God Loved Us First
May 17, 2009 Sixth Sunday of Easter
Last week on Mother’s Day I spoke about some of the things moms teach us that are found in 1 John 4. I’m going to talk about that passage a little more this morning, especially these words:
1 John 4:10: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
There is a profound truth in this passage that we all need to get a hold of: He loved us first! And wrapped up in that is the understanding that love in its purest form is His love for us, not our love for Him!
This thought is contained in much of the Scripture we have shared in our service today.
Psalm 98 “He has remembered His promise to love and be faithful to Israel” (yes, long before we ever loved Him!”
His love was first!
John 15:9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me.”
You may never have picked up on this before, but think about the sequence here. First the Father loved Jesus; then Jesus loved us; then we are commanded to love one another.
Going back to 1 John 4, let’s look at a couple of more verses there.
1 John 4:7 …for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”
If everyone who loves has been born of God, then we were transformed by His Love FIRST in order to even know who He is! His love for us is what allows us to know Him and be born again!
1 John 4:11 “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. “
Since God so loved us…He loved us first! That is empowers us to love each other.
Why is this important? Why is it significant? What difference does it make who loved whom first? Understanding this gives us a clear understanding of who we are as Christians. It would be nearly impossible for us to keep the command “love one another” unless we first understood that we are God’s adopted children, dearly loved by Him from before the day we were born, and constantly being molded into His image. If we did not believe that, we would never find the encouragement, the strength, or the will to attempt to love our own friends and families, much less our enemies!
I read recently that if a Hebrew-speaking Israeli were to invite you to go to lunch with him, he would do so in such a way that would be translated into English as “Me and you will have lunch today.” That doesn’t sound correct in English, to put the pronoun “me” at the beginning of the sentence, but it is done that way purposely. “Me and you will have lunch today.” Why? Because in Hebrew, the person who is mentioned first pays the bill! This is why, in Scripture, God says
Genesis 17:7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
…between me and you… Who pays? The answer, of course, is in the passage I started with today
1 John 4:10: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
God pays the tab. His love is immeasurable, beyond our comprehension, so vast that it covers everything, and it is everlasting! He is our loving Father. And through His Word, He has written us a love letter.
I’m going to share with you a compilation of Scripture passages that I came across recently called “A Letter from Your Dad.”
My Child,
Before I formed you in your mother’s womb, I knew you. When you were woven together in the depths of the earth, My eyes saw your unformed body. I created your inmost being; I knit you together in your mother’s womb. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, and you are created in My image.
I did this so that you would reach out for Me and find Me, for you are not far from Me. When you seek Me with all your heart, you will find Me!
In me you live and move and have your being. You are My child! All the days ordained for you were written in My book. I know the number of hairs on your head!
You have relied on Me since your birth and you can rely on Me forever. Do not fear, I am with you. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
If earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more will I, your heavenly Father, give good gifts to My children? I lavish my love on you! Every good and perfect gift comes from above, coming down from Your Father of Lights. I do not change like the shifting shadows. I have no turning. I am the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
I long to give you the desires of your heart. I know the plans I have for you! Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future. I can do immeasurably more for you than can even ask or imagine.
I carry you like a lamb close to my heart. I am closest to the brokenhearted and those who are crushed in spirit.
Nothing can separate you from My love, the love I have given to you in my Son, Jesus. Neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation can separate us!
Come home to me. Come home! For I rejoice more over one sinner who comes home than over ninety-nine righteous people! Come home and I shall throw a big party!
I will live with you. I will be your God and you will be my child. I will wipe every tear from your eye. There will be no more mourning or crying or pain.
I love you with an everlasting love,
Your Dad
My friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
