The Last Wish – Love (2/17/19 Topical 1 John 4:7-12)
ATTN: I was sharing the gospel with a young lady recently and she asked me, “Is it okay to love God but not love the church people?” Now, I know why she asked. She’s been to churches where people weren’t very nice – they were gossippy, contentious and pushy. So I told her, “If we understand that God loved us even though we were against Him, then when we become His followers, we ought to love the imperfect people like the church.”
As a matter of fact, the Bible says that what marks a Christian is our love. It’s not a big fat Bible we carry, or what denomination we belong to or that we listen to Christian radio station all day long, but that we love one another – especially those who are hard to love. We want to be a church marked by love.
Background: The Apostle John is writing this to encourage the churches in his old age. He has seen the risen Lord. He has taken care of Mary, Jesus’ mother as his own mother. He has seen his friends, Jesus’ disciples persecuted and die before his eyes. And he has seen the great revelation of how everything is going to end as written in the book of revelation. Now, what would such a sage say to the churches? What would his last words, therefore most important, words be? Love one another.
This passage answers 3 questions: 1. Why should we love one another? 2. What does love look like? 3. How should we love?
- Why should we love one another?
Because it will display the fact that we belong to God. See how John makes that argument. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.” The word, “for,” there can be translated “because” or “since” – indicating cause and effect. The reason why we should love one another is because love comes from God. And if love comes from God and we have God in us, then we will inherit that love from God. It’s like hugging a person drenched in water; we will get wet, too. If we know God and we have become His children, then we will inherit one of His primary characteristics, which is love. If we flip this, a person who is not loving is not a child of God – not a Christian! V. 8 makes this clear: “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
So, get this: A person may know the Bible better than anyone else, may be involved ministries, or even mission works, give his tithes, and holds a high position in church – in other words, someone like me – may not even be a Christian if he does not love. The Greatest evidence of our love for God or that we are saved is our love for the church – not bible knowledge, not our position at church, not how much we give in tithes, and not even loving just anyone, but the church – the imperfect people of God!
It is no evidence that you are saved when you love your family. Because even non-Christians love their family. Luke 6:32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
It is no evidence that you are saved when you love your own kind – people just like you: Your own age, your own race, your own social status, because again non-Christians love their own kind, but when we love those inside the church who are so different from us, but because they are god’s children and our brothers and sisters, that’s a sure sign that you’ve been touched by God.
Our love for God and therefore the evidence of our salvation is best demonstrated by our love for the body of Christ – the church. A person who says, “I love God but I have no desire to be involved in any church,” is a liar.
- What does love look like?
There is no point in speaking about loving one another if we do not know what love looks like. Thankfully, John answers that question here: 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.
- Sacrificial.
Love costs us something. God sent his only son into the world. Love cost God His son’s life. It took sacrifice – his most prized possession for our good. If we are to demonstrate love for one another, it ought to cost us something. No one feels loved when they get leftovers. If I told my children I will spend time with them only when I’m done with everything else, they won’t feel loved. It ought to be costing us something. It may be our time. It may be our comfort. It may be adjusting our family time so that we can be with one another.
For example, I know 12:15 pm service time is difficult for a lot of you because it’s smack dab in the middle of the the day. And that’s why I am so thankful to you all because I know you have to sacrifice your toddler’s nap time to be here, or sacrifice your football game or fishing or golfing to be here. But when you do, you are demonstrating that this is your priority. Gathering with a body of Christ even though it’s very convenient shows that this matters to you.
ILL: If you are in a relationship and your girl-friend said to you, “Hey honey, I’m sorry but we will have to cancel our date again because I’m going out with my friends…” Now, once or twice is fine but if she did itpretty consistently, what she’s communicating to you is that her friends matter to her more than you.
David said, “I will not give to the Lord that which did not cost me anything.”
Love is sacrificial.
- Love Initiates
Love does not wait until the beloved is worthy or deserving. That would be a reward and not love. V. 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.
In other words, God initiated his loving act toward us even though we were undeserving. He didn’t wait until we cleaned up our act and started turning toward Him. “While we were still sinners, christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
So, love is proactive rather than reactive. Love does not think: “Well, if she admits her fault, then I will start talking to her again.” No, you never stop being loving whether she deserves it or not. Doesn’t mean you don’t rebuke or correct, but you do it in the spirit of love for the good of the person. Love is proactive. It is never passive-aggressive nor stonewalls.
- Love transforms
Not only does love sacrifice and initiate, but love also transforms the object of 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.
God does not love us so that we might live any way we please, but so that we might live through Him. What would a life that is living through Jesus look like? A life that is in full dependence on God for the maximum joy we can have in Him. It will look like the life of Jesus Himself. So, love rightly applied will transforms us to become like Jesus.
APP: That is the goal of loe. Love is not simply providing what is needed for the good of the beloved, although that is a part of it. If we are breaking our backs providing food, clothes and shelter for our children, but we will not teach them to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, then we are not loving them like we ought. What good is it if we help our children gain the world, but they lose their soul? Like you, I want my children to do well in school, learn skills, and be popular with their friends, but the one thing I want more than anything else, the thing I’ve praying since before they were born is that they will have a vital relationship with Christ and that they will love Jesus and want to be like Him in every way.
If we are super kind and generous to our non-Christian friends, but we never mention or confront them with Jesus Christ, then we are not loving them like we ought. We are watching them succeed on their way to hell…! How can we be loving when we know they are going to hell and yet we will not warn them about it?
The most loving thing we can do for anybody is to lead them to Christ and teach them the joy of knowing Christ and becoming like Him.
Love strives for transformation.
III. How do we become loving?
A while ago I heard this preached, and it stuck with me: “Only those who have been loved can love.” How do you teach someone to love? Sit him in a classroom and have him memorize the definition of love and give him homework practicing love? No. You cannot expect someone to squeeze out what is not there. Only a person who is full of love can share that love that is in him. The only way a person becomes loving is if someone else pours love into that person.
Experientially, I find this to be true. I can’t tell you how many young ladies I’ve known who became sexually promiscuous because her daddy wasn’t around to pour love into her. Or boys who act up because his daddy wasn’t around to pour love into him. Moms and dads were supposed to be the smile of God in their souls, and their love representing God’s love, but they weren’t around to pour love into them, and so with their love meter on empty, they will try to find it anywhere they can – even if it means giving away their bodies or join a gang for a sense of belonging.
If flowers grow on rain and sun, cows grow on grass, then human beings grow on love. They may look normal and fine on the outside, but how many people are shriveled up inside because of lack of love. Pastors are no exception to this rule. The most memorable quote that I remember from the Pastor’s Conference was spoken by a young black pastor. He said, “A shepherd will feed on his sheep if He does not find his contentment in God.” Rather than feeding his sheep, he will feed ON his sheep because he’s trying to find his worth and value from his sheep and using them to get what he wants from them. In other words, if we have been deprived of love, then we will try to find love in all the wrong places.
So, where do we find love? What about those of us who grew up without parents or loving influence around? Are we condemned to a lifetime of depravity and love-seeking? No. God is love. Have you received this love from God? Have you let this simple phrase be saturated down to your soul?: God loves you. Jesus loves you. Was there ever a moment in your life when it dawned on you that God truly loves you and you felt it with your emotions? And it put tears to your eyes at the realization that God truly loves you? You should seek for that experience. It is God’s will for you to experience it.
If I can summarize the whole Bible in a few words, it’s God saying to us: I made you to love on you and give you joy. Yet you left me and went after useless things and lost your joy. Yet, I still loved you and proved it by giving my Son for you. Return to me by renouncing your ways and gain that joy in me again by trusting in my Son and becoming like Him.
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