1 JOHN 4
OPENS WITH...ABIDING IN GOD AND HIS LOVE
Verse 1 tells us the fact of false prophets and the need to test the spirits.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
Do NOT believe every spirit…
John warned against believing EVERY spirit; that is, we are never to assume every spiritual experience or every demonstration of spiritual power is from God. We must test spiritual experiences and spiritual phenomenon to see if they are in fact from God.
Many, when FIRST encountering the reality of the spiritual world, are too impressed and amazed to ask whether they are of God. This leads to EASY deception.
But TEST the spirits…
This is important because MANY false prophets have gone out into the world. Even though the early church had a strong life, and a large measure of purity, John still knew the danger false prophets and their message was real in the early church.
Test the spirits, whether they are of God…
This is the responsibility of EVERY Christian, but ESPECIALLY of congregational LEADERSHIP.
WHY?
According to 1 Corinthians 14:29 (let the others judge) and 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 (Test all things; hold fast what is good), testing the spirits is the work of the body of Christ. This job is to be done using the gifts of discernment God has given to Christians in general THROUGH HIS WORD, especially the leadership of a congregation.
All prophecy is to be judged by Scriptural standards. It is NEVER to be received just because it is dramatic or given by a CERTAIN person. We trust in the principle that God will NEVER contradict Himself, and we KNOW what He has already said in His Word.
2 Peter 1:20-21 tells us true prophecy is NEVER of any private interpretation. This means that there will be agreement and confirmation from GOD’S SEARCHED OUT WORD, THEN SEARCHED BY and CONFIRMED by the body of Christ, ESPECIALLY THE LEADERSHIP, WHO ARE HELD TO THE HIGHEST STANDARD AND DUTY BY JESUS.
WE SEE MANY THEN AND NOW WHO CALL THEMSELVES PROPHETS OR PROPHETESS, ANOINTED OF GOD, MESSENGERS OF GOD.
THEY CLAIM THEY HAVE BEEN GIVEN SPECIAL NEW PROPHECIES AND NEW DIRECTIONS FROM GOD HIMSELF.
ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE ITSELF, THERE ARE NO NEW PROPHECIES TO BE GIVEN, ALL OF GOD’S PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE PROPHECIES FROM JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF AND THROUGH THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS AND NEW TESTAMENT DISCIPLES GIVEN THESE PROPHECIES ARE ALREADY WRITTEN OF AND INCLUDED BETWEEN THE PAGES OF THE BIBLE, FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION IN THE BIBLE.
IF IT IS NOT IN THE BIBLE, IF IT IS NOT CONFIRMED AND SPOKEN OF IN THE BIBLE, THE PROPHET OR PROPHECY MAY COME FROM A SPIRIT, A VOICE, OR FROM A DREAM, VISION, OR WHATEVER...BUT IT IS NOT FROM GOD. IT IS FROM SATAN AND HIS DEMONS WHO CAN AND DO SPEAK, HAVE LIMITED SUPERNATURAL KNOWLEDGE, GIVE VISIONS, DREAMS, & NIGHT TERRORS TOO.
Verses 2-3 tells us HOW to know when a FALSE prophet speaks.
“By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.”
EVERY spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God…
True prophecy, and true teaching, will present a TRUE Jesus. In John's day, the issue was about if Jesus had truly come in a real body of flesh and blood. Many Gnostic-influenced teachers said that Jesus, being God, could NOT have actually become a flesh and blood human, because God could have no partnership with "impure" material stuff.
BOICE informs us,"This statement would be directed against some form of Docetism, the view that Christ was a spirit who only seemed to be a true man."
Today, some groups DENY that Jesus is really God (such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Muslims). But way back in John's day, in this time closest to the actual life and ministry of Jesus on this earth, people did NOT have a hard time believing Jesus was God. They had a hard time believing that JESUS WAS ALSO a real man. This false teaching said Jesus was truly God (which is correct), but really a "make-believe" man.
Today, we are passionate about saying, "Jesus is God," and we should be. But it is NO less important to say, "Jesus is a man," because both the deity and humanity of Jesus are essential to our salvation.
Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God…
Some think that this is the ONLY TEST of false doctrine. This is NOT the only test, but it was the significant issue challenging the church in John's immediate time. Today a person might confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh yet deny that He is God as the Bible teaches He is God. They also are giving false doctrine because they are NOT presenting a TRUE Jesus.
The principle of presenting a true Jesus is essential to the testing of spirits. No one who presents a false Jesus, or one untrue to the Scriptures, can be regarded as truthful.
Today, there is a lot of curiosity about the "true Jesus." Many modern academics say they want to discover the "true Jesus" and when they say this they often mean, "The true Jesus is NOT the Jesus of the Bible. They claim that the Biblical Jesus is make-believe. We need to discover the true Jesus behind the myths of the Bible.
Not only is this position IGNORANT (ignoring the confirmed historical validity of the New Testament) it is also ARROGANT. Once any academic throws out the historical evidence of the New Testament and other reliable ancient writings, they can only base their understanding of Jesus on their OWN PERSONAL opinion. These academics present their baseless opinions as if they WERE scholarly facts.
This is the spirit of the Antichrist…
To DENY the true Jesus is the basis of the spirit of the Antichrist, which John has already mentioned in 1 John 2:18-23. It is the spirit which BOTH opposes the true Jesus and offers a substitute Jesus.
The devil does NOT care at all if you know Jesus or love Jesus or pray to Jesus - as long as it is a FALSE Jesus, a MAKE-BELIEVE Jesus, a Jesus who is NOT there, and who therefore CAN NOT save.
Is now already in the world…
Though it will have its ULTIMATE consummation in an end-times political and economic ruler, the essence of this antichrist spirit is present with us today. It is found everywhere a false Jesus is promoted in place of the true Jesus of the Bible.
Verse 4 tells us The PROTECTION of the child of God.
“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them…
The child of God need NOT fear the spirit of Antichrist, even though they should be WARNED of it, because they have the indwelling Spirit of God (1 John 3:24). That indwelling Spirit is GREATER than he who is in the world- Satan and all of his allies.
He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world…
The believer has a resource for victory, the vital presence of the indwelling Jesus, which makes victory always possible - if we will rely on He who is in you instead of in ourselves.
This understanding gives great confidence and spiritual power. For those walking in this truth, victory is assured--they have overcome them. It is a positive statement, NOT a wishful hope.
He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world…
This means the Christian has NO place for fear. We have many spiritual enemies, but NOT ONE of them is greater than Jesus who lives in us.
Earlier in the letter, John brought up the idea of the world and its threat to the Christian life (1 John 2:15-17). He presented the world not as the global earth or the mass of humanity, which God Himself loves (John 3:16). Instead it is the community of sinful humanity that is united in rebellion against God. Here, John suggests that there ARE FORCES of spiritual darkness that guide and influence the world.
Verses 5-6 tells us The contrast between those in the world and those who are of God.
“They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
Those who ARE of the world are evident because they speak as of the world; the influence of the world in evident in their speech. As Jesus said, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (Matthew 12:34)
Those who ARE of the world are also evident because the world HEARS them. They face none of the rejection the child of God will face from the world (1 John 3:1), because they are friends WITH the world.
The Christian always wants to speak TO the world, and to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ TO the world. It is exciting when the world WILL listen to the gospel, but we must take care that they are not hearing us because we speak as of the world. Just because the world is hearing the message does NOT prove that the message is God's message.
He who knows God hears us…
Those who are of God enjoy fellowship with other believers; they speak the common language of fellowship with God and with each other, because one flows from the other (1 John 1:3).
This language of fellowship transcends language, culture, class, race, or any other barrier. It is a TRUE GIFT from God.
In its official doctrines, the Roman Catholic Church has claimed to be the "US" in He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. But John can only be talking about the apostles and their authoritative revelation in the Bible when he says us. When we know God, and are of God, we hear what THE BIBLE SAYS...NOT WHAT MEN OR MAN-CREATED RELIGIOSITIES CREATE, CLAIM AND PROCLAIM.
He who is not of God does not hear us…
Understanding just who hears what God has taught us through the apostles, as recorded in the New Testament, helps us to know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. If someone hears what God has said in the Bible, we know they have the spirit of truth. If they do NOT hear it, they have the spirit of error.
John makes it clear that ERROR has a spiritual dynamic to it; it is NOT just about being educated or smart. Some very educated, very smart people can still be influence mightily by the spirit of error. Since error has a spiritual dynamic to it, keeping in the spirit of truth is a spiritual issue.
JOHN 14:6 reminds, “We keep in the spirit of truth by clinging to Jesus, the One who said I am the truth.”
AND WE HAVE ALL, AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER, BABY CHRISTIAN OR MATURE CHRISTIAN, HEARD A SPEECH OR A SERMON OR A BIBLE TEACHING AND INSTANTLY FELT A WRONGNESS IN IT. WE MAY NOT KNOW EXACTLY WHAT DOES NOT RING TRUE, BUT WE KNOW, BECAUSE THE HOLY SPIRIT LIVING WITHIN US, WHEN WE LISTEN, IT WILL GUIDE US TO ALL GODLY TRUTH.
AND WHAT WE DO THEN, IS GRAB OUR BIBLES AND START SEARCHING OUT AND SEEKING TO FIND WHAT JESUS TEACHES, TELLS US, AND COMMANDS US IN HIS WORD.
Verses 7-8 tells us The call to love.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
John's emphasis on love among the people of God (shown in passages like 1 John 2:9-11 and 3:10-18) is powerful. Here, he shows WHY it is so important. If love is of God, then those who claim to be born of God, and claim to know God, must be able to love one another in the body of Christ.
Again, John insists that there is something that is given to the believer when they are born of God; a love is imparted to their life that they did NOT have before. Christians are NOT "just forgiven"- they are born anew by God's Spirit.
And knows God…
There are several different words in the ancient Greek language translated "know" into English. This specific word for knows (ginosko) is the word for a knowledge by experience. John is saying when we really experience God it will show by our love for one another.
Of course, this love is NOT perfected in the life of a Christian on this side of eternity. Though it may not be perfected, it must be present - and it should be growing. You can't truly grow in your experience of God without also growing love for one another. John can boldly say, He who does not love does not know God. If there is NOT real love for God's people in your life, then your claim to know God and experience God is NOT true.
Love is of God…
The love John speaks of comes from the ancient Greek word agape; it is the concept of a self-giving love that gives without demanding or expecting re-payment- it is the God-kind of love.
Since this is God's kind of love, it comes into our life through our relationship with Him. If we want to love one another more, we need to draw closer to God.
Every human relationship is like a triangle. The two people in the relationship are at the base of the triangle, and God is at the top. As the two people draw closer to the top of the triangle, closer to God, they will also draw closer to one another. Weak relationships are made strong when both people draw close to the Lord!
Everyone who loves is born of God … He who does not love does not know God…
This does not mean that every display of love in the world can only come from a Christian. Those who are not Christians still can display acts of love.
For God is love…
This is a glorious truth. Love describes the character and heart of God. He is so rich in love and compassion, that it can be used to describe His very being.
When we say God is love, we are not saying everything about God. Love is an essential aspect of His character, and colors every aspect of His nature. But it does NOT eliminate His holiness, His righteousness, or His perfect justice. Instead, we know the holiness of God is loving, and the righteousness of God is loving, and the justice of God is loving. Everything God does, in one way or another, expresses His love.
The Bible also tells us that God is spirit (John 4:24), God is light (1 John 1:5), and that God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).
There are few LOST people who really know and really believe that God is love. For whatever reason, they WILL NOT receive His love and let it transform their lives. It transforms our life to know the love of God in this way.
Verses 9-11 tells us The meaning of love and its application.
“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
This shows us what love is and what it means. Love is not only defined by the sacrifice of Jesus (as stated in 1 John 3:16); it is also defined by the giving of the Father. It was a sacrifice for the Father to send the Second Person of the Trinity, and a sacrifice to pour out the judgment we deserved upon God the Son.
We need to appreciate this fully, and receive the Fatherly love God has to give us. Some of us, for whatever reason, have come to think of God the Father as aloof and mean, perhaps the so-called "angry God" of the Old Testament. In this wrong thinking, many imagine they prefer the nice and loving Jesus instead. But the Father loves us too; and the love Jesus showed in His ministry was the same love God the Father has towards us. We can receive the healing power in our Father's love.
That God has sent His only begotten Son into the world…
John is VERY CONSISTENT AND VERY CAREFUL to call Jesus the only begotten Son. This special term means Jesus has a Sonship that is unique (only) and begotten indicates that Jesus and the Father are of the same substance, the same essential Being.
A man can create a statue that looks just like him, but it will NEVER be human.
However, we use the term BEGET to describe something that is exactly the same as us in essential nature and being. We are adopted sons and daughters of God, but we are not of the same essential nature and being as God - we are human beings. But Jesus is the only begotten Son, meaning His Sonship is different than ours; He was and is of the same essential nature and being as God the Father. We are human beings; He is a "God-being" - who added humanity to His deity.
The love of the Father was not only in the sending of the Son, but also in what that sending accomplishes for us. It brings life to all who trust in Jesus and His work on their behalf, because He is the propitiation for our sins.
Propitiation has the idea of a sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God. God rightly regarded us, apart from Him, as worthy targets of His judgment. We were rebels and enemies of Him, even if we didn't know it. But on the cross, Jesus took the punishment our sin deserved - His sacrifice turned away the judgment we would have received. We easily think how this shows the love of Jesus, but John wants us to understand it also shows the love of God the Father: He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
The greatness of God's love is shown not only in saving us from the judgment we deserved, but also in wanting us to live through Him. Do we live through Him? This is a great way to define the Christian life, to live through Him.
God has sent His only begotten Son…
This shows the love of God, because love gives its best. There was nothing better God the Father could give to lost humanity than the gift of the Son of God Himself. As Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 9:15, Jesus was the Father's indescribable gift.
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins…
This shows the love of God. It might have shown enough love that the Father sent the Son, and not some lower-grade angel; but He sent the Son, not on a fact-finding mission or merely a mission of compassion - He sent the Son to die for our sins.
For our sins…
This shows the love of God. God gave His Son to die, and to die for sinners. We can think of someone paying a great price to save someone deserving, someone good, someone noble, someone who had done much for them. But God did all this for rebels, for sinners, for those who had turned their backs on Him.
Real love, agape love, is not defined by our love for God, but by His love for us. His love for us initiates our relationship of love with Him, our love only responds to His love for us. We can't love God the way we should unless we are receiving and living in His love.
Our love for God doesn't really say anything great about us. It is only the common sense response to knowing and receiving the love of God.
When Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, and showed such great love and servanthood to them, we might have expected Him to conclude by gesturing to His own feet and asking who among them was going to do to Him what He had just done for them. Instead, Jesus said: If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. (John 13:14) The proper way to love God in response to His love for us is to go out and love one another.
Verse 12 tells us Seeing God through the evidence of love.
“No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.”
John relates a basic principle about God the Father - that no one, NO ONE, has seen God at any time. Anyone claiming to have seen God the Father is speaking - at best - from their own imagination, because as John plainly states, NO ONE has seen God at ANY time.
Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:17: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible. Jesus declared of God the Father, God is Spirit.”
John 4:24 confirms that God the Father has no tangible body which may be seen.
Knowing God the Father is invisible should make us more humble in our relationship with Him. God the Father is not completely knowable by us; we can't completely figure out God, or know all His secrets. He is beyond us.
BOICE clears up a controversy "The Old Testament theophanies, including the apparently contradictory statement in Exodus 24:10, did not involve the full revelation of God as He is in Himself but only a suggestion of what He is in forms that a human being could understand."
This is the greatest evidence of God's presence and work among us- love. Since no one has seen God at any time, this provides evidence for the presence of God.
Some people think the greatest evidence of God's presence or work is power. Some people think the greatest evidence of God's presence or work is popularity. Some people think the greatest evidence of God's presence or work is passionate feelings.
But the greatest evidence of God's presence and work is love.
Where God is present and working, there will be love.
Sometimes Jesus seemed weak and lacking in power, but He was always full of love.
Sometimes Jesus wasn't popular at all, but He was always full of love.
Sometimes Jesus didn't inspire passionate feelings in people at all, but He was always full of love.
Love was the constant, greatest evidence of the presence and work of God in Jesus Christ.
Perfected uses the Greek word teleioo, which doesn't mean "perfect" as much as "mature" and "complete." If we love one another, then the love of God is "mature" and "complete" in us.
The mature Christian will be marked by love. Again, the true measure of maturity is not the image of power, or popularity, or passionate feelings - but the abiding presence of God's love in our lives, given out to others.
Verses 13-15 tells us Assurance of the work of the Triune God in us.
“By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”
Plainly, a Christian can say, "We know." One does NOT have to merely "hope" one is saved, and "hope" they will make it to heaven, and have no assurance of salvation before they pass from this world to the next. We can KNOW, and we can know NOW, on this side of eternity.
Our abiding in Jesus is NOT a one-sided affair, with us struggling to abide in Him, and Jesus trying to escape us. Just as true as it is that we should abide in Him, it is true that He does abide in us.
Jesus said in John 15:4, “Abide in Me, and I in you.”
John 15:7, Jesus said. “ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you.”
One of the ways Jesus abides in us - lives in us - is through His word.
John brings up the work of the Holy Spirit in us at this point for TWO important connections.
FIRST, it is the Spirit of God in us that is the abiding presence of Jesus - the presence of His Spirit is how He abides in us.
SECOND, it is the testimony of the Holy Spirit within us that makes it possible for us to know that we abide in Him.
As Paul puts it in Roman 8:16: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” The Holy Spirit gives us this assurance.
The "we" who give testimony in this verse are those who SAW Jesus originally, the eyewitnesses to His presence. They knew the Father sent the Son as Savior of the world.
Speaking as one who has the Spirit of God (He has given us of His Spirit), John declares three essential truths about who God is and how He saves us.
1. That the Father has sent the Son.
2. That He was sent as Savior of the world.
3. Knowing and understanding Jesus is the foundation for abiding in Him
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God…
It is NOT enough to know the facts about who Jesus is; we must confess the truth. The idea behind the word confess is "to be in agreement with."
We must agree with God about who Jesus is, and we find out what God says about Jesus through the Word of God. You may know something without being in agreement with it; God demands our TRUE agreement.
Though John has been writing much about love, he does not ignore the issue of truth. John does not think it is "enough" if a person has some kind of love in their life if they do not confess that Jesus is the Son of God. It is NOT a matter of deciding between love or truth; we must have both.
Verse 16 tells us The Christian's response to God and His love.
“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”
This is the Christian's proper response to who God is, and how He loves us. We are called to take the love and grace God gives, to know it by experience and to believe it. This is what fellowship with God is all about.
People respond to the love of God differently.
- Some respond with a sense of self-superiority ("I'm so great, even God loves me!").
- Some respond with doubt ("Can God really love even me?").
- Some respond with wickedness ("God loves me, so I can do what I want").
- God wants us to respond by knowing (by experience) and believing the love God has for us.
The Christian must know and believe the love God has for us. One should consider what would it take to make them stop believing God loved them.
Paul knew that nothing could separate him from the love of God that was in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:35-39), and each Christian should have the SAME confidence.
SPURGEON says, "To feel God's love is very precious, but to believe it when you do not feel it, is the noblest."
The Christian who has this kind of relationship with God will be virtually "immersed" in God's love; it becomes their environment, their place of abiding.
Verses 17-18 tells us The perfecting of love, both now and in eternity.
“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”
For perfected, John does NOT just use the Greek word teleioo (which has the idea of "maturity" and "completeness); he writes teleioo teleioo - speaking of love that is "perfectly perfected" or "completely complete."
In the day of judgment…
This is when the completeness of love's work in us will be demonstrated. As much as we can know the completeness of God's love now, we will know it all the more in the day of judgment.
1. You may know you are a sinner now; you will really know it in the day of judgment.
2. You may know now you are not better in yourself than those who are going to hell; you will really know it in the day of judgment.
3. You may know the reality of hell now; you will really know it in the day of judgment.
4. You may know the greatness of Jesus' salvation now; you will really know it in the day of judgment.
That we may have boldness in the day of judgment…
This shows the greatness of God's work in us. We might be satisfied to merely survive the day of judgment, but God wants to so fill our lives with His love and His truth that we have boldness in the day of judgment.
The Bible says that one day, all of LOST AND REJECTING humanity will gather before God's Great White Throne and face judgment. This day is coming!
Some think they will go there and judge God ("when I see God, there's a few questions I have for Him!"), but that is nonsense. The only way to have boldness in the day of judgment is to receive, and walk in, the transforming love of God today through Jesus Christ salvation.
We can imagine Jesus being bold before the throne of God, but us? Yet, if we abide in Him, and He in us (1 John 4:13), then our identity is bound up in Jesus: as He is, so are we in the world.
How is Jesus now?
He is glorified, justified, forever righteous and bold, sitting at the right hand of God the Father. Spiritually, we can have that same standing now, while we are in the world, because as He is, so are we in the world.
Certainly, this glory is in us now just in "seed" form; it has not yet fully developed into what it will be. But it is there, and its presence is demonstrated by our love for one another and our agreement with God's truth - and that all serves to give us boldness.
The completeness of love means we do not cower in fear before God, dreading His judgment, either now or in the day of judgment. We know all the judgment we ever deserved - past, present, and future - was poured out on Jesus Christ on the cross.
BUT MANY SAY…
What about the many passages of Scripture, Old and New Testament (such as Ecclesiastes 12:13 and 1 Peter 2:17), which tell us we should FEAR God?
THAT WORD FOR FEAR...MEANS AWE, REVERENCE, RESPECT, AND HONOR.
The fear John writes of here is NOT the appropriate reverence we should all have of God, but the kind of fear which involves torment - that agonizing kind of fear which robs our soul of all joy and confidence before God. It is the fear that is the opposite of boldness in the day of judgment.
If our relationship with God is marked by this tormenting fear, it shows that we have not been made perfect- that is, complete, and mature- in His love.
Verse 19 tells us The reason for our love to Jesus.
“We love Him because He first loved us.”
In this great statement, John begins by declaring the heart of every true follower of Jesus Christ. Simply and boldly put, we love Him.
This is a FACT for every true follower of Jesus. There is no exception to this rule; if a man loves not God, neither is he born of God.
It is something that every Christian should be unafraid to proclaim…
I love Him; I love Jesus.
Can you say that?
Are you embarrassed to say it?
Can you say, "I love Jesus"?
This verse not only declares our love for Jesus, it also tells us when He loved us. Some people imagine that Jesus loved us because He knew we would love Him and come to faith in Him. But He loved us BEFORE that, and even before the worlds were created, when our only existence was in the mind and heart of God, Jesus loved us.
This verse tells us WHERE love for Jesus comes from. It comes from Him. Our love for God is always in response to His love for us; He initiates, and we respond. We never have to draw God to us; instead, He draws us to Himself.
Verses 20-21tells us The commandment to love.
“If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”
It is often easier for someone to proclaim their love for God, because that regards a private relationship with an invisible God. But John rightly insists that our claim of loving God is false if we do not also love our brother, and that this love must be seen.
One may be a spiritual dwarf because they lack love. One may know the Word, may never miss a service, may pray fervently, and may demonstrate gifts of the Spirit. Yet in it all, that one may be like Cain, offering to God the fruit of their hands and not the fruit of the Spirit.
Being born of God and abiding with Him give us the ability to love; but it is a CHOICE OF OUR WILL to draw upon that resource and give it out to others. Therefore we are given a command to love, that he who loves God must love his brother also.
Because of this, the excuse "I just can't love that person" (or other such excuses) is invalid. If we are born of Him and are abiding in Him then the resources for love are there. It is up to us to respond to His command with our will and whole being.
One might say, "I want to love God more; I want to grow in my love for Him. But how can I love a God who is invisible?" God would say to us, "Learn to love Me, Whom you cannot see, by loving My children, whom you can see."
Jesus said in Matthew 5:23-24, “Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
God is more pleased when you get it right with your brother, than if you bring Him a sacrifice of praise or resources.
Amen Faithy well said ....
do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
Do NOT believe every spirit… I keep telling people not to belive everything they hear coming from the preachers and teachers expecilly on tv i tell them to read the bible and pray to God to reveal if it is right or wrong teaching !