talking about here. Love comes from
God. That love leads us to love one another.
Gary
Burge calls this the "compelling origin" of divine love. God's love compels us
to love. He says, "Genuine love in a community reflects Gods' love, and is
empowered by an experience of being loved by God." Have you experienced the
love of God? You can. God is very willing to show you his love, to love you.
That is why he sent his Son Jesus to earth. On the cross you will find the love
of God.
Then,
I read this in a book by James Houston, the founder of Regent College in
Vancouver, B.C. He quotes Therese of Lisieux, a woman who lived in the late
1800's. She writes about what it means to be a child of God. What she says illustrates
this sense of receiving love from God and then expressing it to others.
"Being
a child means not attributing to yourself the virtues (love) you practice."
I would like to change that slightly to say, "Being a child
of God means not attributing to yourself the love you express."
"Being
a child (of God) means recognizing that the good God places the treasure of
virtue (love) in the hands of his child to be used when there is need of it
– but it is still God's treasure (love)."
"Being
a child (of God) means never being discouraged by your faults, because children
fall frequently but are too small to hurt themselves very much. We must stay
little, so that we are being carried in the arms of God."
We experience love when we are in the arms of God.
We
often think of ourselves as loving people. We have received love from mothers
and fathers and grandparents and friends. When we are honest we also realize that
our love gets worn down, that our attitudes get hardened, that we easily become
demanding, controlling. We can even turn against each other. Our love is
fragile. We become proud and self-willed grown-ups, and forget our identity as
children of God, as disciples of Jesus.
Love comes from God. We turn our hearts to Him once more:
unfilled, dry, empty, fearful. We come to the God of love to be refilled,
renewed, healed or made whole in love. When we truly seek to know God, He makes
himself know to us. God is love.
We can love one another. With the
love of God in our hearts, we can move beyond politeness and friendliness to
truly love and care for each other. That makes a big difference in our witness
and mission in this community. We love because he first loved us.
Amen.