“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 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. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 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. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

1. Love is Constant

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”

If we have any understanding at all of who God is, any degree of comprehension through the wonder of His creation, any insight into His person through the revelation of the Spirit, then it’s not particularly difficult to grasp why we would be called to abide in Him. God is holy, He’s righteous, He gives understanding, and peace, and justice, and Truth – to be in a state of agreement with all that He is would be only to our benefit, only right, only giving God what He is due in His perfection. But as we pick back up in 1 John, we see something that, while not new, is reiterated in a simple, direct way – this idea of God being in agreement with us. This isn’t some twisted glorification of man, but a further testament to the power of God, as this is founded in our confession of the Truth of Jesus Christ. People sometimes get bogged down around the word “confession.” In our world today it holds a context of courtroom settings and criminal proceedings. It may bring to mind movies and TV shows where a guilty party, boxed into a corner by the presented evidence, will grudgingly confess the truth of what they’ve done. People will take this idea of a singular declaration and in applying it to confessing Jesus as the Son of God, treat Jesus like a get out of jail free card. Oftentimes this is done in a reductionist, mocking way, but sometimes there’s sincere confusion around salvation. People can’t understand the logic of the idea that you could live a life of rampant sin, and in your final moments, claim faith in Christ and receive salvation. But there is no logic in this – Jesus isn’t the base in a game of tag, there’s no acknowledgement of His Truth, His righteousness, or His Spirit in treating him like some last-minute lifeline. Are deathbed conversions valid? Is salvation in your final moments a real thing? Of course, but this isn’t based around an empty verbal declaration, but rather genuinely placed faith stirred up by the Spirit. Hebrews 10:23 tells us,

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

The Truth that Jesus is the Son of God is not some cursory piece of information that we acknowledge and then set to the side – it is our foundation, our cornerstone, it is the confession that dictates every element of our lives, we cling to it, we hold fast. When the reality of who Jesus is, is set in our hearts and minds, we are not who we once were, and we become as Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20,

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Understanding the working of the Holy Spirit within us, we can begin to see the application of what John writes, how through the reality of our confession, through grounding in this Truth we are in agreement with God and God is in agreement with us. It also helps us understand how we exist beneath Christ, who is One with the Father, yet as co-heirs with Him. Jesus speaks to His unity with God in John 14:7–11,

“‘If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’ Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.’”

“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.”

This is where today’s passage guides us as well – Jesus tells Philip and the other disciples to believe Him, but if word alone is insufficient to ease their doubt or concern, look to His works. Jesus healed the sick, the crippled, and the blind, He multiplied food, turning a meager meal into enough for thousands. He walked on water, and He raised the dead. But in addition to these works that related to overcoming the physical world, He also taught straight from the Law in a revolutionary way that the teachers of the day could not, or would not deliver. Matthew 7:28–29 says at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount,

“And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”

Jesus didn’t give recycled information, citing the teachings and interpretations of the religious rulers – the “heavy burdens, hard to bear,” He makes reference to in Matthew 23. Rather He delivered the Spirit of the Law, He brought Truth. It can be too easy for us to look at the miraculous events like water into wine, or the cursing of the fig tree, and fail to acknowledge the miracle of the true teaching of the Light in a world filled with darkness and lies. Jesus gives this sort of systematic clarity, showing us where to look to draw validation that He is who He says He is, and John does the same in today’s passage of us understanding and affirming the Love that God has for us. The foundation of our confession, the reality of this Truth in our lives leads us to this reciprocal relationship of being in step with the will of God, and in this we come to know Christ, who is God, who is Love. Jesus tells the disciples in John 15:4–5,

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

This shows us again the sort of promise we have of being grafted to God, and God bringing fruit to bear through us. This is what we’re called to, it’s why God made the ultimate sacrifice on the cross on our behalf, so that we might enter into His Love and know Him. Hosea 10:12–13 shows both paths that this can take saying,

“Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies…”

God maintains His pure and righteous standard as we discussed last week, but we see through His actions that He wants us to come to Him, to abide in His Love and reap the fruit of life rather than rebel and bring the destruction of judgement upon ourselves.

“God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

Here John brings us back to the same hammer blow of Truth that we saw last week in 1 John 4:8,

“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

It shows us the cyclical reasoning that his letter (and on a broader scale, all of Scripture), gives us – the bedrock confession of who Jesus Christ is brings us in line with God, which in doing so means that God is in line with us. There’s harmony in this righteous state of agreement, and in that we may have confidence in the love God has for us. Knowing that God Himself is Love reaffirms that by knowing and loving God, by being loved by Him, we are both in Him and He in us. This all lets us see and appreciate the constancy of God’s Love, that as His children, we are continually kept in His Love – God isn’t hot one day and cold the next, He’s not distant or withholding, and while we do nothing by our works to earn His Love, it’s also not something that’s given without obedience and structure. Romans 8:26–28 tells us,

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

It is not by our own might or will that we’re held in the Love of God, but by the constant and unfailing power of His Spirit. The Spirit that calls us, that indwells us – the Spirit of Love Himself.

2. Love is Fearless

“By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.”

God is Love, and God is constant. People often downplay the Love of God in the Old Testament, where there are also great displays of wrath, but His Love is ever-present throughout Scripture, because He is ever-present throughout Scripture. In Exodus 19:3–6, God says to Moses,

“… Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

God gave His people the Law, and in doing so brought them closer to Him, but as is described later in this same passage from Exodus, there were limitations – the people still could not approach the holiness of God freely. The limitations of the Law are removed in the perfect fulfillment of Christ. Hebrews 4:15–16 tells us,

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

And Hebrews 10:19–22 says,

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

We do not face the judgement that those who remain fallen in their sin and estranged from God face. We do not face the judgement of the world because we have taken on the same relationship to the world that Jesus has. During the High Priestly Prayer, Jesus prays in John 17:14–19,

“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

The salvation and sanctification of the Holy Spirit does not leave us in our worldliness, but indwells us with Love and redeems us.

“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.”

Oftentimes to say that someone is fearless simply means that they display bravery, and ignore their fear, but this is not the kind of fearlessness we know in Christ. Psalm 23:4–5 says,

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”

In the Love of God, we don’t just ignore fear – it’s absent. The Psalm presents the image of walking through the valley of death, the valley of deep darkness – not with bravado or comforted by our own strength of arms, but in the peace and total assurance of the One who is the Good Chief Shepherd. A table is laid for us before our enemies, again, not because we’re so outwardly tough that they’ll just leave us alone, but because God’s provision is so complete, we’re so removed from worldly trials, that in the Love of God, we truly have no cause for fear. If we fear the judgement from which we’ve been spared then something is wrong. While we may acknowledge, revere, and praise the vast perfection and holiness of God, we cannot display the fear of His wrath and judgement that someone who remains in the dark, who is separated from His Love might know. We are redeemed – not arrogant, or proud, or boastful, but assured and fearless in the provision of the Love in which we are kept.

3. Love is Learned

“We love because he first loved us.”

This is brief, almost slipped in, but it hits hard, much in the same way that the revelation that “God is Love” does. We do not love of our own accord – the general kindness or friendly behavior that we may show one another in the secular world fails to realize the Truth of Love because it exists in a state of separation from God, and God is Love. While it might seem shocking, this realization that we are able to love at all because God has loved us tracks perfectly with the rest of Scripture. How could it be otherwise? To think that we could love without first knowing the Love of God would be like saying that you can swim without ever having been in the water, or that you can play the guitar without ever having heard, let alone held an instrument. John 3:16 tells us,

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

But John 3:19 goes on to say,

“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

We know Love because God gave Love to the world. We know Light because He is Light, we know Truth because He is Truth, and we learn to love because the One who is Our God, and Father, and Teacher, who’s Spirit indwells us is Love.

“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

I wasn’t the best at chores when I was a kid. Keeping up with doing my laundry, cleaning my room, or washing dishes just wasn’t my strong suit. This was mainly because (and this may come as a shock), I didn’t really want to do any of those things. So I slacked, and was frequently called out for my apparent lack of responsibility. This really came back to bite me though whenever I wanted something that actually required responsibility. It’s hard for example to go to your parents and say, “I want a puppy, I promise I’ll walk it, and bathe it, and feed it and make sure it’s taken care of,” and hear, “How are you possibly going to take care of a puppy, when you won’t clean your room without being told a half dozen times?” And the only argument is that it will somehow be different when it’s a puppy, despite the fact that a puppy is far more responsibility than what I was neglecting. If you can’t run a mile you’re not going to suddenly get way better at running when it’s time for a marathon. This is what the world does with the things of God. They’re estranged from their creator, yet they claim to know wisdom and understanding, they will hate their fellow man and yet, think themselves “spiritual” and a “good person” in a general sense, and imagine that, whatever their vague idea of an afterlife may hold, they’ll end up in the “good” place. They have no grasp of the small things, yet they think they’ll handle the biggest things without breaking a sweat. But then this sort of backward thinking hypocrisy is expected from the world – they’re still lost in the dark, dead in their sin, they speak out of ignorance because they lack the understanding that comes only from God. The expectation and standard is entirely different for those who have been redeemed by Christ, who are indwelled with Love. God loves His children, and so if you are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, you can’t not love your fellow Christians – the Spirit that is in you pulls you toward this. So if you claim to love God while despising your brothers or sisters, then you’re caught in your lie. In Matthew 13:12 Jesus says,

“For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

For the one who has come to know the Love of God, Love will be multiplied in him – the believer is sanctified, they grow in knowledge and understanding in the spirit, they grow in connection and fellowship with their brothers and sisters, and what awaits them is eternity in the presence of their Father. But to the one who lies, to the hypocrite, to the deceiver, even the illusion that they lean on will be taken from them, and they will find an eternity separated from the Love that they have never even seen.

“And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

This takes us back to 1 John 2:9–10,

“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.”

You cannot love God and hate your brother, neither can you love God if you do not love your brother. God is Love, we learn Love from God alone, and so if we are His children, we follow His commandments, we love the things that He loves. To seek the alternative is the spirit of rebellion, rather than abiding in the word of our Father. This again shows the sharp contrast that John draws out again and again in this letter – there is no dark in Light, no lie in Truth, and we cannot claim to abide in the Love of God while hating that which He has called His own.

Pastor Chris’ sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Ix8wol9vI