REAL LOVE

JULY 5, 2015 

FIRST THOUGHTS 

·        The word love can indeed be so over used as to render it without any real strength or meaning, it can be easily overlooked in its casual uses.

·        Since scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit in all parts, it's use must not be overlooked.

·        It is very helpful and encouraging to know what the root word is every time it is used in scripture.

·        I think it will be clearly illustrated in our text today. 

UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT 

·        Up until now John has been teaching about doctrine (God is light).

·        John now begins to tell us that God is love.

·        There are three points that John is making about God.

1.     God is light (doctrine of the truth).

2.     God is love (agape).

3.     God is life.

·        Last time we learned the most important insight on how to test the spirit of one’s teaching as to whether it is from the world or from God.

·        We now will see the most important feature to be seen in our brothers who profess that Jesus is Lord.

·        Check this passage carefully, for it certainly seems to be telling us that if this is missing from someone’s life then they are not from God; if they are truly our brother in Christ or not.

·        This can also be used as a self examination.

·        If we ourselves do not have this,  then…?

·        All instances of the word Love in today’s passage are a form of agape. 

EXPLORE THE TEXT 

KEY DOCTRINE: GOD THE SON

In His substitutionary death on the cross, Jesus made provision for the redemption of men from sin.

MEMORY VERSE: 1 JOHN 4:16

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

1 JOHN 4:7-21  NASB

SEEN IN THE SON

VERSES 7-8:

7 Beloved, let us love ^verb one another, for love ^noun is from God; and everyone who loves ^verb is born of God and knows God.

8 The one who does not love ^verb does not know God, for God is love ^noun.

 

·        Because the world will not love us unless we are like them, then we are to be separate from the world and love one another.  

“True to his pattern of developing the same subjects, each time broadening, expanding, and enhancing their significance, John returns once again to the moral test of love. These verses constitute one long unit describing what perfect love is and that it is available to men.”

John MacArthur Bible Commentary 

“Let's be very careful here as to what John is talking about. He has just given a warning against false teachers who are not to be loved—let's be clear on that. I don't pray for them. I do not give any pious platitude, saying, ‘Oh, I'll pray for them.’ I'm not praying for them. They are the children of the Devil. I'm praying for God's people, and I'm praying for the lost sinner who will turn to Christ if I can just get the Word to him. Having given a warning against these false teachers, John returns now to the theme of this section: believers are to love one another.”

Thru the Bible with J Vernon McGee 

·        I believe that this passage has moved from false teachers to those who are among us, if they do not have agape love towards others but instead exhibit vicious anger towards a believer, tries to undercut someone by gossip, or stir up division among the fellowship then they do not know God.

·        This would indicate that they are lost.

·        I am not comfortable in going this far because I am not God; but it sure is a serious matter that should be prayed for.

·        It is certain that when outsiders see this kind of attitude, they will ridicule the church and the one it represents and will likely be closed to anything we say. 

VERSES 9-11:

9 By this the love ^noun of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

10 In this is love ^noun, not that we loved ^verb God, but that He loved ^verb us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11 Beloved ^{noun: object of love}, if God so loved ^verb us, we also ought to love ^verb one another. 

·        It is this love that God had for us that He sent His Son that we may have this same kind of love through Him, for each other.

·        Webster’s dictionary defines propitiation as: To make (someone) pleased or less angry by giving or saying something desired.

·        We are told here that in the face of the enormous love that God has for us then we ought to live one another.

·        Since those in the world have rejected the Bible and Jesus; and will not listen to any argument from us by telling them what either says; then they must be able to see us exhibiting this agape love for one another in order to gain any hearing at all.

·        If they can see this in us then they will know that God is real. 

PROTECTED BY THE SPIRIT

VERSES 12-13:

12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love ^verb one another, God abides in us, and His love ^noun is perfected in us.

13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 

“The statement seems to be made here in order to introduce a remark to show in what way we may know that we have any true knowledge of God. The idea is, ‘He has never indeed been seen by mortal eyes. We are not, then, to expect to become acquainted with what he is in that way. But there is a method by which we may be assured that we have a true knowledge of him, and that is, by evidence that we love another, and by the presence of his Spirit in our hearts. We cannot become acquainted with him by sight, but we may by love.’”

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible 

“Since the world in general is not seeing Jesus as He is presented in the Word of God, the only way it will know of God's love is through the lives of believers who represent Him.”

Thru the Bible with J Vernon McGee 

VERSES 14-15:

14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 

·        John again reminds his readers that he was an eyewitness of Jesus and so says authoritatively that God is abiding in whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God.

·        It is also implied that the love of God would be in evidence when we love one another. 

DEFINED BY THE FATHER

VERSE 16:

16 We have come to know and have believed the love ^noun which God has for us.

God is love ^noun, and the one who abides in love ^noun abides in God, and God abides in him. 

 “Love would remove all the corrupt passions, the crimes, the jealousies, the wars on the earth, and would diffuse around the globe the bliss of heaven. If a man, therefore, is actuated by this, he has the spirit of the heavenly world reigning in his soul, and lives in an atmosphere of love.”

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible. 

·        Think of the love that God has for us that He would send Jesus to die for us; for when we abide in Him then we will have that same kind of love for one another.

·        It is an awesome thought to think that to the extent that we embrace God the Father, through Jesus Christ His Son, we would be able to love one another sacrificially; for we would only be acting out the love that God’s has for them. 

Ephesians 5:1-2

1  Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;

2  and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.     NASB 

VERSES 17-18

17 By this, love ^noun is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love ^noun; but perfect love ^noun casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love ^noun. 

·        As this love is perfected in us,  we will grow ever more confident about the judgement; all fear will be removed from us. 

IMITATED BY HIS PEOPLE

VERSE 19:

19 We love ^verb, because He first loved ^verb us. 

·        We were drawn by God’s character that He has shown to us, and we love Him for it without expecting anything from Him; so excellent is He. 

“This is Christianity; this, nothing less, is religion—to love God, because I believe that in Jesus Christ God has loved me.”

Expositions of Holy Scripture (Alexander MacLaren) 

VERSES 20-21:

20 If someone says, "I love ^verb God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love ^verb his brother whom he has seen, cannot love ^verb God whom he has not seen.

21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves ^verb God should love ^verb his brother also.

 

·        You can also substitute “does not” in place of “cannot”. 

“…love for God without love for others is simply impossible to imagine, since God is love.”

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series 

“If we do not love our brother, then we do not love God either.”

Thru the Bible With J Vernon McGee 

“This is a commandment. God does not ask you if you feel like it or if you want to. He says, ‘This is what I command you. Because I love, you are to love.’ I get a little weary hearing the talk of ‘dedicated’ and ‘consecrated’ Christians who are lazy on the job. You are not dedicated to the Lord unless you demonstrate it in your life and in your service.”

Thru the Bible With J Vernon McGee