Grace and Peace to you from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and may our Lord and Savior sanctify you in
the truth, for His word is truth. Amen
The Fifth Sunday of Easter (2009)
Because God Loves, We Should Love
1 John 4:7-11 (ESV)
Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born
of God and knows God. [8] Anyone who
does not love does not know God, because God is love. [9] In this the love of God was made manifest
among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live
through him. [10] In this is love, not
that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins. [11] Beloved,
if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Love: what a wonderful subject for Mother’s Day.
Love is a universal need of man. Our heavenly Father reminds husbands to love
their wives, and wives to love their husbands, and children to love their
parents and each of us is to love our neighbor. Love is most beneficial in
keeping a godly family together and in ensuring harmony among people. However, within
the human realm of love; a mother’s love always seems special.
Moms are so instrumental in the lives of children.
Many of you, I’m sure, have fond memories of your Mom constantly worrying about
you, hovering over you like a hen with her chick. Telling you things like, “Don't
make that face or it'll freeze in that position” or “What if everyone jumped
off a cliff? Would you do it, too?” Mom’s advice and admonition always stemmed
from her great love for you. Not only did she have your immediate welfare in
mind, but often she would give you great advice to take with you into
adulthood, such as, “If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at
all.” Mom was always right because mom always had your best interest at heart.
There are many kinds and degrees of human love:
friendship, romantic love, and parental love to name but a few, but a mother’s
love is an exceptional kind of love, a love that is a very special part of
every child’s life. Yet, we must not forget, as special and as important as a mother’s
love is, it cannot replace God’s love in our life. This is because God’s love
is above all earthly love, for God’s love is a love that extends to all
mankind, regardless of circumstance, family, or pedigree. We are blessed to
take refuge in the shadow of God’s wings (Psalm 36:7) as He shows His love for
us telling us; He “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the
truth” (1 Tim. 2:4 ESV). There is no love greater than the love of our
heavenly Father? Therefore, today, let us with the guidance of the Holy Spirit
come to the knowledge that because
God Loves, We Should Love.
Understanding how we can
differentiate between human love and God’s love is the focus of
Thus, this applied brotherly love is what the holy
writer means in our text in which he goes on to say: “No one has ever seen God; if we
love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we
know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit”
(vv. 12-13). This divine love at work in God’s people here in the world
affords us a vision of the invisible God.
Obviously, since God is spirit, nobody has ever seen
Him with the eyes of the flesh. However, we have seen God with the eyes of
faith in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. Moreover, there is a contemporary
vision of God for us—a vision that is granted when the practice of brotherly
love by Christ-filled men and women prove the truth that God dwells in us and
that we dwell in Him. Our Lord Jesus said, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is
that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 ESV).
Thus, the indwelling Spirit of Christ dwells in our hearts, leading us to love
others and to do “good works” for others. This,
This miracle of God’s love leads us in our daily
walk through life. By His love we are enabled to love our neighbor. His love
teaches us to place our needs and our desires secondary to others. His love
strengthens us to become true servants to others, humbling ourselves for their
sake. However, things would be quite different without God’s love. Therefore,
faced with this truth, God’s love for us takes on a new meaning if we imagine
for just a moment what Christ might have said on that fateful night in the
Faced with the horrendous prospect of enduring an
agonizing punishment for our lovelessness and lawlessness, in order to redeem
we who were unworthy of redemption, Christ might have said: “Heavenly Father,
I’ve changed My mind. I don’t want to go through this misery. The price We are
paying is too much for Me to bear and too high for what We are accomplishing.
Maybe, if You’re still interested in Your plan to save mankind, We can find
another way? Man thinks very highly of himself and his efforts anyway; why not just
let man save himself? I believe I prefer this to the horrible ordeal I am going
to have to face in the morning. Truth is, My days on earth have taught Me that
man really is not worth saving. I know heavenly Father what is in the heart of
man and it’s not good. I’ve seen bitterness, discord, dissension, littleness,
meanness, and selfishness. His pride is his undoing. There is nothing there
that is really worth saving. Why don’t We just forget the whole thing!
Thank God, this is not what Christ said. Instead our
Lord Jesus actually said, “Yet not what I will, but what you will”
(Mark
Such love the world had never known and sadly such
love many in the world still do not know. The love most of the world seeks and
desires is simply a worldly love; one that is temporary and subjective; one
that is focused on passing things. However, depending on the root of that love
and on its depth, it may well be a true, sacrificial love, one that places the
holder of such love in servitude to the object loved. Such love is a mother’s
love.
All a mother does is for the benefit of her
children. She willingly and gladly sacrifices of herself for her children’s
needs. Moreover, a mother is deeply wounded whenever one of her children turns
against her and seeks after that which will harm them and she is filled with
grief when one of her children precedes her in death. However, motherly love,
sacrificial love, does not go unrewarded; for children who are blessed with a truly
loving mother, returns that love all their lives. They may be out of the home,
making lives for themselves, yet their mother is always with them, close to
their hearts and their desire is to see their mother as often as they can.
Such was the case with our Lord’s mother, Mary, when
she stood at the foot of the cross watching her son’s life ebb from His body.
Yet, even in the throes of death, our Lord thought of His mother. Remembering
her love He said, “‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then
he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple
took her to his own home. (John 19:26-27 ESV). Concern for His mother
still filled our Lord’s heart, even more than the pain of crucifixion. Thus,
His mother Mary was rewarded by the love of a loving Son. Moreover, from that
same cross He looked upon all humanity and said, “Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do” (Luke
This concern, this love, is God’s love toward us. Although
we are steeped in sin, He is always willing to forgive. He sends us His Holy
Spirit through His means of Grace, His Saving Word of the Gospel and the
sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper to fill our hearts with faith
so we can believe in the atoning sacrifice of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
Through these means He comes to us and says I love you with a love that is
greater than any love you have ever known and He asks, “How about you, do you
love others”
As you leave here this morning going to your family
reunions where you will joyously celebrate the love of your mothers on this Mother’s
Day, remember our heavenly Father who loved you first so you could love (v. 19)
and who teaches you through the Holy Spirit, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we
also ought to love one another” (v. 11). Amen.
May the peace of God, which passes all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.