Understanding Christian Love – Part 3
1 John 3:11-18 (16-18)
June 5, 2022
For the past month and a half we’ve been looking at 1 John 3
And we have continually referenced it as a sort of “PATERNITY TEST”
John holds up Jesus and right beside Him, John holds up the devil.
HE COMPARES THEM.
And as we have said, they are total opposites.
• Jesus never sinned, the devil sinned from the beginning.
• Jesus sacrifices Himself for His brother, the devil murders his brother.
And John basically asks, “Whose steps are you following in? Whose DNA are you carrying?”
IT IS A GOOD CHAPTER FOR SELF-EXAMINATION.
So we’ve highlighted two main attributes that are unique to Christians.
1) PRACTICAL RIGHTEOUSNESS
• We have said that Christians live righteous lives.
2) BROTHERLY LOVE
• We have also said that Christians love their brother.
1 John 3:10 “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”
We’ve spent the last two weeks seeking to understand Christian love.
• What is it?
• Why is it a fruit of Christianity?
We’ve seen two point thus far.
#1 LOVE IS THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTIANITY
1 John 3:11-12
John made it clear that brotherly love has always been the expectation.
It wasn’t added at a later date.
“this is the message which you have heard from the beginning…”
We noted the reason love is such an integral part of Christianity
Is because love is the best way to describe
God’s behavior toward humanity.
God loves.
• He loves His enemies.
• He loves sinners.
He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, He sends rain on the just and the unjust.
And certainly God loves His own.
“But God demonstrated His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”
There is no version of Christianity that does not include brotherly love.
Love is the expectation of Christianity
#2 LOVE IS AN EXHIBITION OF NEW LIFE
1 John 3:13-15
We talked about this last week.
Namely that we should not buy into the world’s logic or definition of love.
It is a disastrous scenario when the church starts allowing the world
To determine whether or not we love like Christ.
“The modern church is so eager to obtain the world’s approval
That we begin to abandon Biblical love which redeems and transforms
In favor of worldly love which enables and overlooks.”
You cannot let the world be the judge of your love.
For the simple fact is that the world hated Christ.
• They have rejected His love.
• They killed Jesus.
So the verdict of whether or not we love like Christ
Can never come from the world.
In fact, John said, “Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.”
• IF YOU WALK IN LOVE you are likely to be hated by the world.
• IF YOU ARE LOVED BY THE WORLD it might very well be an indication that you aren’t loving like Christ.
We know that we have new life, not because we are loved,
But because we do love.
“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
If you want to know whether or not you have been born of God
And do indeed have new life, simply look at your love.
Do you sacrifice yourself for your brother?
Or do you hate (withhold love) your brother?
Love is the expectation of Christianity
Love is the exhibition of new life
#3 LOVE IS THE EXAMPLE OF CHRIST
1 John 3:16-18
John started this section by showing us the example of the devil.
(12) “not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother.”
Now John gives us the opposite example of Jesus.
Where as the devil slays his brother, Jesus saves His brother.
The entire mission of Jesus was born out of love for His brethren.
Hebrews 2:11-12 “For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, “I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE.”
Jesus loves His brethren and the question you and I must ask is:
“Do I resemble Christ?”
Let’s take a closer look at the example of Christ – 4 things
1) A SACRIFICIAL DEMONSTRATION (16a)
“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us;”
John answers a very important question here.
• What is love?
• What does it look like?
“We know love by this…”
We said last week that the worst thing we can do is
Allow the world to push upon us their definition of love.
We are not interested in what the world calls love.
• We want true love.
• We want Biblical love.
• We want God’s love.
And when you want to know that love then you look at Christ.
And the chief characteristic of Christ’s love is obvious.
SELF SACRIFICE
“He laid down His life for us;”
John 15:12-13 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”
The PUREST expression or demonstration of love
Has always been self-sacrifice.
Let’s think about this in the life of Jesus for a moment.
Certainly we think almost immediately about His death on the cross,
But He was laying down His life long before then.
Consider His INCARNATION
Philippians 2:5-8 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
We certainly do not minimize His cross in any way,
But any conversation about the love of Christ
MUST BEGIN WITH THE INCARNATION.
He “emptied Himself”
He “humbled Himself”
As we have said many times while examining the glory of the incarnation.
• Jesus didn’t quit being God – He just quit being honored as God.
• He sacrificed His comfort
• He sacrificed His glory
Paul noted in 2 Corinthians that He sacrificed His RICHES.
2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”
Christ reigned in glory as God Most High
And yet He left the glories of Heaven to walk the dirt of earth.
• He was born in obscurity.
• He was raised in the hated Nazareth.
• He lived as a basic nomad telling the crowds “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
• He had to take money from a fish to pay the tax in His own temple.
He gave up the comforts and glories and riches of heaven
That He might come to save His brethren.
THAT IS LOVE
And we don’t just talk about His initial coming,
We must also consider HIS LIFESTYLE
Galatians 4:4 “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,”
Hebrews 10:5-7 “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. “THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’”
Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”
Each of those verses speak to the same glorious reality;
That Jesus submitted Himself to the Law of God.
I thought about this even this past Wednesday night
As the youth are studying Galatians.
We talked about “The Losses of Legalism”
(What you lose if you come under the Law and seek to earn God’s favor on your own)
Galatians 5:2-5 “Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.”
Paul said those who seek to earn God’s favor through their works lose:
• The Benefit of Christ
• The Freedom of not being under the Law
• Grace
• Hope
But do you understand that
These are the things Christ also forsook that He might come to save us?
Christ was “born under the Law”
Christ wasn’t living under grace, He was having to earn a righteous standing.
Christ wasn’t free from the ordinances, He had to fulfill them all.
He sacrificed His freedom for the sake of His brother.
He submitted Himself to criteria that He was free from
So that He might save those who were under such stipulation.
THAT IS LOVE.
And then think about HIS MINISTRY
Jesus lived a sacrificial life on behalf of His brethren.
You could really go to any day in His life to illustrate this,
But one of my favorites is the day He fed the 5,000.
Matthew 14:13-16 “Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!”
Jesus just heard word of John the Baptist’s death.
• There is a whole lot of emotion wrapped up in that news.
• John was the forerunner and the cousin of Jesus.
• It must have been a stinging reminder to Jesus of His own fate.
Not only that, but Mark’s gospel gives the setting too.
Mark 6:31-33 “And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves. The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them.”
Mark reveals that on the heels of the news of John
JESUS wanted to just get away with His disciples.
They had been so bombarded by the crowds that they couldn’t even get time to eat.
SO
• Jesus is grieving…
• All of them are physically exhausted…
• They haven’t even really been able to eat well…
• It’s time to get away and rest and refuel.
And yet the crowd figured out where He was going and went ahead of Him
And as soon as they arrived the requests for healing started up again.
How would you feel if you tried to get away on vacation
And found all of your problems waiting for you at your vacation home?
And yet, there was Jesus.
• Putting His grief aside…
• Pushing through His exhaustion…
• Meeting needs and healing diseases…
• He even feeds that crowd with 5 loaves and 2 fish…
That’s called putting your own plans aside.
That’s called sacrificing your agenda for your brother.
THAT IS LOVE
Certainly in discussing His love we must talk about HIS DEATH
John 10:17-18 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
Jesus laid down His life.
No one took it, they couldn’t.
• We remember Him agreeing to go with the soldiers in the garden…
• We remember Him declaring Himself the Son of God while on trial…
• We remember Him refusing to defend Himself to Pilate or Herod…
The only reason they were able to nail Him to the cross
Was because He allowed it.
AND HE SUBMITTTED HIMSELF TO DEATH ON OUR BEHALF
• He bore the full wrath of God.
• He bore the scorn of evil men.
• He was “pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities.”
He did that for His brethren.
He did that for His elect.
“He laid down His life for us;”
THAT IS LOVE
And I suppose we could continue talking about His love even today.
We think about HIS INTERCESSION
Hebrews 7:23-25 “The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
It is not as though Jesus retired from ministry.
• For He came, He lived, He died, He rose, He ascended.
• And now 24/7 He always lives to intercede on our behalf.
What manner of commitment and love is that?
HE DOES NOTHING FROM SELFISHNESS.
• There is no absence of love in His life.
• He always gives.
• He always sacrifices Himself for us.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS, THAT IS IT.
It’s NOT ENABLING love like the world wants.
It’s NOT SELF-PRESERVING love like the world offers.
The love of Jesus put your needs before His own.
He left the glories of heaven, was born under the Law,
Lived among sinners, died upon a cross,
Rose from the dead and now lives to intercede.
It is a sacrificial demonstration.
2) A SINGLUAR OBLIGATION (16b)
In response to the remarkable love of Christ, John simply says:
“and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
Are you a follower of Christ?
Are you seeking to be conformed into the image of Christ?
Do you want to demonstrate Christ-likeness in your life?
THEN FOLLOW HIS LEAD.
I like how Paul says it:
Romans 13:8 “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.”
“Owe nothing…except to love”
That is to say, “Treat love like a debt you never fulfill.”
We think to ourselves:
• When did Christ ever declare that He had loved enough?
• At what point did Christ say, “That’s it, that’s all the love you’re gonna get from Me”?
YOU GET THE POINT.
We are called to do what He did.
• Did He give up His comfort, so should we.
• Did He give up His glory, so should we.
• Did He give up His riches, so should we.
• Did He give up His freedom, so should we.
• Did He give up His retirement, so should we.
Philippians 2:4-5 “do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,”
He is the example of love and we are called to follow His example.
This is the Christian obligation; it trumps every other obligation.
I think about the church at Corinth.
If you remember that church had all kinds of problems.
• They were divided over their favorite pastors.
• They laughed at sexual immorality.
• They dragged each other into court.
• They caused their brother to stumble into idolatry.
• They visited prostitutes at night.
• They got drunk during the Lord’s Supper and hoarded the food.
• They failed to compensate their ministers.
• They all wanted the glorious roles in the worship service.
And one might wonder how in the world
You’d ever fix a church that is as messed up as theirs?
Paul knew exactly what would fix it.
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:7 “But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
For all the problems the Corinthians had,
It all could be funneled down to 1 main problem: THEY DIDN’T LOVE
If they would start loving one another then
All that greed and glory hunting and division would take care of itself.
It is a singular obligation and we learn it from Christ.
A Sacrificial Demonstration A Singular Obligation
3) A SELF EXAMINATION (17)
Here John has a very convicting question.
He comes right at us with this one.
“But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?”
John explains to you a situation and then asks, “Can you call a guy like that a follower of Christ?”
What is the scenario?
• Well there is a brother who is in need.
• And there is another brother who has what is he needs.
• But the second brother refuses to share it.
And John just wants to know:
Does that sound more like something Christ would do,
Or something the devil would do?
Do you see the DNA test there?
I told you last week that the statement “closes his heart”
IS AN EXPRESSION OF HATE.
It is to withhold love.
John even speaks of this closing of the heart, NOT in a dismissive way, but in an intentional way.
John says he “closes his heart AGAINST him”
• This isn’t an honest mistake.
• This isn’t a slipping of the mind.
• This is a person who saw the need and made a conscious decision not to help.
And John simply wants to know:
“How does the love of God abide in him?”
Does that look like God to you?
I’ve always liked the passage in Deuteronomy 15 when discussing the issue of helping our brother with the physical things of the world.
The first part of the chapter is significant:
Deuteronomy 15:1-2 “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts. “This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD’S remission has been proclaimed.”
• You know about the year of remission.
• There was a command to forgive all debts at the end of 7 years.
• Well imagine what went through people’s minds if they wanted to some
financial help right around the 6 ½ year mark?
Moses addressed it.
Deuteronomy 15:7-11 “If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. “Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry to the LORD against you, and it will be a sin in you. “You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings. “For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’”
There are some words that really jump out at you there.
“freely” – “generously” – “sufficient” – “whatever” – “not grieved”
And I’ve especially always liked the warning.
“Beware” Moses said.
And most of the time in our culture the “Beware” is followed with: “Beware that they aren’t cheating you.”
As in, if anyone wants a loan at the 6 ½ year mark you need to be skeptical because they’re just trying to take out a loan they know they won’t have to pay back.
But that is NOT what Moses said.
Moses said, “Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing;”
In other words: Beware that you aren’t so worried about getting cheated that you don’t help.
That would be a sin.
And so the point is again made.
God expects Christians to love their brother.
Therefore if you have a brother who won’t meet the needs of another can you really say that person is born of God?
Here John references someone who “HAS the world’s goods”
But many times Christian love comes even from those who don’t.
2 Corinthians 8:1-5 “Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.”
That is Christian love.
That is the example of Christ.
And so we are called to examine ourselves with this one.
Can we see the love of Christ in our lives?
Or is there a withholding of love from us?
A Sacrificial Demonstration A Singular Obligation A Self Examination
4) A SIMPLE CLARIFICATION (18)
Just to make sure we don’t miss the point.
“Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”
He might as well say,
“Love like Christ, not the world.”
The world will throw out the phrase, “I love you”
But they are empty words.
• They are words that enable sin and ignore eternity.
• They are words that are manipulative and meant only to make me look good.
• They do not sacrifice their own glory or freedoms or riches.
They love in word only.
And it is absolutely unchristian when the church does the same.
The church doesn’t love in word only, but “in deed”.
James 2:14-17 “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”
You know that verse.
It is ridiculous to call empty sentiment Christian love.
• The love of Christ is weighty.
• The love of Christ is measurable.
• The love of Christ is visible.
• The love of Christ is no mere sentiment.
It doesn’t just recognize needs, it meets needs.
You can see it, you can feel it.
I was reading recently on Christian love
And one author spoke of 5 actions steps by which we measure love.
OPEN YOUR EYES – actually see others.
Matthew 9:36 “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.”
Don’t turn a blind eye to the plight of your brother.
OPEN YOUR EARS – listen to people and ask them about their trials.
OPEN YOUR HEART – be willing to feel compassion and to enter into their pain.
OPEN YOUR MOUTH – certainly for encouragement, but also correction.
John said to love “in deed AND TRUTH.”
We talked about it last week how Jesus confronted sin and this was love.
Galatians 4:12-16 “I beg of you, brethren, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong; but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time; and that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?”
It was one of Paul’s most confrontational letters, but it was born out of love for the Galatians and he was intent on telling them the truth.
And finally:
OPEN YOUR HAND – Give to meet your brother’s need.
Love is measurable and visible.
And this is the love of Christ.
If someone says, “Jesus loves me”
And you ask them, “How does Jesus love you?”
That question can be answered can’t it?
He loves my be leaving heaven, fulfilling the Law, sympathizing with my weakness, bearing my sin, paying my debt, confronting my sin, interceding on my behalf.
And now the question is “What about our love?”
If we tell someone, “I love you”
And they say, “How do you love me?”
Can that question be answered?
Or is it mere empty sentiment?
Do I sacrifice myself for the good of my brother
Or do I sacrifice my brother for my own personal good?
One is to be like Christ.
The other is to be like Cain who was a child of the devil.
And so you see here again a paternity test.
You can either FIND ASSURANCE of your new life here
Or you can FIND CONVICTION and your need for Jesus.
And it is all bound up in your brotherly love.
This morning we conclude our service with the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord’s Supper certainly points to the love of Christ,
But it is also an ordinance that highlights brotherly love.
In fact, the early church often referred to it as the “love feast”
And in this ordinance we focus on the love of Christ
And let it motivate us to love our brother the same way.
In fact we most effectively honor Christ’s love
By imitating it toward one another.
To that church in Corinth who lacked love Paul gave a very specific instruction:
1 Corinthians 11:20-22 “Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.”
They were actually making a mockery of the Lord’s Supper
Because they did it without love for one another.
And when Paul tells them to partake in a worthy manner
The most fitting application is that they partake with love for one another.
This morning as we partake, focus on the love of Christ
And how you might show that love to your brother.
We’ll have a time of preparation and then we’ll partake.
