What Saith the Scripture?
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Without Love, I Am Nothing

"GOD is Love"
(1 John 4:8)

by Katie Stewart
10-25-98
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Preface

Much has been said about love. This world is always falling in and out of it. Families are started and ruined in the name of it. Love has been the theme of many poems, stories, plays and movies. It has been portrayed in as many fictional scenarios as there are in real life. If the world knows so much about love, then why does the world suffer so much from the lack of it? What the world calls "love" is not God's definition of "love". Since the world doesn't know God, it doesn't know love either, because "God is Love" (1John 4:8).

In dealing with "true love", we must try to understand the nature and Person of Love. There are two viewpoints a Christian must understand.


The Manward View

When we think of love, it is something we give, or something we get. Whether a verb or a noun, love is a "thing".

It is a fairly common fact that 1Corinthians 13 is "The Love Chapter". And there's quite a few Christians that can recite a little of "The Love Chapter", even if it's only a verse or two. And Christians understand that this chapter teaches the motivation for right actions is-- love. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity [love], I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing" (verses 1-3). 1Corinthians 13 does teach that the foundation and motivation of doing anything for the LORD must be, always and only, love.

As Christians, we ought to think of love, not just as something, but as Someone. Love is Someone we know intimately. Whether Love is a Verb or a Noun, Love is divinely Someone. It's as if "Love" is another name for the LORD.


The Godward View

To know this Love is breathless, with a scope that's infinite. "God is Love." Simplicity? Yes. "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is Love" (1John 4:8). Unsearchable? Definitely "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable" (Psalm 145:3).

This viewpoint, that God actually is Love, is the same Love spoken of in 1Corinthians 13. Love is foundational in our obligation -- which is, of course, absolute and only "reasonable service" (Romans 12:1). 1Corinthians 13 is looking at love from man's physical focus-- that of looking up. But "God is Love" is not just from "the ground up". This vantage point has an Advantage, and sweeps downward, from God to man. From "God is Love" to us. And the observation is so real! Real, and yet unbelievable. "What is man, that Thou shouldest magnify him? and that Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon him?"(Job 7:17). "LORD, what is man, that Thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that Thou makest account of him!" (Psalm 144:3). To leave the glories and joy of the Heavenly Home Jesus shared with His Wonderful Father-- to leave His majesty and authority and sovereignness-- to leave His attributes of "God-ness", Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence-- to leave more than our poor physical frames can imagine-- to leave All and willing offer Himself to His Most Perfectly Loving Father as a Sinless Substitute for the most vile offenders-- us-- is positively the very most UNHEARD of thing to any ear!


How Can He?

As unlovable as we are, HOW CAN HE love us? None ever born can answer that. But we have all the proof needed that He did love us-- and still does!

• "But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the CAPTAIN of their Salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of One: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren" (Hebrews 2:10).

• "In this was manifested the Love of God toward us, because that God sent His Only Begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is Love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and SENT HIS SON to be the Propitiation for our sins" (1John 4:9,10).
  
  
• "That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have Eternal Life. For God so loved the world, that He GAVE His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:15-17).

• "And we have known and believed the Love that God hath to us. God is Love; and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God, and God in him" (1John 4:16).
  
  
• "And this is the Record, that God hath given to us Eternal Life, and this Life is in His Son" (1John 5:11).

• "And He is the Propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1John 2:2).
  
  
• "And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have Everlasting Life: and I will raise him up at the Last Day" (John 6:40).
  
  
• "And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (John 11:26).
  
  
• "But God commendeth His Love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
  
  
• "In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight" (Colossians 1:22).
  
  
• "32 He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?... 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us... 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the Love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our LORD" (Romans 8).
  
  
• "Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He Ever Liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).
  
  
• "4 But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His Great Love wherewith He loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come He might show the Exceeding Riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2).
  
  
• "Now our LORD Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, Which hath loved us, and hath given us Everlasting Consolation and Good Hope through grace" (2Thessalonians 2:16).
  
  
• "And from Jesus Christ, Who is the Faithful Witness, and the First Begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood" (Revelation 1:5).
  
  
• "12 This is My Commandment, That ye Love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater Love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15).
  
  
• "Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:25).
  
  
• "6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly... 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His Life" (Romans 5).
  
  
• "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the Life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
  
  
• "And walk in Love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a Sweetsmelling Savour" (Ephesians 5:2).
  
  
• "I am the Living Bread which came down from Heaven: if any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever: and the Bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6:51).
  
  
• "A new Commandment I give unto you, That ye Love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also Love one another" (John 13:34).
  
  
• "Husbands, Love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it" (Ephesians 5:25).
  
  
• "And being made perfect, He became the Author Of Eternal Salvation unto all them that obey Him" (Hebrews 5:9).
  
  
• "How much more shall the Blood of Christ, Who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:14).
  
  
• "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to Whom be glory for ever. Amen" (Romans 11:36).

Oneness in Love

But wherever God's Love embraces our lives, enriching our efforts, and making sweet our existence, then we must respond with the same Love and mingle our sacrifices with His Divine Influence. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." (John 5:17). Our combined Love is a result of the "Oneness" of dwelling in blessed unity. "And we have known and believed the Love that God hath to us. God is Love; and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God, and God in him" (1John 4:16). This unity of Love reaches out to the world and causes a greater Oneness to occur in the Salvation of more "Unlovables". "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8). "God, Who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation" (2Corinthians 5:18). The Godhead Trinity and "all saints"-- One-- sharing the same Grace, Love, and Fellowship. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all" (2Corinthians 13:14). "I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in One; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me" (John 17:23). So, "God is Love" unifies the family of God with Himself. All of us "Unlovables" are truly loved by the Father and His Son with the same Love that they share between Themselves. We are One.


We share His Oneness even in The Judgment

Being of "the same mind and in the same judgment" (1Corinthians 1:10) with our LORD, we will be One with Him as He reclaims all that is His.

• Rev. 19:11 "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war.
  
  
• 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were Many Crowns; and He had a Name written, that no man knew, but He Himself.
  
  
• 13 And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His Name is called The Word Of God.
  
  
• 14 And the armies which were in Heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
  
  
• 15 And out of His mouth goeth a Sharp Sword, that with It He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
  
  
• 16 And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
  
  
• Rev. 17:14 "He is LORD of lords, and KING of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful."

Conclusion

Without Love, we can do nothing for the LORD-- none of the noble acts spoken of in 1Corinthians 13. Without Love, we are nothing, because the unity of our Oneness is founded only in Him, i.e., "God is Love". "Beloved, let us Love one another: for Love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God" (1John 4:7). Without Love we are without God. And without God, we are nothing.

"We love Him, because He first loved us"
(1John 4:19).

"The LORD direct your hearts into the Love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ"
(2Thessalonians 3:5).

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