See What Kind of Love
Thesis God loves believers not generically but with the very same pure, unadulterated love the Father has for the Son, a love that is completely undeserved and can only be received through faith in Jesus Christ who earned it by His perfect life, death, and resurrection.
The shape of the argument
20 units across exposition, application, illustration, theological claim, and conclusion. The pastor's argument is built from these moving parts.
- Lloyd-Jones on the Astounding Love cultural reference · unit #5 — The pastor authenticates his interpretation by appealing to Martin Lloyd-Jones, whom he describes with humor and affection. Lloyd-Jones's extended quotation confirms the pastor's exegesis and heightens the rhetorical drama by building to the climactic claim in John 17:23.
- Ancient vs. Modern Adoption analogy · unit #11 — The pastor uses the analogy of ancient adoption practices to clarify two aspects of spiritual adoption: regeneration (believers are born again, not merely brought in) and inheritance (believers are adopted to receive Christ's inheritance). The contrast between modern and ancient adoption helps the congregation understand what biblical adoption means.
- God loves believers with the very same love the Father has for the Son, extending to them a participation in the filial love of Christ. unit #1
- God has extended the love He has for the Son to all who place their faith in Jesus. unit #4
- John in 1 John 3 is celebrating the fulfillment of Jesus' prayer in John 17 that believers would be included in the Father's love for the Son. unit #7
- The Father's love for the Son is unique in all the universe because it is entirely pure and requires no forbearance or overlooking. unit #8
- The love God has for believers is otherworldly and undeserved, causing exclamation and marvel, and God providentially brings each person into this love. unit #9
- Believers are included in the Father's love for the Son and in Christ's inheritance and glory, and will continue to be drawn nearer to Him until they are like Him. unit #12
- Salvation is earned by the works of Jesus Christ, who suffered the consequences of our sins under the Father's wrath, and is received by faith alone, not by our own works. unit #17
"We are called, we are chosen to what? Holiness, sonship, to the praise of God, glory? Yes, even higher. Is anything higher? Possibly it is, and it's all in this word. It's this, to be loved of God, even as His Son was loved by Him. Have I gone too far? Do you think that I'm exaggerating? Have I suddenly given reign to my imagination? Am I going beyond the Scriptures? I am not." — Martin Lloyd-Jones (unit #5)
Full transcript
0 · The pastor introduces the text of 1 John 3:1 and signals that the sermon will focus on the phrase 'see what kind of love,' which is more than poetic hyperbole
1 John chapter 3 verse 1 says, See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
I want to just lock in on this unique phrasing in verse 1, see what kind of love the Father has given to us. If you read it really quickly, which I'm sure we've all done over the years, it just comes across as a poetic way of saying, Oh my goodness, it's so good that God loves us.
Or, Oh my goodness, God loves us so well, or so bigly, or something like that. But there's actually something really glorious and theologically profound in the sentence here, and it's this, this word kind.
1 · The pastor makes the central theological claim of the sermon: the 'kind' of love in 1 John 3:1 refers specifically to the Father's love for the Son, which has been extended to believers
See what kind of love the Father has given us. He is referring here to a specific kind of love. Namely, listen carefully, namely, the Father's love for His only begotten Son.
What He's saying in verse 1 is that God doesn't just love us. He has extended the love He has for His Son Jesus to us.
This isn't just God loves you. This is God loves you with the love He has for the Son. There are different theological terms for this concept.
It's essentially a participation in the filial love of Christ. The fatherly love that the Father has for the Son has been extended to those who place their faith in Jesus, like those that you just heard from.
Whenever you see this idea expressed, it's essentially this glorious truth. It's not just that God loves you in some generic way, some romantic way, some nostalgic way, but He loves you in a very particular way.
And that way is that He has included you in His love that He already had and had from forever for the Son. So let's just quickly make sure we understand a few pieces of this and we'll be done.
2 · The pastor transitions to establishing the biblical foundation for the Father's love for the Son by noting that the Father's rare appearances in the Gospels consistently declare His pleasure in the Son
First of all, what you will see from the Father when He rarely appears in the Gospels, when He rarely speaks in the Gospels, is one sentence, and that is, this is my Son in whom I am well pleased.
3 · The pastor marshals a series of cross-references from across the canon to establish the Father's declared love for the Son
2 Peter 1.17 says that Christ received honor and glory from God the Father. John 3.35, Jesus says, the Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.
John 5.20, the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing. Behold my servant, Isaiah 42.1, behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.
4 · The pastor returns to 1 John 3:1 to restate the central claim with the metaphor of a blanket, emphasizing that the Father's love for the Son has been extended to believers
And what John is celebrating in verse 1 of chapter 3 of his epistle is that it's not simply that God loves you, but that He has extended, as if it were a kind of blanket, He has extended the love that He has for the Son to all who place their faith in Him.
5 · The pastor authenticates his interpretation by appealing to Martin Lloyd-Jones, whom he describes with humor and affection
Now, I did that exegesis on my own, and that's typically how I prepare sermons, is I'll do all the exegetical work on my own. But then I'll go back in church history and find some of these husky boys, some of these reliable offensive linemen type theologians, and I'll be like, all right, am I okay here?
Is this a novel interpretation of the text and so forth? And one of the most reliable kind of fullback theologians in my arsenal is Martin Lloyd-Jones, and I want you to hear what he says about this.
The Father's love for the Son is special because it involves no need to sacrifice. Sorry, that's me. That sounded like Martin Lloyd-Jones. I had myself fooled.
Here's Martin. We are called, we are chosen to what? Holiness, sonship, to the praise of God, glory? Yes, even higher. Is anything higher?
Possibly it is, and it's all in this word. It's this, to be loved of God, even as His Son was loved by Him. Have I gone too far?
Do you think that I'm exaggerating? Have I suddenly given reign to my imagination? Am I going beyond the Scriptures? I am not. Listen to this. They are the words of the Son Himself in His high priestly prayer in the 17th of John, the 23rd verse.
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfect in one. Listen. And that the world may know them, that thou hast sent me. And then the most astounding thing, Jones writes, the most astounding thing that's ever been said, and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me.
Recent preaching context
The three sermons immediately preceding this one in the preaching schedule.
Discuss · apply · pray
6 questions for your group this week
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What does John mean when he says 'see what kind of love' in 1 John 3:1, and what makes this phrasing distinctive compared to simply saying 'God loves us'?1 John 3:1→ How does the word 'see' in this phrase suggest something more than intellectual knowledge—what does John seem to be inviting us to do?
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According to the sermon, the Father's love for the Son is described as entirely pure, requiring no forbearance or overlooking. What does that mean, and why does the sermon emphasize this as the very love extended to us?John 3:35, John 5:20
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The sermon draws heavily from John 17 to show that Jesus prayed for believers to be included in the Father's love for Him. What does it mean practically to be 'included' in a love that belongs to the Father and Son—how does that reshape our understanding of our relationship with God?John 17:23, John 17:24→ If this love is not based on our works or worthiness, what do you think Jesus' prayer in John 17 reveals about what He wanted us to know about ourselves?
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The sermon calls this love 'otherworldly and undeserved,' language that seems designed to provoke wonder rather than mere understanding. Where do you find yourself most tempted to reduce this love to something more manageable or comprehensible—and what might that tendency reveal about our hearts?1 John 3:1
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The sermon emphasizes that this love reaches us only through faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work—His perfect life, death, and resurrection. How does grounding this love in Christ's accomplishment (rather than in God's general benevolence) change how you think about your assurance of being loved by the Father?Hebrews 2:9-10→ Can you think of a moment this week when you doubted whether God truly loves you in this way—what were you believing about yourself or God in that moment?
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If we truly believed—not just intellectually but in our bones—that we are loved with the Father's love for the Son, what would need to change in how we live, worship, or relate to one another in this church community this week?→ What would it look like to respond to this love 'with appropriate joy,' as the sermon suggests, rather than moving past it into immediate application or duty?
Prayer of Marvel at the Father's Love for Us in Christ
Father, we stand in awe of the kind of love You have lavished upon us—not a distant, generic affection, but the very same pure and unadulterated love You bear for Your Son, Jesus Christ. We marvel that You have extended to us, through faith in Him, a participation in the filial love that has been Yours since before the foundation of the world. This is otherworldly, undeserved grace that compels our wonder and our worship.
We confess that we often fail to grasp the magnitude of what it means to be loved with the Father's love for the Son. We live as though Your acceptance of us depends on our performance, as though we must earn what has already been freely given. We forget that this love requires no forbearance on Your part, no overlooking of our sin—because Jesus Christ, in His perfect life, death, and resurrection, earned this inheritance for us completely. Forgive our unbelief and our small vision of Your grace.
In the gospel we have been brought into the family of God through faith in Christ alone. We have been included in His glory, in His inheritance, and in the very love the Father has for the Son. As we look to the day when we shall be like Him, we are being drawn nearer to Him by the power of His Spirit. This is not something we achieve; it is something we receive and increasingly appropriate through trust in His finished work.
Grant us, O God, the grace to grow in our apprehension of this staggering love. Help us to respond with joy rather than striving, with gratitude rather than fear, knowing that we are loved not for what we do but because of what Christ has done. Unite us together as a people who celebrate this truth, and make us bold to proclaim to the world that this otherworldly love is available to all who humble themselves and believe. To You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be all glory and praise forever.
The Love That Makes Us Family
This prompt invites kids to imagine being loved by someone they deeply admire and respect — and then reveals that God's love for us is even bigger and purer than that. Listen for moments when they grasp that this love isn't earned; it's a gift through Jesus.
Think of someone you really look up to — maybe a parent, grandparent, or coach — and imagine how good it would feel if they said, 'I love you the same way I love my own child.' That's what God is saying to us through Jesus. He's not loving us because we earned it or because we're perfect — He's loving us with the exact same love He has for His own Son. Why do you think John tells us to 'see what kind of love' this is? What makes it so amazing that he wants us to really stop and notice it?
See What Kind of Love
- What did it stir in your heart to hear that God loves you with the very same love the Father has for His Son—a love that is entirely pure and undeserved?
- How might our marriage deepen if we both truly grasped and lived out of this reality: that we are loved with the Father's filial love through Christ, and that this love is the foundation of our worth to one another?
- What is one specific way you'd like to grow in appropriating this otherworldly love this week, and how can I pray for you in that?
1 John 3:1
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Why this verse: This verse is the sermon's primary text and captures its central claim: believers participate in the Father's love for the Son, a love so extraordinary that it moves John to exclamation and wonder. Memorizing it anchors the gospel promise that our identity and acceptance rest entirely on Christ's finished work, not our own merit.
5-day reading plan
This week we meditate on the astounding reality that God loves us with the very love He bears for His Son—a love earned entirely by Christ's work, received by faith alone, and destined to perfect us in glory.
Here Jesus declares that the Father loves Him and has given all things into His hands—the foundation of every privilege we receive. When we grasp that this very love, unreserved and infinite, is now extended to us through faith in Christ, we begin to understand the staggering nature of our adoption. The Father's love for the Son is the measure and model of His love for us.
The Father shows the Son all He does because His love is uncomplicated, untainted by need to correct or overlook failure. This is love in its purest form—delight without reservation, favor without qualification. When we are included in this love through Christ, we participate not in a love that tolerates our sin but in a love that has already been satisfied through Christ's perfect obedience and substitutionary death.
Jesus prayed explicitly that we would know ourselves loved with the very love the Father has for Him—and in 1 John 3:1, John announces this prayer's answer with wonder: 'See what kind of love!' The Father has heard His Son's petition and opened the circle of divine love to embrace all who believe. We are no longer outside; we are grafted into the family itself.
The Father speaks His delight in the Servant who will accomplish redemption through perfect obedience and willing suffering. Every ounce of favor the Father pours on Christ flows from His finished work—His life, death, and resurrection. We are loved with this love not because of our own works but because Christ's works have earned it entirely, and faith is the only instrument by which we receive what His hands have won.
We see Jesus crowned with glory and honor precisely because He tasted death for us—and as sons and daughters loved with the Father's love for the Son, we are being brought toward that same glory. The joy of this truth should compel our worship and reshape our priorities, for we are not waiting for love we might earn but are being perfected in love we have already received through grace alone. Let this week's meditation move us to grateful obedience and eager anticipation of His appearing.
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# Providence Community Church A church preaching expository sermons through the books of the Bible. ## Sermons - [1 John 2 - Love of This World (1 John 2:1-29, 2025-10-19)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2025/10/1-john-2-love-of-this-world) - [Many Antichrists Have Come (1 John 2:18-27, 2025-10-26)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2025/10/many-antichrists-have-come) - [1 John 2:18 (2025-10-26)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2025/10/1-john-2-18) - [See What Kind of Love (1 John 3:1, 2025-11-03)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2025/11/see-what-kind-of-love) ## About - [About the church](/about) - [Plan a visit](/visit)
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