In last week’s bulletin message, “God’s Love In Us That Others Notice” we saw several verses that helped us to understand the importance of agape love in the life of a Christian. We learned that this love is the foundation of our relationship with Jesus and our unity with one another. We also learned how agape love is an effective witness of who Jesus is to others who do not know Him personally. John 17:23b, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
In addition, we learned about how agape love is the fruit of the Spirit and saw Paul’s explanation of agape love to help us understand what agape love in a Christian looks like and how it is lived out in the life of a Christian. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.
What else does the New Testament teach us about the love of God in the life of a Christian? Are we recognizing God’s love in our lives and how His love in us should be lived out? Are we to be able to tell others about the experiential difference God’s love makes in our lives?
For some Christians, answering the following question can be difficult, “are we recognizing God’s love in our lives and how His love in us should be lived out?”
I was talking to a person who was going through a very difficult in his life because his wife was battling cancer. According to a doctor’s diagnosis, his wife was given less than a year to live. What really concerned me was his comment that, “what more does he need to do to prove to God that he loves Him?” Why would a Christian think that it was necessary or that they were obligated to prove their love to God under any circumstance? To be able to answer this person’s question is first knowing what God’s word says about Christians loving God. Secondly, a Christian must also recognize experiencing God’s love in their relationship and their expression of that love. How does Jesus answer this doubt or sense of having to prove one’s love for God?
John 14:21, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
John 14:23, “23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
1 John 5:1-3, “5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 This is love for God: to obey his commands.”
Answering this person’s comment and addressing their doubt, if you are living a life doing what Jesus says, this is evidence of one of the many different ways a Christian love’s Jesus. I do not want to sound legalistic or to give the impression that a relationship with Jesus is a life having to follow a lot of rules. Living a life in obedience to God’s Word also has the blessing or result of God and Jesus loving them, which will be experienced in the life and intimate relationship of that person.
Loving God is also displayed in our lives by how we see or what think about others and how we treat them. Note what Jesus says in the following verses of how our live gives evidence to others that we love God.
John 13:34-35, 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 15:12, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
1 John 3:10, “10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.”
1 John 4:7, “7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”
1 John 4:11-12, “11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
Another act of evidence of how a Christian displays their love for God and the love of God in them to others is in a marriage relationship. The apostle Paul tells the Christian husband in Ephesians 5:25-27 the bases from which a Christian is to love their wife. “25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” The way I express my love for my wife comes from the way I am recognizing and experiencing how Christ loves me and how I love Him in my relationship with Him.
In a recent conversation with a person who does not know God, he stated that, the way God keeps people being obedient to Him is through fear. He did not mean fear as in respect, reverence or esteem, but the fear of punishment, retribution and terror. Obviously, this person did not have a relationship with Jesus or knew God’s Word, which clearly tells us that God’s “perfect love drives out fear”. When a Christian is living in God’s love, God is living in them and we do not have to fear God because “There is no fear in love.” and because we love Him we never have to live with the fear or worry of His anger or punishment, but live in the delight and security of His love for us.
Pastor John
1 John 4:16-18
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
