In Dept Bible Study - 1 John 4:20 - 5:5

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YO LOVE GOD?!

HOOK

My son is facenating.

These last few months he has decided he cant be just one thing. Nooo,

thats too boring.

So latley he dicided on being a huner/ pirate/ rugby playing warrior.

ALL the things he loves HE HAS BECOME.

In his 5year old mind this is natural.

Well…

what went wrong with us?

that we dont seem to act out this natural state of bing.

Or more scary.

Do we act it out?

Do the things we do REALLY reflect the things we love?

You cannot love a thing without becoming something like it, in proportion to the force of love; and just in proportion as you love Jesus you must get like him.

An Objection And An Answer, Volume 22, Sermon #1280 - Galatians5:6

Charles Spurgeon

The New King James Version Chapter 4

20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

5 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John To Love God and Hate Your Brother Is to Live a Lie (1 John 4:19–20)

Verse 19 is one of the most simple and straightforward verses in the Bible. The theological order is important. “We love.” Why? “Because He first loved us.” God took the initiative, not us. Our love finds its origin in God’s love. He loves us, and the love that now abides in us and has been perfected in us overflows in loving words and actions to others. The Father’s prior love is source and cause for our love of others. If I am not loving others as I ought, then I do not know God’s love as I should. That, in essence, is John’s argument in verse 20.

Once again we encounter an “If anyone says” statement (cf. 1:6, 8, 10; 2:4, 6, 9). Here the person under examination says one thing but does another that contradicts his words. With his lips he says, “I love God,” but in his heart (and actions) he “hates his brother.” John’s verdict is quick, clear, and to the point: “He is a liar.”

Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John To Love God and Hate Your Brother Is to Live a Lie (1 John 4:19–20)

John’s logic is flawless. It is what we call a “lesser to greater” analogy. The gist is that if you do not have the ability to love the brother you can see, it is impossible for you to love the God you have not seen. If you do not manage to love His creatures, then you cannot love the Creator. If you do not have the capacity to love His children, then you cannot love their Father. John Stott is right when he notes, “It is obviously easier to love and serve a visible man than an invisible God, and if we fail in the easier task, it is absurd to claim success in the harder” (The Letters of John, 173). God calls us to walk in the truth. That involves loving God and loving others.