Sermon Tone Analysis

Love Does (3:11-18)

Bob Goff’s Love Does book.

We can tell a tree by its fruit.

We can tell a tree by its fruit.

John always writes in contrasts; here he is contrasting love and hate.

He also always expresses a spiritual reality as a physical reality.

In the first part of the passage, very little of what he is saying has not been said before; John reuses thoughts from his Gospel, , and the sermon on the mount.

Love Does (3:11-18)

v. 11 - John gives us textual clues that he’s entering into a new section of thought.

When reading the Bible, it’s important to pick up on these sort of repetitions as they will help you break down and understand the authors thought process and argument.

What John is saying here is that love is foundational to the gospel.

Love, specifically the love of Christ, is the message that has been central from the very beginning.

It is impossible to share the gospel without also sharing the love of Christ; and it is impossible to share the gospel with someone whom you do not love.

v. 12 - John’s sequence of words here is important.

Notice that the text does not say that Cain murdered his brother and then was over the evil one, but rather was already of the evil, and as a result murdered his brother.

Cain killed Able because Cain was righteous.

Unrighteousness stems from the heart, which why Cains deed, his actions, resulted in evil.

v. 13 - Again, John repeats his previous teachings.

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v. 14 - So how do you know that you have passed from this death and into life?

Because we love our brothers and sisters.

This is the answer to John’s test of love here: How do you know that you are walking in the light?

That you love others.

The one who is not walking in the light does not love others.

Notice also how John talks about passing from death to life.

This is theologically significant because John demonstrates our position with God before salvation.

We do not start in this world neutral with God, then choose or reject God.

We start out as sinners which affects everything that we say or do

I have told you before that one of the marks of someone who might be a Christian is struggling with sin and salvation.

Nonbelievers do not struggle with their sin or salvation!

v. 15 - John is setting up the contrast here by asking the question of “what does it look like to hate others?”

In this verse, John is perfectly in step with Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.

We are just as guilty for our attitudes of our heart as we are the actions of our hands.

v. 16-17 - Contrasted to hate, it love.

A pure love like Christ demonstrated when he gave up his life.

What’s important here is an understanding that not everyone will lay down their life for others in the sense of mortality.

But are you willing to give up things in this life that are precious to you, time, money, sharing in heartache and pain?

Will you give yourself sacrificially so that others can see love and see Christ?

v. 18 - The message of this verse is quite clear and is an excellent summary for what John has just argued.

Application

A Christian’s life should be marked by imitation of Christ.

Our culture has one definition of love; we have another.

A Christian’s life should be marked by imitation of Christ.

When you commit your life to Christ, you commit your life to loving and serving others.

Notice how in each of those verses, love is always tied to sacrifice.

The Bible speaks to the link between love and sacrifice at great length.

As we saw in verses 16-17, not everyone is going to need to or even have the opportunity to give up their life for someone, but as John says very specifically, if anyone has the goods of this world, sees a believer in need, and withholds compassion, God’s love does not reside in him.

In Love Does, Bob Goff said, “That's what love does - it pursues blindly, unflinchingly, and without end.

When you go after something you love, you'll do anything it takes to get it, even if it costs everything.”

Our action in loving others is a natural re-action to the love that Christ demonstrated for us.