4/19/26 1 John 3:16-24 “You Have the Truth!”

15 Apr 4/19/26 1 John 3:16-24 “You Have the Truth!”

4/19/26    1 John 3:16-24       “You Have the Truth!”

Have you ever noticed how words of a language change from one language to another?  Here is what I mean, for example, the Eskimos have many words for snow.  They have a word for a snowflake or snow in the air, one for snow on the ground, for falling snow, drifting snow, fresh snow, deep snow, a blizzard, a snowbank, for a snow block for building, and one for wet snow for packing.  And I do not even know if this is all the words for snow.  In northern Africa they have many terms for sand.   There is a term for large areas of sand, terms for the entire desert, a term for the desert like landscape, a term for sand dunes, for gravel areas, wind formed dunes and for a single sand dune.  I’m sure that there are many other terms for these areas but this will suffice for today.  The reason for the many terms is that sand and snow play such an important role for the people that live in these areas.  I do not think we need more terms for sand in the area but we might use an extra one or two for snow.  The point of this is that these terms are very important to the people.  Today, we are going to study love as it is used in the Bible.  The Bible uses four terms for love and they are: Agape love or sacrificial love, Phileo or fraternal love, Storge or familial affection, and Eros or romantic love.  This must mean that love is a real important part of the Bible and Jesus.  Let’s take a little look and see if there are any ways to improve our love life.

Bill O’Donovan, a missionary to the Kagoro Bible College in Nigeria told his students that he had discovered a special medicine that would drastically reduce fights between husbands and wives. So, listen up everyone!  All of the students eagerly looked forward to the day when the missionary would bring the medicine to class so each of them could stop having fights with their wives. After 14 weeks Bill O’Donovan came to class and said, “Today I will reveal the medicine that is a preventative measure against fighting between husbands and wives.” Then he drew a picture of a big medicine bottle on the blackboard and wrote, “I Cor. 13:4-7 – the Love potion.” The students then realized that God had already given them the medicine to alleviate the human tendency to fight if they would only appropriate it in their marriage communications. Bill O’Donovan’s marriage and family classes soon became legendary for their practicality.  This story makes me think of all the wonderful medicine that we over look and how it is for free in the Bible.

As we begin it would really be nice to know what love actually means.  Being we have only one word for love, we have to define this a little.  We will not be talking about the love we have for our spouses.  Although, I suppose it could be included.  We will not be talking about the love we have for our family members which could be once again included.  And we will not be talking about the love we have for our friends which once again could be included.  We will be talking about the sacrificial love we should be having for everyone.  This is a touchy one because we have a tendency to not like some people.  We are to love these people also.  Unfortunately, you have been the recipients of a couple of real rogue pastors.  These are the ones that need your love even when they might have done you wrong.

The reading today tells us that Jesus laid down His life for us.  Let’s unpack this a little.  First, many people absolutely know that the Jews killed Jesus or even that the Romans killed Jesus. But that was not what happened.  Jesus went willingly to the cross.  When He was arrested, all the soldiers fell to the ground.  They had to bow down before the Lord, which once again, proves who Jesus was.  Jesus had to stop and get his executioners standing up again so they could continue doing what was supposed to happen. And even before this, Jesus kept on coming to Jerusalem when He could have just stayed away.  He did several things that show that He was in charge of getting to the cross.  He even stopped to put the ear back on the unfortunate soldier who had it cut off.  People, Jesus went willingly to the cross to do what He had to do.  Neither the Romans or Jews or anyone else forced Him to go.

You are called to do the same thing.  Most of us will not be called to lay down our lives for the sake of Jesus.  However, you are doing just that when you are following Him.  When you see someone in dire need and you do nothing, you are showing Jesus that you do not love Him.  You cannot have Jesus in your hearts when you are ignoring those around us who are hurting.  We have been told this several times already in Scripture.

The United Methodist church has just come through a major crisis.  The result was split into the Global Methodist church and some remained United.  It was an easy decision for me to make.  There was no way I was going to follow the old ways of the United Methodists which were directly opposed to the Bible.  I believe that the Bible tells us that we are supposed to be full of truth and grace.  The other side wants everyone to have only grace.  Therefore, they are against many of the truth statements in the Bible.  All they want is love, love, love.  If that were true and ok, then it would be a good deal and we would not have to worry about where we would spend eternity.  However, it is not true.  It is very false.  We have to understand that we need to follow things like the Ten Commandments and other statements about things that God hates, such as sin.  If you follow this false teaching that everything is ok, you will end up in that bad place. That is not good.  That does not show love.  In order to show true love, you need to demonstrate what is right and what is wrong.  Then you need to pursue what is right with all your hearts.  We have almost ruined our society by following the false doctrines of the United Methodist and other churches.

I have found that people want the truth.  Several years ago, when I was leading various youth groups, I found that they were most engaged when I was telling them the truth from the Bible.  They were sick of hearing all the lies and false doctrine.  Everyone getting to heaven is not the truth.  You can do anything you want is not the truth.  I tell you this because I love you.  I don’t want to see you go to the wrong place.   That is what love is.  Love comes with some harsh truths.  But you will have a much better life with this kind of love.

So then, how are we supposed to practice love?  We are told here that we are not to try to love with words.  I have seen and been in churches that have this problem.  They talk about helping the poor but that is as far as it gets.  Now I think that it is ok to talk about these problems.  This is why we have church services, classes and other various things.  They tell us where we can do the most good.  But that is what we do one day a week or two at the most.  The other five or six days you are to actually go out and serve some of the poor people in your area.  And believe me when I say that you have poor people in your community.  We all do.  They are everywhere but they are very good at hiding.

It really should not take a lot of effort to find them.  Pay attention to the clothes people wear.  Usually, poor people have clothes that are not quite so good.  Do not be afraid to invite them to church.  Or better yet, offer to take them to church so you can take them out for lunch after.  Or buy some extra groceries to give away.  Help serve at a food pantry or a second-hand clothing store.  There are many ways to serve.  The best part of doing this is that you will feel great after doing it.

What you end up doing here is offering people agape love, the love that Jesus has for us.  Now, you may not be really good at it but if you keep doing these things, it will not be too long before people will know you by the love you give.  When you do this then you will know that you belong to the truth.  When you have agape love and the truth, then you are well on your way to having it all.  When you go into your prayer time you will have wonderful things to tell Jesus.  He will be waiting to hear from you.

This in turn should lead us right into the assurance of God’s love for you.  I don’t know how many people I talk to all the time who feel that they just do not measure up when it comes to God.  All I can say is that who do you think you are that you measure up to God in any way, shape or form.  All we can do in this world is bumble along trying our best.  Our best will never be as good as God’s best.  I mean can you create a world?  Are you eternally good?  So quit trying to be something that you can not be.  I have preached this over and over.  The love that God has for you will never leave.  It will always be there.

What usually happens is that we stray away from God and most of the time we do not even realize it.  Maybe an illustration from Jerry Cosper would help.  Have you ever been in a store and see a child that has gotten separated from his parents? The fear is very evident on the child’s face as well as the parents’ face. It’s a horrible feeling when the child turns around and can’t find his parents. They frantically look through every little nook and cranny and suddenly the sound of relief comes as they hear their name announced over the store intercom to come and retrieve their child.

You may have had a similar experience as a child or as a parent. Many parents have briefly lost a child in public. Maybe you have a memory from your childhood when you lost sight of your parent and you felt lost and alone.  And then I wonder if there has ever been a time in your life when you may have gone through some painful moments when you felt abandoned by God. It can be an empty and lonely feeling. As I stated, you have heard me say and preach time and again how God says He will never leave us or forsake us.  And it is so true.  God simply wants us to feel secure as He assures us of His plan for us.  And when you look back, you will find that you are the one that has strayed, not God.

And this brings us right back to what we are supposed to do in loving others.  This is what Jesus does through us.  He loves others.  He loves the unlovables.  He loves the dirty low-down bum that always bothers people.  He loves the big shot who is so big that he doesn’t have any friends because he is so obnoxious.  He loves the person who can only speak with non-stop talking.  He loves any and every one you can think of.  Once again it is us who are at fault.

We seem to like to make ourselves miserable.  At a recent Christian conference, they found that 92% of the people there cited loneliness as a major problem.  They all shared a basic symptom: a sense of despair at feeling unloved and a fear of being unwanted or unaccepted. This is a tragic commentary on the people about whom Christ said: “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”  I think maybe we need to get over ourselves a little.

On the other side of the coin, we have people who have come from Islam to become Christians.  They have done so by watching the lifestyle of Christians.  These people said things like there was no gap between profession and practice. They treat women as equals. They loved others rather than being unloving toward people who were different. The most powerful witness to people entrenched in the Islamic way of life was a consistent Christian witness.  All I can say is quit looking at yourself and start to look at others.

People, you are the most important person in the world to God.  He has given you everything that He has.  This should be all the assurance you need to go to people and talk about Jesus.  Bring Jesus up when you are at coffee.  Bring Him up when you are at work.  I used to bring Him up all the time when I worked at the Post office.  Anyone can do that.  Bring Him up as often as you can when you are with your family.  You will be surprised by the result.  Most people are very hungry for the truth.  You have the truth at your very fingertips in your best friend, Jesus Christ.

You are to love each other as He has commanded.  This means for you to go out and spread the Word of Jesus to all you know.  Figure out your gift and use that.  Not everyone can talk words about Jesus.  Some of us need to use actions.  All of us are equipped to model Jesus in some way or fashion.  Find out the best way for you to model Jesus and then do it.  You will find rewards that are greater than anything you could imagine.  God is that great and He loves you that much.  Love Him back by taking His Word to others.  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray