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Sunday School Lesson
Perfect Love (1 John 4:7-19)
loved us.
God’s love for us that we
did not deserve, but that we appropriated by faith caused us to be born of God. Jesus was the unique, one and only Son of God (only begotten). When we love others we demonstrate that our conver- sion is not phony. Knows God is another phrase that deals with our conversion. Jesus even described eternal life as knowing God and Jesus (John 17:3). Perfect Love Understands Sacrifice
1 John 4:9, 10
God so loved that he gave. God so loved that he sent. God so loved that he sacri- ficed. All of these mesh to- gether to underline the gift of Christ on Calvary’s cross. The calltoloveisnotnewin1 John. John commanded us to love because that love dis-
plays the light of God (1 John 2:7-11). He com- manded us to love because that love displays the good deeds of God through us (1 John 3:16-18). In these two verses John commanded us to love because that love dis- plays how atonement works.
How we articulate the doc- trine of atonement is telling about how we understand the identity of God. The New Testament writers used a kaleidoscope of terms to de- scribe what happened the day that Jesus died where he functioned as the Savior of the world. Love understands sacrifice.
Perfect Love Matures Believers
1 John 4:11-16
The direct address gets our attention again, Dear friends. God loves us so we can love others. John said that God’s
love is made complete in us. The greatest work/gift of the Holy Spirit is love (1 Corinthians 12:31– 13:13). That may be why John spoke of the work of the Spirit in this section of our text. God, who is love, lives in us (something said four times in these few verses). God’s love in us for others is the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives (see also Galatians 5:22-24). Perfect Love Shows Confidence
1 John 4:17-19
God’s plan is that we keep growing in love so much that we become very much like God. This is why Judgment Day does not cause us to fear. In fact, fear cannot coexist with perfect love.
For the believer, Judgment Day will command reverence but not fear.
God’s primary identity must become our primary ac- tivity. That identity and ac- tivity in a word is love. But in a stunning statement the apostle John declared, God is love. In fact, he said it twice (1 John 4:8, 16).
Our text focuses on the test of love. Everyone believes love is important, but we usually think of it as a feeling. In reality, love is a choice and an action.
John told us at least four things about this perfect love.
Perfect Love Demonstrates Our
Conversion 1 John 4:7, 8
Perhaps the primary im- perative of the one another phrases in the New Testa- ment is that of loving one an- other. John called us to such by reminding us that love comes from God and that God is love, not love is God. God’s love becomes the im- petus for us loving others.
How well do you display your love for God in the choices you make and actions you take?
Our text even concludes with, We love because he first
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