The Application of God's Love
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Introduction
Introduction
Paul showed us the dimensions of God’s love.
1. Breadth - His love is vast, as vast as the expanse of space.
2. Length - His love is eternal. He has loved us with an everlasting love. He loved us before the creation of the world, he loved us before we were born, he loves us in time and he will continue to love us into eternity. There has never been a time nor ever will be when he does not love us.
3. Height - This is the extent to which he plans to take us. He has seated us with Christ in heavenly places, he has prepared a place for us in the heavens. He will return someday in the clouds and take us to live in his home in heaven. The height of his love is to the heavens.
4. Depth - How very far he descended to bring us to God. He was eternal God who became finite man, he became a servant, he went to the cross and suffered at the hands of the very ones he created.
John helps us to consider the application of God’s love.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is 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.
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.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Message
Message
1. The Essence of Love
1. The Essence of Love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Throughout the book of 1 John, he will use the Greek word agape multiple times. In chapter 4 alone, he will use the word 18 times to express the love of God.
Three words are translated ‘love’ in the New Testament.
Eros - this is physical love and someone has said, this form of love is all take
Phileo - this is brotherly love, the love of a friend to another friend and someone has said, that this sort of love is give and take.
And agape - the word used to describe the love of God. Sacrificial, self-denying love. And someone has said, that this sort of love is all give.
And John uses this word, agape, throughout his letter.
And here in verses 7 & 8 he tells us that the very nature of God is Love. “God is Love”
To say it another way, God is the fountain head of love. He is the spring from which all love flows.
And the question may be asked, “Well, if love means we are born of God, does that mean that anyone who has some measure of love for someone else is also born of God?”
That is a good question, we should take moment to answer.
It’s within the context of John’s letter, God gives the answer.
This letter is to the church. It is written to those who claim to follow Jesus. He calls us ‘Beloved’.
He has called the church to emulate the love of Christ, to one another, and in so doing, he sets down for us the context of love. And he does all of that so that we can know without any doubt that we have been saved.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
He wants us to know that we are truly saved, and those who are born again, love fellow believers, just like God loved sinful man.
When the Bible says that God is love, it means that his love is self-sacrificing. It is a generous love that is always giving, always loving.
And to demonstrate exactly how God has loved us, John shows the example of God’s love.
2. The Example of God’s Love
2. The Example of God’s 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.
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.
There are two meanings to the word ‘agape’ the first comes from ancient Greek. It means the love of God for us and our love for one another.
But a more recent use of the word changed the pronunciation but not the absolute meaning. To stand ‘agape’ is to stand with your mouth wide open in surprise and wonder.
There is an awe that causes a person to stand with mouth opened wide. You’ve been shocked before by something that someone said or what they may have done and your mouth fell open. That’s agape, that is awe, wonder.
That is what the love of God does to the believer. It causes an astonishment and we stand in wonder and awe.
The great awe inspiring, jaw dropping example of God’s love wasn’t a love letter, although he has given us many love letters.
It was not a present like you might find under the tree at Christmas time. No, it was a person, the expression of God’s love was the giving of his Son.
But Jesus wasn’t just sent here to look around, right? He wasn’t an inspector, he didn’t just come down to say, “Hey all you sinners, God loves you, but you are still going to hell.” No, Jesus came as the atoning sacrifice.
The KJV, the Authorized Version, and the ESV all say he was our propitiation. That’s a fancy word that means he was the satisfaction of our debt.
He satisfied the eternal debt our sin had enslaved us to.
He identified with our weakness, he took upon his divine nature the aspects of humanity and he took upon himself the responsibility of all of mankind’s sin.
Jesus told this story in another way, the story is told in Matthew 18. He was really telling his own story but this is what he said.
Matthew 18:23–35 (ESV)
23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.
24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. (an infinite debt)
25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’
27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, (a debt of three months wages) and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’
29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’
30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.
31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.
32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.
35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
And now let us look at the application of God’s love
3. The Application of God’s love
3. The Application of God’s love
The debt that was paid for us was an infinite debt that no matter how long we lived, we could not have paid it.
In eternity the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit discussed the coming sin disaster. They knew before they created us, that we would rebel.
But they also knew that the horrible penalty for that rebellion would forever separate us from God. And long before the first drop of blood flowed through any living creatures circulatory system, the Father - Son - Holy Spirit made a covenant together, that a blood sacrifice would be accepted as payment.
“Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.”
But because the rebellion brought an eternal debt, the blood sacrifice would need to be eternal as well.
This is why so many blood sacrifices of innocent animals, sheep, goats, bulls, birds, numbering in the thousands upon thousands would not be sufficient to eternally cover the sins of humanity.
God’s righteousness demanded the payment
God’s holiness could not accept less than full payment And
God’s love provided the satisfactory payment
Year after year sacrifices was made to cover over sin and yet it was not sufficient.
By the way, a couple of weeks ago, five red heifers arrived in Israel from a cattle ranch in Texas. Every hair on each cow will be looked at carefully to ensure that only red hair is on the cattle. This is necessary for the ritual cleansing of the priests for the future temple. The Jews right now are preparing for future sacrifices to begin again.
Since Herod’s Temple was destroyed by Titus in 70AD there have been no official sacrifices for sin. But until that moment in history when the Temple was completely destroyed, thousands upon thousands of animals were sacrificed annually, to cover the sin of the people.
God knew those sacrifices were insufficient to forever blot out sin, so, the triune godhead together made a covenant that the Son would take upon himself humanity.
And in the right moment within history, he would express the supreme example of self-sacrificing love. He would offer his life as the permanent atoning sacrifice.
How should we respond to this expression of love?
Listen to John as he applies the Love of God:
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
Don’t you dare say you can’t forgive the wrong done to you by a brother or sister in Christ. Don’t you dare say, you cannot love that person over there.
He has given us his Spirit, he has loved us supremely, generously, he has loved us with an everlasting love and because he has loved us, then we can love him and because we love him we can love one another!
Conclusion
Conclusion
Love flows from God to his church
Love flows through the church to one another
And because we love one another, the world knows that we are his and they are drawn to his love.
35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
That my brothers and sisters is the application of God’s love.