This Is Love: When God’s Love Becomes Visible - Jesse Morgan
What does it really mean to love?
That’s the question Jesse Morgan explored in the final message of our Advent series This Is Love, based on 1 John 4:7–12. While we often use the word “love” to describe feelings, preferences, or fleeting emotions, this passage invites us to see love in a much deeper, richer way.
In this post, we’ll unpack what the apostle John meant when he said “God is love”, why that mattered so deeply to the early church, and how this kind of love is meant to shape the way we live today. We’ll also offer some reflection and discussion questions to help you take the message further.
Love That Comes From God (1 John 4:7–12)
John’s words in 1 John 4 are warm and inviting, but they’re also incredibly direct.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.”
These words were written to a young church facing confusion and pain. Some of their former leaders had walked away, spreading ideas that denied Jesus’ humanity and undermined the heart of the gospel. If Jesus wasn’t truly human, then he didn’t truly suffer. And if he didn’t truly die, then there was no real sacrifice — and no real love.
John responds firmly, but pastorally. At the centre of his message is a simple, life-shaping truth: God’s love is not abstract or theoretical. It is revealed, embodied, and proven in Jesus.
John reminds them — and us — that love doesn’t begin with us.
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Love flows from God to us, and only then through us.
What Kind of Love Is John Talking About?
When we hear the word love, we often think of emotion — attraction, affection, or chemistry. But the original Greek language gives us a richer picture.
Jesse unpacked four different Greek words for love, each with its own flavour:
Eros – romantic or passionate love
Storge – family or instinctive love
Phileo – friendship or shared affection
Agape – self-giving, sacrificial love
It’s agape that John uses again and again in this passage.
Agape love isn’t a feeling you fall into.
It’s not based on attraction, familiarity, or shared interests.
It’s a choice — a decision to seek the good of another, even when it costs you something.
“Agape is the only kind of love that is an act, not a feeling.”
This matters, because it reshapes how we understand God.
John doesn’t say God has love.
He says God is love.
That means love isn’t something God turns on when we behave well. It’s his very nature.
Love in Action, Not Just Words
If agape love is real, it must be visible.
God didn’t just tell us he loved us — he showed us.
“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.”
God crossed the distance between heaven and earth.
He entered human history as a baby.
He lived among broken people.
And he willingly went to the cross.
That’s not sentimental love.
That’s costly, deliberate, sacrificial love.
And according to John, that action now demands a response.
“Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
This is where love becomes more than belief — it becomes practice.
Love That Transforms Us
The Heart of the Passage
One of the most powerful insights from the sermon was how John structures this passage.
Rather than building to an emotional conclusion, John places the most important truth right at the centre:
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us…”
Everything else flows from here.
We can’t genuinely love others
until we’ve truly received God’s love for ourselves.
We don’t love to earn God’s favour.
We love because we already have it.
As Tim Keller put it:
“We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”
That truth humbles us — and it frees us.
When Love Becomes Visible
John says something startling near the end of the passage:
“No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
In other words, God becomes visible through his people.
When we love with agape love — patiently, generously, sacrificially — the invisible God is made visible to the world.
This kind of love doesn’t depend on whether someone deserves it.
It doesn’t disappear when it’s inconvenient.
It doesn’t stop at people we like.
It’s the love Jesus lived out as he moved toward the margins — welcoming children, touching the sick, eating with outcasts, and forgiving enemies.
And it’s the love we’re invited into.
“Agape love is God’s unconditional choice to sacrifice his Son — and it’s the same love we’re called to give away.”
The Greatest Gift of All
At Christmas, we think a lot about gifts.
Some are thoughtful and meaningful.
Some… less so.
But the greatest gift God offers us isn’t found under a tree.
It’s the gift of his love — unconditional, sacrificial, freely given.
And once we receive it, we’re invited to give it away.
One Way to Live It Out This Week
Choose one person this week and intentionally show them agape love —
not because they deserve it,
not because it’s easy,
but because God has loved you first.
It might look like patience, forgiveness, generosity, or presence.
Keep it simple. Keep it intentional.
A Short Prayer
God of love,
Thank you that your love doesn’t depend on our performance.
Help us to receive your love deeply
and allow it to transform us.
Show us who you’re inviting us to love this week,
and give us the courage to love as you have loved us.
Amen.
Reflection & Discussion Questions
Personal Reflection
When you hear the word love, what do you usually think of — and how does agape love challenge that?
Where do you find it hardest to love others sacrificially?
How might receiving God’s love more deeply change the way you treat people this week?
Small Group Discussion
What stood out to you most from this message or passage?
How would you describe the difference between loving as a feeling and loving as a choice?
Why do you think John places God’s sacrificial love at the centre of this passage?
What does it mean for God’s love to be “made complete” in us?
Can you think of a time when someone showed you agape-like love?
What makes loving difficult people particularly challenging?
How does remembering the cross shape the way we love others?
Who could this group pray for — or commit to loving — this week?