“Loving God” -- 1 John 4:7-16

According to tradition, the apostle John was the only one of the original twelve to die of old age. After his exile to the island of Patmos, where God gave him the Revelation, John returned and became the leader of the Ephesian church. Tradition tells us that John became quite old there, and as he aged, he became feebler. Eventually, it got to the point that John had to be carried into the worship area, and there he would preach a very simple, short message: “Little children, love one another.”

John came to understand that the love of God was the very essence of the Gospel. It was God’s love for us that led Him to send Jesus as our Savior. It was God’s love that led Him to reach out to us through His Holy Spirit to draw us to Him. It was God’s love that led Him to bless us with His grace and mercy and to endow us with the presence of the Spirit.

Love is a very powerful motivator for life. Love is central to the way we relate to family and friends. And when we hear the word “love,” we often thing of strong emotional attachments. Certainly, that is an element in the way we relate to our world.

But the love that the Bible speaks of which God has for us—agape love—is more than just an emotion. It is a way of seeing our world, a way of acting in our world, a way of being in our world. The unconditional love that is agape love is one that doesn’t seek anything for ourselves, but seeks the best for everyone.

John tells us in his letter that God is the source and the embodiment of agape love. More importantly, John also tells us that God demonstrates that love in the way He relates to us. For this, God is worthy of praise and thanksgiving.

Central Truth: God is worthy of praise and thanksgiving because He is love.

God’s love:

Is Who He is.

It’s really hard to define someone or something limited by one word. Years ago, I had a college friend who was majoring in music tell me a story about one of his teachers. The teacher asked his students how many were fans of rock and roll. Numerous hands went up. The teacher then asked, “What is it you like about rock and roll?” The answer that came back was, “The beat.” Most people, when asked that question, would answer that same way. The teacher then began clapping his hands rhythmically, and said, “That’s what the beat is.”

Of course, to limit the definition of something to one word really can’t be done. Try to define your spouse or a dear friend using just one word, and it can be done, but it doesn’t even begin to paint the full picture of who the person is.

Twice in this chapter, John states, “God is love.” He says it in v. 8, and again in the middle of v. 16. While God is so much more than just love, certainly this word is as good a start as any to define God. Taken in the context of John’s message of the Gospel, summarized in John 3:16, and we can see why John would define God as “love.”

This love which defines God is expressed in numerous ways in the Bible. Paul defines love in 1 Corinthians 13, and in that inspired definition, we learn that love is something that never insists on our rights, but always looks to the good of others. We also learn that it is the greatest, most essential thing about the gospel, and we learn that love is eternal. Paul’s last words in 1 Corinthians 13 is, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (v. 13). The reason love is the greatest is because it alone will endure beyond Christ’s return. We have faith because we believe Christ will return; that faith will be made real when we see Him face to face. We hope for His coming. That hope will be realized when He appears. But the love will go on, perfected at His return. It will never end.

John tells us in the letter tells us that this essential part of God is the reason we are to love one another. God, being love, is the source of love and is the evidence that we have been born of God. It is this love that identifies us—remember Jesus’ command in the Upper Room, that we love one another, and that by this will all men know we are His disciples? John is reiterating that truth here in vs. 7-8. The love God gives to us makes us that new creation we spoke of two weeks ago. It is the proof we are born of Him and it allows us to know Him.

Conversely, if we do not love, then we really have nothing to do with God. When Jesus said we can tell false prophets from true believers, He told us to look at the fruit of the person. The fruit of the Spirit begins with love. Jesus told us we would be identified by the way we love. If we do not love, as Christ loved, then it is impossible for us to claim to know the one who gives us love and brings us to Him in His love.

God is love, and everything else revolves around this truth. This love defines God and for this we give Him praise and thanksgiving.

Led Him to send His Son as Savior.

I’ve told you this before, but I want to say it again. I absolutely despise the phrase, “If you really love me, you’ll . . . “ I find it to be a very manipulative statement. If I have to prove my love for someone by jumping through a hoop or performing some trick, then my response is, “And if you love me, you wouldn’t ask me to do something you know I clearly don’t want to do.”

John says that God demonstrated His love for us, though. He did it not because we demanded a sign of His love for us. Rather, He did it because He genuinely loved us. That proof of His great love is that He sent Jesus into our world to bring us into eternal life. The willingness of God to send His Son to die on the cross for us is the greatest demonstration of love. And Jesus’ willingness to give up His glory to live among us and go to Calvary is also the greatest demonstration of love. This simple yet profound demonstration of love should answer any doubts about His love for us.

John then goes on to add that this act on God’s part was entirely of His own choosing and His own idea. In fact, John tells us that we had no clue of God’s love nor did we love Him when God decided to send His Son. Paul tells us in Romans 5 that God sent Jesus while is we were dead in our sins, still enemies of God. This is love. It reaches across the vast gulf of animosity and antipathy that we built with our sins, and by sending Jesus, God bridged that wide expanse and made it possible for us to have fellowship with Him and with each other.

For this reason, God is worthy of our praise and our thanksgiving because God’s love led Him to send His Son as our Savior.

Is reliable.

John tells us in these last few verses of the passage that God’s love is reliable because God has given us His Spirit.

When we marry, tradition demonstrates our marriage by the exchanging of vows and rings. The rings are the visible sign that we are married. Our society expects to see a ring on the next to last finger of the left hand to signify that a person is married. This ring is a powerful reminder and a testimony of our devotion to one person. It is a symbol of the commitment two people have for each other.

While with God all things are possible, He gives us a more significant security of His love for us. He has given of His Spirit. The love of God moves Him to abide with us through His Spirit. And God uses that Spirit to communicate with us in prayer and Bible study and in convicting us of sin and in bringing us back to repentance and fellowship.

The Spirit that lives in us gives us gifts and abilities to do the things we need to do. Jesus said that we never need to worry about how to answer for our faith. The Holy Spirit will speak through us. The Spirit brings to our remembrance the things Jesus taught, and the Spirit leads us into all truth. The Holy Spirit unites us with God and with one another. We are bound together through that Spirit, and by the Spirit the love of God is perfected in us.

That’s why John tells us “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he is in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us” (v. 15-16a).

The love of God lets us know that, through His Spirit, the promises of God are made true. And for this, God is worthy of our praise and our thanksgiving.

Conclusion

The history of humanity is filled with love. Songs and stories have been written on the subject more than other reason. Love is important to us and to our world. The world would be a very cold place indeed without love.

And we who are in Christ know that love comes from God, and that it comes from Him because God is love. We know that His love is demonstrated in that He sent His Son to die for our sins. And that love is demonstrated in us when we love one another.

I can think of no greater thing to give God praise and thanksgiving than for His love and for His demonstration of love in our lives. And I can think of no greater give of praise and thanksgiving than to pass that love on to others. Not because we have to, but because we love Him who first loved us.