The Mark of Christ-Followers

1 John 4:7–12 ESV

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Consider Signs of Spiritual Need or You Know You're Not Spiritual When....

You're asked to pray in church and you begin with, "Now I lay me down to sleep...."  

Your idea of a Bible study is a room full of bookcases, with various versions of the Bible on each shelf.

You think that a tract is a plot of land for building a house on.  

You think that the Lord's Prayer contains the verse, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...."

You think that the Apostle's Creed is the name of the boxer who fought Rocky.  

You have your quiet time while watching Monday Night Football.

You think that the verb "serve" applies only to tennis.  

You don't remember where you bought your last Bible, but the cover is embossed with the Gideons' emblem.

You think that Billy Graham is the music promoter for the Grateful Dead.  

You think that witnessing is something you do on behalf of the plaintiff or defendant.

You think that the Rock of Ages is the symbol for Prudential Insurance.  

You think that to keep your light shining means to pay your electric bill.

What is that mark of Christ-followers that is to set them apart from the world? 

(pause)

It is having a godly love for one another.  

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Love is one the major themes in all of the apostle John’s writings.  In John 13:34-35 we read the words of Jesus to His disciples:

John 13:34–35 ESV

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Christians will be known - they will be recognized by the world - because of their love for one another.  What is this great love that will mark the Christian apart from all others?

One does not have to be a Christian to have great love.  A mother may sacrifice her very life in order to save the life of her son or daughter.

Does having such a great love like this mean this mother is a Christian?  It does not.  Note that verse eight of our text says, 1 John 4:8

1 John 4:8 ESV

…God is love.

It does not say, “Love is God”, but “God is love.”  What is the difference?  If we were to say love is God, then we would make any expression of love divine.

Beacon Bible Commentary states,

“To John’s thinking, expressions of love by man are less than Christian if they are not grounded in God’s revelation of himself in Jesus Christ.” (BBC, 390)

Another way to say this would be to say that you could be very loving, but if the love you have is a love that you possess apart from personally knowing Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you are not experiencing the love that marks you as a Christ-follower.

Godly love is a by-product of knowing God personally.  Someone has written that this love

“… appears as a gift of the Spirit of God, a contrast to the anti-christian spirit, and above all as an effluence from the very Being of God.” (BBC, 389)

We can find three truths concerning godly love in our scripture text.  First,

1. Godly love is the expression of Christ-followers, vv. 7-8.

1 John 4:7–8 ESV

… love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

What does it mean to be born of God?  We are born of God when we turn from our sinful way of living, accept the forgiveness that God offers in Christ, and put our trust in Christ as Saviour and Lord.

This new birth does not come about merely by saying words.  Rather, being born again is the work of God done for the truly repentant person who is surrendering his or her life to Christ.

When we are born of God the Spirit, we begin to love others in a way that we never have before.  Galatians 5:22 states,

Galatians 5:22 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love…

Often, this godly love is most evident in the new Christian.  He or she is just overwhelmed by God’s love.  This person loves everyone and everything.

We have seen especially exuberant expressions of God’s love at times. I am thinking about some scenes of altar calls I have seen at campmeetings.

The person is so happy because the burden of guilt is gone that he or she wants to hug everyone.  Godly love is the expression of Christ-followers.

Now, God does not control us like a boy directs a remote-controlled car.  He does not push a “left” button and we go to church, a “right” button and we give in the offering, an “up” button and we act in a loving way.

No! We bear responsibility to act in a godly way. But there is a difference between how we act before we are born again spiritually and after we are born again spiritually.

When we are a sinner, the good works we do (especially those that are very unselfish) are done in opposition to our nature. We do these good works trying to gain God’s favor.

As Christians we have a new nature, created after the image of Christ.  We now desire to do good works because of God’s love flowing through us and because of our love for God.

We are not trying to gain God’s favor by these good works.  We do these good works because it is what we love to do.

The new Christian still has a problem for his/her nature is still corrupted by carnality - an inclination toward selfishness.  This desire for selfishness wars against the promptings of the Holy Spirit within us.

This war will continue until we admit our problem of carnality to God, submit ourselves fully to Him and ask Him to cleanse our nature of that inclination to sin.

This second work of grace within our lives really enables the flow of godly love for others.  Our hearts have been purified of all selfishness.  We have a single desire - to live for God.

There once were two law partners who used to hate each other.  When one became a Christian, he went to a Christian friend and asked him, "Now that I'm a Christian, what should I do?"

The Christian friend said, "Why not ask him to forgive you and tell him you love him?"  "I could never do that!" he said, "because I don't love him."

That lawyer had put his finger squarely on one of the great challenges of the Christian life: On the one hand, everybody wants to be loved, but on the other hand, many people never experience it.

That's why we need to learn to love as Christ loves--unconditionally. We can't manufacture that kind of love. It only comes from God; and it's a love that draws people to Christ. 

The Christian friend prayed with the attorney who had recently accepted Christ. The next morning, he told his partner, "I've become a Christian, and I want to ask you to forgive me for all I've done to hurt you, and to tell you that I love you." 

The partner was so surprised and convicted that he, too, asked for forgiveness and said, "I would like to become a Christian. Would you tell me how?" (Adapted, Bright)

Note, secondly, that…

2. Godly love is the example given for Christ-followers, vv. 9-10.

1 John 4:9–10 ESV

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Notice especially what verse ten says.  John carefully writes that we did not experience godly love because we first loved God.

No, it was the other way around.  God loved us when we didn’t love Him.  God loved us when we didn’t care about Him.  God loved us when we were His enemies.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son….”  Consider again the greatness of God’s love.  Jesus is the Son of God.  He sits at the right hand of the Father.  Jesus is royalty - THE Royalty of royalties.

Yet Jesus loved us so much that He gave up the splendor of His heavenly kingdom and consented to be born a man….  Why, the idea that God would stoop so low - be so humble - as to put on human flesh is so astounding.

If we did not realize that the humility of God was because of His love for us, we could never really understand why.  And maybe we still do not truly understand.

Jesus, the King of the universe, was born the son of a peasant couple.  At any time during his life on earth, Jesus could have snapped his fingers to summon a thousand angels.

When the angry crowd was threatening to throw him off the cliff, when the Samaritan village refused to allow him to enter their town, when the Sanhedrin was conducting a mockery of a trial, or when the Roman soldiers were flailing him mercilessly with terrible whips - Jesus could have called ten thousand angels, yet He never did.

Jesus endured even death on a cross so that you and I and everyone who believes on His name might receive eternal life.  That is the example of godly love set before the followers of Christ.

The apostle Paul talks about godly love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 ESV

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

I am already feeling convicted for how much my love for others often falls short of Christ’s example.  How about you?  It really is no wonder the apostle John admonishes us, “Beloved, let us love one another.”

I don’t know if it is actually possible for us to mirror perfectly Jesus’ example of godly love.  But I want to do my part in allowing God’s love to flow through me.

I don’t want any blockages in my spirit that will obstruct the flow of His love.  I want the channel of God’s love flowing through me to be ever-widening and ever-deepening.  Lord, let your love flow through me!

Someone has written:

Whenever people expend themselves, they want results.  If they lay down life, they want someone's life raised up.  If they empty themselves, they want someone to be filled.  They want their sufferings to bear fruit. 

If this doesn't happen, they're tempted to give up.  The refusal of the gift quickly becomes a reason not to offer it.  Instead of leaning into resistance with love, they'll back off and say, "Well, we tried."

However, the motive for offering love is not that it be successful.  Christians want a response, but they are not bound to it. They sacrifice for others because they are the recipients of sacrifice.  They are the current generation of a long line of broken bodies and shed blood.

This gift Christians have received, they freely give.  They join the living history in enacting the dream of God, [which] is a people sustained and transformed by mutual sacrificial love. (Shea)

Thirdly, please note that …

3. Godly love is the expectation for Christ-followers, vv. 11-12.

1 John 4:11–12 ESV

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

If God so loved us, we also ought….  This verse speaks of obligation, expectation.  Remember again how great God’s love for you was.  Then ask yourself, “Why do I hesitate loving others?”

This verse reminds me of the parable Jesus told of the unmerciful servant.  One servant was in debt, basically, billions of dollars to his master.  But the master forgave him all that debt - no strings attached.

That servant then went immediately to one of his own servants who owed him a few hundred dollars.  Because the man couldn’t pay him that small amount of money - compared to the debt he had accrued, he threw him in jail.

How can one who has been forgiven so much be so demanding - and cruel - to others?  Godly love is the expectation of Christ-followers.

Really, this only comes as the logical conclusion to the previous truths - that godly love is the expression of Christ-followers and the example given for Christ-followers.

Consider also the wonderful promise we have as fulfill this expectation of godly love.  Verse twelve assures us that if we love one another, God’s love is perfected in us.

No, we’ll never love absolutely perfectly in this world.  But our love will grow stronger and purer.

Yes, there will probably be scattered occasions throughout our lives in which we fail to show a patient attitude, when we respond with a sharp tongue, or act thoughtlessly in regards others.

But this does not have to be the standard way we act, nor should it be.  Christ will perfect His love within us and others will look on, giving God glory and saying to themselves, “I want what that person has.  What makes him or her so different?  How can I get what he or she has?”

An Armenian nurse had been held captive along with her brother by the Turks. Her brother was slain by a Turkish soldier before her eyes. Somehow she escaped and later became a nurse in a military hospital.

One day she was stunned to find that the same man who had killed her brother had been captured and brought wounded to the hospital where she worked.

Something within her cried out "Vengeance." But a stronger voice called for her to love. She nursed the man back to health.

Finally, the recuperating soldier asked her, "Why didn't you let me die?" Her answer was, "I am a follower of Him who said, 'Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you'" (Luke 6:27).

Impressed with her answer, the young soldier replied, "I never heard such words before. Tell me more. I want this kind of religion."

Big Idea: Godly love is the mark of Christ-followers.  

Even people who know nothing about Christ love others.  The mother loves her child.  The brother loves his sister.

But there is a higher love, a greater love, that Christians experience and show.  It is godly love - a love that sacrifices oneself for the good of others.

Godly love is the expression of Christ-followers.  It is the example Jesus has given us Christ-followers.  Godly love is the expectation for Christ-followers.

Years ago at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, a young sociology professor assigned his class to a city slum to interview 200 boys.

"On the basis of your findings, predict their future,” he instructed the class.  Shocked at what they had seen in the slums the students estimated that 90% of the boys interviewed would someday serve time in prison.

Twenty-five years later the same professor asked another class to locate the survivors of the 200 boys and compare what happened.  Of the 180 boys they could find only 4 had ever been to jail.

Why had the predictions by the earlier class proven false?  A common denominator was sought in their lives, some value or influence that could have made the difference.

Through more interviews it was revealed that over 100 of them remembered having the same high school teacher.  A Miss O'Rourke, who had been a tremendous influence on them at the time.

After a long search, Sheila O'Rourke was found in a nursing home in Memphis.  When asked for her explanation she was puzzled and replied, "All I did was love everyone of them."

The great blind preacher, George Matheson, adequately grasped the idea of Paul when he wrote:

Christian love is the only kind of love in which there is no rivalry, no jealousy. There is jealousy among the lovers of art; there is jealousy among the lovers of song; there is jealousy among the lovers of beauty.

The glory of natural love is its monopoly, its power to say, 'It is mine.' But the glory of Christian love is its refusal of monopoly. The spiritual artist-the man who paints Christ in his soul-wants no solitary niche in the temple of fame.

He would not like to hear anyone say, 'He is the first of his profession; there is not one that can hold a candle to him.' He would be very sad to be thus distinguished in his profession of Christ, marked out as a solitary figure.

The gladdest moment to him will always be the moment when the cry is heard, 'Thy brother is coming up the ladder also; thy brother will share the inheritance with thee.'

In verse seven, the apostle John wrote: “Beloved, let us love one another.”  So I challenge you: you have been loved by God; let God’s love flow through you to others.