I John 4:7-21 is John's greatest exposition on love. He has three main points:
(1) God is love (4:8, 4:16). I find it interesting that John did not say "God is loving," for this would seem to indicate that love is simply one of God's attributes. However, in phrasing it "God is love," the Holy Spirit through John is revealing that God is love itself; He is the attribute. Essentially what John is saying is "agape characterizes God."
(2) We, humans, though specifically believers, know God by His love that He demonstrated by sending His son to be the propitiation for our sins (4:10) and the Savior of the World (4:14) while we in no way deserved it. This says two things to me.
First, God loved us without a cause. 4:10 says "not that we loved God," and Romans 5:8, "while we were yet sinners." This blew me away when I first realized that God loved me when I was diabolically opposed to everything He is and wanted nothing to do with me. "While we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son" (Romans 5:10). Wow. God is the initiator of all love (after all, He is love), and initiated without a reason.
Second, God demonstrated and manifested His love to us. Now this was a phrase that I had been reading ever since I was little, but it was only a short time ago when I realized its power. Let me illustrate. Remember back in elementary school when one kid in your class (usually the really obnoxious one who always wanted to show off) would come to school and make some ridiculous claim like "I can ride my bike with no handlebars," or "I can jump on a pogo stick 50 times in a row"? After maybe a second of amazed shock, everyone in the class would always have one reply: "Prove it!" (at which point the kid probably made up about a million excuses why he or she couldn't do what they flaunted...right now at least). Why is it that these kids would ask to see proof? It is because words alone are pretty meaningless. Think about it: I could make up absolutely anything I wanted to about myself and craftily word it and I could probably get you to believe whatever I told you. The only way you would ever know if I was telling the truth is if I were able to prove it to you, to demonstrate that what I am saying is the truth. I think this is what John is getting at in Chapter 3 verse 18 when he says "Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth." Essentially, prove what you claim to be true by your actions. This is exactly what God did. How ridiculous is it to think that the God who created the universe and sustains it by His power would love me? It seems impossible. Surely God made a mistake when He said that He loved me. "But God demonstrates His own love towards us" (Romans 5:8). It seemed ridiculous, so God PROVED IN JESUS THAT HE REALLY DOES LOVE ME, so that there can be absolutely no question. No question.
(3) God's love draws us into relationship with Him where there is mutual abiding (me in Him and Him in me). In this relationship, I am compelled to love others and thereby have the love of God perfected or brought to completion in me. There is a lot that I could say to this point, but I want to keep it brief so I can get to my "off the page" verse. The natural response to God's overwhelming love is to love others. This serves as a further demonstration of the love of God. Strangely, though, as we love, we get more love, and we love more, and the love of God is perfected in us (I John 4:12). This is all awesome, but what really stood out to me came in the next verses:
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgement; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. (I John 4:16-19)What really caught my attention was the phrase "as He is, so also are we in this world" (v17). My immediate question was "If I am what He is, then what is He?" Looking up to verse 16, I saw the very simple answer: "God is love." This then became crystal clear. God's love is perfected in me as I abide in Him. This love is the evidence of my salvation, so I have confidence that I am justified and found right with God. But God's love in me is not perfected just for this purpose. "as He is, so also [am I] in the world" translates this whole passage to a giant God-monologue:
"Because I have perfected My love in you, then you are the demonstration of My love to the world. You are Me; My ambassador; the picture of what I want to do with a broken, lost life; the evidence of my love. And more than that, just as I did, I want you to be more than love, I want you to practice it. Simply put, LOVE PEOPLE! There is no fear in love, so the world should not be afraid of you. You should not intimidate them or drive them away. When My perfect love is present, there is no fear. In fact, My perfect love (which, by the way, has been perfected in you) casts out fear. There is no room for it. Why? Because fear involves punishment, and My Son Jesus Christ has already taken all of the punishment. It is your job not to condemn the sinner, but to tell him that there is no condemnation in Christ. This is what i have designed for you: to know and receive My love; to abide in Me; to have My love perfected in you; and to love others; to be Me in the world."And so there it is. My charge to LOVE PEOPLE. Period. Because it is only in love that they will see My Savior and Father.
No comments:
Post a Comment