The first 9 weeks of this series really focused on the fact that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” John’s theological message here is, that although you and I have a dark side, a downside, junk in our trunk – God does not. There is nothing that can be discovered or known that would make God look less Holy or less Righteous. God has nothing to hide – He has no junk in His trunk. God is Light and he has called those who have once walked in darkness, to come out of the darkness and walk in the Light. He has made a place at the table for us, so that through repentance, those of us who once walked in darkness, could come out of that darkness and into the light – into fellowship with Him.
If you and I could just get a grasp on the fact that YOU AND I HAVE A SEAT PREPARED AT THE TABLE: We have been purchased by the blood of the Lamb and as we discovered in the last message in this series, that through the saving grace – WE HAVE BECOME THE SONS OF GOD. “God commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” And although we might not look like we should, but we sure don’t look like we used to.
I John 3: 11-24, “11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. 13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. 14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. 15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. 20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. 22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”
If you haven’t noticed, John writes in a cyclic manner. He will make a point, then he goes all over the place, and then he returns to the point he was making. For example, in chapter 4, John is going to begin addressing trying the spirits to know who is good and evil, then in the middle of the chapter, he will come right back to this message of I John 3:11 – “LOVE ONE ANOTHER.”
In our message today, John is about to give us a master class on love. I’m going to put out there from the get-go, we naturally do not know how to live God’s way. What that really means is, when you become a Christian, you must relearn how to live every aspect of your life. You must allow God to UNMAKE you in order to REMAKE you.
For some of us, we grew up in church, we memorized Scriptures and got badges in Sunday School, in other words, we got our pockets full of stuff, but all we had is a pocket full of bible memorization, and not heart that’s been transformed from stone into flesh.
What I am trying to say is: YOU can’t know love, until you know the God of Love and He has put the Spirit of Love in YOU!
Unfortunately, our views of love come from our broken perspective of love, such as: When people do things that we like, we then reciprocate that action by loving them; Or, when I do something that is loveable, then I am worthy of being loved.
This is human, transactional, man-made views of love. But that is not how God’s love works.
When we read about God’s love in the Bible, it is not transactional, and it is not reactional to what you do! In fact, it is the complete opposite. And John is about to give us a Master Class on how, if you are loved by God, how you have been empowered to love like God – to love God’s way and not the world’s way! SO, John is going to show us several things between chapters 3 and 4:
WE HAVE BEEN COMMANDED TO LOVE (3:11)
1 John 3:11, “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”
Any of you ever have a parent when you were growing up that told you that you “should” do something, and you knew exactly what that something was? I can’t say about your house, but I can say for mine, that “Should” was not a suggestion.
How about you married folks, those, “When you have time, you SHOULD,” never meant that, but almost always meant, “Now would be a good time.”
John is not saying, “Maybe on Wednesday, if you are feeling up to it, and if life is happening the way you want it to happen, and if people done everything you think they should do, if they are in my click – then, if you have time to get around to it, I will love them.
NO, what John is saying, “Based on what you have received, based on how God has loved you, You should love one another.”
Based on the fact that God loved us at the most unlovable point in our lives means that we “SHOULD” love others at the most unlovable point of their lives.
But we have a problem understanding that, because we think that because we are now saved, we have to work exceptionally hard to stay saved, or to prove we are worthy of that salvation – but according to I John 4:10 says, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
- God has loved us at our best, and He has loves us at our worst;
- God has loved us when we’re in and he loves us when we’re out;
- He loves us when we’re up and He loves us when we’re down;
- He loves me when I’m right and He loves me when I’m wrong;
- He loves us on the mountain, and He loves us in the valley.
- He loves me at my most loveable moments and my most unlovable moments.
And because of the constancy of God’s love, we have been called to constantly be in love with others! God doesn’t call us to something that He doesn’t model and empower us to do. John is calling us to “Love people because we have been loved.”
LOVE GOD and LOVE EACH OTHER has been the theme of our church from day 1. We quote it, we repeat it, we testify about it, we invite others to come and see it, but I’m telling you right now, there are some in here that still have a problem living it. And to hear it for two years and still not practice it is looking God in the face and saying, “I hear what you’re saying, but I don’t care.” I know that makes some of you uncomfortable, and I am not trying to be mean, I’m just telling you the truth – and the truth is quick and power and sharper than any two-edged sword.
I John 4:7 says, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.”
John is saying “WE SHOULD LOVE BECAUSE WE ARE LOVED.”
When you and I begin to love people beyond our human capacity, that is what it means to live up to God’s standard of Love.
I won’t all of you to think with me for a moment about the most unlovable moment in your life (and if you say you don’t have one, then you are a liar and truth is not in you), but think back that that moment you are ashamed of, that moment you hurt your family, or you hurt your wife; think back to that moment of your life that you know if it were to flash across the scene of this church this morning, you have no doubt in your mind everybody in here would instantly form a different opinion of you. I won’t you to think back to that moment, because it is in that moment, “When God commend His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
And because of God’s love, that moment no longer defines you – FOLKS, That is the love John is saying we “should have” toward one another. Why” Because We Have Been Commanded to Love;
WE HAVE ALSO BEEN EMPOWERED TO LOVE (3:24: 4:13)
I John 3:24, “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”
I John 4:13, “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”
Coming from a fundamentalist background, what I read in that verse is Commandment Keeping! Try harder, work faster, do more! “Don’t smoke, chew, or kiss girls who do!”
If you are Pentecostal, there is another word there you are chomping at the bit to get to, that word is SPIRIT. Which is a que that I get to go nuts and say all kinds of crazy stuff!
But here is the true beauty of verse 24 and 13, “The call to obedience, is rooted in the abiding of the Spirit.”
By abiding in the spirit, we are able to keep the commandments. And if we abandon the Spirit, we are doomed to fail to the flesh.
Let me illustrate this for you – It is not, “Well, I think I’m going to go do something great for God today.” NO – it is getting up every morning and saying, “Well, I’m going to get up, die to myself, pick up my Cross and follow Jesus and allow the Spirit of God to have its way in me.”
Our problem is, we want God in our hearts, but we don’t want His hands on our lives.
How do we love like God? We abide in the Spirit! What happens when we abide in the Spirit? We produce fruits of the Spirit! What is the first fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5? LOVE.”
- You won’t to know if our pastor’s have the right relationship with God? Look at their capacity to love.
- You want to know if our elders have the right relationship with God? Look at their capacity to love.
- You want to know the signs of life in a church? It’s not in the numbers, but in their capacity to love.
But here is a tell/tell sign of the Spirit living in you: What you do in your own personal life when you are confronted with sin – do you repent? Or do you run? Because you are doing one or the other.
God is not calling us to abuse GRACE, but He does expect us to admit that we NEED GRACE.
God has Commanded Us and Empowered us to Love:
FINALLY, LOVE AND HATE CAN’T SHARE THE SAME HEART (3:12-15)
I’ve told you the illustration before about a plane trip I took, how this rather large lady was trying to sit in a seat next to me. All I knew about that situation is that two solid objects could occupy the same space. That is what John is saying about Love and Hate – they simply cannot occupy the same space.
I know if you are like me, when I am mad at somebody, if I am angry at somebody, I see everything they have done in that moment as that moment. It doesn’t matter if everything they’ve done up to that point was perfect – I can only see them in that moment. WHY? Because love and hate can’t occupy the same heart.
I John 3:12-15, “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. 13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. 14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. 15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”
All of us, when we hate our brother like verse 15 says, we act more like Cain than we do Abel.
For the benefit of those not familiar with Cain and Abel, they were the sons of Adam and Eve. Cain was a farmer and Abel was a Shepherd. They both brought a sacrifice to God – God accepted Abel’s offering, but rejected Cain’s.
Now, I know you are asking the question, “Why did God accept one offering and reject the other?
I think the writer of Hebrews gives us some insight in Hebrews 11:4, “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”
Let me show you how this works. This morning, as we were singing, some of you were singing and really praising God, lifting worship to God from the heart – and some of you were just singing.
What is the difference between the two? FAITH. What is faith? The writer of Hebrews would go on to say it is the “confidence of things not seen.” It is us getting to the place that although we do not understand it all, we are putting our trust and confidence in Him – no matter what.
My question to us all this morning is this: WHERE HAVE YOU PUT YOUR FAITH?
Conclusion & Invitation:
Church, John’s message is clear – God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. He has loved us when we were unlovable, He has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, and He has prepared a seat at the table for us through the blood of Jesus Christ. That love is not only something we receive, but something we are commanded and empowered to live out.
The truth is simple but challenging – you cannot say you know God and refuse to love. Love and hate cannot share the same heart. God has poured His Spirit into us so that His love might flow through us – not just in word, but in deed, and in truth.
So today the question is this: Are you living like Cain – just bringing what you think you owe, keeping God at arm’s length? Or are you living like Abel – bringing your best by faith, trusting God with your life, your heart, and your future?
Listen, you have a seat at the table. Jesus has already made the way. He laid down His life for you so that you might pass from death into life, from darkness into light, from hate into love.
Invitation:
If you’ve never stepped out of the darkness and into the light – if you’ve never truly trusted Christ as your Savior – today is the day. Don’t wait another moment. Come, receive His forgiveness, and take your seat at the table.
And for those who are already saved – maybe God is calling you to surrender that bitterness, to let go of the hate, to stop withholding love. Maybe He’s calling you to abide deeper in His Spirit so His love can flow through you. Whatever it is – this altar is open.
Come today – come out of the darkness, come into the light, and come take your place at the table of God’s amazing love.
Fighting for My Pea Patch 