Sunday, December 10, 2017

Advent 2017: God's Love at Christmas: Love Manifested

During Advent Christians focus on the love of God. I wanted to take a slightly none traditional passage on this issue for my thoughts on God's Word of Love. So, this devotion 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. In this Christmas season, we need to be ambassadors of God's manifested love. We need God to love us and to love through us. In this passage, 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

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 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 movies and magazines. 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. We've all experienced this in some way of another. A "love" that we thought would save us ends up hurting us, or a "love" we thought would complete us ends up ruining us, or a "love" we hoped would end our suffering actually produces more pain. These stories could unfortunately be multiplied more than we'd like to admit!

The problem is that many of those experiences were not real, unconditional love. These "loves" described above were in many cases simply counterfeits of the love that can indeed help us (even if it sometimes wrecks us first!). What does real love 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. Church tradition/history tells us that John's message as he grew older became simply “Little children, love one another”. When asked why he repeats this message, John reportedly replied: “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 love of 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”. As John Stott reminds us: “"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 (thank you, Ray Stedman, for this insight). God is the exemplar of love, he is the very definition of love. We know love if we know God.

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.

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

Real love resembles Jesus in his character. If it is real love, then it will look like Jesus. Of course, that insight reminds us that we still need some kind of definition of love. John offers us a definition in the next few verses.

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. His definition is centered on the central fact of Jesus' loving sacrifice for humanity. 
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 ideas.

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. Nonetheless, Jesus was sent by his Father to accomplish a demonstration of true love. 
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. Jesus is sent to be the “propitiation” for our sins—1 John 2:1-2--(meaning to appease or to bring reconciliation). It has at its core the idea that two groups are estranged—one is angry at the other (Rom. 1:18-19). Jesus was sent to reconcile us to God.

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 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 (Ray Stedman). 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. This is the reason we celebrate the birth of Jesus. That baby in swaddling clothes is born to bear our sin, to die on our behalf, to bring reconciliation and healing to those who are broken by sin.

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. The definition of love is sacrifice for the improvement of the beloved. The lover is willing to sacrifice to bless the beloved. And this sacrifice is not just the definition of love, it also reminds us that love results in something. The result of love is John's next topic.

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. We should love with the result that others are drawn to God through Jesus.

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 should be 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 others, we show them God.

Love resembles Jesus as we make him known by loving others. This Christmas season, let's give the gift that will keep love alive and growing--let's love others so that they may know God's love.

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 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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