WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:02.399 I thought we would begin with a game. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:04.719 I'm gonna show you a few pictures up on the screen. 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:07.360 We'll see if we can guess who these people are. 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:10.560 Here's the first picture jumping up. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:11.839 So maybe you know the guy on the right. 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:13.919 If you know the guy on the right, did you say it? 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:14.800 Shakil. 00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:16.160 Shaq, Shakil. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:18.079 Now, does anybody know the guy on the left? 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:21.039 Spud Webb, a few of you knew it, right? 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:25.600 So if you met Spud Webb just out on the street, you wouldn't think much about it, right? 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:27.359 You'd think, you know, no big deal. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:34.159 You wouldn't know, keyword, the principal attribute inside of him that he has the capability of. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:41.600 But if you were back in 1986, and I was seven years old, watching it, the NBA dunk contest, you saw this. 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:49.359 And he was dunking along with the Giants at the NBA, and he won the NBA dunk contest that year, and I did a backflip off the couch. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:52.159 I was so excited, couldn't believe what I saw. 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:59.759 And what I saw was a manifestation of something that was already true about him, but if I saw him on the street, I would have never known it. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:03.920 But it was manifested out for everybody to know. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:07.840 So something was true, and then it's manifested for us to know. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:09.280 Now, here's another picture. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:10.239 This lady here. 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:12.480 Does anybody know who this lady is? 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:14.959 Adele, very good. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:16.239 It's hard to tell in that picture. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:21.359 Now, if I showed you the next picture, this picture, much more likely you would guess who she is. 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:27.439 Now, Adele, probably one of the most famous singers in the world, probably one of the best singers of all time. 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:31.599 If you met her in a Chili's, you probably wouldn't think much about it. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:33.280 You wouldn't know, right? 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:40.959 You just wouldn't know something that is already true about her until she stands on that stage and she stands behind the mic. 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:43.920 She doesn't dance around, but she sings. 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:44.640 Right? 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:50.319 Something was true, and then it's manifested for it to be known. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:54.079 And here's what John says in this passage that David read for us. 00:01:54.319 --> 00:01:56.560 John says, God loves you. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:04.879 God has a principal attribute that is manifest in the world for us to see. 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:11.039 And then John goes a step further, even than saying, okay, God has a principal attribute of love. 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:14.800 John goes further and says, God is love. 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:17.360 Now I ran into this quote this week when I was studying. 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:23.120 This was in the Concordia commentary, theologian Donald Burdick, I'm sure you're very familiar with his work. 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:24.400 Here's the quote. 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:25.520 The quote's great. 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:36.240 The declaration that God is love has been taken by many to mean only that God possesses the attribute of love and so loves and is loving. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:39.919 However, this is to alter and to reduce the meaning of John's statement. 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:46.080 As it stands, the declaration says that love is not merely one of God's characteristics. 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:47.120 Love is what? 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:48.879 He is himself. 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:54.400 God in his essence is love. 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:56.639 So here's our passage. 00:02:56.719 --> 00:02:57.680 We'll work our way through it. 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:04.800 1 John 4, verse 7, as we've been working through this entire letter of 1 John written by John. 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:07.199 And verse 7 starts out with beloved. 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:08.879 We don't have to go any further. 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:11.280 John actually uses this term for these people. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:13.680 He's writing to this church filled with Christian folks. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:16.400 And he says, Beloved, this is who you are. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:17.280 You are beloved. 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:19.680 He writes it six times to these people. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:22.479 So our first point is just off that first word. 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:37.039 And it's the thing that we get to say to ourselves over and over again, at least we say it into our church, and it's that you are beloved because he loves you, not because you love him or merit anything. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:39.199 So this is what we say every week. 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:44.400 It's almost like a playlist in our church, and hopefully it's becoming more of a playlist in your life. 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:50.400 I have a playlist I like to listen to at night when I do the dishes, the arrangement in our house, or the arrangement at your house. 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:52.879 Arrangement is Christy Cook's, I do the dishes. 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:55.840 And so when I'm doing the dishes, I like to play my playlist. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:04:06.000 Now I don't always get to play my playlist because sometimes my daughters take control of the music, and that goes to a Taylor Swift playlist, and that's fine. 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:07.520 We can have fun to that, right? 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:08.240 That's okay. 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:12.080 But if it's my playlist, it's going, it's distinct. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:17.040 Zach Bramban to Eric Church to Mumford and Sons to Coldplay. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:18.720 I don't want it on Shuffle. 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:22.800 I don't want it to change. 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:25.680 It is set songs, it's been there for years. 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:27.680 I do not want it to change at all. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:31.759 Zach Bramban, Eric Church, Mumford and Sons, Coldplay. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:33.199 That's the way I like it. 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:35.839 It is my playlist for the dishes. 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:37.759 Here's what John is saying. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:41.120 Belovedness is your playlist. 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:45.360 It's the thing you should wake up to, even if you don't feel it. 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:48.319 You wake up and you say, I am, I am the beloved. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:52.959 Not that I'm not enough, I'm not enough, I'm not enough, I'm not loved, I'm not loved. 00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:54.800 I need to do a little more, I need to do a little more. 00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:56.959 These are familiar playlists, right? 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:05.040 But the playlist that we receive over and over again, the name given to us is beloved, beloved, beloved, beloved. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:08.959 Beloved, let us love one another. 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:09.839 Verse 7. 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:14.720 For love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:18.560 So point two, hopefully to no surprise, our calling could be a surprise. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:21.439 Our calling as Christians is to love others. 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:30.240 Now that's not new, but it is easy to forget when we are so concerned about being right. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:34.720 And here's this context here. 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:35.279 Right? 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:38.959 If you remember the context of this letter, John is writing to a church. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:55.120 This church is going through a difficult time because what's happened in this community is there's been a group, so say, I don't know, there's 200 people in here, say 40 of us, I don't know the percentages here in this context, but say 40 of us decide Jesus is not really God, not really the Savior, like I'm not really believing that. 00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:57.600 So 40 of us leave, right? 00:05:57.759 --> 00:05:58.720 Church split. 00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:00.160 Happens a lot. 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:01.839 Church split. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:06.480 So now John is writing to these people, and he's saying, you know what? 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:07.839 They are wrong. 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:09.839 And he's very clear about that. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:12.319 He doesn't pull punches in that way. 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:14.959 He says, they are wrong. 00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:20.959 But here's the thing is these people, not only are they wrong, but they're causing chaos. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:25.360 They didn't just leave and leave peacefully and go start their own thing or something like that. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:28.240 Like they're leaving and they're causing chaos, they're causing problems. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:31.680 I mean, they are they are difficult. 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:38.560 And this would be the point where you would think John would say, cut them off. 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:40.240 You wouldn't think this is the point. 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:42.319 He starts doubling down about love. 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:45.839 You would think this is the point where he says, you know what? 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:49.519 Demonize them more and more and more because they're difficult. 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:51.279 But no, John says, no, no, no. 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:54.959 We can disagree with them and still love them. 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:55.439 Right? 00:06:55.600 --> 00:07:02.079 Jesus said it this way: love, your, which presumes they're your enemy. 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:03.199 Like, we kind of forget that. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:06.240 Like, if they're your enemy, it means there's some disagreement here. 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:10.079 And Jesus says, love them. 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:11.759 Love them. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:13.199 Yeah, they're your enemy. 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:14.720 We're not saying they're not your enemy. 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:16.160 We're not saying they're not difficult. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:17.519 We're not saying you don't disagree with them. 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:22.319 Just saying, even in that, you and I get to love them. 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:29.920 And I wonder, question I've been asking myself this week, would have you disagreed with a group of people? 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:34.399 Probably that group of people you're thinking about right now. 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:36.560 Or a person. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:41.680 And allowed it to limit your love for them. 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:44.480 That's easy to do. 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:48.959 And John says, hey, like we don't have to do that. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:53.759 Like we get to disagree with somebody and love them. 00:07:54.560 --> 00:08:01.519 What I said two weeks ago is that this is incredibly freeing because we don't have to agree with a person to love them. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:04.000 That's unbelievably freeing. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:07.680 And we don't have to stop loving somebody to disagree with them. 00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:11.279 We get to disagree with people and love them. 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:18.800 1 John 3, 7, the second part of that verse, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:25.920 So point three is this love is from God, and as we are born of God, love flows through us. 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:28.319 And so here's what this means. 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:30.240 I think it means two things. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:32.960 Here are the two things coming up. 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:43.120 As we are already beloved, as we are already beloved, we don't have to judge people as to feel we are better than them. 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:48.240 So our judgment can be transformed into compassion. 00:08:48.399 --> 00:09:03.679 See how your security as the beloved starts to affect how you sit in judgment or pride or whatever, just self-righteousness over somebody, but all that gets dissipated because you're already loved. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:07.679 And now that judgment can be transformed into care and compassion. 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:18.480 Now, whenever I get judgy and I do already on most of you this morning, you didn't know it, a lot of you, I mean, what you said and what you did, and you walked in and how you walked in, you know, that car you drove, right? 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:20.480 I mean, we all do it, right? 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:25.120 What she said, did you see, did you hear what she said, or what they're doing with their kids? 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:27.279 I can't believe they're still supporting him, blah, blah, blah. 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:30.480 You know, like we get judgy on all of that, right? 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:39.679 But when I am in, first off, usually when I'm judgy, it's because I am insecure. 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:41.759 Or I don't understand. 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:43.279 It's usually one or the other. 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:54.480 But what I have found is the more I'm aware of how lavish God's love is for me, my belovedness, I'm still kind of judgy, I mean, I'll be honest. 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:55.840 Still there. 00:09:57.039 --> 00:10:04.000 But a good bit of that judgment starts to transform into care and compassion. 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:07.759 A couple of weeks ago, one of my best friends he texted me. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:12.720 He asked if I could go fly fishing with him and a couple other buddies in North Carolina at the end of this month. 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:21.440 I looked at the calendar and looked at, oh man, like there's a couple of my daughter's activities, and oh, that's gonna be difficult on Christie if I go. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:26.960 So I just text her and I said, like, hey, here, here's the offer, and I'd like to go. 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:32.879 What I I you know, I saw we have this and we have that, and you know, I know it'd be more complicated for her. 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:35.200 And I just said, you know, like, hey, what do you think? 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:38.720 And she replied, you should so go. 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:40.559 Right? 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:42.240 For me, that is like love manifest. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:44.399 That's spud web dunking, is what it is. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:47.200 It's like Adele was singing just to me. 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:48.320 It was manifestation. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:49.919 I already knew Christy loved me, right? 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:50.799 Like objectively. 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:56.080 I knew I knew she loved me, but man, that was manifestation, right? 00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:02.879 Permission for me to go fish with some buddies and stand in a river and then sit on a porch in the mountains. 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:05.200 I mean, it's permission for that, right? 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:08.879 This is the manifestation of something that was already true. 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:12.240 Her love was already true, but you should so go. 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:15.039 This is manifested into my life. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:20.799 Have you ever gotten sick and someone cared for you? 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:22.320 Right? 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:24.799 Like they held your hair, you know what I'm talking about? 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:27.279 Like that, kind of say? 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:30.159 Or they slept at the hospital? 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:43.840 Or like you you you are only moving from the bed to the toilet back to the bed, and we've all been there, and and they they brought Chick-fil-A soup over, and maybe they even dared to walk into the house to give you the soup. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:45.120 Right? 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:48.720 A manifestation of love. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:52.480 1 John 3, 8 and 10. 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:57.120 Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:02.399 In this, the love of God was made manifest among us. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:08.159 That God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:14.320 In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us. 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:15.759 I hope you hear that. 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:24.320 In this is love, not that we have loved God, but he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:27.519 So this word propitiation, big, big word, right? 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:29.519 Like use that one out in public. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:36.960 It comes from the word halasmos, and it means the removing of sin, which repairs the relationship. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:47.600 So God manifests himself into his creation, into reality, so we can know something. 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:50.960 That's always been true, that he loves us. 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:56.879 And this manifestation is Christ Jesus. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:13:05.279 And Christ goes to the cross and he takes on all of our sin and he gives to us his righteousness, and so we're beloved. 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:06.240 You're beloved. 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:09.279 Not that we have loved him, but that he has loved us. 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:12.399 Verses 11 and 12, beloved. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:15.759 Again, beloved, in case you missed it in verse 7. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:20.159 If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:21.919 No one has ever seen God. 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:26.960 If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:35.039 No, that word perfected doesn't mean that if you're not loving perfectly other people, all of a sudden God's love for you is not whole or complete. 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:42.159 That phrasing there, his love is perfected in us, it means that God's love is carried through us. 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:46.240 This is the point in the sermon. 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:50.559 If the sermon ends, you're going, okay, I'll nod along. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:14:03.279 We're gonna love our neighbor, we're gonna love, we're gonna love our enemy, we're gonna love the city, we're gonna transform the city, we're gonna be on mission, we're gonna be, we're gonna have a calling to love, right? 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:05.600 Like all these great things, and we're not alone. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:14.000 We cheer, we're gonna you know, we raise our hands to it, and then we go out in the parking lot and we go home, and on the way home, you yell at your spouse, you yell at your kids, you're reaching in the back, right? 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:16.000 Or you're selfish, or whatever, right? 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:17.360 It's just life. 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:23.519 Or you try really hard for this and you start to get exhausted along the way. 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:26.720 It's just a burden, right? 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:30.399 Like mission without belovedness is a burden. 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:32.879 It's law without grace. 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:36.799 And that's why John is weaving all of this together for us. 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:39.600 He's saying, Yeah, you are called to love. 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:41.120 That's our calling. 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:47.360 But the way that it is inspired and began and empowered is out of your belovedness. 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:51.120 Not that we have loved him, but that he has loved us. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:57.200 That's why John keeps saying, beloved, beloved, beloved, beloved. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:00.559 I read this quote this week, and it's about verse 10. 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:04.480 This is Martin Luther, 16th century theologian. 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:07.120 He he said this about verse 10. 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:12.559 I don't want to hear or know anything else about God than that he loves me. 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:20.399 I don't want to know anything about a wrathful God, about his judgment and anger, about hell, about death, and about damnation. 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:28.000 But if I do see God's wrath, I know that this drives me to the sun where I find refuge. 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:32.720 If I come to the sun, I also have a merciful father. 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:45.279 For Saint John tells us in his epistle that the Father loved me before I ever loved him or knew him, that he remitted my sin and gave me salvation. 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:56.559 As you've probably picked up the last few weeks, ever since Scottie Smith preached here about a month ago, I've been a little obsessed with Rembrandt's return of the prodigal, this painting, the prodigal son painting. 00:15:56.639 --> 00:15:58.799 This is Rembrandt's painting, is actually hanging in St. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:15:59.519 Petersburg. 00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:01.840 One of our parishioners was there. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:04.720 He's Russian, and he returned home with his son. 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:13.519 And this past week he sent me a picture of him standing in front of this painting, the real painting in Russia, and he's holding his hands around his son. 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:15.360 I don't know if he meant to do it that way. 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:18.240 I'm gonna talk to him about that later, but it was pretty amazing. 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:30.159 And if you look at this painting, what we've been talking about is how one hand is masculine, one hand has this uh this representation of the strong love of God that holds you. 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:39.120 And then the other hand is feminine, and it represents that tender love of God that holds you. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:41.440 And then there you are. 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:43.279 And there I am. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:44.799 You're worn out. 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:49.600 And you could be worn out by a religious mission or religious calling. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:54.080 You could be worn out from hiding, from escaping, from performing, from pretending. 00:16:55.919 --> 00:16:57.200 You're just done. 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:01.759 And Luther says, I don't want to hear anything else. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:08.640 I don't want to know anything else about God than that he loves me. 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:09.440 Right? 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:12.960 He's saying that I just want to keep seeing that embrace. 00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:15.119 I just want to behold that love. 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:19.920 That's what that's where chapter 3, verse 1, behold the lavish love of God. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:21.839 We keep revisiting that. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:23.119 That word, right? 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:29.279 That that word for me this week, the imagery was like arriving into a mountain village at night. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:31.920 You ever arrived at the mountains at night, right? 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:56.720 And you don't get to see the mountains at night, and you go into your hotel or condo, wherever you're staying, little hostel, I don't know where you're staying, and you get in there and it's dark, and you go to bed and you go to sleep, and then you wake up the next morning and you're gonna walk outside, you open the door, you're going to get your coffee, you open the door, and those mountains are shooting up to a perfectly blue sky, and the sun is shining down on the snow, and you stop. 00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:01.759 You have you're not thinking about coffee anymore, and you're just standing, you're like, whoa, whoa. 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:05.200 And you say, Behold. 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:07.680 Right, you know, you didn't say that, you never said that again. 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:09.680 You just go, wow. 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:14.240 Like a lot of times you go back in, you're like, hey, Christy, you can wake up. 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:17.759 Come like, come on, like, look, we gotta get out of here. 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:19.440 We gotta look at this. 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:22.079 I mean, behold this. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:24.000 Wow, this is amazing. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:27.279 That's that word. 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:39.920 That's where John is pulling all this idea of God loving us and us loving other people, is all coming out of behold, the lavish love of God. 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:45.680 And it is manifested for us to know in Christ Jesus. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:52.079 My brothers and sisters, behold, not that we have loved God, but that He has loved us. 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:54.000 Let's pray together. 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:59.759 God, thank you for this beautiful imagery in 1 John. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:01.759 That is the truth. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:03.039 Behold. 00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:11.359 That helps us see, that we don't need to move on from seeing and gazing upon your beauty. 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:18.160 That all that you have called us to be comes out of what you have called us. 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:28.240 That we are your beloved, and that you have loved us long before we have ever mustered up some love towards you. 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:35.759 And you have loved us long before we sat in judgment on other people or we cared for them or we had compassion. 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:45.039 You love us when we are so caring and compassionate, and you love us when we fall short of that. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:57.279 God, would you help us to set our hearts more and more and more upon the lavish love of God that all of our judgment would be transformed into compassion? 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:12.799 That such a difficult calling like love your brothers, love your sisters, love your neighbors, love your enemies, would begin to make sense in our hearts and minds. 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:21.759 God, thank you that you don't just love, but that you are love. 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:24.720 In Jesus' name we pray in all things. 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:25.359 Amen.