1 John 4:7-4:21 - Love from God

Discerning the Spirit

Welcome to the Well Community Church. I am so glad you’re hanging out with us today. If you have your Bibles, turn to 1 John. I recently had a conversation with a guy who is new here to the Well, and he was a little confused because he turned to the Gospel of John. If you’re new to your Bible, just a reminder that John wrote five books: the Gospel of John, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and the book of Revelation. We are in 1 John chapter four.

If you were with us last week, we talked about the real presence of the Spirit of God that is both with us and in us. We asked how we learn to open ourselves to the presence of God and, more importantly, how we know it is actually Him. John tells us that there is the capital “S” Spirit of God working in us, but there is also another spirit at work from the world, the flesh, or the devil. We are told to test the spirits to make sure what is driving us is actually from God.

1 John 4:1 (NASB)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

There are three ways to determine if you are being led by the Spirit of God. First, the Spirit of God is always in keeping with the Scriptures. Always. You want to be a student of your Bible because the Spirit will never lead you to do something the Word forbids. For example, if you are married and say, “God is calling me to divorce my spouse,” I’m going to go with a “no” on that. The Bible is the guide.

2 Timothy 3:16 (NASB)

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

Second, the Spirit of God is always confirmed by the Spirit. Paul says the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. When you hear truth, something “jumps” in your heart. You might hear a podcast or a sermon and just know, “Man, that is truth.” You’ve probably also felt the opposite—where you hear something and think, “Something is wonky about that.” That is the Spirit helping you discern.

Romans 8:16 (NASB)

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,

Third, the Spirit is affirmed by community. The same Spirit in you is in us, the collective body. This is the beauty of the local church. When you drift away from the community of believers, you can talk yourself into all kinds of stupid. You start believing interpretations of the Bible that nobody else in the history of Christianity has held.

We practice this here at the Well with our teaching team. Every Tuesday at 11:00, ten of us meet to study the text. We give feedback, we challenge each other, and we weigh in on where the message is going. When I stand here to teach, you aren’t just hearing Brad’s private weekend epiphany; you are hearing a plurality of voices affirming what the Word of God says.

So, the question we want to ask today is: what do the people of the Spirit actually look like? The short answer is that they look like God. And according to John, God looks like love.

The Nature of Love

If you look at 1 John 4:7-21, you’ll notice a lot of repetition. In just twelve verses, the word “love” appears twenty-seven times. John wants to make sure we understand that the focal point of his message is agapao—a love based on sincere and genuine appreciation.

1 John 4:7 (NASB)

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

John starts by talking about being “born of God.” Now, depending on your background, the phrase “born again” might sound like religious crazy talk. But the Bible simply means that Christianity isn’t just about mental assent to a knowledge base. Something has to happen. We have to die to ourselves. We come to the end of our own strength and say, “I no longer live for me; I live for Him.”

1 John 4:8 (NASB)

The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

If we are born of God, we should look like God. But what does that look like in practice? Love can feel vague until you look at the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Love is the willingness for someone to do something on behalf of someone else that they are not required to do. It is a movement toward another person with no expectation of reciprocity, even when they don’t deserve it.

1 John 4:9 (NASB)

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.

Before we knew Christ, we were far from righteous. We inherited shame, corruption, and autonomy. We were, as the Bible says, enemies of God. Yet God, being rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ. Love looks like the greatest rescue mission in history.

Titus 3:3-5 (NASB)

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and [His] love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

The Cost of Love

Love isn’t “squishy.” It comes with a massive cost. John uses a very important theological word here: propitiation. Some Bibles translate this as “atoning sacrifice.” It carries the idea of appeasement.

1 John 4:10 (NASB)

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.

We have to understand that the wages of sin is death. When sin is present, something has to die. Because God is holy and just, He cannot simply give us a “pass” on our sin. If He did, He wouldn’t be a just judge. So, Jesus stepped in the way. He absorbed the wrath of God that was meant for us. He is the only sacrifice that can do this. Good works won’t do it. Church attendance won’t do it. Sin is a divine offense, and it requires a divinely provided sacrifice.

Because of Jesus, we are born of God. And because of that, we are called to love one another.

1 John 4:11 (NASB)

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

I want to give a word of caution about that word “ought.” For religious people, “ought” and “should” are dangerous. We are “pull-up-your-bootstraps” people. We hear we “ought” to love, and we immediately double down on moralism. We try to accomplish in our own flesh what can only be accomplished by God.

If you find yourself thinking, “I need to work harder on being loving,” you are on a religious treadmill. It is exhausting and ineffective. You cannot love like He loved in your own strength. Instead of working on the behavior, you need to work on the abiding. Love is a fruit of the Spirit. If you have a problem loving others, you don’t have a “love” problem; you have an “abiding” problem.

Perfected Love

John makes a fascinating statement: no one has seen God at any time. In the Old Testament, people were desperate to see God, but God told them not to make images of Him. So, what does God look like to the world today? He looks like the love that shines through us.

1 John 4:12 (NASB)

No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

When we love others, it is so unnatural that people take notice. Apart from the Spirit, what comes out of me? If I’m driving down the freeway and someone is doing forty in the left lane, love is not what naturally comes out of my heart. I’m flashing my lights and thinking things I shouldn’t. That’s the flesh. But when we abide in the Spirit, something else comes out. People see that and go, “That’s different. What is that?” And we get to say, “That’s my God.”

John says this love is being “perfected” in us. This is a passive process. It’s being done to us by God as we remain in Him. And this perfected love gives us confidence for the day of judgment.

1 John 4:17 (NASB)

By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.

Now, the word “judgment” might make you nervous. You might wonder if God is going to pull up the “tapes” of your life from 1990. Praise God, the answer is no. That was dealt with on the cross. For the believer, the “Bema” seat of Christ is not about punitive condemnation; it is about commendation. We will stand before Him, and the only thing left will be, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We won’t be comparing ourselves to others; we will be fully absorbed in His presence.

Because of this, we don’t have to live in fear. Perfect love casts out fear. If you are terrified of standing before God, you are likely not abiding in His Spirit.

1 John 4:18 (NASB)

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

The First Move

John brings it all home with a very practical challenge. He says that if you claim to love God but hate your brother, you are a liar.

1 John 4:20 (NASB)

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.

In the Bible, “hate” doesn’t just mean you want to choke someone out. It means you disregard them. You think less of them. You throw shade on them. Hey, it’s an election year—if there is anyone you are looking at with contempt or talking smack about online, it brings into question what you are really abiding in. If you can’t love the person across the street whom you can see, how can you claim to love the God you cannot see?

1 John 4:21 (NASB)

And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

When you find a disconnect between your heart and this command to love, your next move is critical. If your first move is, “I should do better, I need to try harder,” you have missed the gospel. Your first move must be: “Oh God, that is true. I have people in my life who trigger the ugly in me. Lord, I need You. I need to abide in You.”

We have lived in a religious culture that is exhausted from trying to be “good” for centuries. We leave church saying, “Yeah! I’m going to live differently!” and by Tuesday, we’re back to our old selves. John is inviting us into a different way. Don’t focus on the behavior; focus on the relationship. Make the first move to the God who is, by His very essence, love.

Let’s pray. Father, I’m thankful that we get to put love on display because of what You’ve done in us. Lord, could we be a people who abide in You, who love You, and who are loved by You? Help us to show the world what love looks like by faithfully living out the change we’ve experienced on the inside. We need You. In Jesus’ name, amen.