Message

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We Know What Love Is

1 John 3:1-24

Key Verse 3;16: “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 and sisters.”

In chapter two John said that in order to have fellowship with God we must not love the world but do the will of God. The will of God is to love our brothers and sisters as ourselves. He also asks us to continue in Jesus. In chapter three John teaches us what love is and how we practice love in our lives. Here the word ‘love’ is ‘agape’ in Greek, which means God’s love.

First, privilege as children of God. (1-3) Before we talk about the privilege for the children of God, let us think about How our condition was before we become children of God? Who were we before we received God’s grace? Genesis 1:2 illustrates the situation of the world before God created. “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep...” (Ge 1:2) Before we met God, our situation was formless, empty, and dark. Formless means directionless and meaningless, empty means never satisfied and happy, and dark means full of fear and anxiety. As Kierkegaard said, “All human beings suffer from sickness which leads to death.” This is not all. According to Paul the whole world was under the wrath of God because of sin. Hebrews 9:27 says, “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” As John Calvin said, all human beings are situated in total depravity, which means all human beings are helpless and impossible to save themselves. It is compared to a man who is drowning in the middle of the Pacific Ocean without any lifeboat or lifejacket. This is a picture of those who are dying without salvation. This is the situation before we become children of God.

People boast about who they are and what they have. What they boast about are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. But all these do not last long. They are like grass and floors in the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall. So, people cry out saying, “Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” (Ecc 1:2) But we children of God are different. Since we believe in Jesus, we live new life, life joyful, meaningful, and hopeful. The world and its desire pass away, but the word of the Lord lasts forever. Whoever does the will of God lives forever. Amen!

In order to save us from the total depravity, what did God do for us? Look at verse 1. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” The Father God lavished his love on us. Here the word ‘lavish’ means ‘give generously and extravagantly.’ In the gospel a woman came to Jesus and poured out a very expensive perfume on Jesus’ head. His disciples rebuked her saying that she wasted her perfume. But Jesus accepted her action as the preparation for his burial. As this woman poured out her perfume, God lavished his love on us. Jesus is worthy of being praised and devoted by the woman. But who are we? We don’t deserve God’s lavishing love, but God did. God poured out his love on us even though we don’t deserve. We praise and give thanks to God for his lavishing love on us. Amen!

What is the privilege for children of God? As children of God, we can enter our Father’s house with confidence. Children can go to their father’s house freely whereas strangers cannot. Jesus promised to his disciples, “My Father’s house has many rooms; I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” (Jn 14:2) As children of God we have a hope of the eternal life in our Father’s house and in his kingdom. Peter said that this is the living hope which never perishes, spoils, or fades away, but kept in heaven for us. (1 Pe 1;3-4)

As children of God, we all be changed like Jesus. This is our living hope. Look at verses 2-3. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” Amen! When Jesus comes again, we all will be changed like him. When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, we’ll be changed like him. What a blessing to us when we will be like him! What a blessed day when we all be changed! As children of God who received such God’s lavishing love and amazing grace, what we must do?

Second, duty as children of God (4-10) As an American citizen, we have duty as well as right and privilege. In the same way as heavenly citizens, we have a duty to meet and fulfill. Above all, we must stop sinning. Look at verses 4-6. “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” Jesus said everyone who sins is a slave to sin. (Jn 8:34) While we were powerless and helpless slave to sin, Jesus set us free by his precious blood. The blood of the Son purifies us from sin and all unrighteousness. Since we were freed from the slavery of sin, we must not become slave to sin anymore. Jesus said, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (Jn 8:36) We must live as children of freedom, not slave to sin. Verse 6 says, "No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.” 5:18 also says, “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin...”

Then you may ask a question. Since Jesus set us free from the slavery of sin, why do we keep sinning? Were we not saved? Yes, we are saved. We became children of God the moment when we believe in Jesus and call on his name. Still, we must struggle to live as children of God. Justification occurs in a moment, but purification takes long as we were born in minutes, but it takes long to grow. As long as we live in the flesh, we must continue to fight against our fleshly desire. As long as we live in this dark world, we must fight to live as children of light. Through the death and resurrection of Christ, the war against Satan was over, but battle continues. On September 2, 1945, Japan surrendered to the world, and the World War Two was over. Even though the war was over, battles continued in various areas for a while. In the same way Jesus proclaimed victory over Satan, we still fight against our fleshly desire.

Children of God live by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:14 says, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” Paul encourages us to walk by the Holy Spirit to overcome our fleshly desire. In Galatians 5 he said, “You were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.... So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Gal 5:13, 16) In chapter 2 John said that we received the Anointing from the Holy One, which is the Holy Spirit. When we walk with the Holy Spirit, we stop sinning. The Holy Spirit strengthens us and helps us to follow God’s command, not our fleshly desire. Amen!

Third, we know what love is (11-24) In verse 11 John repeats the message ‘love one another’ like a theme melody in an orchestra. “For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” John also said that if we hate our brothers, it is the same as murdering them. Indeed, Cain hated his brother Abel and killed him. In 2:9 John said, “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.” However, it is not easy to love one another. It is not easy for us to forgive those who hurt us. Last week one of my Bible students said that it was difficult for him to forgive his friend who had sinned against him. After studying Jesus’ forgiving love, he went to his friend and reconciled to him. But the situation became more complicated than before, even worsened when his friend spoke bad of him to others. So, last Friday we studied the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant in Matthew’s gospel to learn about forgiveness. The parable goes: There was a servant who owed a million dollars to his king. The servant was not able to pay the debt, so he asked mercy from the king. The king had pity on him and cancelled all his debt. On his way home, the servant met his friend who owed a few dollars to him. The servant grabbed his friend, choked him, and asked him to pay his debt, a few dollars. What’s wrong with the unmerciful servant? The servant forgot the king’s mercy who cancelled a million dollars’ debt and did not show the same mercy for his friend who owed him only a few dollars. If we don’t forgive our brothers and sisters who sinned against us, we are the unmerciful servant. Our debt of grave sin was forgiven by God, but we still don’t forgive other’s small mistake. After studying this parable my Bible student and I prayed to practice God’s mercy and forgiving love.

In verse 16 John teaches us what love is. Look at verse 16. “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 and sisters.” In his book ‘The Four Loves” C S Lewis classified love with four kinds, “Affection, Friendship, Eros, and Charity.” Here, charity is close to love which John mentioned in this verse. But here love in Greek is agape, which indicates ‘God’s love.’ What is God’s love? God’s love is that Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that he gave his One and Only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Here we know what God’s love is. God’s love is unconditional, sacrificial, and eternal. Timothy Keller, a pastor and a NYT Best Seller, in his book ‘Reason for God’, described God’s forgiving love in this: If one of your neighbors hit your garage door by accident, you not only forgive his mistake, but also pay all the cost for fixing the door. This is an example of God’s unconditional and lavishing love for sinners. God’s love is not worthy of being compared to paying the cost for a garage door. He gave his Son, One and Only son for us. I have a son who calls himself ‘a skeptic’. Even though he does not listen to me, I cannot dump him into the den of lions. This is because I love him and he is my son. But God sent his son to this evil world filled with evil people. Can you send your children to dangerous places? I don’t think so. God’s love is also sacrificial love. There is no perfect love without sacrifice. True love is not from our words and speech, but with actions and in truth. (17-18)

Practicing God’s love often requires beyond our ability. Since Christ Jesus laid down his life for us, so also, we must lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. Peter asked Jesus about how many times he must forgive those who sinned against him. He asked, “up to seven times?” Seven times was the maximum for Peter. Peter thought that seven times was enough for him. But Jesus answered, “not seven times, but seventy-seven times”, which means forgive without limit. (Mt 18:22) Our love is limited as Peter asked for the number seven. But Jesus demanded more than seven. Why? If we remain at Peter’s level, we cannot grow. If we remain at Peter’s level, we are not much different from unbelievers. Jesus always challenges us to overcome our limit so that we may grow up to his level. When Jesus walked on the water, he asked Peter to come to him walking on the water as he did. If Peter remained in his pride or experience, he might not walk on the water. But he obeyed Jesus’ command and walked on the water. Peter could reach the level of Jesus when he obeyed. In the same way when we obey his command, we love others as Jesus loved us. 4:17 says that when we obey his command, we are like Jesus in this world. Even though we don’t understand, and we are not able to practice now, when we simply obey, we can forgive those who hurt or betray us.

The Bible student whom I mentioned obeyed Jesus’ command. So, he reconciled with his friend. From his heart he forgave. Even though it didn’t go as he expected, he believes that in all things God works for good for those who love him. Loving those who betrayed us is not easy. Forgiving the betrayer may be beyond our ability. But when we simply trust and obey, we will experience God’s love for us and true victory in our spiritual battle. Amen!

In verses 19-24 John repeats Jesus’ command, which is ‘love one another.’ Look at verse 23. “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another.” When we don’t obey his command, our heart is not in peace. This is because our conscience condemns our disobedience. Verses 21-22 says, “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.” When we obey his command, we live in God and God in us. When we obey his command, the Holy Spirit works in us and we bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit such as love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness and so on. (Gal 5:22-24) 4:12 says that when we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is made complete in us. We know God’s presence in us because the Holy Spirit testifies us that God is in us and with us when we obey his command. (24)

We learn what God’s love is. God’s love is agape, which is unconditional, sacrificial, and everlasting. We practice only phileo (friendship), eros (affection), not much agape. But God wants us to practice agape beyond our ability by overcoming our pride and unbelief. Let us obey his command so that God’s love may be made complete in us. Amen! Let us read verse 16.

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