What is love?

Do you know?
Have you ever been loved?
Have you ever been in love?
How could you tell?
How does the world portray love?
What does it say love is?

Think about love...
...In the movies.
...On television.
...In magazines.
...In music.
...In art.

How do people show love in the world?
How does the world show love to people?
What happens when love is not returned?
When someone does something wrong?

Is the world's view of love conditional? Unconditional?
Is there such a thing as unconditional love?
What does unconditional love mean?

Is love nice?
Is love fun?
Is it easy?
Is it difficult?
Is it work?

"And they lived happily ever after."

Is this possible?
Is there really a "happily ever after"?

There is a love story with a true love, a perfect love.
There is a love story with a happy ending.

And we are part of it!

Please pray before you begin.

Opening Discussion

-Think of the most loving person you know.
-What makes him/her so?

Read

1 John 4:7-21 (New International Version)

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

9 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.

10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.

16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us.

20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Study

1 John 4:7-21 (New International Version)

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

-What does the author tell us to do? -What is love?
-Where does love come from?
-Why must we love one another?
-What does it show about us?

8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

-What do we learn about God?
-What does this mean?

9 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.

-How did God show us his love?
-Who did He send?
-Why?
-How do we live?

10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

-Are we capable of loving God?
-If so, how?

11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

-Why should we love each other?

12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

-Who has seen God?
-Why not?
-How do we know He is real?

13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

-How do we know that we live in Him? -How can we tell if we have given the Spirit?

14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

-No one has seen God. What had the author seen?
-What have we seen?

15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.

-What are we to acknowledge?
-Why is this important?

16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
-How can we be sure God lives in us?

17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

-What do you think the day of judgment is?
-What gives us confidence to face it?
-We are like Him. What is he?
-What then are we to be to the world?

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

-What is fear?
-How is fear driven out?
-Why can't fear and love co-exist?
-How does fear affect our choices?
-How does love affect our choices?

19 We love because he first loved us.

-Who loved first?
-What does this mean?

20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

-Who is a liar?
-Why?

21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

-What do we learn about love?
-About God?
-About Jesus?
-About the Spirit?

-What commands/instructions does the author give us?
-What are your fears?
-How can God's Word help you to let them go?
-If you have trouble loving someone, what might be the problem?
-Do you know God?
-Do you know and believe His love for you?
-Are you grateful for what He did for you?
-If God never did anything else for you, would your salvation be enough?
-What did God's love cost him?
-What will it cost you?

Challenges

This sections provides extra study opportunities for you. This is not homework. Do one. Do them all. Do none of them. It's your choice. Have fun with it.

Challenge #7A: Love

Read some or all of these verses, and record what you learn about love.

Leviticus 19:18;
Deuteronomy 7:8; 10:12
Jeremiah 31:3;
Matthew 5:43-48; 18:33; 22:37-39;
Mark 12:28-34;
John 3:16-17; 13:34-35; 14:23; 15:9-17; 17:20-24;
Romans 5:8-10; 13:8-10;
1 Corinthians 8:3; 13; 16:13-14
Galatians 5:13-24;
Ephesians 1:6; 2:4-5;
Colossians 3:12-17
1 Thessalonians 4:9
1 Peter 1:8; 2:17;
Jude 1:21

Challenge #7B: The Text

Compare some or all of these verses with 1 John 4:7-21
Take note of the similarities.

Exodus 33:18-23
Deuteronomy 4:12;
Psalm 34:6-14;
Proverbs 9:10
Matthew 10:15;
Luke 12:1-12, 22-34
John 1:10, 14, 18; 4:24, 42; 6:46, John 6:9; 12:44-45;
John 14:9, 20,
Romans 1:18; 8:9-16; 10:9;
1 Corinthians 12:3;
2 Corinthians 5:21
1 Timothy 6:16;
Titus 3:5
James 2:13

Challenge #7C: The Old Testament

Review Genesis 1-6
Read Genesis 7.

Compare with 1 John 4:7-21.

Note any similarities between the passages.

Take thorough notes of the key things that occur in Genesis as you will need to refer back to earlier chapters in future challenges.

Remember This is NOT Homework!
Have FUN with it!

Commentary

It's All Greek To Me!

1 John 4:8 -Love
Strong's Greek #26 -Agape
An act of the will apart from attraction (Eros) or emotion (#5368 -Phileo)

1 John 4:9 -One and only
Strong's Greek #3439 -Monogenes
"mono"=only or one. "Genes"=kind, of the same nature.

1 John 4:12 -Seen
Strong's Greek #2300 -Theaomai
To view attentively in order to interpret.
Where we get the word "theater"

1 John 4:17 -Judgement
Strong's Greek #2920 -Krisis
Separation, trial, contest. Where we get the word "crisis"

1 John 4:20 -Seen
Strong's Greek #3708 -Horao
The act of seeing plus the perception of the object.

Commentary from Last Week
Remember that this commentary is optional!

We are on the home stretch of studying the book of 1 John.

John is beginning to wrap up his thoughts as he concludes this letter.

Studying a book in small chunks can sometimes leave us lacking a good view of the big picture
(This is why I recommend taking notes)

In this commentary and and the three remaining, I will attempt to tie the author's apparent thought patterns together.

It would be helpful if you could read all five chapters of First John at least once, if not more, each week for the next three weeks.


The Author and his Purpose

From tradition it is believed that John is writing to churches in Ephesus and the surrounding areas.

He is writing in response to lies and false doctrine that had been spread with in the church.

People were trying to deny the basic Gospel message that God came to this earth in human form as Jesus Christ in order to die for our sins.

These people were not successful (1 John 4:4) and had left the church (1 John 2:19).

John seems to be attempting to repair any damage done.
He is encouraging and refocusing his readers on the truth.

John's stated purpose so far has been:

-That his readers have fellowship with true believers, God and Christ
(1 John 1:3)

-That he and they both be filled with joy
(1 John 1:4)

-That we may not sin
(1 John 2:1)

-To remind his readers that they are true believers
(1 John 2:12-14, 21)

And

-To defend against the false teachers
(1 John 2:26)

These are not separate purposes, but different aspects of the same purpose.

(For instance, a sports team focuses on offense or defense at any given moment, but they are both aspects of the purpose of winning the game.)


What We Know

John carries out his purpose by giving a us a test.

It is common for children of God to doubt their salvation from time to time, and this test can help put those doubts to rest.

This test should also be held to others, especially if they are trying to teach a doctrine different from what the Word of God says.

The false prophets failed these tests miserably.

The test is this:

A true child of God will exhibit:

-Obedience (Keeping Christ's commandments (1 John 2:3; 3:24))

-Love (Loving the bretheren (other children of God) (1 John 3:14))

-Truth (Confessing that Christ came in the Flesh (1 John 4:2))

John has dealt with these subjects in depth separatly, and now begins to tie them together

Notice chapter 3, verses 18 and 23

A true believer can not do one without the others.
The Spirit leads us to do all three.


Truth

If tradition is true and the false prophets were Gnostics, they claimed to belong to the truth.
They said they had the knowledge and knew God.
They claimed to have the benefits of salvation without producing any of its fruit

In 1 John 3:20 we learn that God knows everything.

John's argument in this letter goes like this:

Knowledge = Knowing God
Knowing God = Knowing Christ
Knowing Christ = Having the Spirit
Having the Spirit= Loving, believing, and obeying

Those that did not love, believe and obey did not have knowledge and did not know God.

In John 18:37-38, Pilate asks Jesus, "What is truth?"

This is the battle we still fight today.

From the beginning Satan has convinced the world that truth is whatever you believe it is.
The world does not want the truth.

Are we looking for the truth, or just what we want to see?


Assurance

If we pass the above test we can be confident that we are truly children of God.

Our doubt comes from a lack of emotion to confirm our status.

We don't feel like children of God.

Our hearts condemn us, yet God does not.

He knows everything and loves us anyway
God sees our actions, but he also knows our heart.
Humans are not the measuring stick, God is.

You can be a child of God and make mistakes.
You can have assurance and not be doing what you should be doing.

It does not mean that you lose your salvation or that you were not saved in the first place.

When you are doing what is expected of you, you have confidence before the one who expects you to do it.

We need to trust the knowledge of God's truth rather than our feelings.

We will see this more in both the next books we study:
Philippians and Ephesians.


God is Greater

God is greater than our hearts. (1 John 3:20)
God is greater than the devil. (1 John 4:4)
God is greater than a lack of salvation.
God is greater than doubt.

God is greater than _______________. (fill in the blank)

God is greater than everything.

When we fail Him, He won't fail us.
If you don't have assurance, keep going to Him.


Receiving Anything We Ask

Taken out of context, many people interpret verses such as 1 John 3:22 to imply that God is some sort of magic genie who will give us whatever we ask for.

In context we can see that if we are doing God’s will, we will ask for that which glorifies Him.

Here is the thought process of 1 John 3:18-22:

-We have accepted Christ, yet our heart condemns us.
-God is greater than our hearts.
-We know we belong.
-We obey Him.
-We love through actions.
-We please Him.
-We set our hearts at rest.
-We have confidence before Him.
-We ask.
-We receive.

Think about an Army unit fighting a battle. If they need supplies, they ask, not for what they want, but for they need to continue fighting.

And since they are following orders, the Army will swiftly provide for them what they need.

This is what prayer is like.


Teachers and Spirits

Shepherd,s Notes on 1 John says this:

Every teacher has a spirit (The Holy Spirit or an evil spirit)

Every spirit has a head (God or the devil)

Every teacher has an audience (Child of God or child of the devil)

There is no such thing as blind faith. the path you choose is carefully chosen.

False prophets do get an audience (children of the devil)

So beware.

Other Sessions in this Study:

Unwrapping the Gift of Fellowship

Unwrapping the Gift of an Advocate

Unwrapping the Gift of Light

Unwrapping the Gift of Truth

Unwrapping the Gift of Righteousness

Unwrapping the Gift of the Spirit

Unwrapping the Gift of Life

Unwrapping the Gift of Assurance

Wrapping Up God's Gift of Salvation

Other Studies:

Unwrapping God's Gift of Joy

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