Abiding in God's Love (1 John 4:7-21)

Daniel L. Arter

Advent • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

1 John 4:7–21

Love

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Transcript

Announcements

December 31st starting at 8pm, you’re welcome to join Natalie and I here for a New Year’s Celebration—enjoy some traditional New Years foods, dessert, and fellowship with everyone who comes.

Finalized logos for the church have been completed. I showed you earlier in October a temporary logo just to be a placeholder for our actual logo; on Friday, I received the completed logo as well as a badge-form of the logo that we’ll utilize for things such as tshirts and car stickers.

As a reminder, as part of your worship, there is an offering box in the kitchen for cash and check giving. Checks should be written to Grace & Peace Bible Church and everything you give will go to the furthering of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the surrounding areas. If you’re able and willing to give, please do so cheerfully as unto the Lord.

For those of you online that would like to give to this ministry, please write your check to Grace & Peace Bible Church and mail it to Po Box 187 in Philipsburg, PA 16866.

I know I keep saying that online and text giving will be available soon, my hope was to have that set up two weeks ago, but we’ve run into some issues with the bank opening the account (not on our part, but on the banks). So, as soon as the bank finishes everything, online and text giving will be available and I’ll give you the details as soon as I can.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Give thanks for God’s goodness, mercy, and grace

Give thanks for his love

Pray for the revealing of sin in our own hearts

Pray for the repentance and forgiveness of sins

Scripture Reading/Call to Worship

1 Corinthians 13:1–13 ESV

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

John 3:16–21 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Sermon

Introduction

This morning, we’re on part 3 of our four part Advent series and in each part of the series, we’ve taken a more in-depth look at various themes that all correlate to the birth account of Jesus Christ as well as Jesus’ second coming that is yet to come. So, we’ve taken a more in-depth look at hope and more specifically where that hope should come from and why we should have hope in the promises that Jesus has given us. Last week, we looked more in-depth on peace—what true peace is, where it comes from, and how we can partake of the peace of God through Jesus Christ. Both of which are important to understand that neither hope nor peace is possible without Jesus Christ.

Now as I introduce our topic for this morning, I do have to say that if you’re familiar with Advent, you’ll notice that I’m taking these last two themes out of order. It isn’t vitally important, but if you do an at-home advent calendar or listen to other sermons this week, you’ll notice that this isn’t the same theme that most everyone else is focused on this week. I did that on purpose because next week’s theme is joy, and to me, it makes more sense to talk about joy the week that we celebrate Jesus’ birth. Like I said, it isn’t vitally important, it’s just of note that if you have an advent calendar or you listen to other sermons this week, they’re probably going to be focused on joy.

Anyways, like hope and peace, our theme for this morning is impossible without Jesus Christ. People search for it through relationships, family, and friends; and almost everybody has been motivated by this theme at some point of their lives. There are books, stories, movies, and songs that are written about aspects of this theme and of course that theme is the theme of love. Now don’t get me wrong, just like hope and peace, we are able to experience and share in some semblance of love, but without Jesus Christ we cannot experience the full extent of what love is and what love has to offer for us.

But before we can actually jump into Scripture, we do have to define what we mean by love. Because what we mean when we use the term love varies depending on the context—you already know this because when I say love, you already have various concepts of love flowing through your brain, you might think of the love that you have for your dog, or the love that you have for your child; or you might think of the love that you have for your spouse or the love that you have for a friend. And each of those are different aspects of love in their own right so you can rightly say that you love your dog and you love your child and your love your spouse or your friend and we would completely understand what you’re saying based on the context that you’re saying it with. We would understand that the love that you have for your spouse is different than the love that you have for your dog and the love that you have for your child is different than your love for your friend.

The Greek language happens to be a little bit different, in that rather than having one word love mean several different things; the Greek language actually utilizes different words to mean different facets of love. In our English translations its all translated as love, but in the Greek, there are multiple different words being utilized. The Bible speaks of four different types of love (though it only utilizes two of the words) and each of these types of love are all translated as love.

So, let’s take a moment to look at the different types of love before we jump into the passage for today:

ἔρως (eros) — is probably the type of love that we don’t think of when we think of the Bible and if you were to do a word study of the word, you’re not actually going to find the word in Scripture. You will, however, find multiple passages that refer to this type of love—for instance, Song of Solomon speaks of this type of love and we see this kind of love in the account of Ruth and Boaz. It is the kind of romantic love that is supposed to be shared between a husband and wife. Again, the word ερως isn’t in the Bible, but the love that it represents is clear.

Στοργή (storge) — this type of love, which like ερως actually isn’t named in the Bible, but is clearly evident in the Bible is as CS Lewis defined it, essentially familial affection. This is an affection that comes from kinship or close contact. In the Bible, it’s part of the love that Christians ought to feel towards one another—we’re family in Christ (though it’s not the only love that Christians are to have towards each other (as we’ll see in today’s message). It’s part of the love that families ought to feel towards one another and quite honestly, this type of affection can also be felt for dogs and cats and other pets.

Φιλία (philia) — this is the first of the four loves that actually appears by name in Scripture. And this type of love is best defined as a brotherly love or a friendship-type love and it’s not necessarily a familial type of love. An example of φιλια in the Bible is the relationship that Johnathan and David had. 1 Samuel 18:1 says that their souls were “knit together.” Another example would be how Peter felt about Jesus in John 21, when Jesus repeatedly asks Peter if he loves him and Peter responds with philia, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you like a brother.”

In that same passage, John 21, Jesus mentions the fourth type of love. αγαπη (agape) — and this is the type of love that Jesus was asking Peter if he had for him. So it was very literally “Peter, do you αγαπε me?” With Peter responding with, “Yes, Lord; you know that I φιλια you.” What’s the difference?

The difference is the aspect of love that each person is speaking about—Jesus, when he asks Peter if he αγαπη’s him is asking him if he loves him in a specific way and Peter responds by saying, “well, I love you like a brother.”

When Jesus asks, do you αγαπη me, he’s specifically talking about an aspect of love that concerns the love that God has for us. Often times we call this an unconditional love, but I think we can do a little bit better of a definition than that—αγαπη is not a sappy, sentimental feeling, but it’s a love that’s portrayed by who God is and what God does.

αγαπη is best displayed by what Jesus did on the cross, Ephesians 2:4-5 states, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”

God’s αγαπη love is unmerited, gracious, and it seeks the benefit of the ones he loves. We read 1 Corinthians 13 as part of our Scripture reading this morning, in which we’re told that αγαπη is patient and kind, it does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant or rude, it does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. αγαπη bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. αγαπη never ends.

And this is the type of love that Jesus is asking Peter about when he asks, “Peter, do you αγαπη me?”

And this is the type of love that John is writing about in 1 John 4:7-21, so keep this αγαπη-type of love in mind as we study the passage.

1 John 4:7–21 ESV

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.

Now as we study this passage, we’re going to study it in two parts and both sections really concern our love for other people and really both sections focus on why we ought to love one another: (1) from Vs. 7-12, we see that we are to love one another because God loves us and (2) from Vs. 13-21, our love for others is evidence that we truly believe. Which of course really drives home the fact that we are to love one another because of who God is and as we wrap up in application, we’ll discuss a little bit about how we can love one another.

Prayer for Illumination

Give thanks for the Word of God

Give thanks for the Word of God in our own language

Give thanks for the Holy Spirit and the Spirit’s ability to open the Word of God to us

Pray that we seek God’s truth through His Word, that we understand His Word, and that we apply His Word to our lives.

Love Others because God Loves You (7-12)

Now just a little caveat, typically when this passage of Scripture is preached, it’s actually broken up into tiny pieces and the issue with that is that while most of us are familiar with certain parts of this passage like Vs 8, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” or they might know Vs. 16b, “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” or Vs. 18, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” The issue is that when we only look at a verse, we’re not actually understanding what the passage is saying. So, as we study this, let me encourage you to not get tripped up on the familiar verses that you think you might understand particularly well—remember that until you understand what the author’s original intended message is, you don’t actually know what God is trying to teach us in this passage.

1 John 4:7–12 ESV

John starts this portion of his letter by stating, Vs. 7 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”

Now remember, that when John references love here, he’s specifically referencing that fourth type of love that we spoke about in the introduction. He’s stating “Let us αγαπη one another, for αγαπη is from God.”

Now, this tells us two things in particular

This unconditional, sacrificial love that is epitomized by Jesus’ sacrificial atonement on the cross only comes from God—or in other words, this type of love is not something that is natural for human beings to do. It is not innate for us to love each other unconditionally or sacrificially and that’s really evidenced in the modern-day dating culture.

For most of the unbelieving world and unfortunately for some of the believing world, dating is nothing more than just a means to satisfy themselves and when they no longer find satisfaction in that relationship, they move on to the next available person.

This shows us that for most people, they only date to get something out of the relationship. They don’t truly exhibit a sacrificial love for the person that they’re dating.

Which means, that this sacrificial love that John is teaching us to exhibit towards each other doesn’t come naturally to us.

However, because John is commanding us to αγαπη each other, this tells us that unconditional, sacrificial love is something that is possible for us to have for one another. We can love each other unconditionally and sacrificially.

And not only is it possible to love each other unconditionally and sacrificially, if we do exhibit this love for one another Vs. 7b-8, it’s only because we’ve been born of God and we know God. In fact, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

As a believer, loving others is such an integral part of Christianity that John is completely blunt, if you don’t love others, you don’t actually know God. Now of course we can expect to fail at loving people with this type of love, because it is difficult for us to exhibit it (and since it doesn’t come naturally for us). There will be plenty of times when we fail to act and react in truly αγαπη-love ways; but if we truly know God, more often than not, we ought to act and react with αγαπη-love. Or put another way, as true believers in Jesus Christ, people ought to know us for our actions and reactions being expressed in αγαπη-love ways rather than in a hateful or anti-love way. Or as Jesus states in the Gospel according to John, people should know that we believe because of our love for one another.

How do we know that someone who isn’t defined by love in their actions and reactions doesn’t know God? Quite simply, because God himself is love. Again, from our Scripture reading this morning in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, “love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” This description of love, gives us a pretty accurate idea of who God is.

Put another way, we could define God being love like this (Got Questions), “God does not force himself on anyone. Those who come to him do so in response to his love. God shows kindness to all. Jesus went about doing good to everyone without partiality. Jesus did not covet what others had, living a humble life without complaining. Jesus did not brag about who he was in the flesh, although he could have overpowered anyone he ever came in contact with. God does not demand obedience. God did not demand obedience from his son, but rather, Jesus willingly obeyed his father in heaven. . . . Jesus was/is always looking out for the interests of others.”

αγαπη-love is a significant attribute of who God is. αγαπη-love is a core aspect of his character, but just a warning—don’t think that αγαπη-love is the only attribute of God. God is more than just loving in who he is and what he does. God is also holy, righteous, and just and his αγαπη-love works in conjunction with his other attributes. Knowing this, gives us a fuller picture of who God is. God is love, but he’s also holy, righteous, and just, which is why the ultimate form of his αγαπη-love is seen through Jesus being a propitiation for our sins.

Vs. 9-10, says this, “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.”

And because I’ve already mentioned a handful of times this morning, that the epitome of God’s love is seen through his sacrifice on the cross, let me just make a comment or two before we keep going in the passage.

It is God’s sending of Jesus Christ into the world (which we’re in the midst of celebrating through Advent and Christmas) that God’s love for us is apparent. In other words, God would not have sent his Son to die on a cross if he didn’t truly αγαπη-love us. And he does this, not because we’re deserving of it and not because we loved him, but because he loves us. We didn’t earn Jesus’ coming to be our salvation, our salvation is the result of God loving us.

And the love that God has shown us through his Son coming into the world, allows us to live through him.

God sent his Son to be a propitiation or an atonement for our sins because he loves us.

And as Vs. 11 states, “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.”

Why should we love one another? Because God loved us first.

But not only that, Vs 12 transitions to the next major point that John is trying to make. John states that “no one has ever seen God.”

And that may seem like an odd thing to throw in this section that talks about loving one another, but it isn’t the only time that he transitioned from one topic to another utilizing a similar statement.

If you remember with me, in our series in the Gospel according to John—at the end of the prologue, after describing how the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, he makes a similar statement “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” (John 1:18)

In both passages, it seems as if it’s out of place, but think with me about the purpose of the Gospel according to John. We’ve said it numerous times, that the point of John is to get people to understand and believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that by believing they may have eternal life.

And when he get’s to John 1:18 and he makes the statement that no one has ever seen God, he’s literally talking about God the Father. No one has ever seen God the Father, except he who is at the Father’s side (Jesus). And Jesus has made him known. Put another way, John is making the statement that God the Father is seen through Jesus Christ.

Thinking along those lines, what we get in 1 John 4:12, “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us” is the argument that no one on earth has physically seen God, but if we love one another, he abides in us and his love is perfected or complete in us.

Or maybe, what the NLT says might help you, “and his love is brought to full expression in us.”

In other words, John is making a similar argument that no one on earth has physically seen God, but if we truly love one another, people will see God through us.

And that is how he’s transitioning us into the next section of verses. We are to love each others because God loved us first and he ultimately expressed that love through the propitiation for our sins and then John transitions into a section that essentially teaches us that our love for others is evidence that we truly believe in God and reiterates his main point, that if we love God, we will love one another.

Love is Evidence that you Believe (13-21)

1 John 4:13–21 ESV

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.

Now, I apologize for this, but we’re going to have to speed through these verses otherwise, we’ll be here forever, but if you’d like to discuss this passage more after the service, please feel free to stick around; I just want you to get the overall message that John is trying to teach us before leaving this morning. John transitions into a different way of looking at αγαπη-love in the believer’s life and it’s actually quite a simple way—if we truly believe in Jesus Christ, we will αγαπη-love other people and we know this because of his previous statement that God is αγαπη-love (8) So John spends the remaining parts of this passage explaining the evidences that someone truly believes and then reiterating his point that if we truly love God, we will love each other.

John uses this argument: “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.”

To help simplify that a little bit, what John is driving at is that true believers in Jesus Christ have been given the Holy Spirit—we call this God indwelling us or put another way, the Holy Spirit lives within us and probably the most recognized statement to this fact comes from Paul in 1 Corinthians 6. When Paul condemns the Corinthians for partaking in sexual immorality, he makes this statement, “19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Co. 6:19-20)

When you become a believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit takes up residence inside you. So how do we know that someone believes? (1) The Holy Spirit dwells inside of them. And you might be thinking, “ok, but I can’t see the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of someone.” True, but let me remind you that Paul repeatedly encourages us to look at the fruit of someone to determine whether or not they truly believe. If the fruit isn’t there, then even if the vehemently claim to know Jesus Christ, the Bible states that they don’t. But this verse is really more of an introspective verse, so the true question isn’t so much do others have the Holy Spirit living within them, but do you have the Holy Spirit within you?

(2) How do we know that someone believes? Vs. 14-15, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” If someone truly believes this testimony of the Son being the Savior is evidence that they do and the abiding in God and God in him is evidence that they believe—this is a confession of truth. First off, if the person never actually claims to believe that Jesus is the Savior, then they obviously don’t believe. And thus, if you’ve never admitted and testified that Jesus is the Savior, then you don’t actually believe because you’ve never actually confessed and testified to the truth. The second statement warrants a little more discussion though, “God abides in him, and he in God.” And this phrase is really more about taking the initial confession of truth and living that confession of truth. How do we know that someone believes? Because they’ve confessed that Jesus is their Savior and then they’ve lived in accordance to that truth.

(3) How do we know that someone believes? Vs. 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.”

And this is the point that John is driving at—we know when someone truly believes because (1) the Holy Spirit dwells in them, (2) they confess belief in Jesus and they live in accordance to that truth, and (3) because “God is love, whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

Which put simply, means this, if someone truly believes, because they’re walking in accordance to God’s truth, they will also walk in accordance to love.

And in this particular instance, John has expanded the object of our love from one another to God. So, if we truly believe, we will walk in accordance to our love of God as well as our love for one another.

And it is this love for God and the abiding in this love for God that brings us to Vs. 17-18, “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.”

As we continue walking with God, the love that we have for others and for God is perfected or made complete and this is the second time in the passage that we’re told of love being made complete, the first is in Vs. 12, where God’s love is to be made complete in believers when we love one another. In Vs. 17, we’re told that the completion of love within us, is so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment.

So the question really is, how does our love for one another perfect love in such a way that we can have confidence during the eschaton or the end times? Well it actually isn’t the love for one another that perfects love and gives us confidence, it’s actually the love that we have for God that provides confidence in the end times.

How do we know this? Because of God’s love for us in Vs. 8-10, and God’s sending of his Son to be a propitiation of our sins. This atonement provided by God because he loves us and our subsequent belief, confession of faith, and love for him sets us in a position where we can rely on that substitutionary atonement for our salvation.

And that’s really what John is saying in Vs. 16-18. As our love is perfected, we can have confidence because of the mutual relationship that we have with God through Jesus Christ, and thus, we don’t have to be afraid.

Oftentimes Vs. 18, is utilized to speak of love in general and its utilized to show that if we truly loved we wouldn’t fear someone hurting us or if we lived in perfect love we wouldn’t react and act in fear, but that isn’t what this passage is actually about—this passage is actually teaching us that as we abide in God and we learn to αγαπη-love God and αγαπη-love each other, our love within is made complete.

And as our love is made complete, we no longer have to be afraid of what is to come, because our perfect love in God provides confidence in our relationship with God.

And since we have that relationship with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we have no reason to fear punishment or judgment because of what Jesus Christ has done on the cross.

The point is, that as we αγαπη-love God and as we αγαπε-love each other, our relationship with God grows and our confidence in God is solidified.

Dan Akin states it like this:

1, 2, 3 John (2) Love Others Because God Lives in You (4:11–21)

The clear message is that the love one has for God has an effect on the future. The confession of Jesus as Lord and the mutual abiding between God and the believer allow for God’s love to have its full expression. It is in his close union with God (referring to the mutual relationship) that a believer’s love is made complete or perfected in order that he will have no fear in the day of judgment. The “function of love in the believer’s life is the impartation of a bold confidence that will enable him to stand before the judgment seat of Christ without fear or shame.”139 On that day the believer need not fear because Christ has atoned for his sins. The atonement also has a present effect since “in this world we are like him” (lit., “just as that one is, we also are in this world”). This does not mean that we have attained his perfection, but we stand in relation to God the same way that Christ does, and in this p 186 way we are like him. Those who are indwelt by God have a relationship with their Judge that is characterized by love. It is this love that allows the believer to have confidence when looking toward that day of judgment.

In the final three verses, which John utilizes to reiterate and make clear what his whole point is, he sums up the whole passage like this: “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.”

The only reason we love God and the only reason that we love each other is because God loved us first.

If we claim to love God, but we hate each other, we’re lying because if we truly loved God we would love each other.

If we want to love God, we have to love each other.

Now as we wrap everything up, I want to give you some specific application that will help you to truly αγαπη-love each other.

Application

I think this passage has made it abundantly clear that we as Christians are to love each other, but I know because of how vague the term love is in our modern-day world, that it might be difficult to know how exactly we ought to love one another. Let me give you some ideas on how to love one another, but let me be clear that this is not a comprehensive list:

First, one of the first points that I made at the very beginning, in the introduction was that αγαπη-love is a type of love that isn’t focused on emotion, but it’s actually a choice. We choose to αγαπη-love each other just like we choose to αγαπη-love God and just like God chooses to αγαπη-love us.

This truth, actually helps with application in this one simple fact—we’re told to love and this type of love has nothing to do with how we feel. So, you’re angry with someone, you still have to love them; you’re upset with someone, you still have to love them; you’re happy with someone, you still have to love them; you break up with someone, you still have to love them. You disagree with politics, you still have to love them.

Because αγαπη-love isn’t based on your emotions. It is a love that is a willful choice. You choose to love people even if you don’t particularly like them. How do we do this?

Let’s remember 1 Corinthians 13: Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Nothing in 1 Corinthians 13 mentions having feelings of companionship with people or in other words, nothing in 1 Corinthians 13 mentions that you have to like someone to love them. You can love someone and still prefer not hanging out with them every day.

But if you’re being impatient with them, if you’re unkind, if you’re envious of them or if you boast to them; if you’re arrogant with them or if you’re rude with them; if you insist on your own way; if you’re irritable with them; if you’re resentful with them, you aren’t loving them.

If you’re excited when something negative happens to someone, you aren’t loving them—and I have the perfect example of this, when this pandemic started and Governor Wolf instituted the first shutdown, what was the general reaction of the people of Pennsylvania? For many of the people in Pennsylvania, their first reaction was to slander him. What was your first reaction? Over this past week, Governor Wolf had a positive COVID test, what was your reaction when you heard? Were you happy? Or did you turn to prayer?

I don’t think Governor Wolf and I have much in common when it comes to politics and we probably don’t have a lot in common when it comes to religious beliefs, but I can disagree with him and still love him.

Learn to exhibit 1 Corinthians 13 to those around you, even if you don’t agree with them.

Second, one thing that I think is vital for us to know about true αγαπη-love for one another has to do with a misconception of what true love is—in our modern-day concept of love today, we assume that love and acceptance are synonomous. If I truly love you, I have to accept everything about you even if what you’re doing is biblical sinful.

The issue is that the Bible teaches us that we aren’t supposed to accept sin in each other and that letting someone languish in their sins is actually unloving. In fact, Matthew 18 is very specific that if there is sin in the church, there’s a specific way of dealing with it and it is never to let the sin fester.

In fact, Matthew 18, teaches that we ought to deal with the sin because we love the person in sin—and that by dealing with the sin, hopefully they repent and come back to Jesus Christ.

Part of us loving each other, is lovingly and graciously confronting each other when we’re in sin with the intent of bringing them back into fellowship with God through Jesus Christ.

You can confront someone’s sin and still conform with the love described in 1 Corinthians 13.

You can call out someone’s sin and still αγαπη-love them; you can tell people the truth and still love them.

And the Bible is clear that part of loving someone is telling them the truth.

Third, on a more positive side, Kevin Deyoung has an article on the Gospel Coalition website that gives some small things that we can all do to show love to one another. These are just a few of them:

Talk to people, get to know them. Listen to them.

Start with small talk and move to deeper conversation after you get to know them

Show an interest in their lives—talk about what’s going on in their lives

Encourage one another and thank each other for good things in each others lives

Speak from the heart and remember when others speak from their hearts to you

Pray for each other and follow up with each other

Be patient and be humble

Basically, what I’m getting at and what John is getting at in 1 John 4 is this, because God first loved you, love other people. During this time of Advent as we prepare for Christmas, show your love for other people by showing a true interest in them, pray for them, and think of them. Show your love for other people by telling them the truth about Jesus Christ and lovingly confronting them when they’re in sin to try and bring them back to a relationship with Jesus Christ. And finally, grow in your love for each other by growing in your love of God.

Pastoral Prayer

Give thanks for the love of God that is epitomized through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross

Give thanks that God loved us first and that he continues to love us today

Pray for conviction of the times that we haven’t been loving towards those around us

Pray for repentance of sin concerning unloving actions towards other people

Pray that we choose to love those around us

Pray that we grow in love for God through Jesus Christ.

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