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- According to an ancient tradition, the elderly apostle John, too weak to walk, was carried in to say goodbye to his congregation. His only counsel to them was this: "Little children, love one another!"
- Another tradition tells of how the people asked for something new, a new commandment, but the aged apostle responded by reminding them of what he had already written, "This is the message you heard from the beginning: we should love one another."
- The apostle John never let go of his conviction and never stopped proclaiming love, true love, but why is love so important?
- What does love do? What does true love accomplish? In our passage for today what did John tell his readers true love does?
- Verse 18 slashes straight to the heart of the matter: "Dear children, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth." True love is not shown in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
- Let your actions show Christ's true love in you.
-Love is a verb and a verb describes, conveys or portrays action.
- True love is the flesh and bones of the gospel.
- The story is told of St. Francis of Assisi and how terrified he was of leprosy. One day as he was going down a narrow path there in front of him in the middle of the path stood a snowy white leper. Inwardly, St. Francis was repulsed. Ashamed at the response of his heart, St. Francis clothed himself with compassion, ran and embraced and kissed the man, then went on his way. But a moment later he looked back only to discover there was no one there, just the empty path in the warm sunshine. For the rest of his life St. Francis of Assisi was convinced that it was no leper he met on the path, but Jesus Christ himself.
- We Show Christ's love in us by what we do.
- John wrote, 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.
- Cain proved he hated his brother Abel by murdering him. In fact, the subtle meaning of the Greek text compares the murder to an animal that's had its throat cut for slaughter.
-Does that kind of hatred surprise us? Are we shocked by the degree of jealousy and resentment that would drive a man to murder his own brother in cold blood.
- The spiritual children of evil reproduce evil, but the spiritual children of God reproduce love.
- John wrote,13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. - John's words in this verse reflect the very words of Jesus in the 15th chapter of John's Gospel. "If the world hates you," said Jesus, "know that it hated me before it hated you.
- Bitterness and resentment, anger and jealousy breed hate and Cain became filled with hate toward his brother Abel. Those who love God should expect no less.
- Cain followed the way of the world by rejecting God's advice and murdering his brother whereas Abel found favour with God.
- God accepted Abel sacrifice because of Abel's heart. He was seeking to please God. God rejected Cain's sacrifice because of Cain's heart. He was seeking to please himself rather than God.
- We Show Christ's love in us by what we do.
- 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
- Hatred of any sort is strong evidence that someone does not belong to the family of God. True love is of such importance that those who fail to show it show instead that they do not have new life in Christ. As Jesus said, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
- 16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
- John is continuing here to hammer away on his point for his readers. Love is a verb. True Christian love is a love that works for the good of, and the sake of others.
- In a family movie we have at home about the Pinewood Derby, the dads in the film are all going crazy getting ready for the Derby and a wife confronts her husband with a slogan from one of his advertising campaigns for the company he works for which said, "Self-sacrifice is giving up something good for something better."
-True love sacrifices the self-centered lowercase "G" good things for the other centered uppercase "B" better things. True Christ-like love follows a plan which is carried out intentionally and is deliberately focused on loving others above self.
- 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
- John tells his readers, allow me this paraphrase, "This is where the rubber meets the road. If you really love your brothers and sisters in Christ you need to put your money where your mouth is. Needy people cannot see your love until you meet their need."
- We Show Christ's love in us by what we do.
- True love requires more than lazy lip-service, rather true love meets needs.
- James also says as much, "15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." (Jas 2:15-17)
- We Show Christ's love in us by what we do.
- Our trouble is we so often fail in the area of living out the love of Christ. We become hard on ourselves. We become discouraged and we wonder about our faith and we say to ourselves, "If I were really a Christian things would be different. I should be different. I should be better. I should be more loving. I should do this," or" I should do that." What we really need to do is stop "shoulding" on ourselves and start listening to the advice of John.
- 19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
- When we lose our way, when we fall down what we must remember is that we serve and love the God who is greater than our hearts and he knows everything.
- He knows that all things being equal even when we fail to keep the law of love, he knows we intend to keep it. God knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts.
- He also knows that we don't measure ourselves fairly. We often punish ourselves, put ourselves down, and dwell on our failings which is exactly where Satan wants us.
- But God wants us to be honest with ourselves about our failings; deal with them in simple and humble confession, and then get back up again and move on walking deeper in our life with him.
- 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
- We serve the God who is greater than our consciences and we know that as the divine judge his verdicts are authoritative and just because his knowledge is perfect and he alone is able to assure us that Christ's blood has covered a multitude of sins.
- Because we are washed clean our consciences are clear.
- Whenever our consciences are pricked and we feel the conviction of guilt over sin we need to deal with it right away. That way, we can continue to serve God with a clear conscience as his children in whom he delights.
- His children delight in him and the thought that there might be any tension between obedience and love doesn't occur to them.
- In that kind of relationship, it is natural and automatic for the child of God to come to him and ask for whatever is necessary, whatever is needed.
- 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
- With verse 23 we come full circle. John tells his readers that they can't have true love without faith in Jesus and they can't truly have faith unless they love one another.
- To believe in the name means to believe in his person, his character and nature, and everything he represents.
- Above all things, Jesus Christ represents the self-sacrificial, unconditional love of God.
- Christians are enabled to live out true love because of the gift of new life which they receive from the Holy Spirit.
- As John says, 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
- If you're a believer and you're here this morning with doubts about your ability to love, then John says to you, "You have the Holy Spirit living within you, therefore you have the power to do whatever God wants you to do, including learning to love."
- Many years ago Wycliffe Bible translator Doug Meland and his wife moved into a village of Brazil's Fulnio Indians. They called him "the white man" which was no complement because they had been oppressed and exploited by other white men.
- But after the Melands had learned the Fulnio language and began to help the people with medicine and in other ways, they began calling Doug "the respectable white man."
- When the Melands began adapting to the customs of the people, the Indians gave them greater acceptance and spoke of Doug as "the white Indian."
- Then one day, as Doug was washing the dirty, blood caked foot of an injured Fulnio boy, he overheard a bystander say to another: "whoever heard of a white man watching an Indian' s foot before? Certainly this man is from God!" From that day on, whenever Doug would go into an Indian home, it would be announced: "Here comes the man God sent us."
- We Show Christ's love in us by what we do.
- Show the love of Christ in you by what you do.
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