2023.02.12 - Love Isn’t, Love Is! Love Worth Having

Love. There are few things so universal and yet so challenging. Love for God. “The most important” commandment, says Jesus (Mark 12:29–30), and one that both the old and new covenants portray as necessary to enjoy God’s sustained favor. In verses one through six of chapter two John has already made the point that one of the ways we know we know Him is if we obey Him. And now, he follows that insight up with another one; We know that we know Him if we have His love. He tells us that if we love Him, we will grow to be more like Him and that is a love worth having. Notice these three things. I) The priority of love (7-11) In these five verses John draws our attention to three things, concerning a love worth having. A) The origin of love (vs. 7) Beginning in the earliest books of the Old Testament, God's desire was that we would love Him and love others. John is reiterating what they had known, from the beginning. Love God and love each other. This is foundational to what it means to know God. B) The operation of love (vs. 8) Jesus’ commandment did not have to do so much with the decision to love, that was the old commandment. The new commandment had to do with the depth of that love, or the kind of love we are to have for one another. Jesus says, I want you to love each other like I have loved you. C) The opposite of love (vs. 9-11) John is contrasting true love with hatred. True love, Christian love, the kind of love God has for us, the kind of love Jesus expressed on the cross, is sacrificial and active. There is no room for neutrality, we either love others or we hate them, we cannot, according to John, ignore them and at the same time say we love them. II) The process of maturity (vv. 12-14) In these three verses, John gives us two sets of three parallel statements. He addresses three different groups of people in the church. A) The children - those who are young in the faith B) The Fathers - those who have been believers a long time C) The Young Men - those who presently carry the responsibility for