As many of you know, we celebrate Valentine’s Day this week. Not only do we celebrate Valentine’s Day but several in our congregation also celebrate anniversaries, including your pastor and his wife. I don’t know what possesses people to get married on Valentine’s Day, but for some reason we do. It’s a little madness really. Flowers are more expensive and the restaurants are always full. If you are around us long enough, you will know that Pam and I typically don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day on Valentine’s Day. This became a tradition even before we were married. Let me tell you how that happened. Pam attended United Wesleyan College in Allentown. Her dad was the men’s basketball coach at the time and the coach’s daughter kept the statistics. Well, about the time Valentine’s Day came, the basketball team had an away game way out of town. So we celebrated with dinner the day after and thus a tradition was born. We usually go out for dinner on the 15th of February.

Give me a point of personal privilege this morning. I love my wife and I love my children. We don’t always understand each other, but we love each other and sometimes we put up with stuff because we love them. Let me also say that I love you. I love each and every member of this congregation. We always won’t see eye to eye, but that doesn’t change the way I feel about you. Thank you for your love and kindness back to my family and me. The fact that you encourage and affirm my children warms my heart.

Many years ago, longer than I care to admit, Tina Turner sang the song, “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” Many would ask the same question. This morning we want to take a look at the subject of love.

What is Love?

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, “What does love mean?” The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

• Love is that first feeling you feel before all the bad stuff gets in the way. Charlie – age 5
• When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love. Rebecca – age 8
• Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other. Karl – age 5
• Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs. Chrissy – age 6
• Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired. Terri – age 4
• Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK. Danny – age 7
• Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss. Emily – age 8
• Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen. Bobby – age 5
• If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate. Nikka – age 6
• There are two kinds of love. Our love. God’s love. But God makes both kinds of them. Jenny – age 4
• Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday. Noelle – age 7
• My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night. Clare – age 5
• Love is when mommy gives daddy the best piece of chicken. Elaine – ­age 5
• Love is when mommy sees daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford. Chris – age 8
• I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones. Lauren – age 4
• I let my big sister pick on me because my Mom says she only picks on me because she loves me. So I pick on my baby sister because I love her. Bethany – age 4
• Love cards like Valentine’s cards say stuff on them that we’d like to say ourselves, but we wouldn’t be caught dead saying. Mike – age 8
• When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you. Karen – age 7
• You really shouldn’t say “I love you” unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot; people forget. Jessica – age 8

Like I said, there are some profound statements made by these young people. I’m saving one more for the end of the sermon.

I ask you the question again, “What’s love got to do with it?” I’m here to declare that love has everything to do with it. Let’s look at the scriptures this morning. We’re going to turn to a very familiar verse. Most of you can recite it by heart. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” As we have been taking a look at the gospel of John on Wednesday evenings, we have discovered that John has written this book for a specific purpose; that many might believe in Jesus and put their faith in him. Let’s go back to John 1:1-14

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.

3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood[a] it.

6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.[b]

10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent,[c] nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,[d] who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

In the beginning it was God. John makes it very clear. He states in John 3:16, “For God…” It all begins and ends with God. God is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning and the end. He is eternal. He is the I AM. “For God so loved so loved the world, that He gave his one and only Son…”

God loves us. He 100% loves us. How do we know? Because He sent His son Jesus to die on the cross for us. When we love, we love on a convenience level. Think about if we were God. Look at the scriptures that we have read over the last six weeks. If we were God, we would probably have little tolerance for “our chosen people.” How would we have responded to Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and the children of Israel? We have little tolerance for people making mistakes. God was upset several times, but he never gave up. Our loving stops when it becomes inconvenient; just look at Hollywood. God’s love is not like that. Romans 5:8 reminds us that “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were yet sinners.”

Great love is demonstrated by great sacrifice and Jesus, God’s son demonstrated that to us. Jesus says, “the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends.” We often say I’ll love you, if… I’ll love you, when… I’ll love you, until… But when Jesus laid down his live willingly on the cross, He said, “I love you…period.” His love for us covers all our sins. There are no conditions; no strings attached.

Jesus’ death on the cross fulfilled two purposes. First, we’ve already mentioned love. We don’t have a problem with that, after all, God is love, but God is also a God of justice. Romans 6:23, tells us that “the wages of sins is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Paul tells us that through Adam sin came into the world, but that through Jesus Christ comes salvation for the whole world. God’s sense of justice requires the price for sin to be paid, just as our justice system requires penalties to be paid for wrongs done.

Sin is a violation of God’s law…Somebody has got to pay for it. There’s a terrible price to be paid for sin and Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for our sin. His blood was the payment for our sin. Jesus said payment is made and we have be declared not guilty.

Jesus paid the debt when he gave His life on the cross. “He paid a debt he did owe, I owe a debt I could not pay.” He paid the debt and made the declaration: Not guilty!

Listen to the third verse of “It Is Well With My Soul:”

My sin, o the bliss of this glorious thought,

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, o my soul!

Have you heard of redemption math? One cross plus three nails equals four-given. The cross of Christ is the only place it’s going to add up right.

It all begins with God and He loves us to the last and he calls us to believe. “…Whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” God calls us to believe. The promise waits for anyone. Is God calling you this morning? It is important to believe. It’s more important to believe in Jesus Christ. Our culture says it’s ok for you to have your belief and I can have my belief. Jesus reminds us in John 14:6 that, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”

To our culture this may sound narrow-minded, but this is the truth of the gospel. That God loved and loves us so much that He would send his son and Jesus as God’s son would come willingly. Remember the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane? Jesus came from heaven to earth…He went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins…he died…was put in a borrowed tomb…and three days later rose from the grave. No other spiritual figure can make the same claim. From the grave he went back to heaven to prepare a place for those who believe in him. Let me share that last kid’s perspective on love.

• God could have said magic words to make the nails fall off the cross, but He didn’t, that’s love. Max – age 5

This morning we are giving you the opportunity to receive Christ. He is calling, do you here him and will you obey?