By The Rev. Dr. Paul A. Leggett
Sunday, October 25, 2009 · Reformation Sunday
Sermon Text: I John 4:7-12
Sermon Theme
John makes the climactic statement that God is love. Scripture frequently speaks of God’s love. However it is only here that we read that God is love. What does this mean? This year marks the five hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Calvin (1509-1564), the most important figure in the history of the Reformed Protestant Church of which Presbyterians are a part. On this Reformation Sunday 2009 it is appropriate to recall his life and legacy. Calvin was one of the greatest expositors of Scripture in history. He has often been identified with such themes as the Sovereignty of God and Predestination. Yet the center of Calvin’s understanding of Scripture was his insight into the great truth that God is love.
Sermon Outline
- Understand. The statement that God is love is beyond our complete comprehension. Yet this truth comes as the climax to all that John has written about the gospel and the love of God. John Calvin was a brilliant young scholar who studied the scriptures to find the truth about God. Calvin believed we can only know God as God reveals himself to us. God is revealed in his love. God’s love is not based on us. God himself is the very essence of love.
- Union. God desires relationships. Love reaches out beyond itself to the loved one. God, being love, reaches out to us, his creation. We show that we understand this love by loving each other. Calvin’s great insight was that nothing can stop God’s love. It overcomes all barriers. The purpose of God’s love is to unite us to himself through Jesus Christ. Calvin’s often misunderstood emphasis on predestination is based on the conviction that God’s love is irresistible. We may ask, why does God seem to love some more than others? This leads us into speculation. We cannot make assumptions about the ultimate character of God’s love. God’s love is revealed in his sending Jesus Christ to be the savior of the world. Only God, whom we have never seen, can define the full meaning of that statement.
- Urgent. John Calvin lived with an urgent conviction. He believed that people desperately needed to know how broad, extensive and powerful God’s love was. This love was never made clearer than in Christ’s death on the cross for our sins. Calvin would have liked to have led a quiet life as a scholar and thinker. Yet this was not God’s plan for him. Calvin inspired people all over Europe with the message of the radical freedom of God’s love. He dialogued with a wide variety of religious leaders, Catholic as well as Protestant. Calvin’s genius lay in his perception that Scripture tells us that as we embrace God’s love we encounter true freedom. Calvin lived through a tumultuous period of history. He died in his early fifties. He was unfortunately often harsh and unforgiving with those who disagreed with him. Yet Calvin’s views on democracy, education and social reform changed the world. His greatest achievement was his rediscovery of the Biblical message of God’s victorious love. That message is as urgent today as it was five hundred years ago.
Questions for Us
- How can we explain the statement, "God is love"? What Biblical examples can we give of this truth?
- How does knowing that God loved us before we ever loved him help us to show love to others (I John 4:10)?
- What lessons can we learn from the life of John Calvin?
