Sermon Notes, Third Sunday After Epiphany

INTRODUCTION
God is unseen, John says (v. 12). How then can the world know Him? John places the burden of showing God on us: The world knows the God who is love through the love we have for one another.

THE TEXT
“No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit . . . .” (1 John 4:12-21).

SEEING GOD
John says that no one has seen God (v. 12), yet he begins his letter by emphasizing how the apostles saw the “Word of Life” (1:1-3). In the opening chapter, the Word that is God (John 1:1) makes Himself visible and tangible by manifesting Himself in the flesh. Here, John implies that, though God is unseen, He still manifests Himself in the flesh, in the flesh of our brothers. That’s why he moves from saying “no one has beheld God” to saying “if we love one another” (v. 12). And that’s why he ends the passage by saying that no one can love the unseen God unless he loves his visible brothers (v. 20). Loving the brothers is a primary way of loving God. More dramatically, the love that is God becomes incarnate in Jesus first of all, and secondarily in the love of Christians for one another: “As He is, so also are we in this world” (v. 17). Is it any wonder that atheism arose in the age when Christians began killing each other?

ABIDING IN GOD
In his gospel, John records Jesus saying that He and the Father dwell in each other (17:20-23). Jesus’ prayer is that the disciples would be grafted into the mutual communion of Father and Son. That’s what John is saying here again: When we love one another, we are participating in the mutual loving indwelling of the Father and Son (vv. 12, 16). We know that this mutual indwelling is real because of the work of the Spirit (v. 13), who witnesses that God dwells in us and we in Him. More, the Spirit is the agent of our communion with God: The Spirit who searches the deep things of God, the Spirit who is the bond of love between Father and Son, dwells in us, so that through the Spirit God abides in us and through the Spirit we abide in Him. In us, His love is brought to completion, to maturity (v. 12).

FEAR IN JUDGMENT
The result of abiding in love is confidence in judgment (v. 17). Scripture frequently encourages us to “fear” God (2 Samuel 23:3; Psalm 19:9; Proverbs 1:7; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians 5:21). “God-fearing” is a commendation in Scripture. John is not contradicting this. But there are different sorts of fear. We have a right fear of God if we are awed by His power and majesty. John is talking about a cowering fear, the fear that God is out to get us, the fear that we will not stand in judgment. This kind of fear is driven out by the love that God has shown us (v. 19). Since He has given His Son, we have no reason to fear His punishments; He is our Father, and if He disciplines us, it is for our salvation. And this kind of fear is driven out as our love for one another matures: “Perfect love casts out fear” (v. 18).