G.A. Studdert-Kennedy, the English chaplain poet, found himself alone one dark night on the cliffs of Dover, peering sightlessly into the darkness across the English Channel. His thoughts led him to wonder what kind of force lingered in the darkness. As he thought about who may be lingering in the darkness, he was led to ponder the ultimate question: Is there an Unseen Force that holds the world together? Is there really a God, and what does he feel about human beings? Recalling how many a sentry had nervously inquired, “Friend or Foe,” he asked, “Who is out there, friend or foe?”
We, too, when confronted with the oppressive darkness and evil that daily devours people, are challenged to ponder the nature of God.
Last week we looked at I John 4:1-6. Some view the passage about discerning the spirits as a parenthetical message simply inserted in the larger context, the passage on love. I think not! I believe it draws our attention to an especially important aspect of the Gospel.
Remember, John is writing to believers who were disturbed by what false teachers were saying about God. The Gnostics contended that spirit was good, and matter was evil, undermining the apostolic assertion of God as Creator and God becoming flesh. The believers, like Studdert-Kennedy, wanted to know: What kind of God is out there? In I John, Scripture answers that question for us. John holds before us three aspects of God that describe his nature:
1. The Divine Love of God: It is his nature to love us despite our carnal minds, our inadequacies, our sin, and our failures.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
"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. John 3:16
2. The Incarnational Love of God: God’s self-giving love demonstrated on the Cross–a full disclosure.
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 1 John 3:16
3. The Spirit Filled Life of the Believer: God’s abiding presence that empowers us to take on the character of God–particularly as it is expressed in love.
And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 1 John 3:23
As I read I John I am wonderfully impressed by the way John draws our attention to the redemptive purpose of God. God wants all people to know Him, worship Him and serve Him in the strength of His resurrected power.
How does God’s love become our love? This is the question we bring to the text this morning. The incredible love of God is not up for debate. The incarnational love of God stands as an uncontested demonstration of love. Yet how have we allowed the love of God to transform us? Literally! Just as a caterpillar is miraculously transformed into a beautiful butterfly.
Many found it very hard to believe that Jane Fonda had surrendered her life to the call of Jesus. Jane Fonda had her share of critics–some calling her “Hanoi Jane” because of her position regarding Viet Nam. Others were jealous and admired her physique; she sold more exercise tapes than Bill Gates has sold Windows.
All sorts of stories circulated when she divorced Ted Turner. I understand God used the wife of a Turner Broadcasting System executive and a chauffeur to understand and embrace His redeeming love. Gerald Durley, pastor of Providence Missionary Baptist Church, where the chauffeur is a member and where Jane Fonda attended Bible studies, says,
“I am extremely impressed with the genuineness and sincerity of {her} search for spirituality and wholeness...I think she has found a certain sense of peace among those who’ve found peace with Christianity.” (Mike Hays, p. 1)
This story illustrates the threefold process for acknowledging and confessing the love of God. Let us look briefly at how John presents love as an ongoing action.
I. LOVE IS THE PREEMINENT ATTRIBUTE OF GOD–IT IS HIS NATURE TO LOVE
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. I John 4
The Book of I John is best known for its emphasis upon love. As we have seen in this series, it brims with many nuggets of truth. Yet, they are all based upon a simple premise: Love. Three times in our text John uses the expression, “love one another” (:7, 11, 12).
As already stated, many in the Roman providence in which the recipients of I John lived had strange ideas about God. John gives a careful description of God.
1. God is light (1:5)
2. God is righteous (2:29)
3. God is love (4:8)
To this day many still have a distorted image of God, even though we live on this side of the cross event.
1. To some God is a harsh judge, seeking to punish.
2. To some God is like a gentle doting parent.
3. Some describe God as a fanciful deity.
4. Others believe God to hold a special affinity for their kind.
5. Some think of God as a blob whom we cannot know or understand.
6. A growing number are agnostic and have little to say for God.
7. Atheism, the blatant denial of God is popularized.
Yet, for those who are willing to open their hearts to the convicting love of God, many are discovering the greatest biblical revelation about God.
C. H. Dodd says that the phrase “God is Love” implies that God’s predominant attribute is love, and that all his activity is loving activity.
What does this mean? It means that everything God does (e.g., judge, exhort, discipline, bless, etc.) is done from the perspective of love.
II. LOVE IS THE MOST AMAZING ACTION OF GOD–THE CROSS DEMONSTRATES HIS LOVE
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4
John quickly moves from the abstract to historical action. I have often wondered, as many inquire, if people in heaven have a panoramic view of God’s activity in the world. Can they see what we cannot see as the providential Spirit of God hovers over His created and unfolding universe? Can they see those little things that cause people to turn from despair to hope? From lostness to salvation? I am thoroughly convinced that grace and transcendence are the two concepts of spirituality least understood by contemporary Christians. You cannot understand the life, ministry, death, resurrection, ascension, and abiding presence of Holy Spirit without understanding how grace and transcendence are revealed in the love of God.
In religion, transcendence refers to the aspect of a god's nature and power which is wholly independent of the material universe, beyond all physical laws. This is contrasted with immanence, where a god is said to be fully present in the physical world and thus accessible to creatures in various ways. In religious experience transcendence is a state of being that has overcome the limitations of physical existence and by some definitions has also become independent of it. This is typically manifested in prayer, séance, meditation, psychedelics and paranormal "visions".
John points to the cross. For, the cross illustrates the attribute of love that is at the heart of God. It is a clear demonstration of God’s love in action.
Yet, there is something that we must understand if we are to adequately embrace what happened on the cross. Scripture says that we were in great distress with no way to redeem ourselves.
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.” Eph. 2:1
We were unable to do anything to initiate salvation; at best we could stare into the darkness, driven by an unknown compulsion to cry out, With Studdert Kennedy, “Is there an Unseen Force that holds the world together? Is there really a God, and what does he feel about human beings? Recalling how many a sentry had nervously inquired, “Friend or Foe,” asked, “Who is out there, friend or foe?”
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-- it is by grace you have been saved.
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:4-10
These verses will become important when moving beyond the concept of God loving us to the idea of us loving each other.
Martin Luther, the sixteenth-century Reformer, once said: “If I were as our Lord God and these vile people were as disobedient as they now be, I would blow the world to pieces.” (Bryson p. 108) Aren’t you glad God’s attitude is different?
John is reminding us that God loved the world to the point he was willing to let Jesus die on the cross. It was not simply the death of a body–Jesus’ death was “an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
??asµ?? hilasmos {hil-as-mos'} • properly, propitiation; an offering to appease (satisfy) an angry, offended party. 2434 (hilasmós) is only used twice (1 Jn 2:2, 4:10) – both times of Christ's atoning blood that appeases God's wrath, on all confessed sin. By the sacrifice of Himself, Jesus Christ provided the ultimate The word “expiation” conveys the idea of an act of removing that which separates us from God. Jesus did that for us. He took within himself our sin, he bore our sin.
1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense-- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. John 2
CHRISTIAN LOVE DOESN’T HAPPEN BY SELF-DETERMINATION OR HIGH SELF-ESTEEM, IT HAPPENS BECAUSE OF THE ABIDING PRESENCE OF THE RESURRECTED LORD JESUS CHRIST WHO FIRST LOVED US. This is a basis for what
III. LOVE IS A CONTINUOS ACTIVITY OF GOD–CRUCIFORM LOVE IS SUSTAINED WHEN BELIEVERS LOVE
11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4
John does more than talk about love as a unique attribute of God and an amazing historical action of God on behalf of humankind. God didn’t simply take a deep sigh, “Whew! I am glad that is over with.” No! Jesus did more than act once and retreat back into heaven.
Where is He and what is He doing? Does he abide within believers? What does He do within our lives? He shapes our character where we can love people the way he first loved us.
The verb John uses means to “continue to love.” He does not say love when you feel like loving. Nor does he say love those you deem worthy of your love. Jesus loved us while we were yet in sin; we are to love the most unlovely people of society. If we major on loving those who are difficult to love, we will never err at loving those who are easy to love.
Is it possible for us to love unconditionally as God loves? NO! We cannot love as God loves. Then, why does John instruct us to do something we cannot do? I am going to interject a biblical concept into this discussion. If we allow it to capture our hearts and become operative for our lives, we will take a quantum leap forward in our Christian walk.
First, remember Jesus said, “Without me you can do nothing.” (Jn. 15:5) The great tragedy of Christianity is that too many are attempting to imitate Christ in their own strength; they have defined their limitations and have called it good enough.
Second, we must understand that empowerment to live the Christian life is made possible only when we surrender our will and ways to the abiding presence of Christ. I am not talking about taking what we think we need from the Spirit of Christ; I am talking about dying to self, taking self off the throne of our lives, and realizing we must let Christ rule supremely. We need to be able to say with Paul,
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
Dr. Gordon Fee (God’s Empowering Presence) succinctly points out that the indwelt life of Christ is equated with the indwelling work of the Spirit.
“Christ lives in me” most likely is a kind of shorthand for “Christ by his Spirit lives in me.” ... Here {Gal. 2:20} the emphasis is on Christ and his work; hence he speaks of the indwelling Christ, rather than of the indwelling Spirit.
In the previous sermon, I pointed out the difference between acknowledging and confessing faith (4:8). Acknowledging has to do with belief in the historicity of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Confession has to do with accepting the call to let God, in Christ, transform our character. John says, if we have acknowledged Him and confessed Him, we will love others as he first loved us. This, how well we love each other and desire to fellowship and worship together is a test of our spirituality and our relationship with God.
Stephen Olford (Not I, But Christ) shares 5 things about the challenge of the Galatians 2:20 passage. They get at the heart of confessing Jesus supremely as Lord:
1. It is the gospel of the extinguished life–death to self and sin.
“I have been crucified with Christ...”
2. It is the gospel of the relinquished life–a Christ-centered life.
“I no longer live, but Christ lives in me...”
3. It is the gospel of the distinguished life–a shared life.
“The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God...”
4. It is the gospel of the dependent life–a faith lived life.
5. It is the gospel of the devoted life–a totally devoted life.
CONCLUSION
Can we love the way God loves? NO! Can we love the way God loves? YES! Only if we have been crucified in Christ. “We also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:11) The word “ought” is emphatic–it carries a moral obligation.
What do we do when faced with the challenges to loving?
1. It is a challenge to love those who have hurt us.
2. It is a challenge when the experiences of life have made our lives bitter.
3. It is a challenge to love when others have made themselves hard to love.
4. It is a challenge to love those who a quite different.
However, the ethical demand to love never goes away.
“When the world looks at the church, do they see a love that can only be explained by the supernatural work of God? I hope so. Listen again to the last part of verse 12; “God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
Ernest Gordan gives a perfect illustration of this. In Through the Valley of the Kwai he talks about spending 3 ½ years in a Japanese prison camp. He tells how the prisoners first turned to God, expecting him to come immediately to their aid. Slowly they started believing God had forsaken them. Under the brutal treatment of the Japanese a selfish type of existence began to emerge. They fought among themselves. They stole from each other. They refused to care for the sick and dying or to bury them.
A miracle of love happened. A few of the prisoners began to practice self-giving love. Prisoners nursed Ernest Gordan while he was seriously ill. One man starved to death while sharing food to keep another man alive. Another prisoner took an undeserved execution rather than the entire work crew be executed.
The self-giving love of a few became contagious. They began to help each other. Nursing the sick, helping the weak, comforting the dying and burying the dead. They even began helping their enemies.
Ernest Gordon wrote, “Selfishness, hatred, jealousy, greed were all anti-life. Love, self-sacrifice, mercy, and creative faith...were the essence of life, turning mere existence into living in its truest sense. These were the gifts of God to men.” (Bryson p. 111)
Believers are bound to love each other. We are not to simply draw a circle around those we can love through our strength. We are to draw a circle around all of God’s creation and say, Christ by his Spirit lives in me and he will love through me. We are to demonstrate God’s love in action.
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. John 15:
It begins by allowing ourselves to acknowledge and confess the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
