Messages & Discussion Guides

Andrew Gates - March 17, 2024

Life Taken, Life Given

Scripture References: 1 John 3:11-24

From Series: "True Love: A Lent and Easter Journey Through John's Letters"

Most of the New Testament was written by the Apostle Paul, but in the naming of letters, it is John who dominates. The Gospel of John, the Revelation of John (just Revelation for short, thank you), and the letters of John: 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John. This spring, we are going to dig into the Letters of John (with an occasional side quest into the Gospel of John). Our main focus will be 1 John, which feels a bit like a poetic, spiraling sermon as it circles and drills down on essential themes of light and love and truth. The people of the light follow Jesus, the God of love is revealed in Jesus, and these core truths of who Jesus is must be held tightly against the falsehoods and temptations that would seek to lead us astray. But perhaps more than anything, 1 John is a profound theological reflection on true Christian love: what it is, what it is not, what it looks like, where it comes from, and how it radically transforms the life of a disciple. What does it look like for us to follow Jesus in truth? To follow Jesus in love? “True love” might sound corny, but laying down our lives for others, doing righteousness, and entrusting God with and for all things shapes us into persons who embody just that. This is the true love that Christ Jesus first demonstrated at the cross and the empty tomb—no love is truer or greater.

Discussion Guide     Daily Devotional

More Messages

Powered by Series Engine