We Love Because...

I John 4:16-19

Welcome! Today is the last Sunday of the month, and in addition to a shorter message, we will spend time remembering the Lord with the bread and the cup, and we will also have a time of sharing with one another what the Lord has been teaching us and doing among us.

Last week John Farmer began by talking about the theme of light in I John, and he gave a personal illustration involving stumbling around in the darkness. I have an illustration as well – this past summer we visited the Stumphouse Tunnel along with Issaqueena Falls. If you’ve never been there, bring flashlights. The purpose of the tunnel was to provide a shorter railway path from South Carolina to Tennessee. Excavation on the tunnel began in the 1850s but it was not completed because of excessive cost. The tunnel was used to grow Clemson blue cheese from the 1950s through the 1970s; the moist, dark environment made it perfect for this. 


Anyway, we went with my sister and my niece Emily as far as we could go down this tunnel last summer, to the point where there is a brick wall and a locked gate, and there we took a picture.

As you can see, the picture didn’t come out so well. As I explained it was dark in there. Really dark. In this picture we have our flashlights on, in case you couldn’t tell.

This picture reminds me of what John wrote near the beginning of this letter:

This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. – I John 1:5-7

How does the picture remind me of the passage? Well, in this picture we see what a tiny bit of light can do. You can see us, just barely, and you can also see, well, something that shouldn’t be there on the walls on the sides. For the purposes of, well, illustration (pun intended), let’s call that stuff on the walls sin. We tend to think we can hide stuff from God under cover of darkness. But the problem is that God is light. And just as I can take this picture and change the brightness and contrast settings, God can shine His light on any person, on any situation, and see the sin that lurks in the background. The second picture shows what is really here.

I guess we shouldn’t be surprised we stumbled across a bunch of “sin” – after all, we were walking in the darkness, not the light.

I bring this up because today’s passage deals in part with how we think about God while walking in darkness. I’ll get to that in a moment. But first let’s read the first verse of today’s passage. 

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. – I John 4:16

This passage starts with “and so,” so we need to back up a little and see what the “and so” refers to. Let’s go back to verse 13.

This is how we know that we live in Him and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. – I John 4:13-15

There are two ways to know that we are in Him and He in us given here: His Spirit and our testimony. As to what the Spirit does, I found this wonderful list by Frank Viola; the web link for this list (which includes scripture references for each item in the list) is: http://frankviola.org/2010/11/18/50-things-the-holy-spirit-does/.

1. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
2. He guides us into all truth.
3. He regenerates us.
4. He glorifies and testifies of Christ.
5. He reveals Christ to us and in us.
6. He leads us.
7. He sanctifies us.
8. He empowers us.
9. He fills us.
10. He teaches us to pray.
11. He bears witness in us that we are children of God.
12. He produces in us the fruit or evidence of His work and presence.
13. He distributes spiritual gifts and manifestations of His presence to and through the body.
14. He anoints us for ministry.
15. He washes and renews us.
16. He brings unity and oneness to the body.
17. He is our guarantee and deposit of the future resurrection.
18. He seals us unto the day of redemption.
19. He sets us free from the law of sin and death.
20. He quickens our mortal bodies.
21. He reveals the deep things of God to us.
22. He reveals what has been given to us from God.
23. He dwells in us.
24. He speaks to, in, and through us.
25. He is the agent by which we are baptized into the body of Christ.
26. He brings liberty.
27. He transforms us into the image of Christ.
28. He cries in our hearts, “Abba, Father.”
29. He enables us to wait. 30. He supplies us with Christ.
31. He grants everlasting life.
32. He gives us access to God the Father.
33. He makes us (corporately) God’s habitation.
34. He reveals the mystery of God to us.
35. He strengthens our spirits. 36. He enables us to obey the truth.
37. He enables us to know that Jesus abides in us.
38. He confesses that Jesus came in the flesh.
39. He says “Come, Lord Jesus” along with the bride.
40. He dispenses God’s love into our hearts.
41. He bears witness to the truth in our conscience.
42. He teaches us.
43. He gives us joy.
44. He enables some to preach the gospel.
45. He moves us.
46. He knows the things of God.
47. He casts out demons.
48. He brings things to our remembrance.
49. He comforts us.
50. He makes some overseers in the church and sends some out to the work of church planting.

True believers, as they walk “in the light,” yielded to God, should see more and more of the work of the Spirit in their lives. This is one way we know that we live in Him and He in us. The other way we know is our testimony, what we say and believe. If someone says that Jesus is the Son of God and really believes it, that is, by “Son of God” they understand and believe in the divinity of Jesus, the uniqueness of Jesus, and that they believe that what the Bible says He did and said is what He really did and said, then they can know that they live in Him and He in them.

Understanding why we should have confidence that we live in Him and He in us, we can return to verse 16, which says:

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. – I John 4:16

And so John here equates living in love with living in God and God living in them. Living in love means knowing and relying on the love God has for us. Now does this mean that if we are growing in knowing and relying on God’s love but haven’t “arrived” that we aren’t saved? No! Knowing God’s love and learning to rely on it through the day, every day, is a process. We aren’t perfect in it, although we should be growing in it.

If for a while or to some degree we don’t rely on His love for us, what happens? Well, we may fear the future. We may be afraid of God. Have you ever sinned and thought, “God must hate me.” If so, you are not at that moment relying on the love God has for you. God does hate the sin that you do – He wants you to stop, but what you think may be your greatest sin He may not agree with. You may see the acting out of a temptation as the greatest sin, but He may see your turning away from Him, your not trusting or relying on Him before this happened, your not believing in His goodness before this happened, your not loving Him before and at that moment of weakness, as your greater sin.

We are supposed to “live in love” – to constantly, continually, know and rely on the love God has for us. You can go all the way back to Adam and Eve to see what not living in love looks like. The Serpent told them his crafty lies, making them begin to question God’s directions. “Maybe,” they thought, “God is holding back from me, keeping something good from me. Why would He do that? Maybe He doesn’t love me the way I thought.” For Adam and Eve, the temptation of the fruit was a crisis of love, and for us, it is the same.

We will continue to have momentary lapses of resting in God’s love, in walking in His love, but this does not mean we are unsaved. It means we have growing to do. A great picture of this is in how Paul writes to the Thessalonians. Listen to the opening chapter of I Thessalonians:

We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. – I Thess. 1:2-10

That’s pretty overflowing praise, right? But look at how Paul prays for them:

Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith. – I Thess. 3:10

So their faith was lacking, right? And a little later Paul prays this:

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones. – I Thess. 4:12-13

So there love was lacking too. I’m not trying to be a killjoy here and point out their problems while ignoring what was good; quite the opposite! My point is that we can have assurance of our salvation while we still have our ups and downs in faith and in love. Growing into maturity is a process.

Actually even more interesting is what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians:

But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. – 2 Thess. 2:13

Paul mentions two things that give him assurance that the Thessalonians are saved: the work and evidence of the Spirit in their lives and their belief in the truth. Sound familiar? That’s what John said: This is how we know that we live in Him and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. – I John 4:13-15

It’s interesting that Paul and John (both inspired by the Spirit) use almost the same terminology when discussing assurance. And so, understanding that we are walking in love, in Him, we have the following:

This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the Day of Judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. – I John 4:17

Love made complete – the word translated complete means finished, or accomplished. It does not really mean perfected, although some translations do use this word. It is used to speak of scripture being fulfilled, and of Jesus completing the work He came to do.

Confidence on the day of judgment – the word translated confidence can also be translated as boldness.

So what does this verse mean? What does it mean we are like Jesus? Well, the previous verses say that we live in God and God in us. This is very much like Jesus. Other passages talk about how we are adopted in as sons and daughters, very much like how Jesus is God’s Son. And we have confidence, even boldness, on the Day of Judgment not because of our works (perish the thought!), but because of our Savior’s works. As Christians, God when He opens the books will not look at our balance sheet of works, but at Christ’s. And He will declare, “paid in full.” He will see us clothed in the righteousness that is the righteousness of Christ. We are like Jesus in that we are accepted by God, loved by God, certain of an eternal future fellowship with God – all like Jesus. Amen!

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. – I John 4:18

There are different kinds of fear in the Bible – one is to reverence, respect, hold in awe – this is a kind of fear we are supposed to have. It is in this sense the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But as John says here, there is another kind of fear, a fear of punishment, and for believers, we should not have this fear with regards to the Day of Judgment, with regards to whether we will be allowed into heaven.

I think back to Adam and Eve. After they sinned, they covered themselves and hid – why? It says because they were afraid. It has always been this way. Our response to sin is to hide in the dark in fear. And as God shines His light on us – our sin is revealed, just like the graffiti in the Stumphouse Tunnel. Our response should not be to fear, but to confess and repent.

Our Savior loves us; our relationship with Him is secure, eternally secure. He is not a cruel taskmaster but a loving Father who desires that we come to Him, admit what we have done, and bring our lives before Him so that He can lovingly guide us into a new direction, one in which we grow in relationship with Him so much that our desire for sin becomes minuscule in comparison.

The world has often taught, in various ways, that fear is the only thing that drives obedience. This is not true! Fear does lead to obedience, but only for a time, and often, only in a shallow way. This is not the character of God!

I am reminded of the parable of the talents (sacks of gold or other precious metal) in which the servants given 5 talents and 2 talents get right to work and use the wealth to increase it. In contrast, the servant given 1 talent sees his master as harsh, like Pharaoh of Egypt harsh, and he uses this belief as an excuse for what amounts to laziness. Interestingly, when the master comes and asks this servant what he has done with his talent, the first thing the servant says is, “I was afraid.” He too completely misunderstood his master.

Perfect love drives out fear. View God as He is, and you will not fear Him in this wrong sense. Instead, you may find that the good kind of fear, the holy reverence and awe and worship kind of fear, will actually grow.

Our final verse for this message:

We love because He first loved us. – I John 4:19

What a powerful statement. When we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And though we yet sin, God loves us and will love us for eternity!