Contagious Love

This week I read an amazing story from World War II: the story of Jacob De Shazer, one of the members of Doolittle's crew who bombed Tokyo early in World War II. He was captured by the Japanese and put in prison. He hated his Japanese captors and was so violent and vicious that his captors feared him because he himself feared nothing they did to him. They kept him in solitary confinement because of the hatred with which he lashed out against them. But in a remarkable way he obtained a copy of the Bible, and began to read it through. Reading through that book, in the loneliness of his cell, he came to realize the life that is in Jesus Christ. There came an amazing change over this man. His hatred of the Japanese changed completely. He began to love his captors and to show love toward them, and they were utterly astonished by what had happened to him. Instead of burning with wrath, resentment, and viciousness against them, he became the most docile of prisoners, eagerly cooperating with his captors, and praying for them.

Eventually, the story of his change of heart was written up in a little tract, and, after the war, it fell into the hands of a young Japanese, Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, the man who led the air raid against Pearl Harbor, and who gave the command to drop the bombs on that fateful day of December 7. Mitsuo Fuchida was a hero in Japan after the war because of that exploit and others, but his own heart was empty. Somehow he read the tract that told the story of De Shazer's amazing change of heart. He was arrested by the story and puzzled by it. From somewhere he obtained a New Testament and began to read it with growing interest and amazement. At last he came to the story of the crucifixion. When he read the Lord's words from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34), his heart broke. He realized that this One who could love his enemies and pray for those who persecuted him and despitefully used him, was manifesting a quality of life that no natural human being could possibly show. Mitsuo Fuchida became a Christian evangelist going up and down Japan telling the story of a love that can change human hearts.

The love of God is contagious. The love of God inspired King David to make a place at the king’s table for Solomon’s crippled son, Mephibosheth. Paul explained that God’s love compelled him to preach the gospel. Love is contagious.

Let’s dig in to 1 John 3:11-24, and discover how this contagious love of God can overflow from our hearts to others.

Loving each other is not a suggestion; it’s a command. (v. 11)

"For" connects this passage to the previous; specifically, verse 10, which I think resonates with 3:1.

See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are! (3:1)

This is how God’s children and the devil’s children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister. (3:10)

The Father has given us great love, and redeemed us from darkness into His light. We are now his children; so loving each other should be a part of our character, since he loves us. In fact, the entire message of God's Word is that God loves us. "For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

We should love one another. If we do not, we are not living true to the message.

When we don’t love each other, we’re just like Cain. (vv. 12-15)

Verses 12-15 personify the devil in the person of Cain. Believers should bear the image of God by loving each other. Cain bore the image of the devil by hating his brother. (Might retell the Cain/Abel story here.) The murder of his brother revealed his true character: evil. "His brother's (deeds) were righteous." John is opposing one brother against the other. Cain represents the devil and those who are evil. Abel represents the Father, and those who are righteous. This is one reason Cain hatred his brother: Abel was righteous. Evil hates righteousness. God warned Cain, but having a dark mind and heart, he found no solution to his dilemma but to murder his own brother. Tragic.

So, we should not be surprised by the world's hatred toward us. Our righteousness sheds light on their wickedness. So they strike against us.

When we do love each other, we’re just like Jesus. (v. 16)

Jesus is the standard by which/whom we measure love. We know love, measure it, in light of the cross, where Jesus "laid down his life for us." The phrase, “laid down”, in the Greek language, which is the language of the New Testament, literally means, “to place under the ax.” It implies a willingness to sacrifice one’s own life for another. This reminds us of John 15:13

John 15:13 CSB

No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.

The model/example that Jesus "laid down" for us is not simply for us to admire: "We should lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters."

When we love each other like Jesus loves us, our love takes action. (vv. 17-18)

These verses puts into practical action what it means to "lay down our lives" for each other. It's not that we have to die on a cross. We lay down our lives by for each other by meeting each other's needs. This is love. To withhold compassion demonstrates that God's love is not in us: "reside in". I’m reminded of what Jesus said in John 15:5

John 15:5 CSB

I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.

What John is saying is that a lack of love for each other puts our love for Jesus in question. Is this a subtle comparison to Cain in verses 12-15? The phrase, “little children” highlights John’s speaking in an affectionate way. Love is best expressed through action (v. 18). What did John mean by "action and in truth"?

active love gives preference to others (Romans 12:3)

Romans 12:3 CSB

For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.

b. active love maintains fellowship with others

c. active love cares for others

d. active love is willing to sacrifice for others (Good Samaritan)

When we love each other, we have assurance that our faith is real. (vv. 19-20)

Picks up the theme of truth in v. 19. We know we belong to the truth when we love in action and truth (v. 18). I think it also refers back to laying down our lives for each other through compassion (meeting each others' needs). Question: How and why do our hearts condemn us? (v. 20) Perhaps John was referring to our human nature to put our own faith into question at times. Or perhaps he was referring to the conviction of sin in our hearts when we have sinned. We can be reassured that God's love resides in us, that we are truly believers, when we reflect on the evidence of our faith, visible in our compassion for others. "God is greater than our hearts, and he knows all things." I God’s grace is more abundant than our sin. God knows the truth about who we are.

When we love each other, we have confidence in prayer (vv. 21-22)

Now John picks up the theme of the heart. Obedience and doing what is pleasing give us confidence before God. When I hear "do what is pleasing" I think of faith. "Without faith it is impossible to please God." (Hebrews 11:6) And when we have confidence in God's presence, we have confidence in prayer: "(we) receive whatever we have from him." Once again, I’m reminded of Jesus’s words in John 15:7

John 15:7 CSB

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.

Of course, this confidence in prayer has its foundation in obedience. "… because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing" is the reason we are confident before God in prayer.

When we love each other, we live in obedience to the gospel and abide in Christ. (vv. 23-24)

John condensed verses 11-22 into one simple command with two components: faith and love. "Now this is the command: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he commanded us." Believe is the verb form of the word faith. The word describes the act of believing or trusting something or someone on the basis of truthfulness and reliability. There's a measure of being convinced or persuaded that the object of faith (belief) is truthful and reliable. There is also a measure of personal trust. Belief in Jesus is an action by which one entrusts him or herself fully to Him. Belief (faith) is neither blind nor passive, but is fully informed, fully convinced and persuaded, and fully active in surrender and commitment to the One who is believed.

Verse 24, once more, brings to mind Jesus' teaching in John 15 about a personal and vital relationship between Him and those who believe. Just as a branch is organically attached to a vine, believers abide in Christ and He in them. Just as branch has no life of its own but relies upon the life of the vine, so we rely on Christ for our life. Just as a branch bears fruit from the nutrition the vine provides, so we in Christ bear fruit for His "vineyard" as a result of His life-giving presence in us. John must have had these teachings of Christ in mind when he wrote, "The one who keeps his commands remains in him, and he in him. And the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he has given us" (v. 24). Contagious love, overflowing from our lives toward others, is evidence that we are bearing fruit for God’s glory.

What this all means:

We love others, not because they love us, but because Jesus loves us.

We don’t just say we love, we put our love to action.

We love each other by laying down our lives and giving preference to others.

We conquer the hatred of the world with persistent love.

Conclusion

Jacob de Shazer’s life was so transformed by the power of Christ’s love that he was able to actively love, even his enemies. De Shazer’s love for Christ and others intersected with the life of Mitsuo Fuchida. His empty heart was filled with the love of Christ, which inspired him to proclaim the Good News all over Japan.

Christ’s love has also intersected with our lives. And I’m excited about the way that love overflows from our hearts, to each other, and to our community, even those who oppose us and oppose the gospel.

What is the Holy Spirit speaking to you right now? What steps of obedience do you need to take to be Christ’s channel of love to others? Who will be infected this week by your contagious love.

Prayer

Our Father, may these words from 1 John 3 come home to our own hearts with great power. May we realize that we are not to love others because they love us, we are not to be kind to people because they are kind to us, we are not to be friendly to other people because they show some friendship back to us; but a Christian is to love because he has been loved by God, and he has in him a life which loves despite any reason to love. Grant to us that we may let that life show. Let us respond to the feelings that well up within us from you, to the impulses to be kind, to be courteous. Make us quick, Lord, to respond to these. We ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who loved us with that kind of love, Amen.