GOD IS LOVE

 

March 4, 2007 ~ Bay Ridges Long Term Care Centre

 

1 John 4:1-21 ESV Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.  (2)  By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,  (3)  and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.  (4)  Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.  (5)  They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.  (6)  We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.  (7)  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  (8)  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  (9)  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  (10)  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  (11)  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  (12)  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.  (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 his Son to be the Savior of the world.  (15)  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.  (16)  So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  (17)  By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.  (18)  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.  (19)  We love because he first loved us.  (20)  If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  (21)  And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

 

In this passage John, Jesus’ closest friend and the only disciple who was not put to death for his faith, presents a series of tests by which we may measure ourselves and others.

 

JESUS CHRIST IS GOD AND MAN

 

1 John 4:1-3 ESV Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.  (2)  By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,  (3)  and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

 

We live in an age where the spiritual is not questioned. Instead of the righteous spirituality of the early Church the spirituality of our time is of a pragmatic nature. Its value is determined by whether or not it gives people what they want and is accepted without questions as long as it leads in the direction one wants to go. This is happening even within the Church when patently false teachers are accepted and revered simply because they say the right words or do the right things.

 

It is all very confusing and makes it difficult for us to decide whether someone is worth listening to or not. John knew about confusion. He trusted Jesus even as the religious leaders of his time rejected Jesus. John knew how to tell truth from error, how to separate Godly teaching from evil lies and here he tells us the secret: “every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God.” This is a very important statement because it assumes that everyone who reads it is aware that Jesus is a man. But because John also calls Jesus the Christ he is saying that Jesus is God. Christ is a title that is also translated as Messiah. Any Jew reading John’s letter would know that the Christ could only be God. John says now that any spirit that denies that Jesus, the Son of God, took on human form is not from God and is in fact the spirit of the antichrist who would establish himself in Jesus’ place. The Jews of John’s day also knew of the antichrist and that he would have power beyond that normally given to man. He would be deceptive, but he would not be able to believe that the Son of God came in human form.

 

IN GOD WE HAVE OVERCOME

 

1 John 4:4-6 ESV Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.  (5)  They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.  (6)  We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

 

John continues by reassuring his readers that even though the spirit of the antichrist is now in the world there is nothing to be afraid of for he has already been defeated by God. He encourages his readers by reminding them that “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” Jesus not only came in the flesh but He performed mighty miracles. He fed the multitudes. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He returned to life after He Himself had been put to death. There were those among John’s readers who would have experienced these things, who would have seen Lazarus walk out of the tomb and who would have felt the darkness of Jesus’ death turn to the glory of His resurrection. In Hebrews 11:1 faith is described as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” John relies on the faith of his readers to make his point but it is not a blind faith as so many believe. It is a faith founded in fact in spite of overwhelming opposition, both rational and irrational. Many of John’s readers were eyewitnesses to the events upon which their faith was based and could heartily agree that God within us is greater by far than the antichrist who is in the world. God has defeated him and his power, such as it is, is temporary and will be eternally destroyed.

 

LOVE IS FROM GOD

1 John 4:6-16 ESV Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  (8)  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  (9)  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  (10)  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  (11)  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  (12)  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.  (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 his Son to be the Savior of the world.  (15)  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.  (16)  So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

 

John is the most experiential of the New Testament authors. Here again he calls attention to his experience of Jesus in human form and his conviction that in spite of His human form Jesus is also God. God in the flesh. And he is convinced through Jesus of God’s love for him. He had physically and emotionally experienced Jesus many years previously “so we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.” This is not a blind faith but a faith that is built upon reality no matter how un-understandable it might be. John goes on to say “if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” If we are God’s then His love ought to fill us and overflow to those around us. If His love does not overflow to those around us then we ought to be very concerned about our own love for Him.

 

PERFECT LOVE DRIVES AWAY FEAR

 

1 John 4:17-18 ESV By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.  (18)  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

 

John teaches here that perfect love for God as our Saviour drives away our fear of Him as our Judge. If we truly love God as He wants us to love Him nothing could terrify us. Nothing! We would live knowing that God is our salvation and knowing that we would fear nothing. Not even God, for His is no longer our Judge if we are in Christ. We have been reconciled to Him through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. We do not need to fear Him as our Judge but love Him as our Saviour.

 

Love for God drives away fear of our enemy

Love for God drives away fear of the unknown

Love for God drives away fear of tomorrow

Love for God drives away fear of death

Love for God drives away fear of judgment

 

CONFIRMATION

 

1 John 4:19-21 ESV We love because he first loved us.  (20)  If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  (21)  And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

 

Throughout the Bible there is the theme that we can do nothing on our own but that all that we are and all that we have is from God. Here now John echoes this by saying that “we love because He first loved us.” We could not love, neither God nor man, if God did not already love us and send His Son to be the propitiation for our sin. In this is the finest test of our love for God. If we say that we love God but do not love our brother then we do not truly love God. Paul writes that:

 

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant  (5)  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  (6)  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  (7)  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 

This is an impossibly high standard to attain. Even our greatest heroes cannot consistently display this level of love. It is humanly impossible. But with God all things are possible and if we are God’s then by His power we too can love like this. We can, like Corrie ten Boom in the concentration camp, love those who persecute us. We can, like Jesus on the cross, pray for those who are killing us. We can, like Paul in the Philippian prison, preach the gospel to a jailer about to kill himself. We can, like Christians the world over, show Godly love in spite of the circumstances. We may not be able to always love like this, but we should try, but if we can never love like this then we are not truly God’s.