Love In Action | 1 John 3:14-18

[Scripture reading]

1 John 3:14–18 NLT

14 If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. 15 Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them. 16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? 18 Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.

Last week we started the second part of 1 John about love. We talked about the story of Cain and Abel and how Cain represents hate and the world, while Abel had faith and love in God and, even though he wasn’t perfect, he pointed to the ultimate example of love, Jesus. We talked a lot about what love is and what hate is. Today, we’re gonna talk about how we love others.

1. Love is found in Jesus. (vv. 14-16)

2. Love is rooted in truth. (vv. 16; 18)

3. Love is demonstrated in action. (vv. 17-18)

One foggy day a man was minding his own business driving down the road when the ground began shaking. Where the man lived, earthquakes were common, so knowing this was an earthquake and deciding to be safe, the man pulls over and waits out the earthquake. Once the earthquake stops, he hops back on the road and begins driving across a bridge toward his destination. As he was driving though, something odd happened. It was foggy outside so he couldn’t quite make out what happened, but it seemed like all the cars in front of him were just disappearing. Eventually he saw what was happening and slammed on brakes. The bridge had collapsed and the cars in front of him just plunged to the lake below.

The man then sees more cars coming behind him and realizes what’s about to happen. He gets out of his car and flails his arms to try and get the attention of the drivers, but they don’t listen. They just think he’s some crazy dude on the side of the road. He then watches as three cars drive off the cliff and plunge to the lake below. Then he sees a school bus coming. At that moment, the man decided he needed to take more drastic measures. He was going to do everything possible to try and get this bus to stop. He runs out into the road in front of where the bus is driving and flails his arms again trying to get the attention of the bus driver. The bus driver sees the man and slams on brakes to try and avoid hitting him. The bus driver was furious. She already had to pull over earlier for the earthquake which caused a delay on her route, and now this crazy guy was standing in the road. She got out to confront the man and realized why he was standing in the road. She was extremely thankful that he saved her life and the lives of all the children on the bus.

That’s a tough story to picture in your mind. The man tried to stop those cars that came before the bus, but they didn’t listen and he had to watch as they plunged to their deaths.