1 John 3:11-28 Proof Of Life Is Love Actually
For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.12 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.13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
Proof of Life.. LOVE ACTUALLY
23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him.
The Bottom Line And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ
John 6:29, 'This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.'
Don't make a saviour out of your
John 6:29, 'This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.'
Don't make a saviour out of your
Religious feelings
Religious practices
Repentances
Regeneration
and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
'A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another.' There is the substance of the duty, and then it follows 'As I have loved you, that ye also love one another.' There is the manner again: John 15:12, 13, 'This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you: greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends;' meaning thereby, not only to commend his own love to us, to heighten our gratitude, but also to commend his example to us, and to heighten our charity and love to the brethren.
Dr. Rene Spitz of New York made a study of children in orphan homes to determine what effect love and neglect had on them. The survey proved that children who were neglected and unloved were much slower in their development, and some of them even died. Even in a physical sense, love is the very atmosphere of life and growth. It is even more so in the spiritual sense. In fact, it is a matter of love or death!
11 Ὅτι αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἀγγελία ἣν ἠκούσατε ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, ἵνα ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους·
16 ἐν τούτῳ ἐγνώκαμεν τὴν ἀγάπην, ὅτι ἐκεῖνος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἔθηκεν
19 ἐν τούτῳ γνωσόμεθα ὅτι ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐσμέν,
Gnostic gnosis knowledge John's got something better…Surpassing Knowledge. Knowledge of the love of Christ. The big experience…. Used to be second baptism and tongues. Used to be believers baptism.. used to be …. It doesn't matter… John has something that surpasses them all. Actually the Lord Jesus has something that surpasses them all.. LOVE. Spelt Agape
Agape was a word for love that had been forgotten. It had gone out of usage. 'AGAPE' IN I CORINTHIANS XIII ARTHUR G. VELLA, S.J. The Greeks had four terms to indicate 'love' and 'friendship', namely Philein Stergein eran agapai
Philein is the most generic term and it covers all types of love: love of things and of persons, love of God and love of men; it denotes a love born out of a sensible attraction.
Stergein expresses a love that is sensible, but not sensual, a love that is constant and natural; such is, for example, the love of parents towards their children and vice-versa.
eran indicates a love that is passionate and, at most, sensual.
agapai denotes the love of esteem and friendship.
Agapaw is found frequently in classics, but not agapai which term stands for the old word agapasis
The Lord Jesus used a word gone and forgotten to ut new meaning into it, sacred meaning, that it is outward overflowing love towards others. John, following Jesus, says we are to love consistently and comprehensively, continually and individually. Play no favorites. Show no biases. Practice no discriminations among your brothers and sisters. After all, we are family! Love for others flows out of God's love for us. It is at the heart of the gospel.
To love our brothers and sisters is to stand in stark contrast to the first murderer in the Bible, the man named Cain. This tragic and well-known story, recorded in Genesis 4:1-6, is the only direct Old Testament reference in 1 John. Cain's actions revealed his true spiritual father, the Devil (cf. 1 John 3:10). As Jesus taught in John 8:44, You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.
The word "murder" means to butcher, slay, or slaughter. It speaks of a violent and brutal killing. And what were Cain's motives? Moved by his spiritual father, "the evil one," his heart was filled with jealously, envy, and resentment. Abel brought a sacrifice to God that was acceptable and "righteous." Cain brought one that was evil and unacceptable (v. 12). Cain hated Abel over this and murdered his own flesh and blood.
Regenerated Love Actually
14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
1 John 5:1, Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 1 John 4:21, 'This commandment we have from him, that he that loves God, loves his brother also.' We ought not to live to ourselves only, but for the benefit of one another, especially of our fellow-christians.
John is saying that continually loving others out of "gospel gratitude" (cf. v. 16) for all that Jesus has done is evidence, a proof, that we have definitely and decisively moved from the realm of spiritual death into the realm of spiritual life. What he is not saying is that eternal life is earned by loving others, but rather that loving others is evidence that we already have eternal life.
And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we also do for you. (1 Thess 3:12)
Love Distinctively
11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another … 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
As I love my brothers and sisters in the community of faith well, I am assured that I am in the family of God. The word for "brother" occurs 15 times in this letter and almost always has in view the family of God. John, no doubt, would affirm our love for all men and women in general, but here he calls for us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ in particular. Paul says something similar to this in Galatians 6:10 when he writes, "Therefore, as we have opportunity, we must work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith."
Those whose lives are characterized by hatred give evidence that they have never been born again, that they "remain in death" (v. 14; cf. Eph 2:1-3). Further, not only do they live in the world of spiritual death; they are actually murderers in the eyes of God (v. 15). John is clear: an attitude of hate in your heart is equivalent to having murder in your heart. John again is drawing from words he had heard from Jesus. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-22,
You have heard that it was said to our ancestors, Do not murder, and whoever murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, "Fool!" will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, "You moron!" will be subject to hellfire. John says it is really quite simply: no love, no life.
Love Sacrificially
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
John 3:16 says that God gave His Son for us. First John 3:16 says we should give ourselves for others. The Bible says that if you want to see love, look at the cross! The Bible says that if you want to show love, look at the cross! The Bible says that if you want to know love, look at the cross! The Bible says that if you want to live love, look at the cross!
Out of "gospel gratitude" for His laying down His life for us, "we ought to lay down our own lives for the brothers." Warren Wiersbe says, "'Self-preservation' is the first law of physical life, but 'self-sacrifice' is the first law of spiritual life" (Be Real, 127). Jesus said it like this in John 15:13: "No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends."
Here is love, vast as the ocean, Lovingkindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life, our ransom, Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember? Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten, Throughout Heav'n's eternal days.On the mount of crucifixion, Fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God's mercy Flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers, Poured incessant from above,
And Heav'n's peace and perfect justice Kissed a guilty world in love.
When the Prince of Life, our ransom, Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember? Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten, Throughout Heav'n's eternal days.On the mount of crucifixion, Fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God's mercy Flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers, Poured incessant from above,
And Heav'n's peace and perfect justice Kissed a guilty world in love.
Love Practically
17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
Talk is cheap" is a modern axiom, and I suspect that the concept originated in the Bible! In verses 17-18, John gets down where the rubber meets the road and provides some basic, real, and practical advice about love in the context of everyday living.
Verse 17 introduces a negative example using a "greater to lesser" argument based on verse 16. Jesus had a life to give and you have stuff ("this world's goods") to give. Jesus saw your need and gave His life. You, however, see your brother's need and "close your eyes" (lit. "entrails," i.e., feelings). How then, "can God's love reside in" you? The obvious and undeniable answer is, "It doesn't." It is not there.
John knows that our hearts control our hands. A closed heart will always result in closed hands and is evidence that your heart has never been opened by the "key of the gospel" of God's grace poured out in Jesus. The brother of Jesus, James, has the same concern as he writes in Jas 2:15-17,
If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you don't give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead by itself.
Dead faith. Dead love. Neither one does any good to others.
Stott quoting Lewis: "It is easier to be enthusiastic about Humanity with a capital 'H' than it is to love individual men and women, especially those who are uninteresting, exasperating, depraved, or otherwise unattractive. Loving everybody in general may be an excuse for loving nobody in particular."
Love Confidently
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
Let me all Thy love accepting, Love Thee, ever all my days;
Let me seek Thy kingdom only And my life be to Thy praise;
Thou alone shalt be my glory, Nothing in the world I see.
Thou hast cleansed and sanctified me, Thou Thyself hast set me free.
Let me seek Thy kingdom only And my life be to Thy praise;
Thou alone shalt be my glory, Nothing in the world I see.
Thou hast cleansed and sanctified me, Thou Thyself hast set me free.
In Thy truth Thou dost direct me By Thy Spirit through Thy Word;
And Thy grace my need is meeting, As I trust in Thee, my Lord.
Of Thy fullness Thou art pouring Thy great love and power on me,
Without measure, full and boundless, Drawing out my heart to Thee.
And Thy grace my need is meeting, As I trust in Thee, my Lord.
Of Thy fullness Thou art pouring Thy great love and power on me,
Without measure, full and boundless, Drawing out my heart to Thee.
Love Prayerfully
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him.
W W Wiersbe "Abiding in Christ" is a key experience for a believer who wants to have confidence toward God and enjoy answers to prayer. Jesus, in His message to the disciples in the Upper Room (John 15:1–14) illustrated "abiding." He compared His followers to the branches of a vine. So long as the branch draws its strength from the vine, it produces fruit. But if it separates itself from the vine, it withers and dies. Each member of the Triune Godhead is involved in the "love life" of a believer. God the Father commands us to love one another, God the Son gave His life on the cross, the supreme example of love. And God the Holy Spirit lives within us to provide the love we need (Rom. 5:5). To abide in love is to abide in God, and to abide in God is to abide in love. Christian love is not something we "work up" when we need it. Christian love is "shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost," and this is your constant experience as you abide in Christ.
Do believe in Him.
Faith in Jesus Christ, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ. The name of Christ is Christ himself, or Christ considered as revealed in the gospel; then we believe in the name of Jesus Christ when we believe all that is revealed in the gospel concerning Jesus Christ. This is to believe in his name, to assent to what is said concerning his person and offices, and to consent to deal with him upon these terms, depending upon him to obtain these benefits in the appointed way. The same expression is used, John 3:18, 'Because he believeth not in the name of the Son of God.' So Acts 10:43, 'Through his name whosoever believeth on him shall receive the remission of sins.' So John 20:31, 'These things are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that, believing, ye may have life through his name;' that is, obtain salvation according to the way appointed in the scriptures or the new covenant.
John 14:1, 'Ye believe in God, believe also in me.' We believe in God as an all—sufficient fountain of grace, and in Christ as an all—sufficient mediator, whom he hath sent to recover the lost world.
1 Tim. 1:15, 16, 'This is a true and faithful saying, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to everlasting life.'
Faith, believing is three things : —assent, consent, trust or dependence.
1.Assent to the truth of the christian doctrine, that Jesus is such as the word represents him to be, the Christ and the Saviour of the world, who came to recover us to God: John 6:69, 'We believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.'
1 John 5: 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world---our faith.5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
2.Consent to God's offer of Christ, that he may be our Lord and Saviour: John 1:12, 'To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to as many as believe in his name;' Col. 2:6, 'And as ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.
3.Trust or dependence on Christ, or as putting ourselves into his hands, that we may be recovered and saved from sin and punishment, and brought home to God. Dependence 2 Tim. 1:12, 'For I know whom I believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.'
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