Love God So You Can Love Others
1 John • Sermon • Submitted
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· 82 viewsOur love comes from the abundance of Love God pours out on us. If we do not love our brothers and sisters in Christ, then how can we say we are living in the love of God..
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We love because he first loved us!
We love because he first loved us!
We love because he first loved us.
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
One of those tough scriptures, because it is so countercultural, but this one really isn’t. In fact, it is the second most basic thing in our Christian lives. 1. Love God. 2. Love others.
But I know I struggle with this. I struggle with certain people. There are some that just rub me the wrong way. And when I find out they are Christians, it sometimes makes me angrier. So, today I am preaching to myself, and maybe God will speak to you as well.
Everything starts with God’s love.
Everything starts with God’s love.
We love because he first loved us.
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
This is one of those tough scriptures, because it is so countercultural, but this one really isn’t. In fact, it is the second most basic thing in our Christian lives. 1. Love God. 2. Love others.
Every idea in this passage is a repeat of something John has already said. He is recapping his epistle so far.
But I know I struggle with this. I struggle with certain people. There are some that just rub me the wrong way. And when I find out they are Christians, it sometimes makes me angrier. So, today I am preaching to myself, and maybe God will speak to you as well. So because I am preaching to myself, we are going to look at a lot of scripture, because it would hypocritical of me to use words that are not directly from God, so I trust that as he speaks to me, he will speak to you.
Everything begins with God’s love!
Everything begins with God’s love!
We love because he first loved us.
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
We love because he first loved us.
19
We love because he first loved us.
Repeat of
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 have been looking at God’s perfect and complete love for us over the last few weeks. How his love is made perfect in us. How he did everything for us. How he loves us. His unconditional love for us.
We have been reminded that love is a verb not a noun. It is active and sacrificial and love is most perfectly shown in Jesus’s laying down his life for us on the cross. Greater love has no one than this that a man would lay down his life for his brother. LOVES Comes from God. When we live in God’s love we have no choice but to love.
So that is the key point, the main message, the thing you have to remember. LOVE COMES FROM GOD.
Love comes from God not us!
Love comes from God not us!
We can only love because he loves us. This is the most eye opening thing for me. If I want to love others, I must live in the love God has for me. Not try to love others as a result of God’s love, but live in God’s love, then I have no choice to love others, but I am getting a little ahead of myself.
We will come back to this. Let’s move on.
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
1 John 4:20
This verse is a summation of several verses all combined to remind us of the key point. Love comes from God. There are elements from , . , , and many others.
This must be pretty important stuff if it is being repeated. In fact, repetition in the Biblical languages is like an exclamation point in English. Or more accurately like the double exclamation point in Spanish. So, let’s look more carefully at this exclamation point.
First, If we claim to love God but hate our brother we are liars.
This is almost a direct repeat of and
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.
If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
This message is throughout the New Testament isn’t it.
Jesus preached about it and even showed it on the cross when he said, Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing.
Sermon on the mount.
Sermon the Plain
One key difference in these two passages from 1 John is that Jesus is telling us to Love our Enemies, John is saying we should be loving out brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s look at this real quick.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
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.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
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.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
Matthew 5:
Did you catch that verse 46?
Matthew 5:43-48
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
Matthew
Sinners, those who are completely apart from God, know you love those who love you.
In the book of . We see Stephen who was the first person to be killed because of his faith and love of Christ, cries out to God as he is being stoned for proclaiming who Jesus was.
Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Wow! Stephen was just like you and I can be. A man filled with the Holy Spirit, but a man all the same. He was so much in God’s love that as people are hurling stones at him, as he is in the final breaths of his life, he can say “Lord do not hold this sin against them.” That is love.
Paul talks about this loving of our enemies, in .
We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;
You know what the kicker of all these verses are? Let’s look at again.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
One key difference in these passages from those in 1 John is that Jesus is telling us to Love our Enemies, John is saying we should be loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Sinners, those who are completely apart from God, know you love those who love you!
So, why would John need to emphasize the love not hate for your brothers is a sign of your love for God.
To answer that we have to remember John is writing to the church he leads in Asia Minor. A church broken up by false teachers. Teacher who taught Jesus came only in Spirit and if you have a special knowledge from him, then you were enlightened, but they lived a life completely opposite of Love. They were divisive, they lived however they wanted and did what was right in their own eyes. They turned their back on their brothers and sisters in Christ and walked passed them when they were hurting or in need. They truly “hated” their so called brothers and sisters in Christ.
How could someone who hates his brother or sister live in Christ? Such a simple truth, but so true. Of course they were liars. They walked in darkness. They lived outside of the love of God.
Now, that helps me a bit, but it doesn’t let me off the hook. I do not know if I have ever turned my back on a brother or sister in Christ on purpose, and if I have I ask their forgiveness right now and more importantly God’s forgiveness, but I do know my actions have been more like hating than loving sometime, and I am not proud of it. I have talked bad about brothers and sisters. I have thought harm on them even if I did not act on it. I have avoided them because I did not want to be around them. I may love those people, but my actions and especially my thoughts would look like hate. God has really been showing me how far I am from where I need to be on this one.
But why is love such a big deal. Read the book of 1 John.
But how do I overcome these thoughts and actions that are not
Verse 20 says, “… For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen..”
So how do I overcome the thoughts and sadly the actions that reflect hate rather than love? Where does love come from? Love comes from God. We love because he first loved us.
Simply put we spend more time abiding in the love of God.
We reflect the love of God, and the only way to do that is to spend time living in the love of God. When you are abiding in love which is what we spoke about last week then God’s love is made complete in you.
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.
We let God’s love change us.
But why is love such a big deal. Read the book of 1 John, but it is summed up again in verse 21.
And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
I think that is pretty simple and straight forward, don’t you?
If you love God, you love your brothers and sisters.
If you love God, you love your brothers and sisters.
As we have gone through 1 John, God has hit me over the head with a few 2X4’s. But the biggest one has been to live in his love. When I am unloving to others love him more. When my temper starts to bubble, go abide more in his love. When my thoughts are not what I know God wants, let his love overcome me. When I see that I am not being like him, then go spend more time with him.
Not one thing in these verses is new. They are all repetition of things John already talked about, but even more than that they are things we know supernaturally when we encounter the love God through Jesus Christ. But that does not change the struggle we sometimes have with our flesh. Quite frankly, isn’t it me thinking I am better than someone or more deserving of God’s love when my actions are anything but love. And I know that is not God’s plan for me or for you. His plan is simple. Love him and love others.
1 JOHN 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.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
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.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
So, I encourage you to show people God by loving each other. If you have an issue with someone, especially a brother or sister in Christ, don’t let it remain. Get up from here and go love them, but start by spending some time in God’s love so you can reflect that love rather than trying to do it on your own.