1 John 4:7-19
God’s love is great and His love enables us to respond to Him in faith.
1. God’s love is not like the world
a. Love is the very nature of God “God is love”
“I do not think that what the Bible says about God can long survive at the forefront of our thinking if it is abstracted from the sovereignty of God, the holiness of God, the wrath of God, the providence of God, or the personhood of God – to mention only a few nonnegotiable elements of basic Christianity.
The result, of course, is that the love of God in our culture has been purged of anything the culture finds uncomfortable. The love of God has been sanitized, democratized, and above all sentimentalized. This process has been going on for some time. My generation was taught to sing, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love,” in which we robustly instruct the Almighty that we do not need another mountain (we have enough of them), but we could do with some more love. The hubris is staggering.
It has not always been so. In generations when almost everyone believed in the justice of God, people sometimes found it difficult to believe in the love of God. The preaching of the love of God came as wonderful good news. Nowadays if you tell people that God loves them, they are unlikely to be surprised. Of course God loves me; He’s like that isn’t He? Besides, why shouldn’t he love me? I'm kind of cute, or at least as nice as the next person. I'm okay, your okay, and God loves you and me.” – D.A. Carson, The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God
2. God’s love is great because of Who He is.
a. The Love of God is magnified is by the Greatness & Sovereignty of God.
"Power without love is terrifying. Love without power is pitiable. In God the Jews saw both working together" - Jerry Bridges
b. The love of God is magnified is by the Holiness of God.
c. The love of God is magnified by the Justice and Wrath of God.
3. God’s love sent Jesus into the World
a. God gave His Son motivated by His Love for the World
“…world in John does not so much refer to bigness as badness. In John’s vocabulary, world is primarily the moral order in willful and culpable rebellion against God. In John 3:16 God’s love in sending the Lord Jesus is to be admired not because it is extended to so big a thing as the world, but to so bad a thing; not to so many people, as to such wicked people.” - D.A. Carson
b. The Son gave Himself in Love
· Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”
· Galatians 1:4 [He] “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”
· Galatians 2:20 “…the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
· 1 Tim. 2:6 [Jesus] - “who gave himself as a ransom for all…”
4. God’s love is personal
a. Because of God’s love, we can commune with Him
· Galatians 4:4-5 “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
· Ephesians 1:4-6 “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…In love He predestined us to adoption… according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved
b. Because of God’s love, we don’t have to fear any longer!
c. Instead of fear – in love He gives us His Grace and Mercy
· Ephes. 2:4-5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved”
· Hebrews 4:14 & 16 “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession… Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
5. God’s love enables our response
a. We should trust in Him completely
b. We should love one another.
· Ephes. 5:2 “and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
· Ephes. 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her”
· Titus 2:14 “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
c. We should worship Him by seeking to obey God & serve Him in every area of life.
· 2 Cor. 5:14-15, says “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”
“Too often we’re compelled not by love but by a sense of duty or obligation.” God does not delight in that kind of motive. He delights in our heart response of love. His love to us, and our love to Him in return, work together to produce genuine joy as we fear, worship and obey God.” – Jerry Bridges
Some Questions for Application: (please don’t expect to go through all of these in your Caregroup – it would be good to get through even a couple! The questions are meant for your personal benefit throughout the week)
1. Have you taken the love of God for granted lately? If so, why is that?
2. Have you doubted God’s love for you personally? If so, why is that?
3. How have the World’s ideas penetrated the way you think of God’s love?
4. How does meditating on God’s Sovereignty magnify His love for you?
5. How does meditating on God’s Holiness magnify His love for you?
6. How does meditating on God’s Justice & Wrath magnify His love for you?
7. How does the fact that God in love sent His Son affect your view of God?
8. How does the fact that Jesus Christ, (the Creator of all!) came willingly to die stir your affection for Him?
9. How does understanding God’s personal love for you encourage you to commune with Him?
10. How is your trust in God built by understanding His love better?
11. How can you personally love God by loving others?
