Sunday 07:18:10

1 John 4:7-14 7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. V 7 –love comes from God. People who exhibit Christian love have been born of God and know God. Love comes from the new life that we receive at salvation and from fellowship with God. 1 John 2:3-6 3We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. V 8 – if you don’t love, you don’t know God. People who carry out violence and whose speech is full of hate and say they do it in the name of God – do they know God? No. Love is intrinsic to the character and nature of God. If you know Him and follow Him, you will walk in His love. V 9 – God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. We forget, but we were destined for justice. Our sin would bring us death. There was no escaping, nothing we could do. We were born in sin and committed sin ourselves. The wages of sin is death. But God showed his love among us. He sent His one and only Son that we might live. V 10 – this is love: God loved us when we didn’t love Him. Jesus did not come in response to our love for God. God went first. He initiated. He took a risk. He sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. Christ’s death satisfied God and His demands for justice and righteousness. Christ’s death so satisfied Gods’ demand for righteousness that now grace and mercy are abundantly available to us. V 11 – Since God loved us, we should love each other. V 12 – Among believers, this invisible God lives (abides) in us and His love is complete in us. V 13 – There is a mutual abiding – we abide with Him and He with us – for believers. The phrase “He has given us of His Spirit” is literally, “He has given us out of His Spirit.” When you and I love, we are drawing love from God’s Spirit. Love is the product of the Spirit’s work in you and me. V 14 – “We have seen” – The indwelling God, whose presence is manifested in the midst of a loving Christians, becomes in a sense truly visible. Though no one has seen God, believers who abide in Him have seen the Son as He is manifested among loving Christians. Christians who have seen this manifestation can testify to this truth: “the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” Our love for people comes from abiding with Christ. There is no other way. You cannot work hard enough to love people. It only comes from living and walking with Christ for a long time. Our love for people is to be like God’s love for us. His love is courageous. He loved us first, took a risk, did not wait for our response. We were not seeking him, loving him, looking for him, trying to make things right – Then he broke through the silence. This is the kind of love we’re supposed to have for others – love that breaks through the silence. Is there silence in your marriage? Christ’s love in you breaks through the silence, courageously and selflessly and demonstrates love. Is there silence between you and someone else because of hurt feelings or unforgiveness? Christ’s love in you breaks through the silence to bring reconciliation. Is there silence between you and friends – about things that matter? You talk about EVERYTHING else but God? Christ’s love in you breaks through the silence and causes you to spur each other on in faith.