Let love flow

Engage

There’s a rain water tank in my back yard - catches the rain and provides water to certain outlets in my home. The washing machine, the outdoor taps and the toilets. It also has a back up function so that if we don’t get enough rain, and the water level gets too low, a valve opens up and allows town water to fill the tank.

I apologise to those who rely on tank water that you don’t get that convenience. I tend to take it for granted. Until the valve gets blocked… one day I heard the toilet making a strange sound. On investigation I realised that it wasn’t filling up… there was no water flowing in. After a while it dawned on me - check the source. So I went outside and inspected the water tank.

There on top of the tank I could see a small branch of a tree had evidently fallen on top of the tank. I got a nearby broom and managed to reach it and knock it down - and lo and behold the valve was released and the water started gushing in. The branch had stopped the flow.

Flow is important when it comes to water - especially through the pipes in our homes and buildings. When the flow is interupted, it can cause all kinds of disruptions and problems. Just ask the people who regularly use our dishwasher here how they feel when the hot water stops flowing...

There are other types of flow that can get disrupted too - the flow of energy in our bodies could indicate a lack of sleep, a lack of health, a lack of caffeine or chocolate…?

What about our flow of concentration? When we’re trying to concentrate and the flow is interrupted - is it distraction? hunger? tiredness? stress?

Tension

These things are frustrating and can be disruptive, but what happens when there is a disruption in our spiritual lives?

John says in today’s Scripture in 1 John 4 that when we know God, love lives within us. Then he goes on to say that love needs to flow out of us also. But what if that’s not our experience? We say we know God, and we may even say that we love Him, but what if we struggle to share His love with others - or even receive it for ourselves?

What is it in our lives that can cause the flow of God’s love to stop? How can we reach the point where the flow of God’s love is good and strong - so it flows into us by God’s Spirit within us, and it just keeps on flowing out to those around us - in particular, as John points out to our brothers and sisters in Christ?

Truth

How do we get to live the life John mentions in v7?

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

When we sense that God’s love is not flowing through us, what can we do? What does John tell us in today’s passage of Scripture that might help us to experience the flowing love of God again? Or maybe for the first time?

Let’s start with the source - where is the source of love we’re seeking? We find the answer to this question in v.16

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

If God is love, then God is the source of love. We know that God never fails so we can trust His love - if His love is not flowing through us, there must be another reason. Let’s follow the flow of God’s love to see where the problem might be...

In verses 9-10 we see the way in which God’s love flows...

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

As we follow the flow of God’s love, we see that it leads straight to the cross of Jesus. Before the cross, there was a huge blockage in the flow of God’s love. It could not flow into us and through us because our sin was in the way.

John tells us that through Jesus’ death on the cross, the flow is restored and because of His resurrection, He moves into the lives of those who acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. When we receive Jesus, His Spirit moves into our lives. God lives within us - and remember God is love.

That means love has moved into our very lives.

There’s an old Doris Day film called “Calamity Jane”. I loved watching it when I was a child. There’s one scene I recall when Calamity Jane and her friend moved into an old run-down cabin in the woods. When she moved in it looked terrible, tired and filthy. The two women took on the project of renovating the cabin and making it beautiful - and they did. They scrubbed and polished every nook and cranny, hung pretty new curtains, painted the door and decorated the cabin until it looked brand new and warm and inviting.

When God moves into our lives, let’s be honest, there’s some work to be done! As His love moves through our rebellion, our hurts, our distrust and whatever other messes He might find, gradually and beautifully He transforms us. It reminds me of that old chorus “Something beautiful” All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife but He made something beautiful of my life.

God’s love is powerful, and He is constantly working within us to transform us with His love. It’s when we are able to accept and receive the love God wants to fill us with that we experience the truth of John’s message...

MI: THE MORE WE RECEIVE GOD’S LOVE, THE MORE IT WILL FLOW OUT FROM US

As we look further at what John says in chapter 4, we can see the difference it makes having God or Love live within us. In verse 4 we find that God gives us victory.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

God’s love is powerful enough to overcome all the evil forces that exist both in our world and beyond. His love brings us victory through His Spirit within us. Hallelujah!

Then in v.13-14 John says

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

God’s Spirit of love within us fills us with assurance - we have our own experience in Him which we can testify to.

And as we read further on in v.17-18 we discover what happens when God’s love is flowing through us..

This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Living in love, Christ gives us assurance, victory and wholeness - or we might say “Light, life and love” - the themes found throughout John’s first letter and the title of our series.

Application

As you reflect on these effects of God’s love flowing through us, perhaps you can see how God’s love is flowing through you - maybe it’s just a trickle yet. One way to measure the flow is to consider your level of assurance - do you know for sure that God lives in You because Jesus died for you?

Or what about your level of victory - do you feel confident that God has already won the battles that you face - especially against the evil one?

The more we experience assurance and victory, the more we will experience the wholeness that John describes as perfect love.

So how can we experience this perfect love flowing through us? It comes back to the source - God is love and He is the source of the love that flows through us. As 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because He first loved us.”

It is His love that flows through us. For His love to be allowed to flow through us, we need to be tapping into the source often. The more we stay connected to God’s Spirit which is within us, the more His love will flow through us and out to others.

Inspiration

Has there been a time recently when you have watched the news or read someone’s opinion about something and it filled you with fear for the future? Imagine if your response was “The world is in a bad way, the evil one certainly is having a field day. But I know that My Redeemer lives and because He lives in me, I have no reason to fear.”

At Chat & SOAP on Friday, we were talking about loving one another through serving one another. The idea was shared about going to God to ask for flowers to bless other people, but sometimes God wants us to stop and realise that He has flowers for us too.

In fact, it’s important for us to receive God’s love before we start trying to give it away to others. If we try to love others in our own strength, without tapping into the source of love, we will dry up and burn out.

Remember, THE MORE WE RECEIVE GOD’S LOVE, THE MORE IT WILL FLOW OUT FROM US. God is love and it is His love that flows to others when we allow His love to fill us first.

Action

I invite you to close your eyes for a moment and reflect on your relationship with the God of love. Do you know how you best connect with Him? When do you most experience His love? Where are you? What are you doing?

How can you do more of that this week? How can you position yourself to tap into the source of love - God Himself - so that His love can first fill you so that it can flow through you to others?

Song 850 I then shall live

Benediction

O Father, let Thy love remain

O Son, may I Thy likeness gain

O Spirit, stay to comfort me

O triune God, praise be to Thee

Amen