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Well, good morning I'd like to
be the first family member to thank you all for coming and
supporting my brother on this his special day and his birthday
So happy birthday All right, please turn with me if you have
your Bibles to the first epistle of John 1st John and chapter
4 I'll begin the reading in verse
7. 1st John chapter 4 beginning
at verse 7. Hear now the word of the Lord.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever
loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not
love does not know God because God is love. In this, the love
of God was made manifest among us that God sent his only son
into the world so that we might live through him. In this love,
Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son
to be a propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved
us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God. If we love one another, God abides
in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we
abide in him and he in us because he has given us his spirit. And we have seen and testified
that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus
is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. So we have
come to know and to believe that love that God has for us. God is love and whoever abides
in love abides in God. And God abides in him. By this
is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for
the Day of Judgment, because as He is also, are we in this
world. There is no fear in love, but
perfect love casts out fear. Fear has to do with punishment,
and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. And now the
verse for this morning. We love because He first loved
us. Thus far the reading of God's
Holy Word. Let us turn to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father,
We thank you for this day. We pray and ask dear Lord that
you may be with us in a special way as we listen to your words
from this text. We pray and ask Lord for your
blessing to be upon Joe and Kathy as they begin their life together
today. For we pray asking all this through Christ our Lord
and Savior's name. Amen. I'll read once again verse 19
of 1st John 4. We love because He first loved us. Marriage is the first institution
that God created. It is a very important institution.
It is so important that the work of Christ is at stake in a Christian
marriage. Christian marriages are so key
to the kingdom of God because they are used repeatedly as an
example of Christ's relationship with his church and even his
work. So therefore it is important
that Christian marriages are kept strong and reflect what
God intended them to be. And also, I would like all of
us to keep in mind that we cannot have a good marriage relationship
if we do not have a good relationship with God who created marriage. The Apostle Peter says this very
clearly in his epistle. He says that unless, speaking
especially to the man, unless you honor your wife as the weaker
vessel, our prayers will be hindered. We'll find difficulty in praying. We might lose our appetite or
even our desire to pray. We might have a sense of not
even being heard and we might in fact not see answers to our
prayers. See, we cannot grow in our relationship
with God if we do not have a good relationship with our wives.
If we undermine that relationship, then our relationship with God
also will be undermined. So I cannot stress this morning
how important the marriage relationship is. And the two of you have chosen
a very beautiful verse, one that talks about love. And that's
what I'm going to seek to open up in these few moments that
we have together. So 1st John 4 verse 19 says,
we love because God first loved us. We see firstly that our love
is born of God. And so we want to look firstly
at the origin of this love. So here's love's origin. He first
loved us. That is, God loved us. God is
the source of this love. This love comes from God. God loves. God is not just an
impassive or unemotional or passionless being. But this love comes from
God's own love, which is a love that is self-originated, a love
that is self-sustained, that is unbought and spontaneous. The language here that we find
in this verse where it says, we love because God first loved
us, is very forceful language. It says, we love, this is assuming
firstly that we are Christians. We love, we Christians love. This is not because of any credit
of our own. but because He first loved us. He is the one who initiated it.
And how did He love us? Well, He loved us as we read
from verse 7, that He loved us by sending His Son to die on
the cross. God first loved us by giving
us His only begotten Son to die for our sins. And John 3.16 perfectly
puts it, where it says, For God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son. that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have eternal life. And so from this we see
that the cross of Christ is the extreme demonstration of God's
love for His people. He loved us, us who are weak
and frail, sinners, traitors, and fallen ones. God loved us
who want nothing to do with Him. When we were at our very worst,
He gave us His very best. 1 John 4 verse 10 says, In this
is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. This love is all on God's side
and none on our side. He loved us, though we were all
together unworthy of love. And the Greek here expresses
to us here that this love... to do with us. But it was everything
to do with God. At a time when we were most unlovable,
God loved us by sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this is the origin of
love. It is God's love. It begins with God. He first
loved us. But secondly, we want to see
what this love is. What this love is. Well, the
definition I found is that this love here is righteousness and
benevolence acting in harmony. See, love is not a feeling that
you fall into or out of, but rather it is a commitment. Your
love is not something that you give and take based on favorable
or unfavorable situations. Love is a deep commitment that
is rooted in the love of God. Love is not something that we
summon within ourselves, but is something that begins with
God. God is the source and initiator
of love. And the word for love used in
this verse is from the word Agape, which I'm sure we're all familiar
with. Agape is a love that you exercise
as a choice of your will. It is a love of choice. It is
the love of God. It is a love that values and
serves unconditionally. It is the way God loved us when
we were still sinners. It is to have, if you will, a
principled disposition of goodwill towards another person which
goes out of its way to promote their welfare at even your own
expense. And this definition of love emphasizes
that this love, this agape love, is not an impulse that comes
from any feelings that we have on the inside. It does not run
with our natural inclinations, but it is an action. Agape love is a giving love. This love seeks to give rather
than to get. It is a love which gladly and
willingly makes sacrifices for others. Agape love keeps on loving
even when the person you're loving does not respond in kind. Agape love seeks the good of
the other person. It tries to the very utmost of
its power to avoid anything that is harmful and offensive or abusive
or even demeaning to the other person. And within marriage,
within the marriage relationship, this love means that neither
husband nor wife belittle each other. Within the marriage relationship,
this love does not subject the spouse to any physical, mental,
or emotional abuse. Agape love turns the heart towards
the other and away from self. And so what does this love look
like? Well, we see a picture of this
in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verses 4 through 8. It says, Love is
patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It
does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing,
but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes
all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never
ends. And so I ask this morning, so
what? We've seen what this love is. We've seen where it comes from. We've seen its source. And so
what? Well, we see that if God first
loves us, how ungrateful and unjust will it be if we don't
do our part in loving in return. See, God's love to us is the
grand motive for us to love one another. 1 John 4 verse 11 says,
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. Everyone that loves is born of
God. This is the mark of a true believer.
This is the mark of a true Christian. And this should never be forgotten. When we are born of God, we love
like God loves. We love unconditionally. We love
even when it's not deserved. We love when the recipient is
at their worst. We love without expecting anything
in return. We love sacrificially. We love
at our own expense. We love even when we don't feel
like loving. We love selflessly. We love,
as your verse says, because He first loved us. So this means,
Joe and Kathy, that your marriage is to be a Christ-centered marriage. See, a beautiful wedding does
not guarantee that you will have a great marriage. It is only
the presence of the Lord. It is only a commitment to Him
by both of you that guarantees a great marriage. And my dear brother Joe, Here are a few things that I've
learned over these past few years. Lead Kathy. Love Kathy. Lead her. Do not be domineering
and do not be passive. Lead as a head. There is a huge
difference from being a ruler and a head. A head is attached
to the body. A head is part of the body and
it cares for the body. A ruler is not. Lead as a head
leads the body. Lead also as a servant. Christ came to serve and to save. And so we lead by listening. See your beautiful wife here
as a wonderful resource. Ask her advice. Listen to her
counsel. Love her. Because I know we as
men have a tendency not to, and at even a time sadly abuse our
position. But I encourage you to love her
as your own body. Love your wife as Christ loved
the church. This love that you have for Kathy
ought to be a priority. Just as Christ put the church
first, so you put your wife first. Just as Christ only has eyes
for the church, so it should be with you. Sanctify her with
your love as Christ does the church. Sacrifice yourself for
her, just as Christ gave his life for his church. Do not just
say, I love you to her, but show it in practical ways, just as
Christ does for the church. Love her, not only when she attracts
you, but also when she offends you. Christ is the model of your
love. And if someone is to come into
your home and watch your marriage, they should be able to leave
having seen a wonderful image of the way Christ loves His Church. And now, my dear sister Kathy, we talked about this verse a
few months ago, Ephesians 5 verse 22. Wives submit to your own
husbands as to the Lord. I read this verse knowing that
today this word submission is a very dreadful word. But this
word is not meant to cause any fear in any woman. It is not
a dictatorship that is being described here in this passage,
but rather it is God's design for a healthy marriage. This
is so that a woman may flourish in the role that God has designed
for her. And the best picture of this
type of submission, which the Apostle Paul is talking about
here, is seen and modeled in the Lord Jesus Christ in His
submission to His Father's will. And why is Christ's submission
to His Father's will a good model for any woman to follow? Well, because Christ and the
Father are equal. They are essentially equal. The
Father and the Son are equal in power and equal in glory. equal in identity, equal in personhood,
and equal in essence. And likewise, the man and the
woman are essentially equal, like the father and the son are
equal. Equal in personhood, equal in
identity, equal in essence, and equal in value. And as equal as the father and
the son and the spirit are equal, There is no difference at all. Not even an inch of difference. And so it is between the both
of you. There is no difference at all.
And despite having that equality, we see from the scriptures that
the Lord Jesus Christ took on the servant role to the glory
of God the Father. This was something that Christ
delighted to do, and He spoke about often, especially when
we read the Gospel of John. He was equal to the Father throughout
His earthly life, but for a limited amount of time, and for a specific
purpose, He took on the role as a servant. It was a functional
role. He took on the functional role
as a servant to fulfill the Father's will to the glory of God and
to the salvation of sinners. He submitted himself to the Father's
will. And so just as Christ had submitted himself to the will
of the Father, so too is the woman called to submit to the
headship of her husband for a limited period of time to the glory of
God the Father. But at no point does this submission
make a woman cease to be essentially equal to the husband. They're
always equal. You are both equal. It is just
the roles that are different. But I would like to, both of
you, to keep this in mind. This is not going to be easy.
because both of you have to fulfill the roles that God has given
you. This will only be delightful
if the man loves his wife as Christ loves the church. And so, Joe and Kathy, we rejoice
with you and are thankful for this union that has begun this
day. And so I say to you that from
this day forward, as you walk down this path of life together,
remember the words of your wedding verse. We love because He first
loved us. And so go forth and live out
the words of your verse. Amen. Let's turn to the Lord
in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you once again for your Word. We thank you once again for this
reminder that We love because you first loved us. Thank you
for sending your son. Thank you for the gift of the
Lord Jesus Christ, for him coming and willing to live the life
of a servant. and save us from our sins. We
pray, Lord, that the example of the Lord Jesus Christ may
be reflected powerfully in the marriage of Joe and Kathy. Please be with them. Please guide
them. We pray, Lord, that you may be
the center of their marriage, that they may always look to
you, always run to you, always keep you first as the foundation
upon which they build their marriage. Please bless them. Please help
them grow more and more each day in love for each other and
in love for you. We thank you also, dear Lord,
for all who have come to witness and celebrate with us. Please
be with each and everyone gathered here. For we ask this through
Christ our Lord and Savior's name. Amen.
We love because he first loved us
We love because he first loved as
| Sermon ID | 53015631370 |
| Duration | 23:03 |
| Date | |
| Category | Wedding |
| Bible Text | John 4:19 |
| Language | English |
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