Jim Thomas, Senior Pastor
The Letters of John: That You May Know…
The Message of 1 John:
God wants you to rejoice in the knowledge of His love for you, which has been displayed vividly in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And God wants us to share His love with one another.
Three categories of evidence for authentic, saving faith:
- The theological test: Do we believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God?
- The moral test: Are we practicing righteousness?
- The social test: Do we love others?
1 John 4:7-21
- The Bible speaks of the love of God, love for God, and the love we are to have for one another.
- The Bible spends precious little time on the subject of loving self.
- Since God is the ultimate source of love and Christ, the ultimate expression of God’s love, as Christ lives in us more and more, we draw on the love of God more and more.
- God’s love is not selfish and cheap. God’s love is selfless and deep. God’s love is not self-seeking, never volatile, capricious or moody. God’s love is consistent, steadfast and His love endures forever!
What do we learn about love from 1 John 4:7-21?
- Love exhorted flows from the love sourced in God and manifested by our new life in Christ. v7
- Love originated with and has reached its pinnacle in the person and work of Jesus Christ. v10
- Love’s absence reveals a lack of the knowledge of God v8
- Love made manifest in us was the Incarnation of Christ, when Jesus came on a life-saving rescue mission for us v9
- Loving one another becomes the duty (“ought”) of those who have received the love of God v11
- Loving one another is a primary evidence of authentic saving faith. v12-16
- The perfect love of Christ casts out all fear. v17-18
- Being loved by God sets us free to love one another. v19
- Agape is a command for Christians but only a feeling and/or behavior modification for unbelievers. v20-21
For Bible believing Christians ‘love’ is not ‘luv’. “Luv” is merely a consumer love, a pretend love, a because love, an if love. Agape love is an unconditional love.
Discussion Questions
- John returns to the topic of love again in this passage. How does the Agape love referenced here differ from other types of love?
- One of the tests of authentic faith is “do we love others?” – can you point to evidence of this love in your life? (v. 8, 20)
- Are you afraid of something right now? How can you better rely on the “the perfect love of Christ”? (v.17-18)
- Today’s passage & sermon make it clear that Agape love is a command (v. 21), not a suggested feeling. What can you do later today & throughout the coming week to better follow this command?
“The only way you will ever be able to withstand the hatred of the world is if you are immersed in the love of God. The only way you will ever be able to live without the approval of others is if you are assured of God’s approval of you in Christ. The only way you can stand against the world when everyone is jeering you is when you know God is there, cheering you on, calling you His beloved child. Unless we are overcome by the love of God, we will be overcome by the fear of man.”
– Trevin Wax
A contrast of two ways we can think about love:
- Apart from God, this world system trains us towards: self-centeredness, self-assertion, self-conceit, self-indulgence, self-pleasing, self-seeking, self-pity, self-sensitiveness, self-defense, self-sufficiency, self-consciousness, self-righteousness, self-obsession, self-absorption, self-serving, self-glorying (and learning how the love of self is the greatest love of all!)
- The Gospel of Jesus teaches us towards: “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me.” This is unconditional, self-sacrificing, Christ-glorifying, others-benefiting love.
“‘Beloved if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another’. Never separate these two things; they belong together.”
– Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ: Studies in 1 John
“We can’t hear God’s love being spoken to us without at the same time looking into the faces of our neighbors, whom God also loves and commands us to love. When we come to worship, we are not isolated individuals, but a family of God. We come to worship not just to see and hear but to pray and praise God with one another.”
– Eugene Peterson, The Pastor
“When you teach a child writing, you hold its hand while it forms the letters: that is, it forms the letters because you are forming them. We love and reason because God loves and reasons and holds our hand while we do it.”
– C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
“The more we love, and the more unlikely people we love, the more we resemble God — who, after all, loves ornery creatures like us.”
– Philip Yancey, Vanishing Grace Study Guide: Whatever Happened to the Good News?