Sermon Tone Analysis

Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, tells the story of a ten-year-old boy who was failing math.

His parents sought to help him overcome his deficiency.

They met with his teacher.

They attempted to help him with his math homework.

They even hired a tutor.

All to no avail.

Finally, they decided to send him to a Parochial School.

Perhaps the discipline, small class size, and forbearing Nuns would help.

That night, after the first day of school, the boy came home and poured over his math homework.

His parents were thrilled, believing that Parochial School had given their son a new found love for math.

When they received their son’s first report card they were astonished—he had earned an A+ in arithmetic.

Curious, the boys parents ask their son what made the difference.

Was it the text book?

Was it the Nun’s teaching?

Just what was it that had turned his grade around?

“Well,” said their son, “I never took math seriously, but on the first day of school I walked into class and saw this guy nailed to a plus sign.

I knew they meant business.”

“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.”

(1 John 3:16, NIV84)

Jesus meant business when he died on the cross.

In doing so, he revealed the lavishness of God’s love for a people who do not deserve such grace.

But Jesus laid down his life for us.

The verb laid down refers to the removal of one’s cloths.

The word came to represent divesting oneself of anything important and is a picture of Jesus willing to take off his life for the sins of God’s Elect.

Christ’s atoning death is a radical example of selfless love and emblematic of the kind of love Christians are to have toward each other.

If you want to have an assurance about your life in Christ, you need to examine your devotion to the Body of Christ—His Church.

!I.

A COMMANDMENT THAT IS FROM THE BEGINNING

* /"This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”/

(1 John 3:11, NIV84)

* ILLUS.

In 1970, noted Christian apologist, evangelist, and author Francis Schaeffer (1912–1984) introduced his book The Mark of the Christian with the following statements: “Through the centuries men have displayed many different symbols to show that they are Christians.

They have worn marks in the lapels of their coats, hung chains about their necks, even had special haircuts.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with any of this, if one feels it is his calling.

But there is a much better sign—a mark that has not been thought up just as a matter of expediency for use on some special occasion or in some specific era.

It is a universal mark that is to last through all the ages of the church till Jesus comes back.

What is this mark?

At the close of his ministry, Jesus looks forward to his death on the cross, the open tomb and the ascension.

Knowing that he is about to leave, Jesus prepares his disciples for what is to come.

It is here that he makes clear what will be the distinguishing mark of the Christian: /“Little children, yet a little while I am with you.

Ye shall seek me; and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”/

(John 13:33–35).

This passage reveals the mark that Jesus gives to label a Christian not just in one era or in one locality but at all times and all places until Jesus returns.

#. let me share three points concerning v. 11

!! A. 1st, LOVING THE BRETHREN IS AN IMMUTABLE COMMAND GIVEN TO THE CHURCH BY ITS SAVIOR

#. it’s a message that the Church has had from the beginning

#. it is a commandment that is taught throughout the biblical text

#. it is a command that is not subject to change or variation—it is immutable

#. since the Day of Pentecost the unchanging, authenticating mark of the Christian faith is a self-sacrificing love of the brethren

#. whether they were Jews or Gentiles, John’s readers would have heard from the Old Testament about the need for God’s people to love, not only one another, but the stranger and even the enemy

* /“‘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, NIV84)

#. and, of course, Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan forever ends the question, And just who is my neighbor?

#. instructing the Church at Rome concerning brotherly love, the Apostle Paul quoted both the Ten Commandments and this passage from Leviticus

* /“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.

The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Love does no harm to its neighbor.

Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”/

(Romans 13:8–10, NIV84)

#. the Apostle is not springing something new on his Congregation whereby they’ll react, /“Wow, we didn’t know that!”/

#. it should come as no surprise to you that love is the central theme of John’s sermon to his congregation at Ephesus

#. the word love is used forty-six times in 105 verses

#. so it’s an immutable command and remains the primary identifying mark of the true believer

!! B. 2nd, LOVING THE BRETHREN IS AN INDISPENSABLE COGENT OF CHRISTIAN ASSURANCE

#. cogent means a forceful presentation or a forceful speaker

#. in other words, loving the brethren is a powerful and forceful evidence that Christ is in you

#. assurance that we are walking in the light comes from loving the brethren

#. throughout this book, the Apostle John is dealing with a central issue of the Christian experience: How can we know that we are in a genuine relationship with God?

#. how do you know that you are walking in the light and not walking in darkness?

#. how do you know that you are a stalk of wheat and not a tare among the wheat?

#. how do you know that you are a sheep and not a goat?

#. how do you know that you are a child of God and not a child of the Devil?

#. one of the identifying marks of being a Christian is that we love other Christians and walk in fellowship with them

* /“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.

Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.”/

(1 John 2:9–10, NIV84)

#. the truth that they were to love one another was something his readers would have heard from the beginning

#. loving the brethren is not some new innovation that the Apostle has come up with

#. it is a message taught to them by Christ Himself that is being passed on from one generation of believers to the next

* /“Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.

One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”/

(Matthew 22:34–40, NIV84)

#. when John’s readers became Christians, they would have committed themselves to

#. loving God—which translates into loving His commands—and ...

#. loving God’s people—which translates into living in fellowship with them

#. and so loving the brethren is powerful and forceful evidence that Christ is in you

!! C. 3rd, LOVING THE BRETHREN IS ILLUSTRATED CONCISELY BY THE LIFE OF CAIN AND ABLE

* /“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 were righteous.”/

(1 John 3:12, NIV84)

#.

Cain provides a negative example at two points