Love one another

1 John 4:1-21

       ¹Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ²This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

    ⁴You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. ⁵They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶We 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.

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

    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.
      God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. ¹⁷In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. ¹⁸There 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.

    ¹⁹We love because he first loved us. ²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

I. Test the spirits (1-6)

See v1a.

^1aDear friends, do not believe every spirit,

We know that faith and trust are important. But this time, John warns us, “do not believe every spirit.” Why John asks us, “do not believe”? See v1c.

^1cmany false prophets have gone out into the world.

Many false prophets pretend they are from God and actively look for people to deceive (1c). They look like prophets and sound like prophets. We are very used to believe based on what we see and hear. So we may easily be deceived by lies from these false prophets if we ignore this warning sign -  do not believe every spirit. But as mature Christian, we shouldn’t rely only on what looks and sounds. Instead, we should carefully verify the spirits behind it. We must train ourselves to see behind the scene. We must train ourselves to see behind the words. What is behind the scene? What is behind the words? There are spirits behind. As we know, the spirit is invisible and inaudible. Then how can we know whether the spirit is from God or not? See v1b.

^1bbut test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

V1b teaches us to TEST the spirits to find out. v2-6 teach us the guidelines of the test.

Test 1. Does the spirit acknowledge Jesus?

See v2.

²This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

The fact that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is the essential part of Gospel, which shows God’s love toward us. This truth is what the devil wants to deny or alternate. See v3.

³but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

So every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God but the spirit of the antichrist (3).

Test 2. Do they speak in the viewpoint of the world, and does the world listen to them?

We have overcome the false prophets because God who is in us is greater than the devil (4). The false prophets are from the world and speak from the viewpoint of the world and the world listens to them (5).

Test 3. Do they listen to us or not?

Whoever knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us (6a).

II. Love one another (7-21)

We learned how we could test the spirits to see whether they are from God. We find there are three ways to test the spirits. Now John teaches what we ought to do as people who have the Spirit from God. See v7-8.

    ⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Whether we love one another shows whether we know God (7c) and whether his love is made complete in us (12b). Love comes from God (7b), and God is love.

John reminds us of how God showed his love among us between v9 and v10.

⁹This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son 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 our sins.

Here we find many things about love.

1. The action of love was initiated by God, not by us (10a). This means we can love others because we received love from God first. So when we love others, we must initiate to love them with the love we received from God. We love others not because others showed love first.
2. God gave us his one and only Son. We know one and only Son is so precious to the Father. So we learn to love others with what is precious to us.
3. God sent his own Son into the world in the likeness of sinful man (Romans 8:3). We are human beings. So we can understand another human being well. Especially we understand others who are in similar situations that we have already gone through.
4. God made his own Son an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Jesus took over our sins instead of us. Even though Jesus was not responsible for our transgressions, he bore the consequence of the sins instead of us. So we can learn to forgive others’ mistakes and take care of others.

No one has ever seen God, but when we love one another, people can see God through us (12).

Again, John repeats and emphasizes that the origin of love is God.

God gives us his Holy Spirit (13b) when we acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God (15). So we know and rely on the love God has for us (16a).

Therefore it is important to refresh our faith in Jesus.

John emphasizes love again in v16b. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him (16b).

Now John talks about judgment and fear in relation to love.

See v17-18.

¹⁷In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. ¹⁸There 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.

Fear is the factor to test whether we are made perfect in love. Also, v17b says confidence comes from the fact that we are like Jesus in this world.

V19 repeats the fact God initiated love. See v19. We love because he first loved us.

We love God because of his love and forgiveness. So we confess to God, “I love you”. What can make this confession a lie? See v20.

²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

This verse teaches us that, in fact, we don’t love God if we don’t love our brother.

Even though we are saved by God, not by brothers, Jesus died for them. And Jesus considers them as himself.

Jesus said in Matthew 25:45,

‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

It is Lord’s command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother (21). Amen.