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God’s Love in Us
1 John 4
Series: Real Love, Rich Life
Aug. 21/16
(The power of Love!) Love, love, love… it’s a word with so many definitions. It’s something
everyone wants. Most musicians will croon about it and countless movies will worship and
dramatize it in a thousand different ways. Movies themes about love are refreshed annually
with a new crop produced for an expectant and welcoming population.
Along comes a passage that many will also know and love (some will not be as familiar) but still
the words and themes seem all so familiar we because we are all ‘love’ consumers and
connoisseurs. Ask anyone “Do you know what love is?” “Why yes, I think I do” would be a
pretty guaranteed answer. This message today could be everything from fine tuning to an
overhaul.
Genuine and powerful ‘Love’ can be seen in so many places; at the airport as tiny arms encircle
the leg of a parent as husband bids farewell to a wife through hugs and tears; I love you dear, I
love you daddy… Not sure when I’ll see you again… Or you’re strolling the dim hospital hall at 3
AM and witness the squeaks and coos of a mom and her newborn. A mother, cradling this
newly born life, only hours from the womb. Mom and dad stare in wonder at their first born,
the miracle of love that has begotten life! Or once again, we can smell the floral bouquets and
feel the sound of the organ and father and daughter make their way down the church aisle. At
the altar a young man peeks over his shoulder for a glimpse… On the faces of this couple we see
innocence, fear, delight and enormous love! Love surrounds us constantly, we see it… And yet I
can still hear “I wanna know what love is…” from Foreigner playing in the recesses of my 1970’s
teen memory. Like virtually every song written about love in our culture, this one also sees love
as a feeling, a craving, a need, something for you to get, (experience). However, Love in
scripture, the New Testament, isn’t like that. The words the Bible used for love were not
necessarily used in their culture (eros, vs. phileo & agape). So, what will likely happen when we
look at a passage speaking of love, like 1 Jn.4 is that we’ll have this default, pre-programmed
way of thinking that will be used to interpret and understand ‘love’ as we read it. Love (eros) =
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a general seeking of satisfaction wherever/whenever you can, with an indefinite impulse
towards an object. It’s boy meets girl. It’s the word for attraction, longing and desire.
Marie wrote a letter… time to make up…”Dearest Ricky: No words could ever express the great
unhappiness I've felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you'll take me back. No one
could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you!
Yours forever, Marie. P.S., And congratulations on willing the lottery.” Eros… (it can come and
go… 2 yrs.?) and it does not appear in scripture. Love in scripture is two terms (phileo & agape,
agapao). Phileo, is basic human love, the most general term for love (in Greek) mainly
describing the connection people share in close relationship; concern and care inside and
outside the family. It can refer to all manner of things you are fond of.
Joe Wagner, in Reader's Digest wrote “I was attending a junior stock show when a
grand-champion lamb, owned by a little girl, was being auctioned. As the bids reached
five dollars per pound, the little girl, standing beside the lamb in the arena, began to cry.
At ten dollars, the tears were streaming down her face and she clasped her arms tightly
around the lamb's neck. The higher the bids rose, the more she cried. Finally, a local
businessman bought the lamb for more than $1000, but then announced that he was
donating it to the little girl. The crowd applauded and cheered.”
Months later, I was judging some statewide essays when I came across one from a girl
who told about the time her grand-champion lamb had been auctioned. "The prices
began to get so high during the bidding," she wrote, "that I started to cry from
happiness." She continued "The man who bought the lamb for so much more than I
ever dreamed I would get returned the lamb back to me, and when I got home, Daddy
barbecued the lamb--and it was so delicious."
But phileo… carries no religious or spiritual connotation. Agape really appears only in scripture.
First and foremost it describes God’s relationship with mankind. It’s a direct, unconditional,
absolute, holy and unceasing love. It is a free and decisive act, giving and active on the other’s
behalf (in short, considering something as precious and valuable). It takes time to understand
and appreciate!
A. 1 John 4 opens with (1-6) some truth he wants to reinforce about Jesus.
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As mentioned last week, there was a type of teaching growing (Cerinthian Gnostocism).
1. Time for a reality check. 1-3. “Every spirit (represented in a teacher) that acknowledges
that Jesus has come in the flesh, is from God.” Gnostic context (explain developing theory of
matter=evil, spirit =good). Hence, Jesus only seemed to have a physical body, and that he
actually was only a spirit. Eventually this teaching began to deny the basics of physical, bodily
morality (big problem!), that it didn’t matter (body, flesh is evil anyway). Jesus himself
repeatedly emphasized his physicality. He also lived a sin-free life physically…. To show it can
be done! Wow! We can battle the flesh… and prevail! Also, the entire crucifixion event was an
enormous testimony to real physical pain, suffering and death. The result was a real sacrifice
and a real atonement… real love!
2. Hearing test, 4-6. “Whoever knows God, listens to us.” This is a truth vs. falsehood test.
Almost immediately (in church history), there emerged false teachers! Within a generation
after Christ there were numerous controversies and heresies (a word we don’t use too much).
Usually a some truth, mixed with a whole lot of error. Close doesn’t count in truth… There are
some things that you must get right. E.g. 1 John 5:11-12 spells it out very clearly.
B. More about Love! 7-21. This is the heart of it! “Dear friends” = Beloved. In 15
verses, John will use Love 27 times! He’s been going on about love for 3 chapters already! This
passage ramps it up all the way! It‘s a form of persuasion. State and restate. Our challenge, is
as I mentioned, is that we know the words, but we can be singing a different tune. We take our
understanding of love and we use it to… describe God. It says “God is love.” Our thinking goes
like this, “well this is what I think love is like, therefore this is what I think God will be like...”
That would be trueif your description and definitions are correct. Love isn’t something we bring
out to describe God, but rather God describes love and defines it for us.
1. God is Love, he’s the source of our understanding but what then is love? Like it’s a state of
being (happy, rich, poor, free, etc). Let’s look to the passage for explanation. Verse 9, God
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shows his love (READ). Verse 10 too, this is love… sent. Both add up to something done as a
divine initiative, without conditions. Love gives.
2. What God did. The giving means living that comes through God’s gift, the giving of his
son. Verse 9. READ. Similar to Jn. 3:16 “For God so loved the world… that he gave…”
3. He loves us, he just does. Love has a purpose. Ever thought of your love having a
purpose? “Hey, what’s the purpose of your love?” (ask it!). It’s so you might live, really live. (v.
9) Verse 12 “If we love one another, God lives in us.” Verse 16, again, “God is love, whoever
lives in love, lives in God and God in them.” Love in you, means God in you. It’s evidence of faith
in Him.
4. This love gives confidence, you can know that he lives in you. Verse 18 “We are like
Jesus.” There is no fear in love. Perfect love drives our fear. Because of our ‘fellowship with the
Father’ We have confidence… I suspect that most people can feel a twinge of anxiety when, as
they drive along, they glance sideways and there’s a police car… then they glance at the
speedometer… just a natural little pang there.
For many folk, that’s the reaction they can have with God… He’s over there watching and it
makes us suddenly a little edgy. But John says, there’s no need to have a sense of anxiety or
fear when thinking of God the Father. Back to the police car… You look again, but this time, as
you lock eyes with the police officer you realize… it’s your dad, your father. Note how the
feeling changes. You’d wave, smiles (him too) and then you’d slow down.
Honest Love, starts in the family (20, 21) and is to be evidenced here first. You should be able
to see evidence of it! A little slice of heaven now as love is displayed as it was intended. READ.
It’s to give you confidence. How do we demonstrate our love for our brothers and sisters (that’s
fellow believers in Christ)? Truly, deeply, genuinely caring and getting along… No: contempt,
bitterness, resentfulness, anger, hostility, and you strive to forgiveness.
When you forgive (release) unconditionally, you move on and let go of the hurt. No record of
wrongs, no score sheet, no points. If there is information that could be ‘shared’… you don’t. In
the body of Christ, amongst Christians, you are never allowed to hold something against each
other. The text actually ends (v. 20), John ramps it up ever further. If you can’t love (forgive and
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release hate) with people you see… eventually there will come a time when you will fail to love
(hate, resent and challenge) God himself.
I believe that trusting God, (loving him back) is the starting point (or recalibration point) with
your life in God. We understand love fully and clearly because of him. We then learn more of
him. There is nothing you can to do make God love you more! There is nothing you can do to
make God love you less! His love is Unconditional, Impartial, Everlasting and Perfect! His love
will then be understood in His Holiness, justice, righteousness, his beauty and perfection,
passion and power, his goodness and grace!
(Assurance for you!) The Bible word agape (love) seems to have been virtually a Christian
invention -- a new word for a new thing. It is almost non-existent before the New Testament.
Agape draws its meaning directly from the revelation of God in Christ. It is not a form of natural
affection, however intense, but a powerful fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). It is the basic element
in Christ-likeness. Thomas a' Kempis said: Whoever loves much, does much.
There was a woman who wanted to know how her husband would react if she left
without telling him where she had gone. Things were a little tense… She decided to
write him a letter saying she was tired of him and didn't want to live with him anymore.
After writing the letter, she put it on the dresser in the bedroom and then slid under the
bed to hide until her husband got home. When he eventually came home, he found the
letter and read it.
After a few moments of silence, he picked up a pen and added something to the letter.
Then he got changed, humming happily... He grabbed his phone and dialed a number.
His wife listened from under the bed as he started chatting with someone.
"Hey babe, I'm just changing clothes then I be by," he said. "Ya, it finally dawned on her
that I was fooling around on her and she’s left. Anyway, I’ll see you soon!"
Then he hung up and walked out of the room.
In tears and upset, she climbed out from under the bed and stumbled over to read what
her ‘unfaithful’ husband had written on the end of her letter.
Through teary eyes, she read: Ya, Nice try dear… I could see your feet under the bed.
The phone call was fake… I’ve just gone out to buy some milk."
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Love is patient and love is kind… 1 Cor. 13. This love, the love of God will likely take you some
time to understand, because of the distorted world we live in. Fine tuning this AM…? This love
is not overly common, yet everyone will appreciate finding themselves on the receiving end…
like we have received from God, we now live it, passing it on. Got Love? You’ll have health and
wellness.