| First Sunday after Trinity, 2001
1 John 4:7-21 God is Love
At the age of 25, Troy decided to join the Peace Corps so he could live in a remote, third-world village. He had an undergraduate degree in anthropology and wanted to study primitive peoples. Secular anthropology is a field dominated by the noble savage myth. Most anthropologists embrace the notion of Rousseau that man is naturally good. It is the effects of Christianity and Western Civilization that desecrate him. Left alone, the noble savage would remain grand and unpolluted.
Since Troy and I lived pretty close together in Paraguay, we had a lot of dialogue on this subject. He gradually began to shed his romantic ideas about primitive peoples. He had a friend who went to study an aboriginal tribe in Venezuela. Troy's friend reported that most of his time in the jungle village was spent sitting in a hut defending his sparse supplies. The natives did nothing but hover around him begging, demanding, or robbing him of his provisions. It was a miserable experience.
The anthropologist Colin Turnbull got a similar reality check among an untouched tribe in Africa called the Ik. In 1964 Mr. Turnbull received governmental funding to make contact with the Ik and live among them for several years. He was fortunate enough to meet two teenage boys who had left their mountain valley due to famine conditions. Turnbull paid the pair to guide him to the group and act as his translator. After a journey of many days they arrived at the home of one of the boys. Inside the crude hut the scene was tragic. The father lay on the ground, all skin and bones, too weak to sit up. The teen turned his back on his dad. While the father explained the starvation he was enduring, the mother yelled out from another hut, "Give me food!" The boy responded, "There is no food," and immediately got up to leave. After a two-year absence, that was the only exchange between them. The parents died of starvation a few days later.
Turnbull was shocked by the heartlessness. But that was only the beginning. The entire land was a world of silent hermits. If he approached individuals to converse they walked away. On one occasion he sat on a knoll by a tree for three days with a group of Ik. Not a word was exchanged. Loners came and left silently, everyone looking out for himself. Only one thing got their attention during those three days. A vulture circling around would bring them all to their feet in an instant, however far away, and they would be off to seize what they could have the rotten flesh of some dead animal. If an emaciated man or woman fell down or tripped, that was good for a chuckle. Likewise, men would watch a child with eager anticipation as it crawled toward a fire, then burst into gleeful laughter as it plunged a skinny hand into the coals. The mother would glow with pleasure to hear such joy provoked by her offspring.
At the age of three, toddlers were released to fend for themselves. Children wandered about eating fruit peels, skins, bits of bone, half-eaten berries, dirt and pebbles. Girls became sexually active at the age of eight in exchange for food, and by the age of eighteen were old, unattractive and snubbed. Hospitality was unknown. Those who built huts rigged hidden booby traps at the entrance. The highest value of the Ik was: eat all you can, as fast as you can, and as soon as you see it, even if it means snatching it from the hand of a famished. Colin Turnbull was horrified to discover a nightmarish civilization devoid of love and pity. Love was sin. [The Mountain People by Colin Turnbull.]
Our epistle lesson today from I John 4:7-8 exhorts us, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." What does the statement, "Love is of God," signify? Love has its origin in the Trinity. It is from the God who is love that all love takes its source. Just as the deer must go to the river to drink water, and the bee must go to the blossom to receive nectar, so we must go to God to learn love. The doctrine of the image of God in man is helpful. The image of God in man means we were created to become Godlike. We are to imitate the heart of God. Therefore, to be like God and be what we were created to be, we must love.
Hence, Christianity and love are inextricably bound together. The passage also talks about knowing God. "Everyone who loves knows God. He who does not love does not know God." It is only by knowing God that we learn to love, and it is only by loving that we learn to know God. Love comes from God and leads to God. Therefore, if we are born of God, love must reign supreme in our lives. (vv. 9-11) In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
What most reveals the love of God? The incarnation of the Lord. By means of the incarnation, the love of God was made visible and demonstrated to all. God sent his only Son into the world, and that incarnation led to the cross, which made it possible that we, who lay dead in our sin, might be saved and given eternal life. If God sent His Son to die and be a propitiation for our sins, we also ought to love one another.
The attempt by Diane Ackerman and her husband Peter to save a drowning man recently caught my attention. As they were walking on the beach at Tahiti, they happened to witness a giant wave catch up a boat of tourists and pound it on the reef. They ran to the rescue and pulled several people from the heavy surf. All of a sudden they saw an orange shape tumbling in the tide.
Diane then tells us what happened, "The men pulled the figure out, lifted him by the arms and legs, and I stooped, trying to give him mouth-to-mouth as we hurried toward shore. Holding his nose closed with one hand, and his jaw down with the other, I forced my mouth onto his and blew hard into his chest, regularly, heavily, as best I could while he swung between the two men and the surf broke over us. At last we reached the sand. I kept forcing breath into him. It felt like screaming into a cave that had no echo. His sharp teeth sliced open my gums, and all the fluids in his stomach poured out through his mouth and nose. I washed them away quickly with the salt water, and kept breathing into him. A white foam welled up from inside the man. Everyone was trembling and shaken. As his jaws grew stiffer, his teeth felt sharper, and they lacerated the insides of my lips as I tried to force air deeper and deeper into him. In the end, an hour later, when at last we gave up, and he lay dead among us, my mouth was full of blood."
Diane's effort, though she failed to save the man's life, was certainly a heroic act of love. The action of God in sending His Son to save us who lay dead in our sins is also an example of great grace and humility. Jesus shed His blood on the cross for our salvation. Since God has loved us in such a manner, we also ought to love one another. Does the cross motivate you to love others? Think of what Jesus has done for you. (vv. 12-16). No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
"No one has seen God at any time," means that God is invisible. Nobody can see him. We can only see God to the extent that he sent His Son Jesus Christ in the incarnation. In John 14:8, the apostle Philip out of frustration pleaded to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus responded, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, "Show us the Father?" When we see Jesus, we see God. That is the amazing truth that Jesus teaches.
St. John is saying something similar in our epistle lesson: "If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us." That is, the unseen God, who was once revealed in His Son, is now revealed in His people if and when they love one another. When the world sees Christian love in practice, they see the Trinity. God's love is seen in the love of believers because their love is His love imparted to them by His Spirit.
Where is the love of God most concentrated? God's love is reproduced especially in the Church. As we serve and encourage one another we become walking icons of divinity. That seems to be what John is saying. The world should be able to look at the loving interaction of the Church and see God. Furthermore, let us avoid the common misconceptions about Christian love. The love the apostle is talking about is not necessarily erotic, emotional or romantic. For Christian men especially it is uncomfortable to be put into groups and forced to express their emotions and feelings. Jesus was reticent about his feelings, so there is nothing wrong with that.
Moreover, love put into practice does not mean that there will never be conflict or strife. In a fallen world that is not possible. There will be bumps and hurts. Nonetheless, the best love is born out of brokenness and sacrifice. We are broken in the Church and sharpened toward humility and holiness. And that entire process of iron sharpening iron can only take place in a context of mutual love and forgiveness.
The inescapable conclusion of our epistle lesson is this: without God there is no authentic love. Proverbs 8:36 says, "All those who hate God, love death." The culture of the Ik, as Colin Turnbull saw it, was in the throes of death. Primitivism is ugly, and modern artists are experimenting with creating works of calculated ugliness. Could it be they scorn beauty because they scorn Christian love? Our California culture is moving toward the culture of the Ik. In our coldness toward each other, in the way people drive on the freeways, in the ubiquity of rudeness, in our defiance of authority, in our killing of the unborn, and our negligence of the elderly, in all these things and more we are beginning to reflect the savagery and cruelty of pagan primitivism. The anthropologist Colin Turnbull, an atheist, had no idea how to correct the situation of the Ik. Even when there was a good year of rainfall, and food was plentiful, consummate selfishness toward each other improved life very little.
Here is a thought-provoking question: If we had all the resources in the world at our disposal, what would we send the Ik to help them out of their dilemma? What would they most need? What items would we parachute into the mountains inhabited by the Ik so as to give them some hope and improvement? Some would say, "Let's parachute tools and technology." Others might say, "food and money." Others may favor schools and universities. Others would prefer medicine, doctors and hospitals. Or we could send all of the above.
No doubt these ingredients would alleviate physical conditions to a point, but at bottom the problem of the Ik is a spiritual one that requires a spiritual solution. They need missionaries to give them the gospel and plant churches. They need the love of God in the Body of Christ, which lays the foundation for the full-orbed teaching of God's Word, and the celebration of the sacraments and in God's grace the transformation of their culture. It is only Christianity that will change their hearts and reverse their selfish ways.
The answer for the Ik is the same for American culture. In order that the United States become a discipled nation we need God's Spirit, Word, and Sacraments operating powerfully in the Church. Isn't that what we are striving for at St. Luke's? Isn't that why we make outreach plans and strategize for growth? Yes, of course! But John reminds us of the key element: "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." In other words, we at St. Luke's will not even get to first base unless we nurture a genuine atmosphere of love. If people cannot see beautiful relationships and sacrificial actions, if they do not see in our midst brokenness and forgiveness leading to humility and holiness, how can we expect to be taken seriously?
"God is love." Those Holy Spirit inspired words of St. John are meant to encourage, not condemn. "God is love." That statement is the summit of Scripture. If you can grasp that truth and put it into practice, it will profoundly and joyfully change you. St. Paul says in I Corinthians 13:2, "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." St. John says it with simple sublimity: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (v. 7).
How do you apply the truth that God is love? There are a thousand different ways and each one of you must rely on the Holy Spirit to guide you in fleshing it out. But here are some starters. Learn to love generally in order to love specifically. If you do not show sufficient love for your spouse, maybe it is because you too little love people in general. [I am indebted to the Dennis Prager Program for this insight.] The Bible tells us in Galatians 6:10, "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith."
How can you and I love people at large? You can follow the example of Mother Teresa and help the dying. Or you can go to a dangerous mission field. These would be heroic efforts. Most of you are not yet ready for that. What about the more mundane areas of life? How can you love people starting today? You should exchange pleasantries with the person standing in the check out line. Listen to those who talk to you. Be friendly to your neighbors. Say "Hi," "Hello," and "Good morning" to people on the street. Say "Please," and say "Thank you." Send cards and gifts to others. Be generous. Give encouragement. All these small things add up. And, a greater love for all will lead to a greater love for your spouse and children.
These are some of the ways that we can love each other, and we must love each other, love is not an option. Scripture is clear. God is love in Himself, He has loved us in Christ, and He continues to love in and through us. May the Spirit fill our hearts with ever more love for God and humanity.
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