Beloved. Let us love one another: A Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Advent
1 John 4:7–8 NKJV
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
We now come to the 4th Sunday of Advent which also happens to also be Christmas Eve. Here the second Advent joins the first Advent in which we remember that Jesus came as an infant in Bethlehem, We remember that this same Jesus shall return at the end of the age, not as a baby, but as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This does not mean that Jesus was not born king. In fact, He has always been King, seeing that He is the eternal God, the Son. But when Jesus first came to Bethlehem, His divinity was veiled in His true humanity. We think of Charles Wesley’s hymn: “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and the words “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail the Incarnate Deity.” But when He returns, we shall see Him as who He truly is, was, and ever more shall be. The veil will be lifted from our eyes, and we shall see Him as He is.
This is our hope as we discovered in the first week of our Advent study. It is this truth which encourages us to live out this hope in the present age. We also learned from John’s Gospel about what true peace is. It is the peace which Jesus alone can give, a peace that sustains us in the evil present age. Last week we learned that unconditional Christian joy is one of the badges of election, so to speak. We think about what joy it will be when He appears in glory and receives us unto Himself. Now, this week we will look at the last Advent theme, love.
We return again to the 1st Epistle of St. John. The word “love” (agape) is everywhere. The word “love” is everywhere in society as well. We think of the Beatles “All You Need is Love” as just one of countless examples. Is there a difference? Let’s find out.
If we were to go back to the times of the New Testament, there were many words translated “love” or “affection.” It would take too long to tell you about all of these words, so let us stick to just three. One of these Greek words is “eros” from which we get erotic or sexual love. This word does not appear in the New Testament, so is it love? when we go back to Genesis, we see that God blessed sex within the context of a marriage between a man and a woman. If God established sex as a means of both companionship and reproduction, we must not think about sex as being dirty. The fact that mankind has abused sex and made it dirty does not change this fact. Many Christians have a negative view of sex. This was true to the people whom the Apostle John wrote. The people who had left the church had the tendency of seeing everything done in the body as evil. The human body was the prison for the soul. When one died in their opinion, the soul was reunited to God. There were others who thought that since nothing done in the body was important, that every urge ought to be indulged, including sex. The Christian honors sex and sexuality as a gift but not a god.
The second word is “philos” which is usually translated as brotherly love. Some think it as a higher form of love than “eros”, but perhaps it is better described as broader in scope as it is not exclusive to a man and his wife. If is the love that friends have for one another. But one can have many friends. It can also be described as a social group such as a fraternity, community, an ethnic group, or even love for one’s country. This bond exists within the church also where members address each other as brothers and sisters.
The third term is “agape” which is also translated “charity” in the King James Version. Many consider this to be the highest form of love. It is considered the highest as this love is unconditional. It reaches across boundaries which ordinarily include some people and exclude others, Jesus taught this form of love. We can remember that Jesus said that even the world loves its own. To love at this level is doing no more than the Gentiles practice. We see this selfless love in Jesus. Romans 5 tells us that while we were still enemies that He died for us. Paul concedes that the Gentiles might be willing to die for a good person or a good cause, But Jesus came to reconcile us on the cross. When we first started this Advent study, we began with the theme of Hope and read from 1 John 3:1-3. There John tells us to behold what matter of agape the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God, He reinforces this by reaffirming “and we are.” What an audacious statement. What have we done that God should love us? Why did God send us His only-begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him (Jesus) should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16)? It is because He loved us (agape).
We learned last week from 1 John 1:3 that God desires to have fellowship with us, and that we also share this fellowship with each other. This is a fellowship defined by sound doctrine as well as true faith in Christ. this presents an issue we have to deal with. We just described agape as unconditional love that transcends boundaries. So should we then not do this within the fellowship despite our differences. In other words; ” Can’t we just get along?” Is there not something exclusive as well as inclusive? We certainly affirm that Christ died for all people. The loving offer of the Gospel is made to all men and women. This love would include them in Christian fellowship. But there are many who reject this offer, It is true that the love of God does not wish any to perish. He did not come to condemn but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:17). But one needs to read a little further. We read these words in John 3:18
John 3:18 NKJV
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Whereas the offer is inclusive, the fellowship is exclusive. Those outside the Church are excluded. This is close to the idea of philos or brotherly love. It must be added that between believers, the love is to be unconditional agape love to each other. We see in Jesus words in John 15:13:
John 15:13 NKJV
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
Note here that both agape and philos are mentioned here. The word for love is the verb form of agape and the noun “friends” is philos. Jesus, as the prime example had just called His eleven Apostles “friends,” His love to them was without condition, But it did not include Judas.who had left the fellowship to betray Him.
When we began this Advent study, we learned that the Church John was addressing in 1 John had undergone a split. Some of those who felt they were too good for everyone else had left the fellowship. They did not consider those they abandoned as being Christians because they were too slow to understand their sublime teachings. Those who had left had gone beyond Jesus and could now come to God directly. they felt they were above sin. they thought those who remained as being hopeless. But John turns the tables on them. Like Judas, they had betrayed both Jesus and the brethren. They had committed a sin unto death just as Judas had done. John goes to great length to assure these believers that they were the ones who had hope. Those who had left were hopeless. This is because they had remained in the Son. This means that they had the Father also. Those who had left had neither.
We mentioned earlier in our Advent study that there may have been some who had quit the church out of discouragement, perhaps because of the acrimony of the split. These had a hope of restoration if only the members would do the loving thing and woo them back into the fellowship. This is agape love among philoi. The church is to pray for these but not for the others. This takes a bit of discernment to decide whether the person had committed apostacy or had just backslid. Perhaps it is better to err by wrongly giving the benefit of the doubt than one of His sheep being abandoned.
The Bible is kind to us by telling of the failures within the early church and not just the great victories. It even tells of the faults of the Apostles themselves. These were not supermen who loved beyond sin. John tells us if any man says “I have not sin,” he is a liar, and the truth is not in Him. Notice the words “if ANY” as well as the present tense of the verb “have.” It is not as if it had said “had not sin.” This would say that it is true that all have sinned including those who thought themselves to be perfect. But they could claim that they were now above sin, which is a most dangerous boast. We must remember the verse that: “Pride cometh before the fall, and a haughty heart before destruction.” (Proverbs 16:18) Our hope is based on the fact that we are in Jesus who is the propitiation for our sin. If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us, and the blood of His Son cleanses us from ALL unrighteousness (1 John 1:5-10).
When we look at the passage we read this morning, we are commanded to love one another. In Greek, the “let us” has the force of an imperative. It is a command and not a suggestion. The reason is that true love is the gift of God and part of His essential character. God is love. Note that it does not say love is god. The agape love of the brethren also serves as a badge of election. The one who does not love is not of God. Those who had left loved not the Son nor the brethren. For all the claims that they knew God, they did not know God as they ought.
One might note that love does seem to exist in the world. To some degree this is true. But Paul in Romans 1 asserts that even the unbeliever knows God after some sort, even though this knowledge is suppressed. So even when we see acts of charity among the heathen, the source of this love is still from God. But this love is also distorted by sin. They see creation and know that there is a God, as much as they try to deny Him. You cannot deny the existence of God without affirming the existence of God. But they stand before the creator as those who do not know God in the sense of being in a proper relationship. The relationship is between the Creator and the fallen creature and not as Father and son in God’s family.
We need to constantly remind ourselves and each other of the self-giving agape love of God towards us. This love binds us together in difficult times. We are not alone. We have one another. We have fellowship. The Church to whom John writes is constantly reminded of Gospel truth and love throughout the epistle. We should do likewise. We are not complete Christians without each other. We function together as the body of Christ of which He is the Head. There might be times in which we need to stand alone for the truth. God will give strength in these circumstances. But this is an abnormal exception. We should not let petty squabbles in the Church separate us from the fellowship. If and when the differences amount to false teaching, then one must not sacrifice truth for the sake of love. I am not saying this is easy. It is painful. We must let the unction of the Holy Spirit help us discern between truth and error. there are many fellowships in the world, but none of these compare with Christian fellowship. They may be exclusive and promise some benefit to their members, But these are nothing compared to what we now have and shall receive in the greatest fullness of the kingdom. In the meanwhile, in the words of another hymn of Charles Wesley, we “anticipate our heaven below and know that love is heaven.”
