Not a Sloppy Love

1 John 4:5-10, 17

They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 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.

Old fashioned emotions have no place in the love of God. Let me repeat, the love of God is an action of sending his son, giving himself, and dying a painful death on the cross for some things he did not even do. He not only died for one person but also for the sin "of the whole world" according to 1 John 2:2. Even the people who just hit him, spit on him, and put him to death were included. This love is an expression of the state of the heart rather than out of an abundance of feelings in Luke 6:45. Let me say, I am not saying it is wrong to have emotions or feelings. Even Jesus wept over the death of Lazarus and over the rebellion of Jerusalem. But his feelings did not keep him from completing his divine purpose. Rather, these are under the control of God. Otherwise you see James 1:22-24 behaviors on display. That man looked in the mirror and immediately forgot everything he just saw. Regardless of whether you like it or hate it, you have been asked by God to do what you may not want to do. You may feel like what you are doing is an abomination. You may hate or even enjoy doing what he has called you to do. God says 'put aside your feelings and love one another with the kind of love I showed you' in John 13:34. The same love he gave you he expects you to return to the other creation for which he died.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

We have been called to love each other just as God has loved us in verse seven. This love is a mark of the children of God. Those born again, in the terms of John 3:16, demonstrate this form of love. The devil seeks to kill, steal, and destroy in John 10:10; 1 Peter 5:8 says the devil is also "as a roaring lion" walking about "seeking whom he may devour." He is angry and he is territorial. His children are just like him in John 8:44. His children lack love for themselves, for God, and for each other in these verses. In God is the presence of love according to Psalm 16:11. His perfect love is unlike ours which is bound by human reason and emotions. What sort of love allows him to weep over a city that he would also judge for their rejection of him in Matthew 23:37? What sort of love allows him to die for the world and yet judge it in Revelation? This is not a bipolar sort of love nor is it forgetful. Love is doing what is best for someone else.

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.This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Verses nine and ten explain this apparent contradiction. Notice God's actions. He sent his Son into the world in John 3:17. He gave eternal life to his people through a relationship with himself according to Romans 6:23. He made himself of no reputation, as in Philippians 2:7, so we could have his. In our lack of love for him and without knowledge of him, our sins demanded a remedy; his sacrifice answered the thousands of goats, lambs, bulls, and other animal sacrifices made yearly for every little offense under a law that was impossible to keep. So, he gave his Son as a sacrifice to end all sacrifices in 1 John 2:2. Romans 8:22 says if God gave us his Son, he will also give us all things. This means he will avenge his people. See, he may love mankind. There is still a battle between the children of God and the children of the devil. There has been since the beginning as in John 8:44. So yes, God will give the victory, the vengeance, and the justice in judgment to his children. In Revelation 6:10 the souls slain under the altar cry out for justice. Love that does nothing is no love at all but is rather selfishness. The good shepherd "sees the wolf coming" and gives his life for the sheep in John 10:12. He is not going to sit there and let the sheep be eaten after he is next. The good shepherd rather will fight the wolf and murder it because it threatened his sheep in John 10:12. The love of God is shown in our love for each other; we do as he does and we love him "because he first loved us" as in 1 John 4:19. This is how you will know how to love other people because he will make his home with you, in John 14:23, and will show you how to love them. His Spirit lives inside you; his presence is with you. How much better is it to have a God who "will never leave you or forsake you" according to Deuteronomy 31:8. Love makes possible eternal communion with God.

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.

Verse seventeen makes the point of his presence and communion clear; in this world we are treated like Jesus as in John 16:33. In the next we will see him face to face. The love of God comes along with the certainty of judgment for the world who has rejected him and for his children who fear him not. Proverbs 9:10 says, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." However this fear is tempered by the love of God for his children. "The love of Christ constrains us" in 2 Corinthians 5:14. To understand the fear of God, imagine the relationship between a parent and a child or a husband and a wife. You are afraid to act up because you know what your parent or partner will do to you; but even if you do, they still love you. Therefore you will not.