I. INTRODUCTION
The letter of the apostle John had two purposes in writing this letter: (1) to expose and reject the doctrinal ethical errors of the false teachers, and (2) to exhort the Christians to pursue a life of fellowship with God characterized by truth. His main concern is for the believers to KNOW (repeated 43 times) the real “truth” about some claims the false teachers were propagating. In this book, there are nine “This is how we know…” phrases talking about the truths we should know and one of these is “love” (3:16).
Our Christianity is somehow stained by a love that is shallow and far from the biblical love or from the love portrays by the Bible. In our text, John has told us what true Christian love is. He is actually saying that love is never a true love unless it is expressed in action, thus prompted me to give the title to this study as “Love Is True In Action.” In this month of February, the love month, may we be challenged to pattern our love to the true Christian love. Know this truth for the truth will set us free (John 8:32).
II. OUTLINE
1. Love is the basis for life in the believing community (1Jo_3:11; 1Jo_3:14; cf. Joh_5:24).
1.1 It is the gospel directed to Christians (v. 11).
± Note that it says “message.” (Gk., aggelia ang-el-ee’-ah); an announcement, i.e. (by implication) with force of precept; the same term used for gospel.
± The message echoes John 13:34.
± The Gospel message of Him who loved us, announced by His servants, is, that we love the brethren; not here all mankind, but those who are our brethren in Christ, children of the same family of God, of whom we have been born anew.
1.2 It is not like Cain’s attitude toward his brother Abel (v. 12).
± Before telling us what precisely love is, the Apostle John told us what it is not
± In both Jewish and early Christian writings, Cain appears as a model for those who failed to “love the brothers” (cf. 1 John 3:17).
± “Why did he murder him?” Cain murdered his brother Abel because of his jealous resentment of his brother’s superior righteousness (Gen. 4:2-7), and in that action, he was of the evil one.
± The author has tended to portray the issues before the readers in antithetical (‘either/or’) terms before, so here the contrast between the evil deeds of Cain and the righteous deeds of his brother Abel is portrayed in the same fashion.
± There is no middle ground between evil and righteousness or between light and darkness in the author’s portrayal; one must choose one side or the other.
1.3 Hatred is the way of the world (v. 13).
± Non-believers hate Christians and this is expressed in many ways: ignore, disbelief, laugh at us, unfavorable of us, etc. But John says, do not be surprised because this is expected of them! Hatred is the way of the world!
± It is the existence of “hatred” in the Christian community that is surprising – and this is the problem John is trying to point out. The apostle is actually saying, “There is hatred in you and this is surprising!”
1.4 Love should be our basis for life (1 Jo_3:6, 14).
± The verb “crossed over” essentially means “to pass over (from one place to another),” referring to the believer’s transfer from the state of (spiritual) death to the state of (spiritual) life (cf. John 5:24).
± In John 13:1 it is used to refer to Jesus’ departure from this world as he returns to the Father.
± The phrase “we know” implies that the readers know the reason why they have passed from death to life, i.e. because they love their fellow Christians (cf. John 13:35).
± Take note that love will not cause the passage to spiritual life but will give evidence of it,
± Never that love alone can be the passage to eternal life. Nonetheless, it is expected that when we become Christians, we will exhibit God’s love for us by loving our brethren.
± Therefore he can add the next line of 3:14, “the one who does not love remains in death.” Why? Because such a person does not have God’s love residing in them at all. Rather, this person can be described as a “murderer”-as the following verse goes on to do.
± Note also that the author’s description here of the person who does not love as remaining in death is another way of describing a person who remains in darkness, which is a description of unbelievers in John 12:46.
1.5 Hatred has no fellowship with the believers (1Jo_3:15; Mat_5:21-22).
± This verse is usually taken to mean that a true Christian cannot hate his fellow Christian, since hatred is the moral equivalent of murder. But this view cannot stand up a thorough scrutiny. Simply because we are still in this world.
± It is illusion to believe that a real Christian is incapable of hatred and murder. David, for instance, was guilty of the murder of Uriah (2 Sam. 12:9). Hate, unfortunately, is not confined to unsaved people
± Hatred here is the spiritual equivalent of murder (Mat. 5:21-22), as a lustful eye is the spiritual equivalent of adultery (Mat. 5:28) – and such premise speaks of our standing before God.
± Hatred on the part of one Christian toward another is thus an experience of moral murder.
± If you are a moral murderer or a murderer at heart, John is saying you cannot make a real claim to the kind of intimate fellowship with God and the Christ.
± Eternal Life (i.e. Jesus, cf. John 14:6) cannot reside in a heart that is morally murderer and if you have hatred in your heart, surely you are out of touch with the Lord.
± You may claim you have fellowship with the Lord but John is saying that such fellowship is not genuine (cf. 1 John 1:6). One good news is that you may confess such hatred to the Lord and He will surely forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness (cf. 1 John 1:6).
± But if you decide to keep it, be cautious of the work of the devil for if we will continue on it, Paul said we will die (Rom. 8:13). Thus, hatred has no fellowship with us.
1.6 Application:
Being Christians, our call is to love our brethren no matter how he/she looks or acts or speaks because love is the basis of our life – loving our brethren is our call. It is our proof to the claim that we are Christians. Jesus died on the cross because he loves us so much. He did not ask for any reason neither look for traits that would encourage him to love us. His love was not actually based on feelings and reasons, but in his commitment to love us, no matter what. Thus, our love should reflect the kind of love Jesus gave to us for it is through God’s kind of love that people will know that we are His. Our love, like that of Jesus, should not be based on feelings and reasons. Our love for our brethren should be based on God’s love.
Genuine love is volitional rather than emotional. The person who truly loves does so because of a decision to love. This person has made a commitment to be loving whether or not the loving feeling is present. It is, so much the better; but if it isn’t, the commitment to love, the will to love, still stands and is still exercised.
Conversely, it is not only possible but necessary for a loving person to avoid acting on feelings of love. I may meet a woman who strongly attracts me, whom I feel like loving, but because it would be destructive to my marriage to have an affair, I will say vocally or in the silence of my heart, “I feel like loving you, but I am not going to.” My feelings of love may be unbounded, but my capacity to be loving is limited. I therefore must choose the person on whom to focus my capacity to love, toward whom to direct my will to love. True love is not a feeling by which we are overwhelmed. It is a committed, thoughtful decision. - Dr. M. Scott Peck.
2. Love is grounded in death (i.e. denial of self for another’s gain) and is best expressed in sacrifice (1Jo_3:16).
2.1 A love that is grounded in death is costly (cf. John_10:11).
± References to Jesus “laying down his life” (using the verb tivqhmi (tiqhmi)) are unique to the Gospel of John (10:11, 15, 17, 18, 13:37, 38, 15:13) and 1 John (only here).
± In stark contrast with hatred stands the true character of Christian love. The essence of true Christian love lies in giving one’s life for others than taking lives.
± No Greater Love
From the days before ready access to vaccines comes this story:
The doctor looked down at the little girl in the hospital bed. He knew that her only hope was to receive blood from someone who had recovered from the same disease.
Quickly the doctor found the anxious family, and knelt beside a small boy. "Johnny," he said, "your sister needs your kind of blood to make her well. Would you be willing to give your blood so that she can live?"
Johnny’s eyes grew big. The doctor watched them well with fear, but the little boy hesitated only long enough to swallow the lump in his throat.
"Sure, Doctor, I will do it," he replied.
After the needed amount of blood was taken from Johnny’s small arm, he remained quiet for a few minutes as he had been instructed. Then he stood up, and asked softly: "Well, Doctor, when do I die?"
Only then did the doctor realize the extent of the child’s sacrifice. Johnny had offered his life to save his sister, Jesus declared that there is no greater love.
2.2 A love that is grounded in death is committed (Joh_15:12-13)
± From John’s perspective Jesus’ act in giving up his life sacrificially was a commitment; Jesus was always completely in control of the situation surrounding his arrest, trials, and crucifixion (cf. John 10:18).
± The author said, “We ought” (other translation says “we must”) to lay down our lives, too, for our brothers. Meaning, the tradition of laying down one’s life does not end in Calvary. Instead, it continues through us.
± The issue is how we will lay down our lives. Situation will actually tell us how. For instance, during the early Christian church days, there was severe persecution and there was a time that a life, literally, had to be sacrificed. The modern church, on the other hand, has different situation than the early church. There are several occasions that require literal death or giving up of life for others. Most of the time, situation asks us to lay down our lives by denying ourselves.
2.3 Application:
Real Love Forgets Self
William Gladstone, in announcing the death of Princess Alice to the House of Commons, told a touching story. The little daughter of the Princess was seriously ill with diphtheria. The doctors told the princess not to kiss her little daughter and endanger her life by breathing the child’s breath. Once when the child was struggling to breathe, the mother, forgetting herself entirely, took the little one into her arms to keep her from choking to death. Rasping and struggling for her life, the child said, “Momma, kiss me!” Without thinking of herself the mother tenderly kissed her daughter. She got diphtheria and some days thereafter she went to be forever with the Lord.
Real love forgets self, denies one’s self. Real love knows no danger. Real love doesn’t count the cost. The Bible says, “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.”
3. Love is vocational (1Jo_3:17-18)
3.1 When we would sacrifice our lives for a brother?
± The Greek term of “possessions” (bivo, bios) here refers to one’s means of subsistence-material goods or property.
± Note the vivid contrast with Jesus’ example in the preceding verse: he was willing to lay down his very life (thVn yuchVn aujtou’, thn yuchn autou), but the person in view in 3:17 is not even willing to lay down part of his material possessions for the sake of his fellow Christian!
± Answer: When there is a present need.
3.2 What are the conditions for our involvement with our brother?
± The force of the rhetorical question at the end of 3:17. The author asks at the end of 3:17, “How can the love of God reside in him?” Once again the verb mevnw (menw, “reside”) is used of a spiritual reality (in this case the love of God, see the next paragraph) which does or does not ‘reside’ in a person.
± It is clear that the author sees it as impossible that such a person, who refuses to offer help in his fellow Christian’s time of need (and thus ‘hates’ his fellow believer rather than ‘loving’ him, cf. 3:15) can have any of the love which comes from God residing in him.
± This person, from the author’s antithetical ‘either/or’ perspective, cannot be a genuine Christian.
± The semantic force of the deliberative rhetorical question, “How can the love of God reside in him?” is therefore a declarative statement about the spiritual condition of the opponents, meaning “The love of God cannot possibly reside in him.”
± Answer: If we are in a position to see (theoreo) with our own eyes.
3.3 Love requires more than idle talk. It demands simple acts, which anyone can see, that meet the need of brothers and sisters in distress (cf Jam_2:15-16; 1Co_13:1).
± Cite own experience re: Joshua’s sickness and the “helping hand” of the brethren.
3.4 Charles Dod once said, “If such a minimal response to the law of charity, called for by such an everyday situation is absent, then it is idle to pretend that we are within the family of God, the realm in which love is operative as the principle and the token of eternal life."
3.5 Application:
Your Lover Shall Live
During the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, sentenced a soldier to be shot for his crimes. The execution was to take place at the ringing of the evening curfew bell. However, the bell did not sound. The soldier’s fiancée had climbed into the belfry and clung to the great clapper of the bell to prevent it from striking. When she was summoned by Cromwell to account for her actions, she wept as she showed him her bruised and bleeding hands. Cromwell’s heart was touched and he said, “Your lover shall live because of your sacrifice. Curfew shall not ring tonight!” (Our Daily Bread)
4. CONCLUSION
Many professing Christians cannot forgive despite the fact that we also were forgiven. Many believers cannot help materially because they have chosen to love themselves only, to the point of neglecting other brethren. Many in the family of God can easily judge others notwithstanding that they can only stand before God and men because of God’s grace. Many people who have known Jesus as King and Savior have turned their back to the Lord because they found the church very unloving.
Believers are ought to love the brethren and loving them should be done in the manner Jesus exemplified it with us. You may find that it is hard to love some of our brothers/sisters but remember that Jesus has first loved us (1 John 4:19). If God gives his love freely and unconditionally, why is it that it is hard for us to love our brethren, both in words and in deeds? You may have failed in this aspect and the Bible is clear that hating our brethren brings us to the status of a murderer before God. But the good news is that you can still redeem your “love not” actions. The Apostle John is clearly saying to us that if we will confess our sins, God is just and faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
As we end this study, remember that Love is only true in action. Our love should be the basis of life in our community; it should be grounded in death; and it should be vocational. God bless your hearts.
