Slices
Prepare
Does a dog bark to become a dog, or because it is one? Does a fish swim to become a fish? Do we become Christians by how we act? Or are our actions the result of who we are in Christ?
Bible passage
Love and hatred for fellow believers
3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
Explore
How can we know that we are in Christ? Verses 3 to 6 make it clear. The love of God enters a life, and the Word of God comes in. Subsequently, there is a response as the person grows in their likeness to the God with whom they are in a relationship. John is not saying that obedience leads to knowing God. He is saying that knowing God leads to obedience.
So, do we have a great list of commandments to remember and obey? No. Jesus made it simple. His followers are to love. Love God and love your neighbour. Just as Jesus taught his disciples at the Last Supper (John 13:34,35). Now, if someone claims to love God but hates his brother or sister, then they are not living in the light as they claim to be (v 9).
As we see in verse 11, the problem is that when someone is still walking around in the darkness, they are blind to that reality and don’t know it.
Respond
Do you ever reverse ‘I am loved, so I obey’ into ‘I obey in order to be loved’? Ask God to reassure your heart about his love for you. Pray for God’s help to truly love your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Deeper Bible study
Lord, let your love fill me today. By the power of your Spirit, help me to walk in the light of that love.
The word ‘know’ here is significant, and John uses it four times in the first five verses. The early form of Gnosticism (from the Greek for ‘to know’), which was troubling the church in Asia, reveals why. John is concerned that those who claimed special knowledge about spiritual things then were not obeying the commands of Jesus. They taught, among other things, that Christ could not have come in the flesh as all matter was evil. This led to behavioural issues, as they denied the importance of the body. John brands them liars (v 4). It was fashionable a few years ago for some Christians to wear bracelets with the letters ‘WWJD’ engraved – ‘What would Jesus do?’ This was to cause the wearers to ask themselves that question before giving way to temptation. While the armbands have now disappeared, it is good to think about how Jesus would respond in any given situation, so that we might try to live as he did (v 6). This can only be achieved by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by knowledge or armbands.
John’s ‘new command’ (vs 7,8) is similar to that of Jesus, that we love one another.1 Jerome’s description of the elderly John being carried into the church at Ephesus saying, ‘Little children, love one another!’ reveals this too.2 He had grasped the centrality of love in the gospel message. As Christ loves us, so we must love one another. Hatred is no option for the believer. The false teachers of John’s day failed to grasp this, but we must not. Failing to love will mean walking around in darkness, blinded by hatred, as is sadly the case in some circles on social media. That will lead to stumbling and falls. Walking in the light means walking in love.
As you think about this day, ask yourself, ‘What would Jesus do?’ Ask for God’s help to live in his love and give it away to others, like Jesus did.
1 John 13:34,35 2 David Jackman, The Message of John’s Letters, BST, IVP, 1988, p11
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Amos 9; Revelation 9
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for Emma Price as she provides administrative support to the Amplify Young Evangelists Academy residentials. Pray that these will be times of great encouragement to the young people, as they are equipped and empowered to share their faith.