God's Love, Our Love

Introduction

Good morning Church. As usual I’m excited to be here this morning. What we are going to be talking about for the next little while is something that I think is crucial in the life of a believer as well as the life of a church family and so my hope and prayer is that God will direct these words and our hearts to hear and receive and really think about what we are to do with our passage and points this morning.

Good morning Church. As usual I’m so excited to be here this morning. What we are going to be talking about for the next little while is something that I think is crucial in the life of a believer as well as the life of a church family and so my hope and prayer is that God will direct these words and our hearts to hear and receive and really think about what we are to do with our passage and points this morning.

But before we dive into it together I wanted to share with you something else about me that I really enjoy. Some of you may know this about me, but there is a variety of events that start around this time of year that really capture people’s passions and energies. I’m not talking about school this time but about the various sports seasons that start. And I’m sure some of you may tune me out for the next few minutes but for a lot of people their emotions and everything get seriously invested in these sports. They love their team.

But before we dive into it together I wanted to share with you something else about me that I really enjoy. Some of you may know this about me, but there is a variety of things/events that start around this time of year that really capture peoples passions and energies. I’m not talking about school this time but about the various sports seasons that start. And I’m sure a few of you may tune me out for the next few minutes but for a lot of people there emotions and everything get seriously invested in these sports.

But before we dive into it together I wanted to share with you something else about me that I really enjoy. Some of you may know this about me, but there is a variety of things/events that start around this time of year that really capture people’s passions and energies. I’m not talking about school this time but about the various sports seasons that start. And I’m sure a few of you may tune me out for the next few minutes but for a lot of people their emotions and everything get seriously invested in these sports.

For me it is English Football, what I would consider to be the real football. And I follow a great team called Manchester United. And I hope that folks don’t hold that against me going forward. But I share this as in a lot of instances people have a love developed for there teams. And often it is fleeting. When your team is up and winning you are happy and thrilled, but when they are down it is funny how a lot of fans lose that Love for their team.

For me it is English Football, what I would consider to be the real football. And I follow a great team called Manchester United. And I hope that folks don’t hold that against me going forward. But I share this as in a lot of instances people have a love developed for their teams. And often it is fleeting. When your team is up and winning you are happy and thrilled, but when they are down it is funny how a lot of fans lose that Love for their team.

For me it is English Football, what I would consider to be the real football. And I follow a great team called Manchester United. And I hope that folks don’t hold that against me going forward. But I share this as in a lot of instances people have a love developed for their teams. But often it is fleeting. When your team is up and winning you are happy and thrilled, but when they are down it is funny how a lot of fans lose that Love or find that that love is diminished for their team.

And I use that example of a football team but for many of us that is the general routine and rhythm of our lives. We have this fluctuation of being in and out of love with people and things. Our love is conditional sometimes isn’t it. When things are great we love something, but then when they are not great then we are like, “hold on I’ll need to rethink this love?”. And now this may be because our definition of love has been skewed by our world and effectively the media around us. But it is something that we have to deal with throughout each of our days.

And I use that example of a football team but for many of us that is the general routine and rhythm of our lives. We have this fluctuation of being in and out of love with people and things. Our love is conditional sometimes isn’t it. When things are great we love something, but then when they are not great then we are like, “hold on I might need to rethink this love?”. And now this may be because our definition of love has been skewed by our world and effectively the media around us. But it is something that we have to deal with throughout each of our days.

In light of this view of Love what I’m hoping for us is to look at the question of, “What should my love look like?” Or even “What should our love look like as a body of believers?” And I think our passage for this morning will provide us with some insight into this.

Please turn with me to . It is way in the back of your bible, 4 books from the end, for those turning to it.

The New International Version Chapter 4

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. 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. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

PRAY

The New International Version Chapter 4

Background on 1 John

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. 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. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

So I think you know my style by now. In order for us to understand where we are going I believe that it is important to understand where we have come from. So I will spend us a few minutes giving you an understanding of what is going on in 1 John here.

This is an epistle, which doesn’t contain the name of the author, like some other books, but church history ascribes its writing to the Apostle John. In addition to not sharing the name of the Author the book also doesn’t refer us to its exact recipients. We simply know that they were Christians. We know that they may have been leaders based on what we read in Chapter 2. We see in this epistle that John is alluding to false teachers and teaching which existed at that time in Asia.

We also know that John ministered in and around Ephesus later in his life. As such it is more than likely that John wrote this epistle while he was located in Ephesus.

If you spend time reading this epistle in its entirety you’ll see that John flows from subject to subject very smoothly. Prior to our passage under review this morning we see John talking about how to live in light of fellowship with God, sharing with them that they need to stay on the path by walking in God’s light and reaching the goal by knowing the God of light.

u8

PRAY

He then moves onto sharing with them how to resist enemies. Initially recognising and appreciating the spiritual advances that they made. He also spends time recognizing the spiritual adversaries that they face, and instructs them in Chapter 2:15, “do not love the world or anything in the world”.

Background on 1 John

Then he goes onto telling them to abide in Christ, so that when He comes again that they might be able to appear confident and unashamed before him.

So, I think you know my style by now. In order for us to understand where we are going I believe that it is important to understand where we have come from. So, I will spend us a few minutes giving you an understanding of what is going on in 1 John here.

And then he prefaces the section that we are looking at this morning by telling them to learn to recognize Christian love. He shares with them how they are able to know what love is, and we’ll talk about that more this morning.

This is an epistle, which doesn’t contain the name of the author, like some other books, but church history ascribes its writing to the Apostle John. In addition to not sharing the name of the Author the book also doesn’t refer us to its exact recipients. We simply know that they were Christians. We know that they may have been leaders based on what we read in Chapter 2. We see in this epistle that John is alluding to false teachers and teaching which existed at that time in Asia.

Then after that we get into our passage for this morning. And as I said before I believe that the question that is before us this morning is, “What should my love look like?” or “What should our love look like as a body of believers?”.

We also know that John ministered in and around Ephesus later in his life. As such it is more than likely that John wrote this epistle while he was located in Ephesus.

Point #1 - Know that Love comes from God.

If you spend time reading this epistle in its entirety you’ll see that John flows from subject to subject very smoothly. Prior to our passage under review this morning we see John talking about how to live in light of fellowship with God, sharing with them that they need to stay on the path by walking in God’s light and reaching the goal by knowing the God of light.

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.

He then moves onto sharing with them how to resist enemies. Initially recognizing and appreciating the spiritual advances that they made. He also spends time recognizing the spiritual adversaries that they face, and instructs them in Chapter 2:15, “do not love the world or anything in the world”.

Explanation

Then he goes onto telling them to abide in Christ, so that when He comes again that they might be able to appear confident and unashamed before him.

John introduces this section by expressing his affection for the readers by addressing them as Dear friends.

I really like the initial command that John gives the people in this passage. He tells them to love one another. The great thing is that he doesn’t just stop there in what he says he provides an explanation in that John makes a very important point about love. I wonder if it is something that you’ve thought about before. He explains that that love comes from God. He says that true Christian love comes from God.

He then goes on to make a very important statement about this love, he says that “Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God”. He says that the evidence of that love for one another is that someone ‘has been born of God and knows God, because God is love’.

And then he prefaces the section that we are looking at this morning by telling them to learn to recognize Christian love. He shares with them how they are able to know what love is, and we’ll talk about that more this morning.

Illustration

Then after that we get into our passage for this morning. And as I said before I believe that the question that is before us this morning is, “What should my love look like?” or “What should our love look like as a body of believers?”.

Has anyone here read the book “God Smuggler”? If you haven’t I would certainly recommend that you read it. If you’ve read it I would also recommend that you read it again. This book is about a man named Andrew van der Bijl or famously known as Brother Andrew. He was a man was drafted into the Dutch Army during the Cold War, he states that he joined the army looking for adventure. During the war he was severely wounded while in Indonesia and spent time in a hospital run by Franciscan sisters (nuns).

While Brother Andrew was in the hospital he grew fond of these nuns and noticed how they were busy day and night in the wards, cleaning bedpans, swabbing wounds, writing letters for the men, laughing, singing. Brother Andrew noted that he didn’t once hear them complain.

“One day He asked the nun who came to bathe Him how it was that she and the other sisters were always so cheerful.

She responded “Why Andrew, you ought to know the answer to that–a good Dutch boy like you. It’s the love of Christ.” When she said it, her eyes sparkled, and He knew without question that for her this was the whole answer: she could have talked all afternoon and said no more. “But you’re teasing me, aren’t you?” she said, tapping the well-worn little Bible that laid beside him on the bedside table. “You’ve got the answer right here.”

Soon after this Brother Andrew beings reading the bible and was changed by what he read. He accepted Jesus as his Lord and savor. But his story just doesn’t end there. Because he was so changed by the Love God had for him that was revealed to him through the scriptures that he lived out that out by taking needed bibles to Communist Countries. This being extremely risky because of the persecution of Christians during that time. I’ll let you read the book to find out the amazing things God did through Brother Andrew while he was seeking to get God’s word into the hands of people who needed and desired it, why? Because he had the same Love that was shared to him by the nun, the Love of God.

Application

So where does that leave us? I think this section provides us two very important take aways.

God is the Initiator of our love. He is the source of our Love. We can’t truly love others without God’s love dwelling within us. This love is the very nature of God. And we see this being shared throughout the bible. In it says , “...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Point #1 - Know that Love comes from God.

.in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I don’t know about you but does that verse give you chills. To know that nothing in this world will separate you from the love that God has for you. This is something that we can hold onto and grasp. When things start crashing down around us or even when things are going great we an hold onto the fact that God loves us.

The New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011. Print.

We need to be Imitators of this love. But get this the only way to be an imitator of that Love is to partake in the love of God. We need to get that Love from God in order to live out that love.

2. And I don’t want you to miss this because it is so important, the point here is that the lack of love for one another is evidence that a person does not know God. It sounds harsh in a way doesn’t it. But if God is love and if we say that we are people of God but do not live out that love by loving others then are we actually people of God? There can be no knowledge of God which is not expressed in love for fellow believers and others in this world.

Our passage gives us a very important view of our response to God’s love. And I don’t want you to miss this because it is so important, the point here is that the lack of Christian love for one another is evidence that a person does not know God. It sounds harsh in a way doesn’t it. But if God is love and if we say that we are people of God but do not live out that love by loving others then are we actually people of God? There can be no knowledge of God which is not expressed in love for fellow believers and others in this world.

So what do we do with that. I believe that are are encouraged to seek out that Love of God. And I believe that our next section shows how God revealed that love to us.

Point #2 - God showed His love by sending us His Son

Explanation

John then writes in verses 9-10, “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.”

God’s showing of his love for us was a public affair. John emphasizes for his readers the visible manifestations of this love, which is in the sending of his Son. This was to be seen, appreciated and ultimately believe and accepted. Note that God sent for us his ‘one and only Son’. This describes Christs uniqueness. God had only one Son, who he sent into the world because of his love for the world.

The purpose for him sending him into the world is that we might live through him. Who do you think is the ‘we’ that John is speaking about? It is the believing community, the people who positively responded to the demonstrating of God’s love for them by believing in Jesus. And in addition to this he said that they might “live through him”. This is a verb here it indicates a continual process, this isn’t just for a moment in time but something that will go on continually for that believer.

In verse 10 John goes on to further spell out what he means when he said that ‘love comes from God’ and ‘God is love’. He does this by explaining for them what God did for them. He again points out to them that this love doesn’t come from them but should be understood in the terms of God’s love for his people.

And he says that “he sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”. It is interesting that John uses the words here “atoning sacrifice”. We can see this being used in six places in the OT where it relates to the removal of guilt because of sin, and in most places where this is referenced it relates to the removal of sin through sacrifice. So we can see here that John is emphasizing that God sent Jesus to be the atoning sacrifice to remove the guilt incurred because of sins committed.

This was the great expression of God’s love.

Illustration

I found a little story that I hope provides a slight understanding about this Love:

NIV

On August 16, 1987, Northwest Airlines flight 225 crashed just after taking off from the Detroit airport, killing 155 people. One survived: a four-year-old from Tempe, Arizona, named Cecelia.

News accounts say when rescuers found Cecelia they did not believe she had been on the plane. Investigators first assumed Cecelia had been a passenger in one of the cars on the highway onto which the airliner crashed. But when the passenger register for the flight was checked, there was Cecelia's name.

Cecelia survived because, even as the plane was falling, Cecelia's mother, Paula, unbuckled her own seat belt, got down on her knees in front of her daughter, wrapped her arms and body around Cecelia, and then would not let her go.

Nothing could separate that child from her parent's love—neither tragedy nor disaster, neither the fall nor the flames that followed, neither height nor depth, neither life nor death.

Isn’t this similar to the Love that God has for us. He loves us so much that he would send us his Son, and sacrifice him for us.

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.

Application

I think even us today can see that John is continuing to guide us through what our love should look like. And he provides for us two thoughts here as we answer our question of “What our love should look like?”.

We need to live through Christ. God showed us, he enacted his love for us, by sending to us his Son. Scripture is clear on this point. That Jesus was sent by God because of his love for us. We see this in , “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 can also see this in , “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011. Print.

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.

Recognize that Love is not truly seen in our loving God, but in His love for us. We need to recognize this or else we end up taking the credit for the love. And we know that when we take the credit for the love then it likely becomes that conditional love that we talked about before. Because of our sinful nature we can get distracted and allow this love to be conditional on what the other person does for us. We need to rely on God’s love because that love is stable and faithful and does not change like the shifting sands or the rising tides like ours might.

We know this by the great example that is provided in , “4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.” then it also says in verse 13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” These passages provide for us a great definition of Love but we must remember that this love ultimately comes from God and it is his love that is not proud, that keeps no record of wrongs, that rejoices with the truth, that always perseveres and never fails.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Point #3 - We need to love one another

8 Love never fails.

Explanation

John writes in verse 11, “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

From this verse we see John’s purpose for explaining the nature of God’s love being expressed through Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for our sins is very practical. He isn’t giving a lesson to the believers about God’s love for its own sake but to get to the point where he shows them that God’s love us must cause them to love one another.

John introduces this section by expressing his affection for the readers by addressing them as Dear friends.

As a result of God loving

It is interesting and I believe that John is alluding to the fact that those who are in touch with the very source of this love, who have ben shown what love is and who benefit from this great and healing love, can be given this commandment with hope and joy. They are not being commanded to do something that is foreign to them, that is outside of their experience or their abilities. He explains this so that they understand that as they have access to this love from God that they natural outflow of that love is love for others. And I think this is a great example for us as believers and as a church family.

I really like the initial command that John gives the people in this passage. He tells them to love one another. The great thing is that he doesn’t just stop there in what he says he provides an explanation in that John makes a very important point about love. I wonder if it is something that you’ve thought about before. He explains that that love comes from God. He says that true Christian love comes from God.

Illustration

I’m blessed that I get a chance to share this morning as we talk about this idea of loving one another. This week in Men’s bible Study we were talking about having a vision for our world. And we spent some time talking about patriarchs or people who love and modeled good Christian love and ideals to one another. And in this I was able to spend time thinking through and recognizing that it was in this church were I felt that love.

He then goes on to make a very important statement about this love, he says that “Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God”. He says that the evidence of that love for one another is that someone ‘has been born of God and knows God, because God is love’.

This idea of allowing the Love of God to flow through us and to effect the world around us was lived out right in front of me in this church. And as I’ve spoken to others they recognized that same love that drew them into this body of believers.

Application

And so I think from there there’s a huge take away for us as we continue to think through our question this morning of “What should my love look like?” or “What should our love look like as a body of believers?”.

We are instructed to love others. And I know some of you are probably thinking, Germiko that is easier said than done. And I would agree with you. If we are seeking to do this on our own strength it will be an uphill battle. We must rely on God in our living this love out into the world. And a great example of this from scripture is found in , “37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” And it’s been said from up here on a number of occasions as we aim to love God the outflow will be a love for those around us.

37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ i 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ j 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

The New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011.

We also know that there are some people who are not easy to love, but we also know that if everyone was easy to love that we probably wouldn’t need a command to love others, right. Generally we are taught by the world to love those who love us. But we see in that Jesus commands us to even love our enemies, he says, “43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor z and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” We are not to be selected in dishing out our love.

The New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011. Print.

We need to be people who love others. Just like the love that drew me into this fellowship years ago we need not to be complacent and forget what our heavenly father commands us to do. But remember that in order for us to be able to do this we need to be tapping into God’s love.

Conclusion

So my question as we close this morning is whether you are allowing partaking in that love from God. Are you accessing this. Our passage says that God sent us Jesus because he loved us so much. Are you developing your personal relationship with Jesus?

Again I found a great example of this as I was preparing for this

As I conclude this morning I want to share a really interesting story that I found as I was preparing for this message. That I hope will encourage us as we leave here today. Because I believe that this story really does speak to what draws people into a church fellowship. It says:

Show me a church where there is love, and I will show you a church that is a power in the community. In Chicago a few years ago a little boy attended a Sunday school I know of. When his parents moved to another part of the city the little fellow still attended the same Sunday school, although it meant a long, tiresome walk each way. A friend asked him why he went so far, and told him that there were plenty of others just as good nearer his home.

"They may be as good for others, but not for me," was his reply.

Illustration

"Why not?" she asked.

Has anyone here read the book “God Smuggler”? If you haven’t I would certainly recommend that you read it. If you’ve read it I would also recommend that you read it again. This book is about a man named Andrew van der Bijl or famously known as Brother Andrew. He was a man was drafted into the Dutch Army during the Cold War, he states that he joined the army looking for adventure. During the war, he was severely wounded while in Indonesia and spent time in a hospital run by Franciscan sisters (nuns).

"Because they love a fellow over there," he replied.

While Brother Andrew was in the hospital he grew fond of these nuns and noticed how they were busy day and night in the wards, cleaning bedpans, swabbing wounds, writing letters for the men, laughing, singing. Brother Andrew noted that he didn’t once hear them complain.

If only we could make the world believe that we loved them there would be fewer empty churches, and a smaller proportion of our population who never darken a church door. Let love replace duty in our church relations, and the world will soon be evangelized.

“One day He asked the nun who came to bathe Him how it was that she and the other sisters were always so cheerful.

She responded “Why Andrew, you ought to know the answer to that–a good Dutch boy like you. It’s the love of Christ.” When she said it, her eyes sparkled, and He knew without question that for her this was the whole answer: she could have talked all afternoon and said no more. “But you’re teasing me, aren’t you?” she said, tapping the well-worn little Bible that laid beside him on the bedside table. “You’ve got the answer right here.”

Let us pray.

Soon after this Brother Andrew beings reading the bible and was changed by what he read. He accepted Jesus as his Lord and savior. But his story just doesn’t end there. Because he was so changed by the Love God had for him that was revealed to him through the scriptures that he lived out that out by taking needed bibles to Communist Countries. This being extremely risky because of the persecution of Christians during that time. I’ll let you read the book to find out the amazing things God did through Brother Andrew while he was seeking to get God’s word into the hands of people who needed and desired it, why? Because he had the same Love that was shared to him by the nun, the Love of God.

Application

So where does that leave us? I think this section provides us two very important take away’s.

1. God is the Initiator of our love. He is the source of our Love. We can’t truly love others without God’s love dwelling within us. This love is the very nature of God. And we see this being shared throughout the bible. In it says, “...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I don’t know about you but does that verse give you chills. To know that nothing in this world will separate you from the love that God has for you. This is something that we can hold onto and grasp. When things start crashing down around us or even when things are going great we can hold onto the fact that God loves us.

2. We need to be Imitators of this love. But get this the only way to be an imitator of that Love is to partake in the love of God. We need to get that Love from God in order to live out that love.

Our passage gives us a very important view of our response to God’s love. And I don’t want you to miss this because it is so important, the point here is that the lack of Christian love for one another is evidence that a person does not know God. It sounds harsh in a way doesn’t it. But if God is love and if we say that we are people of God but do not live out that love by loving others then are we actually people of God? There can be no knowledge of God which is not expressed in love for fellow believers and others in this world.

So, what do we do with that. I believe that are encouraged to seek out that Love of God. And I believe that our next section shows how God revealed that love to us.

Point #2 - God showed His love by sending us His Son

Explanation

John then writes in verses 9-10, “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.”

God’s showing of his love for us was a public affair. John emphasizes for his readers the visible manifestations of this love, which is in the sending of his Son. This was to be seen, appreciated and ultimately believe and accepted. Note that God sent for us his ‘one and only Son’. This describes Christs uniqueness. God had only one Son, who he sent into the world because of his love for the world.

The purpose for him sending him into the world is that we might live through him. Who do you think is the ‘we’ that John is speaking about? It is the believing community, the people who positively responded to the demonstrating of God’s love for them by believing in Jesus. And in addition to this he said that they might “live through him”. This is a verb here it indicates a continual process, this isn’t just for a moment in time but something that will go on continually for that believer.

In verse 10 John goes on to further spell out what he means when he said that ‘love comes from God’ and ‘God is love’. He does this by explaining for them what God did for them. He again points out to them that this love doesn’t come from them but should be understood in the terms of God’s love for his people.

And he says that “he sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”. It is interesting that John uses the words here “atoning sacrifice”. We can see this being used in six places in the OT where it relates to the removal of guilt because of sin, and in most places where this is referenced it relates to the removal of sin through sacrifice. So, we can see here that John is emphasizing that God sent Jesus to be the atoning sacrifice to remove the guilt incurred because of sins committed.

This was the great expression of God’s love.

Illustration

I found a little story that I hope provides a slight understanding about this Love:

On August 16, 1987, Northwest Airlines flight 225 crashed just after taking off from the Detroit airport, killing 155 people. One survived: a four-year-old from Tempe, Arizona, named Cecelia.

News accounts say when rescuers found Cecelia they did not believe she had been on the plane. Investigators first assumed Cecelia had been a passenger in one of the cars on the highway onto which the airliner crashed. But when the passenger register for the flight was checked, there was Cecelia's name.

Cecelia survived because, even as the plane was falling, Cecelia's mother, Paula, unbuckled her own seat belt, got down on her knees in front of her daughter, wrapped her arms and body around Cecelia, and then would not let her go.

Nothing could separate that child from her parent's love—neither tragedy nor disaster, neither the fall nor the flames that followed, neither height nor depth, neither life nor death.

Isn’t this similar to the Love that God has for us. He loves us so much that he would send us his Son, and sacrifice him for us.

Application

I think even us today can see that John is continuing to guide us through what our love should look like. And he provides for us two thoughts here as we answer our question of “What our love should look like?”.

We need to live through Christ. God showed us, he enacted his love for us, by sending to us his Son. Scripture is clear on this point. That Jesus was sent by God because of his love for us. We see this in , “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 can also see this in , “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Recognize that Love is not truly seen in our love for God, but in His love for us. We need to recognize this or else we end up taking the credit for the love. And we know that when we take the credit for the love then it likely becomes that conditional love that we talked about before. Because of our sinful nature we can get distracted and allow this love to be conditional on what the other person does or doesn’t do for us. We need to rely on God’s love because that love is stable and faithful and does not change like the shifting sands or the rising tides like ours might. (Repeat).

We know this by the great example that is provided in , “4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.” then it also says in verse 13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” These passages provide for us a great definition of Love but we must remember that this love ultimately comes from God and it is his love that is not proud, that keeps no record of wrongs, that rejoices with the truth, that always perseveres and never fails.

Point #3 - We need to love one another

Explanation

John writes in verse 11, “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

From this verse, we see John’s purpose for explaining the nature of God’s love being expressed through Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for our sins is very practical. He isn’t giving a lesson to the believers about God’s love for its own sake but to get to the point where he shows them that God’s love us must cause them to love one another.

It is interesting and I believe that John is alluding to the fact that those who are in touch with the very source of this love, who have been shown what love is and who benefit from this great and healing love, can be given this commandment with hope and joy. They are not being commanded to do something that is foreign to them, that is outside of their experience or their abilities. He explains this so that they understand that as they have access to this love from God and that the natural outflow of that love is love for others. And I think this is a great example for us as believers and as a church family.

Illustration

I’m blessed that I get a chance to share this morning as we talk about this idea of loving one another. This week in Men’s bible Study we were talking about having a vision for our world. And we spent some time talking about patriarchs or generally about people who love and modeled good Christian love and ideals to one another. And in this I was able to spend time thinking through and recognizing that it was in this church where I felt that love.

This idea of allowing the Love of God to flow through us and to affect the world around us was lived out right in front of me in this church. And as I’ve spoken to others they recognized that same love that drew them into this body of believers.

Application

And so, I think from there there’s a huge take away for us as we continue to think through our question this morning of “What should my love look like?” or “What should our love look like as a body of believers?”.

We are instructed to love others. And I know some of you are probably thinking, Germiko that is easier said than done. And I would agree with you. If we are seeking to do this on our own strength it will be an uphill battle. We must rely on God in our living this love out into the world. And a great example of this from scripture is found in , “37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” And it’s been said from up here on a number of occasions as we aim to love God the outflow will be a love for those around us.

We also know that there are some people who are not easy to love, but we also know that if everyone was easy to love that we probably wouldn’t need a command to love others, right. Generally, we are taught by the world to love those who love us. But we see in that Jesus commands us to even love our enemies, he says, “43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor z and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” We are not to be selected in dishing out our love.

We need to be people who love others. Just like the love that drew me into this fellowship years ago we need not to be complacent and forget what our heavenly father commands us to do. But remember that in order for us to be able to do this we need to be tapping into God’s love.

Conclusion

So, my question as we close this morning is whether you are allowing partaking in that love from God. Are you accessing this. Our passage says that God sent us Jesus because he loved us so much. Are you developing your personal relationship with Jesus?

The following parts in this passage give us a great conclusion and summary about this love.

says, “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. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.”

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. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.”

The New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011. Print.

As I conclude this morning I want to share a really interesting story that I found as I was preparing for this message. That I hope will encourage us as we leave here today. Because I believe that this story really does speak to what draws people into a church fellowship. It says:

Show me a church where there is love, and I will show you a church that is a power in the community. In Chicago, a few years ago a little boy attended a Sunday school I know of. When his parents moved to another part of the city the little fellow still attended the same Sunday school, although it meant a long, tiresome walk each way. A friend asked him why he went so far, and told him that there were plenty of others just as good nearer his home.

"They may be as good for others, but not for me," was his reply.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because they love a fellow over there," he replied.

If only we could make the world believe that we loved them there would be fewer empty churches, and a smaller proportion of our population who never darken a church door. Let love replace duty in our church relations, and the world will soon be evangelized.

Let us pray.