Today, I would like to
picking up where we left off last week, when we were looking at a section of
this letter that has been preserved and recorded for us in the New Testament of
the Bible, called the book of 1 John. Last week we discovered a timeless truth
when it comes to connecting in true community in that true community and
connection with Jesus is revealed by our response to God’s love. And in 1 John 4:15-21, we will see John
reveal three different ways that true community and connection with Jesus will
respond to God’s love.
First, in 1 John
4:15-16, we see John reveal for us the reality that true community and
connection with Jesus responds to God’s love by remaining connected with God in
love. Then, in 1 John 4:17-18 we discovered that true community and connection with Jesus responds to God’s love by
rejecting the fear of final judgment.
We discovered that the person who remains in true community
and connection with Jesus will respond to the love of God by becoming like
Jesus and loving like Jesus. And as a result of becoming like Jesus and loving
like Jesus as a result of remaining in community and connection with Jesus,
that love will expel and cast out the slavish fear of punishment that can
enslave humanity when it comes to
standing before God to give an account for how they lived their lives.
True
community and connection with Jesus rejects the fear of final punishment
because true community and connection with Jesus produces a true understanding
of the love of God. True community and connection with Jesus rejects the fear
of final punishment because true community and connection with Jesus produces a life that looks like Jesus and that loves
like Jesus. True community and connection with Jesus rejects the fear of final
punishment because true community and connection with Jesus produces a life of
spiritual maturity where
the love of God drives out and expels the fear of punishment by God.
Today we will see John
conclude this section of his letter by revealing a third way that true
community and connection with Jesus will respond to God’s love. So let’s
discover that third way together, in 1 John 4:19-21:
We love, because He first loved us. 20
If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar;
for the one 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, that
the one who loves God should love his brother also.
In verse 19, we see
John remind the readers of his letter throughout history of a powerful and
sobering truth: We love, because He first loved us. John
is reminding the reader of his letter that they did not take the initiative to
enter into a loving relationship with God. Instead it was God who took the
initiative to pursue and rescue rebellious humanity so that they could have an
opportunity to enter into a loving relationship with God.
John is revealing the reality that our love for God is
a response to the love of God that He initiated toward us. The only reason we
love God is because God took the initiative to love us. If God had not taken
the initiative to lovingly pursue and rescue us, we would still be in hostility
and opposition to God.
John reinforced this reality by making a powerful
statement in the first part of verse 20: “If someone says, "I love
God," and hates his brother, he is a liar;”. John’s statement, if communicated in the
language we use in our culture today would have sounded something like this: If
anyone claims to have a
warm regard and interest in God that is marked by a selflessness in their
relationship with God but hates and detests other
people, that person is a flat out liar.
John then provides the reason behind his sharp
accusation in the rest of verse 20: “for the one who does not love his brother
whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” In other words, John
is basically saying if you are unwilling to demonstrate a warm regard and interest in those who are
right in front of you so as to place them before yourself, who you see and have
the opportunity to do so on a daily basis, then you cannot demonstrate that warm
regard and interest in God, who you have not seen.
John here is hammering
home the reality that we demonstrate our love for God by how we love and treat
others. The timeless reality is that every human being is created in the image
of God and bears the very thumbprint of God on their lives. And because of that
reality, we reveal and reflect our love for God by how we love those around us.
If we have a strong hatred to those around us who bear the image of God, we
demonstrate that we have a strong hatred to God. The person who does not love
his brother, who was created in the image of God and who he has seen, cannot
possibly love God whom he has never seen.
John’s point is that followers of Jesus demonstrate the depth of their connection
with the invisible God by how they treat the visible around them. John’s
point is that the result of a genuine and authentic relationship and connection
with Jesus is that God’s transforming love will produce love for those around them.
John reinforces this reality in verse 21 by reminding them of the reality that
“And this commandment we have from Him, that the one
who loves God should love his brother also.”
John is reminding the
readers of this letter that the commands and demands of Jesus find its true
expression through the life of Jesus and through the life of followers of Jesus
as they remain connected to God as they are mystically and spiritually united
with Jesus. In other words, what it looks like to live a life of obedience to
the commands and demands of Jesus is revealed by the life of Jesus and the life
of followers of Jesus as they faithfully live in obedience to the commands in a
close connection with Jesus. And one of the most powerful of these commands by
Jesus is that followers of Jesus are to love God supremely and love others
sacrificially.
And it is here that
John reveals for us the reality that true community and connection with Jesus
responds to God’s love by loving God and others. The person who remains in true community
and connection with Jesus will respond to the love of God by demonstrating that
love in how they love and treat others. The person who remains in true community and connection with Jesus will
respond to the love of God by loving God supremely and loving others
sacrificially, because we show our love for God by how we love others. The
timeless reality is that a person who is living in a genuine and authentic relationship
and connection with Jesus cannot hate those who Jesus died for.
And
because of that reality, here is
a question to consider: What does the way you love and treat others reveal about
your relationship and connection with Jesus? Does the way you treat others
reflect a genuine and authentic relationship and connection with Jesus? Do you
show your love for God by how you love others? Or do you reveal the reality of your
lack of relationship and connection with Jesus by your lack of love for others?
Is your life
characterized by a fear of what will happen to you at the end of your life? If
the answer to that question is yes, then why are you afraid? Is it possible
that the fear you are experiencing is the result of the things that you have
done to hurt God and hurt others, which the Bible calls sin? Is it possible
that you are experiencing fear because you do not have a genuine and authentic
relationship and connection with God through believing, trusting, and following
Jesus as your Lord and our leader?
Because, as we
discovered, true community and connection with Jesus is revealed by our response to
God’s love. True community and connection with Jesus responds to God’s love by
remaining connected with God in love. True community
and connection with Jesus responds to God’s love by rejecting the fear of final
judgment. And true community and connection with Jesus responds to God’s love
by loving God and others…
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