The Whole Reason Wholly - We Love Him But Must Also Love Fellow Believers – 1john 4:17-20 Part 2 Of 2 Series

THE WHOLE REASON WHOLLY - WE LOVE HIM BUT MUST ALSO LOVE FELLOW BELIEVERS – 1John 4:17-20 PART 2 OF 2

VERSES 17 AND 18. {{1John 4 v 17 “By this, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment because as He is, so also are we in this world. 1John 4:18 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.”}} It is important to note the start of verse 17 “By this”, which is the abiding in love in God, as covered by the previous verse 16. That’s the floor; that’s the foundation. Imperfect love involves the fear of punishment or of getting into trouble. Will we be fearful about meeting GOD, or of standing at the Judgement Seat of Christ? Will we be uncertain of being fully in the light? Will we be ashamed at His coming, which was the theme of the second last message from this book? If there is any fear, it is because love is imperfect. Love must abide in us.

“Lord Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;

For Thee all the pleasures of sin I resign;

My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art Thou,

If ever I loved Thee, Lord Jesus, ’tis now.”

“Perfect love casts out fear”. Do you have a cloudless vision of meeting God? Not having a cloud between, a dark cloud that can distort a perfect love. That cloud can be called sin, or unfaithfulness, or selfishness, or “the cloud of other things”, or the cloud of “I will later, not now”.

In verses 17 and 18 the word “perfected” is used twice in the NASB. The word itself means to be made complete and full as in the vessel is ready to overflow. God does not want us to get around in stages of love but in the fullness of love. We can allow that or prevent it.

“Confidence in the day of judgement.” That is a positive position. We stand before him in love because we love Him. We love Him because He first loved us. Am I putting something before you that is easy? No, I am not. The old, sinful nature rebels against close fellowship with the Lord for it wants to follow its own path. I think there is one statement we all want to hear and it is, “Well done, you good and faithful servant.” Abide in the love of God. Confidence is a quality entirely given by the Holy Spirit and He does that as we walk in the Light.

VERSE 19. This is one of the greatest “small verses” in the bible. It is a summary more or less of the substance of verses 16 to 18. The Lord Jesus loved us first and ours is the response to that. As we love Him the Holy Spirit spreads abroad the love of God in our hearts.

VERSE 20/21. {{1John 4:20 “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. 1John 4:21 This commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”}}

GETTING ALONG WITH OTHER PEOPLE

Verse 20 dispels the idea we pick and choose whom to love. If one is a brother we must love. This love is not of compulsion but is a love that flows through the Holy Spirit in us. What if that brother is contentious and misguided? Here we have a problem. What if a person causes trouble in a church or among God’s people? Well there is the chance that that person is not of God, in which case he or she is not a brother. If the person is truly born again but not walking according to God’s commandments then that person separates himself from the will of God, and has caused a break in fellowship with God’s true people. We may not be able to have fellowship. We may not be able to walk with such a person, but our attitude must not involve hate or bitterness. We love because God firstly loved us.

I sometimes try to think into the matter that divided Paul and Barnabas. It is recorded in only three verses – {{Acts 15 v 37 “Barnabas was desirous of taking John, called Mark, along with them also, Acts 15:38 but Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work, Acts 15:39 and there arose such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.”}} The words “there arose such a sharp disagreement” would seem enough to break fellowship between Paul and Barnabas. Then there was Mark who was the cause of the strife, in the middle of the quarrel. Maybe there was right on both sides but it caused a split between two great men of God. Did this break the love between Paul and Barnabas? I would not think that possible for two men who were filled with the Spirit, but it destroyed their fellowship, which was a special one, for it was Barnabas who originally took Saul/Paul under his wing.