A. SERMON SLIDES

Slide 1:
What’s Love Got To Do WIth It?
I John 4:7-21

Slide 2:
1 John 4:7–21 (ESV)
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Slide 3:
4 Biblical Aspects of Love
1) God is love
2) We have a motivation to love’
3) Love as a manifestation of God to the world
4) Love providing eternal confidence

Slide 4:
God is love
“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Slide 5:
Our Motivation
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world… In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Slide 6:
Love as Witness
“No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Slide 7:
Love that gives us Confidence
“By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment…There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”

B. GROUP DISCUSSION

1) Please read 1 John 4:7-21. There is a lot here on the topic of love. What aspects of love and John’s “love test” stand out to you?

2) What are the implications of God IS Love?

3) What must happen for God’s love to come inside of us and change our lives from the inside-out?

4) Why is it so important for Christians to love one another? Explore the implications of not loving one another very well, and trying to love the “world” well, or loving one another well, as a sign and attractional witness for the world. Can we do both? Which is more important?

5) “Perfect love casts out fear.”
What has this meant to you, and what do you think it means?

6) Prayer and praise