2BC BIBLE STUDY NOTES
Wednesday in the Word
Second Baptist Church
October 9, 2013
1 John 4:13-21, 5:1-5
Verses 13-16. The apostle continues his discourse on love and love being a defining characteristic of a believer. This-defining characteristic of love in our lives is a reminder of the Spirit that we have been given that causes us to love sacrificially, generously, and unconditionally like our father does. When we put our faith in Christ, we were translated out of darkness and into the marvelous light of Christ. In our former state, we were not able to see the plan of God and his desire for us to love like he does. The good news is that we have become children of the most high, spiritually born into the family of faith. This new birth started when God showed us his love and our need for a savior. God’s love brought us to a confession about Christ. Our confession of Christ was brought about by the Spirit of God moving on our heart. That same spirit that caused us to see our need for God will show us and help us love one another. So we are confident now that God lives in us and we live in God. This is a wonderful assurance to have that we are wrapped up and tied up in God’s love. God’s love is so great that it showed itself in the sending of Jesus. If God so loved us that He sent his son, we can rest assured of our salvation in him. The love of God is reliable; it will not fail to keep us. John is giving his readers some assurance that they are in the will of God by showing love to one another. They are in his will because God is love. Their loving lives are just a sign that God lives in them. Since God lives in them, they can have confidence and not fear.
Verses 17-18. The fulfillment of God’s love is done when we extend our hands of love to help one another. When we show love we are fulfilling God’s plan to show love to the world. God’s love is not meant to stop at us, but His love is meant to flow through us. His love is made complete in our actions and our deeds. John says in this world we are like Jesus. Jesus was sent to demonstrate God’s love, and so we are still alive for one purpose and that is for the world to see God’s love through us. Not only are we to demonstrate his love, but we are to realize that we can love because God has shown us his grace and mercy as opposed to his wrath. We no longer have to worry about the wrath of God since we have been the recipient of the love of God. The fear of God’s wrath is no longer an issue for us, and that should be the motivating factor to love others. Since we are forgiven, we should be more and more willing to forgive. Since we have been restored, we should have a great desire to restore others. As believers we are no longer worried about the punishment of God, but we delight in his love and show it to others.
Verses 19-21. This is real simple, love God and love your brother and sister. The only way we can truly demonstrate our love is to love the people that God places in our lives. God’s love was made visible in Christ, so too must our love be made visible in tangible actions towards our brothers and sisters.
Chapter 5:1. John makes it clear what the faith position is for those of us in the Church. We must believe in Jesus as the Christ, the son of the living God. Our spiritual birth takes place when God causes us to have faith in Jesus Christ. Read John 3:3-7, Eph 2:1, 1st Peter 1:3, John 1:12-13. Our spiritual new birth was a direct result of the Spirit of God moving on our hearts. Since God has moved on our hearts to save us, He also moves on us to look like him in action by loving his children. As a matter of fact, God sets his commands and laws in such a way that by doing them we show love for his children. God has established a unique system that allows us to love him as we love our brothers and sisters. The key to all of this is realizing that we can fulfill the commands of God by loving others. Our power to love doesn’t come from the world, but it comes from the Spirit of God. The world system is what hinders us from loving like God wants us to, but the good news is that when you are born again you can break away from the system of the world and love like God desires you to love. The world advocates for selfishness and greed, but the Love of God advocates for sharing and generosity. The world loves to encourage us to be self-centered, but the Spirit of God causes us to be considerate of others.
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