Great Reasons for Christians to Love One Another
1 John 4:7-11
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Series: The First Epistle of John
(Prepared January 14, 2024)
(Revised January 23, 2024, with a new outline)
BACKGROUND:
*One of the greatest themes in the New Testament is for Christians to love other people with the same kind of patient, merciful love that God has for us. God wants us to have this kind of love for our neighbors, for lost people, and even for our enemies. But the special focus in 1 John is Christians loving one another. And we know this because the Holy Spirit led John to use the original words for "love" 51 times this letter. Today's Scripture gives us some great reasons why we should love one another. Please focus on this as we read 1 John 4:7-11.
MESSAGE:
*Has your turn-by-turn driving app ever let you down? Oh yeah. A lot of us have been there. The last time I remember, we were going to a lakeside condo some friends had offered us for the weekend. We followed the directions step by step, and we arrived at our destination. There it was, -- across a hundred feet of water. It would have been perfect if we were in a boat, but it took us another 15 minutes to pull in the driveway.
*When it comes to the way we should go, things and people will let us down. We will also let ourselves down. But God's Word will never let us down! And today's Scripture gives us some great reasons why Christians should love one another.
1. FIRST: WE SHOULD LOVE ONE ANOTHER BECAUSE GOD COMMANDS IT.
*We see this truth in vs. 7 where John said, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God."
*For Christians to love one another is one of the Lord's greatest priorities for His followers. We know this because John repeated this crucial command 5 times in this very short letter. Jesus first gave this command in John 13:34 where He said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. As I have loved you, that you also love one another." Remember the background there: The time for the cross was almost at hand. In John 13:31 Judas had already gone out to betray the Lord. In John 13:38 Jesus would tell Peter that he was about to deny the Lord. The agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, and His death on the cross were just hours away. In a moment like that, the most important things rise to the surface.
*King Duncan explained, "Now was the time to make sure the disciples understood the basics. And nothing was more basic to Jesus' ministry than the message of love," so in John 13:34 Jesus said, 'A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; As I have loved you, that you also love one another.'" This new commandment from Jesus must have been one of His greatest priorities. (1)
*Imagine how passionate Jesus was when He spoke those words. Karen Watson had this kind of passion in the "last letter" she wrote as a missionary. These letters were inspired by the old tradition of soldiers and missionaries writing a last letter in advance, in case they didn't make it home.
*Karen's letter was read by her pastor at her funeral, because she was one of the four missionaries killed in Iraq on March 15th, 2004. The vehicle they were riding in was ambushed in the city of Mosul. Karen was 38 and had been a Christian for about 8 years. She loved God's Word and His work with great passion. Here is Karen Watson's Last Letter:
"Dear Pastor,
You should only be opening this letter in the event of my death. When God calls there are no regrets. I tried to share my heart with you as much as possible, my heart for the nations. I wasn't called to a place; I was called to Him. To obey was my objective, to suffer was expected, His glory my reward, His glory my reward...
*The missionary heart:
Cares more than some think is wise
Risks more than some think is safe
Dreams more than some think is practical
Expects more than some think is possible
I was called not to comfort or to success but to obedience...
There is no Joy outside of knowing Jesus and serving Him. I love you and my church family.
In His care, (Peace), Karen" (2)
*Karen Watson had boundless passion for the things of God! But Jesus had infinitely more passion when He said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. As I have loved you, that you also love one another."
*Jesus also knew that our love for one another is crucial in our witness to lost people. Jesus told us this in John 13:35 where He said, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, IF you have love for one another.''
*Think of all the other words we tend to plug into that verse: By going to church, all will know that we are His disciples. By being baptized, all will know that we are His disciples. By studying the Bible, all will know that we are His disciples. By clean living, all will know we are His disciples. Of course, all of these other things are important, but again in John 13:35 Jesus said, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
*Christians loving one another is also commanded because it is proof of our relationship with Christ. Here in vs. 7 John said, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God."
*Albert Barnes explained that here "John means that everyone who has true love for other Christians, or true brotherly love, is a true Christian. This does not mean that everyone who loves his family, classmates, business partners, or his friends is a born-again child of God. It doesn't mean that everyone who loves his house, or his farms, or his horses, or his hounds, is a child of God. It must be understood as referring to the point under discussion.
*A man may have a lot of natural affection for his family, and much compassion for the poor and needy, but still not have the godly love John talks about here. That same man may have no real love for God or His children as such. And it would be absurd to argue that because he loves his family, therefore he loves God, or is born again." (3)
*Verse 7 is definitely talking about Christians loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. And John says, "Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God," so this kind of godly love is proof of our relationship with God. It's proof that we are born again, proof that we are saved, proof that we are authentic Christians.
*The question is: Do we pass the love test? How are we measuring up on God's love test? It's important, because our love for one another gives proof that we really are Christians.
2. AND WE SHOULD LOVE ONE ANOTHER BECAUSE GOD COMMANDS IT, ALSO BECAUSE GOD PROVIDES THE LOVE WE NEED.
*This is another great truth in vs. 7-8 where John said:
7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
*In vs. 7, "love is of God," (or from God), and in vs. 8, "God is love." James 1:17 also tells us that "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." Galatians 5:22 tells us that part of the spiritual fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives is "love," and Romans 5:5 tells Christians that "the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."
*I am sure that there are people in this world so possessed by hate that there is no hunger in their hearts for love. But most people want love in their lives. Scott Bayles did a little online research about love. And he said, "The very concept of love is one of the most permeating themes in modern society. The Beatles sang about it in the sixties. Their message to a hurt and frightened world was, 'Love is all you need.'" According to Amazon today, there are over 70,000 books with the search word "love." And Google has almost 17 billion results for the search word "love."
*And Scott said, "It's unmistakable how important love is to our culture and to people. People want love. People need love. But the problem is, like the old country song says, They’re 'looking for love in all the wrong places.'" And if we really want love, we have got to go to God, because He is the source of all real love. God is love. He is the essence and the explanation of love. And all of His love is available to us.
*This great truth led Scott Bayles to say, "Let me draw your eyes back to verses 7-8, 'Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.' The overriding notion of these two verses is that the love of God is personal. God’s love causes us to know Him, and Him to know us.
*A. W. Tozer said it best: 'The love of God is one of the great realities of the universe, a pillar upon which the hope of the world rests. But it is a personal, intimate thing too. God does not love populations, He loves people. He loves not masses, but men.' So, one of the most powerful messages we can take to people today is that God loves them. Every individual person is important to God, and He loves each one. G. K. Chesterton understood this truth when he said, 'All people matter. You matter. I matter. It’s the hardest thing in theology to believe.'" (4)
*All of us matter, because we matter to God. And we matter to God, because "God is love."
3. CHRISTIANS SHOULD LOVE ONE ANOTHER BECAUSE GOD PROVIDES THE LOVE WE NEED, AND BECAUSE GOD DEMONSTRATES HIS LOVE FOR US.
*We see His demonstration starting in vs. 9. Here John wrote, "In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him."
*When John said that God's love was "manifested," he was talking about the fact that God’s love was clearly shown or made known. The truth is that God shows His love to us every day, if we will open our hearts to see it. But the greatest demonstration of God's love was on the cross of Jesus Christ!
*So in vs. 9-10, John said:
9. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
10. 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.
*That word "propitiation" is unusual to us. It's not a word we would ever ordinarily use. It's a word God only uses 3 times in our English New Testaments, and 2 of those are here in 1 John. "Propitiation" is an unusual word, but we have got to notice it, because it is a most important word. "Propitiation" speaks to us about how God’s wrath has been taken away from all believers.
*John Piper said this about all Christians: "God is now only merciful to you and never wrathful." This is an extremely important part of the Good News. If you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, "God is now only merciful to you and never wrathful." (5)
*Many people don’t want to hear about the wrath of God these days. But they need to hear about it, because without faith in Jesus Christ, people are still under the wrath of God. That's why it so important that Jesus is our propitiation.
*Romans 3 is the other New Testament place where we find this unusual word, and there we see that God’s wrath is righteous. In Romans 3:5-6 Paul said:
5. But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath (I speak as a man.)
6. Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?
*God’s wrath is righteous. And it is richly deserved, for Romans 3:10-12 says:
10. As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;
11. there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.
12. They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.''
*God’s wrath is richly deserved. But thank God, it can be completely removed! As Paul said in Romans 3:21-26:
21. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22. even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24. being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25. whom God set forth to be a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
26. to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
*God’s righteous wrath can be completely removed by the blood of Jesus Christ! Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. This means He takes away the anger and animosity that God justly has toward us because of our sins. Jesus took that righteous anger away when He took our punishment on the cross.
*The NIV calls propitiation the "atoning sacrifice." That makes sense, because this word "propitiation" carries the ideas of atonement and a sacrifice for atonement. Some preachers help us understand the meaning of "atonement" by calling it "at - one - ment," and the idea is reconciliation.
*On the cross, Jesus bridged the gap between God and man. He bridged the impassable gap caused by our sins. And now, when we trust in our risen Lord, we are made one with the Father! So propitiation carries the idea of reconciliation, and Jesus Christ is the only possible propitiation for our sins. He is the only place where we can have a friendly meeting with God. And God's love is demonstrated here by His reconciliation, by His sacrificial atonement, by the cross of Jesus Christ.
*The cross of Christ is the greatest demonstration of sacrificial love the world will ever see! So vs. 10 says, "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." Jesus came all the way from Heaven for us, and He went all the way to the cross for us. He took our punishment, and it was all because of His love.
4. CHRISTIANS: WE SHOULD LOVE ONE ANOTHER BECAUSE GOD DEMONSTRATES HIS LOVE FOR US, AND BECAUSE GOD HAS GIVEN US A GREAT OBLIGATION TO LOVE.
*We see this truth in vs. 11 where John said, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." The original word for "ought" here has the idea of an obligation, a duty, a debt we owe to each other. And focusing on the greatness of God's love for us should motivate us to love one another the same way.
*But what does it mean to love each other the way God loves us? It certainly means that we should be patient and kind to each other. It means that we should be faithful to each other. It means that we should be unselfish and giving to each other. It even means that we should be willing to sacrifice ourselves for each other. God is asking a big thing from us here. And I know that it can be very hard to do, but God really does tell us to love each other the way that He loves us. And the more we focus on what Jesus has done for us, the more we should be inspired to live with His kind of love.
*On July 24, 2002, nine miners in western Pennsylvania got trapped 240 feet below ground in a flooded mine shaft. Think about a building 20 stories high. That’s how far down they were! Rescue efforts began right away. But the rescue crews knew the odds were against them saving those men.
*Almost everybody in the country had their eyes glued on the news from the mine. Those 9 miners were trapped for three days, then miraculously rescued. Even the mainstream media called it a miracle, because there was such a slim chance that anyone could survive in that flooded mine. The 55-degree water threatened to kill them slowly by hypothermia. And the rescue shaft had to be drilled in just the right place, 250 feet down in time for the men to be saved.
*Those miners were gasping for air, as floodwater rose to their chins. Blaine Mayhugh asked his boss for a pen when the water in the shaft kept rising. He said, "I want to write my wife and kids to tell them I love them." They tied themselves together so that no one could float away or slip under the water, but also so all their bodies would be found if they died. They shared food from a lunch pail that floated by.
*After they were miraculously saved, the men said that it was their decision to bond together that saved their lives. From the outset they watched out for one another. If one man got tired, his bond to the other men kept him afloat. When one got cold, the other eight would huddle around him and warm him up. They vowed that whether they lived or died, they would do so together. And that is a great picture of loving one another in the Body of Christ! (6)
*But there is another great lesson from that miracle in the mine, because even together, those men were hopeless without help from above. And when their rescue came, all they had to do was receive it: Just climb aboard that rescue cylinder and be lifted up to safety.
*That's what Jesus Christ does for everyone who will receive Him as their Lord and Savior. By His Holy Spirit, Jesus will put you in His spiritual Body, and you will be saved forever. But the Lord's salvation didn’t just take 3 days of non-stop work. It took 3 days in the grave. And Jesus Christ was the only one who could die on that cross for us. Now the Risen Savior is more than able to lift us up to everlasting safety!
CONCLUSION:
*Put your trust in Jesus Christ. Call on the Lord to save you today, and He will! He will also make you part of the spiritual Body of Christ, so that together we can live the best life now and forever.
*And even though it's not always easy to love one another, the cross of Jesus Christ is our great motivation. Recommit yourself to love one another in the same way that the Lord loves us. And ask the Lord to help you, as we go back to God in prayer.
(1) Sermons.com sermon "So, You Want to Know About Love?" by King Duncan - John 13:31-38 - Source: "Dynamic Preaching," Second Sunday, May 2001
(2) Sources:
-"My Last Letter" - Wed. Aug. 5, 2009, at 6:34 AM - http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2009/08/my-last-letter.html
-Karen Watson: A woman 'sold out for Jesus' By ERIN CURRY - Baptist Press - Published March 25, 2004
(3) Adapted from ALBERT BARNES' NOTES ON THE BIBLE by Albert Barnes - Published in 1847-85 - 1 John 4:7 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021Albert Barnes
(4) Adapted from SermonCentral sermon "God Is Love" by Scott Bayles 1 John 4 7-21
(5) "My Reaction to Hearing Piper's Together for the Gospel Talk" - May 2, 2006, by Adrian Warnockohn - https://www.patheos.com/blogs/adrianwarnock/2006/05/my-reaction-to-hearing-pipers-together-for-the-gospel-talk/
(6) Sources:
-"Miners took vow to live or die together" by Larry Neumeister, Associated Press, The Knoxville News-Sentinel July 29, 2002, p. A1. - Source: Sermons.com sermon "I Can Make It By Myself - Five Things Christians Should Never Say, #2" by King Duncan - 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 - 2005
-Bill White, Paramount, California; Citation: adapted from "Teamwork Helped Miners Survive Underground," CNN.com (7-28-2002) from preachingtoday.com. Quoted in "Living The Call" by Joel Smith on www.sermoncentral.com.
