Essence of The Fellowship

1 John 4:7 CSB

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

INTRO—

[[WUV: Sweet Fellowship - Acappella]]

Essence of…

…Essentials for.

= Walking in the Light, Confessing Sin, Obedience to God’s Commands, & Love for One Another.

Essence of The Fellowship = LOVE!

LOVE = ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη … t

Since LOVE (True Love) is the answer…how do we get it and to whom do we show it?

(I’m sure everyone sees the overlap, showing there is a correlation but not an equivalence.)

LOVE: OF God (4.7b, 8b, 9-11a, 16)

It just is logical that our Fellowship with one another being founded on our Fellowship with God…that our ability to love rightly is founded on and comes from God’s love for us first.

“because love is from God” (4.7b)

“because God is love” (4.8b)

“God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way,” (4.9-11a)

Echoes of…John 3.16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

High value…Lasting value of God’s love. (All for no other reason than GOD’S LOVE.)

“And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.” (4.16)

LOVE: FOR God (4.19, 20a, 20c, 21a, 5.1-3)

“We love because he first loved us.” (4.19)

“If anyone says, 'I love God,’” (4.20a)

“cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (4.20c)

“And we have this command from him: The one who loves God” (4.21a)

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him. This is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God and obey his commands. For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden,” (5.1-3)

We demonstrate To each other AND With each other that we love God First & Most…by doing what he says.

In the family of God…it is not enough to love the Father and not love the children/siblings. [This is what the false prophets were doing.]

Just remember Jesus’ heart for us: Matthew 11.28-30 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

LOVE: FOR One Another (4.7a, 11b, 12-15, 19, 20b, 21b, 5.2a)

“Dear friends, let us love one another," (4.7a)

“The one who does not love does not know God,” (4.8a)

“we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent his Son as the world’s Savior. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God.” (4.11b-15)

AGAIN, our love of the family is a key indicator of the authenticity of our claim to love God the Father.

Our brothers and sisters in Christ, made in the image of God and redeemed into His family, are worth-y of our love. (Genesis 1.26-28a “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. God blessed them,”)

[Side Note: The image of God in man, also makes our antagonists/enemies worthy of our love. Matthew 5.44-45a “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven."]

“We love because he first loved us.” (4.19)

“and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen” (4.20b)

“must also love his brother and sister.” (4.21b)

“This is how we know that we love God’s children:” (5.2a)

[[Transition to Conclusion: (4.17-18)

“In this, love is made complete with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love." (4.17-18)]]

CONCL— (5.4)

“because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.” (5.4)

Our Faith = "The faith we have trusted” … “The faith of us” [Our faith…is not something we come up with. Our faith is the victory only on the basis of the focus, object of our faith.]

Jude 3-4 “Dear friends, although I was eager to write you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write, appealing to you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all. For some people, who were designated for this judgment long ago, have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.”

Our faith…delivered to us…so that we can…LOVE!

1 John 5:4 CSB

because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.