Why must we love one another as believers in Jesus Christ? Welcome back to our study of the book of 1 John. Last week , we started chapter 3 and talked about the privilege and the honor of being called a child of God. We also mentioned what being a child of God means in terms of the fruits of our lives. A child of God must live like a child of God, in other words no one who claims to be a child of God will make a practice of sinning. The biggest takeaway of that first section was understanding the implication of calling oneself a child of God. We also ended the section by talking about how it was impossible for a child of God to hate another child of God. And we briefly said that the only reason why a person would hate a child of God was because of righteousness. Today we’re going to talk in detail about the relationship between the mandate to love one another and the righteousness of God, our focus would be on 1 John 3:11-24.
Why Must We Love One Another( See video below)
Passage:
11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers,[a] that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God,[b] and God[c] in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
Scripture References:
The Presentation’s notes are available in the slideshow below
PS: I started Tayibs.com for the sole purpose of exploring difficult questions about the Christian faith that most of us shy away from.All the content generated on this website is thoroughly analyzed prior to being shared. And the site is run solely by myself, your generous support is very much appreciated
My name is Tayib Salami and I started Tayibs.com for the sole purpose of exploring difficult questions about the Christian faith that most of us shy away from. In 2017, I entered a very dark time in my life and it’s only by the grace of the Living God that I’m still alive today. It led me to really go deeper in my faith and consider a myriad of questions that I never thought about asking myself or others before. Welcome and enjoy the ride with me.