God’s Insistence of Love, 1 John 4:7-12

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Let Us Love One Another: God’s Insistence of Love

1 John 4:7-12

Introduction: Possibly the most important statement Jesus said about love: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13:34-35). If you were to evaluate how Christians and churches have acted historically, would you say we have done a good job of loving one another so that all people will know that we are his disciples?

Our greatest concern for this church and for our relationship with Christians throughout the world should be the kind of love Jesus spoke about in this text. Some might say, “No, our greatest concern should be carefully obeying God and worshiping him correctly.” As important as our obedience is, the problem with taking that view is, even if we obeyed God perfectly in the way we worship, nothing would matter if we do not love each as God loved us. 

Please be aware, divisions are rarely primarily over doctrinal matters. What usually happens is that before any division takes place and before any doctrinal issue arises, there is already an undercurrent of unloving actions and attitudes, and then the doctrinal issue becomes the excuse for division.

1. God Is Love, Therefore, We Must Love (4:7-11)
   1. Let’s begin with John’s key test in 4:8, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” Therefore, let’s get this squarely in our minds, we will not be saved unless we love every person in our Christian family. 
   2. Next, notice that John shows that love is defined by God. In verse 7, “Love is from God.” In verse 8, “God is love.” Verse 9, “The love of God has been made manifest among us.” Verse 12, “God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” Verse 16, “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God.”
   3. Why does John emphasize that God defines love? It is because if God is love, then anyone who is truly a child of God or born of God, will also love. If we don’t love like God, God has not birthed us! We are therefore reminded of God’s purpose from the beginning: he made us in his image and intended that we will fill the earth with his image. If God is love, then we do not represent God unless we act with the same love he has shown us. Therefore, a person who does not love is not a child of God – regardless of whether he or she is religious! (The false teachers misunderstood God, resulting in unloving followers.)
   4. Further, if a person does not love, he or she does not know God (vs. 8). One may have a phenomenal knowledge of the Bible and may be able to defeat error handily, but without love he does not know God, that is, he doesn’t understand God’s true nature and therefore have a relationship with him. Knowing/understanding God is critical to the way we act as disciples.
   5. Love is defined in what God has done, not in human terms or human standards. Only God has the true definition of love. The word “manifest” means that he made visible and explained love in what he did through his only Son. Notice he does not say, “through Jesus.” He expressed the highest measure of love, defined in giving up his Son, the greatest gift for the greatest purpose, to save man from his sins. Thus, the greatest love we can have for one another and the world is to lay down our lives so they also receive this gift of life (1 Jn. 3:16; 2 Cor. 4:10, 12).
   6. “So that we might live through him” (vs. 9). Therefore God’s purpose went beyond saving man from his sins, but so that our life would be lived through him, but not through us. As in Isaiah 55:8-9 we exchange our inferior thoughts and ways for his thoughts and ways resulting in us becoming monuments to the Lord. Our true good and joy is to live through him, and that happens when we lay down our lives in love for others.
   7. Verse 10 gives us yet another definition of love. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us.” The greatest love is not responsive love but love that is initiated even when it is not deserved. Thus Jesus said, “For if you love those who love you, what reward do your have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:46-48). This is what truly shows the world that we are his disciples. When we are hurt by another, we initiate love. When evil is spoken against us, we reach out in love.
   8. Therefore, look at the very simple statement of verse 11: “if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” Now we are able to see how we can possibly truly love others like God and initiate love even when undeserved. After all, how easy it is to command us to love someone we deem unloveable without empowering us to do what seems impossible. Here then is the key, if God so loved us. All we need do is take an honest look at ourselves and consider what God loved in us. Therefore, if he loved us in a condition in which we have done far, far more harm to him than anyone has ever done to us, we realize we must rid ourselves of any pride or any thought that we are better than others. Every time loving seems impossible, think of what you were (and in many ways still are) and that God pours out his love for you.
2. God’s Ultimate Purpose of Love (4:12)
   1. Please notice the beginning statement of verse 12: “No one has ever seen God.” Does that make sense to you? Isn’t that an odd assertion right in the middle of discussing the need for loving one another? The very oddity of saying something everyone knows is true – no one has ever seen God – challenges us to discover how this fits the context.
   2. Fortunately John used this phrase and argument in John 1:18. In the gospel, John also said no one had seen God. His purpose was to show that though God was invisible to the world, he is revealed through the work of Christ. In the same way, when we love one another, God abides in us. Thus, while no one has seen God, God can be seen in us by the God-like way we love. This reveals our ultimate purpose and the important role our love for others has. Further, John is proving that they really know God and they do not need to doubt their relationship with God.
      1. Notice the phrase, “His love is perfected in us.” The word “perfected” is the key. To follow John’s train of thought we see that God demonstrated his love to us and revealed his love to the world through Jesus. But Jesus would be on the earth only for a short time. Who will continue to make the invisible God visible? “Perfected” means, “brought to its end goal.” God’s love brought to its end goal in us is by us continuing to show the invisible God by the way we love one another and by the way we love the world. 
      2. You might think that we cannot demonstrate God through our love in a way that would differentiate us from any other religion or denomination. Not so. We may live in a religious world, but that is not the same as giving up our lives, our selfishness, and our conveniences for one another and even for total strangers. In today’s Christian world you either have churches where it is all about Sunday and you get lost in the crowd, or you have churches where people are “closed” to assimilating new people and an outsider cannot break through. Love does not allow either of these extremes, but draws people to see God in us.
   3. Without going into all the Paul said about love in 1 Corinthians 13, there are two primary characterizations of love that offer a good conclusion to how we are to love:
      1. First, “Love keeps no record of wrongs.” So put your name where the word love is and ask yourself if you keep a record of someone’s wrongs.
      2. Second, love “always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” Again, say that with your name in front of it. Is that what you always do? This is the kind of love that makes God visible. But it is the kind of love that too often we have failed to have.

Conclusion: Remember, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Berry Kercheville