1 John 3:11-24

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. Why do you think John emphasizes what love is not (using Cain as an example) before showing what love is through Christ?

  2. John says that “everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.” How does this statement reshape how we view our internal thoughts and feelings toward others?

  3. John says that “everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.” How does this statement reshape how we view our internal thoughts and feelings toward others?

  4. John writes, “Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” What’s the difference between talking about love and showing love?

  5. How can we as a church community hold one another accountable to love not just with emotions or intentions, but with real, sacrificial action?

SERMON MANUSCRIPT:

Good Morning. My name is Brady King and I am one of the pastors here at Harbor Community Church. If you have been coming for any amount of time you will know that I am not typically the one up here teaching most Sundays. Ryan is usually up here and he is our only full time vocational pastor. Wayne Cunningham and I serve as the other lay pastors.

Now today we are jumping back into our study of the book of 1st John. We took the last 2 weeks off to focus on the easter story as we celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus. So I think we may need a little refresher of where we left off.

Today we will be looking at 1 John 3:11-24. So as you are flipping in your bibles to 1st John I want to give a quick recap from the passages leading up to where we are today.

One of the major themes of this letter is how John uses striking contrasts to emphasize his points.

1 John 1

In the first chapter we saw a major theme contrasting light and darkness. Don’t walk in the dark, Do walk in the light. We were reminded that we all once walked in the darkness, but 1 John 1:9 tells us that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So the challenge was clear, if we want to be cleansed and healed from our sin, we must walk in the light. And Ryan encouraged each of us to live in the light.

1 John 2

Chapter 2 continues this same theme and takes it a step further to talk about abiding with Christ Jesus. The contrast is that you can abide in the things of the world – the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life – or we can abide with God the Father. And John really starts to draw the dividing line in the sand. He makes clear that the distinction that really matters is what you do with Jesus. He goes so far as to say that anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ is a liar and an antichrist. And the call is clear that we are to abide with Jesus. Jesus is our advocate. He is the propitiation for our sins, the one who purchased our salvation. So our response to Jesus is to obey his commandments, because we have been set free from sin by his sacrifice on the cross.

1 John 3:1-10

In the beginning of 1st John chapter 3, we looked at the contrast between walking in lawlessness (sin) and walking in righteousness. And we saw the dividing line between the two. Those who continue on in sin are of the devil. But those who have been born again through Jesus will will be walking in righteousness. And verse 10 really sets the stage for our passage today. It says,

“By this it is evident who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”

 

And so this is where we are going today. We are going to dive into what it does and doesn’t look like to love one another.

Here is an outline for what we are going to see.

  1. We are called to love one another (vs. 11)

  2. What Love is NOT (vs. 12-15)

  3. What Love IS (vs. 16-18)

  4. We are called to examine ourselves to see if we really do abide with Christ in Love. (vs. 19-24)

 

1 John 3:11-15

Read with me starting in 1 John 3:11

11 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.

  1. This is the call to love one another (vs. 11)

Vs 11 sets the stage with a reminder of the command of Jesus and what had been taught by all the disciples. This is 1 of 6 times that John will remind his readers of the command to “love one another.” So if he says it that many times, it must be important. So we need to pay attention. So I think the most natural starting point is to ask the question, what does it mean to “love one another?”

 

  1. This is what Love is NOT (vs. 12-15)

I think John starts answering that question in verses 12-15 by first explaining what loving one another IS NOT.

He first does this by pointing us back to the Old Testament story from Genesis 4 of Cain and Abel. Cain is the first born son to Adam and Eve and Abel is his younger brother. So these are literally the first children born in history.

So Cain was a farmer – grew food in the field.

Abel was a rancher – raised sheep.

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

You can see it here after verse 7. Cain has already started to give into sin. He hasn’t fully given over to it yet, but God searches and knows the heart. Let’s take a minute here to point out that, at this very moment, God gave Cain an off ramp. He gave him a clear warning, “sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

 

Illustration : Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade “he chose…poorly”

Has everyone seen the old Indiana Jones movies? Particularly Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?

At the end of the movie remember how they made it to the temple where the holy grail is kept but the can’t figure out how to get through to the actual room with the grail. You see the Nazi leader (Walter Donovan) selfishly seeking power and glory for himself as he sends in others to die trying to retrieve the grail for him. He even goes so far as to shoot Indy’s dad to force Indy to figure out a way through.

Then, after Indiana Jones finds a way through and gets to the room containing the Holy Grail, they are faced with a choice. Donovan, the Nazi, has a choice. Choose wisely and live. Or choose poorly and die.

But we see him pick a beautiful golden cup, covered in jewels. And he drinks from it, expecting to find eternal life and glory. But… in what used to be my Dad’s favorite line, the Old knight tells us…“He Chose… Poorly.”

 

Cain faced the same kind of dilemma. Selflessly offer a sacrifice to God in Faith. Or, selfishly give in to sin and go down the road that would lead to murdering his brother.

God offered Cain a way out when he was running into sin.

In this moment, Cain had a choice.

  • Continue chasing after sin, or stop, and look to God for the strength to overcome sin.

  • Follow God, or rebel against God.

  • Walk in love, or walk in anger.

  • Trust God, or trust his own desires.

And unfortunately, Cain Chose… “POORLY.”

8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” 10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

This is the picture that John is warning us against in 1 John 3 verses 12-15.

But you may be sitting there thinking, “I would never kill anyone so I’m glad I’m safe there.” But look again at what verse 15 says,

15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

Uh oh, that changes the game doesn’t it? So we must not read these verses and start to feel superior to Cain because “we would never do that.” The standard of God is not, “don’t physically murder your brother.” The standard of God is to love our brother.

Jesus made a similar comparison in the sermon on the mount.

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.   

Jesus ups the ante and John reiterates the point here in 1 John. God is primarily concerned with our heart’s desires. Unrighteous anger and murder are both still sin. And God is still holy, so he takes both seriously.

 

So let these verses remind us that we are called not to hate or harbor anger towards our brothers and sisters. Rather, we are called to love one another.

Question: So what does it mean to love one another?

Verses 11-15 showed us the negative. They tell us what loving one another DOES NOT mean. Don’t be like Cain.

Now verses 16-18 show us the positive. They show us what loving one another DOES mean. And it is beautiful.

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.

  1. This is what Love IS. (vs. 16-18)

Verse 16 starts by telling us what love is. I think that in today’s world we have a lot of different voices telling us about love. One of the most common phrases you hear amongst Christians is that “God is Love.” We will be in chapter 4 in a couple weeks where John literally tells us that “God is Love.”

That is absolutely true, God is Love. But what does that mean exactly? How do we know what Love really is?

Verse 16 gives us the answer.

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

***Ultimately, above all else, Love is what Jesus did for us on the cross.***

  • Jesus is the embodiment of Love. God is Love because God himself laid down his life for us.

  • When we had no way to be reconciled to God because of the sin that condemns us, God himself became the way of reconciliation.

 

Contrast verses 16-18 that tell us what Love IS, with what we read in verses 12-15 telling us what Love IS NOT.

  • Love is NOT envious (vs 12). Love IS sacrificial (vs 16).

  • Love does not take life (vs 12). Love surrenders life, and gives life to others (vs 16).

  • Love is not selfish. Love is SelfLESS.

  • Love does not take from others. Love gives generously to others.

  • Love is not “me” centered. Love is “others” centered.

  • Love does not breed death (vs 15). Love brings life.

By going to the cross on our behalf, Jesus gave us the most tangible picture of what love is. Jesus, being God in the flesh, left heaven, was born into our broken world, yet never sinned. Then, when the time was right, Jesus willingly walked a path of deep sorrow and unbelievable suffering, to the point that he was betrayed, beaten, mocked, ridiculed, and tortured. All before being murdered in one of the most torturous ways possible.

And the crazy part about it all is this….. he knew everything that was coming, and he did it anyway… for one main reason… So that you and I, who were dead in our sins, could be made alive. He went to the cross so that we could have Hope. He suffered and bled, so that each of us can live with peace and joy in every circumstance, knowing that the full price has been paid for our sins against a holy God.

That, my friends, is what love is. And that is the kind of love that Jesus now calls us to!

 

Illustration: Rooster Hawkeye

As many of you know I have several farm animals. And sometimes the farm can teach us some profound lessons about God and his design. A year or two back we had about 6 chickens and 1 rooster to protect them from hawks. When we got him, his previous owners told us that he had once killed a hawk protecting his hens. So naturally we named him Hawkeye. One day I was travelling home from a work trip in Mississippi and Emily called me in a panic because she pulled up to the house and 2 dogs were inside our chicken fence and she couldn’t see the chickens. There were feathers everywhere. She knew for sure they had all been killed. She jumped out of the car and ran out to chase the dogs off. Meanwhile the phone was still connected to her car so I could just hear a bunch of hollering off in the distance. I didn’t know if all the chickens were dead, or if the dogs were gone, or if the dogs had eaten Emily or what. Finally Emily came back on the phone and told me the dogs were gone and after some searching she found all of the chickens. They were all alive. Our rooster Hawkeye had them protected underneath the coop.

So I finally made it home an hour or so later and we assessed the damage. 2 hens were missing some tail feathers but that was mostly it. But Hawkeye was in rough shape. He had taken the full brunt of the 2 dogs. Unfortunately, later that night he ended up passing from his injuries. But the lesson Hawkeye taught me was humbling. He was placed on this earth with an innate desire to protect his hens. And he did that with everything he had until his very last breath. He quite literally gave his life to ensure that his ladies were safe and secure.

That in and of itself is heroic. the story even gets a little better. One of our hens had just started sitting on some eggs to try to hatch them about a week earlier. She ended up hatching out 5 chicks a few weeks later. So not only did he fight off 2 dogs to save his adult hens, but Hawkeye literally gave his life so that these 5 chicks could be born and have life. Now today Hawkeye Jr. protects the same hens.

This is such a picture of the gospel as it mirrors the sacrifice Jesus made for us. He showed his live for us by laying down his life, so that we could have eternal life. This is the same kind of love that Jesus is talking about when he says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.   

 

In another sense, the act of becoming a Christian requires this same kind of self sacrifice. The first step to becoming a Christian is to repent of your sins and crucify your old self. Obviously, I mean this in a spiritual sense, and not in a physical sense. But the whole point of being a Christian is that you are saying, “my old self is dead, I am now a new creation in Christ.” This is the essence of the gospel.

Galatians 2:20 says,

“20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

To become a Christian we are called to die to our old self, and be born again as a new creation.

  • We die to sin, and live in faith.

  • We put to death our old, worldly desires of the flesh, and walk in new life, following the commandments of God.

Thankfully, God knows we can’t do this on our own, that’s why Jesus had to come and show us the way. That’s why Jesus came to die,… so that we might live. And he serves as the perfect example of what we now strive to live for.

 

Now I think that verses 17-18 give is very practical direction as to how this love will manifest itself in our daily lives.

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.

I will point out that word “brother” in verse 17 is the same word used in verses 14 and 16. It

Greek = ἀδελφὸν = Adelphon – Literally means "from the same womb."

John’s command in these verses is to care for the needs of our brothers and sisters in our church family. He does this with some very strong language. “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?”

John is making the case that if you see your brothers and sisters in need and your response is, “oh well” then you need to do some serious reflection on whether or not you truly are a follower of Jesus

 

The idea of seeing your family in need and doing nothing to help is incompatible with Christianity. In John’s mind, that idea does not compute.

To bring this into our context, what this means is that there should be no needy member of Harbor Community church. There should never be a person in our church family who lacks for any need. The picture in Acts 2 is that when there were needs in the church, those who had extra started selling what they had to provide for their brothers and sisters. Would you be willing to do that?

Question: Here are some questions to ponder.

  • Would you sell off some of your comforts to pay for the needs of a brother or sister?

  • Would you trade in your nice new car and drive an older one so that you could buy a struggling brother or sister a reliable vehicle to get to work?

  • Would you trade your expensive vacation to a more affordable option so that you could help pay a family’s rent when the main breadwinner lost his job?

  • Would you open your guest bedroom to let a family stay with you for a few months while they are looking for a place?

These are hard questions, but this is the mindset that John says all Christians should have towards our brothers and sisters. He goes so far as to say that if you wouldn’t do this, maybe you need to ask, “does God’s love really abide in me?”

 

John then finishes this thought in verse 18 by reminding us that our love leads to action. We can say that we love something all day long, but our actions show were our love truly lies.

Illustration : Lacrosse

Since I was in high school I have said that I would love to play lacrosse. It looks awesome on TV and it seems like a skillset that I would be good at. So I have talked many times about how I would love to play lacrosse. But you know what, I have never even come close to playing lacrosse. The closest I have ever been is literally picking up a lacrosse stick in academy and tossing a ball back and forth with a friend for about 2 minutes.

My words say one thing, but my actions reveal the truth. I say I would love to play lacrosse, but my actions show that I really don’t have any desire to play lacrosse.

18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

 

Now lets look at the last section of our passage from 1st John. Starting in verse 19.

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.

 

  1. This is the call to examine ourselves to see if we really do abide with Christ in Love.  (vs. 19-24)

I think the main question being asked in these verses is this, “How do we know that we abide in Christ?” Or put another way, “How do we know that we really are Christians?”

  • We follow and cherish God’s commandments. (vs. 22 & 24)

  • We believe in Jesus. (vs. 23)

  • We love one another, in the same sacrificial way that Jesus loves us. (vs. 23)

  • The Holy Spirit gives us peace and assurance. (vs. 24)

Now I am pretty confident that the people here in our church are spread all across the spectrum today. Some of you hear these words and think, “man, praise God, I have been loving my brothers and sisters joyfully, I feel secure with God my Father.”

And others here today may be listening and thinking, “man, I feel like I can relate more to Cain than Jesus. My life doesn’t show much evidence at all of loving my brothers and sisters.”

The beauty of the gospel is that our salvation is not dependent on our actions. Whether we have been killing it or killing Abel, we are reminded that God is not surprised. He already knows.

20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

And the beauty of the gospel is that God knew just how sinful we are, and yet he still sent his son Jesus to die for us and pull us up out of the pit of darkness. Not by our strength, but by his strength.

These verses today are not intended to stack a burden on your back that you need to work harder to love your brothers and sisters. No! These verses today should serve as a reminder that Jesus Christ loved us so much that he knew how bad we are, and he came and sacrificed himself so that we could experience a love we don’t deserve.

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.

God’s commandment for us today is to believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ. Christ did the work to save us. It’s by his righteousness that we are made righteous. It’s by his blood that we are washed clean. It’s by his perfect obedience that we are given the strength to obey God’s command to love one another. And when we rest in the beauty of that gospel message, the Christlike love that we have received will pour out all over our brothers and sisters.

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

This passage ends with a beautiful reminder. God didn’t save us and then throw us to the wolves to figure it out on our own.

Rather, God saved us, then he came to dwell within us. The Spirit of God was sent to live inside of us and help us and guide us as we seek to love one another like Jesus.

Conclusion

So wherever you are today, rest in the work of Jesus on your behalf. We love because he first loved us. If you are struggling today and have questions or want to talk further about this, come find me after the service or grab the person you came with and we would love to continue to share more about how Jesus has loved us and given us life.