1 John chapter 4 is one of the classic passages in the Bible on God’s love.
Verse 8: Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. Verse 16: So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
We’ve been looking at 1 John for a few weeks now. If you’ve been with us, you’ll know that John wrote to some Christians who aren’t terribly sure about God’s love. Does God really love us? So today John wants to reassure about God’s love. He tells us where you can see God’s love in action.
But more than that, he wants us to live as those who are loved. So many people today don’t know how loved they are. That’s just talking about being loved by another human being. How much more tragic when this is God’s love. As we’ll see, God’s love is so deep, so wide, so amazing – how tragic to miss out. So John wants us to know that we are loved. And then he wants us to live as people who are loved.
The Love of God
Let’s look at what John says about God’s love.
Verse 9: In this the love of God was made manifest among us – here’s where you can see it – that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God – don’t look at your love for God, or at my love for God – that’s puny – but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
God’s love can be seen in the way he sent his Son into the world.
He came as a propitiation for our sins.
The word propitiation is a long word, and it’s not one we use today. Usually, Bible translators find another word rather than use an archaic one. Our Bibles are in modern English. In this case, there is no other word to use. But if propitiation is where you see God’s love, it’s a pretty important word. We need to explain it and understand it.
Start with sins. This passage doesn’t tell us what sin is. But in chapter 1, John spelt it out pretty clearly. He uses the language of light and dark. God is perfect light. Everything he says is true. Everything he does is good. Sin is living in the dark. It’s deciding for ourselves what is true, rather than allowing God to tell us. It’s living our own way, rather than being good like God is. And then he ends chapter 1 by saying that is what we all do. Every one of us, every last man woman and child. We make up our own standard of truth. We decide for ourselves what is good.
That’s sins. We see God’s love because he sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. So what’s propitiation?
It means someone who turns away anger. Our sin creates a problem. It creates a problem for us. God must punish sin. But it creates a problem for God. God is perfectly good. God is perfectly holy. So he cannot just look at sin and shrug his shoulders. He hates sin. He hates everything that is not true. He hates everything that is not good.
We get angry for all the wrong reasons. Usually involving tiredness and dented pride. God does not have a bad day. God does not get out of bed on the wrong side. God does not fly off the handle and regret it later. God is so pure and good. When he looks at things that are wrong he hates it. He hates it with a settled, consistent and fair anger. He could not do otherwise, or he would not be God.
We wouldn’t want God to be any other way would we? 6 million Jews died in concentration camps before and during the Second World War. When we hear of violent crime on the news, there’s a sense of outrage in our hearts. “Something must be done,” we cry. We wouldn’t want a God who shrugged his shoulders and said “never mind”. When justice is never achieved through the courts, we wouldn’t want God to say “what do you want me to do about it?” We wouldn’t want the answer to the holocaust to be “boys will be boys”.
The problem is that it’s not just a few criminals and military dictators who raise God’s anger. We all sin. And when we sin, the person who needs fixing is God. Somehow, his anger must be turned away from us.
John tells us that God loved us so much that he sent his own son to be the propitiation for our sins. Jesus is the one who deals with God’s anger. Who turns it away. Who allowed God’s anger against us to fall on him. Which is why Jesus died.
And so my sin is dealt with. Yes, I will never need to be punished for it. But more amazingly still, God will never need to be angry with me.
And so, Jesus is the one who brings us life. We would be dead before God. But now we live.
This week, the Daily Mail reported about kidney donation. 7 years ago, it became legal to give organs anonymously. Which means that a number of people with two healthy kidneys have chosen to have one removed for donation. The person who receives the kidney gets to live. A life without dialysis. Possibly it saves their life. But it’s an extraordinary kind thing to do. You are putting your own life in danger to have that kidney removed. All for a complete stranger.
Jesus, the propitiation for our sins, so that we might live through him.
And this is not just something God did for a few people in a corner. Verse 14: We have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. Anyone who trusts him can have their sins forgiven. Can have God’s anger turned away. Can live not die.
And this is where God’s love is seen, says John. And notice the word “only” in verse 9. Jesus is an only child. God the Father has no other Son.
We have a couple of table lamps at home. They wouldn’t look much to you. A gnarled wooden base, with a light fitting on the top. A few weeks ago, one got knocked and the light fitting broke. Why did I bother to buy a new light fitting and rewire it? Because my great uncle used to enjoy turning pieces of word into beautifully hand-crafted items. We have a coffee table of his as well. He’s no longer with us, and I could not replace that lamp. It doesn’t look much to someone else, but it means a lot to me. It’s the only one of its kind.
Those of us who are parents know how terrible it would be if something happened to one of our children. But that pain, that anxiety, that sense of protection, would be all the stronger if you only had one child and could never have any more.
God’s love is shown for us in this. He sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
To be loved like that is amazing. And it changes your life. Let’s briefly look at the 3 ways John says we will be changed by God’s love.
Reflect it – love each other
The first way we’ll be changed by God’s love is that we’ll reflect it as we love each other. Reflect it. Love each other.
It comes all through the passage. Verse 7: Let us love one another, for love is from God. Verse 8: Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. Verse 11: If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Verse 19: We love because he first loved us.
John says this: you can tell who really knows God. You can tell who knows God’s love. It will come out in the way they relate to the other Christians around them. They’ll reflect it. They’ll love each other.
John got this from Jesus of course. John chapter 13 verse 34: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
When someone knows they are really loved, you can tell. Listen to a young man or woman tell you that they’ve just got engaged, the excitement beams from their face. The person they love has just agreed to marry them.
John says: When someone has experienced the love of God, you can tell. You might be able to see the excitement visibly. Or you might not. But one thing you will definitely see is this: They’ll love their Christian brothers and sisters.
That’s the first way God’s love changes us: We reflect it. We love each other.
Rely on it – trust the eyewitnesses
The second way we’ll be changed by God’s love is that we’ll rely on it. We’ll trust the eyewitnesses. Rely on it – trust the eyewitnesses.
The love of God is not a theory. It’s not something a philosopher dreamt of. John, and the other 10 or so eyewitnesses of the life of Jesus, could write verse 14: We have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.
That’s what the eyewitnesses had to say. Our part is to believe them. Verse 15 is the very next verse: Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know that and to believe the love that God has for us.
You see the order: God’s love was seen when Jesus lived and died. The first disciples, the apostle witnessed this with their own eyes. They saw and testified. They came to know God’s love for us. Which means that we can believe their testimony. We can confess that what they said is true. We can trust what they said.
If God’s love was an idea, you have to be persuaded by the idea. If it’s a feeling, you have to feel it for yourself. But God’s love is a historical event – it’s seen in the death of his Son. So we have to rely on it, by trusting those God appointed as eyewitnesses.
One of my favourite books is John le Carré’s novel, The Constant Gardener. Another book with a film that is nothing like as good. Part of what’s behind the story is a drug firm discovering a miracle cure for TB. At least, that’s how they would market it. Actually, there is no miracle cure for TB. Sadly. And even within the book, their drug is full of flaws.
But imagine there was a 100% successful TB vaccine. And imagine that you contract TB. You’d follow the instructions for the medicine to the letter wouldn’t you? This is a matter of life and death. TB kills. Here’s a medicine that can save your life. So you do as it says.
Sin kills. Jesus’ death is a 100% successful way to save your life. This is a matter of life and death. So when those who saw this first-hand wrote about God’s life-saving love, you trust them.
And so you say yes please to having your life saved. You rely on God’s love.
Relax because of it – don’t fear the judgement
The third way we are changed by God’s love is you relax because of it. You don’t fear the judgement.
God’s love leads us to love others, and leads us to trust those who wrote about it. But that’s not it’s final goal.
Look at verse 17: By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgement. The word perfected there is the word used for reaching a destination – it means terminus. He’s saying that this is how God’s love reaches its goal, arrives at its destination, reaches the terminus – in us. We have confidence for the day of judgement.
Verse 18: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. The normal way to approach the day of judgement is with fear. We’re afraid we will be punished. That’s a normal and a natural way to respond. When I look at my life, I don’t like the idea of it being payday. I know that if I get what I deserved for my life, I wouldn’t be in for a pay-rise, I’d be in for punishment. My life is full of mistakes. There’s so much to be ashamed of.
But perfect love casts out fear. I know that God loves me. I know that God loved me enough to send his Son to die for me. I know that Jesus took all my punishment on him. So I have nothing to fear on the day of judgement. Everything I have done wrong has already been punished.
And I can be fearless because God’s love has reached me. I have trusted those who testified to what they saw. God’s love has gone through me to love those around me. So I can face the day of judgement without fear. With confidence.
This is one of the most wonderful effects of God’s love. We can relax because of it – don’t fear the judgement.
Many of us here have passed driving tests. One of the challenges is driving well when you’re nervous. You can drive perfectly, but sit someone next to you with a clipboard – it becomes so much harder. Piano exams are the same. Everything tenses up. Your heart races. It’s test time. How will I perform?
And we all know the nervousness of knowing that there’s a test tomorrow. Tomorrow’s the day of the job interview. Will they like me? First day at a new school on Monday. Will I make friends. It’s normal to be nervous.
And it’s even more normal when facing the day of judgement. It’s not just my social skills on test, or how employable I am. It’s my whole life on show. And I’m not before a driving examiner or someone I’d like to work for. I’m standing before the God who made me. Who wouldn’t be nervous?
Astonishingly, the person who knows God’s love has no need to be nervous. We can face that day with complete boldness and confidence. That’s the terminus of God’s love in us.
Conclusion
So there’s God’s extravagant love for us. He sent his Son, his only Son, to die as a propitiation for our sins, so that we might live through him. He did this not only for us, but for people anywhere in the world. And he did it in the full glare of the public eye, having commissioned eyewitnesses to tell us about it.
So we can reflect that love to others, we can rely on that love because of the eyewitnesses, and we can relax even in the face of God’s judgement.
Verse 21: This commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.