「愛の神にとどまる人の確信」 七月第三主日礼拝 宣教 2025年7月20日
ヨハネの手紙一 (1 John) 4章7〜21節 牧師 河野信一郎
Good morning. I am grateful to be able to join you in worship with you this morning. It looks like the hot days will continue this week, but on the 27th, when we will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of Okubo Church, it is forecast to be cloudy with a high temperature of 32 degrees Celsius. Since this is a commemorative service, we sincerely hope that you will save your strength until the 26th and come to this chapel on the morning of the 27th.
We believe that the commemorative service will not be a time to reflect on the past, but rather a time to worship and trust in the Lord for the future of our church, and a time to resolve to walk according to His mighty guidance. Let us give joy and thanks to the Lord with praise, and let us listen to the Word of God spoken through Rev. Fukunaga so that our church may continue to receive God’s blessings and be a church that faithfully serves and walks as the light of the world and salt of the earth to those who live in our community and are in need of God’s love. Let us make it a time to listen to the Word of God spoken through Pastor Fukunaga.
In July, we focused on the word “Abide,” which also means “to connect and dwell.” We heard from John 15 about the importance of staying connected to Jesus by believing in Him as our Savior, and from Psalm 15 about the kind of person who abides near God forever, This morning, we would like to hear from the fourth chapter of I John about what we should always value in order to keep abiding in God, the God of love. I would like to share with you that when we know God’s will in our daily lives and know clearly what to value, we can stay connected to Jesus with confidence.
But first, I would like to give some background on this letter of John. John, a disciple of Jesus, sent a letter to a “house church,” a group of people to whom he preached the gospel and who believed in Jesus as their Savior. The reason for this was that the Christians in that “house church” were in great danger in their faith. False teachers were teaching a false gospel that was not the teachings of Jesus, which was causing divisions within the church, making it impossible for Christians to trust and love each other, and causing those who had left the church to drift away or abandon their faith. This letter was written to encourage such Christians to stay connected to Jesus Christ, whom God has given to them, in order to keep them from stepping out in faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Two great declarations are made in this first letter of John. The first is the declaration that “God is light” (1:5-3:10), even in the midst of great “darkness,” suffering, and anguish brought about by those who enter the church and deceive Christians. It encourages us by telling us that God continues to connect with us by giving us the light of Jesus Christ. When we are in darkness, we do not know what is truth and what is a lie. Therefore, we get confused and do things that make God sad. It is God who gives us the light of Jesus Christ and invites us to salvation while we are struggling in such darkness. John says that to walk in the light is to keep Jesus’ words and to live by obedience.
Now, the other great declaration is the declaration that “God is love” (3:11-5:17) even in the midst of such spiritual turmoil, encouraging us to continue to abide in this love of God, no matter what suffering we are put through. To “abide in God’s love” means to continue to believe in Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection, which the false teachers denied, and to abide in this faith. The reason for this is that God’s love for us is expressed in the death and resurrection of Jesus on the cross.
Now, as we listen to verses 7 through 21 of chapter 4, which we read earlier this morning, the word “love” is used 30 times in this chapter. And 29 of those 30 times are used in verses 7 through 21. There are four words for “love” in the Greek language. The first is the word “eros,” which expresses affection for the opposite sex. The second is “philia,” which expresses friendship or fraternity. The third is the word “storge,” which describes the love of a parent for a child. However, in this fourth chapter, the words “erose, filia, and storge” do not appear even once.
The word “love” in this fourth chapter all use the word “agape” to describe God’s love for us human beings. This “agape” love is love that comes from God. It is a unilateral and abundant love poured out from God to all people. All people are created, loved, and given life by God, and exist as people who praise God, but because of sin, we think of ourselves as “unworthy,” and because of our arrogance, we look down on others as “unworthy,” discriminate, judge, and try to hold them down. They are not worthy.
Most of the Christians who were deceived by the false teachers were unable to love one another. Because they were deceived, they could no longer discern between “God’s true love” and “man’s false love. However, in an attempt to correct such errors, John writes this letter to them, encouraging them to walk according to the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, and not the spirit of Antichrist. He clearly shows that those who stay connected to the Savior Jesus Christ and are led by the Holy Spirit belong to God and are connected to the God of love, and encourages them to stay with Jesus and His gospel.
In verse 7, John encourages us to love one another, receiving love from God, the source of love. For we cannot love one another with human love alone. Those who can love one another are those who know, believe, and receive God’s love daily, and who love one another with God’s love.
In verse 8, “For God is love,” John does not say, “God loves,” but rather, “God is love,” indicating God’s nature. God himself is love. Verses 9 and 10 then describe how God has loved us in the past and in the present. In other words, “God sent his only begotten Son into the world, so that we might live. God sent his only begotten Son so that we might live through him. Here God’s love was shown in us. We did not love God, but God loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Herein is love.”
The “here” in “here is love” refers to the cross of Jesus. This sacrificial love of Jesus is the base for loving one another, and John encourages us in verse 11, “Since God loved us in this way, we should also love one another,” but without the repentance of sin and the emotion and gratitude for salvation that this cross of Jesus “is for my salvation,” we will not be able to receive God’s love fully. Without the love of God as the basis of our love for one another, we will not be able to receive the fullness of God’s love, and we will love one another only with our finite and imperfect love, and our love will spin out of control and cause pain and suffering.
Let’s put off verse 12 for a moment and read verse 13 first. Here it says, “God has given us a portion of His Spirit,” and the Holy Spirit is given over us to make up for our imperfections. This Holy Spirit transforms our hearts, reminding us that God is always with us, that the God of love loves us, and encouraging us that it is important to believe in Jesus and stay connected to this Savior.
Now, verse 12. There are three ways to show people the invisible God and His love. One is in chapter 2, verse 6, which says, “He who says he is always in God must himself walk as Jesus walked. In other words, we show God and His love to others by loving one another as Jesus loved us.
The second is God’s desire to show us that the God of love lives and works with us as we love one another, as in chapter 4, verse 12. The third way is in verses 14 and 15. The third way is in verses 14 and 15, when we publicly proclaim Jesus as our Savior in our daily lives. As verse 16 says, “We know and believe God’s love through Jesus Christ, and we live in that love. God is love.” It is His will that we testify that “God is love”.
The first half of verse 17 says, “Thus we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because love is made whole in us. Thus” are three important truths conveyed in this letter: 1) God loves each of us through Jesus Christ our Savior, 2) Jesus paid for our sins on the cross and our sins are completely forgiven, and 3) that the Holy Spirit, though invisible, is always with us, protecting and guiding us, and giving us the power to testify of Jesus.
When we believe in these three truths, we are given the assurance of salvation and are freed from all fear and anxiety. As verse 18 says, the love that God gives us is a love that has triumphed over death, and that love shuts out all fear and anxiety. Let us not be afraid or anxious about the harsh realities of this world, but let us live in peace, shutting out all anxiety and fear through God’s love. It is the God of love and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gives us that peace.
John encourages us to love one another, receiving God’s love, not from people. Verse 19 says, “We love because God first loved us,” and all love, grace, and blessings come from God. Let us walk trusting in this love. Let us continue to abide in the God of love. God walks with us. Let us love each other as Jesus loved us, share the love that Jesus showed us on the cross, and move forward together in this church.