God Is Love

This is the 8th sermon in a series of messages through the New Testament book of First John. This sermon is based on 1 John 4:7-21 and presents John's message regarding the topic of love. John declares the eternal truth, "God is love." Then he describes other aspects of love that logically follow from that eternal truth. The theme of this message was very appropriate for the celebration of communion which was conducted at the end of the sermon. The video recording of the worship service in which this sermon was preached can be viewed by clicking here.

Written Excerpts:

1 John 4:8 (NKJV)  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Introduction:

A modern fable about love: (I shared this about 7 years ago for an Advent Candle reading.)

A prince wanted to find a maiden suitable to be his queen. One day while running an errand in the local village for his father, he passed through a poor section. As he glanced out the windows of the carriage, his eyes fell upon a beautiful peasant maiden. During the ensuing days he often passed by the young lady and soon fell in love.

But he had a problem. How would he seek her hand? He could order her to marry him. But even a prince wants his bride to marry him freely and voluntarily and not through coercion. He could put on his most splendid uniform and drive up to her front door in a carriage drawn by six horses. But if he did this, he would never be certain that the maiden loved him or was simply overwhelmed with all of the splendor.

The prince came up with another solution. He gave up his kingly robe and he moved into the village in the garb of a peasant. He lived among the people, shared their interests and concerns, and talked their language. Of course, he spent as much time with the maiden as possible. In time the maiden grew to love him, because of who he was and because he loved her first.

Just like the prince in the fable, Jesus came into our world, spoke our language, experienced our pain, joy and sorrows, then willingly gave up His life so our souls could be saved.

1 John 4:9 ^(NKJV) In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

The second sermon I preached in this series, looking at the verses in chapter one, we talked about a verse that said, “God is light.” I mentioned how light is provided as a description of who God is – His essential nature. Now, in chapter four, the verses we want to cover today include a statement, “God is Love.” Love is also a description of who God is.

(Pulpit Commentary) As [the phrase] "God is Light" sums up the Being of God intellectually considered, so [the phrase] "God is Love" sums up the [Being of God morally]. 

Let us look at John’s message in this chapter to acquire a fresh reminder of God’s love and what it implies for Christian believers. As we do this, my outline for the message will not follow the order of the verses as I have often done before, but will be presented in a more logical order using verses where they logically fit into the discussion about love.

I.              Statement of fact: God is Love. (vv. 8b, 16b)

Several years ago, I preached a series of messages on the proper concepts of God. God’s love is one of his attributes that we discussed.

I said…

A. Love is what God IS, not something He HAS.

In Scripture God declares, “Be holy for I am holy.”

1 John (4:8, 16) says God is love. “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love…. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

Some theologians have stated that the core of God’s nature is holy-love and everything else springs from that absolutely perfect balance of holiness and love.

(S. Guthrie, Christian Doctrine) “He is not sometimes loving and sometimes unloving. He does not love some people and hate others. He is love, and everything He does, always, with everyone, is loving, because His very nature is love.”

B. God’s love is universal. (Jn. 3:16)

C. God’s love is unconditional. (Rom. 5:8)

D. God’s love is costly. (1 Jn. 4:9-10)

E. God’s love is jealous. Exodus 34:14 for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Nazarene theologian, H. Orton Wiley, says one of the qualities of love is the desire to possess the object of love.

II.             God is the source of love. (vv. 7b, 10, 19)

The fact that we love God and love others and the reason why we ought to love God and others is linked to the fact that God loved us first. The implication is: we couldn’t love Him or anyone else if it wasn’t for His love.

Romans 5:5 ^(KJV) And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

If God is love, then He is the source of all other love.

III.           Love is manifested in multiple ways.

Genuine love is active. Love is not simply philosophical. When love is present, something is going to happen, whether we’re talking about God or about us.

A. God manifested His love by giving His Son. (vv. 9-10, 14)

God’s love was revealed, manifested, and demonstrated by the sending of His own Son into our world. And, the reason? So He could be the propitiation for our sins. Back in chapter 2 we discussed the meaning of propitiation.

“propitiation” – a Gk. word that means to satisfy the judgment and wrath of deity. It is sometimes translated “atoning sacrifice.”

Some scholars believed the word needed to be translated as “atoning sacrifice” because they believed the emphasis needed to be directed away from the normal pagan aspect of satisfying the wrath of a deity to emphasize the aspect of covering of our sins. But both concepts (satisfying of judgment/wrath and the covering of sins) are important. The Bible is clear that God's wrath is directed toward all sin.

B. We manifest His love by loving others. (vv. 11-12, 20-21)

I could have said “we manifest OUR love by loving others” but I truly believe it is more accurate to say “We manifest HIS love…” The outflow of God’s love in us produces a natural outflow of His love through us to others. His love motivates us and moves us to act in loving ways when we normally wouldn’t have.

IV.           Love produces other results.

(Stott, TNTC) The belief and love, which John has been urging upon his readers, are now assumed, and deductions are drawn from them… The divine-human person of Jesus Christ, God’s love for us, and our love for God and neighbor cannot be separated. The theology which robs Christ of his Godhead, thereby robs God of the glory of his love, and robs us of the one belief that can generate a mature love within us.

A. Love produces spiritual fellowship. (vv. 13, 15, 16)

Three times (vv. 13, 15, 16) John emphasizes the concept of God abiding in us and we abide in God.

(Stott, TNTC) This, then, is the sequence of thought: we know that we live in God and God in us ‘because he has given us of his Spirit’ (v. 13), and we know he has given us of his Spirit because we have come to ‘acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God’ (v. 15), and to live ‘in love’ (v. 16).

B. Love produces confidence in the day of judgment. (vv. 17-18)

“confidence” (KJV – boldness) openly, freely, without reserve/fear.

cf. 1 John 2:28 ^(NKJV) And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

These two words, confidence and ashamed, are opposites.

(Stott, TNTC) Our confidence (like our obedience in 1 Jn. 2:5) is a sign that our love has been made complete. It is grounded upon the fact that in this world we are like him (sc. Christ).

(Pulpit Commentary) "Herein has love reached its perfection among us Christians, i.e., in the Church, that we have confidence in the day of judgment." This is the perfection of love to have no fear. The ὅτι, introduces the reason for this confidence: its basis is our likeness to Christ. especially in being united to the Father.

(Tom Thatcher, Expositor's Bible Commentary, Revised) “Fear” is not used here in the healthy sense of a respect and awe toward God, but rather in the negative sense of concern over God’s impending wrath.

We were just talking about this on Wednesday night. In Matthew Jesus says…

Matthew 10:28 ^(KJV) And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

The word fear can mean torment type or reverence type, according to the context. Seems like John is saying that when God’s love is perfected in our hearts, then the consequence will be confidence and openness when we stand before Christ, rather than shame and fear.

Conclusion:

This passage in John’s epistle is an excellent passage to be studying on a day we celebrate Communion. As we prepare to share the sacrament of Communion, let us dwell on the truth of God’s love that was so deep, so real and so passionate that He sent his only Son to earth to die.

That love, when we have received it and understood it, will produce genuine love in our hearts towards others, especially towards our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.

Before we share communion, let us sing this great hymn:

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross