1 John 4:7-8 ESV
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
Loving one another appears to be the topic of late in several
of the writings the Lord Jesus has given me to write. And it is a very
important topic for us to learn about, for we need to learn how we should love
one another. For many people today are teaching a humanistic kind of love which
is not the love that we are to have for one another. For so much of that kind
of “love” is based in one’s emotions and in how others make them feel or in how
they make others feel, which can then be based in wanting others to like them.
But this kind of love talked about here is not based in our
feelings and emotions or even in ourselves. This love is from God, who is love,
and it means to prefer God, and to prefer what he prefers. And what he prefers
is what is righteous, holy, honest, trustworthy, faithful, pure and moral. And
so we embrace his divine purpose and will for our lives, and we want to do what
pleases him, because we love him. And so we learn how he loves so that we can
love others as God/Jesus loves us.
Now, when this says that whoever loves has been born of God
and knows God, this is not speaking of human love. This is speaking of the love
that comes from God who is love. And again, when we love with this kind of love
we embrace God’s will for our lives, and we prefer to follow him in his ways
and in his righteousness. And then we read in the New Testament that to love and
to know God is to obey his commands (New Covenant), and that if we do not obey
him we do not love him and we do not know him. And if we do not love with this
love, we do not know God, because He is love.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 8:51; Jn 14:15-24; Jn 15:10; Matt 7:21-23; 1
Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10,24; 1 Jn 5:2-3; 2 Jn 1:6; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom
8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 5:9; 1 Pet 1:1-2; Jas 1:21-25; 1 Co
10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Php 2:12-13; Jn 10:27-30; Acts 5:32]
1 John 4:9-10 ESV
“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.”
Okay, so this is where we get a really good picture of the
meaning of love, the love that comes from God who is love. For God so loved the
world that he gave his only Begotten Son (Jesus Christ) to die on a cross for
our sins, that whoever believing (present active) in him might not perish but
have eternal life. And here is where we need to define what it means to believe
in Jesus, for this is not about just saying some words after someone else in a
prayer or just making a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ.
For faith in Jesus Christ is not of ourselves, of our own
doing. It is gifted to us by God for it comes from God (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Jesus is the author and the perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2) so he is
the one to determine what this faith should look like, and not ourselves. And
we can’t even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless God the Father first draws
us to Christ (John 6:44), i.e. unless he persuades us as to his divine character
and will, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to repent of our sins and to
obey God.
And faith in Jesus Christ involves and requires both
repentance and obedience to the Lord Jesus (1 Co
10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Tit 2:11-14; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Eph
4:17-32; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Lu 9:23-26; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15,21; Matt
7:21-23; Matt 3:8; Matt 4:17; Matt 11:20-21; Matt 12:41; Matt
21:28-31; Mk 1:15; Lu 5:32; Lu 13:3; Lu 15:2-8; Lu 24:47; Acts 3:19; Acts
5:30-32; Acts 8:22; Acts 11:17-18; Acts 17:30-31; Acts 20:21; Acts 26:20; Rom
2:4; 2 Co 7:8-10; 2 Co 12:21; 2 Tim 2:24-26; 2 Pet 3:9; Rev 2:5; Rev 2:16; Rev
3:19).
For why did God the Father send Jesus (God the Son) into the
world? That we might live through him. He sent Jesus to die on that cross to
take upon himself the sins of the entire world and to put our sins to death
with him in order that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his
righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). And Jesus died that we might now live for him and
no longer for ourselves (2 Corinthians 5:15,21) and that we might now honor him
with our lives (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). And Jesus died to free us from our
slavery to sin so we would now be slaves of righteousness, and so that we might
live holy lives pleasing to God (Romans 6:1-23).
And when Jesus walked this earth, how did he show God’s love
to the people? Yes, he healed their diseases and their afflictions, and he fed
the hungry, and he delivered people from demons, and he raised the dead, and he
comforted the sorrowful. But he also taught repentance and obedience to himself
as required by God for eternal life with God. In fact, he said that not
everyone saying to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but
only the one DOING the will of God the Father (Matthew 7:21-23).
1 John 4:11-12 ESV
“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.”
So, if we are to love one another as God loved (and loves)
us, yes it will mean us being kind to people and doing good for people,
especially for people who are in need. And it will mean feeding the hungry and
providing necessities of life for the needy, and us praying and believing God
for healings, and us bringing comfort and encouragement to those who are
hurting or lonely or to those who are being hated and persecuted because of
their walks of faith in Jesus Christ and because of their testimonies for
Christ and for his gospel.
But it will also mean that we will share the truth of the
gospel of Christ with others, in its fulness, and not this half-truth (lie)
gospel that many are teaching today which requires no repentance or obedience
to our Lord. For Jesus never sugar-coated his gospel message. He talked
straight up when he told people not only of the cost of following him and of
being one of this disciples, but also of the cost of not following him and of not
walking in fellowship with him in repentance and in obedience to his commands. Thus,
if we don’t repent and obey him, we do not have eternal life in him.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Jn 3:17-21; Matt
7:21-23; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co
5:10; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1
Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:26-31; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Brighten the Corner Where You Are
By Ina Duley Ogdon
Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may do,
Do not wait to shed your light afar;
To the many duties ever near you now be true,
Brighten the corner where you are.
Just above are clouded skies that you may help to clear,
Let not narrow self your way debar;
Though into one heart alone may fall your song of cheer,
Brighten the corner where you are.
Here for all your talent you may surely find a need,
Here reflect the bright and Morning Star;
Even from your humble hand the Bread of Life may feed,
Brighten the corner where you are.
Brighten the corner where you are!
Brighten the corner where you are!
Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar;
Brighten the corner where you are!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRMK6ub65AA
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