Sermon Tone Analysis

Once upon time, a small country Baptist church called a young preacher right out of seminary.

The pastor search committee was impressed with his knowledge of the Scriptures and his preaching ability.

His professors highly recommended him.

Being a small church, they felt fortunate in being able to call such a gifted young man.

His first sermon to his new flock just wowed the congregation.

Many in the church congratulated the pastor search committee for finding such a skilled preacher.

The next Sunday came and the new pastor preached exactly the same message, though only a few realized it.

The third Sunday, the new pastor preached exactly the same message.

This time, more than a few people recognized it.

Some began to wonder if their new pastor had only one message.

The forth Sunday, the new pastor preached exactly the same message.

Now even the deacons were aware that the message had not changed in the month since they had called their new pastor.

They approached the pastor search committee as to the issue.

They were dumfounded at what was taking place.

After all, his professors had recommended him as an astute student of the Scriptures as well as a gifted orator.

It fell upon the chairman of the search committee to approach the young man.

He inquired, “Pastor, in the short time you’ve been here, many of us have grown to love you and we appreciate your leadership.

However, you’ve preached the same message four Sundays in a row.

Is there a problem?”

To which the pastor responded, “No, there’s not problem.

As soon as you all begin doing the first sermon, I’ll preach a new one.”

That story actually has some grounding in history with the preacher in question being the Apostle John himself.

The 4th century Church Father, Jerome, tells the following story: “When the blessed evangelist John the apostle, had lived in Ephesus into his extreme old age and could hardly be carried to the meetings of the church by the disciples, and when in speaking he could no longer put together many words, he would not say anything else in the meetings but this: ‘Little children, love one another.’

When at last the disciples and bothers present got tired of hearing the same thing again and again, they said, ‘Master, why do you keep saying the same thing?’

John replied with a saying worthy of him: ‘Because it is the Lord’s command, and it is enough if it is really done.’”

So if this morning’s message seems redundant with some of the others I’ve preached from 1st John, I’m probably being faithful to the Apostle’s writing.

For throughout the text this strong theme of the necessity of brotherly love is repeated over and over and over again.

So this morning, let’s revisit the subject of Christian love and discover four new truths about it.

!

I. CHRISTIAN LOVE COMES FROM GOD

* /“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.

Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”/

(1 John 4:7–10, NIV84)

!! A. THE SOURCE OF CHRISTIAN LOVE IS NOT OURSELVES, BUT GOD

#. verse 7 is explicit, /Dear friends, ... love comes from God/

#. most of you probably know, but let me repeat it anyway—the word for /love/ here is not /eros/—the Greek word which refers to /sexual love/

#. the Apostle John is not talking about /sex/

#. unfortunately, we live in a culture where /love/ have become /synonymous with sex/

* ILLUS.

We’re all familiar with the term making love which is just a euphemism for let’s have sex.

#. all through John’s letter the word for love is /agape/

#. /agape/ describes the kind of love God had for sinners when /Christ died on the cross/

#. it is not /sentimental love/, it is not /sexual love/, and it is not /brotherly love/

#. it is /supernatural love/

#. it is a love that the Holy Spirit puts in your heart upon your regeneration, and only the Spirit of God can make it real to us

#. it is the love of self-sacrificing service

* /“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.

Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”/

(Colossians 3:12–14, NIV84)

* /“Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”/ (1 Corinthians 13:4–7, NIV84)

#. agape is the love of God, and only the Spirit of God can enable us to extend this love to others

#. it’s a kind of love the lost person cannot experience let alone express

#.

our faith is authenticated when we express the love of God toward each other

#. the Apostle is insistent on this—let us love one another ... /Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

Whoever does not love does not know God/

#. you cannot neglect a self-sacrificing relationship with the family of God and at the same time have absolute confidence that you are a Christian

!! B. THE SOURCE OF CHRISTIAN LOVE WAS MANIFESTED IN CHRIST JESUS

#.

John tells us that not only does love comes from God, but that He sent His Son into the world that we might live through him—v.

9 /This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him/

#. as we experience Christ in us, and seek to live for him, we will naturally radiate His love for the Apostle John says God IS love

#. to live out that love we must first begin to grasp it, and when we grasp it we cannot help but live it out.

#. when we realize God loves us in spite of all our sin and disobedience, we’ll love others in spite of all they do that doesn’t please us

#. the Bible says God hates divorce—but if you’ve been through divorce, I want you to know God loves you

#. the Bible says God is truth and He hates lies, but if you’ve lied God still loves you

#. the Bible says gossip is sinful, but if you’ve cruelly injured someone else with your words, God loves you

#. the Bible says God’s people should be honest, but if you’ve cheated on your taxes, God loves you

#. the Bible says life is sacred to God, but if you’ve had an abortion, God loves you

* /“The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”/ (Psalm 103:8–12, NIV84)

#. but remember, like Jesus’ conversation with the women caught in adultery in John 8, he commands that we /repent and sin no more/

#. /repentance/ and /confession/ is one of the ways we express our love for God

#. because God is love, nothing you’ve done could make him love you any less and nothing you could do could make him love you any more

#.

if ever you doubt the depth of his love just think about the Love of Christ stretched out on a cross where he was nailed because he loved his sheep

* /“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”/

(1 John 4:10, NIV84)

#. the love of God that drove Him to offer His perfect Son is the love that as a Christian you are meant to have and express toward others—particularly other Christians

#. you say, /“But pastor, I’m only human, I don’t have that kind of love.”/

#. that’s right and that’s why this love can’t be a matter of a pastor’s guilt trip or a self help program

#. it has to be the real deal, flowing from Him, through you to the people around you

* ILLUS.

My dislike for my future brother-in-law.

#. the Bible tells us love is the fruit of the life filled with God’s Holy Spirit

#.

Jesus said, I am the vine and you are the branches, remain in me and you will bear much fruit

#. the fruit of love only comes about as we draw closer to Jesus

#. and when that fruit is lacking it’s not time to try harder to love, but time to draw closer to Him, confess your lack of love and ask Him to grow love in you

!

II.

CHRISTIAN LOVE REFLECTS GOD

* /“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.”/

(1 John 4:11–13, NIV84)