Fundamentals of the Abundant Life in Jesus - 1st John - The Fundamentals of Loving Well!

OPENING PRAYER

GREET AND INTRO

Good morning everyone!! Good morning on everyone worshiping this morning through live stream.

If I have not had a chance to meet you either in person or through live stream;  My name is Scott and I am a follower of Jesus and have the privilege of serving Him as the Lead Pastor among the people of Stonewater Fellowship. 

STONEWATER APP

HALLOWEENIES -

OCC -

SMALL GROUP - WEDNESDAY - OLIVE TREE - THURSDAY TEXAS COUNTRY ESTATES - 6:30

NOVEMBER 6TH BAPTISM CLASS

CONNECTION CARD

LETS GRAB OUR BIBLES

either electronic version or the actual book kind -

Open it to 1st John Chapter 3 as we will look at vs 11 through 24 this morning as we Continue in our Fall series understanding the Fundamentals of living the abundant life that Jesus came to give us - walking together through the 1 st letter of John the Apostle and very best friend of Jesus.

PRAYER TODAY

I want to begin this morning by sharing with you something that I was told a long time ago - That a sermon is first and foremost is a message from God to the person who is going to speak it be that a preacher or a pastor.

This may somehow sound odd - as we naturally think of preachers and especially pastors are people who live somehow in a different way than others. I know that I have made that assumption over the years when I was not a Pastor Elder.

But, the reality is as an Elder Pastor we certainly have expectations from God that are more severe so we can lead well, the additional reality is that we are people too -

I share this with you this morning becasue this message in particular is a message that addresses probably the biggest struggle that I have - Every message that I bring from the Word of God addresses a struggle of mine and we all struggle with things in common - But this one is probably my biggest and if it is yours as well

So I pray that this Word from God is helpful to you through what God says about this subject it - AS We join together in our quest for God to continue to make us more and more like His SON and

we say yes and Amen to what the Spirit of God does in our minds and hearts this morning -

SO -My Prayer for today is that we would all be immersed in the love of Jesus this morning and that we would leave not only knowing how to love everyone around us better but actually taking steps toward loving others the way Jesus loves us. And in that we would have a deep understanding of what Jesus Love was really all about.

With that desire before God for all of us - LET US LOOK AT OUR TEXT

TRUTH

1 John 3:11–24 NASB95

11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; 12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 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? 18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. 19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him 20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. 24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

ENGAGEMENT

It is interesting that when we read this letter we might observe that the word LOVE occurs 7 times in these 14 verses. One time for every other verse. Whats Even more interesting is that the word LOVE occurs 36 times in this writing of first John.

Here is another interesting Note - There are several Old Testament books that do not contain a single use of the word Love -

and EVERY Single New Testament writing uses the word Love -

Here is what is really interesting - The letter that we are walking through together in this season - 1st John - uses the word love more times than any other writing in the new testament -

36 times

The Next NT writing that uses the words love in second place is the Gospel of John - and that is 26 times -

But in the Gospel of John Love is spread over 21 chapters of the scriptures

Here the 36 usages of Love are spread over just 5 chapters -

You might be saying Pastor that is very interesting statistic - but what does that have to do with anything?

Whats love got to do with it you ask?

What’s love got to do with living the abundant Life that Jesus came to give us?

EVERYTHING -

SO Here is a question?

When I say the word “love” what comes to your mind?

When we read in the scriptures “love” what does that mean to you?

When we ponder the subject of LOVE we can easily come to the thoughts that there are types of Love for sure -

There is Love for a spouse -

There is love for our children - and then other children

There is the kind of love that we have for our family Members -

There is a love that we have for our family of faith that often too often seems to be different than any of those I have mentioned before -

After that - Where do we go with Love?

or do we take love into any other sphere of relationships?

I think it is possibleb56 yjf v that at that point our love might stop - We might then not think about love outside those spheres and from there go to the idea of mututality -

Here is what I mean - Respect - Mutual -Kindness Mututal - Patience - Mutual

When you think about love is love selective in the who we love?

It certainly needs to be appropriately given depending on our relationship; but deeper - how do we determine who we love and don’t and are there those whom we simply like and never love and then are there those we just don't like and can never love -

These are all BIG questions -

Even Bigger ones - Do the people we say we love actually believe that you love them, do they feel loved, is it real to them - Because many times we can say “we love you” and at the same time violate every tenant of scripture by the words we use, the passion by which we pursue right and wrong - and the judgement of our hearts in regards or another person.

I read many people on social media say things like “I love gay people” and the words they use are not loving at all. YOu see the question that I think we must all ask ourselves when we use the word LOVE towards other is “is love what they experience” and Can we love when our world views are sometimes so different?

I think that Love is a difficult subject for all of us to navigate well.

Because there are people who are easy to love and there are people who seem impossible to love and everyone else is in between

TENSION

The problem that this creates is when we live LOVE out That way, as part of our life with Jesus it Robs us of the very abundant life that Jesus came to give us.

and in these passages John deals with that very issue!

UNPACKING

John come off the first 10 vs of Chapter 3 what are dealing with sin and following jesus - and delineating for us the severity of our following Jesus and our dealing with Sin in our lives.

He ends vs 10 with the Idea that someone who does not love his brother is not a child of God.

That is a pretty serious standard -

He then takes the Subject of Love and He spirals down once again and goes a little deeper with it in these 14 verses.

and He Begins VS11 in stepping with in the middle of it by saying “This is the message which you heard form the beginning -

The Beginning of What - In this context John is drawing a time line reference to The Gospel - Since the beginning of the Proclamation of the Gospel that Jesus was proclaiming - That beginning -

He says THIS IS THAT MESSAGE - WHAT MESSAGE?

that WE should love one another - Where did they hear that message?

John and others heard it directly from Jesus - and it is the centrality of the Gospel -

God Love the World -

So love The One whom He sent - Love Jesus

Love one another is such a way that the world notices that your love is different telling everyone that you belong to ME

Remain in the Love of Jesus -

Love the Lord your God with ALL your mind heart soul and strength and Love your neighbors as yourself.

The Question is HOW?

John answers this by telling us how not to love someone -

NOT as Cain loved - You might be saying “Pastor are you implying that Cain loved His brother - And I would say YES - CAIN Loved Able with a love that is of the world.

He loved His brother becasue He was His brother - But His love was contaminated with all of the things that are of the world.

Strife - Bitterness - Resentment - jealousy - and so forth -

The Story is in Genesis chapter 4 - Here is what happened -

its not just that all of a sudden Cain (who was the first born) killed his younger brother - There is a back story to this -

Cain was a farmer - He worked the land and grew crops -

Able was a Rancher and Grew Live Stock -

Both of the brought an offering to the Lord from what they had produced -

The Story says that There was ONE difference between the two offerings - Able was of the first born, the first fruits, the First-lings of his flock -

In other words - Able gave to God first and then to himself and Cain gave to himself first and the excess to God -

Here is what happened - God did not pay attention to Cains offering - The Story says- God had no regard - which means he did not look at it or pay attention to it.

But Able offering God paid attention to -

SO what does Able do - He responds to this by acting like an older brother who is jealous of the younger brother getting all the attention -

He gets angry and he gets depressed -

Here is what God says - If you make course corrections “literally “if you do well” if you do what is right and good” You will not be angry and your will not be depressed -

God then says - If you do not make corrections - you do not do well - its gonna get worse - The Narrative says SIN is crouching at the door and its gonna jump on you the minute you open it becasue it desires to have you -

So Here is what happens-

Cain goes to Able and tell his brother of the conversation that God had with Him -

Now the Bible does not record for us the contents of that conversation and so I can only imagine that the Old brother cain was trying to get the younger brother to do the same thing in His offerings that Cain was doing in His -

I'm not sure - But here is what did happen - Sin overtook cain - and while they were int he field - Cain killed able -

John says - Why did this happen? Because Cain was evil and loved himself first and Able was righteous and love the Lord first and each of them proved that you by how they dealt with the production of what God had given to them -

Abel lived in a God first way and Cain lived in a Me first way -

This is what Jesus calls all people to - Live in a God first way - Jesus heart beat was God first - the world Second and I am third -

This is how Jesus calls all of us to live and it is based on the central character and Natures and essence of who God is and that Is Love -

John then says in VS 3 - that we should not be surprised that the world hates you -

It is important to understand what The Bible is talking about when it speaks of Hate -

Just like the Bible talks about Love it has the same reference to the word Hate in the original language and meaning -

Love, in the Bible is not a primarily a feeling - Love is not an adjective to describe a feeling or a noun in and of it self -

Love is a VERB - it is and Action - It is what we do and

Hate is also not primarily how we feel, IT is not an adjective to describe a feeling or primarily an emotion but rather an action - Rejection - and more specifically a passionate rejection.

and John says that we when we love the way God loves and we give our the love that God has given us - When we love as Jesus told us to love - Then The world is going to Reject us - passionately Reject us - and we should not be surprised by this. WHY - becasue the world does not have or possess the love of God

In Vs 14 he says it is becasue we have passed out of death and into life becasue we love - Because our passionate actions are loving - The Bible over and over in the new testament described this kids of God infused Love - More on that later - John then uses the word brethren -

John is dealing with gnostic teachers infiltrating the churches He is leading and helping to lead and one of the things that they are teaching is we can do what ever we want in this world becasue all material things are evil - and the only thing that is good is our spirit and so we can in the material world treat each other any old way we want -

John uses the term Brethren to indicate the family of faith and to offset the bad teaching that is counter to Jesus teaching -

This in no way negates or narrows the love we are to have for each other or the world around us - What John is doing is simplifying the objects of our love becasue brothers and sisters in Christ -

What he might be indicating is if we cant love each other they way Jesus loves, how in the world are we going to love the lord like Jesus Lives the world?

John also will use this narrowing and seems to imply that love for the brethren is the minimum of standard.

But John says something much more impact - We love becasue we have been passed out of death into light - John says a person who does not love remains or abides in death -

passing from death to life in all of the new testament is the framework of being saved - remaining or abiding in death would indicate remain in a lost sate where we have not been made new - regenerated, born again of the holy Spirit of God -

John then Brings it home and sets the standard the way Jesus set the standard - Everyone who Hate his brother - Rejects His brother - Treats his brother in an Unloving way - Eternal life does not abide or remain in Him -

Jesus says this in the sermon on the mount - Who ever is ANGRY with His brother is guilty - Who Says “you good for nothing” Who says “you fool”

You see what Jesus is talking about is how people are treated - Not primarily how we feel about them -

John then show us what love looks like - John Says “here is how we know love - Jesus laid down His life and we should do so as well.

You see the kind of Love that is GOD’s kind of Love is a Love that puts God first, other second and then we are third -

IT is a love that is sacrifices for the well being of the other - and most importantly the Eternal well being of others.

and what happens in VS 17 is john brings this complex system of Loving someone or everyone else in a sacrificial way to the very practical

and what He says is an all inclusive statement - Meaning He leaves no one out - WHO EVER -

WHOEVER seems a little complicated so I looked the word up in the original language of the new testament and here is what it means -

Its a compound word, made up of two words and it means - Any one and every one - In other words - WHO EVER.

John statement is reflective of the heart of Jesus - Jesus is the giver of life - The giver of eternal life and Jesus did what ever was necessary to satisfy the greatest of human needs - and that is to have our relationship with God repaired - Reconciled to God -

All that John is doing is Bringing the eternal principles in to the practical when He says - When we see people in need and John does use the word brother here not brethren - The change of this usage is purposeful and its takes on, or can take on, as intended by many to mean - Both physical brother and spiritual brothers but all of humanity as well. All brother in the flesh -

Anyone who has the worlds goods - And that term is meant to indicate any level of possession - If anyone who has the world material things and there is another brother who needs something and we turn our hearts against them - The love of God does not abide in Him -

Why does John Say this - many time what we see is the church attempting to deal with and solve the eternal needs without addressing the practical needs of the world.

This is contrary to the life of Jesus - Jesus dealt with he practice before he dealt with the eternal - Guy on the Matt through the roof - Healed first and then forgiven - Dead Girl raised and first - Lazarus raised then Resurrection and life - 5000 fed the 4000 fed -

Jesus said were supposed to do greater works than these -

The Reality is that we are to use the material blessings that God has given us as tool to usher take Jesus into the world- and not to build a larger kingdom of or own!

That is what the Parable of the sheep and the Goats is all about.

John then says what not to do as we find so many trying to do today -

Little Children - Again referring to His audience which are the churches He is leading -

And He uses an all inclusive term and He includes Himself - Let us NOT love with word or tongue

He is simply saying let us not Love with Words or langue but rather in deed and truth -

We take the Gospel to people in word and in deeds -

beginning in vs 19 John then begins to unfold the assurance of being of the Truth - Being of Jesus - Speaking the Truth of Eternity - The Two incredible benefits of Loving Like this

John Says - We know by this that we are of This and will assure our heart before Jesus - The This is the way we love - We know by the way we love that we are His - Our love in action towards each other and the world as we advance the Gospel Confirms our salvation -

I love the way John McArthus says it: “we may have doubts and insecurities about salvation but if we love like this God does not condemn us -

Vs 20 and 21 John then says - That even if our hearts give a voice of Condemnation - IF we love like this - God is certainly greater than our hearts -

And the Best Condition of loving like this is vs 20 and if we love like this and our hearts do not bring a sense of condemnation than we have confidence before God and if we have confidence before God on e of the Hugh benefits is that we have answered prayer -

Vs 22 What ever we ask we receive form Him WHY? becasue we keep His commandments to Love one another and to love the world and to love as he loves - and in that we are doing things that are pleasing in His sight -

This is the commandment - And the Christian Life can be summed up in this - Believe and in the New testament that means to TRUST Everything on the name of Jesus Christ -

AND to love one as He commanded us to - HE commands us to Love each other and the World in the way that He loves the father and the world -

This is the simple Christian Life- Trust the finished work of Jesus and Love - John Concludes this chapter by saying of we keep these two commandments - We are abiding in Jesus and we KNOW that He abides in us and the way and means by which Jesus abides in us is that His Spirit is in us the Person of the Holy Spirit.

INSPIRATION -

as Emanuela and the Team come to lead us back into musical worship and our prayer team comes forward - I want you to imagine what life would look like if not only did we all love like that but we all were loved like that -

There are way too many today that do not experience the practical day to day love that God has designed us for - and are missing the eternal love of God through Jesus and remain in death and unregenerate not made new by the power of the Holy Spirit -

SO WHO DO WE DO THIS? Well?

THREE THINGS THAT STICK WITH ME THIS MORNING that I pray will stick to all of us -

1- This word form God has shown the importance of Loving well everyone in our spheres - Everyone we encounter - We must take this seriously -

2 - Examine our heart and our actions and ask these questions -

Am i patient with everyone I encounter?

Am I kind to everyone? -

Do I come across as Jealous to others in any way with my interaction with them?

Do I feel insecure and need to brag or boast to one up in my conversations in any way? Does my insecurities make me be perceived as prideful or arrogant?

DO I act towards others in any form of self serving way - am I considered rude - am I a person that is easily angered or provoked into equalizing things?

Do I keep records of the ways other have offended me or taken from me or taken advantage of me or wronged me? In other words DO i only respect when respect is given or earned - Am I kind when Kindness is given or earned - Do I love only when love is given or earned?

AM I glad when someone else suffers especially if they are a person who has offended or wronged me?

OR - am I only happy and the only thing that brings about rejoicing is when I see Jesus working?

DO I Bear all things - Believe all thing are possible through Christ - DO I hope all things for their eternal life and do I endure for their eternal benefit.

3 - The Third thing that I think needs to stick with us this morning and that sticks with me - is that we must understand that it is not important how we think about our love or affections of others when we think about loving the world - But the real question is “Are the experiencing the Love of God through us?” Do they fell and experience Love? and if Not we must ask ourselves - Why not and seek the heart of Jesus and we must seek the life of Jesus He came to give us!

IMAGINE WITH ME how beautiful life would be when we love like this? Imagine with me the impact that Jesus would have through us?

PRAYER TEAM!