START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 John 3:16-24
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OBSERVE:
The First Letter of John reminds us of the composition of a fugue, with an evocative interweaving of the themes of love and knowledge. John brings these themes together in this phrase:
By this we know love
He then illustrates the incarnational and sacrificial nature of love as demonstrated in the life of Jesus Christ:
because he laid down his life for us.
If anyone wants to know what love looks like, he’s saying, they need only to look at the crucified Christ.
Therefore, by analogy, believers are to be like Christ as well:
And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
Love by its very nature is sacrificial. But this sacrifice need not be limited to martyrdom. True sacrificial love means compassion for someone who is in need.
John poses the question:
whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and closes his heart of compassion against him, how does the love of God remain in him?
Love is action, not words.
John points out that the true assurance that a person belongs to Jesus is found in their obedience to this simple principle:
This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded.
John also offers reassurance for those who are insecure about their faith:
if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
Confidence is not to be found in mere feeling, but in true faith and obedience.
Even more, the believer can know that they are united to God:
He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.
There is an echo in this passage of the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John 17:20-23:
Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me. The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you loved me.
The proofs are all there — believers know God because they follow God’s commands, which means they believe in Jesus, they love their neighbor, and this is made possible by the Spirit that God gives.
APPLY:
There are two very exciting applications of this passage for us:
- First, that we can know we have a relationship with God based not on how we feel but on how we love.
Feelings come and go, but the love that follows the example of Christ is grounded in sacrifice and action. - Second, that we are to show love.
As Eliza Doolittle sings in the Hollywood musical “My Fair Lady,”
Don’t talk of love, don’t talk at all, show me.
John says:
My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.
Thus, to follow Jesus doesn’t require literal martyrdom; but it does require faith in Christ, and a robust, active love of others.
John also explores some of what Jesus teaches in John 17:20-23, cited above. He says:
He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.
There is a sense here of what G.K. Chesterton calls the mystery of “coinherence.” Jesus says that he is in the Father and the Father is in him. From our perspective this is a clear reference to the interrelatedness and relationship of the Trinity. But this also applies to us! As we become Children of God, God is in us and we are in God! This is made possible also by the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.
RESPOND:
As with so much of Scripture, I find this passage both inspiring and daunting. To say I want to be more like Jesus is one thing. But am I as loving and as generous and as compassionate? Is my love even .01% as sacrificial as is his love for me?
This is where I must rely on his grace, and see my own Christian life as still a process:
if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
Lord, fill my heart with your love, not just by example but as you spiritually fill me with your Spirit. Only then can I truly live in you and you in me. Amen.
PHOTOS: “This Is Love” by Rene Yoshi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.
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