Trinity 1 2020

1 John 4:16-21

June 14, 2020

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

From eternity, God was Love. There was never a time when God was not, and there was never a time when God was not love.  All love is from Him.  Since God is love, then it follows that in knowing God we also know love.  In order to love, we must first be loved by the One who is love. That’s why the only answer that eternally matters to the problems of our fallen world is that the world receive and know the love of God in Christ.  

In this His love is perfect. For He loves us into existence even though there is no benefit for Himself. And there is more. Though He needs nothing, and has already loved us into existence, He is not done with us. He still loves us. He keeps us. He joins creation. He takes up the fragility of our fallen flesh in order to be subject to death. He wages war against evil on earth, outside Jerusalem, as a Man. Because God made it, God loves it, God keeps it. Thus does God redeem it. The goal of God’s love for us is that we have such confidence, such faith in Christ, that we have no fear of eternal punishment because God has poured out His wrath upon Jesus. There is none left for you. 

This is love of which St. John writes. It is not a feeling, it is action. He is not writing about an emotion or a desire to be filled. Love isn’t just an attribute of God. God is love, in and of Himself.  There is no hunger in God that needs to be filled. He does not need someone to love. In Himself, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity, He has plenty to keep Himself occupied. God’s nature is turned toward and bound up in seeking, working, and being for the good of others.  Love fittingly describes the nature of God; His love is revealed in the flesh and blood of Jesus. 

The Father sends the Son into an unloving world, which is to say the Father sends the Son to death. He exiles the Son with the sins of Israel and the nations upon His Head. All the world is thus cleansed, pulled out of the flames, and the cherubic guard is removed from Eden. Heaven is open to all believers. He then sanctifies human flesh by raising Himself from the dead, defeating the last enemy, inaugurating the resurrection to come, and ascending to His Father’s right hand. The love of God is how He acts, what He does, who He is. The way of His love is selfless sacrifice for the sake of your redemption.

The world plays by the rules of self-righteousness and self-justification. Every post. Every action. Every statement. The world always finds a way to point back to itself. Look at how good I am. Look at how compassionate I am. Look at how much I care about fighting injustice. Look at how many people I can love in various ways at various times and put another notch on my bed. 

Christians do not play by the rules of the world. They are self-idolatry. The only righteousness you have is Christ's. The only source of love that you have is from the One who is love.  Your life points only to His life, death, and resurrection. If any good is done in your life, thanks be to God for His great goodness to provide! If any compassion, praise be to God for His great mercy to forgive sinners! If any justice, God be praised for His battle against sin and death! As the world tries to justify themselves, look to the One who justifies, redeems, sanctifies, and saves for the sake of the world. (Pr. Mike Suelze)

At times, it feels as though the devil has won and there are no men of honor or integrity left, that there is just the one who hates his brother. But that is not really new for God’s people. Elijah knew that feeling. For after boldly taunting the prophets of Baal and calling down fire from heaven, he lost his nerve, and full of self-pity and fear, he ran away. But he was wrong to despair. He was as wrong as Moses losing his temper in the wilderness, as wrong as Peter resorting to violence in the garden, as wrong as us poor, miserable sinners who tire of the spiritual fight and cave in to the mob of the sinful world. 

But the gates of Hell shall not overcome the Church of Christ. God’s Kingdom on this earth is always feeble and small, always on the edge of annihilation.  And so St. John writes, “By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world.”

We have confidence that despite our frailty, our sin, greed, and fear, that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is enough. Tired, though we are, we rest in the Lord of the Sabbath who gave His life as a ransom for ours. This is the Love that abides in us: the Spirit sent from the Father and the Son to guide us into the Way of all Truth, to offer perfect prayers with groans that words cannot express on our behalf, to keep us, to sanctify us, to lead us, comfort us, and to deliver us from all evil. This is the Love that casts out fear, that picks us up and dusts us off, feeds us, encourages us, and holds us fast. 

“And this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:21).  There is much which you can do to love your neighbors. Your love reflects the love by which Christ gave up His life for you. If you are praised for it, to God be the glory! If you are persecuted for it, to God be the glory! If no one ever finds out about it, to God be the glory! We love others simply because God first loved us. And we have the love of God in Christ, and that is enough.