by Rev. Alexander Murray, M.A.
(The following are notes of a sermon preached in Victoria Park Church, Toronto, Canada, on Sabbath morning, 7th April, 1974).
“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” 1 John 4:7.
Jesus, the Master, had given to His disciples the new commandment that they would love one another, and we may say that John, appropriately known as the beloved disciple, was one who obviously had learned that lesson well. Thus it was his care to impart to others the need of obedience to this new commandment, also the need of continuing obedience to it when days were foretold in which the love of many would wax cold. The
threat to the presence and continuance of mutual love between the people of God comes from the side of the cold world with its spirit of enmity and hatred. Confronted thus, the Church must give good heed to the injunction, “Love one another,” lest the fervency of love decrease and the witness of the Church be weakened in respect of the opportunity — “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
Our present Scripture provides teaching as to the nature of this amazing grace of love, and we may seek to consider:
- The origin of this love — “of God.”
- How man comes to the exercise of this grace.
- The privilege of being exercised thus.
I (1) With regard to our life in this world it is plain that a great variety of things are present for man’s use for the enjoyment of life. These divide into two obvious classifications of (a) material things associated with the body and (b) things associated with the soul which are spiritual. If we ask where do these things come from, it must be answered that, in common with our own persons, they are all the gifts of the beneficent Creator — “without Him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:36). In this way of thinking we may say that man is of God, that the world is of God, and, for example, light is of God, as He created that wonder on the first day. All these are of God as the product of Divine wisdom and almighty power.
(2) Against the background of what has been noticed we may seek to determine the significance of our Scripture when it states, “love is of God.” It is appropriate to remember here the distinction, that in creating the heavens and the earth, God made what was extra to and, properly speaking, outwith His own Being and person. Things of creation are, therefore, of God in the sense that He is their Author but not of God in the more particular sense of belonging to His being and nature. That is, they are not divine but may be spoken of as mundane, celestial, etc. On the other hand the high order and excellence of love is such that it is of God as pertaining to His nature and being. To reiterate this point — love is not that kind of thing that God has chosen to make it, and that in terms of His will He should have said — “Let there be love.” Rather, the truth is that love is of God as that which is His as God, eternally and unchangeably. I may say here in passing, when we live in a day when extremes of doctrine are commonplace, let us not be put off by these things so as to leave ourselves deprived of the wonder of such a truth as this that God is love.
(3) “Love is of God,” is to say that, as He is in Himself and related to the inmost properties of His nature, it is natural and necessary for God to
love, and go forth towards such as are objects of this love in the way of seeking their good. As an example of this we are told of the exercise of that great love between the Divine Father and the Divine Son where mutually the good of the other is sought. So we come to the matter of the spirit of love that necessarily belongs to God going forth in the particular channel of His sovereign choice as He loves sinners of the human race. It is in Christ, His Son, that God loved the Church. This is love that is of God and seeing that it is Divine love it partakes of these qualities that it is everlasting and unchangeable and great according to the measure of the infinite. This truth is demonstrated in that God so greatly loved the world that the only adequate gift of that love was His own, infinite, eternal Son. Infinite love is vindicated in its outreach of Divine dimensions!
II (1) Secondly, we come to the level of the creature, and the question squarely confronts us as to what we may know of this exercise of love. The tree bears fruit according to its kind, and like the water which can rise only to its own level we can, each of us, act in accordance with the nature that is ours. This means that the publican or sinner can love his fellow-sinner. We can love at the carnal and sensual level — and so far as human nature will take us as related to family ties and so on. A further question is of the kind as to whether these activities represent the limit of our love. This is only low-grade loving and the enquiry actually is as to what we may know in the way of love to God and, again, of love to Him by way of His people. Is what we call love worthy of the name — as being pure and holy — or is it merely in terms of natural instinct and what is in a large measure self-centred?
(2) To love after the manner to which our Scripture exhorts is to do so (as we must carefully note) after the manner that is “of God” and divine. This is love that must be of the requisite quality, however small its measure. To think in these terms is not to stretch credulity to the limit for that man should be possessed of this love, is not only possible but is, in fact, essential to his true prosperity. The possibility of the matter is demonstrated with the utmost clarity in the life of the man, Christ Jesus. The true humanity of Christ has to be recognised and in the One who tabernacled among men in the regions of Galilee and Judea we witness the exercise of love that is divine according to the full measure of a man. This was love directed to the benefit of men and women on the earth, but it was love in its nature and quality of One who is the Son of God, and that in the exercise of loving obedience to the will of His Father. Here is love pure and holy, in bowels of compassion, and we may seek to search out its length and breadth and depth and height.
(3) Now after the manner of the Master the fact remains for the disciple that if he or she is to give place to this love of God in the experience of the soul then it is only as the sons of God that this may be done. Thus there is entailed the necessity of men becoming such sons of God. Again, true sonship involves us in the necessity that we be born or begotten into that family, and here in turn, we are confronted with the necessity of a great and radical change being wrought in us. Also, it is God that begets in terms of His overshadowing grace by His Word and Spirit. He has begotten us to Himself by Jesus Christ. The truth of the Gospel, as the incorruptible seed and germ of life, comes to be implanted in the soul and by the working of the indwelling Spirit of God the life of the new creation is present with regard to that person. There follows the life of grace in that soul where there is now present a spiritual and divine activity in line with the nature of this new life — “That which is born of the spirit is spirit.” We need not mince our words in this connection for there is now found with the creature an exercise that is entirely above nature, and that which in its quality is of a divine order.
III (1) Lastly, we come to consider the privilege present for man in that he be exercised in terms of this love of God. And the first thing is this not inconsiderable favour — that such know God. It must at all times be a matter of much concern for us creatures to be able to say that we know — that we do truly and in reality know — God, as distinct from merely thinking or imagining that we know Him. The thing indispensable in our attaining to knowing God is, plainly, this knowledge of His love. I repeat — man’s knowledge of God can in no sense be adequate until he obtains this insight into the truth of the Divine love. Indeed, it is this love that we must first know. (N.B. It is in love that the God of love draws near to the sinner when it is the Divine anger that may be most in evidence). Such is then the truth about the living God — that He is a God who necessarily loves and whom, in our knowledge of Him, may not be separated from that necessity. Further, this is what will break the heart of the sinner as he considers the greatness and constancy of the love that is Divine as present in God’s dealings with himself.
(2) In line with the thought of man knowing God, and that truly is the opportunity here present — that fellowship with the Divine One is present as man himself may be found exercised in the way of this love that is of God. It is true, for instance, at the human level, that if we are to know our fellow-man then we must be with him; and specially advantageous in this connection, is the opportunity of working in company with him. Thus, on the spiritual side of things, to be exercised in the love of God is to be found
in that greatly advantageous circumstance of being found working alongside God. In a special sense this is man’s privilege within the bounds of the Church, where we are invited, as a primary duty, to bestow the love of a true devotion upon Jesus Christ. In doing so we are at one with the mind of the Divine Father in His exercise with regard to His beloved Son. In the public Means of Grace this morning, that profoundly precious opportunity confronts you — the call to you is to be exercised in love to the One who is the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person. It is in the exercise of love that there will follow the benefit of an increased knowledge of God. It is in this exercise also that we may obtain that precious assurance regarding our personal interest in His grace.
(3) Finally, we may not be done with this present subject apart from noting with all care — our setting forth in practice of this love of God must concern us, in large measure, with the loving of our fellow-man. As is plain in the teaching of the Epistle, this is what provides the vindication of the whole matter. The facts of the case are — that as God is exercised in this way of love to man, then this love of God in us must be found running in the same channel and direction. Without contradiction, this is the fellowship which the Christian Church offers us — “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works.” (Heb. 10:24). Thus, after the example of John here, that we might unfeignedly say, “Beloved!” in the way of being faithful and considerate the one to the other to seek to promote the eternal and spiritual interests of each other as we might be found entwined in the gracious bonds of the Gospel; and in the love of God and of Jesus, His Son. As has been said — to dip one’s fingers in the ocean and taste its saltness is to possess true knowledge of the ocean while its great dimensions stretch beyond our ken.
May the Lord bless His word!