He was handsome, winsome, intelligent. At his trial the judge said multiple times how much he liked him.
He had studied economics; he had a doctorate in jurisprudence and was the research director at the Keil institute for the World economy…and he was the loving father of 5 kids.
Why was he on trial? He led a German military unit that was responsible for shooting 90,000 Jewish men, women, and children.
We mostly think of Nazi mass extermination camps when we think of the Holocaust but perhaps two million of the over six million murdered were killed by firing squads…line of sight killing.
What shocked the members of the Nuremberg trials was how the leaders of these death squads were not ignorant, brutish beasts…they didn’t look like human monsters.
They were mostly like Otto Ohlendorf, the eloquent, educated, father of five, who was hung for his crimes.
My point is not to be shocking or depressing…but for us to think biblically about humanity.
To prepare us to enter into John’s letter. He will make some dramatic claims.
Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
When we read this we think of depraved monsters, people so unlike us that we cannot even understand them.
But I assure you, the well-educated, well cultured men and women of Nuremburg thought that this was who would come before them at the trials…Nazi monsters.
They were shocked…to find…these men and the ones who pulled the triggers for them…were very much like themselves.
It’s not just Nazi Germany that reveals the heart of humanity apart from God… Rome. Soviet Union. Rwanda. Cambodia. The Balkans. Parts of America history.
Normal people. Who don’t look like human monsters capable of doing monstrous things.
Now there are, certainly human monsters…people who have become so depraved that they are like beasts.
These people are in some ways less shocking to us…than the “normal people” who are capable of great evil…people like us.
Let’s go to 1 John 3:11
1 John 3:11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another,
John was writing to help the church see through the heresy of the false teachers who were boasting about their “new truth.”
The new, the improved, the contemporary truth…that was just recycled lies.
John says over and over that the original gospel is THE truth.
1 John 1:5, “This is the message we heard from him and declare to you.”
2:24, “What you have heard from the beginning is to remain in you.”
2:7 “Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old command that you have had from the beginning.”
The gospel doesn’t change.
It was first given in the garden, when the coming of Jesus was predicted, the one who would crush the serpent’s head…this just after the fall of humanity.
It is the entire storyline of the Bible and the center of human history.
The truth about Jesus Christ and the way Christians are to live as his children is unalterable…it doesn’t change.
Of course, we must work and think hard about how to live the gospel in our own time and place…but the gospel doesn’t change even though people and times do.
Who Jesus is: God incarnate, Savior of the world…no one comes to the father, except through hum.
What we are to become: like Jesus in his holiness, continual growth in moral purity.
How we are to treat others: with sacrificial love, modeled by Christ
These three things never change, and they have never been in line with contemporary trends, which are driven not by God…but by the world, the flesh, and the devil.
These things, however, are always relevant…nothing is ever more relevant than the gospel believed and lived.
This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
Jump down to verse 16 and you see that this love is defined…not generic, not left up to come up with what we think love is.
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
Any definition or application of love that falls short of the gospel of Jesus is faulty.
12 unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brothers were righteous.
John gives a stark contrast of what this love doesn’t look like.
He goes back to the first murder, a Satan inspired “slaughter” (that’s what the word means) of his brother.
Jesus said that the devil was a murderer from the beginning…Cain was “of him” just as we to be “of/in Christ.”
What was the cause of Cain’s murder? John asks.
It was because of comparison, jealousy…the irony or tragedy is that he was jealous of something he could have been himself; he could have been righteous.
Somehow in his sin twisted mind, instead of changing by turning his life over to God…he thought he should eliminate Abel whose righteous life served as a reminder of his own unrighteous life.
Now, to John’s point…Cain was the prototype of the world in opposition to God, and therefore in opposition to Christians, to the church, the people of God.
If Abel was murdered by his unrighteous brother, don’t be surprised when the world hates you.
You are seek to be holy, to love others…but don’t wait for applause when you do…if fact, don’t be surprised if you get hate instead.
13 Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
So, part of how surprise at being hated for following Christ reveals itself is when Christians sometimes scramble to try and become less offensive, more relevant.
“Wait, the world hates me?…I need to try and change this.”
Not we should not manufacture offense by being angry, stubborn, and hard to get along with…we shouldn’t be hated because we are actually hateful.
But we are warned…don’t be surprised when you are hated.
The new speaker of the house is widely known as a likeable guy, nice, kind, intelligent…but his worldview is decidely Christian and his actions seem to have been aligned with that worldview.
Therefore, he is going to be hated…especially now that he is on the radar…this has already began to happen.
You are not going to be hated for doing what righteousness “does”…kindess, humility, patience…but for what your righteous “says”…Christ is the way, truth, and the life…sin is sinful…Jesus is Lord.
But we must not be surprised when what we believe, value and do brings us hate…we certainly must not try to “go along just to get along.”
We are to love…but not to appease.
That never works and it is morally, biblically wrong.
But, even as we are not surprised that the world hates us…we don’t get to hate back.
14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. 16 This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
Bethel Mcgrew in an online commentary spoke about the savage murder of political activist Ryan Carson in NY.
She talked about how some were saying that his murder was a fitting reward for his left-wing activism…she said that some saw Carson as the “right” sort of victim…he deserved it.
Of course, (she wrote) this vice (rejoicing in certain kinds of death) cuts across the political spectrum.
Earlier this year, we saw left-wing social media mocking the death of the “rich white men” who died on the Titan submarine.
On the left and the right alike, no death is too cruel to be converted into a celebratory meme.
In fact, the crueler the death, the more memes it seems to generate.
Meanwhile some self-styled “conservatives,” have proposed that compassion is wasted on our political enemies.
One pointed out that both Carson and his girlfriend promoted abortion on demand, sided with violent criminals against cops, and wanted to hound conservatives out of the public square.
So, the reasoning goes…They wouldn’t show conservatives mercy. So why should we conservatives “back down” and “give ground” by showing them mercy now?
This is as stupid as it is wicked…how is it backing down or giving ground to be grieved that a man was murdered?
Even the best leaders in combat, in War…they don’t hate their enemies on the battlefield…hate makes us stupid and wicked.
If we live like Christ…the sinful world…in the left or right versions of it…will hate us and reject us.
We don’t hate back.
History confirms what the Bible teaches us…no human heart is beyond becoming full of hatred and even murder.
We can think John is over playing his hand, by equating hatred and murder…using the example of Cain killing his own brother.
But John is quoting his master, Jesus…who said the same thing.
We tend to believe that this stuff is for the dark souls that lurk in the shadows…it doesn’t really apply to the “normal” people we live and work around…doesn’t apply to us…we aren’t Nazis.
When the people you live and work around…hear of wealthy people dying in the ocean, or see a man stabbed to death in a park and think, “Yep, they deserved it.”…you are seeing the darkness that is possible for every human heart.
So, John gives this direct two-part challenge:
-Don’t be surprised when the world hates you.
-Meanwhile, you must love others, whether they hate you or love you back.
A lack of love, John writes is evidence of spiritual death.
Hate, John says, again, quoting his master Jesus…is murder.
John isn’t saying here that a murderer can’t be forgiven…Jesus prayed that those murdering him would be forgiven.
There have been people who have murdered whose hearts have been changed by the gospel…they have suffered terrible regret over what they had done.
He is stating the fact that no one with eternal life in them is going to go murder someone…no one who has eternal life in them, is going to actively continue to hate others.
Look again at 1 John 3:16…a practical application of the famous John 3:16.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.”
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. 1 John 3:16
Love is not, again…going along to get along.
Love is being willing to lay down your life for others…even if, especially if, they hate you.
*Then John brilliantly heads off the normal direction our minds might take.
“Of course, count me in, I’ll die for others…I’ll take a bullet for my friends, family, a stranger even…I’m willing to be persecuted for my faith.
Okay, great…will you be patient with the person right in front of you? Will you love and listen to the person who disagrees with you, politically? Will you be kind to the angry, unhappy waitress? Will you not curse the guy who cuts you off on Kellogg?
Will you love your spouse?
Taking a bullet for a friend or an enemy even…can be easier than being patient with them or serving them when it is inconvenient.
This is what John is getting at in verse 17.
17 If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him—how does God’s love reside in him?
‘It is easier to be enthusiastic about Humanity with a capital “H” than it is to love individual men and women, especially those who are uninteresting, exasperating, depraved, or otherwise unattractive. Loving everybody in general may be an excuse for loving nobody in particular.” GP Lewis
As I said before, John is enormously practical…he has no patience with theology that doesn’t make it into our actual lives.
Look at verse 18, he doesn’t say “You should” but rather “Let us”…he includes himself in this challenge.
18 Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.
Here is a summary of John’s teaching in this passage:
Hatred characterizes the world, whose prototype is Cain. It originates in the devil, issues in murder and is evidence of spiritual death. Love characterizes the church, whose prototype is Christ. It originates in God, issues in self-sacrifice, and is evidence of eternal life.
John Stott: Commentary on 1 John
The next paragraph begins and ends with “this is how we know.”
Remember, John wants his friends to have certainty, confidence.
I john 5 he will write, “I’ve written these things so you will know you have eternal life.”
The three tests, Truth test (who is Christ), Moral test (live holy like Christ), Love test (love others as Christ did) are given to help us increase our certainty.
With this in mind…certainty…John will address the problem of the condemning heart.
The problem of the uncertain heart.
Sometimes our hearts need assurance.
I recently spoke with a several people who lacked assurance of peace with God…they heard the gospel, understood the gospel…but their own hearts only condemned them.
What to do?
Maybe you feel continual guilt…for past or ongoing sins.
Maybe you “feel” like God hasn’t or wouldn’t save you or forgive you.
It could be that your conscience, what Paul says in Romans 2, this thing given by God to direct us to God…is warning you that you don’t have relationship with God…don’t ignore it, Him.
It could be that you are continuing in unrepentant sin and your “heart” is warning you to move back to a life of obedience to Christ.
Then, and this is what John is addressing here…it could be that your heart is simply “lying to you.”
In this case you must “believe what is real, regardless of what you feel.”
19 This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and will reassure our hearts before him 20 whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows all things.
Believing truth with our minds is how we silence the doubts of our hearts.
This really comes down to not believing “our minds” versus “our hearts” it is about believing God (what he has said) versus ourselves (what we currently feel).
Because in Scripture there is not a strong dichotomy between heart and mind…the heart is the real, thinking, choosing you.
There are many reasons we may feel or believe false condemnation.
1. Satan is called the accuser…he loves to attack our confidence in Christ.
-This undermines evangelism: “who am I to share the gospel, look at me.”
-Scripture says, “We don’t proclaim ourselves but Christ as Lord.”
-It undermines our efforts to change, our holiness (what difference does it make)
-It undermines our love for others (focus on self)
Satan accuses us and undermines our confidence.
2. Our own psychological/physiological state can lead to false condemnation
-We are spiritual/physical hybrids, we can suffer spiritual doubts because of physical and mental problems
-Depression, Illness, you name it…it can affect us.
-We can confuse sadness, or depression…for a lack of peace with God.
3. When we compare ourselves to others (our insides to their outsides)…we can lack assurance of peace with God.
-They look happy, holy, squared away…always at peace
-Look at me, I’m a mess.
*Like driving by and looking in the window of a home…warm glow of a light on a dark night, and then you build a scenario from that glance.
-They are happy in there, they don’t struggle, perfect marriage, kids…all from driving past a lighted window.
That’s what we do…we see, a glance at others…and build scenarios.
Stop it.
The right way to think about this is, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to all, and God is faithful, he will provide a way out so you can bear up under it.”
We are all, essentially, the same.
We don’t all struggle the same ways, but we all are the same in that we struggle.
Stop doing the compare and contrast, it was Cain’s trap…God has, and he will give you what you need to know and love him.
Again, John has a very practical strategy for dealing with the condemning heart.
*Get busy loving others in Jesus’ name…quit naval gazing and go start serving others.
Rarely, if ever, have I personally known someone who was actively engaged in the lives of others, rather than sitting alone and stewing over their own hearts…who wasn’t experiencing some level of joy and peace in Christ.
*My dad had times of spiritual struggle…sometimes really difficult struggle.
-He would pray, read, he believed…but then…he would write a list of people to serve, he would go out into the world and show practical love…and the struggle would not fully end, but it would lose its grip on his heart.
-Faith would win, not doubt…when he went and loved people.
-This was him the night he was hurt…two weeks before he died.
He was out on a Sunday night, loving a hurting family…this little girl was loving him back.
*Biblical belief and biblical action…belief Jesus is the Christ…go and love others like Christ did…this is how we deal with our uncertain hearts.
Look at verse 20, there is a kind of trial here:
1. Our hearts are the accuser
2. We are the defendants
3. God is the Judge
Our hearts accuse us, God has said in Christ he has accepted us…we must move forward with confidence in God’s verdict.
God is greater than our condemning hearts…will you believe him, or your own feelings and doubts?
Next John turns from the condemning heart to a heart at peace with God.
He will give two blessings of this heart at peace:
1. A confident relationship with God that is free and unrestricted.
2. Confidence access to God in prayer
21 Dear friends, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight.
1. We have confidence before God…we don’t have to “hide” from him, we come to him knowing we are fully accepted.
*Keep in mind, what John has written already:
-This doesn’t mean sins are not serious…they are.
We must not continue in them…but as we live, “messing up, fessing up” we can actually “move on”…that is, we approach God with complete confidence.
2. We can freely and confidently bring our requests to God. Prayer is unrestricted.
-This doesn’t mean that we get whatever we want, it means that we want what he wants.
“We obey his commands and do what pleases him.”
This isn’t “obey so you will get what you want”…this is about tuning our hearts to his will.
Jesus showed us how this works.
-He asked for what he wanted: “If possible, take this cup from me.”
-Surrendered to what his Father wanted: “Not my will, but yours be done.”
Let’s finish up
23 Now this is his command: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps his commands remains in him, and he in him. And the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he has given us.
That sounds like two commands, “believe in Jesus” and “love one other” but for John, and in reality…they are two sides of single coin.
If you love Christ, you will love others.
That has been his point in this entire passage.
If you want to increase your confidence, to live with real certainty…pay attention to these three things:
Truth test: Christ is the Savior of the world, he is the center of human history, God become flesh.
Moral test: You can become like him, pay attention to your life, be holy.
Social test: Love others as he loved them…this is how we know what love looks like, Jesus laid down his life for us, we are to lay down our lives for others.
Believe God not your own heart when it tells you other than what God has said in the gospel.
I read a book years ago called, “Get out of your mind and into your life.”
The book was OK, but the title is great.
John is saying move into the lives of others, loving them as Christ has loved you…as you do, your assurance of relationship with Christ will grow.
CONCLUSION/APPLICATION
John is writing about what is eternally old and perpetually new.
Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one…Yet I am writing you a new command. 1 John 2:7,9
He was addressing theological innovators…not people creatively applying old truth to new situations…but coming up with new stuff that wasn’t true.
We aren’t chasing the insecurity of passing relevance.
We want to live in the security of eternal permanence.
This doesn’t mean we are intentionally looking for irrelevancy…sometimes what we are believing and doing is not actually, biblically true…we just think it is.
Then there are some things we don’t know…but doesn’t mean we are not certain about what we do know.
But we must be humble both about what we are sure about and what we are not sure about.
What we are not sure about, we trust God with.
What we are sure about, we are sure about because God has revealed it to…not because we are smart or good.
We are to be sure about the gospel.
We are to be sure about our eternal relationship with God.
We are to be sure about our purpose, to grow in Christlikeness…to become like him in our moral character.
We can be certain because God in his mercy has given us certainty…now we must not be:
-Arrogant in our certainty
-We must not be grumpy or combative in our certainty
-Need not be embarrassed, or apologetic for having certainty…it was given to us, we aren’t special.
We are to be humble, grateful, and proactive in our certainty.
Certainty in that what we believe is the core truth of human history
Physicists have long looked for what has come to be called “The theory of everything.”
They haven’t found it…in fact after over a hundred years of debate and research by really smart people…they still don’t agree on the foundations of quantum physics.
The know it works…they can do the math…your computer or cell phone depends on it.
They just don’t agree on “why” it works.
One school of quantum physics is agnostic about why it works, but pragmatic about how it works… they say to those who want to know the “why”…”Shut up and do the math.”
The physicist who first thought up what is now called the “multi-verse” or many worlds interpretation…left off trying to figure out why and just went and made money off the “how” making a ton of money working for the government…doing the math and turning it to profit.
He used this money to drink, smoke, and eat excessively…he lived in an open marriage, having multiple affairs…and when he died at age 52, what was left of his broken family…as per his direct wishes…they put his ashes out with the garbage.
He was a committed atheist…there was no ultimate why for anything.
His theory of everything…meant nothing in the end.
His was terrible, empty, wasted life.
God has given us truth about what is real, the truth about everything…this is no theory…this is the revealed truth of God.
God has given us how we are to live our lives in line with that truth.
We should rejoice in the certainty of the gospel.
We must be humble, grateful, confident…there is no reason to be grumpy or insecure about having been told by God what the meaning of everything is.
You can expect to be hated by some if you live with this certainty…you don’t get to hate back…you are to manifest the love that this certainty requires of you.