Introduction

This section of scripture has impacted me more than any other passage I’ve studied recently. Today’s message is mostly for me and this morning I’m going to strive to explain to you why this passage has been so impacting and applicable and powerful in my life right now

In the book of 1 John, the author circles back to the same themes several times and each time he came back to a topic, he adds a new layer of depth to the subject. In chapters 1-2, John wrote that loving other believers in the church is evidence of walking in the light.

In this approach to the subject of loving one another, John probes much deeper. He places a new emphasis that Christians love one another because they are Children of God. It’s part of their new nature. Love is not something Christians do, it’s evidence of who they are. They love each other because they are brothers and sisters in Christ.

John then goes a leap forward and says in verse 14, “…Whoever does not love abides in death.” We should be shocked by that statement! He’s trying to wake us up to the seriousness of the subject of love. This love goes way beyond feelings. We either act in love or we act in death.

Christian love is not fond feelings of affection. Christian love is acting in the best interest of other people. This kind of self-sacrificial love is evidence that we have been transferred from the realm of those who are spiritually dead to the realm of those who have spiritual life. In this way, love is a matter of life and death and to the Christian, this subject of love is a really serious matter.

John often begins his definition of a Christian value by defining what it is not. Our text today speaks of love (or the lack thereof) on 4 different levels. Murder, Hatred, Indifference and Christian Love. (Make a Chart) Let begin our study this morning in verse 11 and look at this truth:

MURDER IS EVIDENCE OF SPIRITUAL DEATH

¹¹ For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. ¹² We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.

It goes without saying that the most unloving person imaginable is a murderer. This is the lowest level – the most depraved level – of human relationships. It is important to understand that Satan operates at this level. He hates us. He wants us dead. Jesus says in John 8:44 that Satan “was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.” When we flirt with the things of the Devil, we flirt with a being that wants to kill us.

Daughter Flirts: It would be like you daughter flirting with a mass murderer. It’s a nightmare. Any good father who sees his daughter flirting with a dangerous man, goes on the offensive.

It’s no less dangerous with Satan. When we are confronted with Satan and his worldly schemes, it’s time to go on the offensive. It’s time to protect yourself and your family against his murderous and destructive tactics. That why the Bible tells us not to flirt with temptation but to flee temptation (2 Tim 2:22) and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace.

Righteousness, faith, love and peace are the opposites of murder and are the natural fruit of the person who has been made spiritually alive through the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit. Verse 11 tells us to go back to the beginning to determine where the origins of your spiritual life come from. “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” Where does you spiritual life originate from?

If your spiritual life originates in the satanic things of the world, you will not be able to operate in the realm of Christian love. Our ability to love other believers is a test of our position in the Lord. We would not expect that a person who is spiritually dead would be able to love in a Christ-like way. However, a person who is spiritually alive inevitably loves with a Christ-like love. It’s evidence of who they are as a child of God.

Cain is the ultimate example of a person with murderous hatred in his heart. Cain (in Genesis 4) was not a child of God but a child of Satan. It interesting to note that both Cain and Abel had the same parents. They grew up in the same household. Cain and Abel were both introduced to spiritual things by their dad, Adam, who was personally formed by God (Genesis 2) and who literally walked with God in the garden before the fall (Genesis 3). For all his faults, Adam was an expert at having a relationship with God. (Adam may have known God better than anyone else who ever lived on earth besides Jesus himself). Adam’s family is proof that kids aren’t believers just because their parents are believers.

Both Cain and Abel made sacrifices to God. Cain is not presented as an atheist. Cain is presented as a person who is religious. We do not know what religious service looked like back then, but whatever they were, Cain participated in them.

This fact comes as a warning to us not to be deceived. People who are still in spiritually dead often attend church services. We welcome people here who don’t yet know the life giving transformation that the Holy Spirit produces in the life of a believer. All the time we’re praying for unbelievers in our church to surrender their lives to Him.

Sometimes unsaved people serve in ministries. Sometimes they contribute money. But serving and giving are not proof that someone has been brought into the realm of spiritual life. According to this text, the main proof that a man has been born again is his love for other people in the church. Cain failed when it came to love for his brother.

Cain’s spiritual father was the Devil. Before we met Jesus, our spiritual father was the devil as well. That doesn’t mean that Satan was his literal father (don’t get me wrong), but it does mean that Cain attitudes and actions originated with Satan and not with God.

Most conservative and reliable theologians assume that God was very clear that He expected a blood sacrifice from both Cain and Abel to atone for their sins. Cain rejected God’s command and decided to worship in his own way. Here’s another warning: When Satan has a grip on the heart of a man, Satan often leads that man to worship in a way that is contrary to the clear commands of God’s Word.

Cain violated God’s instructions and Genesis 4:5 says that the Lord accepted Abel’s offering “⁵ but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.” And then God warned Cain and he literally speaks to Cain and says (vs 6), ““Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

This was a breaking point for Cain. It was like he was saying to God:

• I want to do things my way. What right do you have to tell me what to do
• You want an animal sacrifice? Fine. Well then how about if I sacrifice my brother?! Would that be good enough for you?

There was hatred in Cain’s heart. Cain listened to Satan’s voice and killed his brother. Why? Because he was not born of God. He was still spiritually dead. In his death and in his sin, his envy of Abel turned to anger and his anger putrefied into murder. Rather than repent – as God instructed him to do – he decided he would be happier if he destroyed his brother.

This kind of behavior continues all throughout the Bible. In Jesus’ day the Pharisees had the same murderous rage against the Savior. Do you know what Jesus said of the Pharisees who sought to murder Him? In John 8:44 (again) Jesus said their spiritual father was the devil and they are pawns carrying our their father’s desires. Jesus was not confused why they were acting the way they acted.

Cains attitude (as it is explained in 1 John 3:13) represents the overall attitude of this dark and fallen world. The world hates Jesus. Jesus says in John 15:18, “¹⁸ “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” Why does the world hate Jesus so much?

Roaches: When I was a kid, I went over to my friends house across the street one day. He wanted to show me something in the neighbor’s yard. He took me over to a planter in this older woman’s front yard that was made out of cinder blocks. He lifted up a brick on top and underneath there was a nest of roaches. When the roaches were exposed to the light they scattered everywhere. Roaches are filthy creatures that operate in the dark and they hate being exposed to light.

They hated Jesus for the same reasons that roaches hate light and that Cain hated Abel. When Jesus, the light of the World shows up, He exposes the world for what it really is. When people who are in Satan’s grip are exposed to Jesus, they have 1 of 2 choices to make:

• Repent and Change
• Run away from the message (and try to find another dark corner)

Satan, the prince of this world, controls people through murder and lies. It’s a terrible thing to operate on the same level as Satan. People who operate on this level do not know God and they have no evidence in their life of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:9 says, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”

At this point you might be thinking, “we’ll, I’ve never murdered anyone.” That seems to be the “gold standard” for a good person in the world’s economy. “ …never murdered anyone, don’t take drugs, I’m a good person…” But remember, to the Christian, hatred is the same as murder. The person who says in their heart, “I wish that person would just drop dead” has committed murder in their heart.

HATRED IS MURDER INTERNALIZED

¹³ Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. ¹⁵ Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

Hyenas: I took my family to Out of Africa for the first time a couple of months ago. Out of Africa has a pair of Hyenas. The zoo keeper stood outside the fence and was feeding the hyenas. They looked just like big dogs and she even pet them through the fence. She explained that they no longer go inside the fence with the hyenas because the hyenas began to stock them and they might kill the zoo keepers if they got a chance to do so. They are by nature violent and murderous animals. She explained that she was very thankful for the fence.

After we left that exhibit, we went to a wild life show right beside the hyena exhibit and for the next 15 minutes or so, the hyenas were trying to stock Natalie through the fence. I was glad for the fences! Hyenas may sound like they are laughing on the outside, but they are murderous on the inside.

Sometimes the only reason that people have not murdered anyone is because the “fence” on the outside. They are afraid of the law or jail or being shamed or receiving the death penalty. In Northern Arizona, people have a healthy fear of the concealed firearm.

What the Bible teaches is that we are not just judged by the actual act of murder, but hatred is the moral equivalent of murder. Hatred does far more damage to the hater than it does to anyone else. Let’s take a look at Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:22

• “²² But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment;”
  An angry man is liable to find himself in the local court
• “whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council;”
  Insulting a man can put a you in danger of standing trial before the Sanhedrin – the highest Jewish council
• “and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ (or empty-headed fool) will be liable to the hell of fire.”
  Whoever curses his brother is acting so unloving and so hateful that his salvation is in question

Titus 3:3 says that malice, envy and hatred are normal for a person without Christ. It’s foolish behavior that leads to slavery to sin. When we choose hatred, it festers into both a spiritual and an emotion prison.

Galatians 5:1 says, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Freedom in Christ is not found when we hate – especially if we hate other believers. Christ set us free from that kind of bondage. Freedom comes when we have the capacity to act in the best interest of other people without regard for ourselves.

When a Christian passes from death to life, one of the proofs of his new life is that he loves other believers… he doesn’t hate them. Before a person was a believer, he may have hated the church and God people, but a person who belongs to God naturally loves other people.

The regenerative work of Christ naturally turns believers from those who are driven by a hate for others into those who are burdened to share the good news of Jesus Christ with a world that is still largely in slavery to sin and controlled by the lying and murderous Satan.

DSCC: I saw God’s love in the midst of hate with an incident that happened at a church I used to work at in Phoenix named Desert Springs Community Church. About 6 months ago, a hate crime was committed against the church. Vandals broke in. They spray-painted derogatory sayings on the walls of the church and did about $40,000 worth of damage in one night.

Three men were arrested in conjunction with the crime. Instead of hating these men, the leadership at Desert Springs were clearly led in love by the Holy Spirit in their reaction to the incident. Pastor Steve Engram said to the press (CBS), “”It happened to us and we’re dealing with it and people are praying, in fact praying for the folks who did this already, that God would work in their hearts.”

Instead of hate, they saw the tremendous need for these 3 young men to receive Jesus as their Savior and compelled by the love of Christ, they sought the very best thing for these young men – that they would all come to a saving knowledge of the Savior.

We still don’t know that whole rest of the story, but I do know this fact: nothing impacts a lost world more than the church acting in love towards one another.

AND, A church that loves is not indifferent towards the needs of people within the body.

INDIFFERANCE IS AN ONGOING BATTLE

¹⁶ By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷ But 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?

The battle for the believer does not just involve avoiding evil, but it is driven to do good. Love is seeking the best interest in others. That kind of love involves both rejecting the evil impulses of our flesh and pushing forward in serving the needs of others.

Whereas Cain is our example of pure hatred. Christ is our example of perfect love. Look again at verse 16. “¹⁶ By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” Christ is the perfect example of love that puts aside its own interests for the benefit of others. Christian love always involves seeking the best interest of others and often that pursuit means we will need to sacrifice our time, our emotions, our resources and sometimes our money in the service of other people.

Here’s how that often work’s itself out. Someone in the body has a need. There are 2 conditions that exist that help to determine if you or I should step up to meet that need:

1. Do I have the resources to meet that need
2. Do I know that the need exists

And then, you talk about doing it…… NO WAY – you put love into action and you do something about it. Look again at verse 17 “¹⁷ But 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?”

If a believer has the means to help someone in need and “closes his heart against him” it’s another kind of hatred. Sometimes in the age of multiple government social service agencies, Christians forget their call to take care of the needs of those within the church. Galatians 6:10 says “^…let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

Doing good can simply be to supply necessities for children going into the foster care system. It does not have to involve gifts or money though. When my wife had surgery, we saw the love of God’s people showered upon us. People from the church brought us meals, they offered to watch our children and they even cleaned our bathrooms. We were overwhelmed by the sacrifice that God’s people made in our time of need. This is a church that knows how to meet needs – even to the point of sacrifice.

True Christian love means that we move beyond just talking about doing loving things and we actually do them. It has far less to do with fond feelings of affection and far more to do with putting that love into action in real life.

LIFE APPLICATION: CHRISTIAN LOVE IS LOVE IN DEED AND ACTION

Christian love goes far beyond talking about doing loving things. Love “in tongue” is the enemy of love “in truth.” When we love people “in truth” we act in their best interest in real, practical ways. When people in the secular world see love in truth, they are shocked by it. In a world where everyone is looking out for #1, it is radical to be the kind of person who is genuinely looking out for the best needs of others.

When we go past feelings and act in loving ways towards other people, the Bible points to some tremendous blessings right from the hand of the Lord. Let’s end this morning by looking at the 3 blessings from God for acting with a Christ-like love toward others:

#1 Assurance of Salvation

¹⁸ Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. ¹⁹ By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; ²⁰ for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

When we see the capacity in our lives to love like Jesus loved, it has to be supernatural. In my flesh, I’m only really concerned about myself. I know that I’m living in the power of the Spirit when I stop thinking about myself and instead I have a genuine concern in regard to the well-being of others.

#2 Answered Prayer

²¹ Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; ²² and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

Don’t think this is some kind of point earning system before God: Like if you do a good deed for someone else then that earns you a credit for an answered prayer from God. Here’s a better way to view this passage:

If I am always thinking about God’s very best for another person, that attitude changes the way I pray for them. When I’m coming before God, I’m not asking for anything selfish, but I’m asking for His best in that person’s life. When we are praying with the best interest of other people in mind, then we can really approach God in both humility and in confidence. AND God loves to hear the bold prayers of humble people.

God’s word says that He dwells with those who are humble. That brings us to the final benefit of loving others

#3 Abiding presence of the Holy Spirit

²³ And 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. ²⁴ Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

When a believer walks in love, they find it easier to obey God commands and as a result they grow in their relationship with God and know the abundant joy and continuous blessings associated with a deep, personal relationship with the almighty God.

Let’s honor our King by the way we love others!

 Teaching Outline

Love is not something Christians do, it’s evidence of who they are – 1 John 3:14

• Definition: Christian love is acting in the best interest of other people

MURDER IS EVIDENCE OF SPIRITUAL DEATH – 1 John 3:11-12, John 8:44, Genesis 4

• The main proof that a man has been born again is his love for other people in the church
• When Satan has a grip on the heart of a man, he often leads that man to worship in a way that is contrary to the clear commands of God’s Word.
• When Jesus, the light of the World shows up, He exposes the world for what it really is.
• John 8:44 “⁴⁴ You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
• John 15:18, “¹⁸ “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”

HATRED IS MURDER INTERNALIZED – 1 John 3:13-15, Matthew 5:22, Titus 3:3, Galatians 5:1

• Nothing impacts a lost world more than the church acting in love towards one another

INDIFFERANCE IS AN ONGOING BATTLE – 1 John 3:16-17, Galatians 6:10

Two way to determine if you should meet a need:

• Do I have the resources to meet that need
• Do I know that the need exists