In this section, John is
showing us what people look like who walk in the light. The way to know who
they are is to see whether or not they love each other. John doesn’t say we
know them by their love, but by their love for
each other.
God wants us to love a lot of
people--the lost, the poor, the sick, the suffering, and even our enemies, but
this is not the sign of whether we are part of Christ’s body. We should love
our fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, children, husbands and wives, but it is
our love of other Christians, our
brothers, which actually marks us off as His. We can give to charity, work with
the homeless, fight for our country’s defense. honor our parents, and give
ourselves sacrificially for our children, but so do pagans, Buddhists, and
Muslims. The thing that makes Christian love different is that Christians love
other Christians.
Jesus
said in John 13: 35, “By this shall all
men know you are my disciples is your love for each other.” John says, “Little children, love each other.” We should love others outside the church, but
if we aren’t loving those inside the church, then we aren’t doing what God
commanded.
John understood the reason
for this fully. He walked with Jesus for three years, and saw the pressure of crowds
of needy people on Jesus and His disciples. If Jesus had given all his time and
attention to the crowd, then the disciples would have been crushed under their
weight. John was part of a persecuted church, surrounded by a society that
hated Jesus. If the apostles did not stick together, then they would have died.
In the early church if Christians did not care for Christians, then no one else
would. If we want to have an impact on the world we must first provide a place
of safety and healing for those who love Jesus, where we can come to rest and
heal our wounds.
If the church does not take
care for its own, then our impact on the world will be temporary. We may
actually be doing harm to the name of Christ, since nothing gives more
ammunition to the enemies of the church than burned out and disillusioned
Christians.
John addresses two questions—why we love them and how to love.
First, we should love because our true hearts is
revealed in the way we treat them.
John
says in 3: 11-12, “For this is the message
that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 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.”
I
once heard this statement made three times in the same week. “I love Jesus with
all my heart. It’s Christians I can’t
stand.” I know how they feel. My
Christian family is often hard to live with, but then so is my earthly family. Any
shepherd will tell you that sheep bite. Christians are also arrogant,
disrespectful, gossipy, judgmental, narrow-minded, stubborn, overly sensitive, insensitive,
and possessed of every other sinful characteristic we may name. Christians are sinners, but they are God’s own sinners. They have been chosen
to represent Him on earth in spite of their many shortcomings. Christ even
calls the church His Body. How can we
disassociate ourselves from Christ’s body on earth and still associate
ourselves with Him in heaven? If we can’t love our brothers and sisters who we
see all around us, then how do we expect to love Jesus who we can’t see?
Most of our devotion to Jesus
is idealistic and theoretical. It’s is not just about going into our prayer
closets, nor is it just becoming doers of good deeds on earth. It is also about
showing attention to His family around us. If I have a friend who dies, I may
not be able to show concern to him, but neither can I turn his son from my
door, if I loved him. By honoring those in the church we honor Christ.
John uses the example of Cain
and Abel in Genesis 4. Cain was a believer. His theology was straight. Cain
worshiped God. He engaged in religious practice. Cain had an important, useful
job. It was not his doctrine or his lack
of religious devotion which got Cain in trouble, but his jealousy of his
brother. Cain thought that if he eliminated his brother, then God would have to
love Him, since there would be no competition. But in the end, it destroyed him
and his brother.
Jealousy, domination, and self-importance
is a huge problem in the church. We get jealous that someone else’s church is
bigger than ours. We grow impatient with people who don’t see things our
way.
Look around you at the
church. Are there people here you don’t like? Are there people here that you wish
were not here? Does the church look to
you like a company of strangers with only a few people you really know or
admire? Or do you see it as a family that you know and look forward to knowing
better? Jesus wants us to be a family, wholly
committed to each other’s benefit.
Second, we love because if we don’t love one another,
no one else will.
1 John 3: 13-14 says, “Do not be surprised, brothers, that the
world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we
love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.”
The pursuit of the imitation
of Jesus is a lonely life. Few people are on that path. Jesus calls it a rocky
road through a narrow gate. Most people prefer the broad, smooth road and wide
gate of selfishness, sloth, and ease, which leads to hell and destruction.
To
pursue the life of Christ is to be a separate people. We will be called
fanatics, “Holy Joes.” “Holier-than-thou.” Originally, the term “Christian” was
a slur against the followers of Jesus.
But we eventually acknowledged the truth that we are different, and have
to be different.
The
world is hostile to people who are as different.
It’s easier to be different
when we have a support group. The church is where you find those people. Our
love, acceptance, and concern for each other gives us a safe place to be
different.
Many don’t feel loved by the
church. This is a tragedy, but it happens. Many of these people wind up leaving
the church, sometimes going to another church, but often just leaving organized
religion altogether. Sometimes they have good reason for doing so. At least a
quarter of all people who leave one church never go to another. Many more just
keep moving from one fellowship to another looking for a place where they feel
loved.
Be we need to be careful here. There are
legitimate reasons for leaving one fellowship of Christians for another, but
unless we are going out with the blessing of our congregation, then we are
hurting others.
Being a part of the local
body of a church is a covenant commitment, like marriage. Like marriage, there
are always troubles and adjustments. Many churches, like many marriages have
communication problems. People get neglected, and other people are favored. This
is why we need pastoral care and good leaders who listen to the congregation,
as well as committed people who care. We must have open communication between everyone,
and a willingness to risk complaint and confrontation. If our husband or wife
isn’t all they should be, we don’t just go find another who is more to our
liking. Covenant communities like families are safe places because we know that
we are not held together by our feelings of the moment. We are held together by
the love of Christ and His church. Like a good marriage, this commitment
creates a safe place where we can be who we are, without having to pretend to
be happy all the time. We can grow, argue, and heal, because we love each
other. Our unity doesn’t depend upon how we feel about each other, but upon our
commitment to Him. If I’m crabby or unlovable I still want someone who will
stick by me. Our vow to Christ is such that we will stay with each other even
on our worst day. This means the church can be a safe place to grow, heal, and
repent.
Now John looks at how we love our brothers and sisters.
First, we love by recognizing their humanity.
In verse 13, John says that
those who hate their brothers and sisters are murderers. That’s harsh! But it’s
also true. Hatred, prejudice, and murder are all forms of seeing others as a
non-people. Murder begins not with a feeling of animosity towards another, but
with a feeling that they do not matter.
Most murders are committed in the midst of a crime that has nothing to
do with hatred. The victim is simply in the way, an object to be abused or
shoved aside. It’s not about being angry, but about ignoring their humanity. If
I don’t think of you as a real person, then I can murder you without remorse.
If we ignore the person
sitting beside us in church, then we do not care about them. They are unreal to
us. Before we can love, really love, we must get to know them.
Second, we
love by laying down our lives.
It sounds very heroic to die
for each other, but that’s not what John is saying. We don’t die for each
other, but we live for each other. We put our own lives on hold long enough to
hear what someone else is saying. Are we willing to lay down our opinions to listen
to what another thinks? Are we willing to keep our advice to ourselves, and simply
listen? Are we willing to lay down our time, to stop long enough to listen? Are
we willing to lay down our pride for another, to do things we may feel are
beneath us? Are we willing to submit to each other, and do what others think
for a change? Laying down our lives is
something we do daily.
Third, we love them by opening up our wallets.
If we see our fellow
Christians in need we help. The early church held all things in common. The
modern church doesn’t need the title to your car or your house, but you should
open your homes and use your car to drive other church members where they need
to go. Again, John says, “brothers” the needs of other believers comes first.
Fourth, we love them by feeling their pain.
In verse 17, John uses an
interesting Greek word—splankna--which
means your guts. Greeks believe that the guts were the center of emotions. If I
can hear about your problem and not feel that problem empathetically in your
gut, then I don’t know you well enough. If it rolls off me like one more bit of
bad news, I have failed to feel for you.
When I worked as a lifeguard,
for only one night. I was watching the pool when a friend was swimming laps. He
was in the lane near the pool’s edge where I sat reading a book. I heard a
quiet splashing in the water. At first I ignored it, since I knew there was
only one person and I couldn’t see him. But I looked and my friend was
drowning. He had had a cramp. I assumed that because he was all right, and
under my nose he could reach the pool edge by himself. I was wrong.
We
Christians seem to think that those who are closest to us in the church can
take care of themselves. They can’t we all need the help of others. That’s why
we need to love one another.
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