GOD COMMANDS THAT WE LOVE ONE ANOTHER – THIS IS NOT OPTIONAL FOR BELIEVERS (4:7, 21)
1. WE LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS BELIEVERS
2. WE LOVE GOD AND LOVE OUR BROTHERS IN CHRIST
"And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”" (Matthew 22:35-40)
WHAT GOD COMMANDS, GOD PROVIDES. GOD PROVIDES LOVE FOR US IN HIMSELF – GOD IS LOVE AND LOVE COMES FROM GOD (4:7, 12, 16-17)
1. LOVE FOR OTHERS IS A SURE SIGN OF OUR SALVATION (John 1:12-13; John 15:4-5, 8-13)
2. LOVE FOR OTHERS IS THE CLEAREST WAY WE CAN HAVE CONFIDENCE BEFORE THE LORD THAT WE BELONG TO HIM
a. WE ARE INSPIRED BY GOD’S LOVE TO LOVE OTHERS – WE MAKE GOD KNOWN BY MAKING HIS LOVE KNOWN BY LOVING OTHERS
b. GOD HAS NOT LOVED ME AS AN END TO ITSELF – HIS DESIRE IN LOVING ME IS THAT I WOULD LOOK LIKE JESUS BY LOVING OTHERS
3. A LACK OF LOVE FOR OTHERS IS A SURE SIGN THAT WE HAVE NOT BECOME CHILDREN OF GOD BY FAITH IN JESUS (4:8, 20)
LOVE IS DEFINED BY THE NATURE OF GOD AND DEMONSTRATED IN THE SACRIFICIAL DEATH OF JESUS.
1. LOVE IS SHOWN IN JESUS COMING TO BRING US ETERNAL LIFE (4:9)
"“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
2. LOVE IS SHOWN BY JESUS TAKING THE WRATH OF GOD AGAINST SIN IN OUR PLACE (4:10)
"But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5)
3. LOVE IS SHOWN BY HIM GIVING HIS SPIRIT TO ALL WHO CONFESS JESUS AS THE SON OF GOD, THE LORD (4:13-15)
4. LOVE IS SHOWN IN THAT NOW WE CAN HAVE CONFIDENCE BEFORE GOD AT JUDGMENT BECAUSE WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD
AND IF THIS IS TRUE… SINCE HE HAS LOVED US IN THIS WAY… HOW CAN WE NOT LOVE?