"Love"
Overview
Blessing Others Through Love
To bless someone is more than wishing them well or counting our own gifts from God; it is intentionally extending good to another, so that when they leave our presence, something has been added to their day. Scripture frames this calling from the very beginning: God told Abraham, "I will bless you... so that you will be a blessing" Genesis 12:2. The first and most foundational way we bless others is by loving them.
1 John 4:7-12 lays out three movements that ground Christian love. First, God is love. Just as Scripture describes God as light 1 John 1:5, as spirit John 4:24, and as a consuming fire Hebrews 12:29, so love belongs to His very nature. Second, God has loved. "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins" 1 John 4:10. The incarnation reveals that love; the atonement is its supreme manifestation. At the cross, God's light exposed our sin, but the consuming fire fell on the Son rather than on us, bringing us back into "at-one-ment" with God. Third, God continues to love—through us. "If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us" 1 John 4:12. When we love, God's love reaches its intended goal; His presence in us, as one child wisely put it, "shows through."
This love is not first a feeling but an action. Biblical love is something we do, even toward people we may struggle to like. By God's grace, deliberate acts of love often reshape our affections over time. And we never love from our own resources alone: faith itself is God's gift, and even after conversion the old sinful nature lingers, so we lean continually on the promise that "it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" Philippians 2:13.
This week's application: Who immediately comes to mind—someone you sense you need to love better? Begin with confession, where we honestly name how we fall short. Receive the Lord's forgiveness afresh. Then make a concrete plan: a specific word, a specific act, a specific kindness. Be the person whose presence leaves others sensing that something good has happened—because through you, the God who is love has loved them.
Transcript
Let's open up our Bibles, please. 2s
Today, to first John the fourth chapter for our study, first John chapter four. 4s
Count your blessings. 13s
Count your blessings. 15s
Have you ever heard that phrase or have you ever used that phrase? 17s
That's really a good phrase, isn't it? 22s
To pause and to count one's blessings. 25s
Of course, we'll never be able to count all the blessings of the Lord. 31s
But how helpful it is to just take pause frequently 36s
and reflect on the wonderful blessings of God. 42s
Something as simple as the blink of the eye or the beat of the heart, 48s
food on the table, a roof over the head, on and on and on, they go. 54s
And as we stop, amidst the busyness of the day and the night, 61s
and we just reflect and start to count the blessings. 67s
Our spirits are lifted, aren't they? 73s
Count your blessings. 76s
Sometimes that word blessings is used in another fashion, isn't it? 82s
Sometimes it's used in terms of the sense of giving approval. 86s
In the sense when perhaps you've heard or you've used it yourself, you have my blessing. 91s
In other words, that which is about to be done or said, 98s
you have the approval to do it. 103s
You have my blessing. 105s
Count your blessings. 108s
You have my blessing. 110s
And there's also a third way that that term can be used. 113s
I think of his expression in Genesis 12th chapter. 121s
There of course is the great, great promise to Abraham and Sarah, 126s
that through them is going to come this great nation. 129s
Out of that nation is going to be born to Messiah. 134s
And God says this, 138s
I will make of you a great nation. 141s
And I will bless you and make your name great, 145s
so that you will be a blessing. 150s
So that they would be a blessing. 156s
We all know people that are so good at blessing others. 165s
We have an interaction with them. 175s
We have a conversation with them. 176s
We have an opportunity to talk with them. 180s
It's those people that after you're done with the interaction with them, 183s
you just feel good. 190s
You feel like something is different 194s
than when you entered into that interaction. 196s
And at the heart of what has happened at the heart is the giving of the blessing. 200s
There are some people that are just so good at intentionally saying, 209s
how is it that I can bless this person that I'm dealing with, 218s
that I'm interacting with. 223s
We all know those people. 225s
Today, we lift anchor. 231s
We start to set sail on a seven week sermon series. 234s
And the topic is blessing. 241s
And specifically, we're going to examine, 245s
biblically, seven different ways 246s
where each of us can bless other people. 251s
And here's number one in this series of seven different ways 259s
of how we can bless people. 263s
Here's number one. 265s
Love. 268s
In order to study how we can bless others by loving them, 273s
I'd like to study this morning from first John the fourth chapter. 278s
There are three letters near the end of the New Testament. 284s
First John, second John, and third John. 288s
And the author of them is the author of the gospel, John. 291s
And in this section here of first John in the fourth chapter, 297s
John is dealing with an understanding of the manifestation of God's love for us. 302s
Look when he plays at verse 7 of chapter 4. 311s
Beloved, 316s
let us love one another because love is from God. 318s
So there we have right in the very beginning, don't we? 326s
That's the call to love one another. 329s
Then he goes on to say, 332s
everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 334s
Whoever does not love does not know God. 340s
For God is love. 343s
Well there's number one. 351s
There's the first point in the section. 353s
God is love. 357s
What's so interesting, as one studies in the New Testament, 364s
we see these images and descriptions of the nature of God. 368s
For example, one of the descriptions of God is that God is light. 374s
Turn back with me, please, to the very first chapter of first John, 383s
and we'll pick up in verse 5. 389s
And there John writes this. 391s
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light. 394s
And in him there is no darkness at all. 402s
So a description then of the very nature of God is a God is light. 408s
Here's a second descriptor in terms of the nature of God, 414s
and that is God is spirit. 418s
In the gospel of John the fourth chapter, 421s
God is spirit. 426s
And those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. 428s
So God has nature described as light. 435s
God is nature as described as spirit. 439s
A third description is that God is a consuming 442s
fire. 448s
That's Hebrews 12th chapter. 450s
We hear these words. 453s
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, 455s
let us give thanks by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and all. 461s
For indeed our God is a consuming fire. 469s
God has light. 478s
God has spirit. 480s
God has consuming fire. 481s
And then also the descriptor that we get from our text. 484s
For today that God is love. 487s
In his in most being, there is love. 496s
So point number one, from our text, John makes it very simply. 507s
God is love. 512s
Here's the second point he makes. 516s
God has loved. 519s
God has loved. 523s
Let's go back to our text, please. 526s
Verse 9 of chapter 4. 528s
God's love was revealed among us in this way. 533s
God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. 537s
Well, that of course is what we understand as the incarnation, the inflection of the second 545s
member of the Trinity. 551s
It's what we particularly celebrate at Christmas, isn't it? 553s
Then he goes on to say, verse 10. 558s
In this is love. 562s
Not that we loved God but that he loved us. 565s
So God who is love, God has loved. 573s
And what's the specific way in which God has loved that is commented on here, 579s
but the incarnation of the Lord Jesus. 585s
And the second number of the Trinity took on flesh, not because God was so impressed 589s
with how much we loved him. 595s
No, what we give to God is our sinfulness. 597s
We fall so short of love. 605s
But out of love, God makes the decision to send his son to us. 609s
Not because of anything we have done. 615s
Not because of our great love expressed to God, 617s
no because of his definitive decision to send the son, 621s
because of his love for us. 627s
In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us. 631s
And sent his son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 638s
That word attoning, that word attonement is so important. 645s
We break it down the meaning at one moment. 652s
When the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross, 656s
when he died on the cross taking our sin, 659s
the atoning sacrifice for sin, 664s
the reconciliation occurred with God, 667s
the at one moment being brought back into relationship with God. 671s
Jesus paid the sin death. 678s
We could never pay. 681s
He took our sin and gave to us of his righteousness. 683s
As great as the expression of God's love is found in the incarnation, 689s
the supreme manifestation of God's love is found in the atonement. 696s
Christ bearing the sin of the world, 708s
being raised from the dead, the sacrifice for sin accepted. 712s
God then, in His love, 720s
His light exposes our sin. 724s
But instead of the consuming fire, 731s
consuming us because of our sin, 735s
the consuming fire consumes the sun on the cross. 740s
Self-sacrificing love. 749s
There is no greater example than the cross of Christ. 753s
God is love. 764s
Secondly, God has loved and third. 767s
You know I have found over the years in ministry 776s
that some of the most wonderful of theologians 781s
are the littlest of children. 786s
And I've also found some of the most difficult questions 790s
to answer, come from the lips of children. 795s
Reminded of an account where a father was writing about 801s
tucking his daughter into sleep at night. 804s
This father understood of the precious moment that that is. 809s
And how many teaching moments arise at the close of the day 814s
as you're expressing love for that child, 819s
before they lay their head on the pillow and go to sleep at night. 823s
This father really understood the importance of that moment. 828s
If they got done with the prayers, 834s
his daughter turned to him and said, 836s
Daddy, is God everywhere. 840s
And the father said, 844s
well yes, he's everywhere. 846s
He said the fancy word for that is omnipresent. 849s
The little girl tried to repeat that word. 854s
Then the little girl said, 859s
well that means that God is really huge, 861s
isn't he? 866s
The father smiled and said, 868s
yep, God is really, really huge. 869s
And then she said, 876s
well if God is really huge, 880s
does he live in my heart? 888s
The father says yes. 892s
He lives in your heart because you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. 895s
Then she says, 901s
well if God is really huge, 904s
and lives in my heart, 908s
wouldn't he show through? 915s
If God is really huge and lives in my heart, 920s
wouldn't he show through? 925s
What a wonderful, 931s
biblical statement from this young, 933s
heologian. 942s
John reveals writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 945s
that God is love. 950s
God has loved, 952s
and now number three, 956s
God continues to love. 959s
Through us. 963s
Look on me, please, 965s
at verse 11. 967s
Beloved, 970s
since God loved us so much, 972s
we also ought to love one another. 974s
You see, he's right back to the call of verse 7, isn't he? 977s
Then he says, 982s
no one has ever seen God. 984s
If we love one another, 988s
God lives in us, 991s
and his love is perfected in us. 994s
You see, 1001s
when we love, 1004s
it is God's very presence in us manifesting itself. 1006s
Look again at the second part of verse 12, 1014s
God lives in us, 1017s
and his love is perfected in us. 1019s
That word perfected there. 1023s
It means it finds its goal. 1025s
It finds its purpose. 1028s
So, other words, 1031s
as God lives in us, 1032s
and that love is expressed among us two others, 1035s
that love then is perfected. 1041s
That love is finding its purpose. 1044s
God is love. 1050s
God has loved. 1053s
And God continues to love through us. 1056s
When we are born, 1069s
we are born with the bound will. 1071s
Luther talked about this a lot. 1076s
In other words, 1079s
we are born wanting nothing to do with God. 1079s
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 1088s
is totally the gift of God. 1090s
God is the one that has to change our hearts, 1094s
change that will. 1099s
So, that what comes forth is the yes. 1102s
We contribute absolutely nothing. 1107s
God is the one that absolutely transforms our heart, 1112s
transforms into that expression of belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. 1117s
Now, after we are converted, 1127s
after our heart has changed, 1130s
our will is also changed. 1132s
So, that will that's born saying, 1135s
no to God. 1138s
Now that we have been brought to faith, 1140s
that will now cooperate with God. 1143s
Is it ever going to be perfect this side of heaven? 1147s
Absolutely not. 1150s
Why? 1151s
Because even though the Lord brings people to faith 1152s
through word and through sacrament, 1155s
brings them to faith that old Adam, 1158s
that old Eve, that sinner in us, 1161s
claims and doesn't go away 1163s
until the Lord takes us to be with him in heaven. 1165s
But heaven been brought to faith 1171s
are will then cooperates. 1172s
In other words, 1177s
we then desire what God desires for us. 1178s
So, God desires us to love. 1186s
And so, our will then says, 1191s
So, with this gift of faith that God gives us, 1202s
and now this gift of Him loving through us, 1208s
and this gift of the transformed will, 1214s
how can we make a plan in our life to love others? 1221s
Specifically, 1228s
who is it that immediately comes to mind? 1230s
That you say, 1234s
I need to do a better job of loving that person. 1236s
The plan then begins with confession, 1241s
where we confess how we fall short of loving. 1246s
And then having received that word of grace, 1252s
that word of forgiveness from the Lord, 1255s
God Almighty, 1256s
he then empowers us to cling to his promise. 1258s
I think of the promise of Philippians, 1262s
the second chapter. 1264s
For it is God who is at work in you, 1266s
enabling you both to will and to work 1269s
for his good pleasure. 1274s
And so, who is it? 1279s
Who is it in your life that you can make the plan this week? 1281s
To love, to love. 1286s
Now remember, 1290s
Biblical love is rooted in action. 1293s
So often we think of love being associated with feelings. 1295s
That's really a Greek concept of love, 1299s
but the biblical concept of love is rooted in actions. 1302s
How is it that we can express this love in concrete ways? 1308s
What does that mean? 1316s
That means that you may not like someone, 1318s
but you can certainly love them. 1324s
And as we express love in concrete ways, 1331s
we can start to see a transformation of our feelings toward people. 1339s
Perhaps there's someone that you just struggle with, 1348s
and perhaps if you're really honest to say, 1351s
I just don't like them. 1354s
By God's grace, you can still love them. 1357s
And I wouldn't be surprised at all. 1362s
If as you love that person, 1366s
in concrete, action ways 1369s
that you're feelings toward that person, 1375s
change. 1380s
So who is it that immediately comes to mind? 1384s
And what's the plan this week to love? 1389s
be that person, 1401s
be that person this week, 1404s
that when that person leads from that interaction with you, 1407s
they might not be able to verbalize it, 1413s
but they'll know, 1416s
they'll know something good just happened. 1418s
Be that person that you bless, 1423s
that you bless 1430s
by loving them. 1433s