Loving the Unseen God
Subtitle: Why loving people is the proof that we love the Lord.
HOOK PARAGRAPH
Everyone says they love God. But John asks the question that tests that claim: How can you love the God you cannot see if you do not love the brother you can see? God does not measure devotion by how beautifully we worship Him in the sanctuary, but by how sacrificially we love others outside of it. This sermon challenges us to prove heavenly love through earthly action — especially toward the people who are hardest to love.
SCRIPTURE READING INTRO
Before we open the Word together this morning, listen to the apostle John as he gives us the measuring stick of authentic devotion — not the measure of emotion, not the measure of religious performance, but the measure of love lived out in relationship.
Reading: 1 John 4:20 (KJV)
“If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”
(Pause)
“Now we will learn together what it means to love the unseen God by loving the seen brother.”
I. GOD DOES NOT NEED WHAT WE OFFER (Acts 17:25)
Paul declared,
“Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing; seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.”
God is not dependent on us.
Heaven has no shortages.
He does not need our gifts.
He desires our likeness.
He is not enriched by cathedrals — He is revealed by character.
ILLUSTRATION:
A father does not need his child’s toy — he delights to see the heart that shares it. God does not need our offerings — He wants our hearts poured into one another.
II. THE VISIBLE TEST OF INVISIBLE LOVE (1 John 4:20)
John does not say we struggle to love God without loving others.
He says we CANNOT.
It is a spiritual impossibility — like trying to breathe without air.
The classroom of divine love is human relationships:
The brother who offended you
The fellow Christian you avoid
The difficult family member
The loud personality
The one who drains you emotionally
These people are not interruptions to our walk with God — they reveal our walk with God.
III. LOVE IS NOT WARM EMOTION — IT IS WARM CLOTHING (James 2:15–17)
John speaks of our ability to "perceive" God's love for us.
1 John 3:16 (KJV) Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
But goes on to explain how God can "perceive" our love for him;
1 John 3:17 (KJV) But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
James likewise writes:
“If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?”
Love without action is a hollow confession.
Emotion is cheap.
Action is costly.
Love does not ask, “What do I feel?” but “What do they need?”
NKJV clarity: “Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:18)
IV. MAGNIFICENT WORSHIP WITHOUT MERCY IS NOISE (Amos 5:21-24)
Israel sang the right songs, brought the right offerings, kept the right festivals — and God rejected all of it.
“Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs…” (v. 23)
Why?
Because worship inside the sanctuary was not matched by mercy outside of it.
God is not impressed by volume — He is moved by virtue.
Not polish — compassion.
Not production — obedience.
Jesus did not say, “I was admired and you remembered Me,”
but “I was hungry and you fed Me… naked and you clothed Me.” (Matthew 25)
V. THE MOST DIFFICULT LOVE IS THE MOST GODLIKE LOVE
Anyone can love agreeable people.
But the Gospel calls us to love the aggravating ones.
This is where unity is truly born.
Romans 12:20 —
“If thine enemy hunger, feed him…”
Jesus loved Thomas the doubter, Peter the denier, and Judas the deceiver — up to the very moment of betrayal.
Christian maturity is not measured by how we treat our friends…
but by how we treat the complicated people God puts in front of us.
That is where the unseen God becomes visible through us.
EPILOGUE — CALL TO ACTION
Church — the world is not waiting to hear another sermon about love.
The world is waiting to SEE one.
God is not asking us to build a monument —
He is asking us to build a ministry of mercy.
Not bigger buildings — bigger hearts.
Not louder songs — deeper compassion.
Not well-phrased compliments — well-lived commitments.
If you want to show your love for God:
Forgive someone.
Restore someone.
Feed someone.
Serve someone.
Carry someone.
Not because they deserve it —
but because He first loved us.
We do not love God UNTIL we love the people He died to redeem.
This week, PROVE your love for the unseen God
by blessing the brother you can see.
That is revival.
That is discipleship.
That is Christianity lived in the open.
INVITATION
