Let's Be Real

Title- Let’s Be Real

Passage- 1 John 3:16-18

Attention-

The story is told of a zoo that was noted for their great collection of different animals. One day the gorilla died, and to keep up the appearance of a full range of animals, the zookeeper hired a man to wear a gorilla suit and fill in for the dead animal. It was his first day on the job, and the man didn’t know how to act like a gorilla very well. As he tried to move convincingly, he got too close to the wall of the enclosure and tripped and fell into the lion exhibit. He began to scream, convinced his life was over…until the lion spoke to him saying “Be quiet, or you’re going to get us both fired!”

Introduction-

Last week we saw that the absence of love in the life of a child of God is inconsistent with the message of love that has been proclaimed to them.

-John is continuing that thought in the verses we will look at this week, just from a bit of a different perspective

Last week we saw how out of the abundance of the heart comes our behavior.

-John used the example of Cain to demonstrate the heart of sin

-I don’t know about you but I have often wondered why John used Cain but not able

-This week we will see why…Able was insufficient to be the perfect example.

Verses 14 & 15 declare to us that when we die to self by accepting the sacrifice of Jesus we will love…those who do not love are not of God. Those who hate others are of the same essence as Cain…unsaved with a heart full of sin.

This takes us up to the verses we want to focus on this morning…16-18…lets look at what John has written in these verses.

Main truth-

This week we will notice that in order for the truths of the Bible and the truths of the gospel to have their full impact in this world we need to live lives that match the truths we read about the life of Jesus.

Notice with me in verse 16...

Transition #1-

What is being taught? (Explain the passage and draw out the 1st century truth)

“hereby”…or “in this”

In what? In this discussion about love vs. hate

Light vs. dark

By what rules our hearts....

Another way to say it would be...”This is the way that we know we love God”

In this we “perceive”…we have come across a similar word already in our study 1 John 2:3

1 John 2:3 KJV 1900

And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

How do we know…not just a set of facts and figures but through time and experience

So how do we perceive that God loves us…we experience the love of God by accepting the sacrifice of His son

On a side note…this is where John starts to get practical…5 more times in the remainder of chapter three and the rest of chapter four John uses “hereby”

-This is John’s version of Paul’s therefore

In the same way that Jesus laid down His life we are compelled to have the same heart

We are not necessarily to give our lives but we are challenged to develop a heart attitude that could result in our giving of our lives for another.

After noting the word usage that John uses for “knowing” and that the driving point is to have a heart attitude of love I want us to notice how we come to that conclution

In the first half of verse 16 “he” is the subject and “he” refers to Jesus

Jesus is laying down his life on behalf of.....

US!!

It is in a verb form that tells us that it was an action completed in the past…the physical act of laying down His life began and ended

So His physical and tangible display of God’s love to this world is done.

He no longer suffers and hangs on the Cross

He died, they buried Him and He rose again

But the laying down of His life is done

In contrast, the second half of verse 16 “we” are the subject....we are performing the laying down of our lives

-Who are we laying our lives down for?

-The brethren

The one other contrast is that the two verbs for the laying down of life are in two different forms

The first we discussed

Jesus completed the act of laying down His life as a sacrifice AND AN EXAMPLE

The verb used for us is in a form that tells us that it is an ongoing action in the present

So…to whoever was reading this John was saying that just life Jesus once for all laid down His life for our benefit we are to develop within our hearts the desire to sacrifice for others…

Transition #2-

How do we understand this in our context? (Bridge 1st century truth to today)

How do we, in this culture, live out a truth as extreme as this

-We could give our lives like Jim Elliot and the other missionaries who went to the Auca indians

-We could put our lives on the line like many that live in Muslim countries

I think that John uses the example of Cain and Jesus instead of Cain and able to contrast our limitations

What I believe John is emphasizing again is not various behaviors but specific heart attitudes.

Notice in the following verses what John does NOT say

He does not say to find the most antagonistic person and witness to them until they kill you and that you are to willingly let them kill you

Transition #3-

How do we live this out in our context? (Application of the biblical truth to us personally)

How should this change my thinking.

Verse 17

John is challenging us to change our thoughts

John is telling us that if we have in our possession the physical substances needed for life

That is literally what he is saying

Shelter, food, clothing, money, other resources, the means to secure income and other possessions...

And sees his brother in need....

Notice here that John doesn’t assume that all of us will be so perceptive

But WHOSO

The one that does

John is asking us to first and foremost change the way that we think when we ponder what we have and what others do or do not have

He focuses more on those who have vs. those who do not

I think back once again to the summers especially as there are individuals standing at the intersections in greater Madison

And the people who are sleeping on the streets in downtown Madison

But it doesn’t need to be a homeless or jobless person

What about that person who drives an older car that has a little rust

That person in line at the food pantry

And the practical list could go on and on...

What goes through your mind

Compassion or contempt?

Love or disgust

How should this change my heart? (What do I love?)

The next phrase of verse 17 deals with the abundace of the heart

“shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him”

What is your heart response

The literal reading is just the shutting up of your bowels

THis is a really odd reading for us but when you understand their mindset it makes sense

To the when emotions run deep you feel it in your stomach

We say things like it hit me in the gut

For 1st century individuals this is what they referred to as the bowels and they equated it with strong emotion

So when you shut up your bowels you are ignoring and shutting off the emotions that the Holy Spirit is using to compel you to meet the needs of another

Jesus knows how this feels

He asked permission to shut up his bowels of compassion when he prayed in the Garden that the Father let the cup pass

He is acquainted with our griefs, our suffering, and even our struggles

If our thinking is about us and only ourselves…and when we do acytually notice a need in the life of another person and we ignore it what does that say about us

It says that our affections are being dominated by something other than God

The last phrase of verse 17...”how dwelleth the love of of in him?”

In other words…is it even possible to act this way and with the same mouth declare the good news of the Gospel?!??!?!?!

I believe that Johns response would be NO!!!!!

How should this change my whole being? (Behavioral change)

Jon finishes this thought by exhorting believers to change their thoughts and affections so that their lives will draw others to the savior and glorify God

Look at verse 18

Let us love not in word…the original is intersting

Let us love not in logos

The word used by John in his epistle to signify Jesus himself

I would say that John is teaching that our love needs to be more than just our beliefs

He goes on to say neither in tounge

Again, interesting, he uses the word that Paul uses in his epistles for the gift of tongues

Is John referring to this or is he contrasting the giving of the message as a whole (logos) with the specific words that come from our tongue (which the word can mean as well)

Lets allow it to be both

I think regardless if this is what John meant both are true

So our love is to be about more than just the message and it is to be about more than the spiritula gifts or the specific words used.

If that’s the case then what is our love to be about?

First our work

The deeds that we do

At different points in my life I was known by different occupations

-Dishwasher

-Bagger

-Grunt at a factory

-Maintenance

-Pastor

It is not unusual for us to be know for what we do

As a believer we are know for what we do

And the type of work we are to be doing are deeds of love

I think the last few words describe for us why everything in this epistle up to this point culminated in deeds of love

Because we are to love in truth

What is truth

Reality

Showing what really is

It is not deceit or deception or lying

John wants us to know that when we understand how our view of others affects our desire to help them that in turn can bring to reality (truth) not only what is inside of us but the truth of the person and work of Jesus

I would challenge you to read through the gospels and note how often Jesus is first moved with compassion, then interacts with the person to show his compassion, meets the need and then shares spiritual truth

Contrast that with how often he skips over compassion and just blasts someone

Jesus very often follows the pattern of compassion, engagement, meeting a need physically, and finally meeting the spiritual need.

Conclusion

Review-

How we treat others has a huge impact on the gospel

What is our pattern

Ignoring the need

Placing the burden of meeting that need on someone else, that more spiritual person can meet that need…or the deacons or the pastor

Blasting people with truth thinking that if I yell loud enough they will hear

Like someone who is not fluent in English…if I speak English louder they will understand right?

The one who doesn’t understand our languages understands what?

If we have actions that match our words

It is the same reality with the truths of the bible and namely the gospel

Our words and our actions not only declare whats deep in our hearts they also speak to others about the reality and truthfulness of the Bible, the person and work of Jesus and the gospel

Let’s live lives that match whats in our hearts, what’s in the Bible, and that will draw others to the gospel.

Let’s Be Real

Closing song-

395- Make Me A Blessing