THE MAIN IDEA
The love of God is the love that gives life.

THE SOURCE OF LOVE IS GOD
God is not telling us to love those we already love, but to love those whom He loves. But God so loved the world. How is that possible? It’s because we’re not talking about human love here. The love that we are supposed to love one another with is love that comes from God (verse 7). If we do not love others with the same kind of love that God loves us, then we cannot say that we are saved. When we do love one another with the love that comes from God, that is the strongest evidence that we are indeed saved. And that is because God is love. When we become born again, the love that has its source in God comes to us and that love of God becomes a part of who we are. And if we refuse to exercise the love of God that is within us, we are in essence rejecting the presence of Christ within us. Our salvation is not evident because of how much we know the Bible. Our salvation is evident when we love one another because God, who is the source of love, is living in us.

THE POWER OF LOVE IS CHRIST
Verse 9 tells us is that if God had not sent His one and only Son into the world, we would have no possibility of eternal life. Without Jesus Christ, we are all spiritually dead, and our destiny is hell. And because of our sin nature, we do not know God, and we do not love God. Our natural behavior is to sin against God. But God’s act was to love us and send His one and only Son to die and suffer His wrath, so that we might have eternal life. Such love from God demands a response. We have an obligation because we are children of God to love one another (verse 11). But Jesus’s atoning sacrifice is not simply the motive for loving others. When we experience the love of Jesus Christ and understand at a deep level what He has done for us, what He saved us from, and the abundant life that He wants us to have, knowing His love gives us the power to love others.

THE PURPOSE OF LOVE IS LOVE
If we love one another in obedience to Christ, then God lives in us—literally (verse 12). If we don’t love one another, then God does not live in us, in which case, we will not be able to bear witness to Jesus Christ. We must remember that the love that has its source in the Father and is powered by the love of Christ has to be demonstrated by our actions as guided by the Holy Spirit. There are 59 “one another” commands in the Bible, and the command to “love one another” is the one that governs them all. These “one another” commands, with the “love one another” command to rule them all, give us a fundamental spiritual principle that needs to be at the heart of every church—our church. This principle comes from Ephesians 4:11-16, and it tells us this: In all that we say, and in all that we do, we ought to help and encourage others to grow in spiritual maturity and in their relationship with Jesus Christ. And that simple principle begins with the most basic, fundamental ministry that every believer has been given—the ministry of presence—that is, just showing up. When we show up, God shows up. And we show up because Christ first showed up for us. Showing up in Christ. That is love. The purpose of love is love—so that we might all help and encourage one another to grow in love and become like Christ. What greater love can there be than to help someone grow closer to Christ and become more like Him?

DISCUSSION QUESTION
The very phrase “one another” carries with it the idea of community. What “one another” have you seen displayed in our community? What would you like to see more of?