Title: This is Love

Text: 1 John 4:7-21

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 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. 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 4:7-10

We are now beginning the central core of this letter, and this core runs from verse 7 to the end of this chapter.  It is not only the central core of the letter, but it is also the central core of Christian theology.  All of those comparisons at the beginning of the letter, and all of the discussion of evil, antichrists and the testing of spirits comes back to this theme, for without it, the rest of the theology of our faith is rendered meaningless.  In short, what is written in this section is the one thing that gives Christianity its power and authority, and against which the gates of Hell itself cannot, and will not stand.

The last sentence in this text is the key: God loved us. In fact, he loved us while we were lost, and not loving Him at all.  Yet God loved us anyway; He loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us.  Yes, you’re right, this has already been pointed out in this letter, but here it is again, as the core of everything else; that is how important it is that we grasp this simple concept.

How could God love us so much and in spite of everything?  Because God is love.

That being the case, we are to love one another, just as God loved us.  Nobody can do this unless God is in that person, which is to say that person is in Christ.  Loving one another as God loved us runs counter to every teaching of this world, as it also runs against our natural human inclinations.  Therefore, if a person does not love, it is because God is not in him or her.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 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 4:11-12

John is continuing his thoughts that we looked at in vv. 7-10, the central core of Christian theology, the part that everything else is built upon.  Simply stated, this love core flows like this:

1. God loved us while we were still sinners.
2. God sent His Son to die for our sins.
3. We loved God and responded to the Gospel.
4. God loved our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Therefore, so do we.

We see this pattern at work once again in verse 11.  God loved us, so we should love each other. Then John, as was his custom, takes one more step.  Since no one has ever seen God, and since God loves all of us and we love Him, if we also love each other, God’s love will be complete in us and visibly expressed within His Body, the Church.  This is as far as John has gone so far…

At this point, we can infer that there is another step.  The other step is implied in John’s mentioning that “no one has seen God.”  OK, why did he choose to write that?  Think…

No one has seen God, but if we love one another as God loved us, then His love will live amongst us, and through us all will see it.

Have you ever thought that it would be nice if you could find the positive “proof” of God’s existence? Yes, something that can be observed and studied?

Are you sitting down?

John just gave it to you!  The proof is God’s love at work in our lives and within the Body of Christ; at least it should be.  Maybe if we started taking these verses to heart and putting them into our everyday manner of living, like we are commanded by God to do, more people would notice that the greatest “proof” of God, the observable evidence is right there in front of us all: Love for one another as Jesus has loved us, and gave His life for us.

Do you ever wonder if it is a coincidence that the whole concept of Godly love has been corrupted and demeaned in our culture − after all, doesn’t society use the word “love” to mean just about anything other than Godly love?

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 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.

1 John 4:16b-18

This short text is tricky; we need to be sharp to get the full benefit of it.  “God is love.” OK, so far, so good, this part is easy.  Them John says, Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  For us to live in love is to also live in God, and when we do that, God lives in us because God is love: They are inseparable.  Here comes the curve: John is building again.  Because of the inseparable nature of God and love, living our lives in love will make love complete, and ensure that we will be confident on the day of judgment: This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: OK, this one is really interesting… John finishes this way:

In this world we are like Jesus. 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.

Did you catch that?  If we live in love, we live in God, and God lives in us.  This is because love and God cannot be separated.  If we live this way, we live like Jesus lived.  Jesus did not fear death, why should He? He knew exactly where He was going!  When we live in love, we need have no fear of judgment, for that love drives fear of judgment out of our lives.

When a person dies, the next step is judgment.  You might believe that we die and immediately go to judgment, or you might believe that we die and sleep until judgment day, but to be honest, it doesn’t matter.  Judgment is the next step either way.  Just as Jesus knew exactly where He was going, so do we, we are going to be at His side.

So what really happens?

When we go to judgment, there are two sets of books. There is the Book of Life and there are the Books of Deeds.  If your name is in the Book of Life, that’s it, you’re in!  If not, the other books are consulted, and you are judged by your deeds.  You don’t want to be involved in those deeds books!  The judgment is not a horrifying ordeal if you are in the Book of Life.  Your name is read and that’s it, “welcome home.”  What John is telling us here is that living in love means that our names are in the Book of Life.

Let’s put it another way:  We read about this day in Revelation 21:11 ff. If you are in Christ, living in love (they are the same thing) your name is in the Book of Life.  That being the case, you are not being put on trial or accused of anything at all, for your sins have been taken away entirely; they are as far from you as the east is from the west.  There is no sin to even discuss: Period.  That is why John can say here, that perfect love drives out all fear.  The love God has always had for you terminated all discussion and your appearance at judgment is a welcoming ceremony, you might say.

We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

1 John 4:19-21

This just about sums it all up, don’t you think?  God so loves us that He went to extreme measures in showing it, sending His Son to die for us… because so great was God’s love. (John 3:16)

If God loves us, and we in turn love God, then we must also love our brother or sister.  As you can see from these verses, there is no negotiating to be done.  In fact, John says that it is a command from God that we love our brother.  End of discussion!

Well… almost.  It may strike some as odd that God has commanded love.  It is really a fair question to ask if someone asked it… How can I be commanded to love?  I see my brother or sister, and I don’t feel anything for them. As I’ve written before words are funny things; they mean stuff.  In English, we only have one word: “Love.”  John wrote in Greek.  Greek has five words for our “love” and they mean different things.  The word that John used here is agapaō which is the word used in the New Testament for God’s love; it is not the word for romantic love. When we are commanded to love one another, this command has nothing whatsoever to do with emotions.  Instead, it has everything do with attitude.

To love your brother or sister in Christ means to put their interests ahead of your own. If your brother or sister is in need, we are to take care of their need before we take care of our need.  We are to be willing to set aside our cares and hurts to see to the needs of others… just like Jesus did.  If we see our brother or sister hurting, we do something about it. Jesus saw us hurting from sin and death, so He did something about it, setting aside His own personal needs… that is unless you’d claim that He really needed to be tortured and murdered, or that it was His idea of fun…

This is the attitude that makes the Body of Christ possible.  If we were to approach the Body (church) as our little plaything or as our chance to be important, or in the way humans often approach things, then the Body will fight and divide.  Hmm, we might think about that one! If we approach it as people who love one another and put others ahead of ourselves, the Body is the most amazing and awesome thing this side of Heaven, as they say.

So, can we do it?  Sure we can!  We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.  It begins with a commitment to follow Jesus, and it carries on when we are more satisfied in His presence than when we are any place else. Need help or guidance in this?  No problem; seek Him, and follow where He leads.  You’ll know what to do.