Authentic Christianity 11: Love Makes Complete

Why did God send His Son into the world? What was His ultimate purpose in such a costly act of love? In this message from 1 John 4:7–12, we explore one of the most profound truths in Scripture: God is love. More than an emotion, biblical love is goodness in action, God continually working for the benefit of His creation. This sermon reveals that God's love reaches its intended purpose when it flows through His people to others. As believers receive Christ's love and express it through acts of selfless service, God's love is "made complete" in the world. Discover what it means to be born of God, to know God personally, and to become a living expression of His love to those around you. 

Transcript

Well. Good morning. Do we ever, ourselves work and invest and put effort into something that we absolutely do not care about, that we don't, have any vision for it's result are we don't expect any benefit from, you know, if you think about it, even the most perishable pursuits, like sandcastle building, people put effort into, what they are constructing with the hope of some, benefited beneficial result. You think about these beautiful sand castles people build during the sandcastle competitions down in San Diego and other places, and, it's hard to imagine that anyone would put that much effort into it if there wasn't, pictures to be taken and, people to appreciate it. It's hard to imagine that anyone, stranded on a desert island all by themselves would put that much effort into building a beautiful sandcastle. And so even pursuits that are temporary and perishable people put effort into it because they hope for a certain outcome or a certain result for their effort. No one would put the amount of effort it takes to build a house, a real house that we live in, into a sandcastle, because the outcome would not be worth the effort. Now, I use this by way of illustration just to ask this question. The question I really wanted to focus on this morning is what motivates God to act. If all our actions are motivated by some hopeful, result, our beneficial end, what actually motivates God to act, what motivated him in creation, and what motivates him now in sustaining creation? What motivates him, and why does he invest even his only begotten son into a fallen world? What is it that he sees in his actions? What is it that makes it worth it for him to to, give such a precious sacrifice to us? What makes the death of Christ worthwhile? To God. Now, we know this for sure that God is not frivolous in his actions. When we look at any aspect of creation, any part of the ecosystem, we see that we have a God of conservation, a God who, who, who is very judicious, and the use of his his strength and his energy. When we just think of the hydrological cycle or any other aspect of the created order, we see a conservation on use of energy that is, beyond what human beings are able to accomplish. So it's obvious that God is is very judicious in the use of his, of his strength. And even though as he invests for us, he is very generous in the giving of the infinite one, the giving of his son, he gives out Christ to us, the Eternal one. And we ask the question, well, what exactly is he looking for? Is he, what is he expecting to gain as a result of his investment in us? As we continue this morning in our series entitled Authentic Christianity Reflecting Christ's Love A Study of First John, we're going to be looking at God's motives, for saving us out of our sins, for delivering us out of corruption so that we might partake in his divine nature. Why did he do it? What does God want to accomplish through us? Are we willing to be God's agents to fulfill God's desire for us? Is there anything better to live for than to live for what God has in mind for us? Could we have a higher motives than his motivation to, give his son on our behalf? What does God want out of our lives? What does God want out of my life? Why has God invested so much in us and in me and in you? This morning's message is entitled Love Made Complete and we'll be looking at first John chapter four, verses seven through 12. Heavenly father, Lord, as we look at your word this morning, we pray, father, that we can see the delight of joining in to your vision for us and what you have come to bring to us and to work through us. Lord, we praise you that you have a plan in mind for us to be partakers of your work in this world, and we pray, father, that we would be properly humbled and submitted to you, so that your will might be done in and through us. We pray for the reading of your Word this morning, that it might be impactful and that we might be lifted by it, and it might enlighten us. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. First John chapter four, beginning at verse seven, reads as follows. Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. 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. This is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another. God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We see here, John's famous statement, God is love. God is a God. Agape means, actions of service and sacrifice that benefit their objects. It's the kind of love that we see in a moral sense that that those who express agape are doing acts of goodness, are acts of benefit to those that are the objects of their love. God is goodness and action. You might be able to translate it that way. God is a continual, perpetual action of goodness. To that which is effected by him. He is not passive. His love is not, just, fondness that just sits there. He is continuously benefiting everything. When we say God is love, we're saying that God is a continual benefit to everything. Godly love, by its nature, must be expressive. It can't be passive. It is, by definition, not still, it is not inactive. It is God's very nature. It is the nature of God to be continuously, causing goodness. Now we get so used to, him and his benefits to us that we take him for granted. He is so ubiquitously good in our lives that we overlook his benefits. So easily. One of my favorite, chapters in the Bible is, is Deuteronomy chapter eight. And it's in that chapter that he explains to Israel. Look, Israel, I took you out into the desert where there was no food, where there was no water, so that you could learn the lesson that you do not live by bread alone, but you live by every word that proceeds out of my mouth. He wanted Israel to learn this lesson that is true about the whole of creation. That our goodness, everything that we have, everything that we are, is sustained not by what is physical, but by what is spiritual, by the will and the word and the actions of God. And it was important for Israel to learn this lesson, because he was about to bring them into the Promised Land, a land full of blessing. And he was burdened. God was burdened because he knew that once Israel was in this land, once they were, used to the benefits and the blessings of the land, they were going to start thinking that it was by their own strength and by their own power that these blessings came. And that's exactly what did happen, that, they started to take God's blessings for granted. And they turned his blessings into something that they became proud of, as though somehow they were the ones that, were the author of their prosperity. If we embrace this phrase, God is love, then we, as Josh was talking about this morning, need to recognize that even the suffering he causes in this world is for a greater good and for a greater benefit that he does everything, even those things that are beyond our grasp for, the ultimate benefit of his creation. If God were good, gratuitously, one who enjoyed human suffering, we wouldn't be able to say, God is love. We have to recognize and reconcile that all things have a higher purpose and a higher expression. Because God is love, God and all that he does, including even our own suffering and, including the suffering of his son, Jesus Christ. Involves a higher good. Even the suffering God imposed upon himself, was for a greater or a higher good that could only be accomplished through suffering. So what does God's love have to do with us? And what is God's desire for us? And what does he want out of our lives? The theme this morning is this God's love is made complete as we love others. Let's take a look at verse nine and verse 12 again, God's love is made complete as we love others. Verse nine, this is how God showed his love among us. He sent his only one, his, He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. So, we see here, we begin to see here what God's purpose is. He sent his son into the world to suffer for us, that his son might live through us, that His son might his light, his the life of his son might be in us and live through us. And let's take a look at verse 12. No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us. That is that Christ, the love of Christ, is in us. And check this out. And his love is made complete in us. His love is made complete as, we love one another. God sent Christ that he might live in us, and God living in us is for the purpose of his may, his love, the love of Christ being made complete as we become an expression of that towards each other. I don't know if you've had problems with your street lights lately, but San Bernardino, there's somebody out there messing with all the street lights in San Bernardino. You know, getting a few cents, a copper creating havoc. And that happened on my street. And, I called the city, and it took forever for them to come out and fix it. And at one point, I went to the junction box where the wires were cut, and I had my little, multimeter and the the wire was still alive, and I was considering connecting it myself. But, you know, it's interesting that the reason why my lights weren't on wasn't because there wasn't any power in the line. The hot wire was live. It had power in it. It just wasn't connected. And in order for the light to come on, the circuit has to be made complete for the light to illuminate. And, in the same way, for God's love to become visible, even if it's in us, it becomes complete. The circuit becomes complete when we, express it outside of ourselves to each other. I was also thinking about this in terms of stained glass as I was making a stained glass window this week. I, you know, you can construct it in a, in a garage where there isn't any light going through it, and you really don't see what it's going to be like as it's on the table. You can kind of see some of the colors, but it isn't until the light actually goes through the glass that you see the the illumination of the light traveling through the glass. It's not the window isn't complete in the dark. You must have light traveling through it. And love is made complete as it travels through us. The word here for complete is. The word tells us it means fulfillment. It means the fulfillment of the perfecting of the completion of the consummation of the full and complete development of the complete, realization of a rational plan. It is the same word to the last I. It's comes from the same Greek word that Christ used when he said on the cross, it is finished. It is complete. Electrical circuit is made complete as we, connect the wires, God's love is made complete. The circuit is completed when we, love each other. And before that, the circuit is incomplete. God's love is like the the glass. God's love is is like the light. And it and it, illuminates the glass as it goes through the glass. It goes into and out of the glass. And it makes the beauty of the glass visible. God wants us to love each other with the goodness in action that is in us as a result of His Son dwelling in us. And, he wants that so that his love will become active through us, into others, and his beauty will be manifest through the love that becomes visible as we love one another. God wants us to complete the circuit. He wants us to make himself visible by our kindness to one another. Love is goodness in motion. Agape love. Biblical love is goodness in action, and we are the conduit of God's beauty into the world as we, serve one another. Well, what if we have this attitude? You know, I'm really glad for God's love for me. I'm glad for the love that God has for me. I'm glad that God acts on my benefit, but I don't really want to sacrifice for other people. It's nice. I'm really grateful that God loves me and he does good things for me. But I don't want to spend myself, like God spends himself on me, on other people. If we have that attitude, God's love remains incomplete and there is no light for us or for anyone else. The the, the light that goes through the window remains in darkness. You can't see it. The beauty that's intended to be expressed through the love of God can't be known unless it's completed. And we are responsible for its completion. We are responsible to be the ones that receive God's love, but also become an agent of God's love. God spent his son. He spent the life of his son. He gave the infinite over to death so that his love might be in us and come out of us as we love one another. One of the classic examples of this kind of selfless love, of course, is the Good Samaritan. The man who had his own expense for no hope for his personal gain, comes upon the traveler who's been injured and provides for that man without any recompense. That's the kind of love that is beautiful and is radiant. And that reflects the glory of God. And the reason why we might be resistant to that is because we think, what's in it for me? Well, I can tell you this with certainty that the Good Samaritan gained far more out of his act of kindness than the man who is the recipient of his love ever gain, because it had such a invigorating effect on the virtue of his soul, which is an eternal benefit that can never be taken away by any external circumstance. We are so transformed and benefited, our soul, that which is eternal in us is completely, changed when we expend ourselves onto others. We have a treasure that cannot be taken away from us when we emulate the love of Christ. That has been given for us and comes through us again this morning, our theme is God's love is made complete. As we love others. God's love is made complete. It's completed when we are kind to one another. And point number one is, everyone who loves others has been born of God. Let's take a look at verse seven. Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. To love others, to want to be selfless, to desire to spend ourselves and the benefit of our brothers or our neighbors, or yet even our enemies, is evidence that you've been born of God because you have the family likeness. You look like him. It's what he's like. And when we're like that, it's evidence that we're from him. When I was growing up, there was a family name that chases and the chases had adopted, probably, I don't remember. Probably 5 or 6 different kids. And they adopted kids from all different races. They had Asian kids, they had black kids, they had white kids. They had Mexican kids. They had just this whole family of all kinds of different kids. And anyone who knew the chases would know that the children that they had, although they all had a common descent from from humanity, they all they could easily see that they didn't have a natural descent from the parents because they didn't look like the parents. The desire to give and to benefit others is evidence of a direct descent from God. It's not an indirect descent. It's a direct descent. It's a direct descent of being born by God. It is an image of God. It is. It is the likeness of God Himself to be partakers in his nature. What is God's nature? Love. And so when we're expressing selfless giving, we are an expression, are partakers of his nature. And when we partake in his nature, we evidence the fact that we have been born from him, that we are offsprings of his. We can't make ourselves want to love. You could try all you want, but you can't make yourself want to be a selfless giver. You can't make yourself to want to be a benefit in action to other people. You can't will yourself out of being selfish. You need to be born into that kind of thing. You need to have the nature of God in you, actively in you. Goodness, is something that, is evidence that a miracle is taking place in us, that as we've received the love of Christ in us, it's transformed us. It's made us into a new nature, a new man. And this desire to love without recompense, this delight, desire to act virtuously and beneficially to those around us is, an evidence that this new nature has occurred. The opposite of God's nature is the nature of a psychopath who has no concern for the benefit of others. If we're opposite of psychopaths, then we're in, in, in, in, in line with and partaking in God's nature. The more we want to be, virtuously, virtuous impact on others, the more our actions are authored by the desire to benefit others, the more we resemble God himself. Now, think about this for a second. What are things that you regret, and what are things that you never regret? I can tell you what you'll never regret. You'll never regret any act of charity. You'll never regret any act in which you have benefited somebody else. Everything we regret always centers around some act of self. Focus and selfishness. We never regret being selfless. We never regret being kind. So if we want to be free from regret. Let's just embrace the nature of God and have a good life, and have a life that we can be grateful for, free of regret. Again, the theme this morning is God's love is made complete as we love others. And point number one is, everyone who loves others has been born of God. And point number two is everyone who loves others knows God. Let's take a look at verses seven and eight. Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. Everyone who loves others knows God. Everyone who loves everyone who acts in intentional kindness. Everyone who is active in being a blessing to those around them knows God has a personal knowledge of God. Everyone who doesn't love, who doesn't act with, intentional, with the intention of blessing those around them. That person does not know God because it says here because God is love. The nature of God is to be ever active and doing what is helpful to love is to to have a familiarity with that nature, to know that nature, God's love, is so ubiquitous, it's so, complete, it's so universal that we often overlook it. And the countless ways in which he benefits us, from the sun in the sky to the sun to his son on the cross, he is forever acting continuously in our behalf. And yet we oftentimes think that the goodness that he is granted to us, we by our pride appropriate to to ourselves, we appropriate his goodness as though somehow we have it ourselves. How often have you not, thought about the gifts that God has given as though they were your own? How often have you not just, appreciated your own intelligence as though somehow, you gave it to yourself or your own skills and abilities as though somehow you, you created yourself and infused into yourself the ability to act. All the goodness that we have has been transferred to us, from the God who is good. We are not the origin or the author of anything that is good. We are the recipients of what is good. And when we ourselves, become agents of that goodness, we know him. We know we we gain a knowledge of him. We gain a familiarity with him that we can't have if we're withholding goodness, we catch a glimpse of what he's like when we act like him. When we love, we are partakers of his nature, and we gain an insight into what he's like. But those that says here who don't love remain in a certain state of ignorance as to the nature of God. They're blind to even, the love that God has towards them. In loving others, we gain the ability to understand God's nature, what God is like because we're shining and sharing in the experience of what God is like. We can know about we can. We can know about God without knowing him. We can. We can even read the Bible and and we can know about him and be ignorant of him if we don't share in his love. To to know him, we must partake in his nature and be like him. You know, a while ago, somebody asked me the question. Why do you like surfing? And I really the question stumped me because there's no way of answering that question, in a way that you could convey the real reason why surfing is so enjoyable. Unless the person themselves experienced it. You know, I can talk about the exhilaration of a overhead wave dropping in and doing a sudden, bottom turn and experiencing the centrifugal force and the harmony of the wave and the moment of almost weightlessness. But you really can't convey it. You can't convey the the exhilaration of it. You only would have to say, well, the only way you could really know is if you were able to do it. And, as I was thinking about that, there's things in my life that I will be forever ignorant of because I can't do them. You know, it must be, a great moment of exhilaration to be part of a four part harmony of a barbershop quartet and be part of producing this, this beautiful union, this harmonious moment together as your voices blend something I'll be forever ignorant of. Maybe not in heaven, but here, for certain. You know, there's things that we can only know by experience. We can kind of know about them. I mean, I can I can kind of know, I can imagine what it might be like, but I don't really know what it's like to be able to join with others and blend voices in a way that, is beautiful. We can imagine what God is like, but we can actually know God as we love, like he loves. And our knowledge, is true knowledge. It's not knowing about him. It's actually knowing him as we have firsthand experience of what he's like by being like him. Have you ever regretted. Have you ever felt guilty for acting beneficial towards others? Since there is no downside to loving each other? Since there is so much to be gained, and enjoyed and embraced? Why is there a resistance in us to be liberal and generous in our giving to others? It's really the big lie from the deceiver. If I give with no expectation of what I might get in return, I'm going to lose out. And that's a lie that we all struggle with. If I give without any knowledge of of recompense, you know I'm going to end up poor for. Well, we're confronted with whether or not the Bible is right when the Bible says it is better to give than to receive. Look at think about it this way. When our lives come to a close. Are we going to be more grateful for the things we have given or the things we have received? As you survey the consequence of your life at the end of your life, are you going to be so glad for all the things you've gotten, or all the things that you've given? I think it's clear that when, we are assessing the benefit and the quality of our lives, what we give is going to be so much more precious to us than what we've gotten. And, When we give, we become like the one who by nature is the giver. God is love. We come, become like him. We're born from him, we take on his nature, and we actually come to know him. God's love is made complete as we love others is our theme this morning. Point number one is everyone who loves others has been born of God. And point number two is everyone who loves others knows God. I'd like to conclude this morning by reading from the Gospel of John, chapter one, verses ten through 13. The Gospel of John, chapter one verses. Excuse me, nine through 13. I'll go, go a verse earlier, beginning at verse nine. It says the true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world. And though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. Heavenly father Lord, we are just reminded here this morning that our new birth, our regeneration, our ability to partake in your divine nature comes from you. We are birthed in you as a result of our putting faith in Jesus Christ. Lord, we put faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank you for his dying on the cross for our sins. We are grateful for the empty tomb that he has risen again, and we are thankful that he set His Spirit to live in us and to live through us. Father, we are grateful, father, that you have removed the barrier that keeps us from you. Our own sin, and you've enabled us to be united to you through the cross of Jesus Christ. And you've made a way for us to be with you through your Spirit living in us. And living through us. And we pray today that we would be intentional in helping to complete the circuit of your love by looking for ways to be a benefit to those around us. May we be good and may we partake in your nature. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.