1 John 4:7-21
God 's LOVE and Our Love
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
John Wesley was an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism...He was a key figure in the Methodist revival, and once offered a powerful response to a man struggling with his personal unbelief in God...When asked about his approach to spiritual guidance, Wesley emphasized the importance of Love...Wesley knew that everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God...Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is LOVE...This is how God showed His LOVE among us: He sent His One and Only Son into the world that we might live through Him...This is LOVE: not that we loved God, but that He LOVED us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins...Dear friends, since God so LOVED us, we also ought to love one another...No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His LOVE is made complete in us...
Wesley believed in Virtue and Happiness...He believed that true religion should lead to a virtuous and happy life...Wesley spoke of Relationships...He emphasized the importance of positive relationships with others and with God....He spoke of how we get Salvation through Jesus...So he pointed towards heaven and God as the ultimate destination and the source of salvation...Wesley saw Christianity as the Religion of Love...He saw religion as primarily about love, both for God and for others...He believed in what Jesus spoke of in the Greatest Commandment...We are to love God and we are to love all our neighbors...Wesley believed in the Transforming Power of the Gospel...The gospel, he believed, had the power to transform lives and bring about spiritual growth...
Wesley's response to the unbeliever highlights the core principles of Methodism, which are personal holiness, social justice, and the centrality of Jesus in our lives...His focus on practical Christianity and his emphasis on personal experience still resonate with many people today...
This is what Wesley said this to the lost one who needed guidance: “The great preacher and founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley (1703-1791), was once approached by a man who came to him in the grip of unbelief..."All is dark; my thoughts are lost," the man said to Wesley, "but I hear that you preach to a great number of people every night and morning...Pray, what would you do with them?...Whither would you lead them?...What religion do you preach?...What is it good for?"... Wesley gave this answer to those questions: You ask, what would I do with them?...I would make them virtuous and happy, easy in themselves, and useful to others...Whither would I lead them?...To heaven, to God the Judge, the LOVER of all, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant...What religion do I preach?...The religion of love...The law of kindness brought to light by the gospel...What is this good for?...To make all who receive it enjoy God and themselves, to make them like God, lovers of all, contented in their lives, and crying out at their death, in calm assurance, "O grave where is thy victory!...Thanks be to God, who giveth me victory, through my LORD Jesus Christ.”...
As I read this about John Wesley these other verses relate to his quote to the unbeliever...
The verses of Romans 12:1-2 on Personal Holiness..."Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of all that God has graciously done for us, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual worship...Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and pleasing and perfect will of God."...And Paul writing this in 2 Corinthians 5:17..."Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new has arrived."...
This relates to Wesley's views on Social Justice...In Matthew 25:35-40, we read the parable of the sheep and the goats emphasizes the importance of serving others, especially the marginalized and needy...And in James 1:27, we learn: "Religion pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."...
This we learn the Importance and the Centrality of Jesus Christ in our lives...In John 14:6, Jesus says: "I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life...No one comes to the Father except through Me."...And in Acts 4:12, we read: "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."...
And about love and God, we read 1John 4:8... Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is LOVE...
These verses, among many others, support John Wesley's teachings on personal holiness, social justice, love, and the importance of having and keeping Jesus as the central part of our life...These verses of Scripture provide a rich foundation for understanding and living out the Christian faith....