Author: missionspaul

Yesterday I read an email from a young adult who had been deeply hurt by fellow Church believers much older in the faith than they were. These mature Christians had failed badly in their love towards her and she was on the edge of leaving church. She had not sinned against God but she had offended them by her youthful passion and enthusiasm to serve Him. It exposed their selfishness. Who needs a devil when we beat our own? The only blood on the Church floor should be that of Jesus. The witch-hunts seem to continue. I replied calling for this young person to hold on to love and to keep their heart right and not to become like those older in the faith.

Whatever justification Church people have to be unkind it only reveals that they haven’t been in the presence of Jesus that day. We have seen the Apostle John have much to say on love in the Church.

John has repeatedly majored on the mandatory reason why we should love others within the Church and now he brings it to a close by being as succinct as he can.

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. ² This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. ³ In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, ⁴ for everyone born of God overcomes the world.”  (1 John 5 v 1-4)

Here it is:

• Believing Jesus is the Christ and loving the children (believers) of the father (God) are interlinked.
• We cannot love God and be obedient in love (His commands) without loving His children (believers) and we cannot love His children (believers) without loving God and being obedient in love (His commands).
• Love for God is to be obedient in love. His commands are always to love.
• Love does not burden us because being born of God means we have overcome our own selfish desires (the world).

Any Church that truly gets the above will grow in the presence and power of God.

To do less is not the Church that Jesus came to build.

How do we know what is genuine? John has already stated that upholding the name and the position of Jesus Christ as the Son of God is the hallmark for the genuine believer and again he now mentions the second evidence.

“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” (1 John 4 v 20-21)

It’s the proof. Loving the easier of the two (a fellow believer that you can see) is proof that you love the hardest (God you cannot see).

The hallmark of genuineness is no matter their gifting, ability and how good they may be at speaking, if you cannot see love then what you are experiencing is a lie. They are not who they say they are. They do not love God nor do they know Him.

Why is this so important? Because it is a command of Jesus.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13 v 34)

^“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  This is my command: Love each other.” (John 15 v 12, 17)

It isn’t easy. But it is the proof you are who you say you are and it is the obedience that Jesus demands.

Despite the evidence we may have that can be used against us, He still loves us. It is actually a fixed position, loved.

The enemy of your soul will do all he can to say that you are not loved. He wants you outside of true love. He doesn’t want you to experience the love of God for when we do we are changed to love others.

“We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4 v 19)

John is exposing the ‘antichrists’ who came against the church who held on to the orthodox teaching of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Their lack of love for the believers within the Church revealed the truth of their spiritual experience.

A lack of love in as person reveals something is wrong and it may be that they have not known the love of God

The experience of God’s love motivates us with the same love. It flows from our lives. We are kind because He is kind. We are generous because He is generous. We love because He first loved us.

Rest in that truth today and then go love that person who is difficult to love. Make the world a better place.

I know! It is a risky title isn’t it? Especially for those of us who have been brought up with such fear.

Fear of hell; fear of being ‘left behind’; fear of disappointment; fear of disapproval; fear of not being in His will. Our knowledge of God had fears attached.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4 v 18)

John is focusing not on the person who rejects God and on the Day of Judgment is found inadequate. He is focusing on his Church who are being deceived and led astray by the ‘antichrists’ who dethrone Jesus and who are unloving. Pastorally he continues to point his people to Jesus Christ and as a result to know His love in action through their lives for one another.

He now says fear has no place in love. So you either understand fear or you know love.

The result of being baptised in fear is that we have not plummeted into the rich depths of His love.

Do we run the risk of abusing that love if we do not focus also on fear? Yes! But the risk is worthwhile. It seems for John he ignores the risk because the love is so important.

This is not the fear found in awe and respect. That is without question. God is holy. But this is the fear that God is against us. Through the life of Jesus, He is not. He cannot be.

You cannot know love for God and from God; you cannot be embraced with this amazing love of God; you cannot love other believers; and at the same time fear His punishment of you. So make a choice today and choose love.

The Apostle of love brings us to a strong eschatological focus of living in God and loving as God loves. For him, he has been pitching his letter between 2 camps; true believers who love v the ‘AntiChrists’ who dethrone Jesus as less than God and who do not love fellow believers.

Who has nothing to fear on that Day when we all stand before God?

“This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.” (1 John 4 v 17)

It is not those with less sin.

It cannot be those who have achieved a lifestyle which matches that of Jesus. If so then no one could stand.

It must be that just like Jesus was in the world we are also.

How was Jesus in the world? A) Through the incarnation as the Son of God and b) Love.

On that Day we will stand confidently not because we have achieved sinless perfection but because love has been perfected in us:-

• We are like Jesus in that as Jesus is the Son of God we are also children of God.
• We are like Jesus in that He came because God so loved the world and in this world He demonstrated this love by laying His life down on the cross.

John tells the Church that they have nothing to fear on that Day because they follow Jesus Christ and they love like Him. A message that is still as powerful for us today.

It isn’t going to church, it may not even be your baptismal certificate, so what are the evidences I am a Christian?

John has already written that God is within us if we love other believers.

Love comes from God: so loving one another shows you have been born of and know God, v7.

God is love: so if you do not love then you do not know God, v8.

Since God so loved us: we ought also to love one another, v11.

No one has seen God: but if we love one another God lives in us, v12.

So the love factor is clear. It is a strong indicator that you are a Christian if you love fellow believers.

Then John writes this:

“This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.” (1 John 4 v 13-15)

So John goes further and he writes of the kind of the love found within us. Love that is found:-

1. In the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
2. In the witness of the Bible which we hold as truth which reveals the historical Jesus Christ as the Saviour from sin.
3. In our confession that Jesus is the Son of God.

That is the assurance we all need that God is here in my life and I am living in Him.

How many know what you originally relied upon became a disappointment? The friend that wasn’t a friend. The spouse that promised but only used words. The security of that job that you were made redundant from. These chapters pose the question whether you can truly rely on anyone?

John, the apostle of love, tells his Church members something that we need reminding of today:

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” 1 John 4 v 16

‘We know’ … John’s Church. ‘We know’ … this is not general knowledge. John’s ‘Antichrists’ who dethrone Jesus and withdraw their love for others do not know this. But you do, we know. We have experienced this knowing for ourselves. God is still there. The God I came to know as a child is the God I know many years later. He hasn’t moved though I have moved many times. He is still here. This I know and because you and I know this then we know He can be relied upon.

We know that God’s love is perfect and it does not rely on any of our conduct whatsoever. You do not know this love because you are perfect and sinless. You know this love because you are a sinner loved by God. I still hear Christians believing their performance has something to do with their reliance on Him. The enemy of our soul wants to strip us of our confidence and to quieten our voice simply because he knows what will happen if we know. He wants to do away with our voice, to take our voice away, to quieten it at least.  So he will remind you of your sin and say you cannot possibly continue.

But the fight back is not because we are sinless but because we can rely on the love of God for us as we are sinners. Not that we abuse this knowing and reliance on His love but neither are we submitting to being abused because our fallen, sinful nature is not good enough.

We know and we rely.

Do you ever doubt? I don’t mean do you doubt the existence of God or whether God knows you? But do you doubt your Christian experience as being genuine?

Sometimes I have.

I wonder if I really know Him and if He knows me. But I have found something to help me and it is this verse.

“No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1John 4 v 12)

The love for others demonstrates that He is in my life.

John was countering the Antichrists claims that they had an experience of God but they had no need to love other people.

We can be assured of God’s position in our lives as His love is active within us. It is the proof He is here. Love and as a result His presence is then perfected or made complete when this love is active in our lives.

I know God is in me. I know His love is for me and is being made complete. I know this because of His love in my life.

I am purposely spending days in my devotions with God being thankful that He loves me. It does lead to the challenging obligations of what I do with this but I am not moving into that just yet because I am wanting to slow everything down and to ponder awhile on this one fact, God loves me.

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4 v 11)

Since God so loved us. There is nothing uncertain in what John is saying. It is an established fact seen in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Since. He has and He does love us. Since. No doubt. Absolute definitive fact. Let it land.

God so loved us. This isn’t cheap. It cost Him everything. If we truly knew how much God loves us then I don’t think we would be able to handle it. I know how much I love my children. I know how much I love my granddaughter. Though it helps me a little to understand it just doesn’t compare with how much God loves me.

Two simple words that reveal much of God’s love for us.

The world did not create love. Love never originated with us. We had nothing to do with it. We would not have known love if it wasn’t for God. Love was from God.

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4 v 10

In order for God’s love to be seen and enjoyed then the barrier that we had built between us and God had to be removed through God’s own act of sacrifice: Jesus Christ, His Son.

This is love. Not one ounce of ‘what is in it for me’ or ‘it takes two’ or ‘I’ll meet you half-way’. But 100% God. The whole thing. From Him who did it all and made everything possible that this love can be experienced. A love that sends the self. A love that sacrifices the self. A love that takes the sin of the other onto the self. We knew nothing of that until Jesus came.