Love One Another – Part 1
1 John 4:7-21 (7-11)
July 10, 2022
The church throughout the New Testament
Is described with various metaphors.
We are familiar with the analogy that the church is “God’s Building”,
As those whom God is constructing with Christ Jesus being the corner stone.
We know about the church described as “the flock of God”
With Jesus as the Chief Shepherd.
We see the church referred to as “a body”,
Of which Jesus Christ is the head.
And of which each person is a member.
We know of the church as “the bride”,
Of which Jesus Christ is her husband.
But none of those analogies are even close to the favorite analogy
Used by the writers of the New Testament.
Of all the ways in which the church is described,
None of them is used more than the imagery of the church
As “a family” of which Jesus Christ is our elder brother.
Alexander Strauch wrote:
“The reality of this strong, familial community supersaturates the New Testament. The New Testament writers most commonly refer to the believers as brethren. Peter refers to the worldwide Christian community as “the brotherhood” (1 Peter 2:17; 5:9). The terms brethren, brother, or sister occur approximately 250 times throughout the New Testament.”
(Strauch, Alexander [Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call To Restore Biblical Church Eldership; Lewis and Roth Publishers; Littleton, CO; 1995] pg. 110)
Strauch would go on to point out how:
The early Christians met in homes
They shared material possessions
They ate together
They greeted one another with a holy kiss
They showed hospitality
They cared for widows
When appropriate, they disciplined their members
(ibid; pg 110)
And certainly based upon this reality
We see throughout the pages of Scripture the same repeated call
That as member of God’s family we are to love our brothers.
Hebrews 13:1 “Let love of the brethren continue.”
1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 “Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more,”
1 Peter 1:22 “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,”
We are certainly called to emulate our Elder Brother Jesus Christ
Who humbled Himself and laid down His life
That His brothers might be saved.
This truth comes to the forefront for us this morning
Here in our study of 1 John.
• As John writes to make it clear what is and what is not genuine Christianity,
• As John strives to provide assurance to those who are genuinely redeemed,
No topic becomes more important to him than the topic of brotherly love.
It is this command, perhaps above all others, where John will rest
In order to deliver his strongest evidence regarding genuine Christianity.
And so we will spend the next few weeks learning from this apostle
Who in the gospel accounts could only identify himself as
“The Apostle Whom Jesus Loved”.
TO JOHN THIS IS THE BIG ONE.
I don’t know how long it will take us to study the text,
• But I will give you the 3 main points here at the beginning
• So that as you read and study and meditate on your own,
• You’ll have some idea where we are headed with all of this.
There are 3 reasons John calls for brotherly love in these 15 verses.
1) Atonement Deserves It
2) Assurance Depends On It
3) Authenticity Demands It
This morning we’ll begin with that first main point.
#1 ATONEMENT DESERVES IT
1 John 4:7-11
The point John is making is this: Brotherly love is the most fitting response to the love which Christ has shown us.
To put it in secular terms.
• If you went today and chose to adopt a child from dreadful circumstances
• And introduced them into your home as one of your own children.
• At the top of your list of expectations would be that your natural children and your adopted children might love each other and grow to treat one another as family.
And so it is the expectation of our Heavenly Father as well.
Not only that we love our Father for the gift of adoption,
But also that we love the other children He has adopted as well.
And looking at our text, I would first point out to you
THE TITLE JOHN GIVES us by which this first segment is bookended.
• In verse 7 John begins with our title: “Beloved”
• And in verse 11, he closes this section with that same title: “Beloved”
AGAPETOI in the Greek
It means “loved ones”
That is who we are.
We are those who have been loved by God.
1 John 3:1 “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.”
Paul does such a wonderful job of speaking to this great love.
Ephesians 2:4-7 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
We are loved ones.
God set His love on us.
• We are His children.
• We are adopted into His family.
• We are forgiven of our trespasses.
• We are endowed with His inheritance.
• We are filled with His Spirit.
We are “Beloved”
There’s no debating that.
That reality is not only that which John will prove in these 5 verses,
But also that which John will use as
The main reason why we should love our brethren.
John simply says, “Beloved, let us love one another”
I don’t know if there is another command in the Bible
That is more widely known and yet more widely disregarded than this one
For at the same time,
It may also be the most difficult command to obey.
In fact, it is such a difficult command to obey
That it is only possible if God’s own Spirit dwells within you.
But let’s talk first THIS MORNING about how God’s atonement of our sin deserves a response of love from us.
We get our first explanation here in verse 7.
“Beloved, let us love one another, FOR love is from God;”
Love is spoken of here as a gift to us.
NOT simply as something we receive and benefit from, though we do,
But as a provision we receive from Him that we employ to others.
That which we are called to give one another
Is that which only comes from God.
• It is not natural within ourselves.
• It is not natural within our world.
• You can’t learn it at school.
• You can’t achieve it through hard work.
It is one of God’s supernatural attributes.
It is one of the fruits of God’s Spirit.
Incidentally the word for “love” here is AGAPEO, it is the God-like love.
• We are NOT talking about worldly fondness.
• We are NOT talking about worldly craving.
• We are NOT talking about emotional attraction.
We are talking about the perfect love which God demonstrates toward us.
And FIRST we learn that
We can only get the capacity for this kind of love from God.
In fact, TO PROVE that this love only comes from God,
John lifts it as a characteristic of salvation.
“everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
This is a love which is supernaturally provided by God.
• If you have it, it is because you know God.
• If you do not have it, it is because you do not know God.
And that opens up for us a host of questions.
Namely: WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
After all, we hear the world talk about love all the time.
The world will unanimously tell us that love is a good thing.
But John insinuates that
The love they speak of is NOT what he is talking about
For the world boasts of love but does not know God.
WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT JOHN?
(9) “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.”
Here we see God’s love MANIFESTED.
“manifested” comes from a word that means
“to make visible” or “to realize”,
Especially something that was unknown.
So John says that God’s love has been made visible.
And he says it has been made visible “in us”
Now that is different from that famous passage we read in Romans.
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Paul says that God put His love on display in front of us
Through the crucifixion of Christ.
• The entire world was allowed to see that demonstration of the love of God.
• He crucified His Son on behalf of sinners.
• That was a demonstration of God’s sacrificial love.
BUT HERE JOHN SPEAKS OF SOMETHING DIFFERENT.
Not just demonstrated to us, but
He speaks of love being manifested or REALIZED IN US.
While I certainly never take my eyes off of the cross of Jesus,
John says that I can now realize God’s love
Through something He has done in my life.
WHAT IS THAT?
“By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.”
We certainly still see that demonstration of love.
• Namely that “God has sent His only begotten Son into the world”
But what has God accomplished in us through sending His Son?
• “so that we might live through Him”
The answer is: LIFE
God’s love is now made visible in us
By reason of the life that He has given us.
And here we are NOT referring to physical life, which all men have,
But that new spiritual, abundant, eternal life which came to us through Christ.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 4:10 “Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
John 6:35 “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
John 8:12 “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
It is what we read about a moment ago from Paul.
Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”
Jesus didn’t come just to model good behavior.
Jesus didn’t come just to improve living standards.
Jesus didn’t come to educate the ignorant.
Jesus didn’t come for political reform.
Jesus didn’t come for social injustice.
He came to take dead men and make them alive.
What do you mean dead men?
Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
The dead are characterized by:
• The worldly pattern they follow (which is Satan’s pattern and a demonic one)
• The lusts of the flesh they indulge
• The wrath they incur
To be dead indicates one with no comprehension of the things of God.
• They have no love for God.
• They have no understanding of God.
• They have no desire for the things of God.
Christ came to take those dead men and make them alive.
All of this occurs “through Him”
We have repeatedly said God’s love is
• A redeeming love
• And a transforming love.
• We might also call it a resurrecting love.
• It is NOT empty infatuation.
• It is CERTAINLY NOT apathetic approval of whatever you want to do.
• It is NOT some enablement of your sinful dreams.
No, Christ came and approached you in your sin and made you alive
That you might now be different.
God did this for those He saved.
He sent His Son to raise us from the dead.
Colossians 1:13 “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,”
Romans 6:12-13 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
Do you want to see the distinction a little more clearly?
TURN TO: EPHESIANS 4:17-5:10
• You see the obvious difference between life and death.
• You see the obvious difference between lost and saved.
And if you ask yourself, “Why do I live different from the world?”
It is because God loved you and sent His Son to make you alive.
• He didn’t leave you dead
• He didn’t leave you in sin
• He didn’t leave you under wrath
• He rescued you
• He raised you
• He made you alive
Your new life is EVIDENCE of how God has loved you.
And that is a remarkable thing in and of itself.
BUT IT GETS EVEN BETTER.
(10) “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
If you want the full effect of John’s point here then first you need to EXTRACT from that verse the two statements that describe us.
• The first is “not that we loved God”
• The second is “for our sins”
When God set His love upon us
We see that we were sinners who did not love God.
GOD DID NOT RESPOND to our love with His own.
God initiated love to those who did not love Him.
GOD DID NOT RESPOND to people striving to do their best.
God initiated love to those who were adamantly rebelling against Him.
That means when God determined to love you
It was at a point when you were absolutely unlovable.
He loved you in spite of you.
You see that first.
Well, what love did He show toward us?
“He…sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
There is that beautiful word again: “propitiation”
It means appeasement or satisfaction.
To settle down or relieve the wrath of God.
So God looks upon this world and sees rebellious sinners who have kindled His wrath toward them.
And everything about the holiness of God
Would rise up and crush them immediately.
His holiness would SEND RAIN and drown them all…
His holiness would SEND FIRE from heaven and incinerate them…
His holiness would OPEN UP THE GROUND and swallow them alive…
And we certainly know that God would be just in this
And that He has proven His willingness to do this before.
And yet, instead of global destruction, He sent His Son to earth
To bear our punishment and satisfy His wrath.
I just gave you a list of some of the most terrible expressions of God’s wrath revealed in the Bible.
• We know of Noah and the flood where God killed everyone.
• We know of God burning Sodom and Gomorrah.
• We know of the ground swallowing the opponents of Moses alive.
Do you understand that the cross fits in that list?
Do you understand that the cross actually belongs at the top of that list?
Isaiah 53:4-6 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”
Isaiah 53:10 “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.”
All the wrath for all the sin of all the redeemed
Was poured out that day on Jesus Christ.
And this was God’s love for us revealed.
Just as the holiness of God would reach back and strike us with the whip,
God sent His Son to go and cover us and take the blows for us.
That in itself is remarkable.
Which is what Paul said in Romans:
Romans 5:7 “For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.”
But what God did goes so much farther than that.
• For God did it for those who were His enemies.
• God did it for those who did not love Him.
• God did it for those who were in open rebellion against Him.
God sent His Son to take the punishment for sinners.
And through His Son to raise His enemies from the dead
And give His Spiritual life to those rebels.
AND WE MARVEL AT THIS LOVE.
We use words like UNDESERVED – since we did nothing to earn such a sacrifice. In fact we actually behaved so as to deserve the punishment.
We use words like UNRESTRAINED – that when God set His love on us He held nothing back. He gave even His only begotten Son.
We use words like UNPROVOKED – since it was not our love which motivated God to love us back. He loved us only because He chose to love us.
We use words like UNLIMITED – since it is a love great enough to cover all the sins of all the elect for all time.
We use words like UNHINDERED – since nothing stopped God mid-action. Even when Jesus came He was ill-treated and hated but He did not abort the mission. He finished His exercise of love.
John 13:1 “Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”
SO THE FIRST OBJECTIVE this morning is simply for you and I
To ponder this great love with which God has loved us.
Even when we did not love Him…
Even when we were dead…
Even when we desired sin and were rebels…
Even when we deserved wrath…
God’s love manifested itself by making dead men like us alive.
God’s love demonstrated itself by dying in our stead.
God’s love took sinful rebels and made us His children.
And now that this great undeserved love is in the forefront of your mind,
HERE COMES THE MAIN POINT.
(11) “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
That is what they call one of those “mic drop” moments.
Incidentally, “ought” there is (o-FILE-o)
It means “to owe; to owe money; to be in debt for”
Romans 13:8 “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.”
And that brings up a good point to us here.
Another place where that word is used.
TURN TO: MATTHEW 18:21-35
Now obviously the main theme there is not necessarily love, but forgiveness.
However the principal behind it is identical.
We have a man who owes the king “ten thousand talents”
• A talent was worth more than 15 years wages of a common laborer
• This guy owed 150,000 years wages.
• He could work for 3,000 full lifetimes and still not pay off that debt
But the king was merciful and forgave him.
That man had a colleague who owed him “a hundred denarii”
• A denarii was 1 days wage.
• So somewhere around 4 months wages.
• It’s not nothing but it is certainly payable in time.
But the slave would not forgive.
And when the king heard about it, he was livid!
The point there being YOU OWE HIM FORGIVENESS
Not because he deserves it,
But because I gave it to you when you didn’t deserve it.
John uses that same reality as he talks about brotherly love.
How much has God loved you?
I promise you this: it is infinitely more
Than you will ever be asked to love anyone else.
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
And now you see THE POINT.
ATONEMENT DESERVES IT.
You brother may or may not deserve your love.
But God definitely deserves it.
Think about a normal family relationship.
• You may have a sibling that irritates you or is difficult to love.
• You may not be compelled to love them or get along with them because they
deserve it,
• But you are compelled because your momma wants it.
In an infinitely greater way we discuss our obligation to love our brethren.
What we are talking about here
Is someone who is of tremendous value to God.
When you look around this room I hope you grasp what you are looking at.
• You are seeing people whom God chose to love.
• You are seeing people who did not deserve love, but He gave it anyway.
• You are seeing people that God paid a tremendous price to redeem.
DOES THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
Nick Batzig wrote:
“The key to our loving other believers with brotherly love is to train ourselves to think properly about the other members of the family of God. God calls us to view each and every believer as one “for whom Christ died” (Romans 14:15; 1 Cor. 8:11). In Christ, God has laid down His life for the brethren. We, too, are to lay down our lives for one another. Jesus has patiently born with us. We, too, are to bear with one another in love. Jesus has died to forgive us our sins. We, too, are to forgive one another. Jesus continues to build us up in truth. We, too, are to build one another up in the truth. Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us. We, too, are to intercede for one another. Jesus has given us every provision for our lives in this world and in the world to come. We, too, are to share our provisions and lives with one another both now and for all of eternity.”
THIS IS THE CALLING.
You are those whom God has loved.
And so is your brother.
And God has called you to love him.
But he doesn’t deserve it?
Neither did you.
But he irritates me?
As did you.
But he actually acts like my enemy?
So where you.
You don’t love him because he deserves it.
You love him because God loves him and God deserves it.
DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?
Well THAT IS THE THEOLOGICAL ASPECT of this passage.
Now we have understanding.
But THE GOAL of this passage is not just that you know the answer.
THE GOAL of this passage is that we love our brother.
• God sent Jesus to people who did not deserve it.
• He sent Him to move us from death to life.
• He sacrificed Himself for our spiritual benefit.
So here’s the question.
HOW IMPORTANT IS YOUR BROTHER’S SPIRITUAL LIFE TO YOU?
Are we to be like Cain who was of the evil one?
When God asked him where is Abel, Cain answered, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
That was the opposite attitude of Christ.
Christ became His brother’s keeper.
He came to this earth to save His brothers.
And the question is am I willing to do the same?
• How important is the spiritual life of my brother to me?
• How much would I sacrifice for my brother to walk in fellowship with God?
And incidentally, don’t just limit that to those who are redeemed.
Clearly John here is referring to those who are our brothers in Christ.
But what about the elect who have yet to place their faith in Christ?
When Christ came did He come only to love those who were already trusting God or did He not also come to seek for those who were lost?
They were unredeemed, but remember how He referred to them?
He called them “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”
They were the 1 whom He left the 99 for.
So the command to love our brothers…
The command to love God’s children…
THAT HAS TO INCLUDE NOT ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE TRUSTED,
BUT ALSO THOSE WHO WILL.
There must be a missionary commitment here.
There must be a love even for the lost.
We must love God enough that we eagerly search for His wayward sons.
YOU KNOW THE PICTURE, IT IS SO CLEAR.
Luke 15:25-32 “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. “And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. “And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ “But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. “But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. ‘But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”
DO YOU SEE IT THERE?
• There is the father who loves that younger son.
• And the father appeals to the older brother to love his brother also.
No the younger brother doesn’t deserve it, but will you do it for the father?
• Will you rejoice for the father?
• Will you celebrate for the father?
• Will you help your brother for the father?
• Will you invest in his life for your father?
• Will you get down in the ditch?
• Will you help him financially?
• Will you intercede?
• Will you bear his burden?
• Will you listen and help?
• Will you confront and teach?
And will you do it for the Father?
THOSE WHO DO REVEAL THAT
GOD HAS POURED HIS VERY OWN LOVE INTO THEIR LIVES.
THOSE WHO DO NOT REVEAL THAT THEY DO NOT KNOW GOD.
(7) “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
We cannot be a people UNCONCERNED about the Father’s will in the lives of our brothers, we must be CONSUMED with it.
No matter the cost, these men are family.
