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Joyful Fellowship with God and Man, Part 8: 10 Reasons to Love One Another

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There’s a lot of reasons why we should not love one another. People do all kinds of crazy things. They abandon us. They exclude us. They attack us. They disrespect us. Now, I’m just talking about the church here. We haven’t even begun to talk about the world!

Into the rough and tumble world of human relationships, John tells us repeatedly that we are “to love one another.” This is the command that they had all heard from the beginning. John, however, was not unaware of the challenges of human relationships inside and outside the church. In spite of that awareness, inspired by the Savior, he still believed in love and wanted to encourage the church to continue in love.

As a result, John presented a variety of reasons to encourage, energize, and empower them to love one another. We will consider this passage looking at 10 reasons to love one another.

1. We should love each other because God’s children love like God. We are born of God. God is the source of love. “Love is from God.” When we become God’s children, we get a heart like God’s. We have His image restored to us. “Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). If we are the children of God, then we should love like God, because that is our character. God has given us a renewed nature that enables us to love, and we should show that this is who we are for our own encouragement, for the blessing of others, and for the glory of God.

2. We should love each other because God is love. Many people claim to know God. However, John gives us an acid test to determine if we really know God and have fellowship with Him. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). If we love, then we know God. A person may be able to explain with great eloquence the details of theology, but the most eloquent expression is love. Without love, all of our knowledge will not profit us. Why? Because God is love. The Triune God shared a fellowship of love from all eternity within the Godhead between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He created the world out of love and so that the world could participate in that love. When we love, we show we really know and have fellowship with God.

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Joyful Fellowship with God and Man, Part 7: Resources for a New Community (1 John 3:19–4:6)

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When we look out on our world, a joyful community is not what we see. Nations are at each other’s throats. Within the nation, there is severe polarization. The church often seems hopelessly divided and unable to work together. Churches themselves can be nasty places. People get hurt, and they don’t come back. Families are ripped apart. Those who should be the greatest support become alienated from one another or do terrible things to one another. What hope is there for such situations?

We have the answer in this verse. It is prayer. We can “receive from him anything we ask” (1 John 3:22). There are endless resources in prayer. We should not look upon any situation outside of us and think, this is hopeless. God is greater than our challenges and is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or even imagine.

So, we are not helpless victims in the face of the evils and divisions of this world. We can ask and “receive from him anything we ask” (1 John 3:22). In this passage, there are two conditions that need to be fulfilled in order to have confidence before God. One is a heart of love for other people. The other is faith in Jesus Christ. Each present their own unique challenge, and we will consider the internal challenge to love and then the external challenge to faith. Finally, we will consider the goal of having a clear conscience before God.

The Internal Challenge
The internal challenge is to have a clear conscience before God. As we approach God, we need to remember that He is holy and righteous and pure. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we are to go before God, then our heart needs to be one that flees the darkness and pursues the light.

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Joyful Fellowship with God and Man, Part 6: Truly Living Is Truly Loving (1 John 3:11–18)

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What is life all about? There is no question that it is about loving God and serving Him. This is our first and highest priority. God is the Creator and Lord of the universe. He made all things for His glory.

However, the second great purpose is loving our neighbor, loving the people around us. When people become Christians, we often tell them that they need to go to church, read their Bible, and pray. However, there is another key element, if we take the Bible’s priorities seriously: learning to love. We should say, read the Bible, pray, and love everyone, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.

But what does it mean to love our brothers and sisters in Christ and the rest of humanity? How do we do it? This is the first lengthy section of instruction that God gives us in this letter on how to love. Why is this so important? That’s what we’ll see in our first point. Then, we will consider the opposite of love and the practice of love.

The Importance of Love
Why is love so important?

First, we see the importance of love in the priority of its teaching. John says that this is the message that they heard from the beginning. As soon as they heard about Jesus, they heard about His command to love each other.

John had said that this was not a new commandment but an old commandment. The command to love our neighbor as ourselves is found in Leviticus 19:18. It is actually imprinted on our hearts as well. We are made to love, and love is the natural state of humanity. Sin has marred it, but this makes a deformed humanity. However, the Bible and our hearts always call us back. That has been the teaching from the beginning.

Second, we see the importance of love in that it is the way of life. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death” (1 John 3:18). This is the way of life.

Now, here is the question that people often have, what about people who don’t love us? Should we love them? Jesus, of course, says, “Love your enemies.” There is a reason for this. Love is the way of life. Hatred is the way of death. Just because others choose the way of death does not mean that we should. We should always follow the way of life, joyful fellowship with God and man.

This is similar to the other metaphor John used for love. He said that whoever hates walks in darkness. Whoever loves walks in the light. Just because others walk in the darkness does not mean that we should. We should always walk in the light, even if others choose to walk in the darkness. Truly living is truly loving, even if others choose not to love us back.

Third, we see the importance of love in the example of Jesus. John says that loving our neighbor is an old commandment. There is another sense, however, in which it is a new commandment. It is new in that we are now to love as Jesus loved. We love in the way of His example. “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).

Jesus loved like no one else before. He loved His own by serving them, even washing their feet, and eventually dying for them. He loved his enemies like no one before, bearing with them, and praying that God would forgive even the ones who nailed him to the cross. This is love. It is love that is light that shines in the darkest darkness. That’s the example of Jesus.

The teaching of love for our neighbor is hugely important. It is the message from the beginning. It is the way of life. It is the way of Jesus.

The Opposite of Love
John not only tells us that we should pursue love of our brethren. He warns us not to fall into the opposite. We should not hate. “Do not be like Cain who belonged to the evil one and murdered his own brother” (1 John 3:11). Now, we may have never literally murdered anyone like Cain, but the root of murder is in the hearts of all of us. It is a spirit of hatred. “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life” (1 John 3:15).

Now, what is hate? In order to understand what hate is, we need to know what love is. Love is a desire for someone’s fellowship and well-being. This means, we want to connect with that person, and we want their best.

Hatred is the opposite. Hatred is when we do not desire someone’s fellowship and well-being. We don’t want to be around them or have no interest in them, and we don’t care about their well-being. In Cain’s case, we positively want to diminish it.

Why did Cain kill Abel? Because his deeds were evil, and Abel’s were good. What he tells them is that when they seek to live a godly life, people will feel the same way about them that Cain did about Abel. “Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you” (1 John 3:13). Christians should remember this.

On our part, we have passed from death to life. We know this by the fact that we love our brothers. However, we need to be on our guard! We must watch out that we do not have a cold heart towards people and an indifference to their needs. And this leads us to the final point. Love must be put into practice.

The Practice of Love
John says that love has to be put into practice. Jesus didn’t just say He loved people. He demonstrated in actions. The same should be true for us. “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has not pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” (1 John 3:17).

This conclusion is obvious if we understand what love is. Love is a desire for someone’s fellowship and well-being. If we truly desire people’s well-being, then we will want to see them prosper. If we can help them, we will.

Now, in our world, we know about needs all over the world. We can’t do everything for everybody. So, what should we do?

First, we have a responsibility toward our own. We should take care of our own things. As one author puts it, there is a principle of “his lamp still shines.” In other words, we maintain ourselves and have the things we need.

Second, we should trust God in giving love. God is going to take care of us, and He is going to lead us to give. I have found in my own life that God has made it clear when I should give, and I have followed what I believe is His leading. His demands have not been excessive. In addition, as I have given, He has always provided for me what I need to give. Read carefully through 2 Corinthians 9: “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God” (10–11).

Third, err on the side of generosity. You won’t regret it. God will take care of you. Now, I’m going to use an example from my own life to illustrate a point, not to boast. There was a Mongolian here this summer who loved the guitar. He had always wanted an electric guitar. I told him he could use mine for the summer, since I did not use it that much. At the end of the summer, I had heard how much he enjoyed it. So, I decided I would just give it to him. Now, here’s why I bring that up. I have not missed that electric guitar at all, even though it was a somewhat difficult choice to give it to him. However, as I think about this guy playing it over in Mongolia, it gives me a lot of joy. I would not have had that joy, if I had kept it. I probably would have regretted not giving it to him. That teaches me to err on the side of generosity.

Now, one more point I want to make about our situation here in the United Sates. We have an abundance of food and clothing in this land. We don’t see much, if any, extreme poverty, as international organizations describe it. However, there are still a lot of needs. There is need for support, encouragement, friendship, and community. That’s where we can show our love. We may not need to give people a meal who might otherwise not have one that day. We may not need to give people clothes who otherwise might not have any. However, there is a need to experience human connection without which we can be as poor as anyone without food or clothes. That’s how we can show love.

In reaching out to people to encourage them, we can heed the call of the Apostle John, “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

Conclusion
Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that I see you loving people. I see you caring about people. I see you meeting needs. You are not indifferent to the needs around you.

What I want to encourage you in is to do it more and more. Be more deliberate. Be more wise. Be more loving.

Here’s the key takeaway from the sermon. As you think about the Christian life, think, Word, prayer, and love. Don’t think about just those actions that relate to God but also loving those around you. Think of fellowship. Think of the needs of others. That’s the transformation in our thinking we need. Our goal in our Christian life should be to be experts in biblical knowledge and also experts in human relationships. That’s how God is calling us to think here.

That is the way that Jesus is working out His life in us. That is the way He taught us through His example. “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” (1 John 3:16). Amen.

Benediction: every day, we have opportunities to live like Jesus. We have people all around us. We should welcome the opportunity. We should welcome each human being we meet as an opportunity to exercise love for our neighbor. That is our calling as Christians. That is what it means to live like Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. Amen.

________

Photo by juan pablo rodriguez on Unsplash

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Why Jesus Came (1 John 3:1–10)

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Where do all the problems of the world come from? Everyone has their theory. Times can be good, people say, if we have less or more government. Others believe it is lack of food, lack of security, lack of job opportunities, and so on. All of these things can be real problems, to be sure. However, the Bible teaches us that the root of our problems goes beyond these things. It says that our basic problem is the rupture in the relationship between God and human beings.

The word that the Bible generally uses for this problem is sin. Sin is the rupture in the relationship between God and man. It is life that is not the way it’s supposed to be, as theologian Cornelius Plantinga put it. Out of this rupture comes all of our internal struggles and all the injustices and inhumanity of man to man.

When you see this problem, you see why the Bible gives the solution that it does. The solution is that someone needs to bridge the gap, a mediator, a go between. That’s who Jesus is. He is the God-man who has come to bring restoration to a lost world. So, let’s consider the message of the Bible summarized in 1 John 3:1-10. We will see the need for Jesus’ coming, the purpose of Jesus’ coming, and the result of Jesus’ coming.

The Need for Jesus’ Coming
As noted, the reason for Jesus’ coming is because of sin. God is the Lord of the universe, and He has the right to command us. We owe Him all things. To obey Him is to live as we were meant to live in accordance with the way things were meant to be.

Sin is living contrary to the reality of God’s lordship over the world. It is living as if we were a law unto ourselves, as if God did not exist and we were the masters. “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). What is the law? That we would love, serve, and worship God and that we would live in harmony with our neighbor in accordance with the order that God has established, living honest, productive, kind, and just lives.

Another word that is used to describe this disorder and disruption between God and man is unrighteousness. To live as a righteous person is to live in a way that seeks the interests of God and the interests of our neighbor. To live in a way that we are concerned about our community in general and the poor and those in need is to live righteously. When we focus on ourselves and what is best only for us and our most immediate concerns, it is unrighteousness.

This sort of living is rampant. It is not only that we do wrong to others, but it is a lack of concern for God and His glory and for the good of others. This is sin as well. It puts us and our own concerns at the center of the universe rather than God and His will.

That people live unrighteous lives is true and obvious all around us. As theologian Reinhold Niebuhr put it, sin is the only empirically verifiable doctrine of Scripture. That doesn’t mean that the others aren’t verifiable. It’s just that we can look around and see it is true.

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Joyful Fellowship with God and Man, Part 4: Keeping at It (1 John 2:15–29)

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I had the privilege a couple of weeks ago of visiting with a missionary to Japan. He had spent a long time of preparation to get him to the place where he now is. He is now ready to plant a church. One of the obstacles to planting a church in Japan was that he had to learn Japanese, which is a very complicated language that is very different from English. He spent 50 hours a week in language school for a year! One thing he realized was that learning Japanese was like learning English. It just took time. He just had to keep at it.

And so many good things in life are like that. To really enjoy it and get better at it, it just takes time. There are two problems with this. First, we can’t do everything. We can’t enjoy everything or be good at everything. We have to focus. We can’t wait too long to choose, either, because time is short. The second is that many things keep us from keeping at it. Some are inside us. Others are outside of us.

One of the most important things that we can do with our lives is joyful fellowship with God and man. There is really no more important pursuit than this. Without it, everything else loses its value. This is the heart of life, to know and fellowship with God and the people He has made. However, in order to enjoy this fellowship, there is one simple thing we absolutely must do: keep at it. This is hard because there are things things that throw us off our game and keep us from keeping at it. Some of those are inside us. Some of those are outside us. Fortunately, we are not left without resources. We have some amazing resources to enable us to keep at it. So, those will be the four ways we will look at this theme of keeping at it: the command, the internal and external challenges, and the resources.

The Command to Keep at It
The key to this section is the command that God gives us to keep at it, to continue in what we have received. John writes, “And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming” (1 John 2:28). Keeping at it means keeping in Him. This means that we continue in fellowship with Him. John tells us to continue in Him so that we will be ready when He comes again. Now, whether we are alive when He comes again or whether we die and go to meet Him, the goal is that we continue with Him in such a way that we are living in fellowship with Him on earth and are ready to simply transition to fellowship with Him in heaven.

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Joyful Fellowship with God & Man, Part 3: Obedience & Love (1 John 2:3-14)

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How do we live in joyful fellowship with God and man? That’s the question that John answers in this book. He wrote this letter so that its readers might have fellowship with the Apostles who have fellowship with the Father and the Son. He wants a community living in joyful fellowship with one another.

So, what does it mean to really live in fellowship with God on a daily basis? The passage before us gives us a significant part of the answer. It means to live in obedience to God’s commands and to love our neighbor. That’s the first two points that we will consider in this sermon. The third will be the encouragement that he gives them that they are living in fellowship with God in verses 12-14. So, let’s look at each of these things in turn as we consider what it means to live in joyful fellowship with God and man.

Obedience
Anyone who lives in fellowship with God is going to obey His commands. There is no fellowship with God apart from obedience. “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person” (1 John 2:3–4). The word used here for “to know God” means more than just knowledge. It means knowledge that changes us. We might say, “if we really get who God is . . .” It also means not just knowing about God but actually letting that love change our hearts. To really know God and have fellowship with Him is to keep His commands. Anyone who claims to know the Lord but does not keep His commands is not telling the truth.

When we think about it, this makes complete sense. God is our Creator. He made us. He is the Lord of the universe. It exists from Him, through Him, and for Him. We have nothing but what He gives us. It makes complete sense that if He tells us to do something we would do it.

Now, people today fear the idea of commands. We are almost ready to do the opposite if someone commands us to do something. That is in part because of our own anxiety. We fear that what someone tells us to do will destroy us. We fear that we will lose ourselves. However, when it comes to God, we don’t need to fear this. We know that what God commands us will bring us life. There is nothing that He tells us to do that will ultimately harm us, even though it may be hard in the moment. His commands are life. We will not lose ourselves. We will find ourselves in obedience to Him.

We should also note that obeying God’s commands is the fruit and not the root of our relationship with God. He does not say that we obey God’s commands in order to have a relationship with God. He says, we have a relationship with God, and this means that we will obey the commands of God. It is the fruit of our relationship with Christ and not the root of it. It is so sure that the relationship with God will be one where we obey His commands that we can tell that we have that relationship with God from the fact that we obey His commands just like we can know an apple tree from the fact that apples are growing on it. It’s easy to tell.

Does this mean that we obey God’s commands perfectly? No. Don’t forget what we just considered. John wrote this so that we would not sin. However, if anyone sins, then we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ places His sacrifice for our sins over against our sin. The result is that God is faithful and just to forgive us. If it is not perfection, then what does it mean to obey the commands of God? What this means is that the direction of our lives is in obedience to God’s commands, that we desire to keep them, and that we are grieved and repent when we do not. That’s what it means to keep God’s commands in this context.

Now, what does it mean to obey God’s commands?

1. What are God’s explicit commands? What are the things that God tells us to do? We have the Ten Commandments. We have Jesus’ exposition of it in the Sermon on the Mount. We have summaries of God’s commands in Romans 12. We should know these well.

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Fellowship with God & Man, Part 2: What If We Sin? (1 John 1:4–2:2)

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I’ve seen it so many times. Someone has been struggling with sin for a long time, and then they make the resolution. They are going to walk in the light and turn away from the darkness. They know they have done wrong. They are committed to doing right. They are excited. It’s a new way of life. They are moving forward. They have put the old way behind them.

Only, that’s not how it works out. They go back. They fall into the same old sin. They are devastated and begin to despair. How could this happen when they had resolved to do what was right? They feel shame because they failed again. And again. And again. And again.

What are they supposed to do? How does such a person live in joyful fellowship with God and man? This person may sound familiar. If so, it’s because anyone who has been a Christian for a long period of time has probably experienced falling into sin in spite of his resolution. So, the question is, what is that person supposed to do when he falls into sin? What are we supposed to do?

I want you to fix this passage in your mind because it is a resource that you can go to again and again and again when you find yourself overcome by the darkness and falling into sin. This passage is a refuge for those who’ve failed and who feel shame and condemnation.

Walking in the Light
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). What a beautiful picture of God. It’s so clear that it hardly needs explanation. He is the one who is light without any darkness. It’s a powerful image that shows how blessed, how wise, how holy, and how joyful God is. God is absolutely perfect without any imperfection whatsoever.

So, what does this mean for fellowship with God? The conclusion should be relatively obvious. If we want to have fellowship with Him, then we must walk in the light as He is in the light. In fact, as John says, “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth” (1 John 1:6). It is one thing to claim to have fellowship with God. It is another thing to actually have it. Many people claim it, but not all of them have it. If we have this fellowship, then we must walk in the light as He is in the light.

Now, what does it mean to walk in the light? To walk in the light means something similar to what it means for God. First, walking in the light means that we find our light, joy, and life in God Himself and in His Son Jesus Christ. This is what Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So, to walk in His light is to be enlightened by Jesus Himself.

Second, walking in the light means that we seek to know the truth that He has revealed to us and to walk in His wisdom.

Third, walking in the light means that we seek to walk in holiness and purity. We should try to have everything in our lives aligned with God’s purposes. That’s what purity means. That’s what holiness means.

Fourth, walking in the light means that we also have fellowship with one another. Notice: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another . . .” (1 John 1:7). Those who walk in the light not only enjoy fellowship with God but open up the door to fellowship with human beings. We will explore this more in later sermons.

Does walking in the light mean that we have no darkness in us at all? No, we still have sin, but Jesus cleanses us and purifies us from all sin. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all or every sin” (1 John 1:7). “All” here does not mean every sin intensively as if we have no sin at all, as we shall see, but rather all extensively. What that means, please note, is that there is no sin so great that the the blood of Jesus cannot cleanse it.

And from there, John leads us to a greater consideration of the darkness that still remains in us.

Confronting the Darkness
John believes that we can walk in the light and still have darkness present with us. In fact, if anyone say they have no darkness within them, they are completely deceived. Listen to what he says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. . . . If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8, 10). John firmly shuts the door on any sort of perfectionism. Anything else we study in this book has to take into account this truth: sin still remains in the believer.

This is such an important truth for us to recognize. It should humble us, but we can easily forget it. People are always shocked to find that there is sin within the church as well as outside of it. Some of this comes from the fact that there are people who say they know God but actually are still in the darkness. However, even if the church was composed 100% of true believers, there would still be sin within the church. There is always some corruption in this life. We should never look at where we are and say that it can’t be better, but we should also never look at where we are and say that we have arrived. We are always on the way. There is always some imperfection and some sin remaining within us.

We have to especially be on guard when there is some obvious sin in the world like abortion, racism, or sexual immorality. It’s easy to look at clear sins outside of us and compare ourselves to other people. We must always remember that darkness remains within us, and the fact that others walk in darkness greater than our own in no way excuses our own darkness. That’s what we have to be really careful about in our polarized situation in our nation. It’s easy to become focused on the sins of the other side.

So, what are we to do? We should confess our sins. That means we should acknowledge our sinfulness in general and in particular. I have been using the Book of Common Prayer as an aid to my devotional life. I highly recommend it. There is a form for Morning and Evening Prayer services. At the beginning of each one, there is a confession of sin and a declaration of forgiveness of sins. Every morning. Every night. It’s worth thinking about. This is what Jesus encourages us to do when He tells us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

And what happens if we acknowledge our sinfulness and confess our sins? Here’s the glorious message: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). What a glorious word!! Praise be to God. All we have to do is acknowledge it, and it will be dealt with. As one friend said to me when I confessed a sin to him one time, God will not bring it up again. It’s over.

Our Hope When We Sin
And how is it that God can forgive us so easily and readily? Because we have an advocate with the Father. We have someone who pleads our case.

Notice what John says so beautifully in 1 John 2:1. He says, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.” We should do all in our power to avoid sin and constantly seek God’s grace that He would lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. We do not want to sin.

However, we know that we will fall into sins, sometimes terrible sins. Then, what are we to do? “But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” We have someone to plead our case. Now, I want you to pay very careful attention to these words. Fix them in your minds and hearts. Get what is said here. Think about it. What would we expect it to say? If anyone does not sin, THEN we have an advocate with the Father. That’s what would make sense. That’s the case that Jesus would want to argue, it would seem to us. But no, it says this: if we do sin, if we commit the crime, THEN we have an advocate! How in the world can this be?

The answer: because Jesus has taken it upon Himself to deal with that sin. He is a propitiatory sacrifice. His sacrifice turns away the wrath of God because the punishment He suffered is more than adequate as a substitute for the punishment we deserve. It is fully sufficient to cover our sin and indeed the sin of the whole world, as John says. There is no sin too great that it could be so bad that the blood of the Son of God could not cover it. That’s the amazing truth! He pleads our case. As Charles Wesley put it so well:

Five bleeding wounds He bears,
Received on Calvary;
They pour effectual pray’rs,
They strongly plead for me:
“Forgive him, O forgive, ” they cry,
“Forgive him, O forgive, ” they cry,
“Nor let that ransomed sinner die!”

That’s what Jesus is doing before the throne of God.

And, so, dear friends, we are called to walk in the light. We do not want to sin. That should always be our heart.

But if we do? This is what I want you to do with this sermon. I want you to take the truths of this passage and keep them with you. When the weight of sin comes upon you, I want you to remember that when you sin, you have an advocate! Not when you don’t sin but when you sin! That advocate is Jesus Christ the Righteous One! I want you to remind yourself of this, and I want you to remind others of this truth when they confess their sins to you.

The glorious truth is that no sin whatsoever can keep us from walking in the light and experiencing God’s love because He is faithful to His promises and completely righteous. He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Hallelujah! Amen.

Benediction: My friends, our goal this week is not to sin. We want to walk in the light just as He is in the light.

But when the darkness comes upon us, and we sour sin, remember! We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One! He is pleading our case, taking into full account our sins against Him.

Because of His propitiatory sacrifice, we can stand completely forgiven and righteous before the throne of God! So, go in peace. Your sins are forgiven you. Your faith has saved you. Amen.

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The Joyful Fellowship of God and Man (1 John 1:1-4)


[Listen to an audio version here]

Humans are made to connect with God and other people. We need this fellowship, and it is hugely important.

If there is one thing that we have learned from this past year it is that people need fellowship. It’s easy to take it for granted. But when we lack it, we can really feel it. Last year, I went to the Billy Graham Training Center in October with my wife. Several people had not been in a public worship setting since March. They said, we didn’t realize how much we missed it, how good it is to be in fellowship with other people.

We need people, and we need to experience them face to face. It is fine to make calls and write letters and texts when we need to, but it is that face to face fellowship that is especially crucial and important.

The Proclamation of God Come in the Flesh
That’s the sort of fellowship that John had with Jesus. He proclaimed Jesus who was the one “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched” (1 John 1:1). When I hear this, I am reminded of Jesus sitting with John at the last supper. At the last supper, John was reclining right next to Jesus. In the Middle East, people often eat sitting or reclining on the floor. John was right next to Jesus eating with him. That’s how real Jesus was and is. He says, “we have heard . . . we have seen . . . we have looked at and . . . have touched.” Jesus was and is a real human being.

The most amazing thing is that they believed that this Jesus was something much more than a mere man. He existed from the beginning. They believed that this Jesus whom they touched, saw, and heard had existed long before He ever became a human being. He had always been there. Before He became a human being, Jesus was “with the Father.” He did not begin to exist when He was born, but the one who already existed “appeared” in time and became a human that people could see, touch, and hear.

John has two words that He uses to describe Him here. The first is the “Word” or the logos. For many of the ancient philosophers, logos was the eternal principle of reason in the divine mind that every person shared in to a degree. It was the principle of creation. It was the pattern of everything. The Jews also used this word and had a similar concept. They saw the logos principle in that God spoke and creation came into being. So, when the early Christians looked for a way to think about who Jesus was, they realized that logos or “the Word” could be one helpful term to explain who Jesus is.

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Our First Priority: What Loving God Looks Like (Dt. 6:4–9, part 4)

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Whenever we love anything, it comes to our mind readily. Theologian Thomas Watson said well, “He who is in love, his thoughts are ever upon the object.” Think of how many songs and poems have been written about love. Love captivates the heart and leads us to song.

If we think about that, it should not be too hard for us to think about what it looks like when someone loves God. However, Moses does not leave it to our imagination. He fleshes out here what it means to love God. We know God through creation, but we also know God through His Word. What we do with His Word is an indicator of our love for God. God makes it about His Word. First, we want to see what the presence of the Word should be in our lives. Then, we’ll try to understand the connection between the Word and our Love. Third, we will see that our love is indicated by the proclamation of the Word out of love.

The Presence of the Word in Our Lives
Immediately after Moses had commanded the people to love the Lord their God with all their heart and soul and strength, he said this, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts” (Dt. 6:6). What this means is that the Word of God should not only be something we hear, but it should go down deep into our hearts. This is one of the most important ways we show our love for God.

Now, how does this happen? First, we have to hear the commandments of God. The commandments will not be on our hearts if we don’t listen to them. In our case, we can also read them. In those days, they did not all have a copy of the Word of God, but we do. There is no excuse for not reading or listening to the Word of God on a regular basis, at least daily! We have it in great abundance. We have apps to remind us. We have cheap copies of the Word of God. If we don’t like to read, there are innumerable ways to listen to the Bible each day.

Here is what God says, if you love me, you need to have my commandments on your hearts. How can you say that you love Him, if you make no effort to know what He is saying to the world?

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Our First Priority: What It Means to Love (Dt. 6:4–9, Part 3)

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Why do we like love stories so much? Because this world is about love. We are made to love. Our life is fulfilled through love. That’s where the meaning is. When we are facing the end of our lives, what is it we want most? We want the people we love around us. We may not reflect on it, but that’s really what gives our life joy and meaning.

The Bible is all about love. That’s what we learn in this passage. The teachers of the law said that this was the most important passage. The Jews would write it down and put it in little boxes and say it twice a day. Jesus said that this was what the Old Testament was all about, loving God and our neighbor.

But what does it really mean to love? That’s what we want to try and understand by considering verse 5 in the context of the book of Deuteronomy and applying it to our own lives. Our goal is to help us understand what it means to really love God and how we can do it better. By extension, this will also help us understand what love is in relationship to other people. We are going to look at this in three parts. First, let’s try to understand the word love. Then, we will try to understand what it means to love with all our heart and soul. Third, we will consider what it means to love with all our strength.

What It Means to Love
Deuteronomy gives us the greatest commandment in the Bible. This is contained in our passage. However, what’s interesting is that love in the book of Deuteronomy primarily refers to God’s love for His people and only secondarily to our love for Him. Moses speaks much more of God’s love toward us than our love toward Him.

What this means is that if we are going to understand what it means to love, we should understand what it means that God loves us. That will teach us how to love Him. So, what does it mean that God loves us?

First, it means that God pays attention to His people. Listen to Dt. 4:37, “Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength . . .” God loved them and chose them and thought about them. He saw them in Egypt and paid attention to their situation. Why? Because He loved them and chose them. So, He took an interest in them and in their situation. He thought about them. He took notice of them.

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