Sunday, April 03, 2011

I Want to Know What Love Is: Love Manifested, 1 John 4:7-12, Theology Matters

Hello all:

I teach an Adult Bible Community at Thomas Road Baptist Church called the G.A.P. (for Graduates and Professionals), and each week I post the outlines and discussion questions from my lessons on the G.A.P. page on Facebook. A while back I started posting these notes on the blog too. So, here is the outline for our meetings on March 27 and April 3, 2011. A while back we started a new series on 1 John entitled "Theology Matters." This lesson looks at 1 John 4:7-12 and discusses the idea that Christians should be a people who love like God loves. We need to be aware of and to share the love that God has given to us in Christ. His gift of grace becomes visible to others when we live the love Christ has shown us. When we love others, we give a living example of the love Jesus showed in the cross. John gives us the character of love, the definition of love, and the result of love. If you have any questions or would like to add a comment or two, that would be great!

I Want to Know What Love Is
Love Manifested

1 John 4:7-12
Theology Matters Series

Introduction
How many of you know the rock group Foreigner?
Yeah, I’m old, that is certain!
One of their hits was “I Want to Know What Love Is”
I liked the song, but the point I want to make is this—there are lots of people in our world who make the same statement

People want to know love, they want to experience it, they want to see it
Just look at the movies and magazines today
Many of the materials give instructions on finding love
Some movies exemplify romantic love as the goal of human existence
In fact, I would dare say that love is a dominant theme in many areas
The problem is that the love exemplified in these “sources” rarely offers real satisfaction or any sense of fulfillment

Love in the world often ends in hurt or disappointment

Can anyone here describe a time (besides your salvation experience) when you thought you experienced real love? What did it look like?

Our passage in 1 John 4 today addresses the issue of what love looks like

Verses 7-12 offer us John’s view of love, and in them we find three points to consider
1. The character of love
2. The definition of love
3. The result of love

As we unpack these three topics, we will see that for John
“Love resembles Jesus” in his character, action, and empowerment

1. The Character of Love
1 John 4:7-8—John likes to repeat himself. This is now the third time he has instructed his readers to “love one another.” In 1 John 2:7-11 and 3:11-12 John has already given this command, now he returns to his earlier message

John seems to repeat himself in an effort to make sure the point gets across
When John is older, church tradition/history tells us that his message becomes simply “Little children, love one another”
When asked why he repeats this message, John replies: “It is the command of our Lord, and it is enough.”

“Love one another” in John’s mind flows naturally from the basic character of love
John defines the character of love as being tied to the character of God

Notice that John says in v. 7 “love is from God”

The kind of love John to which John is encouraging us is not a mere emotion or an expression of human concern

The love mentioned in 1 John usually refers to a divine source, a heavenly origin (cf. 1 Corinthians 13)

We don’t learn this kind of love simply by attending seminars, reading books, or trying harder.  We learn to love one another in this way only as we draw closer to God through Christ

Love’s true character is divine

Notice that in v. 8 John says, “God is love”
John Stott: “"This is the most comprehensive and sublime of all the biblical affirmations of God's being."

We must not confuse this with the idea that “love is God”
We do not define God by our view of love
Rather, we define love by God’s nature (Ray Stedman)

God’s love includes his holiness—Psalm 138:2 (On Holiness see: Isaiah 6:3; 1 Peter 1:14-16)
God’s character is just and loving—the two always go together as we will see more clearly in our next verses (H. A. Ironside)

So, John tells us we should love one another because of God’s nature or character
John adds that those who know God (i.e., know his character or know him intimately) will as a direct result love others

John’s argument is simple—if the life of God is present is us, then his love should be present as well

If we know that God’s love for us, then we should love others

Jesus as the example of God’s love: 2 Timothy 1:13: John 8:42: 1 John 2:5-7

Love resembles Jesus in his character

2. The Definition of Love
1 John 4:9-10—Here John shifts from discussing the character of love to giving the supreme example of love—John now sets out to define love for his readers

John describes the manifestation of God’s love and sums it up in one historical event—Jesus’ crucifixion (cf. John 3:16-19)
a. In this one event God revealed a love that has never since been surpassed (2 Cor. 4:6-7; 9:15)
b. This love sacrifices to make things right
c. This love empowers others to do the right things

Let’s unpack these

Love is sacrifice

John says that love was manifested (i.e., made known, made visible, made clear) by God’s act of sending his only Son Jesus into the world
.The reference to Jesus as God’s “only begotten” refers to their unique relationship
Only Jesus is God’s “only begotten” Son—it refers to Jesus’ divine status
b. Please remember that this sending was not simply to tell the world what it needed to hear—(John 3:16-19)—rather God had another thing in mind
c. Jesus is sent to be the “propitiation” for our sins—1 John 2:1-2--meaning to appease or to bring reconciliation.
d. It has at its core the idea that two groups are estranged—one is angry at the other (Rom. 1:18-19)

God’s wrath was aimed at humanity because of sin. We were guilty and deserving of death (Romans 6:23)

Instead of holding us guilty for our own sins, however, God decided to appease his own wrath by his own plan. Jesus took our place and received the just punishment of our sins (Isaiah 53:4-6). Jesus became the atoning sacrifice for our sins

Do you see in this act the coming together of God’s justice and love? (Stedman) God’s justice demanded holiness and required an ultimate sacrifice for sin , while God’s love provided the only true means to atone for that sin

Love is sacrificial—it does what is necessary to set things right

But God’s love is not simply sacrificial, it does not simply “cover a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8)—rather it also gives us what is needed to live love ourselves. In other words, love empowers us to emulate Jesus

God’s love was manifested “in us”—this can mean either “on our behalf” or “in our midst”
The point is that God’s love is manifested in space and time
It is not simply theoretical—it is real—it is “in us”

In v. 9 John says that God sent Jesus into the world so that we could “live through him”
Let that sink in—we who deserved death for our sins are being given life by the one who actually died for the sins of the world
The greatest sign of love is the bloody cross—there by God’s grace and love we lost our burden, our guilt, even our inability to live as God intended—in the cross our Lord died so that we might live through him

God’s love is for our benefit—it enlivens us--it is empowering
That is the true definition of love—It sacrifices that others may gain

How does our love for others measure up?

Love resembles Jesus in his sacrifice

3. The Result of Love
1 John 4:11-12—Now that he has shown the character and definition of love, John now offers a description of the result of love

“If God so loved us” is reminiscent of the “so” in John 3:16
It probably refers to the manner in which God loved us
John seems to be saying, “If you have received love in this way, you should then love others like that”
In other words, the way we love should be sacrificial and for the benefit of others—that they may gain God

This God kind of love also has a moral imperative to it—because God has done this, we “ought” to respond in a similar manner (1 John 2:4-11)

How and when did God love us?
a. God loved us when we were sinners (Romans 5:6-8)
We cannot understand grace or the love of God until we understand the nature of sin.  We will not understand the wonder of the atoning sacrifice until we grasp the horror of that which needed atoning
b. God loved us by giving a means for us to be reconciled to him—he gave Jesus as our atoning sacrifice (Romans 3:25; 5:9-11)
As already noted, Jesus died so that we could live

God’s love is our motivation to love others

Verse 12 is incredible—here John states a well known doctrine—God is not visible to the human eye—we cannot see him

Yet John seems to claim that when we love one another, God becomes apparent
The verse claims that when we love with the love God has given us in Christ, then God abides in us and his love is “perfected” (i.e., made complete, accomplished, finished, brought to its goal) in us
Our relationships of love become the place where God and his love become visible to others
When we love, we show God

Love resembles Jesus as we make him known by loving others

Application
This is a weighty thing—how are we to be “ambassadors of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20-21) when we are still fallen and prone to let God down?

How can we claim to know God when we cannot love those closest to us?

How do we respond to John’s exhortation in these verses?

First, we must recognize our need to experience and live in God’s great grace and love—knowing God through Jesus Christ is the starting point. Remember that John says that loving others comes from loving God. This week make it a point to spend extra time with God. Take 15 minutes a day to look up verses that speak of God’s love (start in 1 John 2, 3, and 4, but don’t neglect John’s Gospel—chapters 3, 5, 13-15)—learn of his love and ask him to empower you to emulate it

Next, take some time to ask where you can share this love of God. Start with your brothers and sisters in Christ, but don’t neglect those outside of the household of the faith. Look for opportunities to tell others how God’s love has changed your life, just be sure to love them while you tell them. Here are some suggestions (thanks to Bruce Goettsche on-line for these):

1. Seek for ways to get beyond feelings of competition
2. Speak of other’s with honor instead of enjoying or gossiping about their shortcomings, struggles, or inconsistencies
3. Rally to the side of those who are hurt or experiencing injustice—offer them a word of encouragement or stand with them in prayer
4. Look for opportunities to help those who can’t help you back—give sacrificially into the life of one who may not pay you back
5. Extend forgiveness to those who offend
6. Be patient with someone who desperately needs it
7. Be quick to show hospitality to others
8. Be willing to pray for and with each other
9. Share the story of Jesus and your salvation with someone
10. Bake cookies for someone who is down and write them a note of encouragement

Love resembles Jesus
How are we doing?


Thanks for reading!

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