Dear Church Family, an update for the week of July 18, 2010…
Thank you to Pastor Brian Tekawa for the message from 1 John 4:7-14, “God IS Love”. For many of you love is what drew you to God Himself. Someone made an effort to talk to you about Jesus, God’s ultimate example of love. They cared enough about to tell you about God’s love because they wanted you to know God personally. They introduced you to Jesus. There are many ideas about love. What it means and how to define it. What does it feel like to be loved or unloved? Love is a very broad subject and hard to define. God not only loves, God IS love. Love is God’s nature, His character.
1) God’s people love because God IS love. (v. 7) And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
Anyone who says they are born of God loves others because God is love. If you love others you know God. Does this mean everyone who is loving is born of God and knows God? No. John is addressing a specific group of people, the beloved, God’s people. God’s people are those that have been born of God through believing and receiving into their lives Jesus the Son of God who set them free from the wages of sin by His death and resurrection. John is writing to encourage the beloved, Christ-followers to love one another in order for others to be able to understand God IS love and His love completes us. (v.12) No one has seen God at any time; If we love one another, God abides (remains, stays) in us, and His love is perfected (Is complete, has reached its end, there is no further to go, nothing else to do to have God love you) in us. For love is from God; When God’s people love each other, love is seen and felt. In this way God is seen for love is from God. (v. 
The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God requires love from His people but it is not an ordinary love it is agape love. The love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” This is agape love. It is a kind of love that is sacrificial and is more concerned about the welfare of others more than oneself. Only God can love completely in this way but this is the love He desires for us to have, not only to experience, but to offer to others so God can be seen.
2) God’s people love because of God’s sacrifice (His Son). (v.9). By this the love of God was manifested (Made clear, visible, can be seen) in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. (v.10) In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (not just any sacrifice but a satisfying sacrifice) for our sins. (v.11) Beloved, if God so loved us (shown by Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection) we also ought to love one another. God loves us beyond our comprehension. God’s love is not phileo love, a love based upon performance, but God’s love is agape love. That is the Greek word used throughout this passage. Agape love is sacrificial. Agape love is more concerned about the welfare of the other person rather than oneself. It is a love that is completely satisfied with the person. There is nothing that person can do to receive more love. God loves us in this way. His love is so complete there is nothing we can do to get more love. “God’s love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. His love never fails.” If you reject Jesus, you reject God’s love. When you understand the love God has for you, your response to Him will be to love one another because it is a love that cannot be contained. God does not see your sin, your wrongdoings because Jesus died for you and covers all our mistakes and shortcomings. How can I judge others when God no longer judges me? How can I not be forgiving when God has forgiven me completely? Jesus is God’s ultimate expression of love. Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” When I acknowledge and allow the love of God to permeate my soul and understand Christ lives in me, I cannot help but love others because He is in me.
You have the power to love anyone because God IS love and He is in you through Christ Jesus. The power of the Holy Spirit can give you the strength to love even those you have a hard time with. When we live a self-centered and not Christ-centered life, the power of the Holy Spirit is quenched. God is saying to believers we should love one another because He has loved us. Your life is a reflection of the love you have experienced in God. For some, how your life reflects the love of God, may be the only introduction to God that person will ever know. Loving one another is not always easy but be encouraged to continue loving one another as God instructs.
Have a blessed week in the love of God,
Stan, for SLZJCC