Title: love relationship
(Lecture 46) 1 John 4:19-21 Relationship of Love
<text>
We love because he first loved us. Anyone who says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, is a liar. He who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. received from the Lord; whoever loves God must also love his brother (1 John 4:19-21).
<sermon>
Humans have a habit of distinguishing people. It is the distinction between people I like and people I don't like. It is impossible for a person to be indistinguishable from person to person. Because humans have already lost those qualities. It would be impossible for such a human to love his brother. Because there is no one I can love because I regard as a brother the person I dislike in my heart.
But verse 20 says, “If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar.” How does this sound to you? Do you hear the saying, “Love your brother, not hate it”? Or do you hear the saying, 'Everything you say that you love God is a lie'? It sounds like the latter to me. Because in my heart I can see the hatred that hates the brother.
Of course, the brotherhood that the apostle speaks of is not a relationship of blood and blood. It's not even about attending the same church. So who is your brother? Who is your brother, so hating your brother is used as evidence that you are lying about loving God?
Brothers, as the apostles speak, do not mean a relationship between humans and humans alone. In other words, the same religion, the same church, these are not conditional relationships.
3:14-15 “We know that we have passed from death into life because we love our brother, but the one who does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and whoever murders has eternal life in him. You know what you are not doing.”
As you can see from the book of 1 John, the apostle speaks of the problem of loving brothers as directly related to life. So it is a matter of faith, not of virtue.
The cross of Jesus makes believers humble. So, if you love Jesus, then he is definitely a humble person. This kind of low-minded relationship is what we call a brotherhood. Therefore, believers who meet in a brotherly relationship will not try to dominate or direct others.
But if you hate your brother, what does that mean? It means that I am not a humble heart. If it is not a humble heart, does it not mean that it has nothing to do with the cross of Jesus? Therefore, to hate your brother is to be judged not to love Jesus.
Verse 19 says, “We love because he first loved us.” The first thing to think about in God's love is that He loved us who were not worthy of love. It means not only to think that God loves us, but also to think about the value of the love that loved us who deserved death. If you know the value of God's love, there will be a confession of love that says, 'Do you love me like this?' rather than a request for love that says, 'Please love me.'
If you are a believer who knows that you cannot demand love from God like this, you will not demand love from your brothers either. Not asking for love for your brother means asking, 'Do I love you?' rather than looking, 'Do you love me?'
This question will cause us to lament at ourselves for not being able to love. We are all such beings. We are the ones who should love our brothers but do not love them. Therefore, only groaning will come out of us. The relationship we meet with a heart grieving for ourselves without love is that of a brotherhood. They meet each other in a lowered position. Isn't this the true church?
Verse 20 says, “He who does not love his brother cannot love God whom he has not seen.” It excludes any possibility by saying ‘I cannot love God’ rather than ‘I may not be able to love God’. Therefore, when a believer asks if he loves God, he must ask, 'Do I love my brother?' It is that we cannot say that we love God on the condition of religious acts of service and hard work in the church.
Do you know what the apostle meant by these words? The Apostle is saying these words to make us not focus on anything else, but to focus all our attention and attention on God's one-sided love.
They say that if we say we love God and hate our brothers, we are lying, so we can see that we are unable to love God. And this is what makes us pay attention to the love that loved us first. It is because brotherly love becomes possible when we remove all possibilities for ourselves and put in our hearts only the love that God has shown.
Verse 21 says, “We have received this commandment from the Lord, and he who loves God must also love his brother.” Those who love God will be able to love their brothers. In the end, what we ask is not ‘Let’s love our brothers’ but ‘Do you know God’s love?’ It is to close our mouths, who said, “I love God,” too easily, to learn the love of God from the cross of Jesus and to look at it again. Therefore, if you see brotherly love in you, you must realize that it is not because of your faith, but because God loved you. The love shown by me is also not a condition to be proud of.
God's love is for us to love us without any worthy or reason. This is why we have no choice but to say that love is impossible for us. Because we look for reasons and values to love in anyone.
God loves you just the way you are. Therefore, believers should be able to see their brothers as God sees me. You must be able to love your brother just the way you are. That's why a believer cannot say to someone, 'You need to fix this'. It was because God's love did not heal and accept me. That is why he who knows the love of God can love his brother.