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Defined and Delivered
(by the Love of God )
1 John 4: 7-10
Our text this morning, again deals with the continuing theme of love that John has presented throughout this epistle.
In fact, the remaining verses of this chapter deal with love.
Love, it has been said, has many faces.
People see it in all sorts of shapes and sizes.
They say that kids say the dardest things but what you do get from kids is the truth when it is about someone else.
I think it is interesting to note that sometimes we cant see things around us as clear as children can, especially when it comes to love.
many adults think of love as more physical then emotional
A group of professionals posed the following question to a group of four to eight-year-olds:
“What does love mean?”
The answers they got, as one researcher said, “were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.”
“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.”
Chrissy—age 6
“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.”
Terri—age 4
“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” Danny—age 7
“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.”
Bobby—age 5
“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day.”
Noelle—age 7
“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.”
May Ann—age 4
“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.”
Karen—age 7
“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it.
But if you mean it, you should say it a lot.
People forget.”
Jessica—age 7
“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too.
That’s love.”
Rebecca—age 8 (Sollee, “Love”)
Well, it is one thing to get a child’s perspective on love, but it is even better to get God’s perspective.
Several times in the Bible God gives us His thoughts on love.
We find a few of them in Song of Sol.
8:5-14; 1 Corinthians 13, and here in 1 John 4:7–21.
John has addressed the subject of love already in 2:7–11 as an indication that one is walking in the light
and in 3:11–24 as evidence that one is a child of God.
Yet it is here, in 4:7–21, that he provides his fullest treatment to love.
As he calls us aside to talk about this subject that some say “makes the world go round,”
John will take us to the very origin and source of love: God Himself.
In fact, love is His very nature, and acting in love is His essential character.
How do we know?
The cross!
The cross of Golgotha is an everlasting monument to the truth that our God is love.
[*Exalting Jesus; Daniel Ankin 1John 4:7-10.*]
What I like about John is how God took him from being originally known as one of the “sons of thunder,” to be known as John the Beloved, How did he get this name?
he had experienced the gracious love of God and developed a compassionate love for others.
No doubt we have all experienced love,
but real love, genuine love cannot be defined by the world’s standards.
Much that is expressed or thought of by the world and even the church today as love,
does not represent love as God intended.
Someone once wrote the following poem that I believe is a good description of love
“What is love”
It is silence--when your words would hurt.
It is patience--when your neighbor's aren’t.
It is deafness--when a scandal flows.
It is thoughtfulness--for other's woes.
It is promptness--when stern duty calls.
It is courage--when misfortune falls.
(unknown)
As we consider our text this morning, I want to examine the love of God and how by it we are defined and have been delivered.
The first thing we see in our text is:
I.
The Importance Implied
(7) – Here we discover the importance that John puts on the love we should have one to another.
John doesn’t offer this command simply because it is socially acceptable, but biblically expected.
Notice:
A. The Exhortation to Love
(7a) – Beloved, let us love one another:
That in itself is a simple statement, but it bears our attention.
As the children of God, we are expected to love one another.
(I have met some who claimed Christ as their Savior who apparently didn’t get that memo.)
But none the less that is a simple enough statement.
John doesn’t say love when we feel like it, or when we think it is deserved.
He doesn’t say love those who agree with our position always.
He doesn’t ask us to love only those within our circle of influence.
We are to love one another.
I am convinced this applies to our love for all people, especially those within the body of Christ.
Jesus revealed this was the second great command: love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
Surely you would agree we need to show love to one another!
So How are we to show love, how do we know what true love is?
I am so glad you asked.
B. The Example of Love
(7b) – for love is of God.
This is something the average christian knows, but do we fully comprehend its depth.
Love is of God.
Love is one of the great character traits of God.
It reveals part of His very essence.
He possesses love and offers that love to those that would call upon Him
Since God possesses love, and is the distributor of love, we can rightly discern that one cannot truly love apart from a right relationship with God.
Much that is considered and displayed by this world is not love at all, at least in a biblical sense.
We wonder why our world is in the shape it is today.
Why is there so much violence and neglect?
Why is there no compassion or generosity?
It is simple: many lack genuine love.
It is not just in the world that a lack of genuine love is the problem, Let’s go a bit further.
Why is there so much turmoil and division in so many church congregations today?
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