Many times we focus on God’s love and neglect his righteous wrath against sinfulness. We like God’s love because it is safe and comfortable, and it is not in anyway conflicting with our ideas of God. We think of God as forgiving and loving. Who does not want that kind of God? But we often overlook what the demonstration of God’s love cost him. Or we overlook why we need God’s love. However loving God may be without His grace we can never experience His love. In our passage today we will see the origins, the example and the demonstration of God’s love.
First we see the origins of love (vv. 7-8). Now we are not talking about the romantic love that gives warm and comfy feelings, but we are talking about love as in a love for all people. I love you my brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the love such as love your neighbor as yourself. But John begins today’s passage by saying, “Beloved, let us love one another.” It is a suggestion of instruction. Basically, this is not an option that he gives to us, but it is a statement of instruction. He says, let us love one another. Let us demonstrate love and care and compassion and service to one another because these are actions and attitudes of love. Without compassion then there is no love demonstrated to those who are hurting and grieving. Without service, there is no love demonstrated to those who are unable to help themselves. But then John says, “for love is from God.” Let us one another because love comes from God. Well, so what? This is the church. These are people who are born again. These are people who claim to be servants and submitted to God himself. So God is the source of love and as he says following, “everyone who is loves is born of God and knows God.” If God is the source of love and we are of God then we will be able to love as God loves. Without God we could not demonstrate the love that God would have us to demonstrate. You see, God in us will perfect us. How many of us have ever seen love demonstrated imperfectly? How many of us have ever seen someone who was just truly not loved? Maybe a lady whose husband just treated her with the least respect possible. Or a child whose parents would not pay them any attention. This a demonstration of imperfect love, but through Christ we can demonstrate a more perfect love because with him in us we are being perfected. The love of Christ is an unselfish and sacrificial love. Living in this kind of love is a demonstration of the knowledge of God. We are to know God, but this is more than just head knowledge but a knowing of him personally. A knowing from being with him. According to John, the only true demonstration of love is the demonstration of the love of God. We see in this section of our passage that without the love of God is a sign of our life.
We should love others because it is a sign of our salvation. Love should flow freely from us because if we are saved then His love should flow freely from us. One man is quoted as saying, “If God is the source of all love, then whatever love a man has in him comes from God; and this part of his moral nature is of Divine origin.”
Secondly, we see the example of love (vv. 9-11). Because God is love then his love has been manifested in us. It has been made real, alive. Or looking at the verse, it could be that John is more specifically saying God’s love has been manifested among us. Because he says God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. It is through Him, Christ that we can love. It is through Christ that we see love demonstrated. God so desired to love us and free us from sin that he sent Christ in order that we might be free of sin. The unique son of God came to us. This is love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent his son. Christ was our propitiation for our sins. Some people say this really should be expiation. Expiation is defined as the removal of our sins. Propitiation is the removal of our sins by the appeasing of the wrath of God toward sin. Some people say well, God does not have wrath it is ungodly. How can God be angry when he tells us not to be angry? Well, God’s anger towards sin is a righteous anger that is expressed towards that which is against his nature. God’s love is manifested in the coming of his son. The demonstration of God’s love is found in Christ’s death and payment for our sins. The demand of God’s love is found in verse 11 which says that we ought to love one another because God loved us.
God sought to be known in this world by love. How can we demonstrate love towards others? God’s justice was met in his love demonstrated on the cross. How can we demonstrate that sacrificial love towards others who are in need?
Third we see the demonstration of God’s love (vv. 12-14). Verse 12 says that no one has seen God at any time. God in his essence and nature has never been observed by anyone throughout the course of history. Jesus is God but in his natural state no one has ever observed him. The verse continues, “if we love one another, God abides in us.” If we love one another then we have God, which means that God has demonstrated his love to us. “His love is perfected in us.” Again, his love is demonstrated to us. God abides in us. A personal piece of God resides in every believer throughout the course of history and the world. If we are his then we have a piece of him. This is a personal demonstration of God’s love to us. Then we see that John says, “we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.” When we become a believer and possess the Spirit of God we receive a personal gift of God’s love. Our salvation is founded in the love of God. Without God’s love there would be no salvation. If God did not love us, then He would have left us to our own end of eternal death, but because He loves us, He has sought to save us and part of the work of God in us is the work of the Spirit and his indwelling in us. We are recipients of God’s personal gift to us, the Spirit. In verse 14, “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son the Savior of the world.” Have you seen the Son? What he appears to be saying is that it is known that Christ came to be the Savior of the world. It is for all people to know that Christ came to be our Savior. He did not come to judge the world but that through him we might have eternal life. (John 3:17) Jesus’ life, death and resurrection are a public demonstration of God’s love for us. Without his life there would be no identification with humanity. Christ came as the second Adam. Without His death there would be no forgiveness of sins. Without the resurrection there would be no promise of eternal life. Jesus did all of this publicly and is a demonstration of his love.
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