Cautions Of Fellowship (Concerning False, Lying Spirits) - Bible Study 1 John 4

Cautions Of Fellowship

(Concerning False, Lying Spirits)

False Teachers: 1 John 4:1-6

John returned briefly to the theme of many late New Testament letters. How can we test for counterfeits and false prophets? First, doctrinally. Jesus, God's Son, has come in the flesh. This confession will never be made by false teachers. And second, by lifestyle. The world, with its "cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has" (2:16), is put away by the mature believer. When a teacher speaks from the viewpoint of the world, we know he is not from God.

The true believer will also recognize John's writings as God's truth. The Holy Spirit will confirm it. When teaching is out of harmony with the written Word, the Spirit Himself will bring unrest within the believer.

Dimensions of Love: 1 John 4:7-21

In these next verses John helps us see the way of love in the Christian community. He wanted us to experience close fellowship with Jesus, and live in intimate community with fellow-believers. John was not exhorting us to pump up the emotion we call "love." He was explaining why love is valuable to the church, and how we can choose to live love.

In these verses there is no threat to make us feel guilty if we have fallen short of love. John did not lay a burden of obligation to make us struggle harder to do something we cannot do. Instead, he simply pointed out that God is love, and to live in fellowship with Him is to live in love. If in our association with other Christians we fall into the world's way of antagonism and selfishness, then we are not experiencing God's presence.

These words of John bring hope. If we have failed to love, we acknowledge our sin to God and experience His forgiveness and cleansing. Only if we deny the importance of love in our relationships within the church, and let barriers arise between people have we lost our way. What do believers need to understand about love in order to experience fellowship with God? Let's trace the thought of the passage.

 Love is central (1 John 4:7-8). Because God is love, the person who shares God's love will love. This is simply a fact; a reflection of the reality that where there is no will to love, God is absent.

 Love initiates (1 John 4:9-12). John made abstract love personal when he explained that God loved us and "sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (v. 10). God's action is especially striking since we did not love God when He gave Himself. Loving meant initiating action without immediate return (and, in the case of many whom God loves, without any return). Here is a model for love in the Christian community. Since God loved us in this same way, we ought to love one another in the same manner.

Relationships in society are usually governed by reciprocity. I am nice to those who are nice to me. Mitch invites me to lunch; I invite him in return. I borrow tools from Mike; he borrows tools from me. Even sinners, Jesus once commented, love those who love them (Matt 5:46). But love in the Christian community is not to depend on repayment. We are to take the initiative in loving, even when the ones we reach out to do not respond.

At first this seems like a strange instruction. Won't such lovers be taken advantage of? Won't the unresponsive drain the people who do care? John's answer is twofold. First, the capacity to love in this way exists in every person who is born of God. Thus, it is not a few loving the rest, but it is all of us loving one another! Each of us has the opportunity to reach out and initiate actions that meet the deepest needs of our brothers and sisters.

Second, as we take up the joyful burden of loving others, God, who no one has seen, becomes strangely visible in the church. We see God Himself as He "lives in us and His love is made complete in us" (v. 12). As God becomes more real among us, even those who have not responded will be touched by His love.

God does live in us (1 John 4:12-16). Is such love possible? Of course! We don't rely on any capacity of our own to love our brothers. In the person of the Holy Ghost God lives in us and will love through us. We learn to share God's love for us.

 Love frees us from fear (1 John 4:17-18). John has an exciting prospect for the fearful and doubting. As we see God's love taking visible shape in the community of faith, we become more confident and more like God. "In this world," John said of the believing community, "we are like Him" (v. 17). Love transforms us. We realize that God is not angry or eager to punish; love has driven out fear.

The way love drives out fear is beautiful. When Stan became a Christian, he was antagonistic, bitter, and quick to take offense at others whom he thought slighted him. Burdened by a poor self-image, Stan could not believe that God accepted him with all of his faults. Every time something went wrong, Stan was sure God was punishing him and he cringed. Even when everything seemed to go smoothly, there was always an aching fear that kept Stan from feeling peace or satisfaction.

Then Stan became a member of a truly loving church whose members accepted him as he was. They understood his behavior, overlooked his insults, and returned only love. They invited this unpleasant young man into their homes.

Gradually Stan began to realize that these people loved him in spite of himself. He could be real with them, and they still cared. For a time, Stan became worse, testing their acceptance to see if it were real. Finally, he was convinced. He was loved! With this discovery came a great release. Through the love of his brothers and sisters in Christ, Stan experienced the reality of God's love. The message of Calvary he had accepted intellectually now released the knots of guilt and fear deep within. When Stan found a community of people who were like God in this world, he was freed to grow into a loving person himself.

 Love is our proper response to God (1 John 4:19-21). Stan was freed to love only by being loved. John pointed out that it is the same with all of us. We did not love God; God loved us. God reached out first. But in being loved by God, we are freed to love in return. Then we can reach out to others.

Who do we love when God's love frees us? Yes, we do love God. But we also love our brothers. In fact, love of God and love of His family are so inseparably linked that John flatly stated, "If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar" (v. 20). Love wears no blinders that cut off some while focusing on others. When love touches us, our whole personality is affected. We see God and sensing His love, are drawn to Him. We see people for the first time. We reach out to touch and to care.

Love has transformed us. In Christ, and in His community of faith, we will learn to walk in love.