1 JOHN 4:12-19 [LIFE, LIGHT & LOVE SERIES]
LOVE PERFECTED
[Romans 8:1-17]
God’s love is a selfless love. It considers the welfare of those He loves. If God considered only Himself; He would not have created such rebellious beings much less sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the world. God’s love not only reaches out to the world, it reaches into the life of every believer to do its great perfecting work.
We have just seen that God's love is proclaimed in the Word, proven at the Cross & now we will find it is perfected in believers. Those believers who abide in God will find God's love being perfected in their lives (CIT). To abide in God you must abide in love for “God is love.” God perfects His love in us by us loving the brethren. As we abide in God & His love is perfected in us, we will bear bold witness of the love of God to the world.
I. ABIDING IN LOVE, 12-16.
II. PERFECTED LOVE, 17-19.
[III. Honesty Tested, 20-21.]
Verse 12 reveals what happens when we make God a reality in our daily life. “No one has beheld God at any time; (then how are people going to see God) if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”
If “no one has ever seen God,” [ b/c God is spirit] how does He reveal Himself to us? When we love one another [with the love of Jesus] God reveals Himself to others through us. When we allow God to love others through us He perfects His love in us. You perfect something, or it make better or more useful, by using it with an eye to improving it. You cannot perfect anything that is untried or unused.
Our love for one another reveals God to a love starved world. The world is seeking, looking, for love in all the wrong places and all the wrong ways. True love is only found by and in those who abide in God. As we love God and the brethren, God and His love will be experienced in us and then will be expressed in fuller and more moving ways through us. As the love of God is experienced and expressed in and through our life His love will become perfected in us. We exercise and strengthen our love of the Unseen by showing love to the seen.
Even RESERVED PEOPLE can have this love perfected in them. Shy people don't need to become extroverts in order to love others. John isn't telling us how many people to love, but how to love the people we already know. Our job is to love faithfully the people God has given us to love, whether there are two or two hundred of them. If God sees that we are ready to love others, he will bring them to us or us to them. No matter how shy we are, we don't need to be afraid of the love commandment, or “love one another as I have loved you.” God provides us the strength to do what He asks. The love of God displayed in His people is the strongest proof the reality of God that He has in the world ( John 17: ).
Verse 13 tells us that it is the indwelling Spirit that confirms our relationship with God. “By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.”
Not only is God’s love poured into His children by the Spirit, their relationship connection with Him is by His Spirit. The abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in our life is proof of God's presence in our life. When you become a Christian you received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's presence in your life is proof that you are His child. If the Holy Spirit is not in your life you are not God's child (Rom. 8:16). Now God constantly, permanently abides in us but we must daily commit ourselves to abide in God by abiding in His will and Word. If we do not abide in God we will not experience the moving of God’s Holy Spirit within our lives.
The Holy Spirit also gives us the power to love (Rom. 5:5, 8:9, 2 Cor. 1:22) the brethren. How do you know if someone is full of the Spirit? You know if someone is full of the Spirit if they are loving others especially believers (Gal. 5:22). Loving the brethren is the proof that you are abiding in the Holy Spirit of God.
Rely on the Holy Spirit to empower you as you reach out to others in love. As you do you will gain confidence, and your love will grow and be perfected.
Verse 14 teaches that those who abide in the Spirit bear witness to the world that Jesus is the Savior. “And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.”
“We” probably means John and the other apostles [and possible we means the church then and the church today]. With their own eyes they saw the Son working out His mission as Savior of the World. [The title doesn’t mean that He saved the whole world but that through Him all the people of the world can be saved.] Their act of viewing was not a short lived event. It consisted of a lengthy process which when completed left behind permanent results.
What a precious title Savior is! Our Savior delivers us from Satan (Col. 1:12), from the judgment of the Law, from enslavement to sin (Col. 1:14), from spiritual death (2 Cor 5:8).
Not the emperor nor the Roman empire were the savior of the world. Today also, no man or government can save this world from its predicaments, only Jesus can save this world for He was sent for this very purpose, to be “the Savior of the World.”
We, like the Apostles, need to be fully convinced that He and He alone is and can be this world's Savior. We, like the Apostles, need to bear witness that the Father has sent Jesus to be the Savior of the World.
Verse 15 now asks for our continuous individual confession to the world that Jesus is the very Son of the One True God. “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”
Whoever confesses, [or more precisely, should be confessing or saying in agreement,] that Jesus and God are of the same essence, are the same being, God abides in Him. The act of agreement is a definite one representing the sustained attitude of the heart. It means your daily manner of living bears witness to the fact that Jesus is God in you life. This confession of the deity of Jesus Christ implies surrender and obedience also. It is not mere lip service.
Verse 16 again proclaims that to abide in God is to walk in love. “And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
Once you have come to know the love God has for you, you can believe it's real. Knowing or experiencing the love of God causes you to believe in it. You experience God's love by faith. If by faith you abide in God, [or remain in the Spirit] you abide in His love. Since God is love, if you abide in the love God imparts by His Spirit, God is living in you and you are living in God. Love, the love which is God's very nature; the love manifested in His sending His only begotten Son into the world that you might live through Him; that love is the environment in which you now dwell and foster.
The great truth “God is love” is again proclaimed. It is proclaimed for the purpose of bringing out what we can share with God. Love, the holy love of God is now home in our hearts. We abide, remain, live in it. This love is reaching us, it is saving us, as we believe in it, experience it and live it out.
The word “abide” is one of John’s favorites. To abide in God is to have your spiritual roots so deeply implanted in Him that His life flows into you and displays itself through your life. The plant sends roots into the soil, drawing moisture and nutrients that supply life. In the same way, when one is abiding in the love of God, this love will permeate the person’s personality so that you will live a different life. People will see and be touched by the love of God in you.
When one who has NEVER SAILED out upon the ocean stands on its shore and simply watches the pulsating waves as they surge and break upon the sands, how little he knows of the majesty and grandeur of the great deep, of its storms, of its power, of its secrets, of its starry nights, of its far-reaching size, or its unmeasurable treasures. The on-looker sees but its silver edge. We feel the splash of its waves upon our feet. Yet of its infinite reaches beyond our shore we know almost nothing. Yet blessed are they who even stand by the shore and drink in even the shallowest portions of the divine ocean of God’s love.
People who have given up on love probably agree with the words to the song LEMON TREE by the folk group Peter, Paul, and Mary. It goes:
“Don't put your faith in love, my boy,” my father said to me, “I fear you'll find that love is like the lovely lemon tree." Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.”
Many people feel that way. "Love is bitter," they say, because they've been used or abused. But there is a love that is sweet, precious and abundant. It is found in God’s love for you.
Other in the world want to turn John’s phrase around. "Love is God," they say, and seek love as the highest good. But John did not say that love is God. "God is love," he said. Author Frederick Buechner wrote, "To say that love is God is romantic idealism. To say that God is love is either the last straw or the ultimate truth."
The last straw? Yes, for some it is. You may have looked for love in all the wrong places or have given up looking for authentic love. But when you give yourself to God, as He is in Jesus, you find the real and personal love you've been looking for all your life.
God is not indifference, abandonment, and abuse, my friend. God is love. God's love knows no limits -which is the declaration of the cross.
II. PERFECTED LOVE, 17-19.
Verses 17-19 give us still other incentives to love. God’s love casts out fear once it is perfected in us verse 17 states. Let’s read it. “By this, [by abiding in God, in God’s love] love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.”
Love takes up its abode with us, and is developed and being perfected presently in our lives. The word perfected [ôåôåëåßùôáé, perf. pass. ind. of ôåëåéüù] carries the idea of maturity and completeness. If your love is being perfected within you right now, have confidence concerning the Day of Judgment. For faith, hope, and love will abide forever before God and the greatest of these is love (1 Cor. 13:13).
The Day of Judgment is that time of final judgment when all God's people will appear before Christ and be held accountable for their life. With God living in us through Christ, we have no reason to fear this day, because we are living just as He would have us live. We therefore can look forward to the Day of Judgment, because it will mean the end of sin and the beginning of a face-to-face relationship with Jesus Christ.
Our assurance or confidence concerning the Judgment is not presumption. It rests on love. By close communion with God our love is made perfect so that we presently have confidence concerning the Day of Judgment. And we know that when Christ appears we will be like Him (3:1f).
We have realized that Jesus has already died the death and suffered the punishment which we deserve to suffer. And now that He who died and yet now lives is living His life in and through us and we are being conformed to His image. We have nothing to fear, only the final perfecting of His nature in us when He appears.
The one in whom love is perfected lives without fear as we see in verse 18. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
The word fear is used in two different senses in the Bible. The first usage refers to reverence, or awe and respect. The child of God never loses his reverence for God, his sense of humility and humble respect as he approaches the glory of God.
The second usage of fear is to denote terror. What John is saying is that living in the love of God casts out the dread of God. Respect for God produces holy awe, but sin against God produces fear, a fear so strong for some that they do not even want to believe He exists because of the consequences of their rebellious actions.
As a child, I was fascinated by STORIES OF CHIVALRY, those which featured brave knights, fair damsels, and deeds of courage and honor. One such tale recounts the adventures of George, a Christian martyr and patron saint of England. According to the legend, George slew a dragon that had been terrorizing the countryside. Though others had tried and failed, only George was successful, because he was pure in heart, and therefore approached the dragon without fear.
This theme shows up time and again in literature. Somehow purity of heart and fearlessness seem interconnected. But the idea had been around long before the 14th century. Medieval storytellers merely borrowed from and embellished the writings of John.
What is indisputably true is that God is the source of purity, love, and mercy. When we receive these as His gifts, through Jesus' sacrificial death, we can approach Him as a loving and faithful Father, without threat of anger or punishment.
If we ever are afraid of the future, eternity, or God's judgment, we can remind ourselves of God's love. We know that He loves us perfectly (Rom. 8:39). We can resolve our fears first by focusing on His immeasurable love for us, and then by allowing Him to love others through us. His love will quiet your fears and give you confidence. For love casts or drives out fear.
Today there may be things you are worrying about. You can't sleep because of fear. This is an indication that you haven't fully given it to the Lord.
If I commit my life to the Lord, I realize He loves me, and I'm His child. He is going to take care of me. Whatever He allows me to go through, it is within the sphere of His love for me. And as my heart responds to His love, I love in return; and the fear dissolves, cast out by love.
Verse 19 reveals the reason we love and the reason we can love. “We love, because He first loved us.”
What brings us to God and brings us back to relationship with God is His love for us. We love because He first loved us. If your love is going to be so perfected so that it casts out fear of eternity or fear in life you must have a love that springs out of God's love. Yes, we must love. To humbly say with confidence we love is no little thing. It signifies much. It says you now have the divine ability to love which is out of God's very nature. It says that you have responded to God's love. Our love will be a selfish and manipulative thing unless it is first linked to God's love. We love because He first loved us. The love that casts out fear of God and eternity originates with God and is offered to His children.
You can not really know what self-sacrificing love is until you first receive it. You must lay open your whole heart to the free, frank acceptance of the love with which He first loved you as the flower opens its blossom to the rain and sunshine of heaven. Then from that love with which God first loved you--know, believe, accept, and embrace it and there will spring up God's love in you.
God's love is the source of all true love, and it spreads like fire. In loving His children, God kindles a flame in their hearts. In turn, they love others, who are warmed by God's love through them.
A friend described his GRANDMOTHER as one of the greatest influences in his life. Throughout his adult years, he has kept her portrait next to his desk to remind himself of her unconditional love. He said that “she helped me learn how to love.”
Not everyone has had a similar taste of human love, but through Christ each of us can experience being well-loved by God. In 1 John 4, the word love occurs 27 times, and God's love through Christ is cited as the source of our love for God and for others. [“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (v. 10). "We have known and believed the love that God has for us" (v.16). "We love Him because He first loved us" (v.19).]
God's love is not a slowly dripping faucet or a well we must dig for ourselves. It is a rushing stream that flows from His heart into ours. Whatever our family background or experiences in life-whether we feel well-loved by others or not-we can know love. We can draw from the Lord's inexhaustible source to know His loving care for us, and we can pass it on to others.
In Christ our Savior, we are well-loved. Nothing is more powerful than God's love. If you need a reminder why not put a Scripture text on your desk or wall?
[In his book Jesus Among Other Gods, Ravi Zacharias tells a story about a girl who became hopelessly lost in a dark and dense forest. She called and screamed, but to no avail. Her alarmed parents and a group of volunteers searched frantically for her. When darkness fell, they had to give up for the night.
Early the next morning the girl's father reentered the forest to search for her and spied her fast asleep on a rock. He called her name and ran toward her. Startled awake, she threw her arms out to him. As he picked her up and hugged her, she repeated over and over, "Daddy, I found you!"
Applying this story to Mary Magdalene's search for Jesus in John 20, Zacharias comments: "Mary discovered the most startling truth of all when she came looking for the body of Jesus. She did not realize that the person she had found was the One who was risen, and that He had come looking for her."
We who believe on Jesus sometimes speak of "finding" Him: But why did we seek Him in the first place? Because, like the shepherd who went out into the darkness to find one lost' sheep, God seeks us. He is waiting for us to realize our lostness and reach out to Him. He will pick us up, embrace us, and give us His peace. [Herb Vander Lugt. Our Daily Bread] When we find Christ, we discover that we the ones who were lost.]
[III. Honesty Tested, 20-21.]
In CONCLUSION
There is a glorious fellowship of love that God desires to have with us and exhibit through us. Let me ask you if you really long for and pray to be all that God wants you to be? If so, you must adjust your relationship to God to be one of His perfecting His love in your life. This love is not something you have to work at. His love is not far away or something you need to wait for a long time. It is in you. It is with you. It abides with you in the Son of His love whom you have received as personal Lord and Savior. Look to Him. Experience Jesus’ love. Believe on Him. Consent now to the perfecting of His love in you as you surrender to live in the world just as He would have you live.
Maybe you can’t or don’t really love God or others. You can not know what self-sacrificing love is until you 1st receive it. You must lay open your heart to the free, frank acceptance of the love with which He 1st loved you. Will you come today and receive the Son of His Love?
