The Power of Love

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

Scripture Reading: 1 John 4:13-21

These past weeks we have talked about love, love, and more love in regard to the love of God and the love we are to have toward one another. Today is no different as we continue in 1 John.

God’s love in His people gives us an assurance of His presence, confidence as we await the Day of Judgment, and the power to reflect His character.

Our actions are often determined by our identity—who we are and who we think we are. John wants us to be loving (actions), but first he wants us to know we are loved as those who abide in God through the gift of His Spirit (identity).

Have you ever taken the time to really reflect on who you are in Christ? Have you stopped to consider some of the magnificent ways you have been blessed and loved by God? Well, I am going to help you think about a few things this morning:

·       Through Christ, I am dead to sin (Rom. 6:11)

·       Through Christ, I am spiritually alive (Rom. 6:11, 1 Cor. 15:22)

·       Through Christ, I am forgiven (Col. 2:13, 1 John 2:12)

·       Through Christ, I am declared righteous (1 Cor. 1:30, 2 Cor. 5:21)

·       Through Christ, I am a child of God (Rom. 8:16, Phil. 2:15)

·       Through Christ, I am God’s possession (Titus 2:14)

·       Through Christ, I am blessed with all spiritual blessings (Eph. 1:3)

·       Through Christ, I am a citizen of heaven (Phil 3:20)

·       Through Christ, I am free from the law (Rom. 8:2)

·       Through Christ, I am crucified with Him (Gal. 2:20)

·       Through Christ, I am an heir of God (Rom. 8:17)

·       Through Christ, I am free from the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:24)

·       Through Christ, I am declared blameless and innocent (Phil. 2:15)

·       Through Christ, I am a light in the world (Matt. 5:14-15, Phill 2:15)

·       Through Christ, I am victorious over Satan (Luke 10:19)

·       Through Christ, I am cleansed from sin (1 John 1:7)

·       Through Christ, I am set free from the power of sin (Col. 2:11-15)

·       Through Christ, I am secure in Him (1 Peter 1:3-5)

·       Through Christ, I am at peace with God (Rom. 5:1, Phil 4:6-9)

·       Through Christ, I am loved by God (1 John 4:10)

Friends, our life in Christ is awesome and this list that I just gave you is a supernatural list because it is a list that reveals the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of love, all because of what we read in 1 John 4:14—The Father has sent His Son as the world’s Savior—and if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.

Loving others as we have been loved by God is not an easy thing to do. Loving and praying for our enemies as Jesus taught us can seem nearly impossible. Even loving our brothers and sisters in Christ can be a real challenge sometimes.

We need supernatural assistance to love the way God’s Word sets forth for us to love. Because of this we need to remember who we are in Christ and what we have received from the Father. When we do, amazing things will happen—we will love others as we have been loved by God. And by the way we love others, we will make visible the invisible God this world so desperately needs to see and come to know.

1 Corinthians so clearly lays the way of love out for us!

Paul lays out very clearly that to possess spiritual gifts without love amounts to absolutely nothing! Love is to be the governing principle of all that we do! Paul blatantly tells us that you can have a life of “religious activities” but you may not be a believer at all.

Love is an activity and a behavior, not just an inner feeling or motivation. It is clear that God exalts Christlike character more than ministry, faith, or the possession of spiritual gifts.

God values and emphasizes character that acts in love, patience, kindness, unselfishness, hatred for evil and love for the truth, honesty, and endurance in righteousness, more than faith that can move mountains or even to perform miracles.

One of the first things we need to know is that LOVE IS EVIDENCE THAT WE HAVE THE SPIRIT OF GOD.

When we experience the power of divine love, we experience the work and enjoy the fellowship of the triune God. John Piper says, “I think we will love each other and those outside with a distinct, supernatural love when we taste the fellowship of the Trinity.”

Listen again to verse 13—“We know that we live in him and he is us, because he has given us of his Spirit.”  GOD SENT HIS SON TO DIE FOR US AND SENT HIS SPIRIT TO LIVE IN US. BOTH ARE GIFTS OF GRACE. BOTH ARE EVIDENCE OF HIS AMAZING LOVE FOR US. AND THE LOVE THAT WE NOW HAVE FOR GOD AND HIS CHILDREN IS A REVELATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS WITHIN US THROUGH OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS.

GOD’S PERSONAL PRESENCE IS WITH US THROUGH THE ABIDING HOLY SPIRIT.

John uses a phrase over and over again—THIS IS HOW WE KNOW…

John wants his readers to know, to be assured of the truth that they (we) abide in God and that God abides in us through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Because of the Spirit of God residing in us, John then tells us that we can freely and openly confess that Jesus is our Savior.

Our motivation to obey God’s command to love one another can become a delight and joy when we look to Christ and soak in all that He did for us.

We are not motivated by our failures but by His forgiveness.

We are moved to love because of our connection to Christ, who has so lavishly loved us.

Again, in verse 16 John declares that GOD IS LOVE.

THIS LOVE NOT ONLY REMINDS US OF THE SPIRIT AND WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST, BUT IT ALSO GIVES US CONFIDENCE AS WE AWAIT THE DAY OF JUDGMENT.

Loving others out of gratitude for how we have been loved in Christ has consequences not only for the present, but also for the future.

The argument that John has built to this point is powerful. It runs something like this: loving others, possessing the Spirit, confessing the Son, and mutually abiding in God and His love brings God’s love to its full and intended goal, its perfect purpose in our lives.

TWO WONDERFUL PURPOSES:

1.   That when I stand before God on judgment day, I will have complete confidence and an absence of fear. How can that be? The answer is because on that day when you and I stand before God, He will see you as He sees Jesus. The love of God will have done its perfect work as it is applied to that day when we stand before God.

Love has an intended goal—to give us confidence and assurance and a boldness on the day of judgment as we belong to Jesus and he has covered our sin. For those who belong to Christ, who have given their hearts to Him, there is no fear of judgment.

John ends this portion of Scripture with the reminder once again that loving one another is a command of God and when we do, it reflects God’s character. To love God and hate your brother is to live a lie!

We love because God FIRST loved us—He took the initiative! If you or I are not loving others as we ought, then we do not know God’s love as we should.

Loving one another is not a suggestion—it is a command. It was not just a good idea to consider. If we truly love God, then we must truly love our brothers and sisters in Christ. The love of God and human-directed aspects of love cannot be divided. They cannot be separated.

Our ability to actually love God is wedded to the reality of our love for our fellow human beings. This love also is not sporadic or occasional—it is continual!

Jesus said in Luke 7:47 that those who have been forgiven much will love much. Friends, we have been forgiven much. We have been forgiven of everything we have ever done wrong or ever will do wrong. So, living in the power of that truth made possible through the atoning death of Jesus, let us love wholly the God whom we have not seen (but someday will) and let’s love well the brother and sister we do see today.

There really is supernatural power in love! If you have any doubts, just look to the cross! The crucified God declares it to be so!