Love one another 1 John 3:11-18

Introduction

As we come into this section of first John, he again is going to remind us to love one another, repetition is a great teacher, and we must be taught to love like Jesus, because it is not natural for us.

Love; A fundamental Characteristic of believers vs 11-13

John tells the audience that this commandment hasn’t changed from the beginning vs. 11

Its the same message that the israelites were taught in the Old Testament Leviticus 19:18 “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.”

Jesus also taught his followers this as well

Luke 10:27 “And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.”

Matthew 5:43–48 “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

Jesus also taught his disciples that they would be known by their love

John 13:34–35“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

John then gives them an illustration of how not to love vs. 12

John takes us back to the first murder in the bible to help us to understand the love we need to have for one another

Why was Cain so mad at Abel that he killed him? Cain had made everything about him, it was based on good works, self-effort and human merit, which is the opposite of what God teaches. Abel on the other hand was living by faith looking ahead to calvary, basing his salvation upon the shed blood of the atoning sacrifice.

John Phillips said this “A great religious lie, inspired by the Evil One and espoused by Cain was the root cause of Cain’s hatred of Abel. He wasted no time in murdering his brother who thus became the first in a long trail of martyrs. The spirit of the world is activated by lies, for Satan is a liar. The very idiom of his language is the lie. Moreover, he was a murderer from the beginning.” John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

John then tells them to not worry about it if the world hates you

I’m sure as John is saying this he is remember Jesus telling him that if the world hates you know they hated me first.

John 15:18–19 “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”

When you live after God, the world will hate you.

John was no stranger to persecution and hate from the world. It is said that John survived being boiled, and then we know he was exiled to the isle of Patmos.

How to live out our love vs. 14-18

As believers we should have love for the brethren.

John’s mind surely went back to the early church, where they were all getting along in one accord, and they were sharing all they had so no one had need for anything. They weren’t practicing communism, but rather commonism.

One way you can know that you have been saved, is your love for other believers.

One commentator said this “The fellowship of the church was an extraordinary affair, bringing together rich and poor, master and servant, men and women, young and old, strong and weak, Jews and Gentiles. All one in Christ, they blend hearts and voices in the worship of Him who loves each and every one with an everlasting love.”

If we don’t love our brethren, we abide in death.

I’m sure his mind went back to Judas, who while in the upper room with Jesus, is told that one of them had betrayed Jesus and Judas asked if it was him, all the while he had the money he had sold jesus for in his purse.

Judas didn’t have love for the master or the brethren.

He takes it a step further and almost repeats Jesus’ words from the sermon on the mount.

If you hate your brother your’e a murderer

Matthew 5:21–22 “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”

Then he tells us how to love

He uses the example of Christ laying down his life for us.

John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Just as Jesus laid down his life for us we should be willing to lay down our lives for the brethren.

He then tells us we can show our love by giving to others as well vs. 17

If we have and somebody needs, we shouldn’t be so calloused that we don’t offer help.

Jesus found us in need of help, and he gave it to us. We should be will to help others as well.

We will end this morning with a practical but necessary thought that John gave these people, that is for us as well.

he tells the young christians don’t just love with your words, or with your tongue.

Its one thing to say you love somebody, but words without action are empty.

We should love in deed and in truth.

We should not just talk about our love for others, but we should show our love for others

We also show our love for others by telling them the truth

Remember in John 1, the Bible tells us that Jesus was full of grace, but he was also full of truth. One of the best ways we love somebody is by telling them the truth.

Conclusion

How is your love for others?

Are you showing your love, or just talking about it?