Acts 8:26-40; 1 John 4:1-11; John 15:1-8
The
single panel comic strip "Love is …" was first published in 1970.
Since then there have been thousands of descriptions of love presented through
its iconic characters. One would think that the comic strip writers would have
exhausted the descriptions of love by now, but they continue to produce new
daily editions. These various expressions of human love remind us that love is
many faceted and that it evolves, like the characters in "Love is …",
through various stages of life and relationships. While "Love is …"
is a celebration of human love, with all of its faults and failures, it serves
to remind us of the perfect love that God has shown to us in Jesus. It also
raises the question, how would we describe what Christian love is?
Christian
love is also many faceted and based in relationships. The driving relationship
of Christian love is God's love for us. Answering what love in this context is
simple because the Bible spells it out for us very clearly, "This is
love," He explains, "not that we loved God but that He loved us and
sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." God's love for us is
sacrificial, other-serving, fully committed, and costly. Hardly the stuff of
which cute comic strips are made of and certainly not the kind of love that
stirs the hearts of people in our culture. In contrast to the sinful human love
that is driven by "what's in it for me?", God's love for us is rooted
in giving, not receiving; serving, not being served; and, benefiting others,
not benefiting oneself.
The
second relationship of Christian love is found in our love for God. This love
is a love of response. Love never starts with us, but always begins with God.
"We love," His Word says, "because He first loved us." But
what does this love look like? How do we love God? How can we depict a
"Love is …" kind of illustration of our love for God? Only by
expressing love for God by loving one another. It is in this third relationship
of Christian love, the love of our neighbor, that our love of God shows itself.
A "Love of God is …" comic strip series would include all kinds of
works that we do to give to others, serve those in need, and use what God has
entrusted to us for the benefit of people in our community, nation, and beyond.
The depictions of true love for God are inexhaustible, but they can be summed
up in a single phrase: "Love is … bearing fruit." By God's grace and
through His love, the fruit we bear is love.
Audio file of the sermon for the 5th Sunday of Easter
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