Big Idea: God loved us, in order that we might love others. We, as Christians, were re-created by God to love, and when we love, we experience God afresh. This should be the ultimate motivation for our loving others.
Two Ends (Purposes) for our Re-Creation:
Re-created to _________________________ God’s Love
1 John 4:12 (ESV) 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
Telos:
The end goal of the active and initiating love of God, the end of the coming of Jesus to die for our sins, and the end goal of the indwelling Holy Spirit, is that we might display the glory of God in the love that we exercise toward our brothers and sisters in Christ and to the world.
1 Timothy 6:15–16 (ESV) 15 …he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
We were not only made to experience God’s love, but to experience it again and again and again as we exercise it toward others.
Re-Created to ___________________________ God’s Love
1 John 4:16 (ESV) 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides (is abiding) in love abides (is abiding) in God, and God abides (is abiding) in him.
The Greatest Motivation for loving others is experiencing God in the exercising of that love.
Application: Every time you sacrifice your time and energy, every time you deny yourself in order to serve someone else, every time you actively seek out others in need and give of yourself, every time you secure the greatest benefit for those around you, you are exercising God’s love in you and therefore are experiencing God in the action.
1 John 4:20–21 (ESV) 20 If anyone says, “I love (am loving) God,” and hates (is hating) his brother, he is (being) a liar; for he who does not love (is not loving) his brother whom he has seen cannot love (is not loving) God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Questions to Consider
What is your motivation for loving others? How is experiencing God a better motivation than fear of punishment?
How are you loving your brothers and sisters in Christ? How are you loving your neighbor? How is this demonstrating the love that God first extended to us?
