True Fellowship Was Initiated By God’s Love, Part 2 | 1 John 4:7-21

Main message: God is love — because he loved us first in Christ we are compelled and enabled to love others sacrificially; such love is practical, visible, and is the mark of genuine fellowship with God. Loving others (especially fellow believers) both testifies to and deepens our union with Christ and removes fear of judgment.

Key points:

• God loved us first and sacrificially in Christ, giving us motive to love others even when that love is not felt or reciprocated.
• Loving like God is practical and redemptive: forgive, meet others’ needs, give time and resources, and, in extreme cases, lay down your life.
• Abiding in Christ and receiving the Spirit changes us so that God’s love is made complete in us, we confess Jesus as Lord, and we have confidence rather than fear at the day of judgment.
• The world sees God through how Christians love one another; love for fellow believers is the primary evidence of knowing God.
• Love is a command that requires action (worship, prayer, mutual care, giving, baptism/communion, bearing burdens); failure to love the church calls into question one’s fellowship with God.

Scriptures mentioned: 1 John 4:7-21, John 4:24, John 10:30, John 14:9, John 13:35, Colossians 1:15, Romans 8:1