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Listen "Sermon | 1 John 5:1-6 | "Conquering Love" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin, Indiana"
Episode Synopsis
Sermon | 1 John 5:1-6 | "Conquering Love" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin, Indiana
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been begotten by God
Faith is a gift from God.
If you love God, you love God’s children.
How do you know if you love God’s children?
You know when obey God’s commandments.
Love of God is obeying God’s commandments.
Obeying God’s commandments is what it is to love both God and God’s children.
God’s commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is begotten of God conquers the world.
The ruler of this world is faithlessness and lovelessness.
The rule is all about self over and against God and others.
Faithlessness and Lovelessness are perfectly encapsulated in human empire…
Oppression…
Systemic de-valuing of life…
Exaltation of violence and forced submission…
Use of might and power against the vulnerable and voiceless.
When we are gifted faith, we realize our beloved-ness…
We realize everyone’s beloved-ness…
We begin to see each other as family…
Loving and treating each other well becomes a joy—life-giving
No longer a burden.
What conquers the world?
Faith.
When we trust in God and love God as God and neighbor as self, we are no longer governed by selfish-ness and ignorance.
We want nothing to do with faithlessness and loveless-ness.
We want everything to do with living into the joy and life offered to us in the gift of faith and beloved-ness.
We then gain victory over the world.
Who conquers the world? Those who believe that Jesus is God’s child!
We are gifted a conquering love.
No longer are we wrapped up in playing God over each other…
No longer are we trusting in our own version of life…
No longer do we need to overthink this life.
Do you have faith that Jesus is the Messiah—the Son of God?
That means you have been given the grace of faith and love.
Faith and love lead us into a life of obedience—not a burden, but a joy and life-giving endeavor—of realizing that living in cooperation with God’s way revealed by Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit…brings us Life in fullness, eternal life…and peace and purpose and meaning…and everything that makes us whole
Because we have joy and life, we gain victory over sin and death through FAITH and LOVE.
We have already conquered the world.
And the rest of the world will come to know this truth, too—if we but live into our faith as our witnessing.
We have a conquering love in Jesus Christ.
So what does that mean?
We can take comfort in the simplicity of it all.
We can give up the anxiety of getting everything perfectly right all of the time and feeling the deep sense of burden we often think living a life following Jesus is.
We can find peace amid the struggle.
We can find identity amid our seeking and learning and growing.
We can KNOW that by loving each other we are loving God.
Following Jesus isn’t about perfecting a long list of details and practices determined by any one group of people…
Following Jesus is about nurturing our faith and trust…knowing our beloved-ness…knowing the beloved-ness of our neighbors…and then going and living accordingly.
It’s about turning the gem of faith and love again and again…
Beloved-ness, loving God and neighbor, finding strength in our faith, reflecting on the gift of faith given to us by God…who loves us…and back around we go.
So take comfort when things get difficult…
When we are sorting things out and what it means to love…
We ARE children of God, all of us…not because of what we do, but because of what God has done in Jesus Christ.
Worry not, friends.
Turn the gem, reflect the light of God’s love revealed in Jesus that we may continue to see all it has to show us.
Let it show you its brilliance in new ways as we live a shared life of the faith of conquering love.
Reflect, pray, nurture love and faith in every way you can…
and you will be doing EXACTLY what you are supposed to do.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been begotten by God
Faith is a gift from God.
If you love God, you love God’s children.
How do you know if you love God’s children?
You know when obey God’s commandments.
Love of God is obeying God’s commandments.
Obeying God’s commandments is what it is to love both God and God’s children.
God’s commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is begotten of God conquers the world.
The ruler of this world is faithlessness and lovelessness.
The rule is all about self over and against God and others.
Faithlessness and Lovelessness are perfectly encapsulated in human empire…
Oppression…
Systemic de-valuing of life…
Exaltation of violence and forced submission…
Use of might and power against the vulnerable and voiceless.
When we are gifted faith, we realize our beloved-ness…
We realize everyone’s beloved-ness…
We begin to see each other as family…
Loving and treating each other well becomes a joy—life-giving
No longer a burden.
What conquers the world?
Faith.
When we trust in God and love God as God and neighbor as self, we are no longer governed by selfish-ness and ignorance.
We want nothing to do with faithlessness and loveless-ness.
We want everything to do with living into the joy and life offered to us in the gift of faith and beloved-ness.
We then gain victory over the world.
Who conquers the world? Those who believe that Jesus is God’s child!
We are gifted a conquering love.
No longer are we wrapped up in playing God over each other…
No longer are we trusting in our own version of life…
No longer do we need to overthink this life.
Do you have faith that Jesus is the Messiah—the Son of God?
That means you have been given the grace of faith and love.
Faith and love lead us into a life of obedience—not a burden, but a joy and life-giving endeavor—of realizing that living in cooperation with God’s way revealed by Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit…brings us Life in fullness, eternal life…and peace and purpose and meaning…and everything that makes us whole
Because we have joy and life, we gain victory over sin and death through FAITH and LOVE.
We have already conquered the world.
And the rest of the world will come to know this truth, too—if we but live into our faith as our witnessing.
We have a conquering love in Jesus Christ.
So what does that mean?
We can take comfort in the simplicity of it all.
We can give up the anxiety of getting everything perfectly right all of the time and feeling the deep sense of burden we often think living a life following Jesus is.
We can find peace amid the struggle.
We can find identity amid our seeking and learning and growing.
We can KNOW that by loving each other we are loving God.
Following Jesus isn’t about perfecting a long list of details and practices determined by any one group of people…
Following Jesus is about nurturing our faith and trust…knowing our beloved-ness…knowing the beloved-ness of our neighbors…and then going and living accordingly.
It’s about turning the gem of faith and love again and again…
Beloved-ness, loving God and neighbor, finding strength in our faith, reflecting on the gift of faith given to us by God…who loves us…and back around we go.
So take comfort when things get difficult…
When we are sorting things out and what it means to love…
We ARE children of God, all of us…not because of what we do, but because of what God has done in Jesus Christ.
Worry not, friends.
Turn the gem, reflect the light of God’s love revealed in Jesus that we may continue to see all it has to show us.
Let it show you its brilliance in new ways as we live a shared life of the faith of conquering love.
Reflect, pray, nurture love and faith in every way you can…
and you will be doing EXACTLY what you are supposed to do.
In God we trust