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The Apostle John’s emphasis to his readers centers around our Christian commitment to the family of God. The unity of the body is under attack – Jesus has taught us and shown us how to preserve that unity with love.
Observations:
- John’s central concern for the assurance of eternal life is knowing God
- Knowing God is evidenced by obeying God
- Obeying God’s command requires a revered relationship
- The command of God is loving His family
– The “old command” = “love your neighbor as yourself”
– The “new command” = “love your brother as Jesus commanded”
Warnings:
- Lingering hatred is the darkness that characterizes the unredeemed
- Hatred isn’t just active anger, it is also passive failure to love
- Hatred is a darkness that will blind you – leads to: stumbling, no confidence of eternal life
Conclusions:
- To obey God means you believe in Jesus and love your brother
- If you don’t love your brother, you don’t believe in Jesus and you don’t know God
Application:
- Love your Christian brothers and sisters out of reverence for Jesus
- Love your Christian brothers and sisters after the manner of Jesus
– Love from God is undeserved
– Love from God is selfless
– Love from God is limitless - Love your Christian brothers and sisters in obedience to Jesus
Philippians 3:4-11
“If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'”
1 John 2:5 NET
“But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.“
James 2:8
“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.”
Romans 13:9
“The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians 5:14
“For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
1 John 4:20-21
“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”
1 John 3:21-24
“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives 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.”
Ephesians 5:21
“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
1 Corinthians 11:23-25
“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Romans 5:6-8
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
John 13:12-15
“When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
Ephesians 3:17-19
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
John 13:33-35
“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”