How Do You Spell Love?  J*E*S*U*S
A sermon for Christ’s Church at Monticello March 25, 2007
Gregg A. Nydegger

1 John 4:7-12 (NIV)
7    Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8    Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
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.
10    This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11    Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12    No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

THIS IS A TEST

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NIV)
1    If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2    If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3    If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

1 Thessalonians 4:9 (NIV)
9    Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.

Galatians 5:22 (NIV)
22    But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23    gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

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


GOD IS LIGHT (1 JOHN 1:5)
GOD IS SPIRIT (JOHN 4:24)
GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE (HEBREWS 12:29)

Romans 1:18 (NIV)
18    The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

Acts 17:31 (NIV)
31    For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.  He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."

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.

Romans 5:8 (NIV)
8    But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
HOLINESS?  JUSTICE?  MERCY?  GRACE?
ALL BECAUSE OF JESUS!

Romans 3:25-26 (NIV
25    God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.  He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—
26    he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

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

Matthew 18:23-25 (NIV)
23    "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24    As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.
25    Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26    "The servant fell on his knees before him.  'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.'
27    The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28    "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.  He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
29    "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
30    "But he refused.  Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
31    When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32    "Then the master called the servant in.  'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
33    Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?'
34    In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35    "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

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


    Copyright 2007 Gregg A. Nydegger