The Supremacy of Love

By Lyndon Throness, July 21, 2020

1 John 4:7-14

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 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. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 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. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Our Broken World Should Point the Believer to Godliness

  • We know that our world is broken

  • Crisis is nothing new for us

  • We are aware of ‘false teachers’ in our world today

  • John gives us simple themes to understand

  • John shows how to identify the Spirit of God (verse 3, 4)

The Core of God's Nature is Love

  • God is love, His nature is found in His Word

  • The Psalms tell of His love (94, 63, 103, 52, 107, 40, 32)

  • We are known by our love (verse 10)

  • We can live consistently, resting in His love

  • We have peace, through the Cross (Colossians 1:20)

We Reflect His Nature by Loving Others

  • When we learn to trust Him, we can love others

  • John's simple words (verse 16), dwell in love and dwell in God

  • We can't live in love and hate (ignore, belittle, exclude) others (verse 20)

  • Romans 15:1-2, bear each other's weaknesses