What does it mean that God is love?

Bible Reading

The greatest truth in the universe is that God is love — and the greatest tragedy is that we think we already know what that means.

Before we read our passage today, I want to pause and acknowledge that this week our nation will observe Veterans Day — a day to thank the men and women who have served and sacrificed for our country. What we recognize in them is something the Bible calls love — not the shallow kind that only speaks, but the kind that acts and costs.

Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” That kind of love looks like courage that steps forward when others step back. It looks like putting someone else’s good ahead of your own comfort.

Those of you have served us and your country through military service would you please stand for a moment as we express our gratitude.

And as we turn to 1 John 4, we find that same heartbeat. Because when John writes “God is love,” he isn’t describing a feeling — he’s describing an action.

Not just sentiment, but sacrifice.

Not only words, but wounds.

Not comfort, but the cross.

So as we honor those who have served, we lift our eyes to the One whose love defines all others. Today we’ll see that real love sends, real love sacrifices, and real love stays.

Let’s read together from 1 John 4:7–21.

Sermon Introduction

John was writing to a church surrounded by confusion. False teachers had crept in, claiming special “knowledge” of God while showing little love for His people. John steps in to remind believers: you can’t separate truth from love, because the God of truth is love.

John knew this not just from study, but from standing at the cross. He was there — close enough to hear Jesus’ final words, close enough to see love bleed. He watched the soldiers gamble for garments, the sky grow dark, and the Lamb of God hang between heaven and earth.

And right in that moment, Jesus looked down — in pain, in love — and saw His mother and John standing side by side.

John 19:26–27 (KJV)

26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!

27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

Even as He was dying for the sins of the world, Jesus was caring for the people in front of Him.

That’s what love looks like.

When John later writes, “God is love,” he isn’t describing an idea — he’s remembering a Person. He’s remembering the face of Love crucified.

We use the word “love” for everything — from sports teams to cheese snacks — but John calls us back to the real source. He shows us where love comes from, what it looks like, and what it does when it moves into a believer’s heart.

The greatest truth in the universe is that God is love — and the greatest tragedy is that we think we already know what that means.

1. Love begins with God, not with us.

1 John 4:7–8 (KJV)

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

Before God commands us to love, He calls us beloved. Only those who have been loved are commanded to love.

“Beloved, let us love one another — do you know the song?

A. We don’t discover love by feeling it; we learn love by being loved.

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God;

Recently read how Microsoft has created a 5th element. I do not understand but assume they created the conditions under which this new state emerges. Strictly speaking, no, humans cannot create matter from nothing. We can only rearrange or transform existing energy or matter into new forms.

We didn’t invent love and would not know it if God did not reveal it to us.

Love does not originate with Adam, with you, or with your morning coffee—though it does help.

I know the theory of evolution from tadpole to teenager, but what’s the theory of love? Science can try to tell you how life began; only God can tell us why love exists.

“Beloved” means “those who have been loved first.”

Only those who know they are loved can obey the command to love others.

To be better at loving others - become more keenly aware of how you are loved.

B. Since love is from God, we don’t love from our own strength but from His supply

for love is of God;

“for” reason giving isn’t our abundance of love but the God that indwells us is endless in supply.

We can love people who don’t love us back because we’re drawing from His supply, not theirs of ours.

We use the expression “oh I see there is no love lost between those two”. With God, there’s no love lacking. / Went with some friends to pick up something for their brother. He gave us a credit card and told us we could buy anything we wanted for our meals. I did not realize how many places served a steak.

C. What about those who are love but aren’t born of God?

We easily accept He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

What about? every one that loveth is born of God

Even people who don’t know Jesus can show love, because they are made in His image.

“So God created man in his own image.” (Genesis 1:27)

They can reflect His character, but not reproduce His nature.

The image of God lets all people love imperfectly.

I have experienced this but always want to test my experience to the Word. Was that love?

Matthew 7:11 “11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

Romans 2:14–15 “14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)”

Only those who know the love of Christ can love perfectly and eternally.

It’s like light bulbs in a room — they brighten the space, but they’re not the sun. They glow only because they’re connected to a source. Without the Source, the light eventually fades.

Hell will be an eternity where the source is removed and man will be given over to himself. It will certainly be hot, but it will truly be love-less.

Outside Christ, love flickers; in Christ, love shines eternally.

Transition: If love starts with God, it shouldn’t stop with us.

2. God’s love isn’t proven by our feelings; it’s proven at the cross.

1 John 4:9–10 (KJV)

9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

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.

The cross is not just a picture of love — it’s the definition of it.

A. God’s love doesn’t stay in words; it steps into history and acts.

In this was manifested the love of God toward us,

The cross is not just a picture of love — it’s the definition of it.

God didn’t just talk about love; He demonstrated it.

Love became visible in Jesus Christ stepping into human history.

It sends His Son into our world.

It sacrifices His Son for our sins.

It stays with us through His Spirit.

Worldly love says, “I’ll love you until it costs me something.” Perfect love says, “I’ll love you even though it cost Me everything.”

His love never cancels His justice — it satisfies it. When you rest in that kind of love, you stop trying to prove you’re worthy and start showing His worth to the world.

B. God’s love doesn’t ignore sin; it pays the full price to remove it.

sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

The word propitiation means a sacrifice that turns away wrath.

The righteous anger of God toward sin was satisfied by the sacrifice of Jesus in your place.

In other words, God’s love doesn’t ignore sin — it absorbs it.

At the cross, love met justice and both were satisfied.

C. God’s love didn’t wait on us to come to Him; it came for us first.

not that we loved God, but that he loved us,

We didn’t earn His affection; we were rescued by it.

Love is not our response to God — it’s His initiative toward us.

The cross isn’t merely the proof of God’s love; it’s the explanation of it. Every time you forgive, serve, or stay faithful, you retell the story of that love.

Transition: If the cross proves God’s love, our lives must display it.

3. God’s love doesn’t stop with us; it moves through us into the world.

1 John 4:11–16 (KJV)

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

A. We don’t love to earn God’s love; we love because we’ve already received it.

we ought also to love one another.

“Ought” doesn’t mean “you better” — it means “you get to.”

We don’t love to earn; we love to express.

Love is the evidence of God’s presence.

The world can’t see God, but it can see His love in us.

B. The Spirit produces in us what self-effort could never create.

If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

When you love others, you’re proving God already dwells in you.

The Spirit produces what self-effort never could.

The word “perfected” here doesn’t mean flawless.

It means finished, mature, brought to its intended goal.

God’s love has reached its intended goal — not just received, but reproduced.

C. When we love people who don’t deserve it, the world sees the God who loved us first.

do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

To love people who don’t deserve it is to show you belong to Someone who loves the undeserving.

Every act of love is a living sermon about what God is like.

The cross is God loving the undeserving. That’s the whole message of Christianity.

Transition: If His love is living in us, it will also free us. It casts out the fear that keeps love from flowing.

4. God’s love doesn’t make us afraid of God; it makes us confident before Him.

Perfect love doesn’t make us perfect; it makes us peaceful. The word “perfect” in verse 18 is — mature, complete, grown-up love.

A. God’s love gives us boldness, not dread, when we stand before Him.

1 John 4:17 (KJV)

17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

The world fears judgment; believers look forward to it.

The world fears judgment because it stands on its own record. Believers stand on Christ’s record.

Judgment for the believer isn’t condemnation — it’s homecoming.

Love is perfect when it produces assurance.

because as he is, so are we in this world.

When God’s love has so taken hold of your heart that you are not afraid of Him anymore as Judge, but you know Him as Father.

God already sees you as belonging to Christ..

B. God’s love drives out fear because trust replaces torment.

1 John 4:18 (KJV)

18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Fear thrives where trust is weak.

You will never believe you are loved more than you trust the One who loves you.

Invite Grant to stand in front of two or three people and fall backward into their arms. It’s not the height of the fall that creates fear. It’s forgetting the strength of the One catching you.

You will never rest in God’s love more than you trust His character.

C. When we are certain of God’s love for us, we stop performing and start living from security.

He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

When you are certain of God’s love, fear loses its power.

Our greatest need is to be certain of God’s love for us. Everything else flows from that.

You stop performing for approval and start living from acceptance.

To be loved but not known is superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved — that’s what it means to be loved by God.

Fear and insecurity always go together because fear tells a story:

“I am on my own. I must protect myself. I am not safe.”

But perfect love tells a different story. “You are loved. You are secure. You are not alone.”

D. Our love for God and others is a response to His love, not a performance to earn it.

1 John 4:19 “19 We love him, because he first loved us.”

God’s love is the starting point, not ours.

You did not climb to Him — He came to you.

Grace always moves first.

The Spirit produces in us what we could never produce ourselves.

We don’t manufacture love by effort.

We reflect the love we have received.

Conclusion —

John ends the chapter by saying this:

1 John 4:20–21 (KJV)

20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

And here is where the weight of the chapter falls:

The greatest truth in the universe is that God is love, and the greatest tragedy is that we think we already know what that means.

We hear “God is love” and assume we understand it. But John says the test is not what we say. The test is what we show.

God’s love doesn’t just save you. It shapes you. It moves you:

from fear to confidence

from insecurity to rest

from needing love to offering love

We sing: “Jesus loves me, this I know…” How did we know? “…for the Bible tells me so.”

The Bible didn’t simply tell us. The cross proved it.

So the call of 1 John 4 is not “try harder to love.” The call is stay longer in God’s love.

When you stay close to the fire, your heart stays warm toward others. When you stay close to the cross, your life begins to look like the One who died on it.

We don’t just talk about love. We display it. We live it.

Because we the beloved who is to love one another.

Prayer

Questions for believers

So how do you know if His love is taking root?

Are you loving others without needing credit, or are you still trying to earn what God has already given you?

Are you forgiving without keeping score, or are you holding on to what Christ has already released?

Are you serving when no one sees, or are you still searching for applause that Christ has already satisfied?

Are you living in peace, or are you still bracing for judgment even though Christ already stood in your place?

Are you living in insecurity because you want so badly to belong, yet you forget that in Christ you are already fully accepted?

Question for unbelievers:

If God really loves you like this, what do you believe He feels when He looks at you — and what would keep you from receiving that love today?