Key Scripture
1 John 4:7-12, 1 John 4:16-17
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
16 God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.
Prayer
Father, thank you for today. Holy Spirit, help me to hear what you have for my life, help me discover Jesus’ love for me.
Help me to set aside the distractions of today so I can be fully present with you.
Speak Lord, I want to listen.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Sermon Notes
We have a very real challenge when it comes to learning to be loved by Jesus.
Two gifts that God gives us to help us learn to be loved by Him
1 - His People - the Church
2 - His Table - Communion
If we’re not careful, we can think the goal of learning to be loved is all about me.
Any love that does not point you to love God, Jesus and Holy Spirit more, that doesn’t point you to become more like Jesus is not real love. It’s a shadow of love, a cheap knockoff.
If God is love, then real love should always point you back to the source, the author of love - God!
We’ve confused self-love with not just acceptance of our brokenness and flaws but approval of our brokenness and flaws.
We only have one word for love; in Greek there are four kinds of love.
1 - Eros: erotic or romantic love
2 - Storge: familial love
3 - Phileo: brotherly love or love between friends
4 - Agape: unconditional or sacrificial/selfless love
Every single one of these loves are gifts from God - created by God for us. They are evidence that you were created with, by and to be loved.
When we love, our brain released four types of chemicals:
1 - Dopamine: reward, pleasure, euphoria, excitement
2 - Oxytocin: trust, connection, calmness
3 - Serotonin: happiness, well-being
4 - Norepinephrine: initial attraction, butterflies
As Christians, we believe God created our brains this way to experience connect, intimacy and love.
Eros: erotic or physical love
Marriage is God’s idea. In Genesis, It’s literally one of the first things we see happen after God finishes creation.
Now in our Western culture, what precedes the wedding? Dating, physical attraction, EROS.
In Genesis 29, we see physical attraction in the story of Jacob and Rachel and what someone will do for that.
The books of Song of Songs or Song of Solomon is an entire book of the Bible focused on eros love.
God designed eros to create strong attraction and desire. Just because a feeling is strong doesn’t make it wrong, but it doesn’t always make it right. When eros becomes the ultimate feeling, you’re suddenly controlled by it.
This isn’t love, it’s lust. It’s sexual idolatry.
It’s possible to be loved without ever experiencing erotic love. Jesus never got married, never had sex, never had children. Singleness is not a curse, but it can be a calling.
Storge (stor-jay): familial or natural love
It’s the result of the family you were born into, and you don’t get to choose your family.
Phileo (borhterly) + storge = philostorgos
Be devoted to one another in love Bible
Be good friends who love deeply…love each other in all your quirkiness with family affection Eugene Peterson
This is the kind of love that doesn’t just happen, it develops over time spent with each other.
Storge is a gift from God to help us learn to be loved by God.
If any of these loves don’t work as God intended, they aren’t real love. Love loves you where you are and also loves you enough to not let you stay where you are. You were created to be loved!
Worship this week