God’s Revelatory Love

Introduction

Welcome — Greeting & Bibles

1 John 4:7–12 ESV

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 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. 10 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. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Pray over Scripture

We left off in our series through the Apostle John’s epistles talking about the contrast between the godly and the worldly and how to tell the difference in 1 John 4:1-6.

When we take seriously the call to test every spirit and guard against worldly wisdom, it can be really easy to forget that the church exists as the Body of Christ to exhibit the Love of Christ in order to bring glory to Christ.

Exposition

1. Recognize Love's Source

1 John 4:7–8 ESV

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

John begins, once again, with “beloved” and a command to love one another.

We are instructed to love for 2 reasons:

Love is from God

Love is the evidence that someone has been born of God and knows God (a family resemblance)

Note: Just because someone does something loving does not mean that they are a believer. Unbelievers can be kind and act loving without having the love of God. This verse is regularly used to support universalism which is the idea that God saves all of humanity, evidenced by the fact that everyone exhibits love and kindness. Make no mistake, John is very clear in this letter (1 John 1:7, 10, 2:23, 5:12) that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Furthermore, this command for self-sacrificial love is given to Christians for Christians.

Illustration: March Madness Bracket; I don’t know “ball”; Madden ‘04 Hail Mary plays

Verse 8 is a stark warning: A lack of this “family resemblance” is evidence that someone does not know God and has not been born of God, because “God is love.”

This statement “God is love” gives us the “why” of the gospel and the entire redemptive history of creation. Love is an essential attribute of who God is, but we must be careful not to see this through our fractured human lens of what “love” is, but rather the love that would drive a completely holy God to rescue sinners out of their rebellion by saving and sanctifying them.

When we recognize the source of love and we seek to live with that same kind of love, we realize we are standing on holy ground.

2. Remember Love's Sacrifice

1 John 4:9–10 ESV

9 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. 10 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.

John breaks down the distinction between worldly love and godly love. This word for “made manifest” also means “revealed.” God’s love was revealed to us in the sending of his Son so that we might live through him.

This word “propitiation” is a big word that simply means: “averting the wrath of God by the offering of a gift.” It refers to the turning away of the wrath of God as the just judgment of our sin by God’s own provision of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

God’s love is not passive or superficial. It is active and sacrificial.

When we remember love’s sacrifice, it drives us to live with that same kind of selfless, self-sacrificial, Christ-like love.

3. Reflect Love's Light

1 John 4:11–12 ESV

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Here, John returns to his command to love one another. He asks us to hold in view the source of God’s love and the sacrifice required to show it… and then exhorts us to love one another. If we have received this incredible love, how could we not pass it on?

We must be driven by our adoration of God’s love for us, into action, living out that same love with one another.

We know the sun is still there even when we can’t see it, because the moon reflects it.

John’s assertion that “no one has ever seen God” is meant to give the reason for our love for one another. God does not sit in the middle of town for everyone to see… rather he abides in us. If God abides in us, then he reveals himself to the world by how we reflect his love.

Response

As we move into a time of response, I want you to consider these things:

Have you forgotten the reality of God’s incredible and sacrificial love for you? I hope this passage serves as a balm to your soul and a reminder that you are deeply, and unimaginably, and matchlessly loved by God.

Have you settled for what the world calls love in how you love people? Does your love for people cost you anything, or is it limited to what is convenient for you? God’s love is not just a feeling — it is accompanied by action — so must ours be.

Do you live your life, day by day, with the realization that the way you love might be the only shred of God’s light in someone else’s life? If God abides in you, then he has given you the opportunity to reveal him to others who are stumbling around in the darkness, desperately searching for the light.

Invitation for commitment to following Jesus or joining the church

Lead into final song and time of response; pastors and elders around the room

11:00 Service — Callie Johnson commissioning — Blessing and sending to her next duty station to go a be a missionary for Christ and to carry FCCB with her because we are always praying for her.

Benediction

1 Thessalonians 3:12–13 ESV

12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.