7-24-2021 Seventh Day BAPTIST Edgewater Pastor Keith “The Love of God In Us” I John 3;10-24
All of us need to feel love. Love is a powerful need in people’s lives. Love is what motivated God the Father to send His son Jesus to the cross. I John 3;16 is almost like John 3;16 when it describes the love of God. In our text it says that we know the love of God by Jesus laying His life down for us. John also says we also should lay our lives down for our brothers.
Why should we lay our lives down for our brothers? Because Jesus laid His life down for us. Laying down our life goes against our nature. You can look out into the world and see how people treat each other horribly. This is the type of world we grew up in and this is the type of example that the world sets up for us. Selfish responses come naturally to us. You hurt me so now I’m going to hurt you. In Paul’s letter to Titus, he said at one time we were foolish and like the secular world with lusts, malice and envy. But when the love of God came in thru Jesus, He saved us. And not because we were righteous but because of His mercy.
In verse 12, John used the example of Cain and says do not be like Cain who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. Cain was angry and his anger built up to the point that he killed his own brother Abel. Cain was a slow burner with his anger until it reached a hot point and he killed Abel. We can be slow burners too if we allow ourselves to think like Cain did. We keep thinking about the way people have treated us and we replay those incidences in our minds. We replay them over and over again and tell it to anyone who will listen. We don’t just re-tell those stories, we re-live them and re-feel the emotions. All the hurt, pain and anger we re-live.
The Bible says we must love one another as Jesus loves us. We must forgive as Jesus has forgiven us. Verse 23 -24 says we should be like Jesus, love one another and that this is His commandment. When we love one another, God abides in us and His spirit lives in us. In Galatians 5 the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control. I John 3:16 tells us how we are showing love. Jesus laid down His life for us and we should do the same for our brothers. We are to follow Jesus’s example. How do we do this? Verse 17-18 says that whoever has this world’s goods (money) and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, he is not showing the love of God. Do not love in words only but love in deeds as well.
Deeds is what we do for the needy. Jesus taught us that our highest priority was to show love to others. In Luke 6 Jesus was teaching in the synagogue and He healed a man whose right hand was shriveled up. The Pharisees watched Jesus closely to see if they could have something to accuse Him of. Jesus went ahead and healed the man on the Sabbath anyway. The Pharisees were angry about the healing and made plans on how to destroy Jesus. It’s so easy to get caught up in religion and forget what we are called to do in the name of Jesus Christ. We get caught up in our own little world and get distracted from what we are supposed to do as children of God. We need to think about and help those in need as verse 18 tells us to do. We are to do what demonstrates our love and the love of God. We are called to love one another as Jesus love us.
AMEN
All of us need to feel love. Love is a powerful need in people’s lives. Love is what motivated God the Father to send His son Jesus to the cross. I John 3;16 is almost like John 3;16 when it describes the love of God. In our text it says that we know the love of God by Jesus laying His life down for us. John also says we also should lay our lives down for our brothers.
Why should we lay our lives down for our brothers? Because Jesus laid His life down for us. Laying down our life goes against our nature. You can look out into the world and see how people treat each other horribly. This is the type of world we grew up in and this is the type of example that the world sets up for us. Selfish responses come naturally to us. You hurt me so now I’m going to hurt you. In Paul’s letter to Titus, he said at one time we were foolish and like the secular world with lusts, malice and envy. But when the love of God came in thru Jesus, He saved us. And not because we were righteous but because of His mercy.
In verse 12, John used the example of Cain and says do not be like Cain who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. Cain was angry and his anger built up to the point that he killed his own brother Abel. Cain was a slow burner with his anger until it reached a hot point and he killed Abel. We can be slow burners too if we allow ourselves to think like Cain did. We keep thinking about the way people have treated us and we replay those incidences in our minds. We replay them over and over again and tell it to anyone who will listen. We don’t just re-tell those stories, we re-live them and re-feel the emotions. All the hurt, pain and anger we re-live.
The Bible says we must love one another as Jesus loves us. We must forgive as Jesus has forgiven us. Verse 23 -24 says we should be like Jesus, love one another and that this is His commandment. When we love one another, God abides in us and His spirit lives in us. In Galatians 5 the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control. I John 3:16 tells us how we are showing love. Jesus laid down His life for us and we should do the same for our brothers. We are to follow Jesus’s example. How do we do this? Verse 17-18 says that whoever has this world’s goods (money) and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, he is not showing the love of God. Do not love in words only but love in deeds as well.
Deeds is what we do for the needy. Jesus taught us that our highest priority was to show love to others. In Luke 6 Jesus was teaching in the synagogue and He healed a man whose right hand was shriveled up. The Pharisees watched Jesus closely to see if they could have something to accuse Him of. Jesus went ahead and healed the man on the Sabbath anyway. The Pharisees were angry about the healing and made plans on how to destroy Jesus. It’s so easy to get caught up in religion and forget what we are called to do in the name of Jesus Christ. We get caught up in our own little world and get distracted from what we are supposed to do as children of God. We need to think about and help those in need as verse 18 tells us to do. We are to do what demonstrates our love and the love of God. We are called to love one another as Jesus love us.
AMEN