“Amazing Love”
1John 4:7-21
REVIEW
God is life – abide in Him.
God is light – walk in the light.
God is righteous – practice righteousness
God is love – love one another.
INTRODUCTION
We will return to the instruction to love one another we started last week next, week.
Since this is communion Sunday where we contemplate the amazing love of God for us in sending His Son Jesus, I decided to skip ahead to chapter four where John spends some time reflecting on that great truth.
I. THE GOD OF LIGHT AND HIS CHILDREN OF LIGHT
II. THE GOD OF LOVE & HIS CHILDREN OF LOVE
John repeats his instruction to love one another and then reminds them where such love comes from. The love of which John speaks is not the feeling love between husband and wife, it is not the family love between brothers and sisters, it is not even the friendship love between companions. While each of these has the basic component of connection, they all find the motivation for connection in the mutual benefit derived from the relationship.
The love referenced here has to do with a passion for and pursuit of meaningful connection.
Selfless community. Loving family. This passion continues to function apart from promise of mutual benefit or positive response. There is of course a desire for response but motivation of connection comes from within. This is the way God created us but the fall turned our desires backwards.
The new birth restores those longings for community. Such selfless community becomes the hallmark of Christ’s followers.
"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:35
It is expressed in selfless acts, encouraging words, sacrifice, forbearance, thoughts, attitudes.
The passion is to do whatever it takes to generate and even emulate the community and unity of Godhead through meaningful connection with people.
Love is from God!
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8
The logic here is iron clad.
• God is love and love and the source of love. “Love is from God”
• God enables those born of Him to love like He loves. “those born of God love”
• If you love, you are born of God and know Him.
• If you do not love, you do not know God and are not born of Him because God is love.
The only true manifestation of genuine love comes through a radical work of God in the heart.
Only those who have been born of Him can love like He loves.
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (satisfactory payment) for our sins…We love, because He first loved us. 1 John 10,19
Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Eph 6:23
Only a supernatural transformation can restore the divine capacity to love and live like God.
Here are some other passages that reinforce the truth of the source of this love.
• God floods believer’s hearts with His love by the Holy Spirit Rom 5:1-8
and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out (spilled, gushed out – perfect tense verb indicating a past action with continuing results i.e. poured out and still there!) within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
• Love is the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life
“The fruit of the Spirit is love…” Gal 5:22
• God grants the believer a spirit (nature) of love
For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline (self-control).
• God causes our love to increase1 Thes 3:11-13
Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you; and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all men, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.
• God teaches us to love 1 Thes 4:9-12
Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another
• God purifies the heart our heart to love sincerely and fervently 1 Pet 1:22
Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God. 1 Peter 1:22-23
We also have a part in the development and perfection of love but its origin is from God.
• Obedience to the Word perfects love 1 Jn 2:3-6
but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
• Love is something we choose to wear or put on
“Put on love which is the perfect bond of unity.” Col 3:14
• Love is perfected by practice 1 John 4:12
No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:12
• Love may be pursued by us
But flee from these things, you man of God; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. 1 Tim. 6:11
• Love is to be the guiding factor in everything we do.
Let all that you do be done in love. 1 Cor. 16:14
• Love comes from encouragement by the body Heb 10:13
and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.
• Love is modeled by others 2 Tim 3:10-11
But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings,
• Love can always increase
We urge you, brethren, to excel still more (in their love for one another) 1 Thes. 4:9-10
John then reminded them of the glorious nature of this amazing love.
God showed His love by sending His only Son.
By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 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. 1 John 4:9-10
One act, two purposes. God “sent forth” His only Son into this hostile, sinful world.
Jesus spoke of the longing to return to the environment he was used to.
I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. John 17:4-5
He left the glories of the heavenly realm to take on a limited body and face a hostile world.
He laid aside His immortality to take on morality. He gave up sovereignty to suffer mistreatment. He traded universal notoriety for dismal obscurity.
The contrast goes on and on.
Although He (Jesus) existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8
He sent forth His Son on a mission. John reminded them of two mission objectives earlier.
You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 1 John 3:5
The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8
Two objectives are repeated here.
1 – Restore life to us.
2 – Bear sin’s penalty for us.
Restore life to us “We might live”
Ephesians two best expresses this truth. Ephesians 2:1-10
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9
“no that we loved God but He loved us”
It is clear that God took the initiative to love us. In fact, we were enemies. We were in rebellion.
"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. John 6:44 We love, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19
Bear sins penalty for us “be the propitiation for our sins”
We encountered this $100 word in chapter two.
and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. 1 John 2:2
It is a word that indicates the appeasement of an offended party. In this case Jesus did what was necessary to satisfy the demands of the Holy God horribly offended by rebellious creatures.
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.
and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. 1 Peter 2:24
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8
Isaiah spoke of this many years before Christ came.
But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Isa 53:10-11
He was the Lamb of God.
You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 1 Peter 1:18-21
There should be absolutely no doubt about the intensity of God’s love for us. He paid the ultimate sacrifice as a Father. Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice as a Son and human.
"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. John 15:12-13
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father. John 10:10-18
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16
We deserved death. Jesus took our punishment.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. Isaiah 53:5-6
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14
God proved His love by sending His only Son. That he might restore life to us. That he might bear sin’s penalty for us. He bore the penalty for every sin ever committed by every person that ever lived.
The burning question?
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:11
How clear is our love for each other? Sacrificial? Fervent? God has made it possible to love like He loves. It can only be realized by loving one another.
No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:12
If you want your love to grow it will only grow through exercise. His love is perfected by loving one another. God is not physically here to commune with. Loving community will only be perfected by pursuing it with each other.
God demonstrated His passion for connection by sending His Son.
Jesus demonstrated His passion for connection by dying for us.
The Spirit demonstrates His passion for connection by living in us and stirring his passion for connection.
By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 1 Jon 4:13
The Holy Spirit bears witness with our Spirit that we are connected to the Godhead. There is loving communion through the Spirit who continually indwells us.
John offered his own testimony and experience of this great love of God.
We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 1 John 4:14
This amazing communion and connection is open to all who will confess Jesus.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 1 John 4:15
John elaborates the wonder of connection to this God of love.
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. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 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. 1 John 4:16-18
Realization of God’s love produces confidence. We need not fear. If you understand how much God loves you, you will not fear. If you fear God, you don’t understand His passion to have relationship with you. God loved us first. God loved us when we had no desire for relationship with Him. He loved us before we were even born. John closed this section by a return to the relationship between love of God and love of one another.
If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. 1 John 4:20-21
Since God has a passion for community with everyone who confesses Christ we cannot enjoy connection with Him and reject meaningful connection with our brother and sisters in Christ.
Paul understood the importance of fully understanding God’s amazing love. He prayed for the realization for the Ephesians.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19
The path to being filled with God’s love begins with confessing Christ.
At that point the Spirit fills our heart with the passion of God for community.
The Spirit strengthens the inner person to surrender to the presence of Christ.
The Spirit enables us to understand the wonder of Christ’s love.
The comprehension of Christ’s love leads us to a deeper fullness of God’s loving nature.
God loves you. God has done everything He can to demonstrate that love to you. It is up to you to believe it and receive it.
How secure is that love? Will He ever stop loving us? Will He ever quit pursuing meaningful connection with me?
I’ll let Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak for God answer that one.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:31-39
