Love Or Death - 1 John 3c
1 John 3:11-18
Stephen Caswell
Abraham Lincoln Loved
No one treated Abraham Lincoln with more contempt than did Edwin Stanton, who denounced Lincoln's policies and called him a low cunning clown. Stanton had nicknamed him the original gorilla. He also said that explorer Paul Du Chaillu was a fool to wander about Africa trying to capture a gorilla, when he could have found one so easily in Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln said nothing in reply. In fact, he made Stanton his war minister because Stanton was the best man for the job. He treated him with every courtesy. The years wore on. The night came when an assassin's bullet struck down Lincoln in a theater. In a room off to the side where Lincoln's body was taken, stood Stanton that night. As he looked on the silent, rugged face of the President, Stanton said through tears, There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen. The patience of love had conquered in the end.
A child obtains much of his character from his parents. The same is true in the spiritual realm. Last week we saw how to recognize the children of God and the children of the devil. John said that sin and righteousness identifies the fatherhood of everyone. Today he picks up the same theme from a different perspective. How we treat our brother reveals our spiritual state. God's children love their brother whilst a child of the devil hates his brother. Brother or brethren is used 8 times in this passage. When it comes to this matter of love, there are four possible levels of relationship, so to speak, on which a person may live: Murder, Hatred, Indifference and Love. The first two are not Christian at all, the third is less than Christian, and only the last is compatible with true Christian love.
Firstly, Murder
1 John 3:11-12: For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.
The commandment to love one another is stated twelve times in the New Testament. It is mentioned more times than any other commandment. John says you have heard this commandment from the beginning. John emphasizes origins: Go back to the beginning. If our spiritual experience originates with the Father, we must love one another. But if it originates with Satan, we will hate one another. John says that we must not love like Cain did who murdered his brother. Murder, of course, is the lowest level on which one may live in relationship to someone else.
Cain is an example of some one who hated his brother. Make no mistake Cain was not an atheist. He is presented as a religious man, in fact a worshipper of God. However, Cain tried to earn God's favor through works and not by faith. And this is the point: children of the devil masquerade as true believers. They attend religious gatherings, as Cain did. They may even bring offerings. But these actions in themselves are not valid proof that a man is born of God. The real test is his love for the brethren, and here Cain failed.
We aren't told how the Lord accepted Abel’s sacrifice and rejected Cain’s. It may be that He sent fire from heaven to consume Abel’s sacrifice of an animal and its blood. But we are told the results: Abel went away from the altar with God’s witness of acceptance in his heart, but Cain went away angry and disappointed.
God warned Cain that sin was crouching at the door like a dangerous beast, but promised that if Cain would obey God, he, like Abel, would enjoy peace. Instead of heeding God’s warning, Cain listened to Satan’s voice and plotted to kill his brother. His envy had turned to anger and hatred. He knew that he was evil and that his brother was righteous. Rather than repent, as God commanded him to do, he decided to destroy his brother. This is the level on which Satan himself exists. The devil was a murderer from the beginning of his fallen career.
Blame Now On Others
Instead of holding themselves responsible for misfortune, more Americans now blame others. In past economic depressions, murder rates went down and suicides went up because Americans — trained in the puritan ethic of self-reliance and internal restraint — blamed themselves for personal economic failure. Now when people reach a breaking point in frustration, they lash out at others.
Secondly, Hatred
Murder is the lowest level of relationship we can share with a brother. At this point, you are probably thinking, But I have never murdered anyone! And to this statement, God replies, Yes, but remember that to a Christian hatred is the same as murder. The only cure is love!!
a. World Hates Believers 1 John 3:13: Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.
John tells us not to be surprised if the world hates us. Why? Because we show up their sin. Christians belong to God's family whilst the world belongs to Satan's family and there has been ill feeling between these two from the very beginning. God condemns sin whilst Satan promotes it. The two families cannot get along together because they have nothing in common. Therefore, Satan moves his children to hate and kill God's children. He did this at the beginning when Cain killed Abel and nothing has changed since. The world hates God and His children for exposing their sin. But God's children don't behave this way!!
b. Believers Love The Brethren
1 John 3:14: We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.
How can we know that we're saved? We prove ourselves genuine by loving our brother. Love can't save us anymore than good works can. Love in fact proves that we have already been saved. Jesus described the results of faith as passing over from death to life. John 5:24: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in Him who sent me has eternal life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
If we have been born again of the Spirit then we must love our brother. After all we are all a part of the same family. When we belonged to the world system, we hated God’s people; but now that we belong to God, we love them. If you don't love your brother then you are still unsaved. You are living in death. Envy, un-forgiveness, and hatred lead to murder. Christians have no right to hold a grudge against their brother. The Lord has forgiven us far more than we could ever forgive another. Therefore we must forgive one another in love.
These verses, like those that deal with habitual sin in a believer, concern a settled habit of life: a believer is in the practice of loving the brethren, even though on occasion he may be angry with a brother. Occasional incidents of anger do not nullify the principle. If anything, they prove it true, because a believer out of fellowship with his fellow Christians is a miserable person! His feelings make clear to him that something is wrong.
c. Hatred Leads To Murder
1 John 3:15: Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Hatred Is The Seed Of Murder
Have you ever planted a gum tree seed in the ground. Even though the seed is very small it sprouts into a tree that is very large. The same is true of hatred. A little bitterness and hatred can produce a tree called murder. In verse 15 John says that hatred leads to murder. What's the difference between them? Time and opportunity. Hatred allowed to bring forth its fruit results in murder. This does not mean, of course, that hatred in the heart does the same amount of damage, or involves the same degree of guilt, as actual murder. Your neighbor would rather you hate him than kill him! But in God’s sight, hatred is the moral equivalent of murder, and if left unbridled it leads to murder. Hatred and murder involves taking life whilst love preserves life. Hatred leads us to eternal death whilst love leads us to eternal life.
Hatred In America
John J. Harrington, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police and a 27-year veteran of the Philadelphia police force, says, There is hatred today in this country that’s growing and growing. Near where I live a man was walking to church, and two men came up behind him and cut his throat. Another man was just standing on a street corner when a bunch of kids came along. They said. Let’s give it to him, and they killed him. And a little girl was walking up the street from where I live, and a boy just came along and stabbed her. All these things seem to happen for no reason at all — just hatred.
Notice another fact: we are not told that murderers can't be saved. The Apostle Paul himself took a hand in the stoning of Stephen and admitted that his vote helped to put innocent people to death. But in His grace God saved Paul. The issue here is not whether a murderer can become a Christian, but whether a man can continue being a murderer and still be a Christian. The answer is no. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. God will never lead us to hate or murder anyone because He is love. If God's life is abiding or dwelling in us then we will treat people the way that God does! We will love them. It's pure and simple, hatred leads to death while love leads to life eternal.
Application
Hatred is the second lowest level of communication. Someone who hates his brother is living on dangerous ground. You might say, but I don't hate my brother. But do you hold a grudge against your brother? Are you envious of his success? Do you refuse to forgive and forget past grievances? Beware, if you don't deal with them, these things can lead you into hatred.
Thirdly, Indifference
1 John 3:17: But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
The third response is indifference. The word indifference means to be unconcerned, to be uninterested, an absence of feeling. This is where we don't hate someone but we don't love them either. This kind of response breaks both of the great commandments. Someone who is indifferent doesn't love God or their neighbor. They love only themselves. Most believers don't hate their brother. But avoiding the negative response of hatred is not enough. God wants us to positively love our neighbor. John wisely turns from the plural brethren in 1 John 3:16 to the singular, his brother, in 1 John 3:17. It is easy for us to talk about loving the brethren in general and to neglect to help a single believer.
Christian love is personal and active. This is what Jesus had in mind in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. A lawyer wanted to talk about an abstract subject: Who is my neighbor? But Jesus focused attention on one man in need, and changed the question to, To whom can I be a neighbor? The priest and the Levite were both religious men. They worshipped God in the temple. They knew the Law. But when they had the opportunity to help a neighbor in need they ignored him. They had the means to help but had no love or compassion for their needy brother. James also talks about believers who share empty words with their needy brethren.
James 2:15-16: If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, Depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
Am I My Brother's Keeper
In 1928, a very interesting case came before the courts in Massachusetts. It concerned a man who had been walking on a boat dock when suddenly he tripped over a rope and fell into the cold, deep water of an ocean bay. He came up sputtering and yelling for help and then sank again, obviously in trouble. His friends were too far away to get to him, but only a few yards away, on another dock, was a young man sprawled on a deck chair, sunbathing. The desperate man shouted, Help, I can't swim!
The young man, an excellent swimmer, only turned his head to watch as the man floundered in the water, sank, came up sputtering in total panic, and then disappeared forever. The family of the drowned man was so upset by that display of callous indifference that they sued the sunbather. They lost. The court reluctantly ruled that the man on the dock had no legal responsibility whatever to try and save the other man's life. In effect, the law agrees with Cain's presupposition: I am not my brother's keeper, and I have every legal right to mind my own business and to refuse to become involved.
Application
Indifference shows that we love ourselves more than God or our fellowman. If we claim to be Christ's disciples, we cannot ignore our brothers need. Do you meet the needs of your brethren? Do you care about their welfare? Or do you say I am not my brother's keeper?
Finally, Love
1 John 3:11,14: For his is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.
Love is the distinguishing mark of a Christian. Jesus said by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another. The love Jesus was talking about is ajaph. Agape love is God's unconditional love. God chooses to love us regardless of our response to Him. This is the kind of love God asks us to show to our brethren. 1 Corinthians 13:8 says that agape love never fails. God also blesses those who exercise it. But be warned it's costly.
a. Sacrifice
1 John 3:16: By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Christian love involves sacrifice and service. Christ did not simply talk about His love; He died to prove it. Jesus was not killed as a martyr; He willingly laid down His life. Self preservation is the first law of physical life, but self sacrifice is the first law of spiritual life. There have been many times in the Church's history when Christians have laid down their lives for their brethren.
Sacrificial Love
After the U.S.S. Pueblo was captured by the North Koreans, the eighty two surviving crew members were thrown into a brutal captivity. In one particular instance thirteen of the men were required to sit in a rigid manner around a table for hours. After several hours the door was violently flung open and a north Korean guard brutally beat the man in the first chair with the butt of his rifle. The next day, as each man sat at his assigned place, again the door was thrown open and the man in the first chair was brutally beaten.
On the third day it happened again to the same man. Knowing the man could not survive, another young sailor took his place. When the door was flung open the guard automatically beat the new victim senseless. For weeks, each day a new man stepped forward to sit in that horrible chair, knowing full well what would happen. At last the guards gave up in exasperation. They were unable to beat that kind of sacrificial love.
b. Sharing
1 John 3:17: But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
God usually doesn't ask us to lay down our lives. He simply asks us to help a brother in need. Are you willing to sacrifice your time, money and possessions to help a brother in need? John says that this the right thing to do. If we honestly love them we will help those we can. We will put their needs before our own. We will be prepared to share with our brother who has a genuine need. After all that's what Jesus did. Because we were spiritually dead He died.
Giving Is Godlike
Shortly after World War II, the saddest sight for American soldiers who were picking up the pieces in ravaged Europe, was that of little orphaned children starving in the streets of those war torn cities. One soldier driving along in his jeep spotted a little lad with his nose pressed to the window of a pastry shop. Inside the cook was kneading dough for a fresh batch of doughnuts. The hungry boy stared in silence, watching every move. The soldier pulled his jeep to the curb and got out to slip over to the boy's side, Through the steamed up window he could see the mouth watering morsels as they were being pulled from the oven, piping hot.
The boy salivated and released a slight groan. The soldiers heart went out to the orphan... He said, son would you like some of those? The boy was startled. Oh, yes, I would. The American stepped into the shop, bought a dozen, put them in a bag and walked back to where the lad was standing in the foggy cold of the London morning. He smiled, held out the bag, and simply said: Here you are! As he turned to walk away, he felt a tug on his coat. The soldier looked back and heard the child ask quietly: Mister are you God?
c. Sincerity
1 John 3:18: My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
Real Love Is Active
Two friends were attending a conference on evangelism. During one of the sessions, Larry missed Pete. At luncheon, when he saw Pete, he said, I missed you at the 10 o’clock session. It was really terrific! Where were you? I was in the lobby talking to a bellhop about Christ. I led him to the Lord, said Pete. There's nothing wrong with attending conferences, but it's easy to forget the individual and his needs while discussing generalities. The test of Christian love is not in loud professions about loving the whole church, but in quietly helping a brother who is in need. If we don't even help a brother, it is not likely we would lay down our lives for the brethren.
True Christian love means loving in deed and in truth. The opposite of in deed is in word, and the opposite of in truth is in tongue. Here is an example of love in word: If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and be filled; and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? James 2:15–16
To love in word means simply to talk about a need, but to love in deed means to do something about meeting it. You may think, because you have discussed a need, or even prayed about it, that you have done your duty, but love involves more than words — it calls for sacrificial deeds. You can talk or pray about the starving children in third world countries all day but you haven't loved them. If you love them you will support an orphan. To love in tongue is the opposite of to love in truth. It means to love insincerely. To love in truth means to love a person genuinely, from the heart and not just from the tongue. People are attracted by genuine love, but repelled by the artificial variety. The New Testament encourages us to minister to one another in love. Galatians 6:10: Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. One another commands.
Real Love
According to an old legend, a man became lost in his travels and wandered into a bed of quicksand. Confucius saw the man's predicament and said, It is evident that men should stay out of places such as this. Next, Buddha observed the situation and said, Let that man's plight be a lesson to the rest of the world. Then Mohammed came by and said to the sinking man, Alas, it is the will of God. Finally, Jesus appeared. Take my hand, brother, he said, and I will save you. Real love meets another's needs. Anything else is empty platitudes!
Application
Is your love all talk? Or is it genuine? Do you love in word or in deed? Do you make sacrifices for others? Are you willing to share your time, money and possessions to meet your brothers need? When you see someone who is destitute, are you moved with compassion or indifference? Christ calls us to love one another the same way He loved us; Do you do this?
Conclusion
Today, we saw that there are four possible levels of relationship, so to speak, on which a person may live: Murder, Hatred, Indifference and Love. I trust that we will obey Christ's commandment and live by the rule of love.
Benediction
2 Corinthians 13:14: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.