Living 3:16 – It's All About Love

John 3:16; 1 John 3:16-20; 4:15-18; 5:2-5
Related Sunday School Lesson, Bible Studies for Life, Mar. 16

Love. Everyone thinks about it, or better yet … craves it. That’s because our souls are designed for love, God’s love. In last week’s lesson, we learned about changes that make our church effective in a post-9/11 world. Today, we wrestle with this topic of “love.” We’re asking the question: How can God’s love turn our post-9/11 world right side up?

God loves you - John 3:16

It’s amazing! In our sin, pride, and arrogance, God chases us – reaches out to us. He sends Jesus to reconnect with us. God does that because He loves us more than we can ever comprehend. The truth of John 3:16 alters our lives and eternal destiny.

We repent and turn to Christ because of God’s love for us. But, salvation is only the beginning. God’s love has a huge impact on our world.

God’s love is in you - 1 John 3:16-20

1 John explains more about how God’s love changes our world. It was written to 1st century believers who had become too familiar with phrases like, “God loves you.” They said the words, but didn’t change their actions. God desired more. He wanted His love to change their behavior.

One of the central verses of 1 John is 3:18. According to this verse, God’s love dramatically influences our behavior. When this occurs, we live at peace in God’s presence (3:19).

I wonder. Do we experience little of God’s peace because we are like the first century believers? Do we only love with our words, but not our actions?

Most Christians that I know love other people. Don’t you? In fact, we’re “safe” as long as we ask the question, “Do we love?” But maybe that’s the wrong question. Maybe we miss God’s conviction because we’re not asking the right question. Instead of asking, “do we love?” maybe we should ask “whom do we love?”

The Christians in the first century loved. Their problem wasn’t in loving. Their problem was in choosing whom they would love … and whom they would shun.

Who do you shun? Who in your community never sees God’s love flow through you.If you’re like me, you have your reasons for not showing them love. But do those reasons hold water with God? When it comes to showing love, Jesus teaches us to look to “the least of these” around us (Matt. 25:45). In fact, Matthew 25 teaches us that the true test of God’s love is how we treat the “least” – or the needy – in our society.

How well does the evangelical church care for the poor? The diseased? How well do we help war-torn, poverty-ridden, disease-filled countries? Is this where we fail to love “with actions” (1 Jn 3:18)?

If Jesus tarries long enough, I believe that future generations will look back on today’s evangelical church and ask, “How could they have been so blind? How could they have missed such a clear teaching of Jesus? How could they own so much, but care so little for the poor, diseased, and needy?”

Do you believe America is under God’s judgment? I do. But if God is judging America, what are the core issues that concern Him the most? To find an answer, let’s look at the core reasons that God judged the nation of Israel.

Take a look at the summary in Ezekiel 22:29 – “committing extortion and robbery, oppressing the poor and needy, and mistreating the alien.” Not helping the poor always tops these lists. By the way, who was the “alien” that the Israelites were mistreating? Aliens were unwanted people from other countries. Sound familiar? We call them immigrants.

Early in the Old Testament, God judged Sodom. In your opinion, what sins topped Sodom’s list? Why was it destroyed? Have you ever wondered which sins God considered as Sodom’s central, core issue? Ezekiel 16:49 tell us. “Now this was the sin of our sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.”

Does Ezekiel 16:49 describe the American evangelical church? And how does God’s priority for loving the “least” in our society – the poor, needy, and the immigrant – compare with our priorities? If people listened to our complaints and watched our actions, would they say that we have a heart for the poor and needy? How about the immigrant?

God’s love moves you to obey - 1 John 5:2-5

I’ve been personally convicted by the realization that I don’t show God’s love to everyone. I pick and choose. I like to keep my hands clean. For too long, I’ve been arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned for the poor and needy. Not in my talk, of course. I’ve said the right things. The problem is my actions. 1 John 5:2 clearly teaches me that God’s love should change my actions.

The change has begun. Last Christmas was the first that we gave more to missions, the poor, and the Kingdom of God than we spent on ourselves. Our church is now feeding the poor and giving large sums to hurting families. We are looking at how we can help immigrants in our local schools. What can you do to show God’s love to the poor, needy, imprisoned, and hurting in your community? Why not start this week?

We started the lesson with the question: How can God’s love turn our post-9/11 world right-side-up? As I read the Bible, I see that how we treat the “least of these” is critical to impacting a post-9/11 world. Our world needs the church to answer God’s call. I’m responding. What about you?