If you watch much television or listen to the radio, or even if you read very much, then you might think that the dominate theme of our culture today is the theme of love. The world seems to be infatuated with the idea of love. It’s the theme of virtually every song you hear on the radio, and the theme of most books and movies. If you were to talk to many people, it would seem that love is the supreme goal of life, and happiness and fulfillment are only possible if you experience true love.
Interestingly, this epistle of 1 John which we are studying in our Sunday morning services has often been called the epistle of love, and John it’s author has been called the apostle of love. John has a lot to say about love. In his gospel of John, he speaks of love in 27 verses. And in this epistle of 1 John, he talks about love in 17 verses. And the passage we are looking at today is considered by many to be one of the quintessential passages in the entire Bible on the subject of love.
Of course, if you’ve been studying this book with us for the last few months, you will know that love is only one of the themes which John is discussing. In many cases, John indicates that love is evidence of our salvation. In today’s passage that we are looking at, John is going to dig deeper into the doctrine of love to show us what he calls perfect love.
In vs 12, at the end of this passage, John says, “if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.” Now on the surface, that sounds like the goal of the world, to find perfect love. But I would suggest that perfect love as taught by John is somewhat different than what the world envisions as perfect love. I can imagine for a lot of people who think of what would constitute perfect love, they would require some degree of perfection in their partner. They would imagine the perfect man or the perfect woman which would then make possible perfect love.
But the use of the English word “perfect" in the scriptures rarely indicates perfection, but rather the idea of completion. Perfect love is completed love. Agape is the Greek word which is used for love here in these verses. And agape love as we have talked about many times is sacrificial love. It’s not a love which seeks reciprocation. It’s a love that puts the other’s needs ahead of your own. And so that’s divine love, that’s Christian love.
But in another sense, love that is not reciprocated is not perfect love. Completed love must be reciprocated. It must be returned to be complete. In studying this passage before us today, I have found what I think are eight aspects of love laid out for us in this chapter, that culminate in what John says is perfect, or complete love. And I would like to work through these eight steps, so that our love might be perfected.
The first three steps are found in vs 7. Number one, we see the command to love. John says, “Beloved, let us love one another.” Now he may be stating that nicely, by calling us “beloved” and saying “let us” instead of “do this.” But make no mistake, love is a command, not a suggestion. Jesus said in the gospel of John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” And also John himself said back in the previous chapter, 1John 3:23 “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.”
So as Christians, as disciples of Christ, we are commanded to love. That illustrates an important aspect of love, by the way. And that is that love is an act of the will. It’s not something that you have to wait to feel before you do something. But it’s an act of the will, a deliberate choice to love. Jesus said “if you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Love is always associated with an act of the will, not just a sentiment or a feeling, or even attraction.
The second aspect of love is also in vs 7, which is the source of love. The source of love is God. John says “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.” Perfect love is from God. In other words, God initiates love. He is the initiator. John says in vs 19, “We love, because He first loved us.”
God loved us before the world began. I believe the story of God’s love for us really is illustrated in the Garden of Eden during creation. God said “let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” And although God previously had spoken all of creation into existence, when He made man, He stooped to scoop up clay from the ground, and formed it with His hands into a form of His likeness, and then God bent His head to breath the breath of life into man’s nostrils. The very act of creation speaks of God’s love for us.
But we get further understanding of God’s love in the story of how God made a helpmate for Adam. God said it is not good for man to be alone, and so He purposed to make Adam a helpmate who would be suitable to him. That means who would be like him. But after He said that, and before He made woman, there is an unusual interlude. During this interlude the scripture says that God caused all the animals that had been created to pass before Adam, and Adam gave names to each of them. Then it says an interesting thing, in Gen 2:20 “The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.” Then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and God brought forth the woman from Adam’s rib.
The analogy that I think can be made is that this was a picture of the situation with God before man was created. God looked through all the heavens and all the galaxies, to see if there was found a helpmate suitable for Him, and He found none. And so He brought forth man from the dust of the earth, in order to be a helpmate suitable for Him. He created mankind to be the bride of Christ. Man was made for God, to be loved by God, and to love God and have fellowship and communion with Him forever.
Now I think that illustrates that love is from God. He is the source of love. We love, because He first loved us. Even though Satan deceived man and caused him to be cursed by death, to be separated from God forever because of sin, God’s love for mankind was so great that He gave His only begotten Son to die in their place, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life and might be reconciled to God.
The third aspect of love is the evidence of love. The evidence of love is stated positively at the end of vs 7 and negatively at the beginning of vs 8. “Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God.” That’s a point that John has been making sense the beginning of this epistle. That if you are a child of God, then you will act like God, you will walk like God, you will love like God loves. He said back in chapter 2:5-6 “but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”
In this book, John has been offering a series of tests that you might know that you are saved. And here in vs 7 and 8 he says that the evidence that you have been born of God, that you are a child of God, is that you love like God, with a sacrificial love towards God and towards one another. It takes a regenerated spirit to have the kind of love that God desires us to have. Divine love cannot come from a fallen nature, but only from a regenerated nature. And so to have that kind of love is evidence that you have been born again in the spirit.
The fourth aspect of love is the attribute of love. This statement is probably one of the most famous lines in scripture. It’s at the end of verse 8, “God is love.” I could probably preach an entire sermon on this phrase. It’s very often misunderstood and misapplied.
Notice that I said it was the attribute of love. In this context, John is saying that love is the attribute of God. God has many attributes. He is not limited to only one. It is possible to debate which attribute takes precedence. Some may think the holiness of God is the primary attribute. Some may think love is the primary attribute. And there are others. I believe the Bible teaches that all attributes of God coexist equally. All the attributes of God are in perfect balance with the others. God can be a God of justice and sentence people to Hell, and He can love so much that He saves people who were condemned to hell. And one can be exercised without offending the other because He is perfect and His attributes are perfectly balanced.
But let me stress that God is love is not the definition of God, but rather that God defines love. For instance, you can say, God is love, but you cannot say love is God. This is where the world goes off track. They want to define God by love, and particularly what they think constitutes love. But God will not be put in a box by a one word definition. God defines love, not the other way around. Those that want to call God love, are in error. God is the “I AM that I AM.” He is God Almighty, Jehovah. He cannot be diminished to a one word attribute, though He personifies the attribute of love perfectly.
The problem with the statement “God is love” is how we interpret “love.” Our definition is not the same as God’s definition. So rather than let us define God by our definition, God defines love for us. And we will look at that definition in a moment when we get to verse 10. But before John defines love for us, he gives us an illustration of it.
So the next aspect of love is the manifestation of love. We find that in vs 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.” God demonstrated love by sending Jesus Christ into the world so that the world that was doomed to death might have life through Him.
God doesn’t just say He loves us, but He demonstrates His love for us. I can’t help but think of a mother’s love. I’m reminded of my own mother’s love when I was growing up. I didn’t have a perfect mother. I don’t think anyone has a perfect mother. I would go so far as to say, there is no such thing as a perfect mother. Maybe that will let a few of you mothers let go of some of your guilt. There are no perfect mothers.
But in spite of that, I remember my mother manifesting love for us. My mother’s love was evidenced in her keeping the house clean. It was evidenced in washing and folding and ironing our clothes. It was manifested in making my lunch for school every morning. And a million other things that she did, she did because she loved me. Love for her wasn’t just a few sentimental pats on the head or kisses on the cheek before I ran out of the house. Love was sacrificially doing things for me to help me have a good life. I would even say that when my mother gave me a paddling, she did it because of love. I didn’t think so at the time, but now that I’m a parent, I know that it’s true.
God manifested His love for us by sending Jesus to die on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins, so that I might be declared righteous in His sight, and receive life through Jesus’s death. Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends.“ Jesus substitutionary death in my place manifests God’s love. Love is action. Love is sacrificial. Love is not simply words or an emotion or an attraction.
Then in vs 10 we find the sixth aspect of love, which is the definition of love. Here it is, the answer to the age old question, what is love? Vs10, “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.” Well, that sounds like a restatement of the last verse, which we said was the manifestation of love. And you’re right. The manifestation is the definition. Love is an act of God to us, which is the act of sending His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
I was kidding around with my son the other day in preparation for this message. Sometimes I get some flack around my house because I preach a lot about sin. And sometimes they advise me that I need to balance the sin with more preaching on love. So I said to my son the other day, “I’m preaching about love this Sunday. You ought to be happy to hear that.” And if I heard him right, he muttered something about how he bet that I would still find a way to speak about sin. Well, he was right. Right here in this verse, right in the middle of speaking on this great passage about love, is the word sin. And so I get to preach on sin a little bit.
But seriously, the only reason that Jesus died on the cross was because we were sinners. He didn’t die on the cross by mistake. But He resolutely left His glory in heaven with the Father to humble Himself to become flesh like His creation, so that He could stand in our place and take the stripes which were meant for us, take the nails which we meant for us, and die the death which was meant for us.
And what John says here is so very important. Jesus died to satisfy the Father’s requirement that death be the punishment for sin. Because we were sinners, Christ died for us. Oh yes, He loved us. Yes He died for us because He loved us. But if we weren’t sinners He would not have had to die. He died to satisfy the requirement of a holy, just God against those who had defied His law.
You and I who were sinners, are saved by faith in what Christ did on our behalf. If you have not believed in the finished work of Jesus through His death and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins, then you are not a child of God. Jesus didn’t die to make you prosperous or healthy or happy or a myriad of other narcissistic desires that you might have. He died so that a sinner condemned to eternal death might be given life in exchange for His life. I hope you have trusted in Jesus as your Savior and Lord and that you have been forgiven and made righteous. It’s by faith in what Jesus did on the cross. And what He did is the definition of love. Love is sacrificial, it’s substitutionary. Love satisfies the requirement of God. Love is believing in Christ. Love is the product of regeneration. Love comes as a result of being given new life.
The seventh aspect of love is the reason for love. Vs 11, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” If you consider what we just said about the love of God in sending His Son to die in our place, if you really consider that and understand that, then how could you not love God in return? And if you love God, then how could you not love His body on earth, which is the church? If you love God, then how could you not obey Him?
Jesus said the foremost commandment was “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.”
“The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’”
Paul tells us in 1Cor. 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” The reason for love is that we want to bring glory to God with our life. This life which we received through such a great sacrifice by Christ, we want to live for His glory. That is how we love God, by living a life in service to Him. And the way we serve Him and bring Him glory is we love one another. We love His church and edify one another, and encourage one another, and help one another. We serve Him by serving His body. And we do it gladly because of all that He has done for us. If God was willing to suffer and die for us, we ought to be willing to suffer for one another’s benefit.
The last aspect of love we have already mentioned. This is the culmination of love, this is what it has been building up to. The perfection of love. Vs.12, “No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.” Now at first glance it would seem as if John copied and pasted the wrong phrase into the wrong sentence. Maybe he was working on a revision and meant to paste in something else and instead he puts these two seemingly disparate phrases together.
What does not seeing God at any time have to do with loving one another? Well, I think after looking at it awhile I may have discovered the reason for what John did here. I think he wanted to emphasize the fact that man can’t see God. But we can see other Christians who have the love of God in them. That’s the point of this verse. The world, the church, mankind in general cannot see God, but they can see you, and you have the Spirit of God abiding in you, so that you may do the works of God.
That’s what the scripture is talking about when it says we are to be conformed to the image of Christ. We are to be like Christ to the world, doing the works of God, reaching the lost for God ,sharing the word of God to the world, converting sinners to saints for the kingdom of God. Building up the church, edifying the saints, serving one another. Loving one another. That’s how the world will see God. They see God in us, living out love through us. And that’s the testimony that changes the world, when they see the changes God has manifested in us. We don’t act selfishly anymore. We love like Christ loves. We forgive one another. We serve one another. We sacrifice for one another. Jesus said in John 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
That love which comes from God now comes full circle. The love of God, which is of God, produces a love in us, which is poured out to one another. That’s perfect love. That’s completed love. Love from God completes us, because we love one another. That’s perfect love. I hope you have received the love of God which was manifested in Christ’s death on the cross, that you might receive forgiveness of sins, and the righteousness of God, so that the Spirit of God might abide in you, that the love of God may be perfected in you.
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