A Call to Abide in Perfect Love

This is the message I preached in Kolhapur Bible Church on 07/10/2012. May God bless you as you go through it. 

The book of 1 John is filled with many tests and many calls. And when we think of the call to love one another; it is a never ending topic. We cannot stop talking about love; because it’s limitless, has no limit to it. I remember in our Book Club we were going through the book named: Leading with Love. In this book the author gave an illustration of a pastor. This pastor arranged for a revival meeting in his Church. The revival meeting lasted for one week. The author tells us that during those 7+ days; the preacher preached about nothing except love of God. The messages were well received by the belivers in the Church. And the pastor himself was so thrilled by those messages preached by the preacher; that that pastor actually started preaching about love for the next 5 years in his Church every Sunday. By this illustration you can understand how important is the topic of love is. And it is so because John says, not that we loved God but that He loved us and gave His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. No wonder that John uses this word ‘love’ for 43 times in his epistle. Because that is what sums up a Christian life.

So, once again I want to call you attention to the title of our sermon is:

“A Call to Abide in Perfect Love”

1. The Basis (paayaa) of Perfect Love: vs. 14-16

·        The Testimony (saaXa) of Perfect Love: vs. 14a

·        The Confession (kxbaUlaI) of Perfect Love: vs. 15

·        The Belief (ivaEvaasa) in Perfect Love: vs. 16

2. The Purpose ({d\d\oSa) of Perfect Love: vs. 17 

·         The Function (kxaya-) of Perfect Love: vs. 18

3. The Initiation (pauZakxar) of Perfect Love: vs. 19
4. The Obligation (kxta-vya) of Perfect Love: vs. 20-21

1. The Basis of Perfect Love: vs. 14-16

Last week we saw that the meaning of vs. 12 & 13 is; the evidence of a believer’s life in God is the existence of the Holy Spirit in that person. And we also saw the evidence of having the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Another important thing we need to notice is: from vs. 12 to vs. 16 John uses the word ‘abide’ for 6 times. Last week we saw that the word ‘abide’ means to stay in all conditions. To be present for a long time no matter whatever kinds of situations arise. Therefore we must understand what John was communicating to his readers.

That you have to love one another, and then you have to exibit your love for one another in giving yourself for one another as Christ gave Himself for us.

Then from vs. 14 onwards John is writing to his readers that you cannot love in that way if you do not abide (means to live) in such a kind of love. And therefore he gives them 3 Basis of such love to his readers. The first basis is found in vs. 14.

The Testimony of Perfect Love

Notice vs. 14, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.”

In these words John draws his reader’s attention to the basis of Perfect Love. Because he says God sending His Son was the highest act of His Love. Because the Father gave His Son to be the Savior of the world. We need to understand that the word Savior has in itself the idea of being rescued. Savior and Redeemer are two similar words. It has the concept of buying back the prisoners of war by paying a ransome. To be precise Jesus paid that ransome to redeem us from the eternal judgment to come.

But we need to notice that John’s idea of love is not based on his emotions. Because whatever he was says was based upon what he had seen with his own physical eyes. And here he is testifying, that truth and calling his readers to abide or to live in that perfect love. That is what he said in the 1^st chapter vs. 1-2, “That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we saw, and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life.”

The second basis that John gives is

The Confession of Perfect Love

And that is found; in vs. 15 Notice this vs. “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”

Now, when I first looked at that verse I thought John was offering this verse as a password to heaven for his readers. What does he mean by saying those words? “Whoever confesses...” anybody can confess that Jesus is the Son of God.

Even Paul in Romans 10:9, “That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Well if you examine those verses we find that anybody can confess that Jesus is the Son of God when they find themselves in trouble and reject him when they are not in trouble.

E.g. when we were children we were told some stories about ghosts. So many times we were asked, “What you would do if the ghost comes before you and tries to take your life. Then we would say that I will make a sign of a Cross with my fingers and the ghost will run for his life.  So our answers were based on what we were taught.

The question is, are John & Paul trying to promote a superstitious kind of faith in their readers? The answer is of course NO!!! Because John says in chapter 5:4-5, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith.Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” The key phrase in this verse is overcomes the world. So what John and Paul mean to say that whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, and overcomes the world, or is being sanctified, God abides in him.”

Because James says, “Even demons belive that Jesus is the Son of God.” (James 2:19). But God does not abide in them.

You know this is important to understand. Because many pastor and preachers are promoting a superstitious faith. They ask questions like, “Do you believe in Jesus Christ?”And who doesn’t want to believe in Jesus Christ when he is going to give you health, wealth and prosperity? The point is they depend upon a mere verbal confession, not that they should not but that verbal confession should be backed up with a life transforming process called SANCTIFICATION. John is not promoting a faith based upon some superstition; or he is not promoting a faith based upon a lucky charm.

The next thing John does is, he draws his reader’s attention about is the

·         Belief in Perfect Love

Notice vs. 16, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

Now what does it mean to have come to know and believe the love that God has for us? To answer this question, we need to go to the Gospel according to John 6:67-69 because in this verse we find the similar claim of Peter about coming to know and belive in Jesus as the Son of God. “So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Somon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy one of God.”

In this verse John is making an affirmation that both he and his readers have come to know and believe the love that God has for them. And then he adds those three wonderful words, ‘God is Love...’what it means is: when God revealed Jesus Christ to the world He revealed His Love towards the world (i.e. the people in the world). So Jesus Himself is God’s manifestation of Love.

That’s whay John says in the next sentence, whoever abides in love (i.e. whoever abides in Christ) abides in God and God abides in him.

Application:

As we bring this point to application. We need to consider 3 areas of our lives. Our testimony, our confession and our belief.

We need to ask ourselves: what is my testimony among the unbelievers? Do they know me as a Christian? And if they know me that I am a Christian do they really see Christ in me? Because we may be confessing Christian and our lives may be completely contradictory to our confession. And if that’s the case we need to examine our lives.

E.g. If you say that your doctor is very good surgeon. And if you are on a death bed dying and if your doctor fails to do his job. Who is to be blamed? The doctor.

Similarly, when we fail to reflect a Christlikeness we are claiming that our Christ does not save souls.  

"A Christian baroness, living in the highlands of Nairobi, Kenya, told of a young national who was employed as her houseboy. After three months he asked the baroness to give him a letter of reference to a friendly sheik some miles away.  The baroness, not wishing the houseboy to leave just when he had learned the routine of the household, offered to increase his pay.  The lad replied that he was not leaving for higher pay. Rather, he had decided he would become either a Christian or a Mohammedan.  This was why he had come to work for the baroness for three months.  He had wished to see how Christians acted.  Now he wanted to work for three months for the sheik to observe the ways of the Mohammedans.  Then he would decide which way of life he would follow.  The baroness was stunned as she recalled her many blemishes in her dealings with the houseboy.  She could only exclaim, 'Why didn't you tell me at the beginning!'"

 The question that comes out of that story; has our belief transformed our behaviour?

However, the other side of the story is: Many people blame the Church for being filled with hypocrites. I must say that if you are looking out for a perfect Church there isn’t any. Many people abstain from coming to the Church because they think that the Church is a place of hypocrites. Well if that’s the case you also should abstain from going to the work. Because you find those hypocrites there as well.

Let me ask you brethren. Are you resisting Christ because there are no perfect followers out in the world? You won’t find any perfect follower of Christ. Let me ask you a question: Are you born again? Have you repented of your sins? Have you asked God to forgive you of your sins? Have you asked Him to take control of your life?