1 John 4:7-10

Good morning. I am glad that we can be here together and that we are able to gather and to worship together. We continue this morning our study of the book of 1 John. John is an author that we look to for a lot of deep theological points. He informs a lot of theology that we have in the church.

Now I know many of us might be like why is theology important. Let’s talk about that for a moment.

Theology

Theology is simply the Study of God, as he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ and in the Scripture.

To put it simply it is the effort by us to understand who God is and how we interact with God and this is shown through Jesus and the Bible. This is an important topic for us to teach, preach, and learn about. Of course this is not an easy topic to discuss. There are lots of big fancy words that people start using and if i am completely honest at times it gets difficult because we like to make ourselves sound smarter than we really are or we can’t always boil it down to simple understanding. I will do my best this morning as we study God’s word and look at what he has for us and how he informs our understanding of Him to bring it to simple terms.

It is also a topic that is written about extensively. Let me show you.

(Pull out theology books for people to see)

As you can see there is a lot of reading connected to this topic. There are a lot of things to talk about and digest as we grow in our faith. Now is the average person going to spend all their time reading these scholarly works. Probably not. Should your pastor? Yes. Should people who are intrigued and desire more knowledge. Yes.

There is great knowledge here but all of it no matter how smart we think we are starts in one place. The Holy Word of God.

Let us then look at what God has for us in 1 John.

1 John 4:7–10 NIV

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 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. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Let us Love

We have talked about this a lot. I will say usually when an author in the Bible starts repeating things a lot we should probably pay attention. John again returns to this premise that we are to love one another. We are to show grace and love for each other.

This love that we have for each other is necessary for us to reflect the love that God has for us.

It is this truth that the love we have for each other comes from God and we cannot escape that reality and we must recognize it and know that all of our love centers on the love we have recieved from God.

When we accept this we see that. Those who have accepted Christ and made a new creation are born of God and we know God because of this we are enveloped in that love and it must be expressed.

This happens in relationship. We must always remember that. That relationship happens in two forms.

In our personal relationship with God.

We can’t escape the truth that a part of our foundation must be an active and participatory relationship with Christ.

What does that look like. It is a life that recognizes that we must love God with all of who we are and we must love our neighbor. This means, practically, are you active in your relationship. Are you praying, studying God’s word, Meditating on his word, fellow shipping with believers (Church), Caring for the lost and broken, Generous with what He has given you, the list can keep going.

In our relationship with one another

I mentioned already part of our relationship with God is attending church. That is one way we express our love to God because we have to remember that the Church is the Bride of Christ. Can you love Christ, and reject his bride? The other side of that coin is within the body of believers. We must show love within the community. It is through the community that we can begin to express the love of God in how we treat each other.

I was thinking about this very idea for awhile this week. We can emphasize loving the world. The poor, widows, orphans, and anyone else in the world that needs to experience the love of God.

However, if we can’t show love in the church how in the world are we going to begin loving outside of the church?

We are called to love and this is essential to who we are as Christians because.

God is Love

We hear this all the time. It is true the Bible tells us right there in verse 8

1 John 4:8 NIV

8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Yet, there is something important we need to talk about here.

Is that the only description of God that we have?

Is that the most important description of God?

We have to remember that God is more than one aspect like all of us he has multiple descriptions and can’t be defined only in view of one aspect and if we aren’t careful we may over emphasize one aspect without keeping it in context of other descriptions because God is also.

God is Just

We know that God is the one who judges all at the end of things. He is the one we will all stand before and the power there is he.

Romans 2:11 NIV

11 For God does not show favoritism.

Justice is the impartial administartion of what is right. Now of course we must always remember that God’s Justice is not the same as human justice because we can’t for get that.

God is Holy/Righteous

We can not forget that God is Holy and through his holiness all righteousness is to be understood.

Deuteronomy 32:4 NIV

4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

He is perfect. There is no other way to understand God. His actions his words and all he does is just and not wrong.

God is...

The truth is that we have so many ideas that help us to understand God and to assign him only one attribute is frankly narrow sighted.

We can not fall subject to the trap of only attributing one definition or understanding to God. This is important for us in our understanding of who God is.

Yes, God is love. Yet, love as we understand it as humans is woefully short of what it means in our understanding of God.

The truth is that all the ways we describe God are born of our imperfect human understanding. We are doing our best to draw closer and to understand who he is and how we relate to him. This is the challenge of the life pursuant of God.

It is a life we are all called to though.

God showed his love to us though in that he sent his Son.

1 John 4:9–10 NIV

9 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. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Jesus

How this one idea in verse ten is a powerful theological topic that we can’t escape if we are to fully understand who and what Jesus did for us.

Some of you I know read the KJV and are looking at your bible and saying wait a minute that isn’t how this is translated.

Let’s look at this verse really quick in that version

1 John 4:10 KJV 1900

10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

He sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Now many of us might be like what in the world is that word. Let me help you.

Propitiation. Turning away of anger by the offering of a gift.

This is the theological idea that Chrsit was sent to appease the wrath of God. This was the only way that we could be pardoned of our sins.

Jesus

This is an important discussion because it greatly impacts how we understand what Jesus came to do for us. He came to atone for our sins. He came to die so that we could be at one in our relationship.

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Atonement

Atonement. In Christian thought, the act by which God and man are brought together in personal relationship.

Jesu came to die on the cross s that we could be brought together in relationship with God.

Without his love and willingness to do this for us we would never be able to experience this fullness of this love.

Why does the NIV and the KJV differ in translation.

Propitiation or Atoning Sacrifice

You might say these are the same thing. Yet the nuance is subtle. We can read this as God is being appeased or as God is cleansing us his atoning sacrifice is what cleanses us from Sin not just appeases God’s wrath.

This is a significant difference. The Sacrificial system of the Old testament helps us to see this subtle but important difference. The Sacrificial system was not just designed to appease God but to purify his people.

The Day of Atonement was intended to be a day in which Israel fasted, and cleansed the sanctuary of impurity. This was more than appeasement it was cleansing.

Propitiation is focused on appeasement, and while this is a part of what the sacrifices did it is not a complete understanding of of it similarly as we can’t define God in only one word.

Atonement involves cleansing not just appeasement. This is where I favor the NIV because it draws us to that concept of the Atonement. The idea that we can become back to God. Where both the cost of Christ death is realized in that he had to die for sin but also that it is his death that cleanses us and frees us from the bonds of Sin.

Romans 6:6–7 NIV

6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Or to help us get another image

Revelation 7:9–14 NIV

9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” 13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” 14 I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

What can wash away my Sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus. The Atoning sacrifice that appeases the justice and holiness of God so that we could be washed clean. Not to keep on sinning but to change who we are. To draw close to him to enter into relationship with him. We are reminded that God is love and we are to enter into that love through his justice, mercy, and grace. IT is this very foundation that we draw close to him and we are changed by him and we must never forget the cost because it is that very cost that is to inform us on how we are to live our lives. As a new creation in service to our creator.