Assurance of Salvation through Identifying True Love
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Introduction:
Of all the Christian traits discussed by John in 1 John, he has the most to say about love. He emphasizes it as a central tenant of Christianity when he says “for this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”
John is not alone in placing such a high premium on love. Paul, the apostle who has the most to say about faith, is the one who said “faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
All of the writers of the Bible speak as God would have them to speak. They declare to us God’s words and truth exactly as God would have them, without error, so it’s no surprise, in fact it is expected, that throughout the Bible we see the repeated command that we should love others.
Text: 1 John 3:11-18
Theme: Assurance of Salvation through Identifying True Love
Verses 11-18
What Love Looks Like
From these verses we can learn what the love of God looks like. And knowing that, our hearts can be assured that we have eternal life – if we love like He does.
Verse 16 John says “by this we know love.” And in verse 17 he calls it “God’s love.” Love here is agape again. Actually, you can make a note that “love” is always “agape” in 1 John. So that should make things easier for you as you read it. He doesn’t talk about any other kind of love but agape love in this epistle.
In 1 John, it is always agape. Agape is a devotional or sacrificial kind of love. Earlier we learned that, beautiful though agape is, it is actually possible to use agape for sin – if you devote yourself to the sinful things of the world, then that is agape love and that is actually sin. “Not everything that glitters is gold” as they say.
John teaches us how to identify God’s agape. The ultimate display of God’s love was that He laid down his life for us. There can be no higher devotional/sacrificial love than to lay down one’s life for another. The highest display of love is not an intense feeling but an act of sacrifice. A smaller expression of God’s love is when you see someone in need and you give them some worldly goods to help them out. So, at its core, God’s love is some measure of personal sacrifice – great or small – for the benefit of others. You choose to become less in some way, that they can become more. You choose to lose in order that they might gain.
Example Story:
“An elementary teacher spent an entire day teaching her class of second graders about magnets and what they do. The next day, she gave her students a written test which included the question, “My full name has six letters. The first one is M. I pick up things. What am I?” When the test papers were turned in, the teachers was astonished and amused to find that half of her students answered the question with the word, Mother.” – Our Daily Bread May 12, 1991.
Parents sacrifice a lot of time for their children and are devoted to them. That’s love.
Not a Feeling, But Feelings are Important
It is not a feeling, it’s an action. However, rarely are our feelings divorced from our love. In fact, John uses a rather particular phrase here when he talks about not giving the world’s goods to someone in need. He doesn’t say “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet does not assist them, how does God’s love abide in him?” He does mean “yet does not assist them” – but he says it differently, he says “yet closes his heart against him.”
The illustration that John is describing is like this: You become aware of someone who has a need. And let’s separate need and want here – it’s not your responsibility to fulfill everyone’s wants. Our privileged culture can have a difficult time knowing the difference between a want and a need. Need is a strong word. I don’t think you need to feel convicted for deciding not to help someone who won’t help themselves or who is just trying to get a new TV or something.
Even the toys and things we are planning to give to some kids in need. That’s not a real need. I think it’s a great opportunity to be a blessing, share the Gospel, and love like God who supplies abundantly much more than what we need. But toys are not a need.
Examples of Closing Your Heart
But you see a real need. Your heart tells you “I have an extra jacket to help this freezing person” or “I have some extra food” or “I have the emergency training to rescue this person” or “I should do something.” But then you say “heart, no. That is for me.” That is what it looks like to close your heart against someone in need. You feel a prompting, a moving in your heart to help someone in need, and then you squelch it. Agape love is aided by feelings and promptings. Those feelings to help those in need are a gift from God to move you toward agape love. Nurture them. Don’t squelch them.
Who is the one that is easier to love: the one your heart is open to or the one your heart is closed to? The answer is obvious. Nurture tender feelings, don’t extinguish them.
Don’t Close Your Heart
When you squelch your heart in order to avoid loving someone the reality in such a situation is that you have chosen to enjoy comfort and squelch the discomfort of compassion rather than to help someone genuinely in need. John asks “how does God’s love abide in him?”
Parent’s Love their Kids
Going back to our story about mothers picking up things. Imagine parents with a child in second grade and these parents don’t provide food or clothing for their child because they spend it on shoes and TVs. The child says “mommy, could you give me some food.” And the parent says in their heart “ah, I need that money for my entertainment.” So they squelch their heart and tell the child no. In what sense could it be said that the parents love their kids? It can’t be said. They don’t love their children. They don’t. Don’t let the world deceive you.
Christian’s Love Other Christians
It is an uncomfortable question, but a very fair question. God’s love – verse 16 – is that He laid down his life for us. He chose death so that we could live. How can you say that you have God’s agape if you cannot even give up what you have extra of to help someone in need? If the lesser is not true, then how can the greater be true?
You could say “but they don’t deserve it. Ah, but Romans 5:8 says “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
In fact, to make us still more uncomfortable, let’s talk a little more about verse 16. Verse 16 says “we ought to lay down our lives.” In English, ought is something we use to mean something like “you really should.” It’s should, only stronger. It’s not quite must.
Opheilo – You Are Obligated
But in Greek, ought is “opheilo.” Here’s the definition of opheilo. “to owe, be indebted, to incur a bond, to be bound to make discharge, to be bound or obliged by what is due or fitting or consequently necessary.” In other words, because God – our Creator – laid down His life for us, you are indebted, bound, obliged by what is due or consequently necessary to lay down your life for the brothers – other Christians.
Much as we might like to think otherwise, it is my obligation to tell you that love is not something you merely should do. Love is something you are obligated to do. You owe it to God to love others in this way. It is your obligation in light of the great love with which God loved you.
Love Isn’t Optional
I think far too many Christians view love as something that is optional. It’s not optional. Parent’s loving their children is something natural that we take for granted. We are shocked when they don’t. It should be the same way with believers. Love is the natural and obligatory lifestyle of a believer. And considering the great weight that is placed upon the necessity of loving others, it ought to bring conviction when we choose not to love.
Occasional Sin vs. Lifestyle
Now at this point it’s probably good to remind you all that John makes a distinction between occasional sins and a lifestyle of sin. I think all or most of us can probably remember a time that we’ve failed to love. An occasional failing of love doesn’t mean eternal life is not present. John tells the believers “we should not be like Cain” and he tells them “let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” He does this to exhort the believers not to do something that is possible for them to do.
Examples of Occasional Sin
Frequently in the New Testament we encounter genuine believers who are doing genuinely unloving things: fighting, arguing, developing factions, being lazy, committing adultery, all kinds of stuff. They are still treated as believers.
Provision for Sins Because We Sin
It’s possible, even likely, for believers to on occasion fall short of their obligation to love others. Or to even do something that’s just downright unloving. Believers still sin. That’s why John says early in the letter that if anyone says they don’t sin they are a liar. And that’s why John says earlier in the letter that when we do sin we should confess our sins and God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And that’s why we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We wouldn’t need an advocate with the Father if we didn’t still sin from time to time.
Lifestyle of Sin = Not a Child of God
But John also says in 3:9 “no one born of God makes a practice of sinning.” And he also says “by this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” Love is also an ongoing verb there, meaning a lifestyle.
Love vs. Hate = Christian vs. NonChristian
So while Christians definitely can and still do sin in this area, I don’t want you to miss the weight of what is being said. The presence and practice of godly love is strongly associated with the children of God. It is expected and obligatory. And the absence of godly love or even presence of ungodly love is strongly associated with the children of the devil. In fact, it also should be expected.
In verses 11-15, John reminds these believers that they should not be surprised when the world hates them. Just as love is a defining trait of those who know God and have eternal life, so hate is a defining trait of those who don’t know God and abide in death.
Surprised at America Today?
A lot of us these days are shocked that our values are so often disrespected. A large part of the world looks at Christians and says that they are bad and evil. In America, we have been insulated from this for a long time. We still are highly insulated from this. Some are experiencing hate from the world at work, some at school, you can find a lot on TV and the internet but that’s easy to avoid. A lot of us are used to a society that looks favorably upon Christianity. We are extremely blessed that it’s still true to an extent.
But we know it’s increasingly not true and so people say “how did it get like this?” And “when did Christianity become evil in the eyes of people?” And “it feels like people call good evil and evil good, why?” And we are surprised. We should not be surprised. Love defines the children of God and hate defines the children of the evil one.
Don’t be Surprised!
It has been this way from the beginning. Cain murdered his own brother. Why? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. It should not shock us when people verbally and physically attack Christians and call them evil.
Example 1
Think about Chick-fil-a. I can think of no other restaurant where I am consistently treated as good as at Chick-fil-a. I’ve been to a lot of them. The experience has always been positive. And yet, Chick-fil-a is the target of a lot of hate. Why? “Cain who was of the evil one murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.”
Example 2
I have seen people physically attacked over being against the practice of abortion. The proponents of it claim to be for women’s rights, but I’ve seen women literally kicked for saying they oppose it. Why? “Cain who was of the evil one murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.”
Example 3
This church has so consistently been a blessing to the community – training up kids through the preschool, feeding people through the pantry, helping with marriages and funerals, giving people hope and light, mentoring people in elementary school, supporting and sending missionaries around the world, sending children boxes of gifts. And yet, there are indeed people out there who would like to see us all dead. How can this be? Cain murdered his own brother. Don’t be surprised.
All Evidence of Eternal Life
But here is the encouraging thing in all of this: because of this – you can know with surety that you have passed from death into life. You can know that you have eternal life. When you encounter messages and actions of hate toward you or other believers, you don’t need to wonder “does this mean that Christianity isn’t true?” No, brothers and sisters, it means that Christianity is definitely true. From the beginning love has defined the children of God and hate has defined the children of the evil one.
People will say “your beliefs are false.” People will be mean toward you. Don’t let that discourage you into thinking that you are wrong or that eternal life isn’t true. It is true, and the evidence that you have it is the love that you show toward others. You are different from the way the world is. You are different from how you used to be. God has changed you, opened your eyes, and shown you the beauty of a life lived displaying the love of God. That’s why you’re here. That’s why you’re taking part in the loving things we do here. That’s why you are finding loving things to do in your own way that nobody but God even knows about.
Just like these believers John was writing to – there are a lot of things and people out there that might try to convince you that you don’t have eternal life. Don’t let them get you down.