Love Descending

Introduction

Love is thematic in John’s epistle. There have been implications that we have seen throughout our time together and chapter 4 is no different. Turn with me to 1 John 4. We are going to read verses 7-12 with our focus being on verses 7-9. Read the verses.

Have you ever pondered what the love of God is? How about what it means? You and I are badgered with what the world thinks of love, and we have heard all about God being loving toward mankind. What makes God loving and how does he show this love?

I have titled this sermon “Love descending” as we will see the greatest display of love given to earth. I want us to see three things regarding this love that has descended from heaven. 1. The Result of this Love in verse 7, 2. The Hatred of this love in verse 8, and 3. The Source of this Love in verse 9.

1. The Result of this Love (v.7)

We begin our time together by seeing The Result of this Love that came from heaven. Verse 7 says that the result of God’s love is that believers would emulate the love of God toward one another. He does not give us this utterance without substantial backing for his reasoning. It is like telling someone to do something for the sake of doing it without any real reason behind it.

John is fresh off of speaking about the Holy Spirit’s work in the life of the believer. As we have seen the Spirit of God clearly marked in the lives of believers, John gives us another marker for us to look for and that is that we ‘love one another.’ Now we have seen this before. In chapter 3 verse 11, John says that we ought to love one another as a command and not a suggestion.

In verse 7, there is not just a command, but something like this, “brothers, we should love one another as those who have the Spirit of God dwelling in us.” This doesn’t sound like a command, but more of an expectation. We see this more clearer when we consider the totality of verses 7-12. Now, we are not going to get all the way through, but without verse 9 complementing verses 2, 4, and 6 these are just empty words.

Now this love for one another is the same ‘agape’ love that we have seen John use before. As a reminder, this love is a deep and caring love, not a superficial love that resides on the surface. In other words, it is a love that nestles its roots deep and is not blown away by the wind easily. And where does this love come from?

John gives us the answer. Agape love comes from God himself. Now, you may be thinking ah! Here is the source of the love. It is God himself, but before you come to that conclusion, I want us to see how this specifically ties in with what verse 9 tells us about the coming of Christ, which we will see a little later.

God himself is the very source of love. In the case of Christians, God is the very source of the love that is to flow out of us toward others, especially those who are brothers in the Lord. And John tells us the audience that he is speaking to. Notice, that John says, “let us love one another.” As I said last week, John is speaking to the people whom he loves, most likely his congregation in Ephesus. That sets the tone for us today because this text, verses 7-9 are directed to the church.

Now, we saw in verse 4 last week, that we are unable to overcome the evil one in our own power, but with God we overcome with ease. The same is true with loving one another. We are unable in and of ourselves to love one another as God has commanded us to. But in God, we are able to love one another. We are able to look past the mistakes and offenses that take place in our lives, and we see each other as Christ does. Children of God we are, imperfect, yet being perfected until the day of Christ Jesus.

This tells us that the love of the world is not the love of God. So, for those who say that God loves everyone equally and that he created homosexuals from the womb, so they are to be loved, do not understand what the love of God actually is! I saw a sign at the surgical oncologist’s office that promoted an LGBT cancer support group. And it got me to think that although it may seem like something good or positive. The fact is that they are marginalized to this one group of people. You know what I think would be loving? Telling them the truth, seeing them turn from their sin and be a part of a larger group of support called the local church! Why be segregated on purpose, when there is hope in Christ and there is nothing in this world like the love and support of the local church.

Now, contrary to the world, the love of God is best described in Exodus 34:6-7 as patient and forgiving. That means that God’s love is the forgiveness of sins, not the acceptance of them! The love that comes from God is geared toward his people mainly, and in an overshadowing way this love is shown to mankind as a whole. Matthew 5:45 tells us that God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” So, God is loving toward the wicked every day in this way. Does this mean he loves them exactly as they are? I don’t think so. Consider the way this love is expressed to his children. John 14:21 tells us “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Nowhere do we see the acceptance of sin, but that man is called to follow the commands of God. Clearly, there is a personal love that comes from God to his people, and it is rooted in Jesus Christ, specifically, his death and resurrection that draws believers close to the Father, Jesus being our mediator.

I want to note that before the death and resurrection of Christ, love still came from God. It is not only in the death and resurrection of Christ in which God showed his love. As in only those under the New Covenant are saved. But what about the Old Covenant? What about Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all that came after them before the first advent of Christ? We find the answer in Deuteronomy 30:6 which says, “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” The words are similar to what we see in 1 John 4:7 and 9. Love comes from God and this love is given in the sent Messiah, Jesus Christ, in whom we have life. So, there are differences in the Old and New Covenants, but in principle the love of God is exactly the same. The love of God has never and will never change.

Yet, there are further implications in verse 7. Look with me at the end of verse 7. Notice how the one of who loves is characterized. Such a one “has been born of God and knows God.” What a wonderful bestowal! Not only is love toward one another a mark of the Spirit within, but it shows that we truly know God and have been born on him.

I think of John 3:3-6 once again and being born of God. To be born of God simply means to be regenerated. In other words, it means to be given new life as in the old life is done away with. The one who loves one another unconditionally is regenerated or born of God. John has been telling us the multitude of ways that believers know that they are indeed of the Lord. Having love for one another is one of the strongest ways that true heart change or regeneration has occurred in the life of the Christian.

See, regeneration is aligned with the experiential knowing of God. Christians have had a personal interaction with God as he shows us our sins and convicts us of them, leading us to repentance and trusting in Jesus as our Savior.

The one who loves, knows God. That is because you and I were loved by God first when he saved you and me. When you and I love, we show one another that we know God. Clearly, the thread continues from what we saw in verse 2. The Spirit of God is in those who know God and those who know God love one another as God has loved us.

2. The Hatred of this Love (v.8)

We move to point 2 and I hope that we will see “The Hatred of this Love” as a benefit to us and not just a negative that John refers to. Look with me in verse 8. John says the exact opposite of what he did in verse 7. He says that “Anyone who does not love does not know God.” This statement is condemning. There is no other way around it.

John has established that love and God are intertwined. God is the establisher of love. Without God, love does not exist. Therefore, John can tell us that those who do not love are not of God. One might say, there is a lot of love in the world. Look at the love that we see on New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, and Christmas. There is a lot of love to go around.

This is why I had us read Psalm 86. In that Psalm we see the prayer of the righteous person in Christ. We should not look at Psalm 86 and say, “Well, of course it is of a righteous person, David wrote it!” The fact is that David was a sinful human as well. Let me read to you Psalm 86:8 and ask you this question. Is this verse still true today? Verse 8 says, “There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.” Of course, this is still true! That being said, it is still true that the love of God is gracious, merciful, and forgiving. All this the world hates. The world does not want to be forgiven.

To be clear, John tells us what the person who does not know God looks like, but in a different facet. So far, John has told us that those who do not know God say they have not sinned (1:8, 10), they deny the Father and the Son (2:23), they keep on sinning (3:6, 9), are murderers (3:15), they do not provide for a brother in need (3:17), and in this verse the one who does not love does not know God. It is not as though John is fixated on the individual facets of an unbelieving person’s life that set him apart, but for us as we see these things in others we can rightly tell them the truth in love. Have you ever heard the phrase, “the truth hurts?” Fact is, the truth does hurt especially when it convicts a soul.

To not love in this verse is to have no care at all. See how this is different from worldly affection driven love? The world would tell you that you can love things, but not love them beyond a trivial affection for whatever the object of the love is. This is why we see the word ‘love’ tossed around so often. As a child’s birthday approaches there is great anticipation for the event. The cake, the ice cream, the friends, and the gifts. In the moment, the gift is usually the greatest thing of all. And maybe for a month or so, the gift is still incredible, the sense of newness that it has and the delight that it brings is still hot and heavy. What about 4 months, 6 months, or 10 months later? Does the gift still have the same effect? Even if it is a cellphone, let’s say for an older teenager. He/she might enjoy the gift, but the dinged-up case is old and not cool anymore. The screen might have a nick in it. It doesn’t matter what the age of the child or the item, but the love that is given toward it is trivial. There is no care for the item after a certain period of time. Eventually, the item becomes so old that it is no longer wanted. This is the ‘trivial’ love that the world offers.

What is saddening and sorrowful about this reality is that the love that God offers to man is the greatest love that could ever be given, and yet, the world rejects it. The world rejects it by offering bigger, greater, and better. That is why we have new electronic devices every year and there are new designs. It is to pull a trivial and emotional love to an object. Just like the days of old, these objects don’t talk. Turn with me to Jeremiah 10. I want us to read the first 5 verses. Jeremiah speaking to the nation of Israel tells them the folly of following the nations. And what we will read is going to sound familiar to us. Today idols are not made exclusively out of wood, but nonetheless, idols are a very real dilemma. Idolatry takes a person away from the love of God. Verse 5 resonates with our current culture. You could replace the word scarecrow with cell phone or tablet. I don’t know about you, but it seems that when I hear a commercial it is about an iPhone 15 that has titanium in it. Remember the holiday commercial Verizon put out? A grown man at a birthday party for his kid interrupts it for a wish of an iPhone 15. The love is misplaced in that it is suggested that the love goes beyond the kid to the phone. And the dad is pulled away to go after his idol and buy the iPhone! This is not godly love. It is an outpouring of love that hates God.

3. The Source of this Love (v.9)

Turn back with me to 1 John and let us see “The Source of this descending Love” as John writes in verse 9. John gives us what the love of God looks like in its purest form. That is the manifestation of the Son of God being sent into the world. Sounds very different from worldly love, doesn’t it?

The love of God is shown to all people in his generous natural provision for human bodily needs.

But the love of God that lasts forever is love that is given to believers in Jesus Christ and is rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ who is the source of the love that has descended from heaven. The love of God is told to us in Romans 8:32 as “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all.” That is godly love.

Notice that John says that this love was manifested ‘among us.’ Seeing that this epistle was written closer to 100 A.D. Jesus would have been ascended to heaven for quite some time. So how did the people know that this love was manifest? Remember when we looked at regeneration in the first point? This is how we see the love of God manifest today. The believers of John’s day were recipients of the love of God and in the same we are today. What does that entail? It means to confess to God that you are a sinner and ask that he would forgive you of all the sin that you have committed and then you place your trust in Jesus Christ and then live according to the Word of God. This is the manifestation of Jesus Christ played out in the lives of believers.

It is easy for us to see and experience the manifestation of God’s love, but let us look at the source a little more intimately. Here is the key point for us to understand. The sending of the Son of God is what verses 7-9 are all about. We will see, in the same way, the crucial nature of the Son of God, Lord willing, in verses 10-12 next week. This is the hinge point if you will. The love that believers share with one another, the hatred of the world toward the love of God are all outpourings of the belief or lack thereof of the truth that Jesus Christ came in the flesh sent by God himself for the salvation of sinners.

We see, further, that the love that man has for one another comes from God. Why? Well, it is because he is the one who initiated the sending of the Son. You and I did not do that. We would never have thought of such a thing.

God sent his only Son. He was “dispatched on a mission” (BSL). Mounce attributes this sending to be “sent forth” in a similar way to how Jesus sent the disciples out in Matthew 10:5. The disciples’ mission in Matthew 10:5 was to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus was sent to save sinners.

I don’t think it was necessarily easy for the Father to send His Son. For His Son was his prized pupil. He was/is his prized possession. It reminds me of the pain that Israel felt when Joseph asked for Benjamin to come to Egypt. Listen to his response in Genesis 42:38. “But he (Israel) said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”” Clearly, Israel was in great distress and pain to have to send his son to Egypt, whom he loved very much. Especially after what he thought had happened to Joseph. For Israel, Benjamin was his prized son.

Joseph was sent on mission by God. He endured great trial and difficulty on his way to fulfilling the mission that God had called him to. Now, the difference is that Joseph had no idea what was coming with the ill treatment he got and the eventual saving of Egypt. But he confirms his being sent to his brothers in Genesis 45:5. “And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.” Joseph fully understood the mission at hand and the pain and suffering that he went through was trivial in comparison.

In a far greater way than Joseph, the Son of God was sent to give life. Yes, he died on a cross and rose from the grave to save sinners. But his mission was to give life to dead people. Unlike Joseph, who was used to preserve mortal human life, Jesus was sent and used to provide spiritual life. We see in the life of Joseph that he was a part of helping human beings continue to survive in their natural bodies.

With Jesus what does this spiritual life look like? Colossians 3:3-4 help us to understand this. “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Spiritual life in Christ looks like dying to self and living in him. This is where we see the contrast between Joseph and Christ. With Joseph it was preservation of the body. With Jesus, it is preservation of the soul.

And that is what John is telling us at the end of verse 9. Simply put, Jesus Christ was sent on mission to save sinners, give life to those who are spiritually dead, and preserve our souls that we would live in him.

Conclusion

This leads me to ask two questions. Does the love of God reside in you today? How is that expressed? Here are two things to consider as we conclude this morning.

1. Our text is clear that those who have the love of God will love one another. I hope that instead of seeing redundancy with this, you see the urgency in which John speaks. It is so easy to be irritated with one another, discouraged by something that someone said, or even misinterpret a look on someone’s face. Brothers, if we disagree with one another, may we be quick to lovingly resolve these issues and may it be said of this body that we do so in love and not out of anger, for God does not do anything out of selfish anger. Therefore, to love one another is to work through difficulties together without being divided, to love one another is to be there for one another in our time of need, it is to celebrate times of triumph, and it is also to share joy with one another. This is what it means to love one another. And this is how God loves you and me.
2. We love as though our lives depend on it because they do. The greatest act of love ever given and received is the sending of Jesus Christ to this world and dying on a cross for sinful people that they might live again. Without this love, there is no hope of life outside of the one we live. Those who are in our lives that God has appointed as such, might you love them as Christ loves you! Christ gave up every right that he had to come here and die so that you may have life. What would others say your love looks like? Are you a loving person? Far beyond the emotions. Do people know that you care about them? One of the simplest and easiest ways in which we can love someone is to pray for them. Just as Jesus prayed for us in John 17, might we be a people of prayer, praying for others as we are sent on mission by Christ himself.