Love That Reveals God (con't)

9. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
10. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
      God knew I could not love. I proved that with that person in that situation. I needed God's love. But I can't do it myself. I need to receive God's love. That is the beautiful thing about the baby. She had no walls or conditioning or sin unrighteous whatever the label to stop God's love. She was just receiving it. She didn't have thoughts about the pastor or the way she was dressed. She was just open. And we all witnessed how she received our love. It was nothing she had done except to be born.
God knew it was hard for us to receive His love and to love so he loved us first and sent his son as the EXPRESSION of his love. He sent His son as the atoning sacrifice. Because of our sin of not being able to love, Jesus is God's expression of love for us. He can become our expression to others.
John 1:7 says "But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin or unrighteousness.
It is the application of Christ sacrifice to our relationships that brings the revealing of God and his love. That is why God sent his son that we might have this love one with another. How does this take place in relationships? It can take place many different ways. Here's a strange one.

Illustration: I was in charge of a youth group early in my ministry in another lifetime. I had these twin boys in the youth group we will call them Jim and John. They were always arguing and being negative. It was always about the dumbest things. Their cat and who did it loved the most, the best kind of car, who was the better surfer, which way the wind was blowing. etc.... ad nausium. It really ruin the atmosphere sometimes. And it irritated the kids so they began to avoid them. So I got my leadership kids together and we discussed it and decided to help them. The kids came up with the idea to start involving them more and inviting them over to their houses for dinner, go to movies, and swimming and other events. And every time they would start to argue or be negative they made them say something nice. At first it was funny and kind of a game but after a while they began to see themselves differently not just with each other but how they related in the group. It was fairly amazing. They became enjoyable to be around. By the kids accepting and fellowship and also helping the twins to change their behavior and them doing it they were able to open up to God's love. It was their receiving the love of those kids that made a difference in their life.
These kids became a community to Jim and John. In their own way they ministered God's love to the twins. And the twins received it and were changed. But it was a decision they made. They could have decided not to help but they didn't. They decided to give expression to their love.
The community of believers are the ones who receives God's love and therefore can love one another. But it is a decision we make to love. And that can be a big if.
John says in verses 11 and 12.

11/12 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
Love is perfected because of God's love in us. Not our own, but God's love being revealed among us. It is in our midst, if we love one another. It says that if we love one another then 1. God lives in us 2. God's love is perfected. It is all dependent on our love for one another.

Conclusion:
The community of believers is dependent on one another for the revealing of God through our love for one another. When we refuse to love or make the decision not to show love or express it, we can be missing God, and knowing God. Not only do we individually miss God but we can miss it as a community. If we are not supplying our part at the joint where we meet, we are not building up the body of Christ. Our love is not being perfected. Our knowledge of God is not being perfected. The great study of Theology and the epistemology of God is being held back. His church is being held back. The eschaton may be held back. He is coming for his bride of perfection without spot or wrinkle. So In John's words "Since God loved us we ought to love one another."