The Joy of Loving Others

John's Letters  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Loving people as God loves them is a joyful activity for the one who has been born again.

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Introduction

1 John 5:1-5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him. This is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God and obey his commands. For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden, because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith. Who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Loving People is Possible Because we Know God

We must understand how we come to faith in Jesus
1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him
You have been born of God
Rebirth comes before belief in God
nobody decides to be born
we do not have any knowledge of who He is, how beautiful he is until we have been born again
Belief is not a factual knowledge
even the demons believe
it is a Romans 10:9-10 kind of belief a belief that leads to action

9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.

Rebirth leads us to faith
not just any faith, but faith in Jesus Christ
that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one who came to take away the sins of the world
believing, calling anyone Christ at this time is a very dangerous thing
nobody is “cristos” the divine anointed one but Caesar.
This faith leads to a love of God
as our faith grows, our love of God grows
only when we see Jesus for who he truly is can we love him
As born again believers, we love as God loves, especially our brothers and sisters

Loving People Without Burden

Loving others sounds like a lot of work
I have said that loving others means messy hands
it means getting involved in the muck and mire of their life
it is not clean and easy, because life is not clean and easy
we live in a fallen broken world
1 John 5:2-3 This is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God and obey his commands. For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden,
v2 explains the last half of v1
how we know that we are doing what He is calling us to do
Loving Him and obeying his commands constitutes loving other believers
His commands are the measure of how we love people
are we failing, are we succeeding, look at if we are obeying his commands
John is not talking about the law
Matthew 23:4

They tie up heavy loads that are hard to carry and put them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves aren’t willing to lift a finger to move them

pharisees only want to pile more and more rules and laws on people
it props them up like they are some great group of people
it pushes people down and does not lift them to God
this is what we are like when we give people a list of rules to obey when we talk about Christ
when we push on them a religion that is hard and guilt ridden
you better act like this, do this or God will not be happy with you, God will not bless you anymore
as if your behavior, or the behavior of another saved you, or caused God to bless you in the first place
yet at the same time, we better know the commands that John is talking about
not difficult to figure out, he tells us in this letter 1 John 4:20-21

If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And we have this command from him: The one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.

this is the command… Love God and love people
This love is not burdensome, but JOY filled
our rebirth understanding of who Jesus is, gives us a desire to serve him
if you feel guilt, heaviness, or a burden to follow Jesus and obey his commands then you might be attempting to gain favor
if this is where we are, we do not understand the grace and love of God
there is no condition
we cannot clean ourselves up, keep ourselves clean
not by any work of our own
instead, our regenerated heart, born again heart desires to please God, finds joy in pleasing God
that is why the Psalmists over and over cry out about the joy of obedience

I delight to do your will, my God,

and your instruction is deep within me.”

the joy of serving the Lord, overflows to serving others
they can see our love for God in us
the feel the love of God in our service to them

Loving People More than the World

v4 explains obedience to the commands of God are not burdensome because we have overcome the world
1 John 5:4 because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith. 5 Who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
reminder of what the world is 1 John 2:15-16

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17

loving the world
lust of the flesh - luxury
lust of the eyes - satisfaction
pride of life - praise of yourself
Piper - lust of flesh and eyes are things that the world withholds from us, if we had them we would be happy. Pride of life, is look at the stuff I got from the world.
the world is anything that makes the commands of God burdensome
victory, overcoming the world, reveals the world as unsatisfying
We know we have been made one with Christ because there is nothing else we could have want
My Pastor when I felt called to the ministry… is there anything else in the world that you could do and be happy…
Seeing God like this… we cannot help but love others
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