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.
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"?
(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.
(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.
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.
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.
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 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."
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.
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!
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.
For Thought and Discussion
Link to Teacher's Guide
Lesson 5