Title: “1 John 3:16”
Series: Bible 3:16s
Introduction:
[1]What is love? How do you define it? For years, popular musicians have attempted to answer those questions. According to Neil Genzlinger, there are over 10,000 songs on file at the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, D.C., that begin with the words "Love Is …" Here are some of these song titles from the 20th century that try to define love:
"Love Is Like a Dizziness" (1905)
"Love Is Like a Shoogy Shoo" (1912)
"Love Is a Sickness Full of Woes" (1912)
"Love Is a Babe" (1919)
"Love Is an I.O.U." (1925)
"Love Is Like the Influenza" (1927)
"Love Is Good for Anything That Ails You" (1936)
"Love Is a Dimpling Doodle Bug" (1943)
"Love Is a Traitor" (1944)
"Love Is Doggone Mean" (1947)
"Love Is Your Prescription" (1947)
"Love Is Atomic" (1950)
"Love Is a Glass of Champagne" (1952)
"Love Is on the Ten-Yard Line" (1953)
"Love Is a Bore" (1964)
"Love Is Hell in a Small Hotel" (1966)
"Love Is Psychedelic" (1968)
"Love Is Groovy" (1969)
"Love Is Not One Color, Child" (1970)
"Love Is a Heavy Number" (1973)
"Love Is a Four-Letter Word" (1975)
"Love Is a Five-Letter Word" (1975)
"Love Is a Funky Thing" (1976)
"Love Is Suicide" (1979)
"Love Is a Loaded Gun" (1988)
"Love Is for Suckers" (1988)
"Love Is Blindness" (1991) [end of illustration].
Perhaps we could find a better definition of love in our key verse?:
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. -- 1 John 3:16 (ESV)
The Bible has a much tougher requirement for love than most popular songs, and than what most of our culture believes. It would seem that the biblical criteria for love has to do with giving, rather than receiving.
As we look at 1 John chapter 3, we are going to discover exactly what love is, according to God.
[1] Love Is, Harper's Magazine (February 2003), p. 28