Make Him Be Seen

Let’s talk about the wind for a few minutes this morning.

As a native of Tidewater, I’ve seen my share of hurricanes. Most of you have, as well.

And as a native of Tidewater, like many of us who grew up with a whole season dedicated to hurricanes, I probably don’t take them as seriously as I should.

And that’s despite having seen the after-effects of Hurricane Isabelle, which dropped seven trees in my mother’s yard, including three on top of her house.

Just the mention of that storm raises her stress levels, even today.

For me, the most frightened I’ve ever been during a hurricane was during Hurricane Irma. Annette and I had been on vacation in Gatlinburg, Tenn., with the grandchildren, and I’d been watching the forecasts of Irma’s approach toward the East Coast.

I was still editor at the Suffolk News-Herald at the time, and two days before we were scheduled to come home, I received a call from my publisher, demanding that I come home and be in Suffolk to lead the newsroom in its storm coverage.

I wasn’t happy about it. And Annette was slightly MORE than unhappy, especially when we looked at the timing of our trip and compared our route home to the storm’s projected track.

We would be passing right through this hurricane in North Carolina on our drive home, and there was no way to avoid it.

But we did what we had to do. And I remember the wind as we drove along I-85 and then Route 58 East, especially through Brunswick and Greensville counties.

The rain was bad enough, but the wind was absolutely terrifying. I felt that our truck might be lifted off the ground and thrown into the median at any moment. The trees on the side of the road were bending like they were reaching out for us.

By the time we’d hit Virginia, we’d already passed through the worst of the storm. But it seemed much more frightening to us, maybe because we could actually SEE and FEEL the effects of the wind, instead of just being slowed to a crawl by the torrential rains we’d driven through earlier.

And that’s the thing about wind that makes it so interesting to me. We only ever know the wind is even BLOWING because we see and feel its effects.

Wind is invisible. Even the winds of a hurricane would be unseen if not for the clouds we see on radar images. And we’d never know their power if they didn’t encounter trees and houses and other structures.

And it’s interesting to me that both the Hebrew and Greek words that are translated in Scripture as “spirit” actually refer to wind or breath.

In the creation account of the Book of Genesis, for example, we read:

Genesis 1:2 NASB95

2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

The primary meaning of the word “Spirit” there is “breath.” So, Moses likens the Holy Spirit to the breath of God.

In one of the verses we looked at in 1 John last week, we read about the “spirit of truth.” In another that we’ll look at this week, we’ll see John say that God has given believers “His Spirit.”

In both of those cases, the Greek word is pneuma, which refers to blowing or breathing. Again, the Holy Spirit is being likened to the breath of God.

Speaking to the Pharisee Nicodemus, Jesus said:

John 3:8 NASB95

8 “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Here, Jesus makes a direct comparison between wind and the Holy Spirit. And one of the points of comparison he intended here was that we can only recognize the presence of either the wind or the Holy Spirit by their effects.

It was only by the bending of the trees and the pushing of our truck that I knew the power of the storm we were passing through on our way back from Tennessee.

And it is only by the response of those upon whom the Holy Spirit acts that we can recognize His power working through them.

In this regard, God the Father is much like God the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle John will tell us in today’s passage that nobody has ever seen God. That’s because God the Father is spirit. He is invisible.

Whenever people in the Old Testament are said to have seen God, what they’re seeing is called a theophany. That’s a physical representation of God.

So, when Moses saw the burning bush, for example, he was seeing a theophany. He wasn’t seeing God, but rather a physical manifestation of God.

But what John will also tell us in today’s passage is that we who follow Jesus can make God be SEEN by the world. Indeed, that’s our true purpose as believers.

So, how do we do THAT? Well, let’s take a look at the passage and see. We’re going to study verses 7 through 14 of chapter 4 in 1 John today.

While you turn there, let me remind you that John offers us a sort of recipe for fellowship with God in this letter. He’s writing to a group of believers in Asia Minor, so these are people who already have a RELATIONSHIP with God in Christ.

But what he wants for them — and for us as modern believers — is for us to have FELLOWSHIP with God in Christ. For us to be in community with God. For us to be in communion with the creator of the universe.

In last week’s passage, John gave a warning not to listen to false teachers whose aim is to destroy the church Jesus is building.

And I think that, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John wasn’t happy about moving on until he returned from that strong warning to the topic of love.

You’ll see the word “love” 13 times in these 8 verses. This passage truly is the core of John’s theology of love. Let’s pick up in verse 7.

1 John 4:7 NASB95

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

Now, let me remind you what John means when he uses the word “love.” Remember that he connects it to the command Jesus gave to His disciples, which was “love one another, even as I have loved you.”

Jesus must certainly must have loved His disciples with an emotional love. But His love went far deeper than that. He chose them. He chose to LOVE them.

He loved them in a sacrificial way. He gave up what was rightfully His to come and be with them, to choose them, to be with them, and to die for them.

The Apostle Paul described this self-denying aspect of Christ’s love in his letter to the Philippians. Speaking of Jesus, he says:

Philippians 2:6–7 NASB95

6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

So, Jesus loves with a choosing love that isn’t dependent upon His feelings for a particular person.

He loves with a sacrificial love that caused Him to go to the cross, where He bore the sins of all mankind and their just punishment, so that all who believe in Him will be saved.

He loves with a self-denying love that caused Him to set aside the glory of heaven and take upon Himself the flesh of mankind.

Indeed, the King of kings and Lord of lords became the Suffering Servant of mankind. This is all wrapped up in John’s idea of love.

And note that he says love comes from God. Truly, it is only by the grace of God that there is any love at all in this world. We are all broken, sinful, selfish, and self-centered. That’s how sin has twisted us.

But God sheds His common grace upon us all, allowing us to feel affection for one another. His grace helps even non-believers to set aside their selfishness to experience some degree or another of warmth and compassion and affection for others.

That’s a wonderful thing for humanity, but that’s not the kind of love John’s writing about here.

What he’s saying here is that those who are in fellowship with God — not just born of God, but truly KNOWING Him — will love one another with a choosing, sacrificial self-denying love, because that’s how God has loved us.

And when we love one another that way, we’re exhibiting His character. We are fulfilling the expectations of us as adopted children who should reflect His character.

And when we’re not loving one another this way, it shows that we’re not in fellowship with Him, that we don’t really KNOW Him. Look at verse 8:

1 John 4:8 NASB95

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

Since God’s essential, foundational character trait is love, then if we are walking in fellowship with Him, having been born again and adopted into His family, we’ll exhibit His character, with love being the most essential and foundational way to do that.

One commentator describes God’s loving character this way: “All His activity is loving activity. If He creates, He creates in love; if He rules, He rules in love; if He judges, He judges in love. All that He does is the expression of His nature, —to love.” [Tom Constable, Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), 1 Jn 4:8, quoting Dodd.]

You need to understand that, for God, love and justice aren’t separate things. He judges with love. In fact, it is BECAUSE of His love that He judges righteously.

He has set unchanging standards for us, and whatever we do outside the bounds of those standards is sin.

This is much like the boundaries a loving parent sets for a child.

The parent knows, for example, that if the child leaves the neighborhood on his bicycle, the child will be in danger. So the parent sets boundaries.

They’re not set out of spitefulness or out of a desire to limit the child’s fun. They’re set, because the parent loves the child and wants the best for him.

One other note on this verse: The Greek grammar here does not allow this expression to be reversed. John says God is love, but he DOESN’T say love is God.

So, not everything that we might identify as love is of God. Indeed, much of what the world calls “love” today is actually OPPOSED to God and is therefore not real love.

So, what does God’s love look like? Well, look at verse 9.

1 John 4:9 NASB95

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

God demonstrated His love for us by sending His unique and eternal Son, Jesus Christ.

He stepped into our history, giving His life at the cross for us and in our place so that we might have life the way it was always intended to be — in everlasting fellowship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus is God’s love in the flesh. In His life, in His death, and in His resurrection, we see the love of God manifested to us. And in the new life that we are given as followers of Christ, we find the manifestation of God’s love IN us.

But there’s an important thing to note about God’s love. It came first. Look at verse 10.

1 John 4:10 NASB95

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

Our understanding of Christian love is based not on our love for God, but on His love for us. He didn’t love us as a response to our loving Him. He took all the initiative in love. And His love for us is sacrificial and self-denying.

He had every right to condemn all of mankind to hell for our sins, but in His love and His grace, God sent His perfect Son, Jesus, to live here as a man, yet without sin, and to give Himself as a sacrifice for our sins.

Now, that term, “propitiation” is a theological term that goes back to the Old Testament. The Greek word is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to describe the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant.

The Ark of the Covenant was a beautifully ornate box made of acacia wood and covered in gold that held the two tablets of the 10 Commandments, along with some manna and the rod that had been carried by the priest Aaron during the Exodus.

On top of the box was a golden lid with sculptures of two cherubim whose wings reached toward one another in the center, forming a sort of seat.

The Ark was kept in the Temple’s Holy of Holies, which was a room separated from the rest of the temple by a heavy curtain or veil made of blue, purple, and scarlet fabric.

This was a place nobody was allowed to enter, as it represented the place where God dwelt among His people. But one day every year, the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the mercy seat with the blood of a bull.

By doing this, the High Priest made atonement for the sins of the nation of Israel. God would accept that the blood had covered their sins for another year, and the people would be made at one with God.

So, what John is saying here is that the cross — indeed, the sinless Jesus Himself — became the new mercy seat for those who follow Jesus in faith, sprinkled and running with the blood He shed there to atone for our sins.

He gave Himself at the cross to atone for our sins. HIS blood covers the sins of believers. And not just for a year. Since He is God’s own, unique and eternal Son — since He is God in the flesh — HIS blood is sufficient to cover sin once and for all.

THIS is how much God loves us. THIS is how much Jesus loves us.

We who deserve condemnation and damnation because of our rebellion against God in sin instead receive forgiveness through faith in Jesus. Indeed, we’re given new life and a new position as adopted sons and daughters of God.

And it all took place while we were yet sinners. God didn’t wait for us to be good before sending Jesus. He didn’t wait for us to show that we truly love Him before allowing His Son to give His life for us and in our place.

No, He poured out His love on us while we were still rebels. He poured out His love even on those who put the nails through Christ’s hands and feet, even on those who mocked Him as He died, even on those who demanded His crucifixion.

Salvation was available to all, no matter their sins. And it still is. There is no sin you can commit that won’t be forgiven if you turn to Jesus in faith. THIS is love!

And, as John makes clear, this kind of love demands a special response. Look at verse 11.

1 John 4:11 NASB95

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

With God’s love for us — and Christ’s love for us — as our examples, now we can understand HOW we ought to love one another. Sacrificially.

As one commentator put it: “Since no one in all humanity is beyond the reach of our Savior’s sacrificial death, no brother or sister should be beyond our sacrificial love.” [Tom Constable, Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), 1 Jn 4:11, quoting Hodges.]

But what does this kind of love really accomplish? Well, it makes God to be SEEN by the world. Look at verse 12.

1 John 4:12–14 NASB95

12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love 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. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

Since God is spirit and not flesh, nobody has ever seen Him. What we have seen is Jesus, who said if we’ve seen Him, we’ve seen the Father.

But WE haven’t seen Jesus, either, and neither had most of the people to whom John wrote this letter. So, in verse 14, he reminds us that he and the other apostles HAD seen Jesus.

They could testify to the reality of His incarnation. They could testify to who He is and what He did.

And through their testimony, many had come to faith in Jesus, and that faith was confirmed by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those believers.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, believers confess that Jesus is who He said He is: God Himself in human flesh come to save mankind from the penalty for our sins.

And when Spirit-filled believers walk in fellowship with God — keeping His commandments and loving one another — then God’s love is fulfilled in us.God’s love for US achieves its purpose for us.

The word that’s translated as “perfected” in verse 12 means “fulfilled.” The idea is that what God’s love is intended for achieves fruition. It achieves its purpose. And that purpose is to make God be seen by the world.

“The love of God does not reach perfection until it finds objects of love beyond itself.” [Tom Constable, Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), 1 Jn 4:12.”

Nobody has seen God. He is spirit. He is invisible. Like the wind, He is seen only in the response of those He acts upon. The same is true of the Holy Spirit. He is unseen, but He acts with power upon those in whom He dwells through faith in Jesus.

And even though He is God in the flesh, nobody will see Jesus until He returns for His church.

So, how will the world SEE them? How will the world SEE our trinitarian God?

They’ll see Him in our love for one another.

It’s interesting to note what Jesus said about this to His disciples.

At the Last Supper, the night before He was crucified, He described how they — and we — could show that they were His followers.

We might’ve expected Him to say that people would know we’re followers of Jesus because of our good works.

We might’ve expected Him to say people would know we’re His followers because we keep high moral standards. We might’ve expected Him to say people would know because we carry our Bibles and go to church and say Christian-y things.

And all of these things are good for us to do. But that’s not what He said. What He said was this:

John 13:35 NASB95

35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

“The love of God displayed in His people is the strongest apologetic that God has in the world.” [Tom Constable, Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), 1 Jn 4:12, quoting Bruce]

We love a God whose works are displayed in all of creation. We follow a Savior who changes us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

But the only way we can make them be SEEN is by loving one another as Jesus loves us. Sacrificially. Denying ourselves for the benefit of others.

God desires to be seen by the lost world. He desires for His precious Son to be seen by the lost world. And He has given US the task of making Him BE seen.

You won’t do this with churchy posts on Facebook. You won’t do this by offering Christian-y platitudes to your lost friends and family. You won’t even do it by going on mission trips or witnessing to the lost.

Without demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ, none of these things is effective at showing the PERSON of Jesus Christ.

Let us go out this week and make Him be SEEN!