STUDY THEME: CELEBRATING JESUS’ BIRTH 12-23-01

"SHOWING GENUINE LOVE."

JOHN 3: 16; 1 JOHN 3: 11-15, 16-20, 21-24.

PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO 1 JOHN 3.

Having looked at “The Message of Christmas”, “The Hope of Christmas” and “The Person of Christmas”, it is now time to examine the theme that Celebrating Christmas includes, “Showing Genuine Love.”

Christmas does not begin with the love we feel for others, not even with the love we feel for Jesus. Christmas begins with the love God demonstrated in sending Jesus to the earth on that first Christmas night. This lesson investigates that love.

In the Gospel of John in John 3:16 Jesus described the supreme example of love to Nicodemus. “ For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 is a powerful text for Christmas because it gives the real significance of the coming of Jesus Christ. We have noted in earlier lessons how Christmas celebrates and expresses hope, joy, and peace. This lesson and passage express and celebrate love—God’s love for us in sending His son and our love for one another. Love is the hardest lesson in Christianity, but, for that reason, it should be the one we most care to learn.

Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, Love divine;

Love was born at Christmas; star and angel gave the sign.

Love shall be our token; Love be yours and love be mine;

Love for God and all men. Love for plea and gift and sign.

In John 3: 16“believe” denotes more than intellectual assent to a fact. It means adherence to, committed to, faith in, reliance upon, trust in a person or an object, and this involves not only the consent of the mind, but an act of the heart and will of the subject. “Whoever believes in Him” is equivalent to “whoever trust in or commits himself to Christ.” Belief then is synonymous with faith, which in the NT consists of believing and receiving what God has revealed. Leighton wrote, “How should I do to love? Believe. How shall I do to believe? Love.

The word “perish” does not signify cessation of conscious existence or of consciousness. Instead, it indicates here that state of conscious suffering which continues eternally and is the inevitable result of sin. Eternal or everlasting life is not only a future hope, but the present possession of everyone who believes in Christ.

John 3:36 says, “He who believe in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him.”

Let’s go back for a moment and look at the love of God for humanity. Rom. 5:8 says “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Why would He do that? Eph. 1:4-5 says, “God who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” Rev. 1:5 speaks of Jesus Christ “who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.” H.W. Beecher said “All loves should simply be stepping stones to the love of God. We never know how much one loves till we know how much he is willing to suffer for us; and it is the suffering element that measures love.” It is the very essence of love, of nobleness, of greatness, to be willing to suffer for the good of others.

We could pursue many other Scriptures that prove the love of God for humanity but let’s turn now to examine our love for each other; because it is a beautiful necessity of our nature to love something. The heart of him who truly loves is a paradise on earth; he has God in himself, for God is love. And we are shaped and fashioned by what we love. Love is never lost. If not reciprocated it will flow back and soften and purify the heart. Luther wrote, “Love is an image of God, and not a lifeless image, but the living essence of the divine nature, which is full of all goodness.”

1. PLEASE READ 1 JOHN 3: 11-15

There had crept into the first century church the false doctrine that Jesus was all God but not man; all matter was evil, thus man was separated from God by an impassable barrier, for if Jesus was not a man then God could have no empathy for man. The First Epistle of John is written as a family letter from the Father to His “little children” who are in the world. It is the most intimate of the inspired writings. John’s Gospel leads across the threshold of the Father’s house; his First Epistle makes us at home there. Whereas Paul is occupied with the Christians public position as a son, John has in mind the believer’s nearness as one born of the Father.

In Vs. 11 we find the first use in the Epistle of the words “to love one another.” Jesus had given this as a new commandment to His disciples in John 13:34-35 when He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another.” It has been written, “Love is the crowning grace of humanity, the holiest right of the soul, the golden link which binds us to duty and truth, the redeeming principle that chiefly reconciles the heart of life and is prophetic of eternal good.”

In one sense, God had always commanded people to love their neighbor in Leviticus 19:18. But Christ had created a new bond of love for believers. The Christians to whom John wrote had heard this command from the beginning of their instruction in the way of Christ. They have learned that love for one another is an essential part of the Christian life. “They are the true disciples of Christ, not who know most, but who love most.”

Vs. 12 points out that the opposite way of treating others is epitomized by Cain. He did not act as one who belonged to God but rather a son who belonged to the evil one. He murdered his brother Abel. John said it was because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. In Vs. 8-10 John contrasted the children of God, who are righteous, with sinners who are of the devil. Jesus said in John 8:44 that the devil was a murderer from the beginning. Vs. 10 lists among the sins of the devil’s children their failure to love their brothers.

John followed Jesus in teaching disciples not to marvel when the world hates them. The world hated Jesus and put Him to death; believers should not be surprised when the same kind of sinful world hates the followers of Christ. Why did Cain murder his brother? He was angered by his brother’s righteous life.

When we think of murderers such as Cain, we may feel smugly self-righteous because we are not murderers. John’s words in Vs. 15 should destroy such smudginess. “Whoever hateth his brother is a murderer.” This reminds us of the teaching of Jesus in Matt. 5:21-22. Jesus extended the Sixth Commandment to cover anger and verbal abuse.

Vs. 14 makes two important points. One is positive. “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” This does not mean that our love for others is the basis for our salvation in passing from death unto life. It means that loving others is evidence that we have passed from death unto life. Passing from death unto life pictures the spiritual resurrection of someone dead in sins to new life in Christ. One mark of true conversion is brotherly love.

The last part of vs. 14 is sobering. One does not have to be a murderer or filled with hatred to be guilty of serious sin. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. In other words, the opposite of love often is not hatred but indifference. Vs. 17-18 deal with this sin in more detail.

Does no murderer that eternal life abiding in him mean that murder is an unpardonable sin? No! God can forgive even a murderer if the person truly repents. John was writing about those who do not seek forgiveness. Of course, even when a murderer is forgiven, the person must live with the earthly consequences of this terrible sin.

Thus loving one another is one of the decisive evidences of Christian love. Hatred and indifference are evidence of lack of real faith and love. What are the evidences for keeping Christmas in a Christian way? Acts of love for church, for family, for friends, and for the needy show Christian love.

2. PLEASE READ 1 JOHN 3: 16-20

Jesus is the model of the love for one another that is such an essential part of our Christian life. His mission is bound up in the supreme love of God for the evil, sinful “world of humanity” that is in rebellion against Him.

With the phrase “by this we know love” John introduces the standard of love that is reflected in genuine Christianity. It becomes the measuring stick for every expression of love. In Vs. 17 John presents the third characteristic of Satan’s children in terms of their lack of love. Satan’s children are marked by indifference toward others needs. “He laid down His life for us” is unique to John, and speaks of divesting oneself of something. Christian love is “self-sacrificing and giving.” Christ’s giving up His life for believers epitomized the true nature of Christian love.

Vs. 16b calls Christians to that same standard of love as demonstrated by Christ in Vs. 16a. Yet, true love is not limited to supreme sacrifices, but shows up in lesser ones. Genuine Christian love expresses itself in sacrificial giving to other Christian needs. It is a practical love that finds motivation in helping others.

James 2: 14-17 states very bluntly “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 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? This also, faith by it self, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Where love for others does not exist, it is questionable whether God’s love is present. If that is so it is also questionable whether the person is the Lord’s child. Claiming to have love is not enough. Love is not sentiment, but deeds. A lifestyle of love in action is the demonstrable proof of salvation and provides assurance that we belong to God.

Jeremy Taylor wrote, ‘Love is the greatest thing that God can give us, for Himself is love; and it is the greatest thing we can give to God, for it will also give ourselves, and carry with it all that is ours. The Apostle called it the bond of perfection; it is the old, the new, and he great commandment, and all the commandments, for it is the fulfilling of the law. It does the work of all the other graces without any instrument but its own immediate virtue.”

Patrarch wrote, “Love is the crowning grace of humanity, the holiest right of the soul, the golden link which binds us to duty, and truth, the redeeming principle that chiefly reconciles the heart of life, and a prophet of eternal good.”

2 Timothy 2:19 says “The Lord knows those who are truly His,”---and “wants to assure His own of their salvation.” Although Christians may have insecurities and doubts about salvation, God does not condemn them. Displaying love as a pattern of life, is the proof that believers stand uncondemed before God.

So, what is the place of love in the Christian life?

3. PLEASE READ 1 JOHN 3:21-24

Our confidence of our salvation is placed upon God’s grace and yet we are called to do what He tells us to do. Two things He has commanded us to do are:

1. We are to believe in Jesus.

2. We are to love one-another.

Yet all the time we are loving one another, and obeying God’s commands and living according to the way he has called us to live, the motivation for all of this comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit.

One of the wonderful fruits of assurance (If our heart condemn us not) is the boldness with which we can come to God in prayer. The word “confidence” has a rich heritage. In ancient Athens it referred to the right of any citizen to speak his mind. In the NT it referred to boldness in witnessing and prayer. This confidence enables us to “come boldly to the throne of grace”, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. John promised that “whatever we ask, we receive of Him.”

John R.W. Stott observed: “This simple and unqualified promise must, of course, be interpreted in the light of further conditions upon which, in other parts of Scripture, God promises to grant His people’s request. If prayer is to be answered it must be “according to His will. Since love is the heart of obedience to the law, its presence in a life evidences submission to God which He blesses by answered prayers.

Vs. 23-24 again repeat the three features of this Epistle---believing, loving, and obeying---which are the major evidences of true salvation. The third benefit of love is the abiding presence and empowering of the Holy Spirit. 1 John 4:13 says “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit.”

Love banishes self-condemnation. When a Christian recognizes in his life the manifestation of love in deeds and actions, it results in confidence abut his relationship with God. John in 4:1-6 describes how to know whether we re being led by His Spirit or by some other spirit. The clue is whether the Spirit leads us to live like Jesus. If not, it is not His Spirit.

Paul wrote in Galatians 5: 22-23 that the “fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is not law.” Please n note that the first named of these is LOVE.

Paul concluded his most beautiful writing in 1 Corinthians 13 with these words, “Now abide faith, hope, love: these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE.” He continues Ch. 14 with “Pursue LOVE.”

NEXT SUNDAY FROM PHILIPPIANS 3 WE CONCLUDE OUR STUDY OF “CELEBRATING JESUS’ BIRTH” BY LOOKING AT THE CHALLENGE OF CHRISTMAS. A.V. DAUGHERTY 12-23-01

REVIEW:

God’s great love was revealed in sending His only Son so that people might not perish but have everlasting life. A decisive evidence of a proper response to this love is for Christians to love one another. Genuine Christians love acts for the good of others. Assurance enables believes to come boldly to God’s throne of grace in prayer. Obeying God’s commandments is possible by the Spirit who abides in us.

Christmas is an ideal time to speak words of love and to do acts of love. This is the time for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. An awareness of the deep physical and spiritual needs in other lands motivates believers to use this offering as a means for helping to meet these needs.

Christmas is also a time for helping to meet the needs in our own communities. All kinds of opportunities for gifts and service are available in most communities.

Christmas time is a time for renewing our love for one another in our churches. Many people who come to church are looking for the very things that Christ offers---life, love, hope, joy and peace. Some have never trusted Christ;. Others have been beaten down by the troubles of life. An especially needy group, are those who have lost loved ones during the previous year. Since Christmas is a family time. This is one of its good features. Thus it is an ideal occasion for mending strained or broken relations. And it is a time for expressing with words and actions our love and affirmation of others. A.V. DAUGHERTY 12-23-01

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