Loving Others

We Love Because God is Love - 1 John 4:7-8

1 John 4:7–8 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.

Why should I love others?

Love comes from God

Those who love, know God

Those who don’t love, don’t know God

We become like those we spend the most time with

It is why your mother was concerned about who your friends were

When we know God, love rubs off on us

How We Recognize Love - 1 John 4:9-10

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.

We learn new things by building on things we already have experienced - We could not know love until we saw it

The broader your experiences, the greater your knowledge

How do we experience love?

God loved us - John 3:16 “16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

We often look at love from our perspective - Who are the people I love?

To understand love, we must experience God’s love for us.

Atoning refers to Him taking our place as the sacrifice for our sins and the one who reconciles us to God

Loving Others Completes God’s Love for Us - 1 John 4:11-12

1 John 4:11–12 NIV

11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Since God Loves us, it is only right that we love others

Peter’s question for Jesus. (Matt 18:23-35) 1st man = 10,000 bags of gold 75lbs X 10000 X 16 oz * $4000 = 48 billion. 2nd man 100 days wage at minimum wage = $16,000

Loving others completes the cycle

When we love others, others see God’s love in us.

One might think the next verses represent a change of subject, but John is still focused on love

Finding Assurance of our Salvation - 1 John 4:13-16

1 John 4:13–16 NIV

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

How can we know we are “in Him”?

The Spirit is in us - vs. 13

We have seen that Jesus died to be our Savior - vs. 14

We have acknowledged Jesus is the Son of God - vs. 15

We rely on God’s love in us - vs. 16

God is love

Loving is living in God

God lives in us