“God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.” I John 4:8-12
As early Black Friday deals take over center stage in our lives as we rush headlong into Christmas…take a moment this morning and…let the first sentence set in… “God is Love”.
We say it with little reservation but do we really understand it? “God is Love”. Say it slowly. God …is…love! God defines love by His very nature. God personifies love in Christ who has come to earth to save His people from the wrath of God. God simply is LOVE. What is love? The answer…GOD!
Now how has God made His love known among His people? “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
· “In this…” God’s love for His elect is made manifest in that He sent His Only Son into the world so that we (all His Children) might live through Him (life abundantly in this life and life eternal)…through our union…in Him.
· “In this…”Because we cannot in our wildest dream or action ever love God on our own, He did the one thing that could be done…the one thing that had been planned to be done since before the foundation of the earth…He sent His Son as the perfect sacrifice for our sins to be the propitiation for our sins. The justice of God must be satisfied by none other than God the Son. Because God is love only He could and would pay the penalty to avert the wrath of God with the perfect sacrifice of His body and blood. God the Father’s wrath was satisfied as the law was fulfilled by God the Son dying on the cross for us vile sinners that He would make His own through adoption. The cost was paid and we…all who are His…are redeemed.
· “In this…” is the Gospel! “God is Love”
So what is our response to this gracious and merciful act toward His own? “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.” We are to love God and make Him known by loving one another. And as we do that He will be glorified as He is seen and experience by those around us. Jesus said and John records it in his Gospel, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35) There is nothing new here in the sense of having never been heard of before. He is simply building on…clarifying a former command… to love God with all that we are and our neighbor as ourselves…and by doing this we reveal God and His love through us to one another.
“GOD…IS…LOVE!” Remember and never forget. Because… “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.” I John 4:16-19
God Bless y’all today…and stop and meditate on this for just a few moments before back to the early black Friday sales! LOL!
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
