There was a problem in the church around the time John wrote this letter. Some people had started teaching some things about Jesus and Christianity that were inaccurate. John combats the false teacher by taking his hearers back to the beginning, reminding them of what the true message is. The message is one of love.
If we receive a message about Jesus that leads us away from loving one another we should discard that teaching. God is love and without Him there is no love. Every commandment points to loving God and loving people. If we don't love one another then the love of Christ is not in us.
1 John 3:11-24
11This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. 13Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. 14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.
16This 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. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Questions
1. What do you like in this passage?
2. What is difficult about this passage?
3. What did you learn about God?
4. What is He leading you to do?
5. What part will you take with you and think about today?
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2 comments:
WOW!
so...
(from verse 18 now!)
i know some people that say "i love you" to someone... but they really dont appear to love the person... its as though they just want to say the words...
and...
when you really do love someone... then... It DOES show in your actions!
So many times a Bible passage can seem confusing, or difficult to parse into our life. Here there is such a straightforward presentation of a very simple concept...and when it comes to applying it we seem to struggle more with it than any other.
Nothing we have is worth not loving others. Not our time, our comfort, our furniture, our money, or even our own justification of our positions. Love like God Loves.
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