Steven A. Bush - April 14, 2013
The Impact of His Love
John, The Apostle of Love, evidently took excellent notes during Jesus' Last Supper sermon. His letters often reflect the varied aspects of God's love, especially as fleshed out through Jesus' death and resurrection. Ancient tradition suggests the aged apostle would sometimes be carried into church gatherings on a pallet and all the assembled believers would draw close to hear the wisdom of this last living disciple. What would those words inevitably be? "Love one another!" This message will reveal that God is love, that love is not a virtue separate from God but rather it is the very essence of His perfect holiness. The magnitude of God's love was manifested through His Son, dying on the cross as a propitiation for our sin, enabling God's forgiveness. The impact of His love--which makes us alive, regenerates us, causes us to be born anew--overflows out of our hearts towards others. At least it was meant to overflow. Love, according to John, is the leading indicator that we have been made God's children, the very thing that conveys to the world that we are His disciples. Let us, therefore, love one another.