The objective of this lesson: To stress the importance of Christians loving Christians.
People are hard to love. They always have been. Typically, a person likes other people "who are like me, follow my focus, and allow me to be in control of their thoughts and concepts." In most cases, congregations in whom the Spirit of God obviously controls are congregations of members who respect each other when in disagreement. Maintaining "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Paul--Ephesians 4:3) is a matter of mutual respect, not rules-keeping. There is no peace of God in the person who demands respect but does not show respect. Typically, we do not love those we do not respect.
Stress the importance of Christians having respect for other Christians. Stress the fact that without respect, love or peace cannot exist.
As we consider John's enormous emphasis on loving the brethren, consider these examples.
(1) Consider God's example. Most of us agree that if we love Jesus Christ enough to commit, God loves us enough to make us part of His family. Think only of those in Christ. Begin with two realizations: (a) None of us are perfect. (b) God sees and knows each imperfection. God's love for us is not based on our being correct in all matters. [In fact, in matters of "correctness" God's priorities and our priorities are often distinctly different. For example, "how" communion is served in a Sunday assembly could quickly cause discord in many congregations. There are no New Testament instructions on "how" to serve communion. Is God's priority our "how" or Jesus' "in remembrance of me"?] Yet, in spite of the fact that (a) no one in Christ is perfect, and (b) no one duplicates God's priorities, God loves us. God's love for the Christian is not based on him or her being precisely right, but on His forgiveness and our love of His son. Then how can our love for each other be based on our perceived "correctness"?
God is our ultimate example in (a) showing how to love and (b) being motivated by love. Stress God's love is (thankfully!) not dependent on our perfection. While Christians constantly seek to better understand God's ways and priorities, perfection is never an achievement but always a goal. God's love for us is based on our commitment and His forgiveness--not the impossible objective of our perfection. The fact that God's love is not based on our perfection should help us understand that our love for other Christians is not based on their perfection.
(2) The first complete example of hatred's destructiveness in hatred's selfishness is Cain and Abel (Genesis 4, referenced in 1 John 3:11, 12). John's message in the incident is that people of God should "love one another." The reason John gave for Cain slaying his brother: "His deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous." The point in today's text: hatred of a brother alienates from God. No one is led by obeying God to hatred of others. Quite the opposite--obedience to God results in the love of people, and especially people in Christ.
Cain's selfishness encouraged and enhanced Cain's hatred. The combination of Cain's selfishness and hatred resulted in Cain murdering his own brother. To suggest that Cain represented God or God's purposes is ridiculous! Those who allow their hatred to make them murderers do not represent the God of loving compassion. In the same way, those who replace compassionate love for brethren in Christ with hatred for brethren in Christ are murderers who cannot represent God any more than Cain did. Representing the God of righteousness in this world through righteous behavior is one of the goals of those who accept Jesus Christ.
(3) The "world" are those people who cling to the ability to hate people. An evidence that the Christian transitions from death to life is his or her ability to love those in Christ. An evidence that the person remains a part of the "world" (the people who reject God's work in Christ) is hate. The Christian does not evidence his or her love "in theory," but in "action." He or she will forfeit life for a fellow believer. He or she will respond to a believer's needs. His or her love for those in Christ will express itself. It will be more than an internal conviction.
To hate is to live in the darkness of evil. To love is to exist in God's enlightenment. To commit to love through being touched with divine love is much more than a mental agreement. Such love must express itself in ways that are consistent with having that love. Just as God's love was (is) focused on us, we also focus our love of God on people. We as Christians especially focus our love for God on people who, like us, love God. Just as God's love for us was (is) beyond boundaries, our love for those in Christ defies boundaries. We make great, continual sacrifices for others in Christ. We evidence we walk in God's light and reject darkness by the way we treat others in Christ.
Perhaps a common mistake is this: "It was easy then, but hard now." It always has been hard! This commitment rarely if ever has been mastered by people. This is one of the commitments that resulted in Jesus' crucifixion! There always has been divisions in social classes, in racial considerations, in economic levels, and in political orientations. There always has been a huge gulf between "the haves" and "the have nots" regardless of the area considered. In most instances, those problems were even more complex and larger in the first century than they are now.
There was a time decades ago when Christians were a struggling minority. Most of them were poor or lower middle class people often living in a rural setting, often struggling to meet personal or family needs. The past few decades have brought enormous changes. The education level in the church rose significantly. The prosperity level in the church rose significantly. Now, in many instances, we are a prosperous, urban-based church with members who have personal ambitions that would not be understood by Christians of past generations. Now, our struggles are against materialism, not against poverty. Now instead of being the poor, we struggle to understand the poor.
John's point is simple, but his concept is complex. It is easy to say, "Christians should love," but it is challenging to express love. It is hard to love those who (a) do not love us back, and (b) seek to exploit our love. No where is that more true than in a congregation.
Love is easy to declare with words, but hard to practice with actions. If today's congregation is successful in its outreach, it becomes increasingly diverse. It is in diversity that Christians find and experience their most demanding love challenges.
One of the striking appeals of Christians among non-Christians is found in the Christian's ability to love people that do not like him or her. One of the striking differences between the younger Christians of today and the older Christians of today is found in the desire to express love to our world. There is an enormous need for younger Christians to understand that older Christians often sacrificed to enable congregations to exist. Many older Christians lived through times that were not prosperous, but they gave, labored, and endured. There equally is an enormous need for older Christians to understand that younger Christians must also make sacrifices. Whereas older Christians often sacrificed for existence, younger Christians sacrifice by reaching out to the unbelieving world by addressing people issues.
The poor value daily relationships in ways that middle-class people do not consider. Since love is relationship based, it has an appeal to many people who are economically challenged. It is commonly the basis of effective outreach.
The concept of sacrifice in older Christians is commonly quite different from the concept of sacrifice in younger Christians. In older Christians, the concept is often thing or money centered. In younger Christians it often is "what can I do" or "what can I give of myself" centered. Often older Christians might say or think, "Why would you do that?" not because they have no faith or no sense of sacrifice, but because their concepts are different. There is an urgent need for older and younger Christians to communicate the meaning of their concepts to each other without judging each other.
The church yet again faces an enormous transition. In my lifetime, I have seen a few believers with no facilities, then more believers with meager facilities poorly situated, then even more believers with competitive facilities, then many believers with what (in the past) are unthinkable facilities. I watched us go from no programs [of necessity] to elaborate programs. At some point, we must realize that the facilities and programs that would have worked marvelously years ago are not today's solution. At some point, we must realize that it is not a matter of what we have but what we are. What were the past's "survival issues" easily can become the present's "selfishness issues."
Both economics and opportunity have radically changed in the past several decades. Those changes constantly call for meaningful transition. The objective is not to change God's message in Jesus Christ, but to help people see how God in Jesus Christ addresses their needs.
The objective of God's church (a) is not to create an "ancient moat, huge defensive walls, and a draw bridge" to remove the church safely from the world "out there." (b) Instead, the objective of God's church is to invade the world with the weapon of love and share the fact that the world also has a Savior in Jesus Christ. The transition is from a survival mentality to an outreach of love mentality. If we do not make this transition, the alternative (in time) is extinction as a religious group. Those of us who are older are dying, and our children do not value our battle lines.
People who exist in darkness often cause people who live in God's light to be fearful because Christians do not understand people who live in darkness. Since most of the conversions of the last two decades (in many congregations) came from the children of members, the typical Christian has little meaningful association with people who know little about God. In fear, many Christians become more concerned with "protecting and preserving the congregation" than bringing people they do not understand to Christ (not realizing that preserving the congregation is directly linked to bringing people to Christ). Spiritual survival in congregations depends on showing people how Jesus Christ meets our needs.
One of the huge problems John addressed was a growing Christless Christianity. Today, we need a deep understanding of how dependent we are on Jesus Christ. We must make him the focus of what we do!
John's concern that a Christless Christianity is developing is reflected in such passages as 1 John 2:22; 3:23; 4:3; 4:15; 5:1, 5, 11, 12; and 2 John 7, 9. We can develop a Christless Christianity by emphasizing forms not mentioned in scripture, by focusing on traditions as an evidence of faithfulness, or by stressing procedures to the exclusion of motives. That which emphasizes human accomplishments over God's accomplishments in Jesus' death and resurrection is Christless.
Christians express their appreciation to God by showing their world the power of sacrificial love. The source of such love is God Himself. God's expression of such love is Jesus' death.
I demonstrate my love for God by loving those God loves. All I can do for God is show appreciation for what He has done and does for me. I can use the love I learned from God to help the people God loves.
For Thought and Discussion
Include in the discussion the challenge of loving people who act in unlovable ways.
Include in the discussion the fact that God loves us in our imperfections in the full knowledge of our flaws.
The first complete example is the interaction between Cain and Abel. Cain hated Abel because Cain's actions were evil, and Abel's were righteous.
The "world" are the people who cling to the ability to hate people.
They (in God) cultivate the ability to love people who do not love them.
The church faces the transition from a survival mentality to an outreach of love mentality.
The objective is to invade the world with the weapon of love to share the fact that the world has a Savior. The objective is not to remove the church from having contact with and influence in the world.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 5