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This is the fourth of our Advent sermon series for 2021. This sermon is ‘Love Lavished on Us’. Preacher: The Rev’d Adam Lowe. Bible Reading: 1 John 4:7-21
This is the fourth of our Advent sermon series for 2021. This sermon is ‘Love Lavished on Us’. Preacher: The Rev’d Adam Lowe. Bible Reading: 1 John 4:7-21
DOWNLOAD the Small Group Questions, Going Deeper, and Sermon Transcript (PDF).
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
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. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
CONNECT: How can the depth of joy in Jesus transform one trouble that you’re currently experiencing?
WARM-UP
What do you think the world’s standard of love is? How does this compare to God’s love?
What has been your most positive experience of God’s love in the context of Christian community?
Read 1 John 4:7-10
What is meant by “God is love”? What does it mean for God to be the author and source of love?
Why is saying “love is God” different from John’s claim that “God is love”?
How does disconnecting our understanding of love from God ultimately result in us either worshipping the idea of love and/or adopting a diminished view of love?
As per the passage, what is God’s standard of love? What has been your experience of this?
What causes you to marvel most about the nature of God’s love?
Do you ever struggle with accepting God’s love? What has helped? What has not helped?
How can we grow in our appreciation and acceptance of God’s extraordinary love for us?
Read 1 John 4:11-21
How does God equip and enable us to love in such an extraordinary way? Is there something in particular that you need to ask for help with from God in order to love others more?
What does perfect love drive out? What does this mean in the context of judgment?
How is our act of loving others actually a declaration of God to the world? If we fail to love, how can this reflect on God?
How do you see God’s love expressed in the context of our community? How could we grow in this?
Why is hating others incompatible with a claim to love God? What was happening in John’s context?
In a society the is fractured on many fronts, how can we - at St Bart’s - demonstrate God’s love even amidst disagreement? How can we remind one another of the things of ‘first importance’?
Apply How can you grow in BOTH your experience and expression of God’s love this Christmas?
Gracious Father, we thank you that it is because of Jesus that we may know joy through all in the power of the Holy Spirit. Please help us to know your joy and share it with the world. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
On Your Frontline This Week: In this season, meals can be an amazing opportunity for relationships and pointing to God. How can you use grace at meals to point to Jesus this Christmas?
Listen, Watch, and Read:
Series Resources:
Some helpful resources for our Series:
Each week St Bart’s Kids and CHARGE Youth provides resources for you to use at home. Join the livestream and then spend 30 minutes to work through these together.
Families: Read, Chat, Do, and Pray
High School: CHARGE Discussion Questions
Kids’ Talk: Watch the Kids’ Talk
eBook: Watch the eBook
Listen to the latest sermons and talks from St Bart's Anglican Church located in Toowoomba, Australia. Visit www.stbarts.com.au for the latest news and information.