If you had to pick one word to describe Christianity, what would that word be? In many ways, John suggests to us that love best describes what Christianity is all about: God’s love for us, our love for God and, as John points out in this next passage, the love we ought to have for one another. Listen for God’s word to you from 1 John 3:11-18…
For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,[a] if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
In this passage, John tells us about two attitudes, two examples, and two destinations. First, let us look together at the two attitudes John describes.
It has been said that attitude determines altitude. In flying a plane that is absolutely true. The pitch attitude of the nose of the plane determines whether that plane is going to go up, or down. What is true in flying is also true in everyday life: our attitude will determine our altitude, how high we fly, close to God, or low and far away from him.
John talks about two attitudes in this passage: one is nose up, and it will take us closer to God, the other is nose down and will take us further away from God. The attitude that will move us further away from God is hatred.
John says, “Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.” In other words, hatred is the characteristic attitude of this present world system that is set against God. Most people will say that they love other people, but the everyday ups and downs of life will reveal whether this is true or not. The saying is all too true: “I love humankind; it’s people I can’t stand.”
If I am carrying a cup of water that is full to the brim and I bump into someone else, then water is going to spill out. The question is: in our everyday lives when we hit bumps, what spills out? How do we habitually react to the knocks and irritations of life? John is telling us that apart from Christ working in us, our natural response to the bumps of life will be hatred. Whatever is in us is what will spill out.
For example, one day I was with a friend and took him to pick up some shoes that a cobbler was repairing for him. However, when my friend arrived at the shop, he discovered that the cobbler had not even worked on his shoes after having them in his possession for a month or more. My friend was rather irritated and expressed that irritation to me.
Now you may say to me: “But that is a natural response!” I would agree. If I were in the same position I might respond with the same level of irritation as my friend did.
I think that is precisely what John is telling us. Apart from Christ working in us our natural response to the bumps of life, the big ones and the little ones, will be anger, irritation and hatred.
You may say, “Well, that’s no big deal.” However, John thinks it is a big deal. He says,
“Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.”
Furthermore, John is not saying this on his own authority. Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 5….
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.” But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
If anger and hatred are such serious problems, then what should we do about them? Thankfully, Jesus gives us an answer, also in Matthew 5….
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
Jesus says that when we are angry, when we sense feelings of hatred rising within us, we should deal with our anger quickly and seek reconciliation with our brother or sister. Paul says the same thing….
In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. (Ephesians 4:26-27)
This verse makes it clear that anger is not the problem, but rather what we do with it. After all, even Jesus was angry and displayed that anger by driving the buyers and the sellers out of the Temple. Of course, in that instance, Jesus was displaying righteous anger, whereas our anger, most of the time, contains a mix of righteous and unrighteous elements. The real problem comes when we allow our anger to develop into a deep-seated hatred of others.
Thus, hatred is the first attitude we see in this passage. It is a “nose down” attitude that will take us away from God unless we deal with it quickly and seek reconciliation.
The second attitude John talks about is love. “For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”
Love is the foundation for all genuine Christian spirituality. Love is not merely an occasional practice for God; love is at the very core of God’s being. If this is true, and I believe it is, then a person cannot come into relationship with God without simultaneously becoming a more loving human being. This change does not happen all at once. Total change requires a lifetime. However, one can begin to see change in the life of every true Christian.
In response you may ask, “Then why do I know so many non-Christians who are more loving than Christians?” I would have to agree. However, I think there are a few reasons why this appears to be the case.
First off, no one starts out even in life with everyone else. We each enter this world with a certain genetic make-up that predisposes us to certain problems and not others. Second, everyone’s experiences are different. Even two children growing up in the same family will experience love, or the lack of it, differently. Thus, if we were to prove somehow scientifically that Christianity always makes people more loving than if they were not Christians, we would have to know everything about the genetics and the nurture of people under scrutiny. We would have to know not simply something about their external circumstances and appearances, but we would have to know something of their interior life to make a proper judgment. The fact is: we simply cannot know these things and so we cannot make a proper judgment. When we see non-Christian “A” who appears to be more loving than Christian “B” then we must ask: What would non-Christian “A” be like if he or she was a Christian? Would he or she be even more loving than they are now? Furthermore, what would Christian “B” be like if they were not Christian? Would they be even more unloving than they are now? In addition, we cannot really know how Christ may be working in someone’s heart. The person who says they are not Christian may actually have more of the spirit of Christ working in them, and the person who says they are Christian may, in fact, know nothing of Jesus in a personal, spiritual manner.
However, let us stop talking about hypothetical examples. Let us go on to examine the two examples that John puts before us. The first one is an example of hatred at work, and his name is Cain.
The story of Cain in the Hebrew Scriptures shows us how hatred often gets to work in the human soul. First off, John says that Cain belonged to the evil one, that is, the devil. Wherever hatred is at work, we can be sure that the devil is present. That does not mean that there is no hope for the person in whom Satan is working, but we can be certain about the source of all hatred.
Second, not only did the evil one influence Cain, but also Cain’s own inner jealousy of his brother got the better of him. John tells us that Cain killed his brother because his brother’s actions were good and his were evil. What are the actions about which John is talking? If we re-visit the original story in Genesis 4, we find out….
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So, Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
What was the problem here? Why did God look with favor on Abel’s offering and not on Cain’s? Was it because Abel brought an animal sacrifice and Cain’s sacrifice was merely one of vegetables? I do not think so. I do not believe God ever asks us to give what we do not have. Cain worked the soil, so the natural gift for him to bring to God would be the produce of his garden. I believe the difference between Cain and Abel, and why God looked with favor on one offering and not the other, is because Abel brought the firstborn of his flock to God, whereas Cain merely brought his leftovers, “some of the fruits of the soil”.
Now, notice that Cain was angry because of the way God treated him. He did not have a right to be angry because God dealt with him in perfect justice. However, the thing to see is that disobedience was the first step in Cain’s downward spiral, and anger was the second step. Furthermore, God in his grace gave Cain a way out. God said to Cain,
Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.
God gave to Cain the opportunity to pull out of the downward spiral. However, Cain did not take advantage of that opportunity….
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Cain allowed his anger to develop into deep-seated hatred. When we allow anger to fester like that, it can lead to awful consequences.
Thankfully, John does not simply leave us with a negative example to warn us. John also gives us a positive example to pull us out of our own downward spirals. The positive example John gives us is Jesus Christ who laid down his life for us. Jesus laid down his life to pay for sin like Cain’s, to pay for our sins, to pay for the sins of everyone, past, present and future.
Furthermore, by the power of Christ living in us through his Holy Spirit, we can follow Jesus’ example. We can lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. We can give of our material possessions to help those in need. We can love others, not just with words, but also in actions and in truth.
Fritz Ridenour tells the story of Boris Kornfeld who was a Russian medical doctor sentenced to a Communist slave labor camp for an unspecified political crime. Kornfeld’s background was Jewish, but he had not practiced his religion for many years. In prison, a Christian led Kornfeld into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Dr. Kornfeld began to take a stand against the hospital orderlies who would steal food from the patients; he also refused to remain silent when prison guards brutalized those prisoners under their charge and many prisoners died as a result.
Kornfeld became a marked man. He slept in his prison hospital office because he knew that if he slept on the prison ward itself someone might kill him.
At the same time that Kornfeld was taking a stand for justice, he also longed to tell someone about his newfound faith in Jesus Christ. One afternoon, as Dr. Kornfeld examined a young man who had received an operation to remove stomach cancer, Kornfeld began to share what a difference Jesus had made in his life. In fact, he spoke with this young patient all afternoon and into the night as the patient drifted in and out of a feverish sleep and painful waking moments. The young man could not quite believe what Kornfeld was telling him, but he was intrigued.
At last, the young patient fell asleep and slept through the night. When he awoke the next morning, a fellow patient told him that someone had attacked and killed Kornfeld in the night. However, because of Kornfeld’s witness, that young patient eventually became a Christian, survived the prison camp, and wrote of his experience in a number of books. That young patient was Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
Boris Kornfeld followed the loving example of Jesus Christ, and so can we as Jesus’ Spirit lives in us. Maybe we will not have the opportunity to follow Jesus’ example by giving our lives in martyrdom, but we can give our lives away in little ways, every day, nonetheless.
Finally, in this passage, John not only talks about two attitudes and two examples, he talks about two destinations. The first destination John talks about is death. “Anyone who does not love remains in death.” If we harbor hatred in our hearts, then we remain in death. Anger leads to hatred if not handled correctly, and hatred leads to death unless we hand our hatred over to Jesus to deal with it. Hatred not only can lead to the physical death of those we hate, as in the story of Cain and Abel, but it can lead to our own death if we do not hand our hatred over to Jesus and allow him to extinguish it.
This is why it is so important to forgive when others hurt us. We need to forgive not only for the positive result it can have on others, but also for the positive result it can have on us. If we do not forgive, bitterness will destroy us, it will swallow us up. The end result of hatred and bitterness eating away at us is death, not only physical death, but what is worse, spiritual death, separation from God who is the source of all light and life and love.
The alternative destination to spiritual death is, of course, life in all of its fullness. How can we know that we have passed from death to life? John says, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other.”
Love is the key that unlocks the door to eternal life: God’s love for us expressed in his Son Jesus, and our loving response to that love demonstrated in real life acts of love.
Think of it, every day not only are we heading to one of these final destinations ourselves, either life or death, but by our acts of love or hatred we are helping others to move to one of these destinies.
C. S. Lewis put it this way in his sermon entitled The Weight of Glory….
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours… Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat—the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.
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