6-3-2018 Everyone is Better Than Anyone 1 John 4:20-5:1

Back when communism divided Europe, there was a Protestant church in the northern section of Berlin whose front yard straddled the “Berlin wall”. The name of the Church was fairly ironic. It was the Church of the Reconciliation.

The Church of the Reconciliation had been abandoned just before the wall was built. The church property had a statue of Christ at the entrance, which was in East Berlin, while the front sidewalk was on the other side of the wall in the West. A 10-foot brick wall separated the property which stuck with the locals as a physical reminder of the division that happened within the walls of that particular church which eventually lead to the abandonment. We can only imagine the disillusionment that caused toward the Christian faith in the eyes of the locals, when a church named reconciliation could not even reconcile their own congregation.

Transition:

The feelings that these locals in Berlin had from this event in their history, might have been similar to the feelings that some locals of Ephesus could of had during the time that John wrote his first Epistle

Scripture Reading:

1 John 4:20–5:1 ESV

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.

Building off of the previous verses that we went through last week, the love that gives us confidence in the coming day of judgment is now in these verses being validated by our love for one another. This is some strong language John uses—especially verse 20: “hates his brother!” “he is a liar!” Not a whole lot of “beating around the bush” here! I’m sure that he didn’t really intend to offend anyone here. We could forgive him this once for venting right? well...

John has used the word “hate” four times already in his epistle using present tense indicative mood:

1John 2:9- The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates (present tense = continually) his brother is in the darkness until now…

1Jn 2:11- But the one who hates (present tense = continually) his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

1John 3:13- Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates (present tense = continually) you.

1 John 3:15- Everyone who hates (present tense = continually) his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

Well with the present tense indicative mood—what John is communicating is with those who hate, they hate on a regular, habitual basis. It could almost be translated, “everyone who is hating” instead of “everyone who hates” what this means is, in context, John is talking about those who have made it a pattern to despise fellow believers. He is not talking about when we have weak moments of brief anger toward one another.

Okay, hmm… perhaps then calling people a liar is just a fluke thing of John’s. Well not really...

This is the fourth of five times in this short letter that John describes a liar: three times referring to men and twice to God.

1Jn 1:10- If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

1Jn 2:4- The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him

1Jn 2:22- Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

1Jn 5:10- The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son.

Transition:

It is very likely John, as prompted by the Holy Spirit, purposed to catch the attention of his readers and of us today with this strong language in order to reveal the deception. And it is only when we recognize the deception can we remedy this inherent problem.

I. The Deception (v.20)

In this verse and verse 21, John affirms that an absence of love denies a relationship with God.

1 John 4:20 ESV

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

It is apparent that the false teachers in this region were claiming to love God in spite of their repugnant feelings for those who stayed true to the Gospel. So John again offers a test to apply.

But…is John saying that if we have hate for our brother that we are unsaved? ...Not exactly!

This failure to love does not necessarily mean a person is unregenerate, as with Peter who believed Christ but still denied Him. Peter’s three denials did not translate to Peter not being saved—it just meant not loving Christ. So too with what John is saying here that it just means that the person is not living according to what is true. Their testimony to the world is invalidated and so it will not recognize him or her as a disciple of Jesus (John 13:35).

It’s easy to deceive ourselves into thinking that we love God, when in fact we do not. Let’s pretend for a moment that this verse could actually be talking to us today (since we all know that we, ourselves, couldn’t possibly be guilty of any of this). Could it be that the church in America is largely rendered ineffective simply because American Christians are not loving each other as they ought? The world system which at its core opposes God has been able to replicate brotherly love to a certain extent. It is not too uncommon to see brotherly love extended to some at bars. The bar scene can easily be a group of friends who see each other on a very regular basis, and counsel each other while they eat together, and enjoy a quasi-fellowship time together—that is seen as love (whether genuine or not) by the world. Other groups can unite for a certain cause (some of these causes being very unbiblical and even atheism will rally causes) where the members treat each other like family, helping out other members by meeting their emergent needs in a moment’s notice and defending each other from attacks of their shared enemies.

So how do we measure up here at Grace? Are we visiting each other to eat with each other on a regular basis? Are we meeting the needs of those within the walls of this building? Now, I firmly believe that there are some here this morning that can confidently answer yes, while others here might answer “occasionally.” But those of you that can answer “yes” to this kind of fellowship, I will now ask, “Is it different, any deeper than what the world already provides?” Are you helping to meet the spiritual and emotional needs of those here in a way the world cannot provide or even counterfeit? If the answer were to be “no” for Grace, then I fear that we are no better than a social club who lies about loving God. But let the Glory be to God that it is not true for Grace Baptist Church. if you do think otherwise, then be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

I would even venture to say that those of us here that are more concerned about getting out of this service to get to lunch, then a real concern with the emotional needs of those sitting next to us who might have came in here this morning with a demeanor of worry or depression, then we are not living out love like we are called to. We cannot love comfort more than each other.

John will now explain why this type of person is a liar and not just self-deceived. He begins by stating the problem differently. Where he said this person “hates” his brother earlier, now that hatred is defined as “not loving.”

This is oddly familiar to Jesus’ own words:

Matthew 12:30 ESV

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

We see then, it doesn’t take you saying, even if it is just to yourself “I hate this person in my church or “I am totally against what this person is all about” to be considered hating in Jesus’ perspective. Any thought, act, or attitude toward another believer that is not done out of love is “essentially” hate. we are all essentially guilty of this from time to time and again in our passage in 1st John is directed toward the false teachers who habitually hate, but I don’t think it necessarily leaves us off the hook when we momentarily hate others as it is still sin.

Jesus is also telling us here in this Matthew passage: Be careful with those who refuse to gather with Christ and His people because they scatter- I think it includes causing others to scatter as well.

1 John 4:20 ESV

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

John Stott notes that "It is obviously easier to love and serve a visible human being than an invisible God, and if we fail in the easier task, it is absurd to claim success in the harder.

John Piper sums it up - "If you don't love your visible brother, then you can't be loving the invisible God."

It is easy to claim to love God when that love doesn’t cost anything more than weekly attendance at religious services. But the real test of a person’s love for God is how that person treats the people right in front of him or her—family members and fellow believers. People cannot truly love God while neglecting to love their Christian brothers and sisters as well.

So John is saying that genuine love for God necessarily will show itself in observable love for others. If you don’t practice sacrificial, committed love for others, you are revealing that you do not really love God.

Transition:

The take home here is that these false teachers were indeed deceiving themselves into believing they loved God enough. And them hating the true stewards of the gospel was acceptable in their eyes. So as we congregate each week, we should watch out for those in our church who may not love the others in the church. If you are guilty in sliding into hating someone here, John offers the simple fix in the next verse.

II. The Correction (v.21)

Verse 21 moves from the problem to the solution. We are never commanded something in Scripture if it is automatic or could not be done repeatedly.

1 John 4:21 ESV

21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

This verse summarizes the chapter! Agape Love is the non-counterfeitable evidence of a true believer. Hate is the evidence of a child of the evil one. The false teachers were dividing the flock and causing conflict because they claimed to have the agape love, yet they showed a disdain for true preachers of the gospel. God’s command to love our brother is so emphatically the command of the gospel that, if it is neglected, God is not loved at all, however zealous the claim to agape love may be.

“whoever loves God”

Here John takes us to God’s expectation of every recipient of His love. This includes every single believer out there — even the introverts!

This is the great commandment, on which the validity of the faith hangs, and, whatever we may think of the relation between seeing and loving, there is this Divine command to love, not only the invisible God, but the visible brother in whom the invisible God dwells. Sight may hinder as well as help; it is hard to love what is hideous. When someone comes here that gets on our nerves, that bugs us to death, that is inconsiderate and rude, he or she is the one (or ones) who we must endeavor to show the most love to. In those cases, when the worst of the worst comes through the sanctuary doors, let us remember this Divine command; let us remember the Spirit which even the most debased of our humanity has the same access to.

The love of God is that we keep his commandments (as we’ll see in a couple weeks ch. 5:3); but his command is that we love as he loved us. The only being, however, whom we can love with such a love is our brothers and sisters here right now, whom God has placed before us; ones whom we have seen even today.

Is really sad to think that this command bears repeating. In a perfect world, we would all love each other with the most love that we can muster.

“must also love his brother”

okay Pastor Josh, I hear you I hear you but now tell me, what does this love toward another brother look like? I’m glad you asked!

First, take care of yourself spiritually! Make sure your relationship, and your love for Chris, is exactly what it should be. As Jesus warns:

Matthew 7:5 ESV

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Once the log is totally removed, then you can love others biblically by

Meeting material needs

Affectionate greetings

Hospitality

Sympathizing with others

Rejoicing with others

Visiting the sick and caring for the sick

Supporting the weak and defenseless

Looking beyond the faults of others

Forgiving offenses quickly

Patience and Forbearing

Rebuking and teaching

So What? (5:1)

To the degree we love YHWH, directly correlates to the degree we love our brothers and sisters in the faith. This is yet again another test that John offers to discern a true believer from a hypocrite and a false teacher. I’ve heard of Pastors that are “good with their words, just not good with people.” As if somehow their profound preaching might excuse them from loving people. “They just don’t have people skills” The Apostle John would say that this ought not be! The genuine, healthy believer loves YHWH so much, that they love what Jesus loves: people!

1 John 5:1 ESV

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.

This latest test to discern whether a person is a true Christian, we must look at what that person truly believes about Jesus Christ. The true believer “believes that Jesus is the Christ.” The continuing activity of believing coupled with continuing love for other believers proves that a person is a child of God.

Belief that Jesus is the Christ proves that a person is a child of God. Those who believe this, then, love the Father, and by extension, love his children. Christians are a part of God’s family, with fellow believers as brothers and sisters. God determines who the other family members are. Believers are simply called to accept and love solely based on their love to YHWH.

As a love response to my Creator, my love must go forth towards those whom I see, as Jesus saw me when He first loved me. And my love must be what His love is—not an idle sentiment or barren sympathy, but a love that seeks them, and bears long with them, and waits longs hours and prays for their salvation; a love that gives freely and without hesitation; a love self-sacrificing, self-denying; a love that will lay down life itself so that they might be saved.

Conclusion:

I want to end with a pact, a creed of sorts from Henry Donald Maurice Spence:

Now, if any one earnestly desired to fulfil all this in his own life, he would go very far towards succeeding if he adopted and carried out the following principles of action:

1. “I will, by God’s help, for God’s sake, lay out myself to be the helper of mankind in any way in which I can advance their interests; and this plan in life shall take precedence of my own ease, comfort, and wealth; desiring to carry out the [Christian] motto, ‘As poor, yet making many rich.’ ”

2. The most truly Christ-like way to help others is to lead them to gain the power of so helping themselves that they no more may need another’s aid, but may become themselves, in their turn, helpers of others (Acts 3:6). That is not true love which so doles out charities as to keep the recipients in a perpetual state of dependence, if by wiser methods they could be raised above it.

3. In pursuing this method diligent inquiry must be made as to what evils afflict the people and retard their progress. We must ascertain whether they come from within or from without, and, in either case, what they are and how they come.

4. These causes of ill being ascertained, they must be traced to their source; whether health, or wealth, or morals, or religion be imperilled: whether they are traceable to the covetousness, greed, and love of power on the part of men in the higher ranks, or to lack of self-respect, of aim, of hope, of faith, and of a sense of right in the lower ranks.

5. Some specific external ills require an equally specific and special remedy, such as sanitary ills, overcrowding, etc.

6. In every case Christian philosophy requires that we attack the evils at their root, which is sin, however varied the forms in which it may rear its head.

7. Hence the supreme work of the Christian philanthropist who would lay himself out to help his brother man is to bring the love of God in Christ to bear upon his heart and conscience. In God’s love the desolate soul

(1) finds a home;

(2) learns its own worth;

(3) begins to love others;

(4) lives to help others.

And thus—thus, in letting God’s love in us work out effectively, Christian people have the one and only cure for all the ills of our race. In this direction much more remains to be done than Christians have ever yet attempted. May God make us loving and wise enough to work with him in blessing our age and race!