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Love, Honor, and Obey. I John 4:17- 5:5. Emphasis on Christian Love; now believer’s love for the Father We cannot love our neighbor unless we love our heavenly Father Perfect: maturity & completeness Grow in love for the Father in response for Father’s love for you
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Love, Honor, and Obey I John 4:17- 5:5
Emphasis on Christian Love; now believer’s love for the Father • We cannot love our neighbor unless we love our heavenly Father • Perfect: maturity & completeness • Grow in love for the Father in response for Father’s love for you • Mature Christian love is the great universal need among God’s people • Confidence (4:17-19) • Fear & torment • Reason: not growing in God’s love
Boldness: confidence ofr freedom of speech • Reverential fear, not tormenting fear • Fear: phobia; krisisphobia: fear of judgment • Tormenting fear due to past, present, & future • No fear due to God’s love • Secret of boldness: “As he is, so are we in this world (4:17) dealing with the future • Father deals with us as He deals with His Son • Past: We need not to be afraid, because “He first loved us” (4:10) • Present: We need not to be afraid because “perfect love casteth out fear” (4:18) • Proper fear doesn’t torment
“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons which we cry out, “Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15 NASB) • For God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of sound mind” (II Tim 1:7) • Fear is the beginning of torment • Live in an atmosphere of love & confidence, not fear and torment (Rom 8:35, 37-39) • God’s perfect love in stages • When we were lost, we lived in fear • After trusting Christ mixture of fear & love • Growing in fellowship with God fear vanished gradually & His love controlled our hearts • Immature Christian is tossed between fear & love
Mature Christian rests in God’s love • Evidence of mature love for God: growing confidence in God’s presence • Honesty (4:20-21) • Warning against pretending • Fear & pretending go together • Example of Adam & Eve (Gen 3:10 - “ I heard thy voice, and I was afraid”) • Confidence toward God: no need of pretense • No confidence toward God leads to no confidence with God’s people • Worry: fear that torments • Immature Christian try to impress others with spirituality (not growing in God’s love)
Example of Ananias & Saphira (Acts 5) • Our life should be marked by honesty, not pretending • Spiritual honesty leads to peace & power • Love & truth go together • Joyful Obedience (5:1-3) • “His commandments are not burdensome” (5:3 NASB) • Anything in creation obeys God’s will except man • “Fire, and hail; snow, and vapor; strong wind fulfilling his word” (Ps 148:8) • Jesus walking on the water & sleeping in a boat • Jonah: storm, whale, and plant
Disobedience to God’s will & hesitant, grudging obedience • Secret of joyful obedience: obedience is a family matter • We have been born of God, love God, and God’s children • We show God’s love by willing wor, not empty words • We are children obeying the Father, not slaves obeying a master • Test of maturing love is our personal attitude toward the Bible • Unsaved person considers the Bible impossibility for he doesn’t understand the spiritual message (I Cor 2:14)
Immature Christian look at the demands of the Bible to be burdensome. • Mature Christians who experiences God’s love enjoys and love God’s Word and looks at it as God’s love letter rather than textbook. • Psalm 119 • Stages of maturing love • As our love for God grows, we have confidence toward God & are not afraid of his will. • We are honest toward God & others & lose fear of being rejected • We have new attitude toward God’s Word and enjoying obeying it as an expression of God’s love
Stages of sin • When we disobey God, we lose our confidence toward God • Disobedience leads to dishonesty (pretending & covering up) • It turns us from God’s Word; we either read routinely or ignore it • The burden of religion is grievous • Love lightens burden (Matt 11:28-30) • Victory (5:4-5) • “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world” (4) • Victory is the result of faith; we grow in faith as we grow in love
Faith & love go together • Overcome: 7 times in Revelation • Faith in Jesus Christ (5) • “In the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33) • Identification with Christ • “as he is” • “As he is so are we in this world (4:7) • “a he is the light” (1:7) • I have been crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20) • “walk in the newness of life” (Rom 6:4) • “Seated with Him in heavenly places” (Eph 2:6) • Be revealed with Him in glory (Col 3:4) • Spiritual position in Christ • Child of God is privileged
His authority is determined by position • Faith is God's key to victory • Victorious faith is the result of maturing love • Faith is not much believing in spite of evidence, but obeying in spite of consequence • Maturing love be a regular & practical thing in our daily life • Stages of relationship to Jesus Christ • We must cultivate friendship with Christ (James 2:23) • Friendship will be begin to influence our life; gradual process • Our friendship with Christ & becoming like Him will lead to a deeper love for Christ
Christian love is not a passing emotion, but a permanent devotion • More we know Him the better we love Him, and the better we love Him the more we become like Him • “Conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom 8:29) • The place to begin is in the quiet, personal place of prayer