To Love or Not to Love? That is the Question
I John 2:1-17
I. John Realizing God’s Love for Him (v. 5)
a. John and his brother James had been fishermen
i. Worked with their father, Zebedee
ii. They loved their father, the boats, the sea
b. Then one day John heard the call of Jesus (Mark 1:17-20)
i. He had been mending nets
ii. We see the obedient man
iii. Now he would become a mender of Men (Luke 5:10)
c. John learning about love
i. Observed the compassionate Christ
ii. His great lesson of love at the cross (John 18)
iii. “The disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20)
d. God loves us all (John 3:16)
II. John Reasoning that He Must Love His Brother (v. 10)
a. The loved have an obligation to love
b. “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light
i. Jesus is the light (John 8:12)
ii. Love reveals our walk with Jesus
c. How love shows in life (I Cor. 13: 4-7)
i. Love is patient & kind
ii. Love is not envious or proud
iii. Love is consistent, not selfish or suspicious
iv. Love is never glad when others are hurt
v. Love is pleased when truth triumphs
vi. Love puts up with slights, insults, failures
vii. Love believes the best about others
III. John Refusing to Love the World (vv. 15-17)
a. “Love not the world” (v.15)
i. Does not refer to people (John 3:16)
ii. Does not refer to creation (Matt 6:26-30)
iii. Refers to the Christ-rejecting world system
1. HA Ironside said “that system that man has build up… in which he is trying to make himself happy without God.”
b. John refuse to love “things”
c. Lust and pride call us to love the world (v. 16)
d. The “world” is passing away
e. John chooses to love the one who is eternal
We are known by who and what we love Who and what do you love
