Scripture: 1 John 4:7-13; 1 John 1:1-4; Ephesians 2:8 Series: 2020
An Eastertide Evensong sermon on 1 John 4:7-13 arguing that God’s love and forgiveness, offered freely by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8), can seem like a deal too good to be true. Using George Strait’s ironic ‘Ocean Front Property’ and the Texas Hill Country as too-good-to-be-true comparisons, the preacher insists the only catch lies with us: we must receive the gift, which means conversion understood (with Augustine) as turning around to see the world rightly. First John’s whole letter teaches that right vision, grounded in the reality that God is love and sent his Son so we might live through him. In the Easter season we hold to the truth that Jesus is risen and God’s promise is real.
Illustrations: george-strait-ocean-front-property, hill-country-robert-caro, augustine-conversion-turning-upright
April 11
Children’s
Star test
“Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love. This is how the love of God is revealed to us: This is love: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us this way, we also ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God remains in us and his love is made perfect in us. This is how we know we remain in him and he remains in us, because he has given us a measure of his Spirit.” 1 John 4:7-13 CEB
I am always weary of deals that are too good to be true.
George strait ocean front property has a chorus filled with too-good-to-be-true deals. The song itself uses this ironically, but I didn’t understand irony in 1987 when the song came out.
I’ve got some ocean front property in Arizona From my front porch, you can see the sea I’ve got some ocean front property in Arizona If you’ll buy that, I’ll throw the Golden Gate in free
The Hill Country originally seemed too good to be true. Robert Caro
A lot of Christianity seems like a deal too good to be true. When Paul says “for it is by grace that you have been saved through faith, and it is not your own doing.”
What’s the catch? God loves and forgives you without a price or a cost
God’s love seems like a deal too good to be true.
The catch has to do with us and not with God. The catch is that we have to receive the deal that God gives us.To except this deals from the God who is love means we need to turn our life around. This is what conversion means. Conversion is not about going from an atheist to a Christian or a Muslim to a Buddhist, it is about turning around. Saint Augustine talks about conversion as going from being turned in words on ourselves to standing upright in order to see the world rightly.
And the point of the first letter of John is to teach us to see the world rightly. Starting with the very first words
“We announce to you what existed from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have seen and our hands handled, about the word of life. The life was revealed, and we have seen, and we testify and announce to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us. What we have seen and heard, we also announce it to you so that you can have fellowship with us. Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy can be complete.” 1 John 1:1-4 CEB
John goes all through what is the light ans what is the darkness and how we need to stay away from the darkness, but behind and above it all is that reality that God is love and we know this because “God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him.”
It is a great deal. It would be too good to be true if it were not.
In this season of Easter, we can hold on and remember that Jesus is risen, Gods promise is true, and the God who is love is here for us all.