The Test of Love
[Editor's Note: Dr. Coldiron, author of this sermon, went home to be with the Lord at 90 years of age a few months ago in 2017. He was one of God's finest servants and is greatly missed.]
Introduction
Love is used in many ways by people today. It is abused by many, as well. People will say "I love you," and mean "I want you." Thomas a. Kempis said, "Wheresoever a man seeketh his own, there he falleth from love." The Bible says, "God is love," and His love is proven by His giving. There was no disposition on God's part to get, nor was there any desire to enhance His own position when He loved to such a degree that He was willing to give. The songwriter put it, "O the love that drew salvation's plan, O the grace that brought it down to man, O the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary."
I. The Definition of Love
God has defined and revealed the character of love. In this short epistle the verb "agapao" is used twenty-eight times and the noun "agape" eighteen times. The word "beloved" "agopetos" is used five times. "Agape" is selfless, helping love. It denotes selflessness and absolute loyalty to its object.
This love is expressed to another in need with no thought of reward. The moral attributes of God (characteristics of His nature) are holiness, righteousness, truth, and love. Love flavors the other three as well as all other characteristics and deeds of God. It should be foremost in our nature and deeds.
A. Love is Practical (I John 3:16-18)
Against the background of this epistle we must ever be aware of the Gnostic heresy. This group was known for "gnosis" or premium on knowledge, but not for its love. One of the most effective weapons of the Christians against false teachings was an attitude and expression of love - love for God and for people. Therefore, John exhorted them to love even as God loved. In verse sixteen John is pointing out that love is practical, not philosophical. Christ laid down His life for us and we in turn owe Him a debt to lay down our lives for others. The word "ought" used here carries the sense of personal, moral obligation. A cold, hungry man such as found in verses seventeen and eighteen has no use for words. He needs clothes and food. The lost are in need of the witness of a person who loves them for Jesus' sake. We are reminded by the apostle James that it's not enough to say to a man who is hungry and destitute, "Go your way, be warm and filled," nevertheless we give nothing to supply his need. That is not the way of love.
The way of love is translated into deeds. Love is practical. It does not suffice to say the words, "I love God." When you make the statement it must be subject to divine definition, for we can know that we have passed from death unto life, according to verse fourteen, because of our love for the brethren. In verse sixteen John writes that we can perceive, and the word "perceive" means to know from experience, the love of God when we feel the debt to lay down our lives for the brethren. Our love for Christ prompts us to lay down our lives for our fellowman.
Breland says, "Deeds through which love is expressed to others provides the sole means through which we can express our love to God." ("Assurance of Divine Fellowship," page 233) Since love is a spiritual quality, it is intangible. But it expresses itself in tangible ways. It is possible, therefore to test a person's words by his deeds.
B. Love is Personal (I John 3:11-15).
When a person receives Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and becomes a child of God, he assumes a personal responsibility to reveal love as the core of his being. Verse fourteen says that life without love is actually death, so love has already been defined. Life and love are synonymous. Hatred and death are synonymous. If you say "I love God," that love is proven or denied by your relationship to your fellowman. Persons who harbor hate abide in death while those who abide in love find themselves enjoying life in terms of its highest and noblest values. Do you delight in fellowship with other Christians? Is it a joy to attend church? Do you give with joy? Do you have real pleasure out of helping someone where Christ gets the glory?
Jesus said, "I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly." Calvary was not on the spur of the moment. It was in the plan of God. Calvary was the considered activity of Almighty God from before the foundation of the world. God's response to the sin of man was already set before the world was begun, and Jesus revealed Himself as the Lamb of God slain before the foundations of the world. God did not wait to see how desperate man's needs would be before He revealed His love.
John Stott says, "Love is the surest test of having life, as it has already been shown to be the test of being in the light (I John 2:10)... The precise proof of life which He gives is that we love our brothers." ("The Letters of John," page 145) This life is ours personally. It expresses itself though love personally.
II. The Development of Love
God has endowed each of us with certain abilities. They must be developed to be useful and worthwhile. He does not bestow His gifts on one person, but distributes them severally, as he wills. Not all can be great singers, preachers or missionaries. But to everyone he has given the capacity to love. Like other gifts, love must be developed. At the moment of regeneration (salvation), a person is miraculously changed from self-centeredness to other-centeredness. This gift of Christian love is bestowed upon us, but it must be developed in order to be useful. Gradually we get our bearings in the new dimension of love - "agape." Little by little our love grows and then flourishes. Love entered the arena of history to express itself in terms of our deepest needs. In urging us to grow into the likeness of God, it is understandable that the apostle would speak in terms of our love for God finding practical expression in its relationship to people. It is important that we "believe" right where Jesus Christ is concerned. Of equal importance is the necessity that we "express" our faith in Him through love shown to others. Our behavior undergirds - even authenticates - our belief.
A. Responding to God's Love (I John 3:11, 14)
The first mention of God's love in John's writings is found in John 3:16, "God so loved the world." This verb "agapao" is used in this Gospel thirty-seven times. Because of the nature of this love, John began declaring this love which God has for the world. It was a love which expressed itself in the gift of His Son to provide redemption for all who believe in Him. In I John 3:1 John noted that his readers had received and responded favorably to the gift, and knew its blessed result. He moved on from the initial response to show the further response that they should make as evidence of their saving experience. "For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that you should love one another" (I John 3:11). The "message" was the gospel. This Geek word is found in the New Testament only here and in 1 John 1:5. In 1:5 it relates to the basic truth that "God is light." Here it concerns the Christian's love for other believers. "One another" denotes love within the Christian fellowship. In verse 10 "brother" is used in the Christian sense. Christians should love each other out of their redeemed natures. But an added incentive is the hatred of the world (verse 13). If we do not love one another, then no one will. This does not mean that we should confine our love to the Christian fellowship. We should love all people, even as God loves them. But it does emphasize the vital necessity of a loving fellowship.
Many terrible things were said by pagans about the early Christians. But one Roman reported that a distinguishing feature among them was their love for one another. It was quite a contrast to pagan attitudes. Referring to I John 1:5 and 3:11, Vaughn says "that the former is a summary of Christian theology and the latter is a summary of Christian ethics." ("A Study Guide Commentary," page 82) "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death" (I John 314). "We" is emphatic, written out as well as present in the verb form. This sets Christians in contrast to the unbelieving world. The verb for "know" ("oidamen") means to know intuitively or with absolute certainty. In spite of what others may say about us, we are certain that we "have passed out of (ek) death unto life" - out of the realm of spiritual death into the realm of spiritual life. The verb rendered "have passed" was used of people migrating from one country to another.
How do we know we have migrated out of death into life? The Bible gives many proofs-tests. But the one John gave is that "we love the brethren." It is not a means by which we migrate, but proof of it. If we do not love, it is evidence that we continue to abide in death (I John 3:15).
B. Relating God's Love (I John 3:16-18)
The Christian is to relate God's love to others by life and lip. "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (I John 3:16). John illustrated perfect love by beginning with divine love. "Hereby" translates "in this," so an example "The love" (ek) refers to God's love. Living in a world of intangible things, we need tangible evidence. God gave us this evidence of His love in His Son. Of course, He shows it daily in providential care. We should not attribute this care to natural causes, even to chance happenings or good luck. Thus in the midst of history, God gave us one gigantic example of His love in Jesus Christ. In a sense we might say that it was love in bodily form. So that in no reasonable way could it be regarded as the coming together of impersonal forces. It was God's deliberate act of love. It was God in Christ laying down His life for or "on behalf of (as our Substitute) us." Jesus said, "No man taketh it (life) from me, but I lay it down of myself" (John 10:18). Evil men thought they were in charge at Calvary. Not so! God was in charge. If we love as Jesus did, we must be willing to do the same. "We ought to lay down our lives for Christian brethren." "We" is emphatic. "We on our part" as Jesus did on His part. "Ought" expresses a strong, compelling obligation, to be bound to do a thing. We are obligated to do as Christ did. Laying down our lives for our Christian brethren may in our day seem to be rather farfetched.
For in the United States many live in a time of "easy-Christianity." But it was a grim reality in John's day. So he expressed a principle of self-giving which is abiding. George Findlay says John speaks of "no stretch of an heroic fancy. Every Christian held himself at the disposal of the (Christian) community. At any time martyrdom might be called for; already many a dear life had been laid down for the brethren's sake." ("Fellowship in the Life Eternal," page 280) Even today, though we may love others with a broken heart, we must love nonetheless. For this is the sweetest love of all, and nearest to divine love. "The rose is sweetest wash'd with morning dew, And love is loveliest when embalm'd in tears" - Sir Walter Scott "And whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" (I John 3:17) This example of love or the lack of it gets down where we live.
The likelihood of our being called upon to die for our faith is remote today. But the matter of "living" for it is an ever-present reality. So now John stopped preaching and started to "meddle." He descended from the lofty heights of martyrdom to the valley of everyday living. The apostle envisioned a situation in which a professing Christian possesses "this world's goods" or the means of livelihood such as food, clothing, and shelter. The Greek word for "good" is "bion" (note "biology"), the things necessary for sustaining natural life. Such a person sees his Christian brother in need. "Seeth" connotes a long, sustained look. The verb is "theoreo" from which comes our word theater. He is like a person watching a drama unfold before him. The present tense means a long look at the one in need. But "he shutteth up his bowels (heart) from him." Shutteth" is an "aorist" tense which gives the effect of slamming the door of the heart away from the needy brother. Instead of welcoming him to share his plenty, he slammed the door and sent him away in greater need than before. His body needed physical sustenance, but his spirit needed love. With this, John asked a rhetorical question. "How dwelleth the love of God in him?" "The love of the God" (Greek text) is the particular love which is associated with God (3:1, 4:8). This plus the context clearly shows that it is not our love for God (see 4:20), but the kind of love which emanates from God. He is its source and its infinite expression.
The obvious answer to John's question is that this God-kind-of-love does not dwell in such a person. We show our "profession" by our "practice." Stott says "the essence of such divine love, whether in Christ or in us, is costly self-giving, the giving of our "bios" (verse 17), our possessions, if not of our physical psyche (verse 16) life itself." (Ibid, Page 148) "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
What John had in mind was a case of need such as the one in verse 17. To such we are not to respond "in words neither with speech." Such will not feed the hungry, clothe the cold, or put a roof over the heads of the homeless. It costs nothing to speak words of sympathy where tangible expressions are needed. We are to love "in deed and in truth." True love will respond in "deeds" that are necessary to meet a need. It is sheer hypocrisy to tell a hungry person you are sorry for him, when you have plenty of food which you should share. The "New English Bible" expresses it aptly: "Love must not be a matter of words or talk; it must be genuine, and show itself in action." When the Christian has developed, matured in his love for God, he will relate God's love to others.
III. The Display of Love (I John 4:15-21)
The Christian is to believe right and behave right. He is to display the love of God through his life.
A. The Belief (I John 4:15-16)
The two overriding themes in I John are sound doctrine and Christian love. The former involves a proper understanding of sin and of the person and the work of Jesus Christ. The latter relates to the nature and exercise of Christian love, which has its source in God and should be expressed both toward Him and toward fellow believers. John saw the two go together in a well-rounded Christian life. Man must see himself and his sin against a holy God. He must face God.
C.J. Barker says, "Inevitably the light exposes sin, and such exposure is the first step to its elimination. It is necessary both that sin be exposed in its loathsomeness, and righteousness in its splendor and beauty." ("The Johanine Epistles," page 26) Sin must be dealt with by everyone. Jesus has paid the sin debt for us. "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God" (I John 4:15). That which the Gnostics denied, the Christians believed. It was/is through this confession that we experience the mutual indwelling of God in us and the believer's dwelling in Him. However, intermingled with the doctrinal treatment about Jesus Christ is the expression of love toward God and man (I John 4:7-12). Thus it is impossible to separate doctrine and conduct. We must believe right and then behave right. "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him" (I John 4:16). Here the apostle joined faith and love as evidence that one's experience with God is genuine.
"Have known" and "believed" are both perfect tenses. We have come to know and believe, and continue to do so. "Know" refers to experiential knowledge. "Believed" connotes faith, trust, and commitment to God and His will. Here these things are connected with love. In verse 16 John placed "the love that God to (en, in the sphere of) us before our loving Him." It is in response to His love for us that we come to dwell in love for Him. Thus we dwell in Him and He dwells in us. We possess the Spirit of God and partake of the nature of God.
B. The Behavior (I John 4:17-21)
"Herein" renders two Greek words meaning "in this." In the fact that God dwells in us and we dwell in Him in a relationship of love - that of Father and child. "Made perfect" renders a verb "teleioo" which means to accomplish a purpose or reach a goal. The perfect tense means to fully do so. What is this purpose? "That we may have boldness in the day of judgment." The basic idea in "boldness" is freedom of speech, such as a child has with his father. Love will have reached its goal as we stand before God, not in terror as a slave before his master, but as a loving child before a loving Father. "The New English Bible" gives verse 18, "there is no room for fear in love, perfect love banishes fear." This is love which has achieved its goal. "We love him, because he first loved us" (verse19).
Our capacity to love comes from God. He set the example which we have to follow. Our love should go out to both God and people. In verse 20 John envisioned a case where a man might say, "I love God," but hates his brother. The present tense of "hates" denotes a continuing hatred. John calls this man a liar. If we do not love the nearer object (our brother), we certainly cannot love the farther one, God. We should be careful that our words fit our actions and attitudes. Stott says, "To claim to know God and have fellowship with God while we walk in the darkness of disobedience is to lie (1:6, 2:4). To claim to possess the Father while denying the deity of the Son is to lie (2:22-23). To claim to love God while hating our brother is also to lie. There are the three black lies of the letter: moral, doctrinal and social. We may insist that we are Christians, but habitual sin, denial of Christ or selfish hatred would expose us as liars. Only holiness, faith, and love can prove the truth of our claim to know, possess, and love God." (Ibid, page 173) Verse 21 is a single command. Robert Candlish says, "There must be identity in the object of this common love, God's and yours; you and He must love the same object, the same person." ("The First Epistle of John," page 395)
Jesus made love for God and one's Christian brother inseparable. Together they are a light in the darkness, pointing a groping world toward God. When our belief is right, our behavior will be right. We will display the love of God through our lives.