FIRST JOHN
The Absolute Necessity of Love
1 John 4:7-21
INTRODUCTION
According to John there are 3 lies Christians must avoid. The first lie is the claim that a person who lives an immoral life can have a positive relationship with God (1 John 1:6). The second lie involves Jesus: the claim that you can believe in God yet reject Jesus, God the Son (2:22). This section comes to the third lie: the claim that you can love God and yet hate your brother.
Now notice that this lie is not just a little white lie. According to John it's the lie and work of the Antichrist (1 John 2:21-22). If this is the work of the main human opponent of God the Son, then it is a serious lie indeed.
If ever a society needed to hear the message of love, it is the American society today. Hate and aggression permeate our society. In the 1980's Republicans and Democrats didn't get along on the floor of the U.S. Congress, yet after the daily session of Congress was over, they would go out for drinks and social talk. Not so today. Today both parties practice a scorched-earth policy. They will try to win at all costs.
This is not only true in the political sphere. Today is the day of "rights." (I don't know how everybody can have rights when people claim that there is no such thing as right or wrong, but they do.) We have African-American rights, women's rights, children's rights (everybody's got rights except the unborn baby, the only group which really does need protection). When we feel our "rights" are violated, then we get angry, even hostile. Society today is one of anger.
TWO REASONS WE ARE TO LOVE OTHERS (4:7-12)
Introduction
In the first part of 1 John, John has shown us that there is a God and that Jesus is God the Son. According to John this has important implications for you and me. Now if this God doesn't care what we do, then don't worry about the way you live your life. The only problem is that according to John this God DOES care what you do. He is light and in Him there is no darkness AT ALL (1 John 1:5)! If I want to have a relationship with Him and have eternal life, then I must live the life He wants me to live.
God is Love (4:7-11)
So what kind of life does God want me to live? A life of love: "Brethren, let us love one another" (4:7).
Why does John command us to love others: "for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." According to John, we are to love because love comes from God who is love through and through. C. S. Lewis in his introduction to George MacDonald's Phantastes says that MacDonald believed that right at the heart of the universe stands a loving Father, the Father of the eternal Son Jesus. Since the NT is true, MacDonald is right: whatever else is true about God, He is love and is the author of love.
In fact God is so much love that only those who love can claim to be born of God and have a relationship with God. Why? According to the Bible, not only are physical children like their physical parents, spiritual children are like their spiritual fathers (The Gospel of John 8:39-44). If God is love, then His true children will love; if a person is full of anger and hate, then whoever his spiritual father is, it is NOT God.
When John claims that love comes from God because God is love, what is he basing this upon? Is it wild speculation or wishful thinking? Did God just simply say that He was love? Or has He done anything to demonstrate to the world that He IS love? According to John the third question is the correct answer: God HAS done something to show us that He is love through and through.
What are the 2 things God has done to show us that He is love?
Our Love Reveals God to the World (4:12)
The second reason we are to love other Christians is that our love for one another within the church reveals God to the world. We live in a world of hate. There is even hate among people in the SAME organization. Tonight begins the Democratic party convention. From all accounts Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hate each other, and that does even take into account the animosity they feel towards Republicans (and vice versa). Listen to the airwaves and find out how upset conservative talk radio is with John McCain on some issues. We live in a world of anger.
Well, in a world of hate, if an organization exists whose members love each other, then something other-worldly is operating in that organization. "It's just the church!" one might object. Yet as G. K. Chesterton remarked, "There's nothing like the church in any other religion." When a church really loves one another, then it is showing to the world that it is other-worldly, that God is actually moving in their midst.
At this point some well-meaning church members may object to the emphasis on loving fellow church members. "You're just being a country club! You should focus primarily on the world!" Maybe so, but remember that the NT says that the church is a family where people find salvation. If the church doesn't love its members and care for one another, then who would want to join that church? It must be an open family unit (not an exclusive country club), but just like charity begins at home (1 Tim. 5:3-4), so charity must begin among church members. Otherwise, nobody is going to join that church family which leads to salvation.
THE MAJOR BENEFIT OF LOVE: NO FEAR OF PUNISHMENT (4:17-19)
One day all the masks will be removed; all the clouds which shield us from seeing God will dissipate. On that day we shall see God face to face. Is that going to be a day of joy or of fear? Well, YOU are going to be the one to determine the kind of day it is going to be. Do I want it to be positive? Then I need to live a life of love in the here and now. I don't mean to go around and feel loving; I mean to go around and actually love people.
Why will love for others (especially Christians) erase fear from us? "By this love is perfected in us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as He is, so also are we in the world" (4:17). In other words, when we love, we will be like Jesus who is love through and through. Well, if we stand before Jesus and we are exactly like Him, then certainly we have nothing to fear on Judgment Day. We will actually then have accomplished exactly what Christ wanted us to accomplish while on earth--being made like Him (Rom. 8:29).
OBJECTION: "Loving God is easy; loving my brother is hard!" (1 John 4:20, 21)
We can all agree that we should love one another; however, we would nearly all agree that there are exceptions to this rule. Even though we would all agree, we would not necessarily all be right. Sometimes, I mean, many times the majority can be wrong. There is NEVER a time we should not love. To assuage our guilty consciences, we say that although we don't like such and such person, we nevertheless still do love God.
This attitude has been so true of many churches in the past. Why do you think that there are so many churches in Corsicana? Someone told me that in a community of 24,000 there are 100 churches! In the town of Lancaster (pop. 23,000) during the early 90's, I can remember only 14 churches! Fourteen as opposed to 100! That shows that somebody isn't loving somebody.
To delve even deeper. We are so happy to love the lost souls in Africa; however, if an African or one of his descendants moves into our neighborhood, we refuse to invite them to church. And if they do attend our church, then we complain that they should be attending a church for people like them. Very sad.
Or we say, "I love God; it's just people who make me mad!" John attacks this head on. First, according to John it is easy to claim that you love God whom you've not seen and yet say you still hate people (1 John 4:20). The truth though is that whenever you love "God" and don't like people, then you are not really loving the true God. The true God is like the very person you dislike the most. Every person, I mean, every person has been created in the image of God. Reject the image of God and you reject God.
The second reason we cannot love God and yet hate our brother is that Jesus commanded us to do both: "You SHALL love the Lord your God with all your heart . . . and you SHALL love your neighbor as yourself." That is not an option; it is a command. To hate people even when you love God is an act of rebellion against God.