The Power of Love

God’s love in His people gives them assurance of His presence, confidence awaiting judgment, and power to reflect His character in the world.

1 John 4:13–21 NKJV

13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

Our actions are often determined by our identity - who we are and who we think we are. We can observe the world today around us and quickly see that we have an identity crisis in the world today.

Born again faith believing Christ followers have their identity not long in SELF but in Christ Himself. And it is all because of God’s love acting toward us to radically change us from within. He truly gives us a new LIFE and that new life is Christ living within you.

Follower of Christ, have you ever stopped to consider some of the magnificent ways you have been blessed and loved by God?

Through Christ, I am dead to sin (Rom 6:11).

Through Christ, I am spiritually alive (Rom 6:11; 1 Cor 15:22).

Through Christ, I am forgiven (Col 2:13; 1 John 2:12).

Through Christ, I am declared righteous (1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21).

Through Christ, I am a child of God (Rom 8:16; Phil 2:15).

Through Christ, I am God’s possession (Titus 2:14).

Through Christ, I am blessed with all spiritual blessings (Eph 1:3).

Through Christ, I am a citizen of heaven (Phil 3:20).

Through Christ, I am free from the law (Rom 8:2).

Through Christ, I am crucified with Him (Gal 2:20).

Through Christ, I am an heir of God (Rom 8:17).

Through Christ, I am free from the desires of the flesh (Gal 5:24).

Through Christ, I am declared blameless and innocent (Phil 2:15).

Through Christ, I am a light in the world (Matt 5:14–15; Phil 2:15).

Through Christ, I am victorious over Satan (Luke 10:19).

Through Christ, I am cleansed from sin (1 John 1:7).

Through Christ, I am set free from the power of sin (Col 2:11–15).

Through Christ, I am secure in Him (1 Pet 1:3–5).

Through Christ, I am at peace with God (Rom 5:1; Phil 4:6–9).

Through Christ, I am loved by God (1 John 4:10).

This list reveals the power of the Spirit and the power of love, all because “the Father has sent His Son as the world’s Savior” (1 John 4:14). Therefore, “if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another” (v. 11).

Loving others as we have been loved by God is not an easy thing to do. Loving and praying for our enemies as Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:43–48 can seem nearly impossible.

Even loving our brothers and sisters in Christ can be a real challenge at times. We need some supernatural assistance.

We need to remember who we are in Christ and what we have received from the Father. When we do, an amazing thing will happen.

We will love others as we have been loved by God. And by the way we love others, we will make visible the invisible God this world so desperately needs to see and come to know.

That is indeed the power of love! Three movements in this text unwrap for us what I call “the power of love.”

Love Is an Evidence That We Have the Spirit

1 John 4:13–16 NKJV

13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

These verses are Trinitarian to the core. When we experience the power of divine love, we experience the work and enjoy the fellowship of the triune God. I like the sound of that.

The Spirit is on display in verse 13.

The Son takes center stage in verses 14–15.

The Father is highlighted in verses 14–16.

God sent His Son to die for us. He sent His Spirit to live in us. Both are gifts of grace. Both are evidences of His amazing love for us. And the love that we now have for God and His children is a revelation of the Holy Spirit who is within us through our relationship with Jesus. Love is certified proof that God now resides in us, not in a pantheistic sense, but through His personal presence.

Love Gives Us Confidence As We Await the Day of Judgment

1 John 4:17–18 NKJV

17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

John shifts gears and changes direction at this point.

He wants to bring into the discussion both the subject of judgment (v. 17) and the subject of fear (v. 18).

Loving others out of gratitude for how we have been loved in Christ has consequences not only for the present, but also for the future.

The argument John has built to this point is powerful. It runs something like this:

loving others (vv. 7, 11–12),

possessing the Spirit (v. 13),

confessing the Son (v. 15), and

mutually abiding in God and

His love (vv. 15–16) bring God’s love to its full and intended goal, its perfect purpose in our lives.

Two wonderful purposes of that goal are confidence when I stand before God on judgment day (v. 17) and the complete absence of fear at that time (v. 18).

How is this possible?

The answer is because on that day when you stand before God He will see you as He sees His dear Son. The love of God will have done its perfect work as it is applied to that day when we stand before God.

Love Is a Command Because It Reflects God’s Character

1 John 4:19–21 NKJV

19 We love Him because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

In Matthew 22:36–40 Jesus addressed the two great commands:

loving God

loving others

There He made what many would see as a startling statement. He said that loving your neighbor is “like” loving God.

Now in our text, John will add that you cannot love God without loving your neighbor. In fact to say you love God while hating a fellow human being just will not work. In fact, it turns you into a liar and gives evidence that you actually don’t love God either.

Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John To Love God and Love Your Brother Is to Obey God’s Command (1 John 4:21)

D. Edmond Hiebert has wisely observed, “Since God’s love is no longer visible in the presence of the incarnate Christ here on earth, God is manifesting His love as it is now displayed in His people” (“An Exposition of 1 John 4:7–21,” 83).

Conclusion

If you have truly experienced God’s loving forgiveness you have been forgiven everything you have ever done wrong or ever will do wrong. So, living in the power of that truth made possible through the perfect atoning death of Jesus (1 John 4:10), love wholly the God whom you have not seen (but someday will), and love well the brother and sister you do see today. There really is supernatural power in love. If you have any doubts, just look to the cross! The crucified God declares it to be so.