Episode 158: November 12, 2023 - A Symphony In The Valley

Eternity Church PodCast

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. There is something special about spending time with the Apostle John. The more time we spend reading his letter to the church of Ephesus and remembering his years of discipleship walking and talking with Jesus, the more one word stands out clearly: love. John is the beloved disciple in the Gospel. His beloved-ness in Jesus transforms how he sees himself and how he relates to others. The more we read his letters, we see he was often very black and white in his thinking. He uses contrasting themes like love and hate, darkness and light, sin and salvation with little gray area. We would expect nothing less from someone nicknamed a son of thunder with his brother James (Mark 3.17). Years of manual labor at sea fishing probably left his heart as calloused as his hands and feet. It is amazing then to see how John’s time with Jesus transformed the way he saw those around him. He still saw things in black and white; he understood a clear contrast between right and wrong, injustice and justice, sinful darkness and the luminance of redemption. But the more time he spent with Jesus, the more love flowed into those hard-won callouses from pulling harsh nets heavy with thrashing fish. The longer John walked with Jesus, talked with Jesus, lived each day centered around Jesus, the more one theme resonated above all others: love. For John, “God is love.” God is love, and the most visible testimony to God’s love is Jesus’ presence among us. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, yes, we are new creation, but we are also commissioned to pour that abundance of love into the lives of others. In 1 John 4.7-21 John is not pushing us to judge one another to see if we are genuine and authentic Christians. He simply states that if God is love and we are in Christ we should love one another. This is how we demonstrate our life in Jesus, that we love others the very way He loves all men, women and children. How is the Holy Spirit captivating us in God’s love to step out and love others?