THE LOVE OF GOD

THE LOVE OF GOD: Part 1
Learning to Love Series
1 John 4:7-19

I. Love is the Defining Attribute of God
a. God is Love
i. 1 John 4:8- Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
b. Love is not something that God feels, it is his very being. Therefore, God’s actions are always loving.
i. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son[b] into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for[c] our sins.
ii. Not only did he die for us—he served us- Christ washing the feet of the disciples
II. Our ability to love comes from God
a. We were created in His image and God is love.
i. Genesis 1:27- So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
ii. The Imago Dei has become distorted because of SIN. Therefore, our view of love has become distorted as well since God cannot dwell in Sin- Inordinate love
b. Our source for and to love is in God.- 1 John 4:7- Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
i. 19We love because he first loved us.
c. We need to have a model for love- JESUS & The Cross
i. Be Imitators of God- Ephesians 5:1- 1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved
ii. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
iii. 34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
1. John 15 - 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. How?
a. Galatians 6:2- 2Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
b. Hebrews 10:24- 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
c. 1 John 5:2- 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.
2. Romans 5- 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
III. Reduced to Love
a. Love comes from the spirit of God within us that is only made possible through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
b. 13We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
i. Know- It consumes our thoughts & Rely- It consumes our actions
c. The more we experience the love of God- the more we will be changed
i. 1 Corinthians 13- 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
ii. John 3:30- He must increase, so I must decrease.