Love One Another
Notes
Transcript
What: a Command to Love.
What: a Command to Love.
Interpretation
Verse 11
As John has done before, he again assures his audience that nothing he is saying is new.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to us that we are called to love. After all, a God of love has proven His love to us by sending Christ to die for us in order to make us children of God. All of these come from God, who is love. Is it any wonder that a God of love compels His people to love?
Verse 12
John uses a familiar OT story as a point of illustration. Cain, the murderous brother, killed Abel because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.
Revealed in Cain’s murder of Abel and John’s recounting of the story is the fact that those who do not do according to God’s standard hate those who do. This was foundational even in Jesus’ own teaching when He lets the disciples know that because they love and follow Him, they will be hated by those who do not. If they hated Christ, who perfectly obeyed the Father, then surely Christ’s followers can expect a similar degree of hatred.
Verse 13 — seems to be John recalling the words of Jesus which he recorded in John 15:18 ““If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”
Verse 14
Here is another one of John’s dualism: death and life. Love is evidence that one truly is a follower of Jesus, while the one who does not love remains in his spiritual death.
Evidence that we are children of God comes in the form of love for others. It is both keeping with the name’s sake, for God is love, and following the example set forth by Christ in His ministry and death.
Love does not earn eternal life. God’s grace gives eternal life to people who were dead in their trespasses and sins. However, eternal life manifests itself in love toward others.
Verse 15
If you only read John’s letter, verse 15 may be difficult to take. How can anyone say hate and murder are the same thing? It’s important to remember that Jesus emphasized motivation in the Sermon on the Mount. While we tend to focus solely on the right thing externally, Jesus reminded us that the inward motivation matters just as much.
If we are not actively pursuing love for others, we neglectfully hate them, signaling an absence of true spiritual life.
An interesting tidbit on the word for murderer. It comes from a compound word that combines anthro (“man”) with ktonos (“to kill”). It is not the common word for “murder,” which is phono. It is interesting to connect the idea of “man-killer” with being a child of the devil who, from the beginning, has been about the business of killing the uniqueness of mankind. To hate a person is to diminish their value as human beings. All are worthy of love because they bear the image of the God of love. Hating even further-diminishes the image of God in a believer and seeks to destroy the image of God in others.
When John says no murder has eternal life, he’s not elevating murder to an unforgivable sin. Rather, if someone maintains a murderous, hateful spite towards others, it reveals that the love of God does not reside in them (see vs.14 — we love because we belong to God).
Illustration
Jesus says that no good fruit can come from a bad tree, and no bad fruit comes from a good tree. What He’s getting at is that there is more to the fruit than just inspecting the fruit itself…it always comes back to the health of the tree.
Application
We’re no different — the core, the root, the heart matters, which is why John takes the discussion to the position of the heart, not just the outward expression. The question really centers around a person’s inner change. We can obey outwardly, but where’s our heart?
How: in Deed and Truth.
How: in Deed and Truth.
Interpretation
Verse 16
The cross is the measure by which we determine the extent of our love for others! Jesus is the antithesis of hatred. His death is the tangible means by which we know God’s love. If Cain is the negative example of the seed of woman, Christ is the positive example. Instead of taking a life through hatred, Jesus gave life through His death.
Believers are called to give life by dying to self. There is this cool word association John uses with his gospel, and it centers around this idea of laying down. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep only to take it up again, but when He washes the disciples feet, He lays aside His garment to take it up again. Those connections are intentional. And, what does Jesus tell the disciples after washing their feet? Go and do likewise! It sets the stage for what John calls us to in verse 18.
Verse 17 — To bolster our understanding of the previous verse, John points out that when we’ve been blessed with financial stability and we see others in need, we should serve them, because if we close our heart to them, God’s love doesn’t abide in us.
Verse 18
Finally, John states plainly that love is not a matter of word or talk, but a matter of deed and…truth. The idea here is that love cannot be empty.
The word deed is pretty easy to understand — love must be an action. Truth, on the other hand, could use a little clarification. It goes beyond a simple statement of truth. It accords with reality. Connected to the word deed, it denotes a certain quality of love. We might would say you can tell the difference between your heart being in something or working at something with your whole heart and not.
Illustration
Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?”
26 He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?”
27 He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”
28 “Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”
29 Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”
30–32 Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.
33–35 “A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’
36 “What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”
37 “The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded.
Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”
Application
Friends, Jesus gives perhaps the greatest illustration on what it actually means to love others. We tend to do just like the religious scholar and look for loopholes. If we’re not excusing our lack of obedience for whatever reason, then we’re boiling love down to an emotive response to some tug-at-your-heart-strings commercial and saying, “Since I feel bad about that, clearly I love people.” Jesus reminds us real love is loving through time, talents, treasures…whatever the Lord has given you, using it to serve, even the least of these.
Why: for Assurance and to Abide.
Why: for Assurance and to Abide.
Interpretation
First, love gives us assurance that we belong to God.
Verse 19
John refers back to loving in deed and truth. He is saying that love is evidence of our embrace of the gospel, but it also tells of the genuineness or authenticity of our embrace of the truth. It shows the truthfulness of the truth, if you will.
When there is genuine sincerity in our love and service of others, it should reassure our heart before Him. The heart often deals with the core of a person, their inner motivation, will, and desires. Here, John maybe using this idea and coupling it with another concept of heart: conscience. The idea of the heart referring to the conscience is how John uses it in the next verse when the heart condemns.
If we have love, it comes from the Father. This should strengthen us, to know that our desires (hearts) have been changed and we now want to live for God.
Verse 20
John turns to the conscience of the heart here, noting that the heart will condemn us. In what regard does the heart condemn us, and in what way should the believe take this condemnation? There is indeed an inner conviction of sin whereby the conscience condemns us. What does the believer do with this type of conviction? First John 1:9 provides the answer: confess. What is the basis of our confession? He is the atoning sacrifice (1 John 2:2). How do we know His sacrifice has covered us? We keep His commandments (1 John 2:3), particularly the command to love (1 John 3:18-19). What is our assurance that we can be forgiven? God is greater than our hearts and He knows everything.
While our hearts may condemn us, it is the omniscient God who has looked upon all of our sin and taken it upon Himself to forgive our sin. While we might be condemned by our own actions and deeds, self-deceived as we may/can be, God is the One who knows all and can grant true assurance. We tend to have active consciences that tend to hear the voice of the accuser as much as we hear the voice of God. Remember that the final and true declaration is made by God, not the human heart! I. Howard Marshall says this: “John says that we can set our hearts at rest whenever they condemn us. …For God understands us better than our own hearts know us, and in His omniscience He knows that our often weak attempts to obey His command spring from a true allegiance to Him.”
Verse 21
If our conscience (heart) does condemn us (vs.20), how great must our confidence before God be if our heart does not condemn us? Confidence is a key theme in the book of Hebrews where Christ is portrayed as our perfect and Great High Priest who is also our perfect and once-for-all sacrifice. On the basis of His finished work, the believer has confidence that we are His house, confidence to draw near to the throne of grace for help in time of need, confidence to enter the presence of God by the blood of Christ, and confidence as a great reward.
There is a way to silence the accusations of our hearts — resting in God and His truth.
Verse 22
The confidence in verse 21 stems beyond simply a right standing before God, but it gives us boldness in our prayer life.
Does this mean that if we live “good” enough we will have anything we ask for? No, which is implied in obedience aspect of this passage of Scripture. The temptation is to read that whatever we ask we receive and think that if we have enough faith, we will be happy, healthy, and wealthy. John silences that type of faulty theology by noting the we must obey His commands and do what pleases Him. This obedience would include generosity, a healthy fear of wealth, and an embrace of scorn and suffering, understanding that this is often the path of sanctification.
It is by the indwelling Spirit and the Word of God, through obedience to the commandments, believers do pleases God.
Second, when we love, we obey Christ, abiding in Him and He in us.
Verse 23
Belief in Christ is not separate from love for others in John’s theology. They simply cannot be separated. Faith, obedience, and love are all intimately connected throughout John’s writings.
Remember that belief in the biblical context is evidenced by obedience. Faith that a chair can support you is evident when you actually sit in the chair. Faith that Christ can save us is evident when we actually surrender to Him.
Verse 24
Verse 23 names belief and love as the commands of Christ. While these aren’t the only things Christ commanded, we can still take the easy way out and cling to them. Why? These commands cover a broad scope, and Jesus Himself taught us that. It’s similar to Matthew 22 when Jesus says that all of the law and prophets hang on the commands to love God and love others.
Paramount to abiding in God and God in us is obedience. Paul picks up on this idea in Eph.5:18 when he commands the church to be filled with Spirit, to not quench the Spirit in 1 Thes. 5:19, and to not grieve the Spirit in Eph.4:30. How does God abide in us? Through His Spirit. The one who has faith abides in God, and this faith is evidenced through obedience. Obedience occurs because we are filled by the Spirit, and the Spirit bears out godliness in our life as we intake His Word and follow the Spirit’s leading. As we respond to the Spirit, He is not grieved our quenched and we are further filled or under the control of the Spirit. In so doing, we abide in Christ, and the cycle becomes a self-feeding fire.
Illustration
Have you ever gotten up in the morning and thought to yourself, “Do I really work at a hospital? Or am I really an accountant? Do I really build houses?” Not in a “pinch me,” unbelief type of way. In a I can’t remember what I do for a living type of way? I’d guess not. Why? Because every day you get up, you get dressed for the day, and you head out to your job, which sometimes feels like where you live.
Application
So it is when we obey Christ, particularly when it comes to loving others. The chief fruit of the Spirit is love, the royal law is love, the greatest commandments deal with love, God is…love, and when we obey Christ, our hearts are assured and we all the more so abide in Christ and bear His fruit: love.