By This We Know Love | 1 John 3:16–24 | The Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 25, 2021 | 10:45 a.m.
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Communion will be celebrated during this service. If you plan to visit with us, please read our communion statement.
READINGS
Acts 4:1–12
Psalm 23:1–6
1 John 3:16–24
John 10:11–18
Message presented by Rev. Frank C. Ruffatto
+Points to ponder
- What are some of the definitions the world gives us for ‘love’?
- What is Jesus’ definition of ‘love’ according to the Apostle John?
- By ‘what’ do we know love?
- How do you know that God loves you?
+Sermon Transcript
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father, and our Lord and King, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Let us Pray: Merciful Father, You gave Your Son Jesus Christ to be the Good Shepherd, and in His love for us to lay down His life and rise again: keep us always under His protection, and give us grace to follow in His steps; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Last week we heard from the Apostle John who said, “See what kind of Love the Father has given to us …” We celebrated that we are God’s adopted children, that our suffering as His children gives us hope, and that we will be whole and holy with Jesus forever. That is the kind of love the Father has given.
So, this week, on this Good Shepherd Sunday, the question is: ‘What Do We Know About Love’? Is not love what we all want? Is it not what we all need? If our readings today have the formula for love, well, by all means, we want to hear it!
Believe it or not, in one way or another, everybody loves. Even the worst people in history loved. But here is the thing: on our own, most of the time the object of our love is self. When we love something, it is generally because it brings us pleasure. When we hate someone or something, it is generally because it is a threat to us. But is love of self really love at all?
The apostle John writes in verses just before our text, “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.” Cain loved, but the object of his love was himself. His brother received recognition from God, and out of jealousy and love of self, Cain slew his brother. His love of self displayed itself as hate toward Abel. The message that we heard from the beginning is that we should love one another; but truth be told, we do not.
Another example of failed human love is in Jesus’ description of the religious leaders of his day. Their true love was not directed to those God had given them to care for, but rather their love was directed toward themselves. Jesus taught, “He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.” Remember, “This is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” But we do not.
The Law repeatedly proves that we are more like Cain and the hired hands than we would like to admit. We hesitate to share the Good News of Jesus because we fear being canceled more than we love Him. We falter when opportunity to get connected means the giving of our ourselves for others. We stumble when God calls us to sacrifice. We succumb to the world’s virtue signaling, pandering, and nebulous definition of love – ‘love is love’ – when we know it ultimately is not, and it leads away from God.
But, beloved, we are driven by different motives and an altogether different spirit than the unregenerate world. The impetus for unanimity and love is not the Law or fearful compulsion, but rather the Spirit of love given and gifted to the regenerate.
And if we are honest, what did love of self do for Cain and the false teachers? It led Cain to a fear of God that saw no hope, and it led to his lonely exile and rejection from others. Where did it lead the religious leaders of whom Jesus spoke? It led them to fear enemies and to actions for the sake of self-preservation. Their love of self also led to fear of God, without hope, and to self-imposed exile. Love of self really does no good for anyone, not even for us. We need something other than the love of self.
The message of Easter reveals a different kind of love. It is a love that has “the other” as the object of its affection. It is a love that lays down one’s life for the sake of the other. It is a love that is confident and unafraid because it lacks nothing. It is not motivated by fear of loss, but rather it recognizes that it has received everything, and so it freely gives.
Contrasting self-love with the love that we learn from God, John writes, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us.” This is really something if you think about it. People tell us that we must earn their respect. We understand that we must earn a paycheck. When people tell us that they love us, it is often followed by “because,” and that word is usually accompanied by something we did. For example, “I love you because you are always there for me.” Or, “I love you because you are such a good friend.” This is not wrong, and when we hear words like that, we feel good that we brought something good to someone else’s life.
But John is not talking about a love that we have earned. Did we deserve to have God lay down His life for us? No. The love that God has made known is far different from any other love. “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak ... Christ died for the ungodly... God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us... While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.” That is love.
And Jesus gives this love willingly. He says, “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep... I am the Good Shepherd... I lay down My life for the sheep... No one takes [My life] from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” Jesus laid down His life and took it up again for us. This is the message of Easter: “By this we know love.”
We receive and know this love every time we gather around our Good Shepherd in Word and Sacrament. Jesus says, “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you... Drink; this is My blood which is shed for you.” Here Jesus gives to you, His love; here is where you receive it. His love, which was first “poured out on us richly” in our Baptism, continues to be received by us in His Supper.
Moreover, in the absolution, He unflinchingly reveals to us that His love has covered even the sins that bring us guilt and shame. And by His same love, that guilt and shame is removed. All of this is made possible because He laid down his life for the sheep and took it up again. Lent and Easter get at the heart of how we know love.
John lets us know that this love cannot be contained by those who receive it. If a person receives Jesus’ love, he, in turn, loves others. David put it this way: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” You and I then can say, “You prepare for me the table at Your Supper, and You have anointed my head with the water of Baptism, and Your love for me cannot help but overflow.”
This does not mean that you will be sinless. I want you to know that. And no one should look to his own actions to assure himself that he is going to heaven. But, if I notice that I am not letting God’s love have its way with me, meaning that my love for others has failed, then I return to God’s love in Christ. For that is where I know love and that is where I find the source of my love for others. It is because Jesus laid down His life for me that I would be able to lay down my life for others.
So, John continues, “And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He has commanded us.” As Lutherans, we have always understood that obedience to God’s commandments begins with the Father’s love for us in Jesus. Jesus united us to Himself in Baptism and thereby connected us with the greatest act of love the universe has ever known – Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sin.
And more, Jesus continues to grant us this same love in His Supper. And upon receiving the Supper, we sometimes pray, “We give thanks to You, almighty God, that You have refreshed us through this salutary gift, and we implore You that of Your mercy You would strengthen us through the same in faith toward You and in fervent love toward one another.”
You see, we understand that “we should love one another,” and in that prayer after the Lord’s Supper, we recognize that the source of our love for others and faith toward God begins with knowing Jesus’ love for us. “By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us.” Amen.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Some sermon study helps from Rev. John J. Bombaro, Ph.D. at 1517.org and Rev. Justin A. Herman, (Concordia Pulpit Resources – CPH, Missouri) Volume 31 Part 2, Year B