Sanctifying Love

Right belief

Some that John was defending against were stating that Jesus wasn’t the Savior, he was not the Son of God and did not come in human form.

What does it mean that those who believe Jesus is the Christ are “born of God”?

It is something initiated by God and through the Spirit to those who place faith in Jesus.

So how do we know that we have been “born of God”. By our faith

Right love

Those who love God and have faith in God will show it with actions. We are told that we will love God’s children and we will obey His commands.

To love God means that we should love His children, otherwise we are not showing love for God. Because to harm His children is to harm Him. Jesus tells us this.

Matthew 25:34-40 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. “ ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’ “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

What we do to the least of these people we do for God.

Right obedience to God’s commands

But love for God doesn’t just man loving people. In fact, what we see is the basis for loving others is that we keep His commands. It also means obeying His commands. Loving God isn’t just an emotional experience, that we feel His presence and we sometimes spend time with Him. But it is a commitment to obey God. In fact, to love others means that we keep His commands as a way of loving others. Sometimes we don’t see the correlation between obeying the Bible and loving other people. We can look at what God tells us to do and say “as long as I am not hurting other people than why does it matter?” But what we often don’t know is how that is shaping our hearts and the actual impact of our sins against God. It also allows us to justify sinfulness. Thinking it is okay to steal as long as no one gets hurt and don’t get caught. Thinking its fine to get drunk because no one else is affected by it. Lying about something because you don’t think you will get caught.

These commands are not a burden to us but rather is actually a relief. These doesn’t mean that sometimes obeying God’s Word won’t be difficult, or that it isn’t a high standard of how we are supposed to live. But God helps us to overcome the world. It doesn’t hurt our freedom but it leads us to freedom.

Matthew 11:28-30 ““Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.””

See, in God we are able to conquer the burdens of the world. The world wants you to believe the God’s commands are the burden. The world wants you to believe pride, desiring things that aren’t yours, the desires of the flesh that we think will satisfy us, lusting after things will bring you just. We think that these will bring us delight but in fact they become a burden. A burden always for more, a burden to satisfy our sinful cravings, a burden to have what others have. Sin enslaves us, but in God we are able to conquer the world. We have victory.

In Christ we have victory over Satan and sin, have victory over the world that tries to deceive us, and we have victory in Christ with salvation. Jesus is the only one who can overcome evil and the sin that we find in the world.

Summary

The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary c. A Combination of the Three Tests (5:1–5)

Christian believers are God’s children, born from above. God’s children are loved by all who love God. Those who love God also keep his commands. They keep his commands because they overcome the world, and they overcome the world because they are Christian believers, born from above.