Go Deep

(1 John 4:7-16 - Love)

 

Read 1 John 4:7-16, noting everything that stimulates interest or raises questions.

How can I know if God wants to give his love through me to someone?

Why, according to verse 7, should we love one another?

Explain why someone who does not love does not know God.

Why is it right to say, “God is love,” but wrong to say, “Love is God”?

What does it mean to love someone? It is a matter of feelings, actions, or something else?

If, as Shayne suggested, sin causes us to have an “allergic reaction” to God, but only God can take away our sins, what hope is there for us?

If love has to do with giving myself, am I not in danger of giving too much—so much that there is nothing left of me?

John says that “God’s love is made complete in us.” Does that mean his love is incomplete without us? Explain.

Think of God’s love as a circuit, which travels through the entire church of Jesus Christ. What breaks the circuit? What happens when the circuit is completed, and church members truly love one another?

How can I become an active part of the circuit of God’s love? What steps are necessary?

John Stott said that “Humans are made for God’s love.” Assuming he is right, what happens to a human who never experiences God’s love?

Read verses 9-10. How did God show his love? How can you celebrate Jesus’s birth as an extraordinary and extravagant gift of God’s love?

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