Last time I was here we spoke of the tests that John spoke about. These test show if our faith is genuine. We are only saved by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. But genuine faith always produces obedience, and that obedience is visible to the world. And they command which we obey is to love one another. Today’s text goes deeper in that test of love. It shows how we can deceive ourselves about the depth of our faith. I have been a Christian for more than 40 years, and I have seen this principle at work many times. When the Holy Spirit works in someone’s life, he always produces love for brothers and sisters in Christ. When the Holy Spirit changes someone, they always love God’s people more. John is saying that this a key difference between dabbling in Christianity and moving in the love and power of Christ. So we’ll dig into two specific details from the passage.
The first element of true love is that it is free from bitterness and jealousy. When sin came into the world in the first place, it produced murder in the first generation after Adam and Eve. Each one of us knows what it is to be bitter. We know the emotion of not wanting the best for another person. Perhaps they have insulted us or not honoured us. Listen to that emotion. Jesus wants to speak to that part of you. We perhaps know what it means to hate. My sister once wrote a song. There was lyric in the song on this topic. It said “Hurt breeds hurt, and hurt breeds hate, but we learn this lesson long and late.” We all suffer hurts, we all suffer pain. Other people do things which offend us and trouble us. But when we look at the cross and when the Holy Spirit comes, we are able to hand those hurts to God. Other people might hate us because we believe in Christ. This is normal and we cannot avoid it. But we can avoid hating them or our Christian brothers and sisters. Finally, note that it says “Anyone who doesn’t love still lives in their old condition.” This is a way of locking our pain and hatred up. We become indifferent. We become cold. We say that we have forgiven, but our hearts are indifferent. This too is a sign that we do not love.
How can we find the way back to love others? Obviously, the first thing we do is look at Jesus. We see his love for us and we understand how much God loves us. We know that the Holy Spirit works in us. We have the power to forgive. A few years ago, our house started cracking everywhere. We reported that to the owners, who did some tests. They said that the roots of trees some distance from the house were undermining the house. The trees had to be cut down. We liked the trees that they cut down, but they had to go. But the trees are hard to get rid of. Even after they are cut down, they grow back. It is difficult to get the roots out of the ground. It is the same with bitterness. When we don’t forgive and allow resentment to build up it shows that our faith needs to grow. But we can also make a decision to forgive. As we do that, God releases more power into our lives. Is there someone you need to forgive? Is there a quiet anger which is making you indifferent? Is there a person who brings anger into your mind? How can you can the next steps to loving your brothers and sisters more?
Question: How can we overcome resentment and bitterness? Have you been able to do this?
There is a second test for true love. This is: will you do something? One of my colleagues in Sudan was an American accountant. She came to Sudan for work for the Christian aid organisation I worked for. As she read this, her voice trembled with emotion. She has left her comfortable business and comfortable life and come to serve in a place which was tough and difficult for her. Love costs. It costs time and money. It costs emotional energy. Our brothers and sisters are in need across the world and in this city. If we close our eyes to their needs, we have closed our eyes to the love of God. God’s love for us was costly. Jesus Christ gave his life for us. We are part of a beautiful, massive, global movement called the church of Jesus. If we do not love and serve those around us as Jesus loved and served us, then our love, and our faith in incomplete. The question is: is your love at work? Is it in action? Do you help your brothers and sisters in need?
There are some different practical ways we can help brothers and sisters. Perhaps we can share our homes. There is a picture here of a Christian couple who shared their home with refugees. People are often lonely and hurt. We can encourage people, visit them, perhaps give them small gifts as symbols of our love. We can also give to Christians and others who are in desperate need. People in some part of the world face problems that we will never see. We have the opportunity to give through organisations, churches and directly.
How can our love be more practical?
Perhaps your heart is troubled. Perhaps you feel like a failure. Perhaps you think that your resentments and your failure to act means that you are not really a Christian. Our sin is real: it hurts God, it hurts others, it hurts us. But God’s plan is not for us to feel guilty. God wants us to take our sin to the cross of Jesus. Guilt is our verdict on ourselves. Forgiveness is God’s verdict on us, as long as we trust in Jesus. God’s verdict is more important than our own verdict. We might feel guilty, but we are not condemned when we are in Christ. We should be sensitive to sin, but we should turn to Christ. When we ignore sin, we do not grow in grace. However, God wants us to know that he forgives and that we are his children. We can be bold with God.
We are bold with God, not because we are good people. We are sinners. We are bold with God, because Jesus Christ died on the cross for us. So we can ask him for whatever we need, as children of God. Of course, God’s kingdom is not like a human kingdom. God is not promising to make us rich. But we are his children, and we ask for blessing as his children. DO you want to love your brothers and sisters more? Ask him. Do you want more of the Holy Spirit? Ask him. Do you want a heart that turns to God, and not away from him? Ask him. The Holy Spirit speaks in our hearts to remind us that God is our Father, not a distant, all knowing judge. We are joined to God through Christ. Let us pray that God would fill us with Holy Spirit, to love one another, to change, and to know all the grace of God.
To summarize: John builds on ideas he has introduced us to earlier. Love must be sincere and free of bitterness and resentment. Love must reflect Jesus’ love. It should express itself in action. Finally, God’s grace is bigger than all our failures. We can ask for God’s power when we lack it. We are his children.
