Father God we praise you for giving us your word which enlightens our life and gives us thoughts of eternity with you, and for your word to us through the Apostle John. We pray that tonight, you will impart to us that which you would have us learn from Your word. We pray for the members of our group who cannot be here tonight and we ask that you share our blessing with them. Be with us now as we seek your will for our lives through this study tonight. In Jesus name, Amen
Outside of the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians, this the 4th chapter of 1st John is perhaps the most defining chapter of love that is contained in the Bible, but it does not start out that way.
1st John 4: 1-6 Testing the spirits
1Jn 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 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, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
Discussion
These first 6 verses are explaining the necessity of testing the spirits that are influential in the teaching and interpretation of the faith which sustains us as we find it in scripture. We are told of the spiritual faith of the Christian as it relates to the Son of God, and the ways of false teachers and false prophets as they relate to the world. One is of truth and professes the incarnation, and has a passion to tell the world of Jesus christ as savior, (1Corinthians 9:16), the other, acknowledges the world's view of Jesus Christ, and they lay claim to Him for whatever profit may be derived from it. We see and experience such things in our world today, as a way to promote the personal and corporate welfare of the business of religion and as a way to gain acceptance in the worlds view. The world approves them, and they have many followers such as themselves; the world will love its own, and its own will love it. The true doctrine as to the Saviour's person, as leading men from the world to God, is a mark of the spirit of truth in opposition to the spirit of error. The more pure and holy any doctrine is, the more likely to be of God; nor can we by any other rules try the spirits whether they are of God or not. And what wonder is it, that people of a worldly spirit should cleave to those who are like themselves, and suit their schemes and discourses to their corrupt taste? They cleverly cloak themselves in scripture and verse, thus making the recognition of the difference difficult to discern.
Questions
1. What is the relationship between guarding against antichrists and loving one another? 2. In verse 1, John says we are not to believe every spirit. What does he mean by this? 3. According to vv. 2-3 how can we recognize the spirit of God 4. As Christians, how can we overcome the doctrinal errors that continually confront us (vv. 4-6)? 5. John gives us another test in vv. 5-6. What is this test? 6,Why is there such a great need for Christians to be discerning (v. 1)?
1st John 4: 7-21 The Nature of God Pg.2
1st John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 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. 13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.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. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Discussion
John states that love is a fundamental mark of the one who is a Christian, a true believer. If the one who loves has been born of God and knows God, then the one who does not love has neither been born of God, nor does he know God. “God is love” and as Christians, we just naturally love other people, especially fellow believers. Moreover, as Jesus is God and sacrificed Himself for us, we can see we love as God loves only when we are willing to freely give of ourselves in deeds of self-denial, even if it is to help those who are seemingly unworthy of such love.
As a result of God's love perfected in us over time, we gain “confidence for the day of judgment, because, (vs.17b)“in this world we are like Jesus” . As God’s love reaches its full effect in our lives we become increasingly like Christ, and like He was, we are in, but not of, the world. Though we will not be perfectly like Him before we die, our union with Jesus means His love will indeed be perfected in us over time. As we see ourselves become more like Christ we will gain confidence that we will be vindicated on the day of judgment, just as He was in His resurrection.
John tells us in these verses, that while we are definitely called to work with the Spirit of God so we might be more and more conformed to Christ, God must take the first step in order for this love to become effective. For as 1 John 4:19 tells us, “we love because he first loved us.” It is the love of God for us, that makes us capable of love, and it is His example of love that reminds us of our need to love others. We cannot say we love God if we do not love those whom God loves, that being fellow believers who are also objects of God’s saving love. If in fact, we do not love our Christian brothers and sisters, we are little more than liars.
Questions
1. What is one of the common characteristics of all those who love others? 2. What makes us able to do as verse 11 says? Also read vs 12 & 13 3. When does it become evident that we are loving as God loves” 4. How does one gain confidence for the day of judgment? 5. What is meant by the phrase “ in this world we are like Jesus” in vs. 17? 6. How does verse 21 compare with verse 7?
Pg.3
Scripture References
1Corinthians 9:16 For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
Romans 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Rom 8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Closing Prayer
Father God, help us to truly learn what the Love of God can do in our lives, how it affects us, how it is given through us to others. We pray that there will be an awakening in our souls, and a beckoning by the Holy Spirit to have us follow after the words and teachings of Jesus, that we would become more like Him day by day, that the essence of our lives become a favorable aroma to God as he sees what His Son has done in our lives. We pray also for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering with health or other difficult issues in their lives,______________ that You would grant them your strength to endure, and Your healing touch that they might be comforted. Heal their infirmities and grant them Your peace and give them rest.
Be with us now as we leave this place, and deliver us safe and secure as we go our separate ways, We pray this in the name of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ Amen.
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:16-21)
Pg.4
Meditation
What is love? Where does it come from? What is it for? Who is it for? Who has it? Who is love?
We can go through this life learning about what it is that drives us, how we are inspired, and what it takes to live a fulfilled life and we can do all this without ever giving a thought as to what we seek is made available to us through the love of God. Quite simply it is because God loves us. Just reflect on God’s gifts to us (life, family, friends, faith, church, eternal life). all because of “God's Soverign Love”
“God's Soverign Love .” John 3:16 sets forth Christ as the Gift of God, which is the manifestation of His great love. It says, “God so loved the world that he gave.” So the first clause in that verse tells us what moved God to give His only begotten Son, and that was His Great Soverign Love. Then we see the second clause tells us for whom God gave His Son, and that is for “whoever believes in Him” (or a better translation, "everyone that believes") Then we see as we look more closely at the text that the last clause tells us why God gave His Son — that is, the purpose for which He gave His Son is “that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ” The Sovereign Love of God, and also the great fact of whom God loves, is given to us in this one verse. The Word of God sets forth the nature of God that God is love (I John 4:8),“He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for “God is love.” It doesn’t say, “God loves, “ but, “God is love”. He is love itself. All through the Scriptures we find it set forth God’s love which is not merely one of His attributes, but His very nature. The nature of God's love is sacrifice
The Lord has revealed in the Scriptures the law of the priesthood of Melchizedek, of which Jesus is high priest. It is the law by which the Lord is calling all believers to live. It is the oldest and the highest law of God and is the law of heaven. It is beautifully simple and easy to understand because it is the only law that has no exceptions. It is the law as in Jeremiah 31:33 "This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people……...It is the law of love
In 1st John 4: 7-21 we are given the ultimate explanation of where love comes from, for whom it is intended and who makes it available to us. We are literally surrounded by God's love, it is everywhere all the time, and as true believers it will never leave us. Jesus Christ is the perfect culmination of God's love
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
In the name of Jesus.... Amen
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