Living Like Jesus Means Loving Like Jesus

1 John 4:15-21

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

All You Need is Love… and Coffee! (1 John 4:15-18)

“15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. -1 John 4:15-18 (NIV)

I have a lot of coffee mugs in my office and at my house. Probably more than anyone really needs to have. Some of them are Star Wars, some of them have pictures of our kids, and some of them are have Christian slogans.

One of my favorite coffee mugs riffs on an enormously famous song: “All You Need is Love… and Coffee!” I can’t prove that John and Paul the musicians consulted John and Paul (the Apostles), but it’s clear that both Apostles saw love as the central tenet of Christianity. In 1 John 4:15-21, love is mentioned 13 times. Some references are about God’s love for us, while others are about our love for God and then our love for others.

Biblical Writers Used Repetition for Emphasis.

If this focus on love is starting to sound repetitious at this point in John’s letter, that’s likely by design. Like a painter who applies a second or third coast of paint to the wall of a house, John is adding layers of love to his letter to emphasize the importance of practicing agape — selfless, Christian love.

There are several themes in these verses that are repeated throughout the entire letter of 1 John:

• The theme of Believing in Jesus (from 4:15) appears also in 2:23; 3:23; 4:2,3; 5:1,5,10, 13.

• The theme of Living in God (from 4:15-16) appears also in 2:6, 10, 14; 3:6, 24(x2); 4:12, 13.

• The theme of God’s Love for Us (from 4:16, 19) appears also in 3:1, 16; 4:9, 10, 11, 12.

• The theme of Loving Others (from 4:20-21) appears also in 2:10; 3:10, 11, 14, 18; 4:7, 8, 11, 12; 5:1, 2.

It’s important to remember that John’s letter would have been read aloud to the church he was writing to. Papyrus scrolls (the paper they used at the time) were very expensive, and not everyone had the educational background to know how to read and write. So John’s audience didn’t read the letter, they listened to it. Because God’s people experienced God’s word in its spoken form, repetition would have been equivalent to putting an important thought in bold italics for extra emphasis.

John does not want this church to walk away from this letter without hearing about God’s love, the importance of believing in Jesus, living in God, and loving others.

Spiritual Transformation

“This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.” -1 John 4:17 (NIV)

When I was a kid, it was pretty common for believers to wear WWJD bracelets, which stood for What Would Jesus Do? The idea was to wear a constant reminder that in this life, we are called to follow the example of Jesus. 1 John 4:17 teaches us that in this world, we are like Christ. That is written as a statement of fact, rather than a command that we are to follow. Because of our faith in Jesus and faithfulness to his commands, we are already living like him.

Spiritual formation is the process of letting God slowly change our hearts, minds, and actions so that we are a better reflection of Jesus Christ. A potter starts with a clump of clay, but molds it into its final design. An artist starts with a palette of brilliant colors, and slowly transforms a blank canvas into a beautiful masterpiece. So it is with God the Father.

“Spiritual transformation is the process by which Christ is formed in us …for the glory of God, for the abundance of our own lives, and for the sake of others. The possibility that human beings can be transformed to such an extent that they image Christ is central to the message of the gospel and therefore it is central to the mission of the Church. ” -Ruth Haley Barton

Following Jesus means inviting God to take our life and transform it into a better picture of Jesus. In the book of Ephesians, Paul gives us a picture of what spiritual formation is all about:

“22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” -Ephesians 4:22-24 (NIV).

Disciples of Jesus are created to be like God. A careful reading of Ephesians 4:23 shows that the process of being made new is in the passive voice—it’s a process that is done to us, rather than something that we accomplish on our own. Romans 12:2 also puts it in the passive voice:

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” -Romans 12:2 (NIV)

God is the one who makes us new and transforms our minds. Certainly we have the power to disrupt his plans and resist his efforts to help us become more like Jesus, but God is the potter and we are the clay. A lump of clay can’t mold itself.

In Romans 8:29, Paul writes these words on the subject of spiritual formation:

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” -Romans 8:29 (NIV)

Living and Loving Like Jesus (1 John 4:19-21)

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” -1 John 4:19-21 (NIV)

All of those passages about Spiritual Formation show us that one goal of following Jesus is to allow ourselves to be transformed into a better reflection of the Messiah. D. Moody Smith calls this process “a participation in the new reality, the new being that God is creating through his Son” (Interpretation, p. 118).

And one of the clearest ways we can imitate Jesus is by loving people the way Jesus has loved us. Which is something John has talked about extensively both in his letter as well as his Gospel.

The message in these verses is simple: If we want to live like Jesus, we have to love like Jesus.

Reflection Questions: How does the love of God motivate us to become more like Jesus? What is the important difference between transforming ourselves and letting God transform us? What is something you heard God calling you to know, do, or feel differently through this passage of Scripture?