Lesson 5
1John Chapter 4
Testing the Spirits (verses 1-6)
Love, Love, Love (verses 7-21)
We hope you are enjoying this study on 1 John. Only one more chapter to go - next week we will complete the study with Chapter 5 of 1 John. We will not have class on May 28th due to the academic holidays for most UK schools. June 4th will be the lesson covering the review of 1 John, and June 11th will be our final class, which will consist of worship time and sharing how God has worked in your life this past year or whatever you feel God is nudging you to share with our group. We will follow with a final potluck luncheon.
In Chapter 4 we see the epistle shifts its focus somewhat. The previous section (2:28--3:24) dealt with what it means to be God's children. Now a long section on belief and love begins.
1 John 4:1-6
This chapter begins by talking about Spirits - we are designed as spiritual beings. Spirituality is a huge area of interest for all people - just turn on the tv and watch a movie or go online or go to a bookstore….from a very young age (think Harry Potter) we are fascinated by spirituality!
Here, John cautions Christians to be aware of false prophets. We are cautioned to be alert and aware of the dangers of deception in false teachings. Verse two gives us the how-to!!
"This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God"
Be careful - On the one hand, we ought not to rush to judge others. But, on the other hand, the church cannot avoid its task to teach and nurture people in the Christian faith. And to do so responsibly it must in every age and generation test the spirits, that is, approve and cherish that which is true because it comes from God's own Spirit of truth.
Take time to listen to God in your daily life - and ask him for discernment.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.
verses 7-12
One of the best-known works of Western art is surely that section of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel which depicts God reaching down to touch Adam's fingertip and give him life. How many of you have stood there, at that spot?
So well known is this portion of Michelangelo's monumental work that it appears not merely in art histories and coffee-table display books.
In this section of the epistle, John writes, This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world (v. 9). Michelangelo's painting has power not just because of its artistic merits, but because we can virtually feel the life that flows from God's hand to Adam. Even so, John writes not just that God showed his love among us but that he did so by sending the Son into the world that we might live through him.
God's life-giving love, then, is the theme of this passage. As John develops this theme, he makes three important points: God is the source of all love (4:7-8); God models what genuine love is (4:9-10); and God commands us to love each other (4:11-12). We move from the assertion that God is love to the command that we are to love each other. Indeed, the whole point of the passage is to trace the relationship between God's love and human love, and to show how human love flows from God's own love.
In exploring the relationship between God's love for us and our love for each other, the Elder makes two statements: love comes from God (v. 7), and God is love (v. 8). Think of this attribute!!
Because God is love, love comes from God. God is the source of love. Like the electricity running through electrical wires, love comes from God to us, then flows through us to others in the community. When John exhorts his readers, let us love one another, he is encouraging them to allow God's love to flow through them.
In short, God not only gives us the command to love but has also modeled for us what true love is, through sending his son. But even more, God also empowers us to love. By confession of the Son whom God has sent, we are born of God and come to know God, who is love (v. 7); we are given life (v. 9); our sins are forgiven (v. 10). We come into the realm of life and love, in which we are given life and are empowered to extend the same kind of life-giving love to others. We come to know the source of love.
Love isn't just something it is everything.
If we've been a Christian for a long time, we might have lost the wonder...recall in last week's verses John was calling to his readers in a way that suggests he wants us to recapture that wonder and awe in God and being his children! Just like a marriage....okay let's be honest...we all know that the love struck romance you feel does fade over many years. Just like a marriage requires a bit of rekindling and effort to keep the flames going, we need to do the same with our love of God. Even as a parent....we love our children, but when your baby is crying all night long and you haven't slept for a week, or when your teenager is yelling "I hate you" at the top of his lungs, those are moments when we realize love takes patience and some work!!
So just what is love? is a question asked by theologians, philosophers; by romantic poets and adolescents; by betrayed spouses and abandoned children; by the hopeful and the hopeless; by the dreamy-eyed and the cynical. Answers to the question are many.
The author of 1 John has a very direct answer. Simply and boldly he writes, God is love. God is not hate, anger, bitterness or deceit, but love. Love does not describe the fullness of God, but God defines the fullness of love. In this section of the epistle (4:13--5:5), we are shown that God is the standard of love (4:13-16); the one who encourages us in love (4:17-18); the source of love (4:19-20); and the one who commands us to love (4:21--5:5).God Is the Standard of Love (4:13-16)
Do you remember when you learned about God's love for you? Can you think back to that time? if you were like me, it was a real defining moment.
Take a moment right now to dwell in God's love for you.
Close our eyes and in silence, I want you to tell yourself repeatedly "God loves me" or "I am loved" or whatever you might need to hear to REALLY remember that God loves you.
God is love - We can say that God's nature is love, that God's actions are loving, that God repeatedly demonstrates love for us and others, that God loved even a hostile world and that God sent Jesus to make all of this known to us. Human love derives its character and shape from the standard of divine love.
The relationship of divine and human love is further developed here. God makes our love complete and so gives us confidence. To put it another way, the shape of perfect love is triangular: love comes as a gift from God that enables us to love each other and so return to God the gift that is given to us. In the words of C. H. Dodd, "The energy of love discharges itself along lines which form a triangle, whose points are God, self, and neighbour." Where any one leg of the triangle is missing, love remains incomplete and immature.
But where the triangle is whole, love is complete. As a result, we have confidence on the day of judgment because our love signals to us that we already enjoy fellowship with God.
Boldness and fear are opposites of each other, the author writes that in love--the hallmark of our relationship to God and of Jesus' relationship to God--there is only confidence: not fear. And so John writes, There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear. As the context shows, fear means fear of punishment by God when one comes to the judgment. Those who live in God do not need to fear God's judgment.
How often do we beat ourselves up? How often do we feel inadequate? We women are really good at this - at worrying, questioning ourselves, listening to the negative!
Yes, unfortunately, many Christians are tortured by feelings of worthless ness, self-doubt and inadequacy, that they are not good enough for God, that somehow by trying harder they really can make God love them more.
In confessing our sin before God, we accept our unworthiness--not worthlessness! In that moment of vulnerability we discover that God is "faithful and just" and, through Jesus Christ, graciously covers the sinner with love and forgiveness. We know that although we have been found out, we have also been found. We come to accept that God sent the Son into the world because he deemed us worthy to be loved and forgiven, we who are created in the divine image and destined to become fully re stored to it when "we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2 remember from last week - our GLORIFICATION).
To know that we are forgiven for our sin, loved in our weakness, saved by his mercy, destined for fellowship with God, all because we are supremely valued by God--that is to know the perfect love that drives fear away. It is not because of what we have done that we can have such confidence before God, but because of what God has done for us.God Is the Source of Love (4:19-20)
The statement We love because he first loved us. Love--being loved and knowing that one is loved--empowers us to love.
And so if God's love empowers us to love, no one can claim to love God while hating a fellow Christian (4:20).
John tells us that God commands us to love. Whether we are speaking of love of God or love of others, love epitomizes the divine will for human beings, since God is love. Faith and love are each expressions of the work of God in a person's life. Each is centered in the person of Jesus Christ: our faith is in Jesus as the Messiah of God, who provides the fundamental manifestation of God's love for us.
The call to love is derived from the very nature of God, who is love, and who loves us and encourages, commands and empowers us to love.
MUCH OF THE ABOVE COMMENTARY IS TAKEN FROM:
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/1John/Let-Us-Love-One-Another
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