Scripture: 1 John 2:7; 1 John 1:1-4; 1 John 4:16; John 10:30 Series: 2020
An Evensong sermon on 1 John 2:7 arguing that God’s command to love is not a new trend but the ancient commandment heard from the beginning. Against a culture of FOMO and trendiness (diets, workouts, churches, investments), Pruitt insists we need the unchanging God revealed in Jesus, the Alpha and Omega. He invokes the early church’s rejection of Marcionism to affirm that the God of creation is the God of love (1 John 4:16). Making love trendy cheapens grace and forgets mercy; the closing assures hearers they are loved and forgiven by a God whose love, unlike the passing world, will never pass away.
Illustrations: fomo-uninvited-party, trendy-diets-workouts-churches-investments, marcion-two-gods
Does anyone like to feel left out? Like, do you like it if you hear that all of your friends went to a party but didn’t invite you?
New things happen all the time. FOMO.
But God’s love for us is not something that we can miss, nor is it new. You are loved not by a trend or party but by the God who made everything.
Scripture Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard.
Trendy diets (paleo, keto, lion, cleanse), trendy workouts (crossfit, yoga, pilates, pelaton), Trendy churches (Summit, Soma, Vertical Church, Impact, Image), Trendy investments (the next Apple, the next Tesla, the next Uber)
The next big thing can sometimes seem like the next thing we need, when what we need is the God of all creation revealed to us in Jesus Christ. We need the Alpha and Omega, who was and is and is to come.
1 John 1:1-4 And then eventually getting 1 John 4: “So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”
“God is love” is not new, though it may sound new to some ears. Marcionite They thought the old was bad, the OT is bad. There is an angry Old Testament God and a happy new testament God.
The early church saw the problem in this, pointing out that if the God of creation is evil than creation is evil and Jesus is a liar when he says, “I and the Father are one”
The new (old) commandment to love one another is not easy or simple but can be fulfilled because God is love. When we make love easy, we make it trendy. When we make church trendy, we cheapen grace. When we cheapen grace, we forget mercy. You are loved. You are forgiven. You can love. You can forgive. You can be love by another. Even though you did that thing, you can be loved. Even if you can’t love yourself, God loves you. This is not something new that is passing away. The world may pass away, but God’s love will not pass away.