1 John 4:12-21, God Loves in Us
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John tells us in verses 12-19 that when we love with divine love, it is confirmation that God is in us. God is abiding in us, living in us.
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
The world we are living in keeps us from seeing God in so many ways. The physical reality limits our ability to see spiritual reality. Our sin keeps us from seeing God’s perfection. Evidence of God’s works of grace may be visible, but are often hard to see because of all the brokenness in our world. Divine love is especially hard to see because we have so few examples of it. In fact, the kind of human love that comes naturally to us is self love. So, even the most spiritual love for God is corrupted into a love of self that only desires God to meet my needs.
What chance does this world have of ever seeing and knowing God’s love? If we trace John’s words in this passage back to another place, we find John has used this phrase, “No one has ever seen God”, before. In his gospel, John said,
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
No one has ever seen God, but God surprised us once. Those who heard and saw and spent time with Jesus Christ realized that God abides in Him. God was demonstrating in Jesus that He loves the world. So John says here in this letter,
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
We may find it surprising, but God loves the world, and He demonstrates that love by sending Hi Son to save it. And now John says in this letter, it’s time for the world to be surprised again. This time, it will be in you. Jesus now abides at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. How will the world come to know God?
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
No one has ever seen God, but for those who confess Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of God, who love with God’s love, the world has a chance to see the abiding presence of God in us. You cannot love anyone as you should. But if you are abiding in Jesus, God abides in you, and He will love others in you.
How do I know God is loving someone in me? When we love with divine love, it is a surprising love that gives more than it takes, that forgives when it should avenge, that blesses when it should curse, that gives when it should withhold, and that treats enemies like friends. It is evidence and confirmation that God has come to abide in us by His Spirit.
Our confession to the world that we believe Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the world, will be proven true by our divine love for others. This is the way the world will know that God is for the world now.
But there’s one more blessing. God is for us too. And when we love with God’s love, He promises that His abiding presence will perfect love in us. You don’t have to get it right all at once. The promise is that God abiding in us will result in His love being perfected in us (v. 12, 16-17). And this perfecting of God’s love for others in me gives me confidence of God’s love for me.
Do you notice what John says in verse 16?
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Do you know and believe the love that God has for you? What’s your view of God? John repeats again, “God is love.” But some of us have had bad teachers, and we’ve let bad teaching creep into our thinking about God. If we started the sentence, “God is _________.” how would you fill in the blank?
If God is wrath, then He’s always angry with you. If God is the commandments, then God is always demanding more of you. But John doesn’t say those things. God may have wrath and commandments, but these do not define His nature. John says, “God is love.”
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
How does John say we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us? That came in the verses before
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
My confession that Jesus has fulfilled everything necessary for God to abide in me, and me in God, He is how I know and believe the love that God has for me. My faith in Jesus perfects God’s love in me.
By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
The only way I will ever be secure and confident enough to love others without fear is to know God’s love for me in Jesus. That gives me confidence on that future day of judgment. But it also empowers me on this day to love,
We love because he first loved us.
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
The world does not need more religious people who claim to know God, or even claim to love God. The world needs more people who abide in God, and God abides in them, totally assured of God’s love for them in Jesus, in ways that empower them to love others with God’s love. God who is unseen, in some way becomes visible to the world. And my brother created in the image of God, who is seen, somehow to me becomes the visible manifestation of the God I claim to love.
Take one moment to consider what our world would be like if we did love like this. What if we loved people with demonstrations of God’s love in Jesus’ name so they could possibly know Him and have life in Him? What if the community of Jesus followers loved sinners so completely that we were accused, like Jesus was, of being a friend of sinners? What if we always blessed when cursed, forgave when misrepresented, and prayed for our enemies until they came to know God?
How is the world different because God has loved us by sending Jesus?
Questions for Discussion
What are the implications for our relationships with one another of God’s abiding in us and us in Him?
What makes loving one another difficult, and how does this passage help us overcome those difficulties?
How does this passage help us understand the gospel? How could you use this passage to tell someone about God’s love for them in Jesus?
How does this passage give you assurance of God’s love for you?
How will you respond to this passage this week?