Love is All You Need (John 3:16-18; 15:12-17)

 Sermon for Centenary UMC (Lebanon) on February 11, 2024

Love is All You Need (John 3:16-18; 15:12-17)

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

¹⁷ “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:16-18)

Jesus told his disciples…

¹² “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷ I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. (John 15:12-17)

 

[Title Slide] In 1967, the Beatles were part of an international television broadcast which at the time reached more people around the world than any previous effort. This first ever multinational television broadcast reached an estimated 700 million viewers. The show was called “Our World” and the Beatles performed a song they had written just for the television event. The song was called “All You Need is Love.”  All you Boomers out there, sing with me. (Sing!)

On this Scout Sunday, the topic is Love One Another. When I think about the new commandment that Jesus gave us, to love one another, I have a few questions. [Slide]

1.   What do we mean when we say the word love?

2.   Why is it so hard to love sometimes?

3.   Is love truly all we need?

 

[Slide] When I was a kid, “Love Is” was a regular in the comics section of the newspaper. Some might say love is romance. Another might that to love is to be nice, to do no harm.

We toss the word love around freely. It has multiple meanings. [Slide] Some love hots dogs at Wrigley Field on a sunny day watching the Cubs play baseball. [Slide] I love pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. [Slide] I love rock and roll. Put another dime in the jukebox, Baby! We talk of loving television and movies. [Slide] I love Star Wars! It’s an obsession, really. These uses of the word love are about appetite, what you crave. It’s a feeling of joy that comes with satisfaction. Some momentary need is being met.

[Slide] I tell my family I love them. We tell our friends we love them. I loved a cartoon in the 90’s called the Animaniacs. [Slide] There was a recurring segment with a little girl, Mindy, who would always say, “Ok, I love you, bye-bye.” That use of the word love is a simple salutation.

But what did Jesus mean when he gave us a new commandment, to love one another?

[Slide] The Greek word translated as love is agape, a word the Greeks used to speak of the worship of the gods or the god’s compassion for us humans. The New Testament authors use the word to describe the love of God as revealed through the cross of Jesus.

[Slide] This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (1Jn 3:16)

Love is self-giving, self-sacrificing, other-seeking. The New Testament tells us to put others ahead of yourself. (Php 2:3-4)

That kind of love, agape love, is not easy… which brings me to the next question. Why is it so difficult to love sometimes?

To answer that we need to be honest with ourselves about our human sinfulness. While it is true that we are all made in the image of God, and therefore have the potential to love as Jesus loved us, it is also true that we all fall short of God’s perfect and complete love. We feel anger and hatred, and despise others for various reasons. Some hatred comes from prejudice. Some hate because they’ve been wronged. Hate breeds revenge as a perverse sort of justice. And fear is a natural response to threats. Love is not the first thing I think of when I feel threated or wronged. I have to work through my fear and anger first before I am free to love. We have the potential to love like Jesus loved, but we’ve got work to do to become like him in love.

When Jesus hung upon his cross, people mocked him. The men responsible for his torturous execution stood there at the cross judging him and cracking jokes.

“If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying, ⁴² “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. ⁴³ He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to, for he said, ‘I am God’s Son.’” (Mat 27:40b-43)

And how did Jesus respond? Did he curse them in agony and indignation? Did he vow to exact revenge upon his enemies? No! He prayed for them in humility.

[Slide] Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Lk 23:34)

We live with visceral emotions that can drive us to do harm in the things we say and do. And we are children of God full of divine potential. We are a jumbled up, holy mess. We are both sinners and saints. We can love and we can hate.

[Slide] Marriages end in divorce between 35-50% of the time, depending on which studies you read. It’s a sad statistic for Americans. People who vowed before God to love and serve one another until death, back out of marriage when the pain is great enough. Why? Because it’s hard to love sometimes. When marriages fail, it is an act of love to help shoulder their burden though caring and compassionate support. Remember our liturgy acknowledges God’s faithful love when we come to the Lord’s table, “When… our love failed, God’s love remained steadfast.”

And there is the good news. God’s love is always there to be counted upon. When our love fails, God’s love is with us to help pick us up, dust us off, and point our hearts and lives in the right direction. [Slide] God’s love never fails.

God takes our sinfulness and sets us free through forgiveness in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. God takes our frail human flesh and gives us new bodies empowered by the Spirit. God transforms our hearts and lives by pouring the love of Christ into us through the gift of the Holy Spirit. If you have within your heart the Spirit of Christ, then you can love like Jesus. All one need do is step aside and allow Jesus to lead. Step around your gut reflexes of fear, anger and hate. [Slide] Give Jesus first place in everything. Like Carrie Underwood sang, Give Jesus the Wheel. Allow Jesus to drive. Then His love will flow through you.

[Slide] Is love truly all we need? Yes, but…

Yes, love is all you need, but it’s divine love we’re talking about, a love that is given to us through the Holy Spirit. As members of the Wesleyan tradition, we believe that God’s love is at work in all of us all the time. God’s love is either working on you, in you, or through you and sometimes all those at once.  God’s love is working to awaken our hearts and call us into a loving relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. God’s love is working to save our lives from sin and death through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. God’s love is working to perfect our lives, to make us complete in all things, by transforming our inner lives through the presence of Jesus through the Spirit, such that our outward lives reflect his love in all our thoughts, words and deeds.

If you love God and trust in His love and mercy shown you in the cross of Christ, and believe in the promise of eternal life, you will be saved by love. You will experience divine love in your heart in times of worship, prayer, sacrament, and service. And the more you step out of the way and let the Lord lead, the more your life with shine with the love of God.

God is the life giver and sustainer. God is love. Therefore, God’s love is life! And God’s perfect and complete love drives fear and hate from our hearts. Love is all you need to keep the commands of God as a bona fide friend of Jesus.

The apostle Paul wrote to the church that love is the fulfillment of the law. When the Bible speaks of law, the authors mean God’s law given through Moses. But the New Testament writers introduced a new way of keeping God’s law, the way of love… as shown to us in the ministry of Jesus. Here’s Paul

[Slide]  …whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. ⁹ The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  ¹⁰ Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 12:8b-10)

[Slide] Scouts you live by a law, which is in harmony with God’s law. You are trustworthy, which means you can be counted on to do right in every situation. And even when you fail to do right, you will work to make it right. That is what love looks like, trustworthiness.

You are loyal. Love shows up and helps out. Love stands beside those who need a friend. Love looks for the stranger and the outcast and welcomes them as friends.

You are helpful. We love not just with words. We love with action. We do good deeds to help others. We speak up for those who have no voice. We stand alongside the oppressed and work for justice.

You are friendly. Love treats strangers with warmth and kindness. Love holds open the door to let others pass ahead of you. Love says encouraging words that builds others up. Love never speaks ill of others to tear them down.

You are courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty (which means you can be trusted to use money and other resources wisely). You are brave. Love takes courage sometimes. When a bully is picking on someone it takes bravery to stand up to them. When people are mocking you because you love God, it takes bravery to express your loyal love for our creator and it takes love not to curse those who have belittled you.

You are clean in your body, heart and mind. God’s love cleanses our hearts of all unrighteousness.

And you are reverent. You love God as your father in heaven, just as Jesus loved God, his father. And because you love God, God lives in you, pouring the love of Jesus into your hearts, so that you may love God with all you heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbors as yourself, and especially to love one another in the church as sign that God is with us. Our unity is a witness to God’s love and it shouts to the world, Love is all you need!