The Love of God

Although we took a break last week, we have recently been looking through the book of 1 John. In fact, we are picking back up there this morning, so you can go ahead and turn over to 1 John 4:7.

Our goal in looking at 1 John was to answer the question, “Are You Sure?” - Are you sure that if something happened to you today, you would find yourself in God’s presence for the rest of eternity?

We have seen that although we aren’t saved by what we do, our actions should demonstrate that we are right with God.

If we get off track, we come back to him and ask for him to graciously forgive us, not because we deserve it, but because Jesus has paid for our sins with his blood.

Last time we looked at 1 John together, we were reminded that we should be loving God instead of chasing after satisfaction, stuff, or status, which is loving the world instead.

Today, we are going to take that idea another step further to see what God’s love looks like and how we should respond.

This will be the launching point for us, because we are going to take the next several weeks and look closer at what we mean when we say, “Our Goal Is Love”.

That’s how these two series tie together: if you have a relationship with Christ, it is based off his love for us. That love also forms the foundation for how we are going to grow to love God and others in our families, church, community, and world.

Bringing it back to our current series, we will see that if we are genuinely saved, we should have a love that matches with the kind of love God has shown us. We are saved because of the way God has loved us, and we are expected to show that same kind of love to others.

With that in mind, I want us to look at three different characteristics of God’s love this morning.

Let’s set the stage by reading verses 7-10.

John starts out with a clear encouragement and yet another test: if you know God, you are going to love like he does.

That applies to each and every person in this room. Whether you are a people person or a loner, whether you are an introvert or an extrovert, old or young, you are called to love people like Jesus loves you.

There is something interesting to notice in verse 8 - It isn’t that God simply acts lovingly; love is a part of who he is.

Love has always been a part of God’s nature, even before we existed!

One theologian, Wayne Grudem, defines it this way:

“God’s love means that he eternally gives of himself for others…It should cause us great joy to know that it is the purpose of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to give of themselves in order to bring us true joy and happiness. It is God’s nature to act that way toward us for all eternity.” (Wayne Grudem, Bible Doctrines)

(Wayne Grudem, Bible Doctrines)

God’s love is a self-giving love, and that’s what he is calling us to reflect.

So let’s break down what that love looks like. First, we see that...

1) Love sends.

Look at verse 9...

Did you realize that God didn’t have to save us?

Let’s not make a mistake this morning that many have made.

We talk a lot around here about the love of God, and rightfully so.

However, there is a danger that we might also neglect another attribute of God: his holiness.

Jimmy touched on that last week, didn’t he? Don’t lose sight of the fact that God is just as much holy as he is love.

In fact, when you see the angels around the throne in and in , they exalt God for his holiness, not his love.

Holiness means that God is completely different than anything else in all creation, but it is more than that. Holiness also means that God is completely and totally pure, without any single hint of sin or evil.

He must punish sin, because it is contrary to his nature. He can’t simply overlook it.

When you think about the holiness of God, you see that we don’t deserve for him to rescue us. We are the ones who abandoned him!

Isaiah 53:6 CSB

We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:6 CSB

We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.

We turned from him, and we

Every single person in this room, on this planet, and throughout history, has chosen to do what they want instead of what God wants.

We have turned our backs and run from God, and yet how did God respond?

By showing us what love looks like and sending his Son for us!

God had every right to sit in heaven and never intervene in the earth again because of our sin.

He has every right to condemn us to hell and to kill us the very moment we are born!

I know that this sounds harsh when we are so used to being told that you deserve a trophy and a gold star and a comfortable retirement and a beautiful family and a satisfying job, but this is the truth of Scripture: you deserve death and to be separated from God forever.

Now, bring that understanding back with you into verse 9...

In light of your sin, in light of the fact that we deserved to be separated from God forever, look at what his love compelled him to do: to come rescue us!

Put this in human terms. How many times has your spouse or a friend done or said something that hurt you?

What is your natural reaction? For most of us, that reaction is to shut down - “I’m not talking to you until you apologize.”

We may go out of our way to avoid the person who has hurt us.

Yet, what did God do for us?

God came to us. He sent Jesus to come so we could have life!

Why did God send Jesus

That’s what love does. Love is self-giving, and so it doesn’t wait for the offender to come back; it pursues.

If our lives have been transformed by the love of God, which sent Jesus to earth to rescue us, then we need to be willing to do the same.

We need to go to people who aren’t like us, people who hurt us, people who have no way of paying us back, and help them find the love that you know.

That means we love our angry uncle that the rest of the family rejects. We love the weird guy in class that everyone makes fun of. We go talk to the girl at work that no one ever talks to.

We come alongside the poor, the sick, the homeless and help them find the hope of the Gospel.

Let’s get this straight, though: you aren’t better than anyone else!

We don’t love others out of a sense of superiority; we love others because God loves us!

Do you love that kind of way? Is there a heart in you to go to those the world overlooks?

Who do you see that others overlook? How can you love them this week?

If not, I would challenge you to take a good look at whether or not you are saved.

God loved you by sending Jesus, so you should love others the same way!

Love does more than simply send, though. In the next verse, we see that...

2) Love sacrifices.

Look at verse 10.

God’s love didn’t stop by simply coming to us.

That doesn’t do much good, does it? It is nice to have someone around, but we need more than that!

Imagine this scene: as you drive along, you see a group of people gathered around someone lying beside the road. Several people are attending to the injured person, and you have no medical skills to speak of.

So, let’s say you stop and push everyone aside and sit down next to the person. They are obviously injured, but you don’t have a tourniquet or know how to use it, you can’t set a bone, you don’t know CPR, but you’re there.

That’s a nice gesture, but if there are others there to help them with their needs, it isn’t all that helpful, right?

Guys, if you are able bodied, next time your wife comes home with a load of groceries, just stand there with her as she carries them in. How helpful is that?

Sure, it’s nice that you kept her company, but you didn’t do much to actually help.

Can you imagine what would have happened if Jesus had just come to earth, looked around, and said, “Wow, you guys have made a mess of this. I’m here, but good luck.”

Again, he could have done that, but that isn’t what he did.

Instead, he did what we desperately needed: he gave himself for us.

Jesus came, and as God in the flesh, knew how broken we were. He knew we could never make it back to God on our own.

He taught us what it meant to follow God and what it looked like to surrender our lives to him.

He healed diseases, raised the dead, and performed miracles throughout the natural realm. In all of this, he showed us that God had the power over every aspect of creation.

Finally, in the greatest act of love in history, Jesus became the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

What does that mean?

Go back to what we have said—we chose to do what we want, and God, being holy, has to punish that sin.

In fact, the Bible clearly tells us that the punishment we deserve is death.

Jesus came and lived a perfect life, so he didn’t deserve the punishment we deserve. Yet, he allowed himself to be put to death on the cross to die my death and your death in your place.

He paid the debt that you and I couldn’t pay, and he paid it in full.

If you think of the wrath that you and I deserve as a poison, it is as though it was poured into a glass. Jesus drank every last drop of poison that I deserved, and he died my death.

However, he didn’t stay dead! He came back to life to prove that he had taken that punishment fully for us and could offer us his life instead.

That’s why he was sent: to be our sacrifice so we could live through him.

Is that how those who know you would describe your love?

Do you love others in such a way that you sacrifice for their good?

What sacrifices have you made this week so that God would be glorified and that others would know about his love for them?

When your husband or your wife or your kids or your parents or your boss or your professor acts mean and hateful, and you act loving in response, you are demonstrating that you have the love of Christ in you, because that’s how he loved.

However, if you respond in kind, giving back anger for anger and hate for hate, you show that you don’t know the love of God.

God’s love for you cost him his very life!

What does your love for Christ and others cost you?

Not only does love go where people need it, love also makes sacrifices for the glory of God and good of others.

Remember, God is pouring his love through you into others.

You can’t love them on

The love God has for us also is characterized by one more attribute in this passage.

3) Love secures.

Jump down to verses 17-19.

In the relationship between you and God, who loves whom first?

Be clear on this: God loves first.

When God first put his love on you, were you his friend or his enemy, from what we have said this morning?

You were his enemy, and yet God loved you.

If you are here today and not yet a Christian, then understand that God loves you right now.

When you understand his love, you can turn from yourself to turn to following him.

If you have turned to following him, then you can know right now that you are saved.

Why are you saved? Because God loves you and gave his son for you!

So, then, what do you have to fear in this life or the next?

Nothing!

You are completely secure in Christ.

If you have experienced his perfect love, then there is no room for you to fear punishment or separation from him because it won’t happen!

Perfect love casts out fear!

If you are still afraid that you might not go to heaven when you die, then you aren’t resting in the love God has given you.

There are a few reasons why that may be true:

You aren’t saved - if you don’t have a relationship with Christ, then you have good reason to be concerned.

You aren’t acting like it - if you are continuing to live in sin, you may doubt whether or not you have a real relationship with God. As we talked about back in our first message from chapter one, confess it, turn from it, and rest in God’s forgiveness and grace.

You don’t fully understand God’s love - Maybe you have had someone who was supposed to love you leave, and you are convinced it was your fault. Your mom or dad or spouse or child or friend left, and whether it has made you think that God is going to do the same.

Let me show you, from God’s word, just how wrong that idea is:

Romans 8:38–39 NASB95

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If none of those things can separate you from God’s love, and if he loved you while you were still his enemy, then do you think he will stop loving you as his child?

J.D. Greear says it this way:

“In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make you love me more, and there is nothing I have done that causes you to love me less.” (J.D. Greear)

You are completely secure in Christ.

His love should fill you with such peace and joy that it spills over into all the lives around you.

That security shouldn’t lead you to keep living life your way and disregard him, though. As we have seen throughout 1 John, we show that we know God and love him by doing what he says.

Let’s put this into terms of what it looks like for us: do the people around you feel secure in the fact that you love them, or are they always walking on eggshells, trying not to offend you?

That doesn’t mean that you never confront folks for living lives that deny God and destroy them, but do you do so out of a heart that wants them to be right with Christ or do you condemn them as if you were the final judge?

I am not saying that love makes you weak. In fact, it makes you the opposite. Love is the strength to stand by someone when they fight you and hate you and are angry.

Love sees who God has created the other person to be, even when they can’t see it themselves.

That is how God loves us. His love is a sending love that sent Jesus to us. It is a sacrificial love that gave his life in place of our death. It is a securing love that can never be shaken or taken away.

If you have never given your heart to Christ, let me encourage you to come to God today. You have sinned, and you are separated from God. He loves you so much that he came to save you, so why not give up chasing after things that will never satisfy, ask him to forgive you, and commit to living in his love?

If you are saved today, do these three words describe your love for God and for others?

Over the next several week, we are going to take time to explain what we mean by each area of Our Goal Is Love.

In each of these, this definition of love will be our guide as we seek to understand what it looks like to love God and others in our church, family, community, and world.

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