Abide in Love Now (Apr. 28, 2024) 1 John 4.7-21

One of the most important things to remember about the Bible is that we do not have the full story. In our scripture for today is would appear that we are hearing a continuation of the scripture from last week. And in a sense, we are. 1 John is, of course, a letter. And in letters there are sometimes themes repeated again and again. Also, the New Testament writings in Greek have no chapter or verse numberings. It makes sense to remember that over the past couple of weeks we are looking at a letter written with a specific message. What we are doing is reading someone’s mail and trying to figure out what is happening that has brought about such an occasion for a letter like this.

A bit of background is always necessary to understand the past. In the community to which 1 john is written there has been a schism, a split in the church over interpretations about Jesus and salvation. Some have said that Jesus did not really come in the flesh and therefore there are questions about the saving significance of his death (or blood. If there is no flesh, then there is no blood to shed). Those who have held these views have left the church and the writer of the letter is working to reassure those who have remained that they indeed have the truth that was revealed by and through Jesus (see verses 2 and 3 of chapter 4 and this will become obvious). What is tragic about this event is that this a church likely to have survived persecutions from outside, particularly from the Jews. This persecution has faded away as noted by the lack of hostility toward the Jews that is more evident in the Gospel according to John. Without hostility from the outside, hostility from the inside, as is often the case, raised its ugly head and caused divisions (see America after the revolution). And so, the writer of this letter finds that there is quite a bit of work cut out for them to deal with.

As the letter has progressed, the writer comes to some important points in the letter. Last week we discovered that love is an action verb, that love for each other is the commandment from God and that we know that we abide by the commandments because we have the Spirit who was given to us from God.

Today, we continue this theme of love. The passage I read is quite a large one, so I am going to focus on verses 13-21 this morning after touching briefly on 7-12. The reason for this is that there is so much packed into this passage that a sermon could turn into a lecture were I to attempt to tackle the entire passage and I’m pretty sure none of us want that.

Verse 7 opens with the word “Beloved”. Some translations say, “dear friends” and I believe that they miss the point of the word here. Beloved means “dearly loved: dear to the heart”. The writer here is not speaking to friends as we would think of them which would be more like acquaintances. No, these are people who are dear to the writer’s heart, special to the writer. These are people whom the writer loves, not as friends, but as family. And to this family the writer is telling them that those who do not love, do not know God because God is love. The love of God, agape (which is self-sacrificing love, giving no thought to oneself), is shown in the only Son of God becoming an atoning sacrifice for us. God’s love for us is seen in the fact that Jesus came and made us right with God through himself.

Because of this love, we ought to love one another. If we who see siblings in Christ loving one another, then we see that the love of God, who has never been seen at any time, lives within us.

It is here in verse 13 that the writer takes a new direction. Before, the past tense has been used. Now the writer has moved into the present tense. Before, those addressed in the letter have heard about the love of God and how it was shown in the death of Jesus. Now they are told how the love of God affects them in the present.

It is by love that we know that we abide (or remain stable, stand by, continue, never leaving) in God and God in us. Because we have the Spirit who testifies to us that we are in God, we know that we abide with God. We also see that Jesus is the savior and we testify to that. And because of this we know that God is with us. God abides with those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God. (If I sound like I repeat myself some, well, I am. The writer of 1 John does the same. The argument is similar to a cyclical staircase: It continues to move forward but does not follow a linear path in many places). It sounds very philosophical but is a very clear argument. It will become so in just a few moments.

16b states again: God is Love. Now there is something very important here. God is love, but the opposite, love is God, is not true. In this we are shown that everything that God does is loving. When we ask, “What does love look like?” we are pointed to Jesus and his sacrifice. God is love.

Love is not static. We do not just sit around and say “Well, God loves me, so I guess I’m off the hook for doing more.” No, we are called to mature with our love, to have it perfected, so that on the day of Judgement we may stand with no fear.

Does love get us off the hook when judgement comes? “Of course not” the writer would say. “Look. In the love God has for us and that we share with God there is no fear. There is no fear that we will be dumped for a newer model or that we will do something that will get us thrown out. No, perfect love, for which you are striving for, casts out all fear. See, when there is punishment there is fear and rightly so. But through Jesus we are shown the love of God in that our sins were atoned, taken care of. We may still stumble but we need not fear if the love of God is in us. Fear is seen only when it is not being perfected, when the love of God is not with us abiding in the Spirit. If you have the Spirit, then have no fear for God’s love is in you.”

Verse 19 is one verse that I learned as a child. I learned it as “We love Him because He first loved us. (KJV)”. What was read today, “We love because He first loved us” is far more accurate in light of older manuscripts and of what follows in the context.

It is easy to love God because God loved us. It is easy because God is unseen and can be thought of as far off and mysterious. It is easy because we think we can get away with not loving our brothers and sisters. But when we love because God first loves us, then that includes our brothers and sisters, those around us, those we see every day. And it is the verses following 19 that make the context so apparent. We are told that if we say we love God, but hate those around us, we are lying. Tough words. Not mistaken or taken out of context. No, we are liars. If we can see a brother or sister and not love them (remember love is a verb?), how on earth can one say “I love God” whom one has never seen? Far too many have done this very thing and those who are outside of the church are watching and they want nothing to do with people who are liars. Because if we are not loving to those in our Church community (even when we disagree with them), how can we be loving and sharing the love of God in Jesus to those who are not in the community? How can those outside know that we will tell them the truth?

In the first reading today, Jesus was telling the disciples to abide in him. To abide, again, means to reside or dwell somewhere. In 1 John 4.16b we are told, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”[1] If we abide in love then we know that God abides in us because God is love. The love of God can take forms that we might not like such as discipline from God. When one disciplines a child, one does it out of love to help make the child a better person. That is the love God has for us, that we are loved to make us better. But you may say it is hard to love some people. This is true. With some people one has to remember that God is love, God is love, God is love. Claudia Highbaughsays this about loving brothers and sisters and not hating them: “Whether your “brother or sister” is related by blood, or a neighbor, or an in-law, or among the recent immigrant population, you cannot love God without loving the persons who are in your line of vision.”[2]Abide in love now. Don’t wait until it seems the correct time. Do it now. Show the love that abides in you to those around you. Abide, dwell, in love because God is love and does all things out of love. Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [2]Bartlett, David L.; Taylor, Barbara Brown. Feasting on the Word: Year B, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide (Feasting on the Word: Year B volume) (p. 1105). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.