Slices
Prepare
Have you ever experienced unkindness from people who claim to be Christians? Why does it hurt so much more when it comes from those who are supposed to be family?
Bible passage
More on love and hatred
11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: we should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,[a] if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 if our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: we know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Explore
Now the theme shifts from God is light to God is love. In verse 11, John refers to the upper room where Jesus gave his command to love one another (John 13:34,35). Human nature in this fallen world is to hate one another, so if the world hates you, don’t be surprised (vs 12–15). This was helpful clarification for these believers who were experiencing hateful attitudes from the group that had left – whose actions were not supporting their super-spiritual claims.
Christians do not have to guess what it means to love one another. We have the perfect example. Just as Jesus laid down his life for us, so we should practically, materially and sacrificially lay down what is ours for the sake of one another (vs 16–18).
How should we react if others hate us, even if they claim to be Christians? We should respond with Christlike love (vs 16,18). And we can have the assurance of our standing before God because we believe in Jesus and have the Holy Spirit in us (vs 19–24).
Respond
Imagine what it was like for Jesus to go to the cross and lay down his life in love for us. Pray that he would stir his love in our hearts for one another, and show us practically what that looks like today.
Deeper Bible study
Bless us, O Lord, with a love like yours, that repairs broken lives and restores fallen hopes, that refuses to ever give up.
Love is John’s central theme. It was revealed ‘from the beginning’ (v 11) – the source being Christ himself. Like Paul, John sees love as the partner of faith: ‘The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.’1 Yet, since the beginning of time, families and communities have been torn apart by the absence of love, even where faith has been present. John has previously drawn the contrast between the children of God and those of the devil (v 10) and he now presents two opposing champions, Cain and Christ. Cain was prepared to murder his brother, whereas Christ laid down his life for his. The first is the expression of hatred, the other the supreme example of God’s love, revealed in both words and actions. Whose side are we on?
John wants to inspire acts of justice in his readers. We need to believe and be saved,2 but he wants that faith to produce change and be marked by practical love, especially towards those in need. He recognises that heart-peace in God’s presence (v 19) is the fruit of a life of justice as well as the shalom of a relationship with God.3 We can only truly know we have passed from death to life when our faith is expressed in love (v 14).
God knows our hearts. He realises, as we should, how far short we fall of the high ground John is asking of us. We are not always loving. We want to be better at this than we have been. God, however, is greater than our hearts and he has provided for us, in Christ, full relief from condemnation and the power of his Spirit within.4 It is by the power of his Spirit that we dare hope for better actions ahead.5
Thank God that he has poured out his love into your heart by the power of his Spirit. Ask him for practical ways to share that love today.
1 Gal 5:6 2 1 John 5:13 3 Tim Keller, Generous Justice, Hodder & Stoughton, 2018, p177 4 Rom 8:12 5 Rom 5:5; 12:1
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Micah 1–3; Psalm 144
Pray for Scripture Union
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