To Love and Not Be Loved in Return

(Sunday message for House Church and individual use: preached Valentine’s Day – 2/20/2021)

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

(1 John 4:10)

Introduction

What is love? This is what the world’s chief poet says.

“If it prove so, then loving goes by haps: some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.” (Shakespeare, William. “Much Ado About Nothing, Acts 3, Scene 1.” The Complete Works of Shakespeare, from the Original Text. The Wellfleet Press, 1989. 238.)

What is love? This is what the world’s chief source of knowledge says.

“Love encompasses
- a range of strong
- and positive
  - emotional and
  - mental states,
- from the most
  - sublime virtue
  - or good habit,
- the deepest
  - interpersonal affection,
  - to the simplest pleasure.” (“Love.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 26 Jan. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love. Accessed 12 Feb. 2021.)

What is love? This is what God’s chief source of knowledge says.

“Herein is love…” (1 John 4:10)

1 John, chapter 4 vs. 1 Corinthians 13

I. You do not love God.

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

A. You are too ignorant to love God.

“There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” (Romans 3:11)

B. You are too busy loving yourself to love God.

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

C. You too busy hating to love God.

“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:10)

II. God loves you.

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

A. God’s love can fulfill your limp lost leaderless existence.

“But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36)

B. God’s love can fulfill your silly shallow existence.

“Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.” (Mark 10:21)

C. God’s love can fulfill your dead decaying existence.

“And said, ‘Where have ye laid him?’ They said unto him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, ‘Behold how he loved him!” (John 11:34-36)

III. God did something about his love for you.

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

A. God loved his neighbor… and did something about it.

“And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31)

B. God loved his friends… and did something about it.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

C. God loved his friend… and did something about it.

22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.” (Genesis 3:22-23)

Conclusion: God loves you… and did something about it.

“And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;” (Luke 1:67-69)

OUTLINE:

To Love and Not Be Loved in Return

(A Message to the Multitudes)

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

I. You do not love God.

II. God loves you.

III. God did something about his love for you.

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people.” (Luke 1:68)

WORSHIP:

The History Behind St. Valentine

Opening:

The Love of God