What is love? Hello everyone, Today we are going to look at a few verses from the First Epistle of John and try to answer a common question that is still being asked today. 1 John 3: 11-24 Love One Another For this is the message you heard from the beginning, We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. This is how we know what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of GOD be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that GOD is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before GOD and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps GOD's commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. So........ WHAT IS LOVE???? No Im not talking about the 1993 dance hit by Haddaway "What is love?" What is God trying to remind us about LOVE through this passage in 1 John ? John begins this section of his letter with LOVE as one of his central themes. For this is the message you heard from the beginning, We should LOVE one another." 1 John 3:11 John reminds us about the opposite of LOVE which is hate and the evil it can bring when it is allowed to creep in our lives. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's righteous. 1 John 3: 12 Why is John addressing the subject of Love and hate. At that time, Johns letter was to his opponents in Ephesus who were characterized by their hatred of the faithful, orthodox Christian community. But it was also to the true Christians of that time who were responding in an unloving manner. Unfortunately in modern times we still as a church struggle with Christians being unloving toward brothers and sisters as well as non-believers. We are at the beginning of a new year, and with it comes the same old resolutions and some exciting new goals. I want to challenge everyone to look deep inside and ask ourselves..... Am I really loving everyone I encounter in the way Jesus commanded and demonstrated for us? 1 John 3:11-24 is rich in truth and we can go in several directions. Three passages stand out: "For this is the message you heard from the beginning, We should love one another." 1 John 3:11 " This is how we know what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of GOD be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:16-18 "And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps GOD's commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know is by the Spirit he gave us." 1 John 3:23-24 As I was preparing this sermon I came across this quote....."Phony love talks about compassion: Real love does something to express that compassion!!!!" WOW!! So what is love? John answers this in the following way: "This is how we know what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of GOD be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3: 16-18 Love is described as "an intense feeling of deep affection." We can all recognize this in our relationships with significant others, family members, friends, and co-workers. Now let's change the focus a little. This is where I want us all to look deep within ourselves. So are we loving everyone? What about that person who has wronged us, hurt us, or took advantage of us. What the person who we know hates us but we have no idea why? What about the thief who stole from us? What about that jealous co-worker? Are we treating them in a loving manner? Are we willing to lay down our life for a person who broke our heart or physically hurt us? How many of us are willing to get out of our comfort zone in order to help a total stranger? Tough questions but The Bible gives us a clear direction on what we are commanded to do : "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but LOVE your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD." Leviticus 19:18 "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing." 1 Peter 3:8-9 "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8 I know firsthand the pain of having your whole world crash around you. The pain is so bad you not only feel it emotionally but physically and spiritually. It would have been so easy to hate that person for what they did forever. But I saw the light, I knew I needed to love that person as GOD wanted me to. Not to hate, not to hold grudges, but to show Godly love by forgiving them in my heart. I grew more compassionate for all those who hurt me and I prayed for them daily. My life changed because I chose to obey God commands and followed Jesus example of love. So how can we love more?(Actions) Who can we express more compassion to?(Truth) This will not be easy, we will be faced with opposition, we will easily forget and go about our everyday lives. Or we can step up and except the challenge. Remember....... Phony love talks about compassion: Real love does something to express that compassion.
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“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.” -1 John 3:1-10 As we continue our study of 1 John, we are going to look at one of the results of the purposes of God of sending Jesus Christ to earth as both fully God and fully man. We can see that throughout Scripture that the main thrust of the Old Testament is God speaking to the nation of Israel through prophets that there is One coming to redeem them and to restore all things back to God. We see that this one is Jesus Christ, in the New Testament and through the Gospels we see Jesus’ ministry to accomplish the work of salvation through His life, death and resurrection and that by faith in Him we are forgiven of our sins and reconciled back to the Lord. Through the book of Acts and the letters of the apostles we see that after Jesus’ resurrection the age of the church is to be about the works of the Lord as His witness and a city on a hill until He returns again. John here is reminding the church in the age of the church of being reminding of their position in Christ through faith and the result of their faith in Christ is that they are children of God in a world and culture that is not yet redeemed. We see as Larry described last week, that there are those who are antichrist and that we are to not be deceived by being reminded of Scripture and the truth of the Gospel presented by the apostles. One of the results of the purposes of Jesus Christ that we are going to look at today is in 1 John 3:8, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” What are the works of the devil? I’m glad that you asked. 3:4-6, “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.” We see that the works of the devil is sin. John describes this as lawlessness. John Piper states that, “Lawlessness is living as though your own ideas are superior to God’s. Lawlessness says, “God may demand it, but I don’t prefer it.’ Lawlessness says, “God may promise it, but I don’t want it.’ Lawlessness replaces God’s law with my contrary desires. I become a law to myself. Lawlessness is rebellion against the right of God to make laws and govern his creatures.” The way that God destroys sin is through Him coming to earth as both man and God and through the new birth through the Holy Spirit and when a person places their faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. In 3:9, one may seem that John here is talking as if anyone would commit sin after they have place their faith in Christ are not children of God. What we see in verse 9, is that John is talking about making a practice of sinning and implies that this sin is ongoing action. If you can remember back in 1 John 2:1-2 that the language that John uses is “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” What John is teaching in 3:9 is not perfection because we are not perfect until glory. What John is talking about is if anyone is content in continual sinning then one should be concerned. In closing, we can see that through understanding the result of our relationship of Jesus and the purposes of Jesus Christ coming to earth, we are to walk in confidence of our position in Jesus to live and walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel in a world that is in opposition of the Lord. Even within the Evangelical world, there is opposition to the very Word of God and to orthodox and historical Christianity. What is constantly changing in our world is our culture because of enlightenment and progressivism. What is not changing in our world is the Lord and the very words of Scripture. Christian, God is destroying the works of the devil. Resist him and he will flee (James 4:7), at the right hand of God are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11), the world will hate you because of Jesus (Matthew 10:22), in Jesus Christ we are victorious over sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:57). If you don’t know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I encourage you to search more about Jesus and truly ask yourself, how are my beliefs and worldview giving me peace and have I found lasting joy being in control of my life or am I constantly searching? I do Physical Therapy with mostly the elderly and was warning my patient to be careful as she had just gotten a new hip and she verbalized the fact that so many people had been telling her that! She said I can’t count the amount of people that have told me told me that “I know I should be careful”! I thought how funny that we never grow out of the warning to be careful. At the age of child it may be careful that you don’t Fall off your bike and you get many many warning from your parents or neighbors on what to do and not to do when riding your bike. As a teenager it may be when you get your license and people say things like be careful don’t drive to fast or get in a wreck, and as a young adult it may be careful when you go to college to not get caught up in the wrong crowds and here this lady is at 70 years of age be told “Be careful” by me? At any age we can have that attitude of “I know I know I should be careful” I think that’s what John is getting at when you read 1 John 2:18-29 like a loving parent, neighbor or or even a therapist concerned with their care he urging them to be careful: to remember your faith in Jesus, remember how your faith in Jesus has changed you, and remember to work on your faith in Jesus.
A little recap of first 1 John John has urged his readers to renounce sin (1:8—2:2), to obey God (2:3-11), to reject worldliness (2:12-17), and now to keep the faith (2:18-29). “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” 1 John 2:18-29 ESV Remember who you put your Faith in and don't forget!. Verses 20-23 John is gonna warn his readers of certain type of people and he uses the word Antichrists (plural) and what John is referring to is not the same antichrist (singular) that we think of in Revelation 13. Defining this word there is just using the prefix anti meaning those opposing or against Christ. In this time there were many oppositions for Christians just like there is today there were people in this time telling Christians that were exalting themselves over Christianity that what Jesus did is not important or relevant, denying that Jesus did what he did (died for our sins and rose again) and were part of the church but did not believe in Jesus leaving the Church. He tells them to remember where they put there trust in, Jesus the son of God. Because people all around them were not believing in Jesus and didn't want them to fall into the crowd or shrink back to fit in. 2. Remember how Faith in Jesus has changed you. 24-26 “Let what you have heard in the beginning” Do you remember that time you gave your life to Jesus? Maybe you were stressed out, anxious addicted, depressed, tired, etc… you name it. He was urging them to remember when you were seeking life the wrong way? Now with faith in Jesus we can have eternal life and it what is in anchor in our faith. There will be times when you doubt and he is telling us to remember the Gospel and what Jesus has done. He warns us against false teachers and teachers are everywhere there are always people sharing how to seek life apart from Jesus whether its advertisements, social media, co workers, self help books and if any of those are telling you to seek life apart from Jesus they will eventually fail at doing that. Only God's promise can help us even close to making sense of this world. 3. Remember to work on your faith in Jesus. 26-29 John urges his readers to abide, abide, abide! He says this word three time in the next 3 verses so it may be important to know it means. Definition of abide for English Language Learners. : to accept or bear (someone or something bad, unpleasant, etc.) : to stay or live somewhere. : to remain or continue. He is saying stay close to God! Ways we can abide him and avoid be deceived by this world, the false teachers, or those opposed to Christ are through his word. Get to know your bible, spend time with God praying, meditating on the word, memorizing the word and get around others that can support your faith, More than likely this letter was written to a Group believers that are doing life together and can help each other be successful and abiding in God when it gets tough. So I encourage warn you be careful to keep your Faith, if you have been deceived, had your doubts or maybe you don't know what it is to have faith like this, come talk to one of our volunteers and remember you will never be be old to to be told to be careful. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. |
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