Oakbrook Evangelical Free Church

Introduction:

Did you know that the North American Common Porcupine is a member of the rodent family that has around 30,000 quills attached to his body.

            Each quill can be driven into an enemy and the enemy’s body heat

            Will cause the microscopic barb to expand and become more firmly

            embedded.

                        The Latin name for porcupine means “the irritable back”

 

Books and movies celebrate dogs and cats and horses, even pigs and spiders and bears and killer whales.  Even skunks have Pepe Le Pew.

But do you know of any famous Porcupines?

 

Porcupines have two methods of dealing with relationships:

            Withdrawal and attack.  They head for a tree or stick out quills.

            Therefore they are generally solitary animals.

                        Wolves run in packs; sheep huddle in flocks; there are herds of

                        Elephants, gaggles of geese and murders of cows. 

            But there is no name for a group of Porcupines bec/ they travel alone.

 

They don’t always want to be alone.  In late autumn their thoughts turn to love.  Females are open for dinner and a movie only once a year.  A girl Porcupine’s “no” is the most widely respected turndown in all the animal kingdom.

 

People yearn to connect too.  To love and to be loved.  This is the fiercest longing of the soul.  Edward Hallowell, senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School speaks of this basic human need as “connection” – being a part of something that matters, the need for face to face interactions, to be known and loved “as is”.  We need to bind ourselves to each other with promises of love and loyalty.  Hallowell says that people drawn life even from connecting to pets, to music and to nature.

 

A Porcupine’s dilemma is this: how do you get close without getting hurt?

That’s our dilemma too.  We want to love and to be loved.

            But everyone carries an arsenal of little barbs like being very sensitive,

            feeling hurt, being angry and resentful, arrogant, selfish, envious and

            negative. 

The Bible says that we are born sinners.  Theologians call this “total depravity”  That means that sin has adversely effected everyone and every area of our lives so that we are unable to seek or approach God.

            From teaching little children how to get along, have manners, put others

            ahead of themselves, we all engage in “depravity management”

The problem is that everyone is a Porcupine.

Would you like a solution?

Mark 2:17 “And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” ” ESV

 

John Piper says this means: Uncle Sam won’t enlist you in his service unless you are healthy and Jesus won’t enlist you unless you are sick.  Christianity is fundamentally convalescence.  “Pray without ceasing” = Keep buzzing the nurse.

 

I.          The Source of Love, 4:7-10

A.         God is love, 4:8

3 terms are used as comprehensive descriptions of God.

1.         “God is spirit”  John 4:24

2.         “God is light” 1 John 1:5

3.         “God is love” 1 John 4:8

This is the way God is in the core of His being.  Not just a specific virtue among many others.  More far-reaching than “love comes from God”. God’s love is without measure.  It has no beginning or end.  It encompasses and controls all His other qualities and all that He does.

 

God’s love is not mere affection.  It is the free choice of God to eternally give of himself to others to bring about blessing and good and happiness to others.  He does not by effort maintain love – it is the very nature of His

being.  Love is his primary motive.  God has no need on which He depends on others to supply. 

            He is always the host.

                        He is always the giver.

                                    He is always the one imparting to others.

 

Substitute your mother, father, friend or hero for God. “My mother is love”

In many cases mothers may be the most loving people we know.

But love does not characterize her as it does God.

And because God is love, love comes from God.

 

B.         Love Comes from God, 4:7

God is the unfailing source of all love.

Like electricity flows throw electrical wires so love comes from God.

It the person without Christ ever expresses true love it is because he or she was created in God’s image.

            And if the Christian expresses true love it is because he or she

            Hangs out in God’s presence and is living in dependence on God’s

Spirit.

 

2 Thessalonians 2:16 “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,” ESV

 

Revelation 1:5 “and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” ESV

 

At times we live with a sense of dread.

            The Fall into sin has given us a sense that Murphy’s Law really is true.

            At times we all anticipate “when will the other shoe fall”.

 

But even when suffering comes and bad things happen the Scripture says

Romans 8:35 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” ESV

 

Romans 8:39 “nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. ” ESV

 

Those who’ve placed their faith in Christ have become the children of God.

He is our Father.  And the shepherd and guardian of our souls does discipline us.  But even in the midst of explaining God’s discipline we are assured…
Hebrews 12:5-6,10 “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives….For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.” ESV

 

C.         The Proof of God’s Love, 4:9-10

Not discussing an abstract concept. 

God’s love shows itself in the self-giving act of God.

God sent His one and only Son to provide eternal life for us.

And his expression of love was not in response to our love.

God took the initiative to reach out to us.  Love does not wait for the other person to make the move toward relationship.

Love alone could make the sacrifice required for sinners to be saved.

 

John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” ESV

 

Galatians 2:20 “…the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” ESV

 

 

God’s love shows itself in good will.

            He cares for you.

            He is patient toward you.

            He does not temp anyone with evil.

God’s love shows itself in friendship.

            Matthew 11:19 Jesus was “a friend of sinners”

 

Story:  Ortberg, page 41          

 

Here - Three Emphases:

1.         The life-giving power of God’s love., 4:9

Christ’s death provides a means by which we can have life.

 

Separation from God means sadness.

Restoration to fellowship with God means joy.

No Christian can have fullness of joy without vital fellowship w/ JC.

 

2.         The life-giving love of God was not a response to our love for Him but was initiated by God Himself.

1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” ESV

 

Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” ESV

 

II.         The Inspiration of Love, 4:11-16

As God revealed his love among us then by sending Jesus Christ.

So God reveals his love among us now by sending us to love each other.

            We so often find it difficult to accept expressions of love from others.

            We are proud and independent and have the idea that we don’t want

            to be beholden to anyone. 

Do we not see that the concrete expressions of love that people show us are in actuality direct expressions of love from God Himself?

 

3.         There is a 3^rd emphasis here: There is an expectation that we will express the life-giving love we’ve experienced to others. 4:11

 

Let us love one another, 4:7a

Love comes to us from God and then flows through us to others.

John encourages us to allow God’s love to flow through them.

The wellspring of love is God.

 

God’s love is reciprocal.  Jesus said “I love the Father”

            And we follow His example by loving Him back.

 

He loves us passionately and He loves to be loved passionately.

Matthew 22:37-39 “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ESV

 

“Is it true that God loves me as a Christian?  The why do I ever grumble…why am I distrustful…why do I allow myself to grow cold… why do I allow my loyalties to be divided?”  J.I. Packer

 

1 John 1:5  “God is light”   Like the “glow in the dark” objects.  Hang out with light and it will reflect light.  “God is love” means that if you hang out with God you will show love.

 

Familiar folk song in my HS days…Lemon Tree, father giving son advice

“Don’t put your faith in love, my boy…I fear you’ll find that love is like the lovely lemon tree…Lemon tree very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.” 

            Means: dream about love, sing about love, write about love but

            Avoid it for it does not bring hope and joy, only hopelessness and

Disappointment and bitterness.

 

Is the hope of love in the church the same?  Is love in the church a hoax?

Worse than a bad joke – while promising love, when you get there, there is no love?

 

Go back to 4:7-8

Stated positively. 4:7

Stated negatively, 4:8

“Claiming to know God while failing to love others is like claiming to have intimate knowledge of a foreigner while remaining ignorant of his or her native tongue.”  John Stott.

 

Absence of love shows that a person does not have intimate fellowship with God.  It does not show he or she has never been born again.  But it does show that we are or aren’t living in close relationship with Him.

 

God is love and those who live in close relationship with God will express His love.  Even when we’ve responded or acted in an unloving way, when we connect with God in fellowship He will bring to our attention the lack of love we’ve expressed in our relationships.

            It is unfailing and inevitable.

No one has seen God in his pure essence.

1st exception – the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld the glory of God.  He is the exact representation of God’s likeness. 

 

2^nd  exception – when the love of God flows through us God lives in us and his love flows through us.

 

How is this type of love possible?

1.         Through the indwelling Holy Spirit

1 John 4:13 “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” ESV

 

Romans 5:5 “and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” ESV

 

Love is the fruit of the Spirit – Galatians 5:22

 

Do you see it?  Through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

 

2.         This indwelling Spirit comes through salvation, 4:14-15

 

3.         Through vital fellowship with God, 4:16

The disciples saw the love of God in Jesus Christ who is our Savior

And we can see God too in the manifestation of his love in Chrst

And in the life-giving power of God’s love flowing to us through the Holy Spirit and through us to others.

 

“the fullness of joy we seek is the joy of overflowing love to other people. No amount of getting can satisfy the soul until it overflows in giving.  And no sacrifice will destroy the soul-delights of an obedient people on a mission of love from God, for which prayer is His strategic provision…Fellowship with Jesus is essential to joy, but there is something about it that impels us outward to share His life with others.  A Christian can’t be happy and stingy: “it is more blessed to give than to receive” Acts 20:35

 

Hanging out with God gives us the power to love.

If the pump of love runs dry, it is because the pipe of prayer isn’t deep enough.   If love is the path of fullest joy, then let us pray for the power to love “that our joy might be full.”  John Piper

 

III.        The Practice Love, 4:17-20

God’s love is perfected in us when it finds objects of love beyond itself

            God’s love is perfected only when it is reproduced in us and

            among us.

 

God is made visible in these manifestations of His love flowing through us.  The love of God is displayed for everyone to see.

            This is a strong evidence of God presence in the world.

 

John 13:35 “ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 

IV.        The Command to Love, 4:21-23

 

John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 

John Ortberg in his book Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them tells a story about a friend of his who was ordering breakfast on a trip in the South.

 

He saw “grits” on the menu and being a Dutchman who’d spent most of his life in Michigan, he had never understood what grits were.  So he asked the waitress, “What exactly is a grit?”

 

Her response was “Honey” she said, “They don’t come by themselves.”

 

In other words, grits don’t exist in isolation.  No grit is an island to itself.  Every grit is a piece of the whole.  You can’t order a single grit.

 

Did you know that on rare occasions even Porcupines share space with another and they become friends.  Once in a great while Porcupines learn to keep their barbs to themselves.

            They even learn how to get together long enough to make a new

Generation.

 

            Naturalist, David Costello writes, “Males and females may remain together for some days before mating.  They may touch paws and even walk on their hind feet in the so-called ‘dance of the porcupines.’”

 

            “Only God could have thought up two porcupines fox-trotting paw to paw

where no one but they and He will see them.

 

So, call it a clan, call it a tribe, call it a family.  Whatever you call it whoever you are you need one.  And the only way to experience fullness of joy in one is to drink deeply at the fountain of God’s love for you and then allow His love to flow through you to others.

 

There is a family whose architect and builder is God.  He dwells in the center of the entire community.  His presence fills each person with unmeasureable love, with increasing stages of glory and ever-increasing delight.

 

Oh beloved ones, let us love one another.