1 John Chapter 3 Pt. 5 Love God First, Then Love Others

God's message to us? Love one another.

1 John 3:11-12  For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12)  Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.  

Under the flawless guidance of God's Spirit, John gave us a timeless message. It is a message of truth from God that connects back to creation.

This timeless message is that we should love one another. Adam and Eve were to love one another. Their children were taught to love one another.

This is a universal message from God. The fall of man into sin ruined the innocence and moral purity enjoyed by Adam and Eve.

The command to "love one another" is followed by a negative example that is opposite of the love we are called to. 

Cain and Abel were the offspring of Adam and Eve. Yet, one son rose up and murdered the other son. 

Why did Cain kill Abel? Because God accepted the sacrifice that Abel offered and Cain's was rejected. 

Cain did not have any love for God or his family and this is borne out by his murderous act.

John was the disciple "whom Jesus loved." He had a tender heart and as he trusted the Lord Jesus, he loved Him, as we all ought to love Christ. 

Four times in John's gospel we read that he was the disciple "whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23; 20:2; 21:7; 21:20). 

Therefore, let us allow Jesus to teach us about the love that John is referring to. 

Love God first and foremost, then love one another. 

Matthew 22:37-40  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38)  This is the first and great commandment. 39)  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40)  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 

Jesus tells us where the focus of our first love must be. We must love the Lord our God first, and foremost, above all other love relationships. 

This is the first and greatest commandment in the holy law of Jehovah. 

Second, we are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves. This is a love that puts others' needs before our own.

We will always need to love God, so that our love for Him will shape our love toward others.

Jesus loved each of us to the uttermost. 

John 13:34-35  A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35)  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. 

Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another with the same love that He bestowed upon them. 

He loved them to the uttermost, all the way to the cross, that they might be born again into the family of God. 

Jesus loved them by washing their feet after the Passover supper. 

This was normally a function for a lowly household servant. Jesus did that act of love to give them a pattern of selfless, sacrificial love for one another. 

Thus, we love God first and foremost, and we love others before ourselves. In this manner, lost people, those who do not know God, will know that we are Christians, disciples of Jesus Christ.

We are commanded to continue in Christ's love and love one another. 

John 15:8-13  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. 9)  As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 10)  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 11)  These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 12)  This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13)  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 

John recorded Jesus' words in this text, and our Lord mentions love six times!

Jesus loves us with the same love that the Father has for His Son. He tells us we must continue in this love.

Keeping Christ's commandments is a demonstration of our love for Jesus.

Loving one another and showing our love to Jesus by keeping His commands will fill us up with joy in our hearts. Therefore, our Lord repeats the command to love one another. 

Don't be taken by surprise when the world hates us for His sake.

1 John 3:13-15  Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. 14)  We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. 15)  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 

John reminds us not to be taken by surprise because the world hates us.  Cain hated his brother because Abel's actions were right and accepted by God. 

Cain's offering was rejected by God because he offered a sacrifice from the ground, which was cursed by the fall of his parents. 

Cain knew that God required a spotless, innocent animal sacrifice, and the shedding of its blood, but he did not obey. 

In like manner, each Christian has passed from death to life; from condemnation to justification by God. Loving one another as Christ commands, is the mark of genuine faith in Christ.

This kind of Christian love for one another, condemns the wickedness and hatred that is so pervasive in the world today. Therefore, the world will hate us. 

Those who hate others to the point of committing murder, do not have the love of Christ in them.

The love of God was shown when He laid down His life for us. 

1 John 3:16  Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 

John's message to us in this text, connects back to his gospel in the text below. God's love for us was fully manifested, in that He laid down His life for us. 

The Holy Spirit used John to highlight the deity of Jesus Christ. John said that it is God who laid down His life for us. Let the gravity and sobering nature of the apostle's words sink in.

God laid down His life for us in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus said He had power to lay His life down and power to take it up again, speaking of His death and resurrection (John 10:17-18).

The book of Acts tells us that God purchased His church with His own blood (Acts 20:28).

John 3:16-18  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17)  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18)  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

John 3:16 makes sure that we know that it is God manifest in the flesh, Jesus Christ who died in our place on the cross. 

Repentant faith in Jesus Christ is what God requires from us and when we believe on Him, we shall be saved.

There is no other Savior. There is no other way of salvation. There is no other way to heaven. There is no other way to the Father. 

Christ alone laid down His life for us all. We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 

How? By giving our time, our care, our prayers, and our substance. By doing all that we can to share the gospel of Christ and eternal life.

Loving one another by meeting others needs when we are able to.

1 John 3:17  But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 

John provided a clear example of how we love one another. We may have plenty of material things to meet our basic needs for food, clothing and shelter.

John is showing us that when we see a brother who needs food, clothing or shelter, then such love demands that we help them. 

If we see their need and are able to meet that need, but we choose not to, how can we claim that the love of God dwells in us?

Faith without works is dead faith, a false profession of faith. 

James 2:14-17  What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15)  If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16)  And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17)  Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 

James also wrote about faith and works. If we profess faith in Christ, and we see a brother or sister in Christ with a need that we are able to meet, then we have a choice to make.

If we acknowledge their need but do not give of our own resources to help them, then our faith is a dead profession of faith. 

This is exactly the same point John makes when he urges us to love one another in tangible ways. 

Thoughts to Ponder...

Jesus commanded us to love one another. He also told us that we show our love for Him by keeping His commandments.

Let us pray and ask the Lord to forgive us where we have failed to love Him by keeping His commandments.

Let us ask for forgiveness if we have failed to love one another as Jesus and His disciples taught us to do. 

Let us remember that faith without works is dead faith. 

May the Lord find us faithful to be fulfilling Great Commission living.

Bob