1 John 4:7-21                     5 February 2017

THE GREATEST OF ALL

If 1 Corinthians 13 is the greatest chapter on love in the Bible then 1 John 4 would have to be the second greatest chapter on love. In the 21 verses of chapter 4 love is mentioned 26 times.

So why does John harp on above love all the time in this letter. Because love is the one quality above all else that should characterise us Christians and yet it is the one area where we seem to fail so often.

There are churches that pride themselves on their excellent facilities, organisation, programmes, technology, music, personalities, preaching, but are they known above everything else because of their love for one another. This, said Jesus, is what should define us as His followers more than anything else.

Ill. Many of you may know that when I was 4 years old my parents broke up and I was placed in a orphanage. So I didn’t really experience the love of a mother and a father. And even when my father remarried and I went to live with him, he had become an alcoholic and was incapable of showing love. So I grew up not really knowing what real love was.  

When I became a Christian I attended a church youth camp and what really impacted me was the love I experienced from these Christian young people. It just blew me away. They were not like ordinary young people, they genuinely loved and cared for each other. When I came home from that camp, I went into my room and just broke down. I had never experienced such selfless, genuine love in my whole life. For the first time in my life I now had a real family who truly cared for me and loved me. In that environment I could heal, grow and develop as a believer.

This is the way it should be among Christians.

Let’s look at the passage this morning under 4 headings:

Love: begins with God v7-10

Is deposited in us believers v11-16

Is perfected in us believers v17-19

Is commanded of us believers v20-21

LOVE ORIGINATED IN GOD v7-10

Every human being is born with a deep longing to be loved and to love. Without love, life is just a mechanical, meaningless existence. People who have never loved or been loved are the most tragic people in the world. In fact if a baby does not receive love, it can actually waste away and die. 

Ill. Years ago in orphanages, those who cared for abandoned babies discovered a wasting disease developing in the children. It was called Marasmus. They researched the cause and found that it was often the result of not being held and cuddled. The workers did things for the babies but never gave themselves to the children, they didn’t get personally or emotionally involved and the children were literally starved of love and were wasting away. The orphanages advertised for women to come and give these children loving emotional support. Local mothers started coming into the orphanages to fulfil this need and the disease soon disappeared. 

Where did this wonderful quality, love, originate from? God. God is love.

Love is not love unless it is being expressed. It cannot exist on its own. Love has always been part of God’s nature and character because He has always had someone to love. And we read about that someone in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.” That Word was God’s Son.

Jesus often spoke about the relationship He had with His Father before time began and it was the most loving relationship anyone could have with another person. Pure, perfect, unconditional love. And that love relationship was so wonderful that God wanted to multiply it to include others. So He created human beings in His own image which means He gave them the same characteristics as He has and the greatest of these was the ability to be loved and to love in return.

God brought you and me into this world for the very same reason you brought your children into this world. So that you would have someone to love and love you in return. The greatest gift your children can give you is to know that they love you. Am I right?

But we know what happened after God created us human beings; we rebelled against Him, rejected His love and chose to live apart from Him. In doing this we brought upon ourselves all the evils and sadness that have come into our world – resulting in death itself.

But even after that God still loved us and sent His only Son to take the blame and punishment for our rebellion so that we could come back to God.

V10. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

The truth is that we didn’t love God. In spite of all God has done for us in giving us life and all the benefits of this amazing world – we did not love Him, recognise Him, honour Him or give thanks to Him.

In fact, left to our own devices we wouldn’t even give God the time of day; that is how self-centred we have become. But, praise God, He took the initiative and reached out to us.

Christianity is unique in that it begins with God loving us and reaching out to us. It’s not about us searching for God it’s about God coming into our world in the person of Jesus to find us. [The Son of man came to seek and save…].

Every other religion says that if you want to find God you have to take the initiative. You have to pray, fast, give, observe certain religious practices, go through certain rites and rituals etc, etc.

Even in churches there are people who are trying to get through to God, to gain His favour, to get to heaven by doing stuff. But they have missed the whole point – God loves you and sent His Son into this world to reach you. And even now God is reaching out to you and He asks you to simply take His hand and let Him lead you in the right and true path.

GOD’S LOVE IS DEPOSITED IN US v11-16

John makes an amazing statement here. No one has ever seen God, but when we believers love each other God can be seen in us.

Try and grasp that this morning. When we believers truly love each other as Christ has loved us, we will know the reality and presence of God among us like never before.

Ill. Years ago I lead a men’s weekend retreat. And at that retreat we spent time in small groups opening our hearts to one another. We shared our joys, our sorrows, our faults, failures and weaknesses with each other and praying for each other. As the weekend progressed the walls and facades came down and men became transparent and vulnerable towards each other. They got to know each other at a deeper level than they had ever before.

On the Sunday morning we gathered around the communion table and sat quietly preparing ourselves for the Lord’s Supper. The presence of God in that room was almost tangible. One by one men began to break down and weep, overwhelmed by the love of God and love of one another. I can still see one young man on his hands and knees sobbing his heart out with his nose running right down to the floor. I don’t think any of those men will ever forget that weekend. 

V12 “If we love each other, God lives in us, among us and his love is brought to full expression in us.”

If we as a church truly love one another as Jesus has loved us – people would come into this place and say, “God is here in these people.”

This love is not something we have to try and work up, or force. God’s love began with God and has been deposited into our lives by the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5. If you have Gods Spirit in you, you have God’s love in you. God just wants you to express it to others. And if you really have God’s Spirit living in you, you will not only have God’s love but God’s truth. “All who have God living in them confess that Jesus is the Son of God.”

In order to love someone we need to know the truth about them. Its only when we know the truth about Jesus that we can really love Him.

If our Christian faith is all love and no truth – we will end up standing for nothing and falling for anything. It will all be based on feelings and emotions – without any substance.

If our Christian faith is all truth and no love we will become legalistic, hard, uncaring and unfeeling. Machines.

Paul gave the balance when he said in Ephesians 4, “Speak the truth in love.”

IS PERFECTED IN US v17-19

v17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

When John Wesley was asked what he believed holiness was he said, “It is being perfected in love.”

Which means that every thought, word and action is motivated by love for God and others. Imagine living in a world where everyone spoke, thought and acted like that. I believe that is what heaven will like.

And John says here that as we live in God and He lives in us our love will become more perfect. The more we allow God’s love to flow through us to others, the more loving we will become. I find this the greatest challenge of the Christian life. To choose every day to follow the path of love.

Ill. Not so long ago a fellow Christian  said some very hurtful thing to me and as I reflected on what was said, I saw it as an attack of Satan to try and get me to react resentfully, but I also saw it as a test from the Lord to see if I would respond in love. I chose the way Jesus taught us – to love, to bless and to pray for that person. I’m not saying that I have got it all together, I haven’t and I get wrong at times, but I want to become a more loving person and grow in love as John says here.  

A well known Christian leader put it this way, “Every day I am tested in the area of love. There’s nothing I am less good at. I am far better in competition than in love; far better at responding to my instincts to get ahead, than at figuring out how to love another. I’m schooled and trained in getting my own way. And yet I choose every day to set aside what I do best, and attempt to do what I do very clumsily – open myself to the frustrations and failures of loving, daring to believe that failing in love is better than succeeding in pride”.

We might be successful in many other things in our Christian life, but if we fail to love, all the rest means nothing.

This is the greatest challenge we all face as Christians every time we meet a situation where we could easily give into resentment, selfishness, indifference. Do we just go along with it or choose to respond in love?

In fact, I believe this will be the most important question Jesus will ask us when we stand before his judgement seat. Did you obey my commandment to love as I have loved you?

John says that if live in God and allow His love to be expressed through us we won’t be ashamed on the Day of Judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

In v18 John says as we grow in our love for God and each other, fear gradually disappears. This is so true in our love for God. As we grow in our love for God we come to know Him as He really is. That He is not a harsh, disciplinarian who makes impossible demands on us and punishes us when we fail. He is a loving, forgiving Father who wants nothing but the very best for us and when we realise this, His love for us drives out the fear of punishment and replaces it with loving trust. When we love God like this, the only fear we know is the fear of ever offending or grieving the One who loves us so deeply.

The same thing applies in our relationships with our fellow Christians. When love each other as Christ loved us, we don’t need to be afraid of being hurt or offended because God’s perfect love within us enables us to forgive and keep on loving.

Why can we believers keep loving and forgiving each other, because God first loved us? When you have received Gods’ unconditional love, acceptance and forgiveness and know how it cost Him, it’s so much easier to love, accept and forgive each other. God’s example inspires us and motivates us.

We love because He first loved us.

As I said earlier, “I didn’t know what real love was until I came to Jesus and experienced Gods unconditional love, acceptance and forgiveness. My first real experience of genuine love was when God filled my heart with His love. And I soon discovered that I began to love others. God’s love began to flow through me to others, and it hasn’t stopped.”

I love because He first loved me.

IS COMMANDED OF US v20-21

Ill. A friend of mine often used to share her concerns about her children with me. They were adults and there always seemed to be conflict among them. One wasn’t speaking to the other and another had physically attacked the other. When there were family get togethers this one or that one refused to come if one of the others was there. She was heartbroken because of the conflict and disunity in the family. She longed for her children to forgive and be reconciled, but there is still this ongoing animosity and she may never live to see them come together. 

Imagine how God feels when He sees His children fighting, arguing, holding grudges and separating themselves from one another. If my friend’s heart was broken by this behaviour among her children how much more must God’s heart break when this goes on among His children. 

Ill. As a parent and a grandparent one of the most special times for me is when we have a family get together. My children and their spouses and the grandchildren all love each other and get on so well together. My heart bursts with joy when I see this and that is how God must feel when He sees His children loving each other and caring for one another.

John said emphatically that no one can honestly say they love God and at the same time resent a fellow believer and if they do they say that, they are lying. Why? Because Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” The true test that we love God is that we do what He commands us to do and here is the command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.”

Let’s be honest, some Christians are not easy to love and some we find hard to even like.

If God loved us simply because we were loveable or likeable He wouldn’t find that many people He could love. But God loves us not because we are loveable or likeable but because it is His nature to love.

And God wants us to love our Christian brothers and sisters not because they are loveable or likeable, but because God loves and them and He has placed His love in our hearts to love them.

It’s simply a matter of praying, “Lord fill me with your love for this person”, and then begin to treat them as you would like to be treated and in time you will surprise yourself. You will discover that you actually genuinely love them from your heart.

Ill. Dr George Crane was a pastor who was approached one day by a Christian lady who was full of hatred towards her husband. She said to George that her husband had hurt her so that she not only wanted to divorce him but to punish him for the way he had treated her.” Dr. Crane suggested a clever plan. “Go home and act as if you really love your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for all his good points. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to make him happy. Make him believe you love him. Then after you’ve convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him, drop the bomb. Tell him that you’re getting a divorce. That will really hurt him.”  

With revenge in her eyes, she smiled and said, “That is a great idea. I can’t wait to get started. Man. is he in for the shock of his life.” And she did it with great enthusiasm. Acting “as if she really loved him”.  For two months she showed love, kindness, listening, giving, reinforcing, sharing.  

She never returned to see Dr.Crane and finally he rang her. “Are you ready to go through with the divorce?” 

“Divorce?” she exclaimed. “Never! I discovered I really do love him.” By choosing to act lovingly she grew to love him. Her actions had changed her feelings. That is why God commanded us to love, it is not just a feeling, it is a commitment, choice to act lovingly. And when you do the feelings look after themselves.