1 John 3:11-24

John continues out of the previous passage with an encouragement to love one another. If you remember last week, it seemed kind of odd that John threw in this random comment about loving our brother. Read vs. 10. It just seems so out of place, until we see it as a transitional statement into the next section.

 1 John 3:11-24:

“For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever 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. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”

Big Idea: A genuine relationship with Jesus is marked by our love for one another.

John reiterates the reminder that this isn’t a new command, to love one another. And then he ties the righteous way of living to those who love, they go hand in hand, for those who are children of God walk righteously, and love like Jesus.

1. Don’t Be Like Cain (12-13)

Back in Genesis 4 we see the story of brothers Cain and Abel. Cain brought the Lord an offering of the “fruit of the field,” while Abel brought the Lord an offering of the firstborn of his flock. Scripture says that God had regard for Abel’s sacrifice, but not for Cain’s, which made Cain really angry. We get a hint at why God rejected Cain’s sacrifice in vs. 6-7: “The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

After this Cain’s anger overwhelms him and he kills his brother Abel.

In this short story God doesn’t reject Cain’s offering because he doesn’t like the offering itself. He rejects it because Cain “did not do well.” And we have a more specific explanation in 1 John 3:12: “And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.” The evil in his heart was marked by jealousy over God showing his brother favor, which led to extreme anger and hatred, which led to murder.

In the same way that Cain had evil in his heart, so does the world have evil in its heart especially towards something that it does not understand.

Turn over to John 15:18-21:

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”

But as children of God, we are called to something far different. The Spirit-driven outpouring in our lives must be love. Jesus said that the world would know His disciples by their love for one another. This is what sets us apart.

Cain was consumed by self. He was driven by a desire to be noticed. He wanted to be praised, to be acknowledged. And when those desires were driven by an evil heart, his response when he didn’t get what he desired was devastating.

Is this not the world in which we live? A self-driven, my truth is the only truth that matters, need for approval, clout chasing world? We are bombarded with it from every angle. We buy into the lies that we need to do anything we can to get to the top, for recognition, for status, for acknowledgement and approval. And this goes completely contrary to the way of Jesus.

Now John has spent this whole letter contrasting the true believers in the young church against those who have left the fellowship and were trying to pull others with them. He is providing clarity so that they can discern who’s who.

Another way, he says, that you can know that a person is a true believer, is if they love their brothers. Keep in mind, contextually John is speaking specifically about fellow believers when he uses the word brothers, but we’ll expand this when we bring it home. But, let’s look at vs. 14-15.

2. Love is Evidence of New Life (14-15)

From death to life, evidenced by our love for the brothers. Interesting statement that John makes, “whoever does not love abides in death.” To abide doesn’t simply mean to remain in something. Abiding is a life-giving relationship in which life flows from a source into a recipient. When God is the source, the life that flows into those who abide in Him is holy, and passionate, righteous and true. When death is the source, then what flows is evil, decay, filth. So to abide in death means to draw from the source of all evil, and live out what is being drawn in. I mean some of the language that John uses here is so tough.

And then he says, if you don’t love your brother, then you hate him. And if you hate him, it’s basically the same as murder. Where is this coming from?! Remember that John was a disciple of Jesus, and was present when he preached the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. During that sermon, Jesus said this: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”

Those who murder will face judgment, and those who are angry with their brother will face judgment. At the foot of the cross it’s a level playing field. Jesus died to save humanity from their sins, no matter how minor or severe in our human minds, and to save humanity from the wrath of God in final judgment. The moment we receive the gift of salvation, we become children of God, entering into a new life and a new identity. Part of that identity is an ability to love others like Jesus loved. So now, rather than hating our brothers, we love our brothers.

3. Love Requires Sacrifice (16-18)

At first glance, and often when we talk of this passage, it sounds like we must be willing to lay down our lives for our friends. This is what Jesus said in John 15, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” But John doesn’t just mean a physical death. As he continues to unpack this idea of loving the brothers, he moves into the realm of the material, and all but says that we should live open handed with our possessions.

“If anyone has the world’s goods,” material possessions, “sees his brother in need and closes his heart,” ignores the need, “how can the love of God abide in them?” Listen this doesn’t mean that we are just giving everything away all the time. There’s a heart motivation that drives our generosity, and that’s what really matters. Is our initial response to a brother or sister in need to hope that somebody else will help, or is our heart stirred and burdened for the need to the point of action?

And then John says, “don’t just talk about it, be about it.” Talk is cheap. If we speak without any intention of acting, then our words are empty and our credibility goes out the window.

The whole point of this is that to love like Jesus, we must be others-minded, looking to meet the needs of other people. And Jesus sacrificed willingly, it wasn’t forced. It wasn’t like He was taking out the trash because His Father said so but He was grumbling the whole way out the door. It’s like our kids, right? If they don’t act willingly, then it isn’t obedience out of a love for their parents. But Jesus laid down his life willingly His sheep. He was broken over the state of humanity, and it compelled Him to action.

In Deuteronomy we see a great description of what this looks like:

“If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: ‘The seventh year, the year for cancelling debts, is near,’ so that you do not show ill will toward your needy brother and give him nothing. He may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.”

Another good description can be found in James 2:15-16:

“Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?”

We need to be a people of action, a people aware of the needs of those in our church family, and who work hard at meeting those needs.

Now, I want to circle back to this, because while John is specifically talking about fellow believers here, I do believe that we need to take these principles outside of the church in how we view every person.

4. Love is an Obedient Response to God (19-23)

This is a bit difficult to understand if we just breeze right past it. So let’s really focus in here on what John is saying.

“By this” – if we love in deed and truth, that will reassure our hearts before God. That will give us confidence as children of God as we stand before Him.

But when our heart condemns us in the matter of actively meeting the needs of others, we remember that God is greater than our hearts. So what does that mean, that our hearts condemn us? Commentators would say that John is talking about the “meanness” of our hearts. Our hearts condemn us when we see a need and don’t meet it. Our selfishness and apathy shine through. But God is greater than our hearts. God is always kind, always loving, always seeing the needs of His people, and so we rest assured that even when we struggle to live this out, we have a Father that gives us strength and motivation to step up.

When we struggle, John says, God will give us whatever we ask for. In other words, pray! Pray that God would give you the eyes to see, the ears to hear, and the heart to help! When we keep His commandments, when we love one another sacrificially, we do what pleases Him, we abide in Him, and He in us. This is the evidence of our abiding, that we love one another. And so it comes full circle.

Application:

Now, like I mentioned before, John is speaking specifically here about followers of Jesus, loving our brothers/sisters. One of our values here at Family Church are what we call Missional Communities. These are small groups of people who are living on mission in their specific neighborhoods. Specifically, we call them City Groups. We’ve been talking about them for a few weeks, and we launched them this past Wednesday. We created these with a few things in mind. One of them is a long-term goal of church planting, but when we first started dreaming these up, we turned to Acts 2. Go ahead and turn there, Acts 2:42-47:

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

They were so devoted to one another, that they were selling the things that they didn’t need to meet the needs of their brothers and sister. This is where this idea of missional living begins, in this community of believers.

I want to direct our minds to another passage of Scripture that takes this and adds an urgency and stern warning to all believers. Matthew 25:31-46.

Now, this passage is one that is often misinterpreted. We like to use this and apply it to our interactions with every human being in need, and while we should have this attitude towards all of humanity, which we’ll get to in just a minute, that’s not actually what Jesus is saying. Jesus is specifically talking about meeting the needs of fellow believers.

In this final judgment, the righteous were so engaged with those in need that it just came natural to them. They were meeting the needs of fellow believers without even realizing they were doing it. And this is what we desire for our church. We want to be so aware of what’s going in the lives of our brothers and sisters, that we know the needs and are actively engaged in meeting those needs. This is why our City Groups are so important!

But, this passage in Matthew 25 doesn’t mean that we exclude those who are hungry, thirsty, naked and in prison that aren’t followers of Jesus. In fact, Jesus addresses this way of life in Luke 6:

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. . . . And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. . . . But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”

So, church. If we are truly children of God, if we are truly His disciples, then we will be compelled to help those in need, no matter who they are. Why? Because our genuineness of faith is marked by Christ-like love. A love that sacrifices much, and isn’t concerned with gaining anything in return.