Love is Expensive and Free

“Love is Expensive and Free” O.T. Reading:

Last week we saw from John’s letter, that a true sign of conversion (of being a Christian) is that our heart’s desire is for God. Christians are no longer enslaved to this sinful world. We are no longer chasing after temporary pleasures that do not satisfy but instead we have been given new hearts that love God. But Tonight John challenges our understanding of what this love should look like.

Our title for tonight’s message is “Love is Expensive and Free” I hope that as we open God’s Word tonight, we will see that as Christians we have been given true love for free, yet that same love is going to cost us something very expensive, namely our lives!

[11] For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

John begins by saying again that he is not the originator of what follows. This message has been heard from the beginning. As I have said before, John has used this phrase (that which you have heard from the beginning), several times throughout this letter, to show his Apostolic authority against false teachers. People are not going to like what he has to say, but this is a message that he has received, not created. John is clear, if we do not like what he has to say, we do not like what God has to say. If we refuse to listen to John, we refuse to listen to God.

We also see that the message in which John proclaims is nothing new. The heart of Christianity is love. I often hear that the Old Testament is about God’s wrath or His justice, while the New Testament is simply about love. This is simply not true.

There is no doubt about it; we find the clearest expression of God’s love for us in the New Testament, but this is not something new.

This message of love has been heard “from the beginning”. Both the Old and New Testaments are about this message of love. In fact John goes back to the Old Testament to show how this love has wrongly been displayed. John gives us an example tonight of how this message of love has not been lived out.

[12] We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.

Cain murdered his brother Abel not because of some evil action that Abel did. Cain murdered because Abel was Abel was righteous. Cain hated Abel because he was exposed for who he really was. Cain was walking in darkness and Abel’s light exposed this.

In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” 8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

We do not have a lot of details on why the Lord accepted Abel’s offering and not Cain’s but John is clear that the fault lied with Cain. His deeds where evil and he hated his brother and killed him.

Now John says the world will act the same way towards Christians. We are light into a dark world and there will be those that hate us simply because we expose their darkness.

[13] Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. [14] We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. [15] Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

John is right. This should not surprise us. The world hated Abel and the world hated our Lord Jesus. The Jews, the religious elite, were exposed by Jesus. People truly believed that if anyone was righteous, if anyone could claim entrance into Heaven, it would be the Jews. But their works were evil, just like Cain’s.

Jesus even told his disciples this truth. In “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” As Christians, the world is going to hate us because it hates Jesus.

We can often be hated because we are “bible-thumpers”, or “holier than thou” , or homophobic and for that I don’t blame the world. This should not mark the Christian. But John tells us that we will be hated because we love.

The world remains in death and Christians have “passed out of death into life” and this is visible to the world in our love for others. People should see our love, it should be evident.

The early church was hated by the world but there love did not go un-noticed. The Roman Emperor Julian in the 4th century, said “These godless Galileans feed not only their own poor but ours; our poor lack our care” The early church, hated by the world, tortured and killed, were still known for their love towards one another, even those who hated them.

John says, if we hate others, we remain in death. Jesus said that if we hate we are guilty of murder. And John is clear, no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We cannot have eternal life within, if we desire to tear down, destroy, and take life from others.

So what does love look like?

[16] By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

If we want to know what love is, we must look to Jesus. The clearest expression of love is found in what Jesus has done. Love is not some grand philosophical concept. Love is a person. He has loved us. He laid down his life for us. This is true love. Our culture is filled with talk about love, but it looks nothing like Jesus.

We see that:

The world’s loves is passive Jesus is active

The world’s love is self-serving Jesus is sacrificial

Jesus laid down his life so we could be saved. Of all mankind, the last person who deserved to be hung upon the cross was Jesus. Yet he did this for others.

Jesus loved us and we freely receive this love. We did nothing to deserve this. We have nothing that could repay this. Christ laid down his life and we receive it freely but there was a great cost involved. It cost Jesus his life. Jesus gave the most costly thing, his own life, so we could be saved. This love was expensive yet given for free at the same time.

John says that this example of free but costly love, is to be followed by all Christians. Since Christ laid down his life for us, we should be willing to lay down our life for others.

And while we all might nod our heads and agree with this, John wants to be clear that we understanding how our love should be given to others for free, and it too will cost us something.

[17] But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? [18] Little children, let us NOT love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

The Greek word for “goods” here is bios. It is the exact same word John uses for possessions back in chapter 2 verse 16. “For all that is in the world- the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride in possessions- is not from the Father but is from the world.”

We have already learned that these possessions (these goods) are passing away and it is foolish to find our joy there. Yet John is saying that what we do with these goods shows us where our hearts are. They can become the source of our idolatry or they can be given away to show God’s love.

If these goods are passing away, do you again see just how foolish it is not to give them away? As I said last week, it is not wrong to enjoy the things that God has given to us, but we can be quick to close our hearts against others in need. And this is just foolish because these goods are passing away, so John says give them to those who really need them. You do not have to hog so much, its going to pass away, so give it away.

And as one pastor has said, “John here cross the line from practical application to full-blown meddling” John makes us uncomfortable once again, and this is what the gospel always does, even for Christians. John tells us, when it comes to love, put your money where your mouth is. Literally, use your money, your resources, your time and talents to love others.

If you see your brother in need and you refuse to do anything to help, when you have the resources to help, how can you say you love?

I once heard, “If we love everyone, we love no one” We can be so quick to talk about our love for others; after all, this is what Christians are to be known for. Yet ask us exactly who we love and we can be left scratching our head.

Think about it. Who is it that your love? Who is it that you sacrificially give to? Who are you laying down your life for?

I will be the first to admit, I have been convicted over this. I can think of opportunities in my life where I have been able to give to others, to show the love of Christ to someone else in tangible ways. But it’s been awhile.

My wife blows me away in this area. I have been told it is not wise to use your wife for sermon illustrations but I’m breaking the rules. It can be difficult for me as a seminary student who often lives paycheck to paycheck to want to give more away. My first reaction to the OPC Thank-Offering or to the needs in Haiti or Japan is to pray and hope others can do it. But my wife always comes to me and her first reaction is, “What can we do? How much can we give?” At first I can react against that, but truly I am thankful for her and I desire to be more like that. I want to love others like Jesus has loved me and God has given us much much more than we deserve.

Christ gave his life for us. He gave us everything and we can be so stingy at times. It is at these moments when we have the resources to give but refuse, that we forget His love towards us.

Now I have seen many of you love others. I truly praise God for that. So many in this congregation desire to reach out to those who are in need. You have a heart to give to those in the Sheridan community. You give your money and time to help support Neighborhood Fellowship. I do not desire to beat you up over the head about this. But you will still face the temptation, just like I do, to love in word only and not in deed.

It is in these times when we need to be reminded again and again about the love of Christ for us. We do not love others to earn Jesus’ love for us. That can be where we take this. We see where we fall short in loving others and say, well I must get better if I want to be right with God. John instead says look at Jesus, who loved us and died for us. Again only in Jesus do we see true love displayed. If we look at ourselves we will see how far we fall short, we must look to Jesus and his love for us. And it is out of being loved that we go and love others. We love in deed out of gratitude for the love we have received. It is the gospel that changes us to love others in sacrificial ways. Only the gospel…

Congregation, Christ laid down his life for us, therefore let's go and lay down our life for others.

Let’s pray.