KNOWING GOD - #1
God is Love
1 John 4:7-21
Introduction
This morning we are starting a series of messages entitled, “Knowing God.” These messages are going to focus on character qualities, or attributes of God, and how we can best reflect them in our own lives.
The purpose of these messages is 3-fold: first, to focus on the awesome God of Scripture. I want to highlight this amazing God who sometimes gets lost in our efforts to live godly lives.
Ironic, isn’t it? We seek to lead godly lives, but don’t take time to learn about the God we want to emulate. I hope to get us past that during these messages.
Second, I want us to take the information we gain about God and make it a part of our everyday living so we can accurately reflect God and His care to a world who does not know Him.
Third, I want this series and all my messages to demonstrate that the Bible is relevant for all people at all times, including, and maybe especially, those of us living in the 21st century.
Today we will focus on the love of God by looking at a passage in 1 John familiar to most of us, at least part of the first verse of this passage.
The love of God is a wonderful thing. It is to be cherished above all things. It is also greatly misunderstood, and we will look at that a bit this morning as well.
Everything God does is motivated by two things: His glory and His love.
We will explore His glory next week.
But today we will focus on His love. And so I would ask you to turn in your Bibles to 1 John 4, verses 7-21.
By the way, you have probably noticed brand new Bibles placed every few seats here in the sanctuary.
The church purchased these Bibles for use by anyone not able to bring a Bible to church or who does not own one.
If you do not own a Bible, I would like to invite you to keep one of these at no charge to you. Just take with you as you leave, with our compliments.
One of the desires of the Aberdeen Wesleyan Church is to give you everything you need to know God and serve Him, and providing these Bibles is just a part of that mission.
Please follow along as I read.
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. 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. 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.
13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Our first point this morning is that…
I. God is Love (v. 8, 16).
Most, if not all of us, have heard this before, so it is not really news, is it?
Listen to this definition of the love of God, taken from Vine’s Expository Dictionary, which translates the Greek word “agapeo,” the word used in this verse. I have it printed for you in the note-taking guide.
“The deep and constant love and interest of a perfect Being towards entirely unworthy objects, producing and fostering a reverential love in them towards the Giver, and a practical love towards those who are partakers of the same, and a desire to help others to seek the Giver.”
We are going to look at the second part of that definition later in the message, but I want to zero in on the first part for a minute.
Look again as I read it: The deep and constant love and interest of a perfect Being towards entirely unworthy objects.
Two things I want to point out here:
First, the love is God is deep and constant.
It is not the shallow “love” so common in our culture. What we call “love” so often is nothing more than affection for someone or something.
The love of God is embedded in His character, and nothing He does can contradict it. He is motivated by His love for us. It is deep-seated and it reaches deep into our very being.
It is constant in that it never changes. Nothing we do can change the depth of His love for us.
That is hard for us to imagine. If someone hurts us, it is hard to love that person back. Yet like the loving and perfect Father He is, He, through His grief at our actions toward Him, loves us, working to draw us back into that perfect relationship with Him.
Second, it is directed at entirely unworthy objects.
This is, to me, the crux of the issue. None of us is worthy of God and His love. We are by nature enemies of God.
Yet His love for us drove Him to send His Son to make us no longer enemies of God, but children of God.
Isn’t that amazing! I don’t know about you, but I would be real hesitant to adopt someone who hated me.
But that did not stop God. We will discuss this a bit more in the next section.
Here is the bottom line: God is love. Everything about Him is cloaked in love.
God is love, but also…
II. God is Loving (v. 9-10).
Let’s look again at verses 9-10:
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.
Just think about something for a minute.
If someone tells you they love you, whether a boyfriend, parent, or whatever, you have certain expectations of the one who says they love you, right?
If someone says they love you, you expect they won’t beat you. You expect they won’t cheat on you. You expect them to treat you with extra dignity and respect.
You expect them to tell you of their love. I know, some of you grew up with a parent who didn’t say it, but you knew they loved you because they provided for you and all that stuff.
I am all for showing love by providing for your family. In fact, it’s a Scriptural command – if you are a Christian and not providing for your family, the Bible says you are worse than an unbeliever.
But for those of you growing up not hearing from your parents that you were loved, let me ask, didn’t you just yearn for them to just say it?
I make sure I tell my family a LOT that I love them. I love telling them, and I love to hear them tell me they love me.
God tells us He loves us in His Word that He loves us. Jesus told us. We are never in the dark about His love.
But God didn’t just talk about it, He shows it. And He does it in at least two ways:
A. He disciplines those He loves (Hebrews 12:5-6).
What are you, nuts, Pastor? Why is discipline loving?
Hang on a bit, and try to follow me. Listen as I read Hebrews 12:5-6.
"My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
12:6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."
It is hard when you are receiving discipline to accept it as very loving, isn’t it?
But let me give you an example of this from my own child-rearing experience.
Debra and I took a Sunday School class on parenting, and one of the things they stressed was a thing called “first-time obedience.” This simply stated that you should train your young child to obey immediately, not after you nag and threaten.
My boys, like most kids, tend to be excited about being able to go outside and run around.
However, in their excitement, they tend to do things like run into the street without looking.
So we made it a rule, that if Debra or I said, “STOP!” for any reason, that child was required to stop, in mid-air if necessary, and come back to us.
I can’t count the times when I have seen one of my boys heading out to the street. They weren’t being naughty, but I needed to stop them before they were hit by a car or something.
So I yell, “STOP!” When they stop, it is wonderful. But sometimes they don’t stop, whether it is going to the street, or going down the hall.
At that point, it is time for discipline. For going down the hall? No, for disobeying.
See the point? God doesn’t discipline us because He loves dishing out the discipline.
He has laid down some very clear principles and laws and commands.
And they are there for, now get this, FOR OUR BENEFIT.
When I forbid my kids from running into the street, was it because I wanted to limit their freedom and to squelch their personalities?
No, it was because I didn’t want to stand next to a tiny grave with my son’s name on it. I’ve already got one of those – when we lost a little boy in miscarriage.
God lays down commands and laws and such because we need them to keep from destroying ourselves with our sins.
Listen to the testimonies of former prostitutes, homosexuals, and drug users. They will tell you that if it weren’t for God disciplining them, they would be dead.
Listen up here. We disobey at our own risk for our safety and His discipline.
So God shows His love by disciplining us as children. He also shows us His love in that…
B. He sent His Son.
We’ve re-read verses 10-12 so let me quote from probably the most famous verse in all Scripture, John 3:16.
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.
Listen to the next verse.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
God’s love DROVE Him to fix the mess we made for ourselves. He didn’t just sit up there ready to dish out some more discipline, He did something to REDEEM us from our predicament.
He secured salvation for you and me.
But the only way to do it was by sacrificing His only Son. Sending Him to suffer at the hands of cruel men, finally being shamefully hung on a rugged wooden cross to die.
For who? Perfect men and women?
No! Sinners who deserve nothing but death and hell!
But the love of God ACTED. He didn’t sit up there wondering when we were going get our act together.
He ACTED. Thank God.
Without Jesus there is no hope – for this life or for eternity.
Well, God is love and God is loving.
Let’s turn the corner by talking about how we can go about…
III. Reflecting His Love (vv. 19-21).
I mentioned in the first part of this message that one of the purposes of these messages about the character of God is to show us how to reflect that particular character trait.
So to that end, I want to discuss how we can reflect the love of God, first of all…
A. Toward God.
In a minute we are going to re-read verses 19-21, but first I want to look at what it means to show love to God.
Let me ask you a question. Doesn’t it just make sense to return the love of those who show it to us?
I know from my own life that it is a lot easier to show love to those who say it and demonstrate, than to those who either never say, never show it, or both.
And we show that love, partly out of gratitude for the love shown us.
But we also show that love simply because it is an outgrowth of the love shown US. Understand what I’m saying here?
If we love someone, showing it comes naturally.
The biggest way to show love for God is to obey His commands.
Chapter 5, verse 3 says that to love God is to obey His commands and that His commands are not burdensome.
The reason they are not burdensome is because it is easier to obey someone you love than to obey someone you don’t.
We show love by our obedience. But we also show love to Go by showing love…
B. Toward others.
Let’s re-read verse 19-21 in Chapter 4, then I am going to have you turn over to Chapter 5.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Turn with me to Chapter 5, and we are going to read verses 1-5. Follow along as I read.
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
We see that we love God by obeying His commands, and get this: we love other people by obeying God’s commands.
Interesting concept, huh?
Why is that, do you suppose?
The reason is that the commands of God deal with two areas: our relationship with God and our relationships with others.
Back in chapter 4, verse 11 says that because God loved us, we should love others.
Just like our love for God is an outgrowth of His love for us, so also our love for others is an outgrowth of His love for us.
By the way, loving somebody is more than just not doing something harmful to them. It is an attitude.
Verse 15 in chapter 3 says that if you hate your brother you are a murderer.
Ouch.
We reflect the love of God by living victorious Spirit-filled lives in love and obedience to God and seeing it pour out in our relationships with others.
Verse 12 says that God’s love is made complete in us. Let’s talk about that for a minute.
God shows us His love, and we show that love to others. That’s how it works. People see the love of God most clearly when we show love to them.
Seek to reflect His love as you obey Him and serve others.
Conclusion
There you have it – the love of God. God is love, and God is loving.
And we need to respond to His love by loving Him and loving people.
And I understand that neither of these is always very easy at times, especially the loving people part.
But here’s the good part. God wants to help us.
Philippians 2:13 in the Living Bible says this:
For God is at work within you, helping you WANT to obey Him, and then helping you do what He wants.
Isn’t that great? He doesn’t just set us out there to give it our best shot. He gives us His Holy Spirit to give us the power and the motivation to live for Him.
We get the Holy Spirit by first getting hold of Christ for salvation.
If you don’t know Christ as your Savior, you don’t have heaven, and you won’t have victory trying to live for God because you don’t have the Holy Spirit.
Give your life to Christ, calling on Him for forgiveness, turning from you sins with His help, and asking Him to give you eternal life. He’ll do it, because that’s why He came.
If you already have that taken care of, then I beg of you today to allow God’s Holy Spirit to have His way in your heart, cleansing out wrong motivations and hidden sins, and letting Him empower you to reflect the love of God in serving Him and other people.
Let’s pray.
