But the afternoon before this talk, I changed it to talk more about the Queen as I really didn't have anything about her and probably these people would be thinking about that more so than a Youth talk. So I kinda put some more things in there, which perhaps meant the talk went in a slightly different direction. Below is mostly what I said.
Did you watch the Queen’s funeral? It was grand. The Brits know how to do pomp and ceremony. They know how to hit the right tones of what is appropriate and measured. I thought the funeral was done very well, and all the logistics involved were impressive. But what I noticed was there wasn’t really a long eulogy. Normally at funerals, someone lists all the achievements of someone’s life. It's like the final resume of what that person did. For the Queen, that list probably would have been huge.
At your funeral what will people say about who you are?
Our society is constantly trying to weigh up and judge people based on what they do. When you were working and at a dinner party or meeting someone for the first time, how long was it before someone asked you what you did? We tend to associate what you do with who you are, but that isn’t quite right. You are still valued if you don’t work. Your job or production or even your title is not who you are.
Today, individuals try to define themselves, breaking out from the mould, and expressing themselves how they like. Some try to say that who they love is their identity. The Queen's uncle, Edward VII abrogated his position as King because of who he loved. He wanted to define himself by who he loved, not by his position.
Now there is nothing wrong with love. It is probably to most sung about topic in the world. At any point in time there is always some song in the charts about love. It is a powerful emotion.
On June 25, 1967, between 400 and 700 million people in 26 countries watched, the first ever live international satellite broadcast. It is most famous for a short segment where the Beatles perform for the first time the song “All You Need Is Love.” The Beatles had been asked to come up with a simple song in two weeks that could be understood by all nations[1]
“All You Need Is Love” is a pretty basic idea to the human condition. But this sentiment is so vague, the song itself actually doesn’t say anything really. It got lines like:
Don’t get me wrong, love is a good thing. It is just that I think as a culture, we don’t really know what love is, or we use the word in so many different ways it has lost its meaning.
I love a good hamburger, I also love my country, and I love my wife. Now when I say these things, you would be foolish to think that I love all these things in the same way with the same seriousness and intensity.
Our culture says who you are attracted to is your identity. It says who you love is who you are. Our culture has not read our passage that says, “God is Love”. Instead, our culture says, “Love is God”. They get it backwards.
John, the Apostle, identifies himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. That was his identity. It was based on who was loving him, not who he loves.
His identity was based on the love of Jesus for him, not on his own love for anything. In our passage when it says, “dear friends” it literally means “beloved”. Those John were writing to, were loved by God and so that was their identity. That is who we are - beloved. I think that is a better way to see ourselves, and it is based on a different type of love.
The love that John based his identity on was from God. This is a love that exists regardless of circumstance. It is sacrificial and unconditional towards the outsider.
So I want us to see that first and foremost our identity, who we are as Christians isn’t because of anything we have to do, but it is because of who loves us. God. The creator of all things wasn’t forced to love you, but he chose to love you.
And in our passage, which talks about how God is love, it explains this love for us.
Verse 9-10 says
Jesus came into this world to give us new life. Jesus entered in this world as a man. He was sent, like a gift, posted to us by God. And this gift was so that we might live through him. He was sent as a sacrifice for our sins.
The bad news is that we are sinful and that God hates sin. The good news is that God loved us so much He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him (1 John 4:9).
For Jesus to give us life, it cost Him His life. Jesus died so that we could be made right and restored back to God. Jesus took the punishment that we deserved. He took God’s just wrath that we deserved because we are sinners, and then, after that, we are seen without sin. We are perfect in God’s eyes and we can have a relationship with Him because of Jesus’ sacrifice.
As I read earlier this week, on the cross we see the “merciful heart of the creator God who would rather submit to earthly horrors himself than condemn his beloved human race to perish”[2]. That is love.
So, when John says, “God is love”, the love He is talking about is seen in the sacrifice of Jesus. It is an action, it is a gift, it initiates and takes the first step. It is a sacrifice.
And it was done for you. Knowing that you are loved just might change everything.
The Queen was well loved by people, and rightfully so. She was a good Queen. She didn’t oppress people, she didn’t take from the people, instead, she gave herself to serve the people she ruled over. At age 25 a lot was asked of her[3]. Her name was on all the laws, the military swore allegiance to her. Her image was put on all coins, all stamps. She was the figurehead of the British system and the Commonwealth. And as Boris Jonson said, she showed the world how to live, love and serve.
And that is why she was loved by all. She was loved for she showed in her actions, sacrifice for others.
As Justice Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury said at the Queen's funeral:
Jesus is the ultimate example of God’s love. He got alongside the outcasts, the sick, and weak and the prostitutes. He loved to unlovable. He saves the unsavable[5].
Jesus didn’t love those who deserved it. He saved us not because of works done in righteousness, not because we met him halfway, not because we took the proper steps forward to be deserving in some way, but because of His great love for us.
Jesus didn’t just feel for us in our misery and need, He took the necessary action to save us. He left the eternal glory of heaven and the fellowship of the Trinity and condensed to us, lived among us, suffers like and died for us.
Knowing that you are loved by God means that you can love others. We can act in the same way towards others that God has acted toward us.
So who are you? What will be said about you at your funeral?
You are loved by God. You are beloved. That should be the basis of your identity. Not who or what our interests or attractions are, not our titles of what we have done.
May the good news of what Jesus had done for us, be our bedrock and motivation in our love for others around us.
May we be known for our love, because God is Love.
[1] Daniel L. Ankin (2014) uses this in Exalting Jesus in 1, 2, & 3 John (Christ-Centered Exposition) and I picked up some other facts from youTube somewhere.
[2] Karen H. Jobes (2014), 1, 2, and 3 John (Zondervan exegetical commentary series on the New Testament)
[3] Former prime minister Boris Johnson pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth II in Commons
[4] The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Sermon for The State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
[5] Most of this section has been lifted from this clip Blessed Are The Merciful by Beautiful Eulogy (with the word "mercy" swapped for "love")
Our society is constantly trying to weigh up and judge people based on what they do. When you were working and at a dinner party or meeting someone for the first time, how long was it before someone asked you what you did? We tend to associate what you do with who you are, but that isn’t quite right. You are still valued if you don’t work. Your job or production or even your title is not who you are.
Today, individuals try to define themselves, breaking out from the mould, and expressing themselves how they like. Some try to say that who they love is their identity. The Queen's uncle, Edward VII abrogated his position as King because of who he loved. He wanted to define himself by who he loved, not by his position.
Now there is nothing wrong with love. It is probably to most sung about topic in the world. At any point in time there is always some song in the charts about love. It is a powerful emotion.
On June 25, 1967, between 400 and 700 million people in 26 countries watched, the first ever live international satellite broadcast. It is most famous for a short segment where the Beatles perform for the first time the song “All You Need Is Love.” The Beatles had been asked to come up with a simple song in two weeks that could be understood by all nations[1]
“All You Need Is Love” is a pretty basic idea to the human condition. But this sentiment is so vague, the song itself actually doesn’t say anything really. It got lines like:
“There's nothing you can do that can't be doneGreat. All you need is love.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung”
Don’t get me wrong, love is a good thing. It is just that I think as a culture, we don’t really know what love is, or we use the word in so many different ways it has lost its meaning.
I love a good hamburger, I also love my country, and I love my wife. Now when I say these things, you would be foolish to think that I love all these things in the same way with the same seriousness and intensity.
Our culture says who you are attracted to is your identity. It says who you love is who you are. Our culture has not read our passage that says, “God is Love”. Instead, our culture says, “Love is God”. They get it backwards.
John, the Apostle, identifies himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. That was his identity. It was based on who was loving him, not who he loves.
His identity was based on the love of Jesus for him, not on his own love for anything. In our passage when it says, “dear friends” it literally means “beloved”. Those John were writing to, were loved by God and so that was their identity. That is who we are - beloved. I think that is a better way to see ourselves, and it is based on a different type of love.
The love that John based his identity on was from God. This is a love that exists regardless of circumstance. It is sacrificial and unconditional towards the outsider.
So I want us to see that first and foremost our identity, who we are as Christians isn’t because of anything we have to do, but it is because of who loves us. God. The creator of all things wasn’t forced to love you, but he chose to love you.
And in our passage, which talks about how God is love, it explains this love for us.
Verse 9-10 says
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.We see that this love John is talking about is an action, it is a gift, it initiates and takes the first step. It is a sacrifice. Love is found in the person of Jesus and what He has done for us.
Jesus came into this world to give us new life. Jesus entered in this world as a man. He was sent, like a gift, posted to us by God. And this gift was so that we might live through him. He was sent as a sacrifice for our sins.
The bad news is that we are sinful and that God hates sin. The good news is that God loved us so much He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him (1 John 4:9).
For Jesus to give us life, it cost Him His life. Jesus died so that we could be made right and restored back to God. Jesus took the punishment that we deserved. He took God’s just wrath that we deserved because we are sinners, and then, after that, we are seen without sin. We are perfect in God’s eyes and we can have a relationship with Him because of Jesus’ sacrifice.
As I read earlier this week, on the cross we see the “merciful heart of the creator God who would rather submit to earthly horrors himself than condemn his beloved human race to perish”[2]. That is love.
So, when John says, “God is love”, the love He is talking about is seen in the sacrifice of Jesus. It is an action, it is a gift, it initiates and takes the first step. It is a sacrifice.
And it was done for you. Knowing that you are loved just might change everything.
The Queen was well loved by people, and rightfully so. She was a good Queen. She didn’t oppress people, she didn’t take from the people, instead, she gave herself to serve the people she ruled over. At age 25 a lot was asked of her[3]. Her name was on all the laws, the military swore allegiance to her. Her image was put on all coins, all stamps. She was the figurehead of the British system and the Commonwealth. And as Boris Jonson said, she showed the world how to live, love and serve.
And that is why she was loved by all. She was loved for she showed in her actions, sacrifice for others.
As Justice Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury said at the Queen's funeral:
People of loving service are rare in any walk of life. Leaders of loving service are still rarer. But in all cases those who serve will be loved and remembered when those who cling to power and privileges are long forgotten[4].John in our passage says we are to love like Jesus because we have experienced this type of love. And I think the Queen knew this type of love and so lived it.
Jesus is the ultimate example of God’s love. He got alongside the outcasts, the sick, and weak and the prostitutes. He loved to unlovable. He saves the unsavable[5].
Jesus didn’t love those who deserved it. He saved us not because of works done in righteousness, not because we met him halfway, not because we took the proper steps forward to be deserving in some way, but because of His great love for us.
Jesus didn’t just feel for us in our misery and need, He took the necessary action to save us. He left the eternal glory of heaven and the fellowship of the Trinity and condensed to us, lived among us, suffers like and died for us.
Knowing that you are loved by God means that you can love others. We can act in the same way towards others that God has acted toward us.
So who are you? What will be said about you at your funeral?
You are loved by God. You are beloved. That should be the basis of your identity. Not who or what our interests or attractions are, not our titles of what we have done.
May the good news of what Jesus had done for us, be our bedrock and motivation in our love for others around us.
May we be known for our love, because God is Love.
[1] Daniel L. Ankin (2014) uses this in Exalting Jesus in 1, 2, & 3 John (Christ-Centered Exposition) and I picked up some other facts from youTube somewhere.
[2] Karen H. Jobes (2014), 1, 2, and 3 John (Zondervan exegetical commentary series on the New Testament)
[3] Former prime minister Boris Johnson pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth II in Commons
[4] The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Sermon for The State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
[5] Most of this section has been lifted from this clip Blessed Are The Merciful by Beautiful Eulogy (with the word "mercy" swapped for "love")
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