Nothing more accurately describes God than the word love. Conversely, nothing more accurately describes love than the word God.

Transcription

1 New Testament Challenge! Pt. 11 "Live Love!" 1 John 4: Don Lawrence We are in the final two weeks of our New Testament Challenge series. This week s message is based on the readings from James, 1st and 2nd Peter, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and Jude. Specifically, our message today is taken from 1 John. 1 John 4: Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. There are three wonderful words at the end of verse 8: God is love! 1. God is love Nothing more accurately describes God than the word love. Conversely, nothing more accurately describes love than the word God. 1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. God s entire essence, His whole being, His very nature, is love. Love is the ultimate motivation in everything He does. This is great news for us, because this means that God loves you! He can t help himself! He is a loving, compassionate, caring, attentive Heavenly Father. Ephesians 2:4-5 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ... We are alive in Christ because of God s great love for us. We are Christians because of God s great love for us. We have the promise of eternal life because of God s great love for us.

2 It is His very nature to love you. And please understand, it s not because of how wonderful we are! It s not that we deserve that love or that we have earned that love or that we are worthy of that love. On the contrary, Romans 5:8, God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The most well known verse in the Bible explains the depth of that love: John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. The psalmist would agree with that sentiment. He wrote, Psalm 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. God is love. God loves you. An unknown author wrote the following, God is Crazy about you. If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart. What about the Christmas gift He sent you in Bethlehem; not to mention Friday at Calvary. Face it, He's crazy about you. 1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! Notice that key word, lavished! What a fabulous word. Isn t it great to know that God s love is lavished on you! He doesn t hold anything back. You are simply inundated with it! You re covered in love! God loves you! 2. Christians are required to love. We tend to think of love as an option. We tend to think of love as being selective. Most people think they can pick and choose who to love. Not for the Christian. Love is required. It s more than suggested It s more than encouraged It is more than just a good thing to do. As a Christian, you are commanded to love others. Love is a requirement of all Christians.

3 Look at our key verses: 1 John 4:7 & 11 7 Dear friends, let us love one another we also ought to love one another. We are supposed to be a loving people. Loving others is a direct command of Jesus: John 13:34 (Jesus said) A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. Notice the word command and notice the word must. Christians are required to love. Love is not just something you should do. It is something you must do, if you are to be a true Christian. In fact, love fulfills all the commandments. Romans 13:10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. In our key verses, John uses some very strong words to drive home this point: 1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God. That s an extreme statement! Why is that true? Because, as we ve already discussed, God IS love. If you truly know God, if God is a part of your life, if God s spirit indwells you, you will be a loving person. A lack of love shows a lack of God s presence in you. Later in this same chapter, John goes on to say: 1 John 4: If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. Again, incredibly strong words. Calling someone a liar should not be taken lightly. It is certainly out of character for the Apostle John to be so in-your-face. But, he s driving home his point. You simply cannot say you love God while simultaneously hating someone. Because: God-is-love! We are commanded to love God and to love one another. God requires this of us. Loving others isn t always easy but it is indeed what the Lord expects from us. Speaking of loving others, I like this greeting card I saw years ago:

4 If I had an ice cream cone, I d give you half. If I had six candy bars, I d give you three. If I had two apples, one would be yours. If I won the lottery, I d send you a post card from Tahiti. Loving others is sometimes easier said than done! Because it s so much more than just feelings and emotions and flowery, feel-good talk. It s best reflected in the way you treat people, the things you do for others. Galatians 5:14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: Love your neighbor as yourself. It is required that we love others. It s not merely an emotional feeling the Bible speaks of when it speaks of loving others. It s the way we treat others. The way we interact with others. This leads us to our last two points: 3. We are forgiven because of love. You see, we re guilty. Spiritually speaking, we ve broken the law. We ve sinned. We should be punished. However, instead of begin punished, we are forgiven. Because of love! 1 John 4: This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. God sent his son to be a living sacrifice for our sins. Why did he do that? Because He loves us. Why are we pardoned? Because He loves us. Why are we forgiven? Because He loves us. Why do we have the promise of eternal life? Because He loves us. 1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. God s love for us was proven at the cross. Jesus Christ, God incarnate, willingly gave His life for our salvation. His love for us has been proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt. 1 John 4:10 says that Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. The Apostle Paul elaborates upon this when he writes,

5 1 Corinthians 6:11 You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Wow! Those are some very religious sounding words. Sanctified! Justified! What do those words mean? It means you were pardoned. You were forgiven. You get to go to heaven. IF you are in Jesus Christ. Notice the verse, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ You are pardoned because of love, in the name of Jesus. 4. Love is our best testimony about the Lord. Love is irresistible. In a world that is starved for love, if the church will learn this principle and be a loving community, it will draw people to Christ. 1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. God dwells where love exists. Therefore, if you want to introduce someone to the Lord, it begins with love! The best way to show them how to get to heaven is to love them into heaven. John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. Like God, we should be motivated by love to share the message of salvation with others. People want to be loved. They will respond to love. According to Amazon.com, there are at least 32,507 books currently in print with the word "love" in the title and over 11,000 popular albums/cds with "love" in the title. If you were to do a google-search on the internet, you d discover at least 121,000,000 web-sites that use the word "love" as one of their key words. People want to know about love because people want to BE loved! People will respond to genuine, real, authentic love. There are people all around you who are hurting, who are lonely, who are confused, who are going through tough times, who ve been abused, who ve been used, who feel betrayed, who ve been abandoned... There are people all around you who simply need to be loved. 1 John 4:11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

6 Among other things, love is very pragmatic. Love doesn t allow for indifference toward others. Love doesn t tolerate an attitude of unconcern about others. Love is not apathetic to the hurts, challenges and needs of others. 1 John 3: If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. Actions speak louder than words. If you love someone you do good things for them. Caring for and caring about others is the natural by-product of love. Actions speak louder than words. There are so many ways to lovingly care for others. But at the top of the list: There is no better thing you can do for another individual than to share with them the way in which they, too, can have eternal life. There is no better thing you can do for someone else than to tell them about the love God has for them. Love is our best testimony about the Lord. Why? Because, God is love. And we are back where we started. God is love. Have you responded to God s love?