Hope Bible Church

Love of Fellowship
1 John 3:11-15
Pastor Andy Chulka

John 13:34-35: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Although John makes his first reference to the subject of loving our brother and sister in Christ at the end of verse 10, he gives his first words of exhortation in verse 11 and expands on it in the following verses.

1 John 3:10: By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Verse 11 is the “thesis statement” for this next section of Scripture and the following verses are the explanation, illustration, and application of loving one another.

Christians cultivate Christlike love for one another.

Christians cultivate Christlike love for one another by examining:

I. The Exhortation to Love (11)
II. The Exclusion of Love (12-13)
III. The Essentialness of Love (14-15)

While 1 John 3:11 begins the second half of the epistle, as we’re going to see, John doesn’t introduce a new theme.

John has been continuously reminding us of the tests of true faith in Christ: Theological (what we believe), Moral (how we live), and Social (how we love).

In the previous section we studied, John gave us the Moral test: do we practice the commands of Christ (2:3-4)?

John now returns to the Social test, do we love the brethren?

“Love” - agape (Greek): is the highest expression of love because it is a God-given love. God has given the Christian a new capacity for love. It is a supernatural love.

Jesus calls the love that is to be evident in the lives of his disciples “a new commandment”; it was a “command” to obey.

And it was “new” because with Christ’s coming, love was given a new pattern, based on his example of love.

John illustrates the love that identifies a Christian with a contrast between the hatred displayed by Cain and the love displayed by Christ (Cf. Genesis 4:1-16).

God accepted Abel’s because, as the author of Hebrews tells us:

Hebrews 11:4: “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.”

John Piper: “Cain's sacrifice was not [done in faith]. And Cain's lack of faith led to hatred for his brother which rose and rose until it finally issued forth in murder, a brutal murder. The Greek word [‘murdered’] literally means to ’cut his throat’ and could be translated ’slaughtered’ or ’butchered.‘ And for John that murder was evidence that Cain was of the evil one. Cain, sharing the nature of the devil, who, according to Jesus in John 8:44, ’was a murderer from the beginning.’"

Cain illustrates the truth of 1 John 3:8a, 10: “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”

Cain hated Abel because he was jealous of Abel’s righteous acts.

Verse 12b: And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.

John MacArthur: “Like Cain, the ungodly resent the righteous because, through their righteous actions, they expose the false beliefs and wicked practices of those who are evil (cf. Matthew. 14:3-5; Acts 6:8-14; 7:51-60).”

B. Assurance from application.

The Exclusion of Love in the world makes the world want to strike out at Christians.

Therefore, we should not be surprised that the world hates us.

Jesus warned his men of this truth, did he not?

John 15:18-19: If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

David Guzik: “We shouldn’t be surprised when the world hates us; but we should be surprised when there is hatred among the body of Christ.”

We should not be surprised that our Christlike love is met with Cainlike hatred.

1 Peter 4:12-13: Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones: agrees that a another "proof that we are Christians is that the world hates us… Neither does the world hate us because we are good. Let us be quite clear about that. The world does not hate good people; the world only hates Christian people; that is the subtle, vital distinction. If you are just a good person, the world, far from hating you, will admire you; it will cheer you. And what is true of the individual is true of the whole Church. The psychological explanation is quite simple. The world likes good people because it feels that they are a compliment to itself. So the world applauds them. But the world, we are told, hates Christians, not because they are hateful, not because they are good, not because they do good, but specifically because they are Christians, because they are of God, because they have Christ within them."

Ian Hamilton: “Just as Adam dragged us all down into alienation and death, so Jesus Christ lifts us up into fellowship and life (cf. Romans 6:4-5, 11).

Love is essential for our assurance of our relationship with Christ because it is evidence of our new life in Christ.

Our love for one another shows that we have passed the Social test of assurance.

This love does not come naturally to someone who has never been born again, it requires the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit of God.

Romans 5:5: God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Therefore, Christians will want fellowship with one another.

This love is also essential because without it, John tells us: “Whoever does not love abides in death” (14b).

John echoes Jesus’s words from Matthew 5:21-22:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”

I. Howard Marshall: “Hatred is incompatible with spiritual life. Put otherwise, the person who hates another wants to deprive him of life; such a person clearly does not belong to the realm of life.”