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Lay Down Your Life for the Brethren

July 3, 2022 Speaker: Kit Johnson Series: Devoted to God

Topic: Expository Passage: 1 John 3:11–18

 

Introduction

Tomorrow is the 4th of July, and when I was a kid, I was mesmerized by the story of the American Revolution and the founding of our nation. There are many fascinating layers to the story but among them is the willingness of our founders and of those who volunteered for the war effort to die for the sake of freedom.

One of the most famous expressions of this zeal was Patrick Henry’s appeal to the Second Virginia Convention to organize a Virginia militia to fight the British. He concluded, “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

And many Americans went out and truly risked their lives and gave their lives for the cause of freedom. I think about George Washington and his army suffering through the miserable, cold winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge. The soldiers lived in meager, drafty huts, and many of them did not have adequate clothing, bedding, or food. It had to be miserable, and hundreds of them died in those awful conditions.

But they pressed on and risked everything against overwhelming odds because they believed in their cause and what it meant for their children and grandchildren. And they won incredible privileges for our nation that continue to this day.

When you reflect on their determination, it makes you wonder, “Am I that dedicated to anything? How much sacrifice will I tolerate?” Our theme for 2022 is “Love One Another,” and this morning, I want to consider a text which calls upon Christians to love each other to point of making great sacrifices. We’ll probably never be asked to die for each other, but we certainly must be ready to live for each other (read). I’d like to make two primary points from this passage. First, vv. 11–15 teach that…

I.  Love defines God’s people (vv. 11–15).

In other words, love is not merely a good idea if you want to score some brownie points with God. No, John argues that love is an essential trait of Christians, and the way we love sets us apart from the rest of humanity.

John makes this point through a contrast between a worldly spirit and a Christian spirit. So, let’s talk first about the fact that…

The world is characterized by jealousy and hatred. John makes this point by using Cain as an illustration. Cain’s story is quite incredible. He was the first person ever born into the world, but he never had a genuine heart for God. He tried to fake it, but God saw right through the act. Therefore, when the time came for him to bring his own sacrifice to the Lord, God rejected it.

Cain was furious. To make matters worse, God did accept the sacrifice of his younger brother Abel because he had a genuine heart of faith. Cain was so filled with jealousy and hatred that he murdered his own brother.

Obviously, that’s an extreme example of jealousy and hatred. But while very few people sink to the level of murder, jealousy and hatred are everywhere. Our world is so angry about everything. In fact, anger is so common that we often just accept it as normal.

But it’s not acceptable to God (v. 15). That’s a strong statement, isn’t it? You might think, “Wait a second, my hatred isn’t nearly as evil as murder, and it is certainly can’t disqualify me for eternal life, right?”

But John is almost certainly drawing this conclusion from two powerful statements of Jesus. First, he said, “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court” (Matt 5:21–22). In Jesus’ mind there isn’t a significant difference between anger and murder.

As well, the only other time where John’s term for murder is found is in the NT is another statement of Jesus. He told some Jews who rejected his gospel, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

Jesus is saying that Satan was so filled with anger at the beginning of time that he practically murdered Adam and Eve by deceiving them into eating the fruit. Yes, most people don’t go that far, but our anger comes from the same dark place. And Jesus says that it reflects a relationship to Satan, not to God. John says something very similar in v. 15.

John says that anger and bitterness specifically toward a fellow Christian is especially egregious. It portrays a Satanic image on the church, and it seriously calls into question whether or not the angry person is truly saved.

The point is not that you can’t be saved and struggle with anger. Many Christians including me struggle with anger. But some people don’t just struggle; they are content to live in anger. If they’re smart, they know not to call it anger or bitterness.

But if you refuse to talk to someone, you feel the need to slander them at every opportunity, or you constantly rehearse how they hurt you, you are angry. But we better not excuse it or grow comfortable with it. Anger is Satanic, and it reflects his murderous spirit. We must see it for what it is, confess it, and forsake it.

Until then, don’t take the Lord’s Supper, and you may need to back off ministry roles. It is that serious. Hatred is antithetical to spiritual life. So, the world is characterized by jealousy and hatred. In contrast…

Christians are known for genuine love. John begins with this fact (v. 11). I have to think that John was remembering our theme text for 2022 as he wrote these words.

Just hours before his death, Jesus told his disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34–35).

We’ve talked about the fact that loving your neighbor was an old command, but this is a new commandment in the sense that we have a new example—Jesus’ death on the cross and a new context—the church.

Therefore, Jesus commands us to model his sacrifice on the cross. We must love and sacrifice for each other the way Jesus sacrificed himself for us. And this display will make us stand out in a world of hatred and jealousy. People will see the power of Christ among us and know that we are his disciples.

Notice that John builds on this fact in vv. 14–15. When we think of eternal life, we tend to think of heaven, these verses and many other teach that eternal life is just as much a present reality as a future one.

Verse 14 describes a Christian as someone who has already “passed out of death into life.” Jesus talked about salvation as being “born again.” I get new life when I get saved. And John says that this new life changes us at the most foundational level. Instead of having a heart of hatred, jealousy, and murder; we receive a heart to “love the brethren (meaning fellow Christians or the church).

So, v. 14 is saying that one of the ways I can know I am truly God’s child is that I love God’s people. In contrast, v. 15 says that if I hate God’s people, it is highly unlikely that I am truly a child of God.

So, what’s all that mean for us today? It means that love for God’s people is vital to the true character of a Christian. As I said earlier, love defines the people of God.

Therefore, if someone ever says to you, “I love God; I just don’t like his church,” you can lovingly say, “Liar!” God says that loving him and loving his people must go together. If you don’t love God’s church, very likely, you have never been born again.

This doesn’t mean that if you ever get irritated with Christians, or have a spat with one, you should question your salvation. We’re all sinners, and sometimes we’re irritating and irritable. But it should concern you if you don’t love God’s people, love being with them, or conflict and hurt seem to follow you everywhere. Why is that, and what does it say about my heart?

On the positive side, it means it is really important to God that we are all moving toward his people with love and generosity. Christians should want to be together, and we should enjoy each other.

From there all of us must constantly be working to build a loving atmosphere among us. We need to nuture healthy, joyful, and uplifting conversation. We need to care well for each other and encourage each other. The church should feel like home, like a comfortable place we want to be. So, the first major point is that love defines God’s people. The second major point is…

II.  Love manifests itself through action (vv. 16–18).

Notice first that…

Christ set the ultimate example of love. We live in a culture that loves to talk about love. There used to be a whole section of this store called Blockbuster that was dedicated to Romance, and Netflix and Amazon now have the same. We love to talk about love and dream of love.

But for all our talk about love, we do a terrible job of actually practicing it. Our culture is not characterized by love but hate, violence, and betrayal. We’ve got a lot of passion, but too often it does not translate into loving, sacrificial community.

Therefore, if you want to know love don’t look at the example of our culture; look instead at the example that Jesus set. Verse 16 says, “By this we know love.” Jesus set the standard of true, sacrificial love.

Then v. 16 explains by giving a brief synopsis of the greatest act of love the world has ever seen. In particular, Jesus “laid down His life for us.”

The story of Jesus death is truly remarkable. Jesus lived an absolutely perfect life. He never slandered anyone, he never told a lie, he never broke a law. Rather, he always demonstrated perfect love and holiness.

But because he spoke the truth unashamedly, the religious elite hated him and wanted him dead. They trumped up all sorts of absurd charges and rallied a mob to persuade the Romans to kill him.

Now, Jesus is Almighty God, so the Romans were like ragdolls in comparison to his might. At any moment Jesus could have stopped them in their tracks and saved himself. In John 10:18 Jesus states, “No one has taken it (speaking of his life) from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.”

The big question is why would he willingly lay down his life in such a torturous fashion? Jesus understood that we have a serious sin problem. The Bible is clear that we all are sinners, and our sin separates us from God. You cannot know God as your Father as long as you are in your sin. Furthermore, God’s justice demands that our sin be punished, and there is nothing a finite sinner like me can do to satisfy God’s infinite justice.

But as the perfect Son of God, Jesus could provide a substitutionary sacrifice. He alone was able to take the punishment we deserve by dying in our place. Therefore, even though Jesus perfectly understood how cruelly he would suffer, he demonstrated perfect love by “laying down His life for us.”

So, Jesus suffered a humiliating, violent, excruciating death. It was awful in every sense. Not only that, he endured the wrath of Holy God against our sin so that we could be saved.

His death is your only hope of escaping God’s judgment. It doesn’t matter how religious you may be, what good things you have done, or bad things you have avoided. We all need to be saved from God’s judgment.

And the Bible says that you can be saved by simply receiving Christ as your Lord and Savior. Just pray to God acknowledging Jesus as Lord, repent of how you have sinned against his will, and believe that his death is sufficient to save. The Bible promises that if you do that, you will be placed in Christ, you will be forever secure in him, and you will be with him in heaven someday. If you have never received Christ, please do so today. If you have questions, please ask. Nothing in life is more important than your soul.

From there John says this is how “we know love.” Jesus expressed incredible, unique love in his death on the cross. We will never have reason to doubt the goodness and the love of God because we know love in the cross. How we ought to give thanks for what Jesus did for us and for what it means for our lives today and for all eternity. But John adds that it places on every Christian a high obligation.

We must follow his example. Specifically, we must follow his example in 3 ways.

We must love sacrificially. When you read v. 16b in isolation, it’s a powerful statement. Wow, God says, “We ought to “lay down our lives for the brethren.” And it’s not a shapeless sacrifice; we are to sacrifice ourselves like Jesus “laid down His life” for us.

Of course, he doesn’t mean that we can die a substitutionary death. Only Jesus could do that. And it almost assuredly will not mean literal death. But my day to day life among God’s people should reflect the sacrificial love that Jesus so generously exemplified.

That sounds good, right. Everyone would say that’s a good thing. But actually loving sacrificially the way Jesus did gets sticky really fast. So often we get frustrated when loving people requires the slightest detour from our plans. We pat ourselves on the back when we stay up an extra 30 minutes or miss a meal. When there’s a significant need, we are quick to find an excuse as to why that’s just too much.

But God says we are to love sacrificially to the point of laying down our lives. Practically speaking, this means that when a brother is struggling under a heavy burden, I get under it with him and carry what I can. Sometimes, it’s really heavy. It’s exhausting and painful. Sometimes it takes a lot of time. Sometimes, people aren’t happy about you trying to help because you are confronting their sin. They get nasty about it.

But aren’t you thankful that Jesus didn’t make excuses about why the cross was too much? Aren’t you thankful that he didn’t abandon you at the first sign of hostility? We must be ready to lay down our lives for each other. 2nd

We must love generously. Verse 17 pictures a brother or sister in Christ who has some sort of legitimate material or financial need. Maybe they can’t pay their electric bill, or maybe they don’t have money for food.

I do want to emphasize that John specifically focuses on a brother in Christ. It’s obviously good to be a blessing to anyone in need, but our priority is the church. “While we have opportunity, let us do good to all people and especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Gal 6:10).

So, v. 17 is speaking of a Christian who sees a brother in need, and he has the means to help. He is not necessarily wealthy; all that John says is that he is able to meet this need. We can’t just stand by when a brother is struggling. God says Christian love demands that he is generous and meets the need.

In fact, notice the question John asks of the one who does not act, “How does the love of God abide in him? Based on what we’ve already seen, that is a very serious question. If I’m a Scrooge, it’s not just that I’m stingy; it should cause me to question if I have truly experienced the love of God in the new birth.

That may make us uncomfortable because very often we are quick to ignore needs. Oftentimes, we can sound very righteous in doing so. We talk about entitlement and learning responsibility. And truthfully there are times when helping means not enabling a person to continue a foolish or sinful pattern.

But God would say that if we are going to error, we should error on the side of generosity. We need to make sure that we are more concerned about being a blessing than we are about being taken advantage of. Our impulse should be to help, not to find an excuse not to. The gospel demands that we are generous with each other. The 3rd way we imitate Christ is…

We must love in practice, not merely in words (v. 17). To put in our lingo, John says, “Talk is cheap.” We can know all the right words to say and have an airtight theology of love and mercy. But none of it matters if we don’t live it out. We must love “in deed and truth” meaning that our deeds prove the sincerity of our love.

So, how have you expressed love recently? More specifically, when was the last time you made a painful sacrifice to love a brother well? Do you even have significant enough relationships within the church that you would know about the spiritual and practical needs of those around you?

Conclusion

God is love, and he gave the ultimate proof of that love in the gift of Christ. It’s a privilege to reflect that love to each other. It’s own of our best testimonies to the world. So, invest in building strong relationships, invest blood, sweat, and tears. Let’s love one another well.

More in Devoted to God

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