http://www.washingtonubf.org/BibleMaterials/1John/1John4b_msg.html
1 John 4:7-21
Key Verse 4:7
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes
from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and
knows God."
Did you know that 1 John 4 is one of the "love chapters" in
the Bible besides 1 Corinthians 13? If you want to live the life of
love like Jesus then you should study and meditate deeply on these
words. In history, love is the most misused and abused word. With
the same mouth husbands and wives confess their love for each other
at their wedding, but with the same mouth, not much long after,
they curse at each other calling each other bad names.
Man's love is conditional, but God's love is unconditional.
Many people have been hurt by man's conditional love and felt like
dying. On the other hand, many people have been given new life by
God's unconditional love.
Today, let us focus on the love of God for us. And, let us try
to grow in that same love, so that we may love God and love one
another. The mark of our true Christian faith is our love for one
another.
1. THOSE BORN OF GOD LOVE LIKE GOD (7)
Let's read verse 7, "Dear friends, let us love one another,
for love comes from God. Evryone who loves has been born of God and
knows God." The Bible states in its very first verse, "In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth." This means that
everything comes from God. This means that we are part of his
creation.
When we study Genesis lesson 2 about the creation of man, one
of the questions on the question sheet is, "What are some of the
God-like attributes found in man?" There are many answers to this
quesion since we possess many God-like attributes for we were
created in the image of God to be like God.
One of the God-like attributes in man is love. Verse 7 here
again tells us that love comes from God. Genesis ch.1-2 tells us
that we are the chilren of God creatd in his image. Verse 7 again
tells us that we have been born of God and know God. This happens
when we repent of our sins and put our faith and trust in Jesus.
As God's children, born of God, we must also love God and love
our fellow man. Look at verse 7 again, "Dear friends, let us love
one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been
born of God and knows God." This does not mean that love will come
natural for us when we are born of God. It still takes work and
effort. However, when we are born of God, our desires to love God
and others grows within us.
We heard last week from David Brogi's African and Russian
Conference report about the sacrificial life of the Korean
missionaries in Africa. The African missionaries love the African
brothers and sisters like their own children. It was amazing to
hear how they stayed up late to watch their dancing and singing
practice. They watched them carefully even though their eyes became
heavy with sleep. None of them in the past could love others like
this and go to a third world country. But it is clear that they
have been born of God and know God, because of this act of
sacrificial love.
Love comes from God. When we are born of God, we will and must
try to grow in the love of God because our Heavenly Father is full
of love. We must copy him and learn from him, just as those who
have children see how their childen copy them. During WWII in
Germany, many churches gave their allegiance to Adolf Hitler, or
face perscution. But some Christians did not. One pastor, Deitrich
Bonhoffer, had a great chance to spend war time in America because
one American theologin, invited him to America to stay here until
the war was over. He said to Deitrich that he was a better service
to God and the people alive. But Deitrch didn't think so. He loved
his people too much to leave them in time of war. He refused the
invitation to stay in America and he went back to serve his people.
In 1945, he was executed by the Nazi's. His actions show that he
was born of God. He loved God first and loved man. He was willing
to die to show his love.
Jesus said in John 15:12-13, "My command is this: Love each
other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that
he lay down his life for his friends." Each of us who serve God's
mission can personally testify how God has changed their desire to
love others besides themslves and their family members.
Because we have been born of God and are growing in the
knowledge of God and in his love, we can love our sheep. We can
love sheep when they don't show up for Bible study. We can love
sheep when they give us wrong telephone numbers. We can love sheep
who argue with us all the time.
Many of you know Dr. Dan Pierce of Pinceton UBF. He looks like
a model shepherd; he's got a Phd and he's clean cut. But he wasn't
this way. In fact I heard that he was like the demon possessd man
of Mark chapter 5. But he was eventually changed because his
shepherd practiced the love of God on him for well over 7 years.
For 7 years he fought with his shepherd and argued with him. But
his shepherd practiced an aspect of the love of God on him, which
is patience and hope and mercy. Truly this kind of love paid off
because now Dan is a good shepherd who practics the love of God.
1 Corinthians 13:4-6 says, "Love is patient, love is kind. It
does not envy, it dos not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude,
it is no self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record
of wrongs." Those born of God will begin to pracice this kind of
love. As we all know by now, the Apostle John wrote this letter to
help the believers against the bad influence of gnostics who were
mere talkers and intellectual hedonists. Much talk about the Bible
and its meaning does not signify true love and being born of God.
The gnostics did not pracice God's love because they were not born
of God. Let's try and make the effort to practice God's love by
accepting that we have been born of God and are from God. Then we
can really concentrate on loving others as our mission.
2. THOSE WHO ARE NOT BORN OF GOD (8)
Look at verse 8, "Whoever does not love does not know God,
because God is love." Those who are not born of God cannot love,
because love is from God. Those who are not born of God love with
man's love or human love.
There are many kinds of human love. Sometimes people say, "I
love you", when it is not love, but just physical gratification or
lust. Sometimes people say, "I love you with all my heart." But
man's love is nothing but romance and it is temporal and self-
centered.
We all like Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." Romeo belonged
to the Montague feudal territory, and Juliet belonged to the
Capulet feudal territory. The family feud developed to he brink of
war at any time. But by chance, Romeo and Juliet fell in love.
Their romance was so tearful and tragic. Their romance was known to
the world as love beyond death.
But from the worldly point of view, men must be loyal to their
king, next to their family, next to their friends. But Romeo only
loved Juliet, and finally ended up committing suicide when his love
was not fulfilled. We can say that Romeo's romance was not of God.
Those who are not born of God have conditional love. We read
of contract marriages. There have been many stories and TV movies
made about the life of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Their
wedding was so magnificant and glamerous and was shown live on TV.
But little did anyone know that they really didn't love each other.
They just married to please the King and the Queen. It was a
marriage for position and power. It as just a big show, like a soap
opra. But because it was not from God it produced divorce and many
hurt people. The Briish people had to endure so much jokes and
gossip that many people became sick.
Fallen man, in his sinful nature, is directed by that sinful
nature. His love can only be selfish and temporary and hurt many
people. The Samaritan woman in John chapter 4 is the example of all
thirsty people who are trying to be satisfied by human love. We
don't know what her husband's were like and what she might have
fought and argued about with them. But it is quite clear that after
5 husbands that she was hurt and wounded by man's conditional love.
When she did not know God's love and hung around those who did not
know God's love, she felt spiritually dead. Her life was miserable.
She needed to know the love of God in Jesus. We'll get back to her
story later.
3. THE EVIDENCE THAT JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD (10-12)
How do we know that God is love? Let's read verses 9-10, "This
is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son
into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not
that we loved God, but that he lovd us and sent his Son as an
atoning sacrifice for our sins."
The thought of this verse is repeated so many times in 1 John.
Everything God does is in love. 100% and all the time, whatever God
does is in love; every thought of God and every act of God is done
in love. The greatest expression of God's love is that he sent his
one and only Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Many of us have children. Sometimes we feel uneasy to send
them to the babysitter. We think about them during the day, hoping
that they will be OK. We are happy to see them at night, especially
when they are well. But if they are not well, our hearts are
pained.
But the Bible says that God gave his one and Only Son as the
atoning sacrifice for our sins. Shepherd Bob Woods loves his one
and only son Peter. Could he give him up as a ransom sacrifice? It
is hard for any of us here to give up any of their children as a
ransom sacrifice.
But again, God, who shows us what true love really is, gave
his one and Only Son as an atonement for our sins. What does
atoning sacrifice mean? For Jesus it meant to give up everything;
all glory and power and honor in the kingdom of God. It meant to be
born in manger and live among the poor and weak, and not in a
palace with many luxuries. Jesus' humble birth was just the
beginning of his becoming the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
The climax was the pain that he had to endure, the crown of
thorns, the mocking and the spitting, and the shedding of his
blood. To give up all that he had in the kingdom of God, all that
glory and honor and splendor where the angels shout "Holy Holy
Holy", every moment, to sheding his blood and dying like a
condemned criminal required divine humbleness.
This divine humbleness of Jesus shows us the clear evidence,
that Jesus is the Holy Son of God. What does Philippians 2:7-8 say
about this? It says, "but made himself nothing, taking the very
nature of a servant, being found in human likeness. And being found
in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to
death---even death on a cross!"
Jesus' love is humble love. It is to give up what we love and
what we desire for others so that they may see the love of God
through our life. Missionary James Park hs tried to show the love
of God to his sheep, especially to Karl. So as a result, Karl has
been faithful to come and even play he guitar at worship. But James
was not sure if he should give a ride to Karl next month to the
Dentistry School in Baltimore in order for him to get his teeth
worked on. It was hard for him to think about doing such a thing,
so he said he would pray about it.
But Jesus who is God, gave up his power and glory as the
eternal creator in oder to serve and to save sinners like us. He
did this to the very end. At the time of Jesus'life on earth, the
title "servant" was looked upon as if it was less than a minimum
wage job. Servants were considered as sub-human beings. The fact
that God sent his one and only Son Jeus Christ as the atoning
sacrifice convines us more and more that God is love and that the
grace of Jesus is higher than the heavens and deeper than the
deepest ocean. Most importantly, he is a humble God.
We learn from Jesus that love requires a tremendous life-
giving sacrifice. When we love as God loved us, then God lives in
us and people will see God in us. Let's read verses 11-12, "Dear
friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love on anoher. No
one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us
and his love is made complete in us." Last year, one girl came to
our felloship meeting, though she as not born again. Her reason in
coming was that in her previous college, she enjoyed the love of
Christian friends. She could no find any such people in the world.
Though she could not see God, she could see God living in the
Christians she met.
4. GROW IN THE LOVE OF GOD (12, 17-18)
Let's read verse 12 one more time, "No one has ever seen God;
but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made
complete in us." Look at verse 17, "In this way love is made
complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of
judgment, because in this world we are like him."
The Apostle John also uses the words, "perfect love" in verse
18. This tells us as we have seen so far else in this passage, that
we must grow in the love of God. This past week we had some new
common life house arrangments. Augustine Yun is living with
brother Lev. Lev is showing that he wants to grow in the love of
Jesus by making Russian pancakes for Missionay Augustine's
breakfast. This reminds us of Jesus who made pancakes for his
disciples on the shore of Lake Galilee even after they deserted
him.
The true test of Lev's growing in the love of Jesus will be if
he continues to make Russian pancakes for Missionary Augustine's
breakfast even after they had some problem. The other new common
life houses are Shepherd Steve and Missionary Joshua Lee. They
both look perfect in many ways and it seems like they will get
along well together. But problems are bound to come up. Let's pray
that they grow in the love of Jesus so that their sheep may see God
and Jesus living in them.
Then there is one more common life house with Jennifer and
Missionary Grace Kang. It is always perceivd by men that women can
get along together much better than men when they live together.
But his perception is often wrong. There have been numerous stories
of women roomates fighting together until they are punching,
kicking, scratching and biting each other. But we know that
Missionary Grace and sister Jennifer have been born of God and love
God and are trying to grow in the love of God. We pray that their
common life together may be very beautiful and full of prayer so
that they can be a good influence to many girl students.
The common life between shepherds is the best way to grow in
the love of God. It really is a hard battle. As Missionay Jacob
said, it is not merely sleeping in the same room. It is trying to
practice the love of Jesus on each other. Thos who lived a common
life with other shepherds know that it is a good preparation for
living a married life. Let's thank God for establishing these new
common life houses and let's pray that through their common life
together, they may all grow in the love of Jesus so that Jesus may
be revealed in them and through them.
5. HE LOVED US FIRST (8-21)
Sometimes we ask ourselvs, "Why must I keep on loving our
fellow human beings?"It seems that punishing them when they do
wrong and hating them might be the best way for them until they
repent.
But love involves forgiveness, because God's love is a
forgiving love. Let's read verse 8 again, "Whoever does not love
does not know God, because God is love." God loved us. So we must
love God and love our fellow man. This is the key point of he
entire teaching of Chistianity. Sometimes hatred comes into our
hearts when we see unthankful people. But we should not hate them,
but love them.
Let's read verse 9, "This is how God showed his love among us:
He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live
through him." This is called God's initiative. He loved us first
before we knew what love was or could love. Romans 5:8 says, "But
God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us."
God loved us first. This one fact shows us that God is God and
that God is love. In John's gopel, the story about Jesus and the
Samaritan woman is indeed inspiring and unforgettable. This one
Bible pasage in John chapter 4 has been heard more times in UBF
than any other Bible passage.
Jesus loved the Samaritan woman first. At the time, Jesus was
in Judea and he wanted to go to Galilee. If Jesus walked from Judea
to Galilee on a strait course, it would take about three days. But
bigoted Jews wanted to avoid walking through the land of Samaria,
because they considerd Samaritans as unclean people since they had
intermarried with foreigners. So in order to avoid Samaritan
territory, they took six days to go around Samaria to Galilee.
But Jesus did not mind passing through Samaria. Jesus and his
disciples walked from early morning until noontime. They had no
food. So the disciples went into the village to beg some food.
Jesus was sitting by the well which was Jacob's well or the well of
romance, because Jacob saw Rachel at a well and kissed her and wept
with a loud voice. (Gen.29:11) The well was situated in the valley
between the mountain of blessing, Gerizim and the mountain of
curse, Ebal.
When Jesus was in deep meditation, a woman came to draw water.
Jesus spoke to her first. He said, "Will you please give me a
drink?" (Jn.4:7) The woman answered, "You are a Jew and I am a
Samaritan." At that time, the Jews did not associate with
Samaritans. Also, it was traditional that men did not talk to women
in public. But Jesus spoke to her first in order to give her the
living water welling up to eternal life.
Jesus knew her sinful past. Jesus knew how lonely she was.
Jesus knew that she was lost. But Jesus wanted her to come to know
the love of God and to receive eternal life and the kingdom of God
as her inheritance. The problem was that she was so wounded and
hurt. She was totally unlikely to accept Jesus' words.
Rather she could have said, "What do you mean by that, Give me
a drink?" But the woman was melted by Jesus' love. Because Jesus
initiated God's love to her, by speaking to her first, she was
fully evangelizd and became a missionary to her own village people.
The love of Jesus welled up inside her and it overflowed. She
became a new creation in Christ. She felt a new life born within
her. The love of Jesus made her alive.
Thoe who have received God's initiative, his love have
experienced new life from God the creator of life. It is amazing to
see the changed lives of those who have studied the Bible and who
have put their faih in Jeus when they received God's love first.
Man' love is temporary and can never really change someone in the
long run, because it leaves us thirsty and empty for more, saying,
"I want more love! I have to have more love!" But God's love is
powerful and life changing and eternal because it is from God the
giver of life, the Creator of all things.
Since God loved us first, we must also initiate the love of
God towards others. This means forgiving those who wronged us an
also asking forgiveness to those to whom we wronged. It also means
going to bring the love of God to students by inviting them in ason
and out of season and year after year, to 1:1 Bible study. This is
how we can learn the love of God better.
Look at verse 21, "And he has given us his command: Whoever
loves God must also love his brother." Here we must know that God's
word is not a mere suggestion. It is always absolute because it is
his command. When we keep his commandment, we will know the truth
and the truth will set us free. (Jn.8:31-32)
May God help us to try and practice God's love daily by
remembering that we are born of God who is the origin of love. May
the Lord erase all the hatred towards others in our souls so that
we may be happy all the time.
|
|
