Palm Springs, Desert Oasis Chapel , Gay Friendly Church, Dr. Nick Warner - 5-6-07: The Labors of Love, A message taken from 1 John 4:7-21

5-6-07: The Labors of Love, A message taken from 1 John 4:7-21

I seem to have stumbled into a short series considering the passages on love and, it seems, I’ve pulled you in with me. 1 John chapter 4 has been a favorite of mine for years, I call it “the other love passage” (other than 1 Corinthians 13).

Writing in his old age (this letter was probably written around 90 A.D.), John admonishes his readers to stand firm in the faith and not get confused by deceptive teaching. We’ll talk about that some day soon but in chapter 4 he exhorts the believers to love one another. He says that love comes from God but the passage is strongly Christ-centered:

    * God’s love is shown in us as “live through Him (Christ)” – to live in Christ is to channel our life through Him and His through us.It is not that we loved God, God loves us and sent Jesus to be a “propitiation” for our sins; Jesus cleaned the slate. There is no bad history between God and us.
    * We’re called on to love one another, it’s the way God’s love is shown in this world in which no one has ever seen God.
    * In loving one another, God’s love is perfected in us.
    * John says that whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God lives in and with God and God abides in him. Note that there are no qualifiers, he says “whoever.”

This indwelling love assures us that we will go to be with God, we can have confidence on the day of judgment, we don’t have to fear punishment.

The love that John (and Paul) describe is a transforming power, it is a Holy Spirit-powered force, the energy to transform us from self-seeking narcissists into those who truly love others, caring about them as they really are and wanting to bring out the best in them. John reminds us that Jesus commanded us to love one another. I consider this a paradoxical command, it orders us to do what we would not naturally do and when we do it, we’re immensely grateful that we did it. Loving one another is a collaboration between us and God: the spirit gives us the power to do it but does not make us do it. Our car has the power to take us where we want to go but does not force us to go there. In concurring with God and loving each other, we change each others’ lives and refine our own – pointing to the day of perfection.