Giving God's Love to Others

Introduction

Throughout the book of 1 John, John has been talking about the importance of loving one another. As he nears the end of his book, he continues his emphasis on love.

As you read this letter, there is no doubt that John is looking back to all that he learned from his time with Jesus. Since Love was emphasized by Jesus, John has the same emphasis running though his letter.

If you have your Bibles, I want to encourage you to turn with me to 1 John chapter 4, and we’ll begin reading with verse 7.

1 John 4:7 NIV84

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

The Command:

Love One Another

I can’t help but think that throughout this letter, John is reflecting on Jesus’ words during the upper room discourse.

John 15:12–13 NIV84

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Jesus wants the hallmark of His children to be that they love each other!

Love Comes From God

I talk to a lot of people who suggest that there is no way that they can love some people! Actually, they are correct. In their own power they cannot love. We have to rely on the truth of Philippians 2:13.

Philippians 2:13 NIV84

for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

I really like the way Taylor paraphrased this verse in The Living Bible. It says:

Philippians 2:13 The Living Bible

For God is at work within you, helping you want to obey him, and then helping you do what he wants.

Our ability to love people we see as unlovable does not come from our own power, but rather it comes from God working in us!

Love Shows Our Relationship with God

John says everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

However, John doesn’t stop there. Look at verse 8.

1 John 4:8 NIV84

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Don’t Love—Don’t Know

God’s Demonstration of His Love

1 John 4:9–12 NIV84

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.

Follow His Example!

John tells us to follow or mimic the example of God—He loved us, sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins—so that when we love, we show God is living in us.

God is Love

1 John 4:13–18 NIV84

We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 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 him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

God has Given Us His Spirit

This is an amazing fact. When you accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord, He puts His Spirit—God’s Spirit in us!

The Testimony of John

John’s testimony is that God the Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the World.

And anyone who acknowledges that Jesus is God’s Son—God lives in the that person, and that person lives in God!

It’s All About God’s Love for Us

That’s the key message of verse 16!

1 John 4:16 NIV84

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 him.

What is great about this whole idea is that love is made complete.

1 John 4:17 NIV84

In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

No Fear in Love

1 John 4:18 NIV84

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

John tells us that there is NO fear in love, because fear has to do with punishment, so when love is given, there is no longer any fear of punishment.

I’m going to point you back to that familiar verse that we all know—John 3:16

John 3:16 NIV84

“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.

But the magic comes in verses 17 and 18.

John 3:17–18 NIV84

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

We Love Because God Loves!

The only reason we can love is because God loved us first! Look at verse 19.

1 John 4:19 NIV84

We love because he first loved us.

When we come to the verses 20 and 21, John brings us full circle back to the simple fact that we can’t love God while not loving our brother and sister.

1 John 4:20–21 NIV84

If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

SO WHAT

What do we learn from this passage? I want to make sure we see four things in this passage.

We can’t say we love God if we hate our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Our love—any love we have for others—comes from our experience of being loved by God.

Experiencing God’s love should wipe out our fear of God (fear as in afraid—not as in reverence).

Loving others is not a choice, it is a command!