General Outline
1.
John’s great objective for writing this letter is found
in 1 John 1:4 : “ ... and we are writing these things that your joy may be complete …”.
That is the goal of the gospel- to give us true joy, even in the midst of many
trials and troubles.
2.
This joy is
possible, because believers (whom John calls “my little children”[1])
have fellowship with the Father and the Son (1:3) by the help of the Holy Spirit (3:24; 4:13)[2].
3.
This joy can be
undermined quickly, and our sense of assurance may be affected when unconfessed
sin has a hold on the believer. Sinning believers are urged to run to their
Advocate for help (2:1). Habitual
sin proves that one is not a Christian
(see 3:4-8)
4.
John provides a
number of tests by which we may know what are children of God (light) and what
are children of the devil (darkness). He
shows us that the spirit of Christ constantly clashes with the spirit of the
anti- Christ. Righteousness clashes with
unrighteousness. John wants his readers to have a sense of assurance, by
helping them to understand the nature of biblical faith, whilst also exposing false forms
of faith.
5.
One of the big marks
of the children of God is their capacity to reflect the love of God that has
been given to them (3:1 cf. Rom. 5:5) particularly as it relates to
our brothers and sisters in the faith.
We
now come to consider 1 John 3:11-24.
Our text is rooted in what we have considered last week in 2:28-3:10. Let us revise what we learned there:
1. 2:29: The imputed
righteousness received from God in Christ enables the believer to practise righteousness.
2.
In 3:1ff we are told that the love of God has
been given to every believer. And in John’s eyes we are the beloved.[3]
The inevitable outcome of this love is that we love God so much that we want to
obey His commandments (1:3). The
greatest application of that commandment is that we must love our brothers and
sisters in Christ. It is the greatest mark of Christlikeness (3:3). It is the sign given to
the world by which the world may know that Christians are like God i.e. godly
(see John 3:34,35). Part of expressing that love is that we do
not love what the world loves (2:15).
In fact, biblical love is hatred of sin (3:4ff).
Sin is of the devil for the devil has been sinning from the beginning (3:8). So, any definition of biblical love
needs to incorporate a hatred for that which is contrary to the nature of God.
But love cannot only be known by that which it disapproves. Love must be shown
in a practical sense to our Christian brothers and sisters.
3.
In 3:8-10 we take note of the 2 family
groupings of mankind in this world. There are the children of God and the children
of the devil. That is the only proper division that can be made on this earth.
John makes a distinction between light and darkness, believers and unbelievers,
children of God and children of the devil.
So,
with this is mind we are able to consider our text in 1 John 3:11-18. Here we
shall find two profound thoughts
expressed by John:
1.
3:11-18 Profound distinction made between the two families of the earth.
2.
3:19-24 Profound
pastoral counsel given.
1.
A Profound Distinction
John
likes to state things in clear terms. There are no grey areas in John's
theology. The two key words, which distinguish these two families are (i) hate and
(ii) love. We are no strangers to these
terms, for John has already introduced us to them in 2:7-11.
(i) The family which is of the devil is represented by
Cain. “Cain, who was of the evil one… murdered his brother… because his own
deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.” [4]
(3:12). This family’s chief trait is
hate. This family’ history starts with jealousy and it ends in murder. This
family’s history continues in the world. This family killed the true prophets,
because it despises and hates the truth of God. The Pharisees etc. hated Christ
so much, that they murdered him. That is
why John adds this thought, “Do not be
surprised brothers, that the world hates you.” (3:13). Jesus often warned
his disciples concerning this.[5]
This conflict continues. Having been
born in the last century I never
thought that I would see such hatred
of the world for the Christian faith. I grew up in a society where
Christ and the church were largely revered. This has changed totally, and all
around the world Christians are now mocked, despised, persecuted and killed.
(ii) The family of God is represented by Abel, and more
specifically by our federal head, Christ. This family’s chief trait is
love. “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that
we should love one another” (3:11).
This family is motivated by the love of God, which is imputed, or given to the members of this family (cf. 3:1; 4:10,19).
What we learn here is that basic attitudes
lead to basic actions. You will
ultimately display what is in you.
(i) If you are driven
by the world’s way of thinking, rooted in the fall and acting as a fallen
person, your fallen attitudes will lead to a life of hatred. It may not lead to
physical murder, but we only need to be reminded of the words of our Lord Jesus
in Matt. 5:21-26, where we are
reminded that there is no moral difference between the murderer and the hater.
Both Jesus and John say that hating is akin to murder. Anyone possessed with perpetual hatred or
jealousy or envy towards a brother or sister cannot claim to have eternal life (3:15).
Such a person cannot claim to be indwelt
by the Holy Spirit (3:24,4:13).
(ii) By way of
contrast, if you are indwelt by the love of Christ, that attitude will lead to a very different action. “Christ laid down his life for us and we
ought to lay down our lives for the brothers“ (3:16). Verse 17
continues to explain what this laying down of our lives means. It may not
necessarily mean that we have to die for others. But something in us has to
die. We must die to our own comforts and desires when it comes to the suffering
we see in our brothers and sisters. We
cannot be indifferent to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of our
brothers (3:17). Love is not an academic exercise. It is very
practical (3:18). Love is in deed and in truth. We hear echoes of James 2:14-17.
Please note that these two contrasting
attitudes and actions issue in two contrasting destinies, and they are summed up in 3:14: “We know that we have
passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not
love abides in death”.
And
so we must observe that practical love for our brothers and sisters is a
defining mark of the Christian. If you have it this will be an assurance to
you. If you don’t have it, you should be very concerned.
2.
1 John 3:19-24: Wise Pastoral
Counsel
Most
of us find that we have problems with assurance at some stage of our spiritual
walk. Now may be the moment. You have been listening to this and you may be saying
to yourself. “I wonder whether I am a
Christian at all? Am I not failing this test?” John, in this section is
addressing the challenge of a condemning heart, and he will give us wise pastoral
counsel.
3:19-20: “By this (or
‘in this’) we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our
hearts before Him; for whenever our
heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.” John has just spoken about hating and loving
brothers or sisters, and the consequences of that. Now we alone know our inner
motives and struggles that we may have with a particular, brother or sister. We
may feel that our hearts condemn us in this matter (3:19). It is appropriate
that this seasoned pastor and apostle John should stop here and deal with the
hearts of his readers and listeners.
John
does not encourage us to go into denial mode about these things. He wants to
help us, and he wants to help our anxious hearts in this respect: “God is greater than our hearts and He knows
everything.” (3:20). God is
greater than our anxious hearts! It is not that God minimizes or ignores our
failures. He knows us better than we do. He knows our imperfections. So, when we face the crisis of a condemning
conscience (and all Christians do, by virtue of their sensitised hearts) we need to take that anxious conscience to God, and
let Him work with us.
At
times like this it is important not to get lost in the subjective experience of
a moment of failure, but to fully rest in the grace of God. And we must
rest on the general tone and tenor of our lives, and based on God’s truth and
love at work within us. We must examine ourselves before God in prayer with regard to a particular situation or
conflict that has arisen between a brother
/sister and ourselves. It may require repentance at that point (if we have truly
sinned – do not just indulge in false guilt), but the main thing is that this
is not something that should rob us
of our peace. If
our general behaviour is in line with the gospel, our heart after such
examination should not condemn us.
From
this follows the next line of argument. If our conscience do not condemn us we have confidence with God, and our prayers
are in no way hindered (3:22).
At
all times we must remember that our assurance is not built by excessive navel gazing and
introspection, but by looking more to
Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our
faith. We are called to believe in the
name of his Son Jesus Christ (3:23) and we need to revel in that relationship!
John
takes those many commandments which we
need to obey (3:22) and combines them all into one great commandment ,”to
believe in the name of his Son
Jesus Christ, and to love one another.” (3:23) This is in essence the summary of the 10 commandments, and of the Scriptures.
What
then gives us ultimate peace and assurance? ANSWER ... believing in Christ.
What
is the greatest outworking of our faith in Christ? What are the fruit of our believing? ANSWER...that we
love the brothers.
Please note that we must maintain that order, and never turn that order around. Never begin with the love for your brothers. You will find enough to
condemn you. The
key to
Christian assurance is found in that little word ‘abiding’ (cf. John 15, and so many times in this letter) - abiding
in God and God abiding in us (25:4a).
Make sure that your relationship with God is right. Everything else follows.
But,
finally, how does He abide in us?...By the
Spirit whom he has given us (3:24b). No-one
less than the Holy Spirit can give us this level of assurance
(see also Rom 8:16).
With
God at the centre we can truly live as God’s beloved children. We can truly
love, even imperfectly. Our final
assurance rests in God’s finished work in Christ.
Amen
[1] 2:1,12,18,28; 3:7,,18; 4:1; 5:21
[2] The work of the Holy Spirit in 1
John : 3:24; 4:2, 6, 13; 5:6,8
[3] 2:7;3:2,21; 4:1,7,11
[4] The story is recorded in Genesis 4
[5] Jn.
15:18,19,25; 16:1ff ;17:14
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