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LEADER GUIDE

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HIGHLIGHT: 1 John 4:7-12

7Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has

been born of God and knows God. 8The one who does not love does not know God, because

God is love. 9God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only

Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10Love consists in this: not that we

loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our

sins. 11Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. 12No one has

ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and his love is made complete in

us.

EXPLAIN

Leaders: Feel free to use any of the “Explain” materials to guide discussion as it is needed or to expound on a certain area of the text as it comes up during your Life Group time, but the purpose of this section is to deepen your own personal understanding of the Word. Your members have access to all of this material as well.

1 John is thought to be a response to a rise in an early form of something called Gnosticism—a mystic religion that stole Christian themes and symbols in order to argue that salvation comes through some hidden knowledge. It said that someone could be saved by acknowledging something already within them, rather than through repentance and faith in Jesus. In this section, John argues that God can be known and experienced—God is love, and if we love one another, God remains in us. This is a love worth sharing with those around us.

vv.7-8 Love is the byproduct of having been born of God—it is not the thing that makes you saved. It would be unbiblical to say that simply loving people constitutes living a Christian life, for the Christian also practices confession (see this same book, 2:23 and 4:2), the acknowledgment that Jesus is the Son of God (4:15), and ethical integrity (3:16).

These verses have often been used as proof that God accepts and tolerates all people, regardless of behavior or that simply showing love demonstrates proof of a relationship with

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Him. Remember that John is writing from the perspective of a lifelong Jew, who define people and things by their actions, not by abstract concepts. When we see John write that “God is love,” it is just as accurate to say, “God acts in a loving way toward His people.” We know that God demonstrated His love for us in this: that Christ died for our sins. Since God’s love is revealed exclusively through Jesus and is accessible only to those who believe in Him, God’s acceptance is directed toward those who believe and obey Him.

vv.10-11 When John uses the verb “love” in this verse, it is in the Perfect tense, which gives it an especially deep significance. Members of the world did not love God in the past, and continue to not love God even though He loved them and sent His Son to die for them. If John had used a different tense, called the Pluperfect, he would have communicated the experience of believers: they did not love God in the past and continued to not love Him up until the point that they believed that God sent His Son.

This answers arguments for Universalism—that everyone, regardless of whether they accept Jesus or not, experiences life with Him for eternity—that some have attempted to use these verses to prove. Some do not love God now, even though God already demonstrated His love for us.

v.12 The CSB translates the second half of this verse with “his love is made complete in us.” This is consistent with John’s grammar, but it may mean something slightly different than our English makes it seem—it isn’t so much “the love that God has” but is, rather, “God’s kind of love.” “His love” shows where the love comes from. It flows from Him to others through us. Tom Thatcher points out how John brings this section’s argument to a close: “when we show love to others, we prove that God is present in us, even though God cannot be seen.”

APPLY Your Leader Guide will have material that the member guides do not have. The bolded material is what the people in your group will have, the other material is only for you to help guide discussion.

This guide can be as strict a script or as general a resource as the leader needs it to be.

1. What stuck out to you or challenged you in what you heard in the sermon or read in the text?

2. What is your love language—how can someone best show you that they love you?

In his book “The Five Love Languages,” Gary Chapman identified five basic “languages”: Words of Affirmation: Expressing affection through spoken affection, praise, or

appreciation.

Acts of Service: Actions, rather than words, are used to show and receive love.

Receiving Gifts: Gifting is symbolic of love and affection.

Quality Time: Expressing affection with undivided, undistracted attention.

Physical Touch: With this love language, the speaker feels affection through physical touch.

Yours may be one or a combination of these, or even something entirely different. It’s good to get to know how the people in your life group feel loved!

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LEADER GUIDE

R RESPOND Take a few moments to respond:

• What is one thing you can do this week to demonstrate God’s love to someone else—

even if it is something small like paying for a stranger’s lunch? Many times, it’s something small and purely selfless like this that gives you an opportunity to share your faith with someone.

Encourage one another through email, text messages, or coffee dates throughout the week to build up and encourage each other.

3. When did you first encounter God’s love for you? How has God shown you love?

God showed us that He loved us by giving His Son to die on our behalf. It is the ultimate act of love: He says to those who receive love through words by repeating in that still, small voice, “You’re so important to me that I died for you.” He displayed it for those who feel love through actions by a historically verified event that continues to have ramifications to this day. It was a gift that He gave us, as well as countless gifts throughout the day—whether it be unexplainable peace or the comfort of knowing God is listening. He did it all so that we could spend time with Him.

Each of us experiences God’s love differently—because His love is perfect. In return, we turn and show His love to the people around us.

4. What does loving your neighbor look like? What does loving your enemy look like?

Just like the Gospel came to you because it was headed to someone else, the same is true of God’s love. How can you, personally, be better at loving the people around you?

Love is an entirely self-sacrificing action. It’s not a thing you “feel” (though often loving someone may make you feel affection for them), it’s a thing you do. Love, as the 90s band dcTalk put it, is a verb. When we see love in light of God’s love for us, we begin to see how we can love even those people who oppose us: Even though we don’t deserve anything God has given us, He gave it to us anyway and made true community with Him possible. When we understand how greatly God loves us even though we are sinners, we can go out of our way to love even someone who stands against us—because they are recipients of the exact same love we are.

5. How can your display of love help you communicate the Gospel to someone who needs to hear it?