“Loving in Deeds & Truth” (1 John 3:16-24) Easter 4B, April 2015

1.                   Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord our rock and our redeemer.  Amen.  Today we continue in our study of 1 John by looking at 1 John 3:16-24.  We’ve looked at the Apostle John’s writings the past few weeks on how we as Christians should live out our belief in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  In our message from God’s Word today we’ll see that the Apostle John calls us as Christians to show love and compassion to others.  In this way, we show that God’s love abides in us.  The message is entitled, “Loving in Deeds & Truth,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                  Pastor Craig Barnes once had a man tell him that he’d been dating a woman for several years, and she was starting to wonder if they would ever marry. The man told Pastor Barnes that he didn't know if he could marry her because he didn’t think that she made him happy.  Pastor Barnes asked him why not.  The man went on explaining all the reasons why she didn't make him happy.  Finally Pastor Barnes interrupted and asked, "What kind of wife would make you happy?" The more he described what he was looking for in a wife, the more convinced Pastor Barnes became that what he really needed wasn’t a wife. He needed a goldfish, the pretty kind with the long tail that floats around, or maybe a Golden Retriever—but even a dog will make demands on you emotionally. A goldfish, though, just sits there and looks pretty and doesn't ask you to communicate. It doesn't ask you how your day was or expect you to listen to how its day was. The last thing he needed was a wife, because his whole understanding of why the world existed was to meet his needs.

3.                  This brings us to our Epistle Lesson from 1 John 3:16-18 which says, “¹⁶By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷But 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? ¹⁸Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”  In these verses the Apostle John tells us that the source of all love and the ultimate example for love is found in Jesus Christ our Lord.  His self-sacrifice on Calvary’s cross not only bought for us the forgiveness of sins we needed to be God’s children again.  It also inspires us to love and forgive people in our lives.  Jesus’ parable of the unmerciful debtor in Matthew 18:21-35 shows the comparative size of the debts of sin we owe to God and are owed to our neighbor.  The debt of sin we owe to God we could never pay in our lifetime, it’s insurmountable, which makes the debts we owe to our neighbor look like a speck of dust.  What a joy it is to honor Jesus by showing compassion to other people!  His sacrifice on the cross for our sins is the fire that drives all we do.

4.               The very opposite of Cain’s murderous hatred that led him to murder his brother Abel in Genesis 4 is a Christian’s willingness to sacrifice himself for a brother or sister.  It’s no coincidence that Christians have been leaders in developing ministries of mercy in many communities all over the world—hospitals, schools, orphanages, food pantries, and safe places for the handicapped and elderly.  Christians with resources who won’t help people in need better check for a spiritual pulse. 

5.                  But, verse 18 of 1 John 3 is a passionate plea for Christians to get rid of double-mindedness.  Talking the talk without walking the walk doesn’t fool too many people.  As the Apostle James points out in the second chapter of his epistle, if you have a spare blanket, and all you can do for a shivering brother or sister is say, “Keep warm,” your so-called faith must be dead.  In the sports world, it is common for agents to say to owners, “Show me the money.”  In other words, don’t praise my client and say how important he is for your team and then offer peanuts.  Your cash offer shows what you really think.  “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue only, but with actions and in truth.”

6.                  The Apostle John continues in 1 John 3:19-24 by saying, “¹⁹By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; ²⁰for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. ²¹Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; ²²and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. ²³And 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. ²⁴Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”

7.                  Here in verses 19-24 John isn’t trying to moralize or be legalistic.  The Apostle is trying to show his confidence in the Gospel.  He’s trying to tell us is that what God wants most of all from us can be summed up in two things.  First, to believe in his Son Jesus Christ as Jesus says in John 8:31, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  Second, a Christian is to love his or her neighbor.  Jesus says in John 13:35, “All men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” As we do these things, our sense of unity with Jesus grows stronger.  We live in him and he in us.  We actually are part of his body and he actually dwells within us.  Amazing!

8.                  Probably the best thing that the Apostle John tells us as Christians is in verse 24, “We know that we are saved by the Spirit God gave us.”  For the first time in the apostle’s letter, the Holy Spirit is named.  It’s the work of the Holy Spirit to take what Christ bought for the entire world through His death on the cross and connect it personally to people.  The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is given to those who are baptized in Acts 2:38 and that our baptism is a washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit in Titus 3:5-6.  The Spirit works in our lives through the Word of God as well.  The Holy Spirit is the driving force that produces the power for godly behavior in our lives.  He enables to show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control as Galatians 5:22-23 tells us. 

9.                  It’s the power of the Holy Spirit that enables us to love one another in deeds and in truth.  In fact, one of the Spirit’s most precious gifts to us is faith.  That inward certainty that God’s Word is true, that we really are loved and forgiven in Jesus that that we are headed for a reunion with our loving Heavenly Father.  Paul tells us in Romans 8:16, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”  All Christians have the Holy Spirit and can hear his comforting voice.  John’s gentle words remind us that we’re not alone in our spiritual struggles—we have the power of God Himself working in us through His Holy Spirit.  May He continue to do that good work in you so we can show love to one another in deeds and in truth.  Amen.