Showing posts with label The love of God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The love of God. Show all posts

Sunday, March 15, 2020

1 John 4:7- 5:5 GOD’S LOVE AND OUR LOVE


John turns somewhat abruptly from his discussion of true and false teachers (4:1-6) to make yet another appeal to his readers, that they should love one another. In fact, this is now the third time that he exhorts his readers to love one another. [1]  This subject obviously weighs heavily on his mind.

Let us remind ourselves of what we have seen and learned previously. John started his letter with a great statement about the Lord Jesus Christ (1:1-4). He has seen Jesus personally in the flesh. He has looked upon Him and touched Him (1:1).  He was of the inner circle of Jesus, and he is frequently referred to as the disciple whom Jesus loved[2]

Church history tells us that the apostle John lived into the late 90’s of the first century. He was the last surviving apostle. John is literally a first generation Christian. He is a man who had walked with Jesus for a long way. His personal acquaintance, knowledge and experience of Jesus is profound.  We learn much about Jesus from the gospel of John, the three letters of John and from the Revelation to John.  He was known as the apostle of love. That is what happens if you spend a lifetime with Jesus. He became so much like Jesus.

The subject of love is at the heart of our text. In fact, this subject is at the heart of this entire letter. It is at the heart of John’s life and ministry.  This love however, does not stand on its own. It is rooted in the person of Jesus. It is rooted in the very being of God. It gives definition to God’s being: God is love!   (4:8,16)

It is very clear that John’s Christian readers were struggling with the world in which they were living. Their confidence in Christ was being undermined.  They needed answers and assurances from this senior brother and pastor. This was all due to the fact that their world (like our world) was contaminated by sin. The current worldwide   outbreak of the Covid-19 virus serves us with an illustration in terms of how pervasive and devastating sin is.    The devil [3] is the originator of sin in the world. He “has been sinning from the beginning” (3:8). “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (5:19).The devil, through the spirit of the anti-Christ [4] (2:18) takes people captive by replacing Christ[5] with other loves. This he does by making them focus on the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life (2:16). His agents on earth are deceivers, false prophets and false spirits (2:26;3:7; 4:1-6). They were replacing the Lord Jesus Christ and substituting His truth by promoting error in the world. False thinking about Jesus has leads humanity astray into sin of all kinds.

Even Christians get led astray. When sin and false thinking about Jesus dominates a Christian’s life, they struggle with lack of assurance, because the centre does not hold.  
Sin also infects fellowship; it affects our sense of assurance. It robs us of our joy. Walking in darkness (1:6); not loving the brothers (2:9,11; 3:10,15,17);  loving the world (2:15); accepting  false teaching about Christ  (2:18ff; 4:1-6)  are all hindrances  to our fellowship, assurance and joy

1 John 4:7-5:5

And so we take note that this is the third time that John addresses the matter of loving one another. The word for love here and throughout his letter is the distinct Christian word, ‘agape’. The possession of this unique   love is one of the evidences and assurances that one is a born again believer.  Remember again, that John wrote this letter to provide his readers with assurance and real joy. And again we must be reminded that the devil was hard at work through the spirit of the anti-Christ, the false prophets and the deceivers to undermine this assurance, by undermining the public’s confidence in Jesus.  This is very important for us to see.  Notice that John was busy writing about the importance of loving one another in 3:11-24, when he interrupted himself to speak about the disruptive work of Satan and his agents in 4:1-6 before he continues to speak about the importance of love again in 4:7-5:5.

The point is this. If you destroy the true testimony of Jesus, you destroy the true origin and meaning of love. If you can undermine confidence in the source of Christian love, you make agape love, Christian love, less profound than it is. So, it is important to see that John does not divorce truth (as it is in Jesus and God) from the exercise of love.  Love in itself without truth is merely sentimental. It is unprincipled. Conversely, truth without love can be harsh. John keeps the balance.  The child of God both believes, AND loves (see 3:23). John wants Christians to be rooted in Jesus- who is the truth, AND he wants them to exhibit the love of Jesus at the same time.    

So, as we look at our passage, we see that John is on about two things:
(i)               He wants us to see that the source of love is God. He wants us to draw from that source.
(ii)             He wants us to reflect God’s love. This is proof or assurance that we are the children of God. (Remember that this letter is about assurance!) 

In  4:7a    we see this clearly:  “Beloved, let us love one another for love is from God.”

Three things:

(i)               Notice how John lovingly addresses his readers: beloved (agapētoi) cf. 4:1,7,11. He leads by example. He practises what he preaches. He loves his readers
(ii)             The source of love (agapē) is from God. God is love (4:8). God defines love. He gives us the capacity to love  (cf. Rom 5:5)
(iii)           True believers manifest this love towards fellow Christians.

4:7b,8  “… 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.”  The presence or absence of such love determines whether one has been born again, and whether one knows God, or whether one is not born again and therefore doesn’t know God.  John makes his argument in a positive and in a negative way (Hebrew parallelism[6])

SUMMARY: Our text speaks about God, the source of love, and the believer as he / she reflects the love of God, particularly now among fellow believers.  In the text that follows,  John repeats this  thought in one way and another. We are not going to deal with the rest of our  text systematically but  thematically.  Let us then see what else we can learn about God, the source of love and the believer as he/she  expresses the love of God in practical ways to his /her fellow believer.   

1.     God – the Source of love

·       4:7 Love is from God
·       4:8  God is love. See also 4:16
·       4:9  The love of God was made supremely manifest in the giving of  Jesus  cf. John 3:16)
·       4:10a  (see also  4:19) The prior love of God. He loved us first.
·       4:10b He gave His Son as a propitiation for our sins. Propitiation = In Christ’s sacrifice God deals with the problem of His own righteous anger towards us. [Expiation = In Christ’s sacrifice God deals with the problem of our personal sin, by effectively removing  it. A ‘double cure’ is needed]

2.     The Believer – under obligation to  show the love of God  in their  love  for  fellow believers

John works  out the application of love in two ways:
(i)               Loving one another (positive)
(ii)             What  happens if  we  do not love one another (negative)

The act of loving one another is motivated by the understanding of the amazing manifestation of God’s love in 4: 9-11. John’s conclusion is, “Beloved, if God  so loved us  (in this wonderful  and astonishing manner), we also ought to love one another.   
Conversely, John spells out the implications of not loving one another. It is a sure sign of not being born again and of not knowing God experientially (4:7b). In particular  John challenges us that it is impossible to say that one is a Christian if one bears hatred in their heart towards  a brother or sister  cf. 4:20. (cf. 2:9-11) 

A  few more  general observations

1.     The call to love is rooted in the commandment of God (4:21, 5:2,3). Why must we love our brothers?  Because God has commanded it. Period!

2.     A word about the perfection of God’s love in the believer (cf. 4:12,17,18). Very often we sense that we are not perfect in the application of love. The perfection spoken about does not relate here to the fact that we always succeed, but the fact that God has placed within us a perfect and loving Saviour. I will find that I more I trust Him and the more I rely upon Him the more I shall find  supernatural capacity even to love  and  forgive my  enemy!  The Christian life lived by faith in the indwelling Christ constantly amazes.  Another wonderful   fact that relates to our assurance is found in  4:17,18: ”By this is love perfected with us  so that  we may have confidence (assurance)  on the day of judgement.”  The more we trust in Christ, the more our love is perfected, the less we shall fear the coming judgement.  And another wonderful  by-product of  a perfected love is this:  “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, for fear has to do with punishment”. And again conversely,  “Whoever fears has not been perfected  in love.” (4:18

3.     A key word (also found in John 15) for maintaining biblical love is ‘abiding‘ (cf.4:12,13,15,16). Being rooted in Christ is the key. The Holy Spirit helps us in this regard (4:13)

5:1-5 Believing in Christ is the key to being able to manifest biblical love

As we close we take note how important it is to root our life entirely in Christ (5:1,5). All the fears, imperfections of our lives in this world are taken care of when we abide and grow  in Christ. Again, we take note how we cannot truly love without being rooted in the truth of Christ. The truth of Christ leads to authentic love. Sadly, so often a wedge is driven between those two things. We hear people say, “Doctrine (absolute insistence upon truth) divides! We need to stop talking about all this doctrine and just love one another.” As far as John is concerned, you cannot do that.  Truth as it is in Jesus energises love. Apart from this it is watered down. Truth and love go hand in hand. They cannot be separated without damage to one or the other.

I trust that you realise what is at stake here. I trust that you now appreciate the closing words in 5:3-5. This poor, messed up world will not be conquered and overcome if we do not continue to believe and abide in Christ, and if we are not ruled by the love of God. In fact the world will overcome and conquer us. We have relied on false versions of love for far too long.  And sadly we see that this compromise of church, and of many Christians, has led Christianity to be in such an impoverished state in our own society, and now the world is poorer for our absence. This world needs the truth driven love of God. You are God’s representatives.  Go and do something about it. It is not a suggestion. It is a command from God.  


[1] Cf. 1 Jn. 2:7-11 ; 3:11-18
[2] John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7,20
[3] 1 John 2:13,14; 3:8,12
[4] 2:18,22
[5] That’s  what anti-Christ means –“ in place of”
[6] E.g. for further study   about Hebrew parallelism :  https://www.olivetree.com/blog/poetry-bible-parallelism/

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

John 3: 16- 21 "How does God love this World ?"

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As we consider these familiar words  from John’s gospel, we  have prayed that  we will not be deaf to  the truth of  God’s word. There  is always  the  frightful prospect of a  divinely  induced  deafness! We learn from the Scriptures  that a  people  that is privileged  to hear  the gospel  often   without   yielding their lives  to its claims, may eventually find  themselves   gospel  hardened  in due season.  The Psalmist Asaph says in Psalm  81:11,12: “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.” 

We thank God  for the privilege of gathering under His Word to hear  familiar truths explained to us again and again. But let us make sure that  we  do not let familiarity breed contempt. The  church father Origen  (185- 254 AD) reminded the people in his day that  “the same sun that melts the wax, hardens the clay!“
When  Isaiah received his call, he received  a call to preach to an unresponsive people   (see Isa 6:8-10; also quoted in  Jn. 12:39-40 ; Acts  28:46).

How I pray  then that God  would not harden  our hearts  to the revelation of His Word  and  His Son as we now meditate  on the extent  of the love of God  in the giving of His Son.

Understanding the  love of God  in Christ

Why did  God give us His  Son   in the first place?  There are essentially two answers  to this.

(i) God has a general love   for the whole world. He loves this whole world and has made a Saviour available for the whole world.   This is the primary focus  of John 3:16

(ii) God has  a  particular love  for His  covenant people. This is a primary focus  of the entire Scriptures. Let me explain:

1.      God loves this world !  

What does the text mean here by “world?”  Well, it is  clear from the context in John’s gospel that  the “world”   generally  refers  to  all  fallen, sinful, human beings  (past , present , future). This text  therefore  clearly  teaches us  that God truly  loves this whole sad,  sinful, fallen  world,  and He loves it so much that  He  gives  His only begotten Son  that  whoever believes in Him should not  perish but have eternal life!

This text is therefore  a  great and wonderful  and hopeful affirmation  that God has genuine concern  and compassion for  every human being in this world. Now I  know that  some  Reformed brothers would be  offended by this statement. There is  a  strand of Reformed teaching   that holds that God  only loves the elect,  and that  for this reason He cannot possibly love   sinners. They would  quote  Psalm 7:11,  “God is angry with the wicked every day"(KJV)[1]

Let me stop here , and explain something very important.  Love and hatred, love and wrath, are not mutually exclusive. We may think so, but they aren’t!  This is supremely demonstrated at the cross. At the cross God’s love and wrath kiss each other!
Love and  hatred aren't even mutually exclusive in our  idioms. We speak of having a "love-hate relationship".
Can you understand that  God’s hatred towards the wicked can indeed be accompanied by a sincere compassionate love for them?
Jesus  confirms this  for us in  Matt  5:44 ff: “But I say to you , Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you , so that you may be the sons  of your Father who is in heaven . For He makes His  sun rise on  the evil and on the good , and sends  rain on the just and on the unjust.”    

Do you see what Jesus says  here? He  affirms that  there are God’s enemies, and those that persecute, and those that are evil  and unjust. But He also says that  God nevertheless sends His rain and sunshine on them.  He does so without favour.  We see this, and  for this  reason  John McArthur  makes the  helpful observation  that  “while  we are  all eager  to ask why a loving God lets  bad things happen to  His children, surely we should also ask why a holy  God lets  good things happen  to bad people . The answer is that God is merciful  even to those that are not His  own. [2]

I am going to show you in a moment that  God does have a  particular love for His children, but right now  my first  concern is to ensure that  you understand that  God  really does love this world!  And  you must learn to love  this world in the same way “so that you may be the sons  of your Father who is in heaven”!
That means   that  you may say to every human being on the face of this earth:  "God really  loves you!  Look  here! He has given you a Saviour. If you believe in Him  you will not perish   and be condemned in eternity. You will receive eternal life."
That is what  we    call the “free offer of the gospel”. There are no limits to this offer. You may take this promise  to all the houses in Windhoek and in Namibia and  to the whole world. That is the substance of the Great Commission  (Matt 28:18-20).  You may take this word  with confidence to the worst of sinners. If there is hope for the apostle Paul , the  foremost   of sinners  (1 Tim  1:15), there  is hope  for all!    You must  place no limits  on the  use of this text. Use it. Tell the world: God loves you – and here’s how He loves you . He has given you a  Saviour, Jesus Christ His  Son. If you believe Him , you will not perish
So,  in this Christmas  season  tell sinners everywhere that there is a Saviour! Do not be ashamed of this  gospel. It is the power of  God  for  the salvation of unconverted  men and women. (Rom. 1:16,17)

2. God loves  His sheep  with a particular love!  
   
I have shown you from our text and from the greater context of Scripture   that  God sincerely  loves this world, and that He wants us to share this love with the world, by offering the gospel freely to the world.
 “Whosoever  will may come …”  Whoever may  come  to drink of the water that  will never make you thirsty again, says Jesus (Jn. 4:14)

But now let  me stop there  and help you to see an  even more wonderful aspect  of God’s  love -  the love for His  covenant people, His chosen people,His sheep (Jn. 10).  This truth means so much to  those  who  have  come  to know the love of God experientially,  having believed in Christ.   This truth  affirms that there  is a love of God  that moves Him to  act  beyond the free offer of the gospel!

This is the profound doctrine of election.


The Bible teaches  us that over and above the free offer of the gospel  to the whole world,  God  chooses a people for Himself, stirs up  their faith in Him,   and brings them into  an everlasting  covenant  with Himself.This  love is greater than  the love portrayed in a free offer.  This love  compels  you to come  into that covenant. This fact is not difficult to illustrate from the Scriptures  at all:

1. God  chose  Israel above all the tribes of this world- see  Deuteronomy  7: 6-8:  “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

The text  illustrates  that God freely chose Israel. He  loved  them  before they loved Him.  They did not choose Him first. The  same is true for Israel's entire history. Remember that before He chose  Israel as a nation, He chose Abraham , and from Abraham’s children he loved Isaac, and from  Isaac’ s children  he loved Jacob – the father of the  12 tribes of Israel.   God  did not  negotiate. He freely, sovereignly and unconditionally chose Israel.  This does not mean  that all of Israel  was saved. But it does mean that  God  had placed every citizen  in Israel  into a close and special proximity  to Himself. Thus, when you are privileged to be in a church community like ours, under the word of  God, it means that you are near to His blessings and  near to His Word. But you must take  care how you hear!  (Mk. 4:9;23)

2.  God chooses  His  New Testament  people  through the gift of  the New Birth
Becoming a child of God,  one of Jesus’ sheep is not a matter of free will , but of  sovereign  election. Nowhere is this better asserted than in the  third chapter of John’s gospel: In  Jn 3:8  Jesus says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”  
Here we plainly see  that  being "born again“   happens because the Holy Spirit  wills it  You do not control a human  conception or  birth  anymore than  you can control  the  wind  -  and by way of application – you do not control the work of the Sovereign Holy Spirit.  We see here plainly  that  He does as He pleases with His  regenerating power. He  sovereignly  chooses  to pour the love of God  into  the hearts of His elect people  (Rom 5:5)
This  is  the great  love which Paul expounds  in  Eph.1:4,5: In love  He predestined us  for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will”. And again in  Eph. 2:4–5: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”.
Can  you see that this  is  not an ordinary love?  It is  a “great love”. It goes beyond the ordinary; it goes   beyond  making a free offer to  all sinners of this world.  It is a love that  awakens us  from  our spiritual death  (Eph.2:1,5). 
This particular love  of God  for His elect  people is seen especially   in John 10. Jesus says in John 10:11, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ”  Here we see  that  the Good Shepherd has a particular, greater love for His sheep, and it surpasses  the general love for the world portrayed in John 3:16
Why do the sheep  come? They come because the Father has chosen them and has given them  to  His Son.  John 6:37: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”  See also John 6:44, 65]  

So the question then arises: “Why doesn’t everybody believe in the promise of John 3:16? Why does not everybody believe in the Son for eternal life? Read the rest of the text. Jesus answers  that question in  John 3:19–20:
“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. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light.”

Can you see now that there is a love  at work in this world that  is greater than John 3:16? 
It is the compelling love of God. John 3:16 is wonderfully wide and rich. It shows us that all may come.  But the question is: Will they  come?  The answer is   provided  in Jn. 3:19-20. The world  wont  come because the citizens of this world  love darkness more than light. Man’s unbelief  at  this point  is  very profound !  But  what is even more profound is  that God  comes to  those  that are in the darkness  and in their deadness  and rebellion and  He  does more  than  only offering eternal life . He  draws  them to Himself with irresistible grace. The mystery of particular redemption!

CONCLUSION :
  • We marvel that God has such a rich, open  armed  love for the world. That is the scope of the love of God  in Jn.3:16.  Nobody  at the end of the ages , and before the judgement seat  will be able to say: “But God, you did not show your love  to  me!”  He will say : “Then why did you not embrace my  Son?  I have sent gospel witnesses into the entire world, and you did not listen to them. You rejected them.  And why did you not  worship me  in response to  my daily care  for you? (Life , Health , Food , shelter etc )? "
  • We  marvel that despite this wide love of God, nobody will come!  Truly  mankind is too lost in   themselves , too proud, too self centered  to come  and accept this  gracious  free offer. 
  • And so  we marvel even more that  God  has a definite, particular love for His elect sheep, and if you are a  believer  today, then you  must know that  you are loved  with a very special, particular, irresistible, conquering love.. 
  • If you are  not yet  a believer  in Christ - then let this grand text, the great offer  speak to you. You may come. Come NOW!  Amen 





[1] ESV  “ God is a righteous  judge and a God who feels indignation  every day. “ NIV:  “God is a righteous Judge , a God who expresses His wrath  every day
[2] John Mc Arthur : The Love of God , p.  15,16

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