1 John Series - Being made Complete in the Love of God

                             Being made Complete in the Love of God  

1 John 2:7-12,15-17

Sound doctrine series (God’s Love part 1)

The doctrine of God’s love is so vast in John’s first epistle, it will take a few lessons to encompass his insight and understanding of the love of God. I would like to begin with the completeness of God’s love to all.

Love is probably the most written about word (Love is a many splendored thing), sang about (All the world needs now is Love; Endless Love), in Poetry (How do I love thee, let me count the ways), and one of the oldest written text, God is Love (1 Jn. 4:16). Yet love is also one of the most difficult to understand. It seems that everyone has their own understanding or interpretation of God’s love because of the various words that means love. 

The Greeks have 8 words for love. Eros (romantic, passionate love), Mania (obsessive love), Agape (selfless, love for everyone unconditional), Ludis (playful love), Pragma (shopping list love), Storge (familiar love), Philautia (self love), and Philia (affectionate, friendship love). There is only one that is used to show God’s love, agape. John in his first epistle (letter) to the church, mentions God’s love thirty-five times.

Let's look at the text, “But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them...Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

In the text, John begins the understanding of completeness with love for God, “But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them.” Obedience is an essential element in demonstrating love for God. This is not robotic obedience, or mandated obedience. We are to love God the way that He loves us, selflessly, without conditions, because we choose too. Love for God will show up in our worship of Him, in our living for God, and most important in how we view God’s love. Being made complete in God (whole, perfected) is probably the most important concept we need for life, and it is all about how He loves us and we love Him.

Being made complete in love. John begins with our living style. We are to live as Jesus lived. Ask a little child where God lives, and he or she will tell you in heaven, or in my heart. Both are true of a believer. God the Father lives in Heaven, but He also lives in us. John wants the church to know, “This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” Many Christians as well as unbelievers struggle with knowing that Jesus is in us,or can be in our lives. The unselfish love of Jesus, who loves us unconditionally, who gave his life because of love, love for the Father, and for his creation (mankind). One of the most memorized Bible verses is John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world, that He gave is one and only Son, so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 

Jesus loved those that the world considered of little use or importance. The story of the rich young man in Matt.19, He obeyed the commands all his life, but when Jesus said if you want to be complete (perfect) sell what you have and give to those who are considered of little importance (poor, outcast), then he was to come and follow Jesus. Other words, come live as I live. Like the rich young man, many love the world, its riches, lifestyles, and cannot part from it. More on this towards the end of the lesson. 

Let’s look at the text, “Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard.”

John referred back to the basics for the disciples’ understanding about God’s love, the command to “love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul, and with all our minds, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.” Then the new command Jesus gave before his death, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” Jn.15:12  Sometimes getting back to basics (the foundation) is the only way to correct our lives and build our lives on Jesus. Being a handyman and school teacher, I have seen many who have tried to build on a poor foundation, not square or level, or used poor quality materials. In school, many children are trying to build on their education without having a solid foundation of educational facts and skills. As they progress, they fall behind and are frustrated and don’t understand because they lack the solid foundation from early education. 

John now takes us back to our understanding of darkness and light. “because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.”

We looked at the symbolism of light and darkness last week in the lesson on the doctrine of sin. John is emphasizing the importance of Light in being complete in God’s love. When someone comes to Christ, they leave the darkness (sinful lifestyle) and become a new creation (1 Cor. 5:17) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” The person has passed from darkness to the light. It is here where the new believers begin their life towards completeness in God. 

Hate is a powerful word. It is full of intensity and passionate dislike, a literal loathing and abhorring of someone or something. God hates sin, but he loves the sinner. John is giving us an image of God’s love. God hates the sin (darkness), and as believers we too should hate sin, but God loves the sinners, so should we. Hating our brother or sister in Christ demonstrates that we are still walking in sin (darkness). This is why Satan has been able to kill, steal, and destroy the lives of believers by blinding them and helping them to stumble in their understanding of God’s love. In the end times (I believe it is now) Jesus said that the love of many believers will grow cold (dark) towards God and their faith because of sin. (Matt.24:12) “Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.”

The third point John desires for the church to know in becoming complete in God’s love is the difference in God’s love and the love of the world. Let’s look at the text - “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”

Living complete in God’s love means that there is no room for the love for the things of this world that compete with God. God’s desire is for all who believe in Christ, they will do and live in the will of God, just as Christ did. John gives three keys to knowing if you are living in darkness or in the light. First, the lust of the flesh is the overpowering desire for that which God forbids, the usually unnaturally strong desires for things that please the human body instead of what God desires. God said that desires were not sin, but that we should “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Ps. 37:4 God ‘s completeness in our lives is truly based around our love for Him and His will, not for the flesh (sinful nature).

Second is the lust of the eyes. Jesus said in Matt.6:22-23 - “The eye is the lamp of the body. You draw light into your body through your eyes, and light shines out to the world through your eyes. So if your eye is well and shows you what is true, then your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is clouded or evil, then your body will be filled with evil and dark clouds. And the darkness that takes over the body of a child of God who has gone astray—that is the deepest, darkest darkness there is.”

It is amazing what trouble our eyes can bring, I think only second to the tongue. The Voice translation gave this apt comment to the verses, “When Jesus speaks of eyes and light, He means all people should keep their eyes on God because the eyes are the windows to the soul. Eyes should not focus on trash—pornography, filth, or expensive things. And this is what He means when He says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” I believe we can find true completeness in the love of God, so that we should not lust for darkness.

Third is the pride of life. In our study on the origin of sin, we see that pride is what leads Lucifer away to darkness. Dr. David Allen gave this definition to the pride of life. “The pride of life describes the arrogant spirit of self-sufficiency. It expresses the desire for recognition, applause, status, and advantage in life. The phrase describes the pride in what life can offer you.” God’s desire for completeness is in His love and will. When our lives focus on the applause of this world, we should know that God is not. We were never made to be self-sufficient, arrogant, or driven for recognition. God created us to have fellowship with him. He is to be the focus of our love.

We as believers and children of God embrace God’s love over the love and lust for this world. Many have spoken, “You can’t take any of this world with you.” But John tells us, “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” 

Application - We have much more to learn about the Love of God, but let’s begin with being complete in His Love for us, and our love for Him. We are to follow his will not our own. As we do this, his love will be made complete in us. There are many who still misunderstand the love of God, but as John said, Dear Children, that us, let us be obedient to His Word so that we can be complete in our love for God.

I pray with Paul,  I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. May God make you complete this week.

Until next week. In His service, Mike Davis