1 John 4 vs 7-11
Before we get into this verse set, let me just say, John is making statements that are very final and very conclusive. There is very little about our Christian experience in life that is final and conclusive other than the position we have in Jesus Christ. So, as we go through this, its not that we will or perhaps can even fully attain, but this is (or should be) the heart cry of every Christian.
1 John Chapter 4 Verses 7 – 11
· Wow! Ten times in five verses John talks about love and direction given is to love one another, the why is given, the how is given…, and in the midst of all this love, it is super challenging! Why? Because he is using the word agape. Which doesn’t mean necessarily things are good or they are good or I am feeling it…, agape is to love and to serve and to put them first even when they are not lovable.
· “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also out to love one another.” How did God love us? While we were yet against Him, Romans 5:8 tells us that Christ made the decision to give Himself up for us… Challenging! AND, John gives us the subtlest of sequencing, the key, the passkey, the blueprint, the secret to how this is to all work as he began this set of challenging commanding scriptures…
· He says there in verse 7 and he starts this section of sharing with the word, “Beloved.” This is for those that have received the love of God. Have registered that love and grace and mercy and acceptance of God the Father through the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son…, NO merit of my own. No goodness of my own. No catalyst on my part. The love of God has just been given to me simply because God is good and God is love and I am wholly undeserving and He is just holy…
· For one that has not received and registered the love of God it is intensely challenging and difficult to then turn and give the same love to others… And interestingly, maturity in the Lord is not what you know or what you’ve memorized or how much you’ve served or how many years you’ve walked, maturity in the Lord is measured solely by the depth of your personal receipt of the love of God in your own heart of hearts…
· A rule of life is hidden here… you ultimately become like that which you worship. Romans 12:1-2, Paul said, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (worship). And (then) do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
· If you have a major issue loving one another, the issue is not them, the issue is your own registration within the love of God towards you! It’s a true maturity issue. It doesn’t mean you aren’t feisty, aggressive, impatient, all of those things. You are still human! It means that all of those things are less of your identity (or you want them to be less of your identity) than the desire to simply love like God loves…
· The Bible commands that we ought to love one another. This is agape love. Entirely unselfish, giving/gift love. It’s a sacrificial love that unites. It’s love as a choice, not an emotion. Agape love is charity. It’s undeserved, unmerited, and yet it is what they need in order to be ok, or more ok than a moment ago… This is the love we are commanded to consider, learn, apply and give…
· And John gives us this truth that agape loves flows from someone who has known God, for God is love. It’s not what He does, its not what He teaches, its not what He talks about, it’s what He is Himself. Love is not God. God is love… (He defines it!) Perhaps examining the word “know” is helpful. This is not know about or know of or understand or having learned about, this is an entirely different thought and it is the Greek word, “ginosko.”
· This word means to become so close to someone that there is almost no separation between the two of you in terms of identity. This is to mix with someone. Finish their sentences. You have become so close that you look like them, act like them, dress like them, like the same things, do the same things, go the same places, have the same mannerism…, much like a best friend, or hopefully a spouse.
· This is the knowledge of God that the Bible speaks about for me and for you, for the church, and it’s rather quite natural as you spend time with Him. Let’s say that I spent every meal with Bobby Flay. I can barely make mac n’ cheese! HA! But day after day, meal after meal, watching him, being there with him, learning, perceiving, understanding, talking with him, getting the secrets…, I will become someone who can whip up some fine dishes…
· And just like that…, as you spend time with God whom is Love Himself…, you get the picture? And this is important because this is what Christianity is. In the end, Jesus didn’t say depart from Me you never came to church, or depart from Me you never knew the truth, or depart from Me you never gave or served at your church…, He said in Matthew 7:23, “Depart from Me, I never knew you…” Guess what word He uses? Ginosko. Crazy critically consequential crucial question here, “Do you know Jesus how I’ve just described?” John says if you do, you will love one another.
· And through that love will come life! That’s verse 9…. And verse 9 also shows us what the definition of love actually is! It says there, “In this the love of God was manifested (painted for us) toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might LIVE through Him!” I don’t know…, this is probably an entire sermon series unto itself…, but when we love others as God loves us, there’s even an element of loving God the way He loves us…, that’s when we actually start to live… Our design, our purpose, our reason, our function is engaged…, activated…, finally things are right. The Bible would use the word righteousness to describe it…
· I wonder if you know why you were created. It certainly wasn’t to start this ministry or work that job or marry that girl or have that child…, these are all parts of life for sure but your purpose and my purpose, the entire reason for human creation is to deploy love into the world. You can disagree with me on that and I know with every fiber of my heart that you are wrong…
· This is why you and I are here… to do this one thing. To love God and to love others. And when you step into that purpose, your heart of hearts illuminates with life. Let me give you just one piece of that in terms of an illustration. This verse, verse 9, also defines love for us. Every heart on every chocolate wrapper, movie label, fashion article, none of those things are love…, they are all something else…
· We use the word lust as lust is desire for someone or something else and in the terms of relationship, it is entirely reciprocal. I love you because you love me. I serve you because you make me happy. Make me feel a certain way. I want you, I need you, I yearn for you…, all of that the world calls love and its not. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, its just self-centered…, its not love.
· Love was painted for us that while we were yet against God, Christ died for us. Verse 10 says, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and (action) sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Propitiation is a big word but it essentially means that while we were without, Jesus went and gained us favor in the righteousness and holiness of God. Another big word used in some scholarly circles is expiation. Same thought, that while we were yet terrible (not you, not me specifically, creation as a whole), God Himself made atonement for all of the wrongs every committed… It means literally that Jesus has “robbed all sin of their validities and significance!”
· So, love was painted. It was defined. Love is not to demand that you affirm me. Love is not to take something from you so that I can have something. Love is not to reciprocate affection. Love is to care for another when they care nothing about you… The world knows nothing of this love. And so how does that make me live…? Ready for this. Check this out!
· Many or most or perhaps 99% of all humans, Christians included, live in a mental reality of what psychologists call the law of reciprocal affection. And it is a main if not THE contributor to depression, substance abuse, relationship problems and hopelessness. This is the human condition where you withhold love until you are loved and you only love if you are loved. What you are doing, and why this rips you off, takes you out of WHY you were created in the first place, what you are doing is allowing everyone and every circumstance to control who you are, how you act and ultimately how you feel. You are basically giving other people and the world complete control over your heart…
· Jesus came to set the captive FREE. And freedom is that I get to control. I am the one that dictates who I will become. Jesus died to give me that right. To set me free from the power of sin which in many ways is to dull the mind, arrest the heart and suffer the life. So, through love, guess who is in complete control…? Absolutely ME. And that freedom is the ZAO life spoken of in verse 9 and defined for us in verse 10…, this is your purpose.
· To actually not be controlled. But to control. To overcome as Jesus put it…, not through lording authority over the world and the people in it…, looking down on others and judging others, standing in the place of the accuser of the brethren…, Jesus said that is what actually entraps a mind and a heart, but that you would give of yourself, to love as Christ has loved you, and in that take 100% of your life back from the one who seeks to destroy you… “Beloved,” there it is again…, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also out to love one another…” And be like Him… We bear His name…
· What are we known for? The church? Are we known in this world as the ones who love like this? My how we have failed… What are you known for…? Not how you make people feel…, stop centering your watermarks on feelings…, sometimes loving someone means correcting, rebuking, flipping some tables…., but are you in your heart of hearts concerned only with what is best for them? No one else is going to give an account of you…., you will give an account of you. What are you known for?