Love Is
“Love is…”
1 John 4:7-12
Children are a blessing from God. It is a blessing to our congregation to see so many children born this past year. Babies cry, eat, sleep, and fill their diaper. Those early months as parents are exhausting and exhilarating. A baby changes everything. Love bursts into your heart in a way that you did not know was even possible a few days before. As children grow, they often serve as a mirror to their parents. Like father, like son; she is her mother’s daughter. Sons and daughters reflect their fathers and mothers. All parents know those moments when their children do something merely because they are mirroring their parents. I remember when one of my daughters was about two and a half, and I was trying to get her out of the car after running some errands. She was taking longer than expected, and I exhorted her to hurry up and get a move on. She aptly replied, “Daddy, you are really testing my patience.” Hmmm…where did a two and a half year-old learn that phrase? Children are a mirror that reflects their parents.
As children reflect their parents, Christians reflect their God. Christians are children of God. Christians are born from God. Therefore, Christians should mirror God to the world. I love the story of how one missionary lived in a remote village for many years but saw very few conversions. Because of the language barrier, he could not communicate the gospel. He died in that village. A few years later, more missionaries came who knew the language of the people. When the missionaries started talking about Jesus, they said that they had already met him. The villagers took them to the grave of the missionary who lived among them. The man so reflected Jesus that when the missionaries spoke of Jesus the villagers were reminded of him. Beloved, I pray that when people hear of the love of the Lord Jesus, they think of us. We must mirror Christ's love.
John’s purpose for his letter is found in 1 John 5:13. In it he says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” John wanted his hearers to know that they belong to God and have eternal life.
Love Imitated
One of the identifiers that John repeatedly gives is love. We can know we belong to God if we love one another, for love is from God. So, those who love are born of God. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). Children should imitate their fathers. If God is our Father, then we should imitate him. Love does not lead to salvation, but it is a reflection of it. Does our love reflect God’s love? When the world looks at the love of Park Baptist Church, do they see a love that can only be explained by the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit of God?
If we have been born again, regenerated, converted, and saved, we will love. It is impossible not to act according to our nature. If there is no love for the body of Christ, then there is no love from God. And if you do not have God’s love, then you are not of God. Whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love has not been born of God and knows God. Love is the great mark of the Christian. Paul wrote a rebuke to the church of Corinth because their church, although it had many gifts, was not known for its love. We may hear it at weddings, but this was written as a rebuke to the Christian church.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:1–7)
Love is patient and kind
Are you patient with people? Do you bear with people as they struggle with sin? Are you long-suffering? Do you love people when you are tired, frustrated, or hurt? Are you kind to others? Do the words of your mouth and the thoughts of your heart show kindness? Two of our beloved seniors saints were buried this past week, and both were celebrated for their kindness. When you are put in the ground, what will people say of your love?
Love does not envy or boast
Are you jealous of others? When you see what someone else has, do you rejoice with them or desire what they have? When you receive something, do you boast in it or brag about it? So much of our world can be categorized by envy and boasting. Let it not be in the church.
Love is not arrogant or rude
Christians should be known as the most humble people on the planet. To be arrogant or rude is to think you are more important than others. It is to think your ideas and your opinions are better than others’. It is to be blunt and impolite and insulting. Love is humble and gentle.
Love is does not insist on its own way
Jesus did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. Do we imitate Jesus' heart for others? Too often we want our own way, whether it be masks or music, rather than laying down our preferences for the sake of others. Remember, love is from God and, the opposite of love is not from God. So if you insist on your own way, you are not loving and may be acting as if you are not from God.
Love is not irritable or resentful
Love is not annoyed or contentious or cross or brooding or bitter. When we are acting irritable, the problem is not in the person who we find irritating, it is in us. It is not loving to be irritable or resentful.
Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing
Christians never celebrate what God hates. We must not rejoice in things that are contrary to God’s law. The world wants you to celebrate sin, but that is hateful and the opposite of love.
Why does John so often talk about loving one another? Because we need the reminders. Beloved, our love communicates whether we belong to God or not. We must never tire of growing in our love, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Love Defined
Definitions are constantly changing. The culture often tries to redefine words in a way that is most beneficial to them. John defines love by the source of love. “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). John says, “God is love,” not “love is God.” The world is not defined by love, it is defined by God. God is love as the Bible defines love. “God is love” means that God continually gives himself to others and seeks the true good of others. John is making the point that since God lives by giving himself to others and seeking their good, then those who are born of him live to do the same. As one pastor notes:
For the loveless Christian to profess to know God and to have been born of God is like claiming to be intimate with a foreigner whose language we cannot speak, or to have been born of parents whom we do not in any way resemble. It is to fail to manifest the nature of him whom we claim as our Father (born of God) and our Friend (knows God). Love is as much a sign of Christian authenticity as is righteousness (2:29).[1]
God is love because God has eternally existed in a perfect relationship of love within the Trinity. The relationship between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is an eternal relationship of love. You cannot be of God if you do not love because God has always existed in love. To not love is to not be of God because God is love. To be born of God is to be united in the love of the Trinity. The eternal love of the Father and the Son is offered to us in Christ through the Holy Spirit. “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). We come to know love in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Love Demonstrated
God’s love is not abstract or elusive, but it is concretely demonstrated for us in Jesus Christ. “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. 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” (1 John 4:9-10). God initiated with us. We were lost and dead in our trespasses and sin, and God came to rescue us. We did not pursue God; he pursued us. Salvation is all grace so that no man can boast. Salvation belongs to the Lord. If we boast, we boast in the Lord. The only way we can love God is if God’s love has been revealed to us in Christ.
God demonstrates his love for us in that he sent his Son. Both verses say that God sent his Son, and each verse gives us a different reason he was sent: that we might live through him and to be the propitiation for our sins. Let’s start with verse 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.” “Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, and not ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Propitiation means that Jesus atoned for our sins by turning God’s wrath for sins on himself and turning God’s favor from himself to us. Propitiation speaks of the great exchange. Jesus takes our sin and gives us his righteousness. He takes our death and gives us life. He takes our guilt and our shame and our condemnation and gives us his joy, his beauty, his perfection and his love. Staggering! It is so staggering because we are so unworthy. In the ancient world outside of Christianity, it was only appropriate to love those who were worthy of love. We are sinners, and we deserve God’s wrath. We are unworthy of this kind of love. We deserve God’s anger because we have spurned and rejected him. And yet, God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. The Father publicly declared acceptance of his sacrifice for sins by raising him from the dead. Now, if anyone will repent of their sins and trust in Christ, they will be saved.
Friend, if you have yet to trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, if you have yet to love him, know this: God sent him to love you and to die for you. God sent Jesus to be the payment for your sins. He did not come because you were lovable. He came because you were unlovable. He came because without him you would never love and experience a true, full, rich love. God is inviting you into the eternal love of the Trinity. If you will repent, or turn, from your sins to Christ, he will save you. Oh friend, experience love.
Church, God sent Jesus that we might live through him. I believe John is referring to “live” as in having eternal life. Remember John wrote, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” God sent Jesus so we may have eternal life through him. Eternal life is only offered through Jesus Christ. I also believe John is drawing out the kind of life believers are meant to have as he has done throughout this letter. Christians are meant to live through Jesus as in being like him. Christians should walk as he walked. Christians should be in the light as he is in the light. Christians should be righteous as he is righteous and the Righteous One. Christians should love as he has loved. It was impossible for people to live like God, so God sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for sins. By that sacrifice he makes their dead hearts come alive in Christ. Eternal life does not merely begin when we die, it starts as soon as we put our faith in Christ. God sent Jesus that we may have eternal life now and forever.
Love Perfected
God sent Jesus Christ into the world that we might now demonstrate his love for a lost and unworthy world. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:11-12). It makes no sense for Christians not to love one another. It is absurd for a Christian not to love. It is unthinkable that a Christian would not love the brethren. Beloved, if God gave his life for us, how in the world can we not respond in love for one another? The holy, almighty Creator of the world gave up everything for us. How can we not give up a little of our comfort and our time for others? Jesus died for you, so stop being rude and arrogant. Jesus was beaten and crucified, so stop insisting on your own way. Jesus took God’s wrath on the cross for you, so stop envying and boasting. Jesus conquered the grave and gave you eternal life, so stop being irritable and resentful. Jesus loved you, so you ought to love one another.
Let me conclude with two applications. The first is an application of assurance. If we love one another, we can be confident that God abides in us and his love is perfected, or made complete, in us. If we know God abides in us and his work is completed in us, we have no need to fear judgment and the coming wrath. What an encouragement for the church! John has already spoken of the antichrists who are in the world and the spirit of the antichrist shown in people who had recently left their church. It is very possible that some were thinking, “Will I make it?” He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. How do they know that God is in them? They know by their love for one another. There is no need to fear judgment if we belong to the Lord. The Holy Spirit confirms with our spirit that we are children of God by how we love God’s people. You belong to God! Do not fear. Do not worry. If you love one another, you are of God, for love is from God and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. John wants to encourage you in your love.
We all know the power of sin. We all know we have the capacity for all sorts of selfishness and pride and rudeness and envy. Yes, every time we try to do good evil is right there with us, but God is also with us. And we can please the Lord in how we love one another. So yes, we want to grow in our love for one another, but we also want to rejoice in how we are currently loving one another. Sometimes I feel that we always want to focus on how sinful we are rather than on how God has worked in our hearts to make us less sinful and more loving. I could share example after example in this church of how people are loving one another. And when you are loving one another well, we want to rejoice in that our love for one another reveals that we are of God. We are boasting not in ourselves but in God! God loved us first. He gets all the glory. Always. Our love is an assurance that we belong to him. Rejoice in how you love because it is a gift from God to you and a kind reminder that you are safe from judgment.
There is also a missional impulse for God’s love for us. No one has ever seen God, but the true God has made him known. We can know God because God has revealed Himself to us. And how staggering is this: God has revealed himself to us so that we can reveal Him to others! If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us. When this happens, the world will see God in us. We can love one another in such a profound way that the world would get a glimpse of the Lord. I pray more and more that we are a G cubed church; I pray we constantly give glory glimpses. We give a glory glimpse when we provide food for new parents and rides for seniors. We give a glory glimpse when we are patient with teens and discipline our children. We give a glory glimpse when we confess our sins and reveal our struggles showing our trust in the gospel. We give a glory glimpse when we forgive those who sin against us and sing of God’s grace after that forgiveness. How will you give a glory glimpse this week? How can you help the world see God?
The world needs to see God, and we can make him known if we love one another. Give a glory glimpse. Paul writes to the church of God at Corinth:
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:4–6)
Beloved, we do not proclaim ourselves when we love. We proclaim the glory of the one who loved us first. Give a glimpse of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
[1] Stott, J. R. W. (1988). The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 19, pp. 161–162). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.