Putting on my Preacher Hat, Part One

Dear Readers,

Good morning. Thank you for coming. It’s good to see you.

There are lots of things I could preach about today. I could preach to you about the things that the world would like me to preach to you about- fancy cars, fancy houses, fancy parties, all the fancy things that, once we set our hearts upon them, lead our souls to Babylon. I could preach to you about how great it is to steal from your neighbor, or I could teach you how to lie and cheat so that you won’t get caught, or I could teach you how to recklessly indulge yourselves in the pleasures of the flesh.

Yes, I could preach to you like that. But I won’t. I refuse. I know better. And you know better. You already get enough of that sort of preaching. Too much of it, in fact. And if you would like some more of that kind of preaching- preaching that is satisfying to the carnal mind, well, go talk to some of your misguided, goat-like neighbors.

You came here today to hear the pleasing word of God, the word which healeth the wounded soul (Jacob 2:8). You came here because you wanted to cast your minds upon the weighty matters of eternity. And I thank you for coming today. I love you for your mere attendance, and for your listening ear.

I base my sermon today on the verse, “We love Him, because He first loved us.” That’s from First John, chapter four, verse nineteen. Those beautiful eight words from John, the Apostle that Jesus loved, and still loves, sheds more light on the subject of God’s love for us than all the volumes and volumes of books written by uninspired, noisy voices. And even the inspired would be hard-pressed to express God’s love for us in such a profound and concise way.

I love that verse. Let me read it again. “We love Him, because He first loved us.”

Let me first clear up what the pronouns in that verse refer to, although I’m sure you already know. “We” refers to the saints, the followers of God. “Him” and “He” refer to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So we could read the verse, “The saints love Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ first loved the saints.”

And we all are saints here. We all try to follow God. And so I think it is not improper to say that First John 4:19 was not only referring to the saints of the primitive Church, but to us, the latter-day saints. Indeed, I think that this verse could refer to anyone, anywhere, anytime, who endeavors to follow Jesus Christ. So let’s take this verse personally.

Let’s not make the mistake of considering this verse to be an irrelevant relic from a bygone era. Let’s not make the mistake of saying, “Oh, this verse was fitting for its time, but now that time is past. We ought to leave that verse in the time and place from which it came, and we ought to look for newer advice, and newer preachers, that come from our place and from our time.” Now, it is true that the Heavens are open, and it is true that God delights to pour down revelation upon revelation upon us, especially through his chosen servant, the prophet Thomas S. Monson. So it is true that new Scripture is being written every day from people closer to our place and time. But think for a moment how often our modern day prophets refer to the ancient Scriptures, and then ask yourselves if these scriptures ought to be cast aside because they are old, or because they have no relevance to our various modern situations. Again, I implore you, take this verse personally.

“We love Him, because He first loved us.”

How do we know that Jesus loved us before we loved him? How can we know that Jesus loves us at all? First of all, we can’t know that Jesus loves us in the same way that we can know that one plus one equals two, or in the way that we know what we had for breakfast this morning. Love is an intangible, immeasurable quality that we say resides in hearts, yet no heart surgeon has ever located love during an operation, and you won’t find the location of love in an anatomy textbook. But just because we can’t find it, pin it down and measure it, that doesn’t mean that love is not real. Let me assure you that love is very real. But you don’t need me to tell you that love is real. Search your souls, and you will know that love is real. Knowing that Jesus loves us is a different kind of knowledge. We have to have faith that Jesus loves us. There is no scientific love-measuring instrument, and even if there were, how could we apply it to a Deity who does not reside on planet Earth?

But enough of that doubtful kind of talk. Let’s take a leap of faith. Let’s believe that John is telling the truth when he says that Jesus loves us. The fact that Jesus loves us is not new to us saints. We’ve heard it before, in several other verses, and on several other occasions. Still, I don’t think we can ever hear it enough. Let’s hear it again and again, until it sinks deep into our hearts.

One way we can have a pretty good idea that Jesus loves us, besides simply taking his word for it, is to look at Jesus’ actions. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, he fed the hungry multitude, he preached to the poor. And most of all he suffered and died for the sins of the world. I think that is evidence enough that Jesus indeed loves us.

And so we know that Jesus loves us.

But the thing that strikes me about First John 4:19 is the notion that Jesus loved us before we loved him. That scripture says that Jesus is the first one who loves. The saints are the second ones who love. Jesus initiated the loving relationship. He sought us out. He wanted to form a loving a relationship. He started it. Even if we were at times unlovable, even if we didn’t return his love, even if we outright rejected his love and lived like the Prodigal Son before his return to his father, Jesus still loved us.

Sincerely,
Telemoonfa