Introduction
Good morning church, let us stand for the reading of the word
Scripture reading
1 John 3:16-18 16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters. 17 But whoever has worldly goods and sees his brother or sister in need, and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God remain in him? 18 Little children, let’s not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
That is the Word of God, it is able to give us insight into the mind of God. Let us pray.
Prayer
Lord, we are forever indebted to you for the immense love that you have shown to us. You laid down your love for us. This is the greatest form of love that we have ever seen. Our minds can’t even begin to fathom the fullness of your love, but thanks be to you because by the power of the Holy Spirit you have poured this love into our hearts. This morning we look to understand more about what this love looks like and how we can show it to each other. Help us love you more and more and help us love each other. Amen.
Palm Sunday introduction
Today is Palm Sunday. What that means is we today remember that great day when our Lord rode into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey. The scriptures identified Jesus in this event as the long awaited king of the Jews. Matthew 21 recites a prophecy by Zhechariah which expresses some attributes concerning this king, one of which is his gentleness and his lowliness. Jesus riding into the city on a donkey was his expression of coming in peace and not for war. This was Jesus’ expression of love to His people.
As we think about Palm Sunday this morning, I hope we can ponder about the love that our Great King has for us. And this is what this morning text is going to do for us.
John having reminded the church that they love one another back in verse 11, he now takes time to explain to the church what true love looks like.
It's easy for one to say that they love you, but how do we know for sure that this love is genuine. This is what John is instructing the church to identify. He first does this by showing his readers an example of true love in our King Jesus Christ, and then brings it over to the church and shows them how to identify and practice this kind of genuine love.
And there are 2 ways to determine true love: True Love’s Sacrifice and True Love’s Service. There are the two thoughts we are going to be dwelling on this morning, one, true love’s sacrifice and two, true love’s service.
Body
True Love’s Sacrifice
Jesus Example of sacrifice
Let's take a look at this first one. True love is known by its sacrifice. John opens this section by telling us that this is how we know true love, notice verse 16; we know love by this. He is clearly indicating that we are to test and see if this really is love, then we need to look at this test he is about to give. But notice that the test that he gives is not for us to look to our selves instead he urges us to look to Jesus as one who exemplifies true love.
John points us to Jesus with the words ‘That He laid down His life for us’. This is an interesting phrase that John is known to use a lot. In John 10, and the apostle quotes the words of Jesus he repeats this phrase up to 5 times. This expresses the sacrificial nature of Christ’s death.
This sacrifice was driven by Jesus’ love for us
In Ephesians 5:1 and 2 Paul writes therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us
In Galatians 2:20 Paul again writes I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me and the life that I now live I live by faith for the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
You see at the center of Christ’s sacrifice was His love for us.
Gospel Presentation
Dear congregation, I wonder if you sometimes take time to think about this great love that Jesus has for you. That Jesus’ death on the cross was for you. To save you from the slavery to sin, to set you free from the fear of death. To reconcile you to your Father in heaven.
If you are here and you have not believed in Jesus for your salvation I want you to understand that your sin has caused a separation between you and God. And God is calling everyone everywhere to believe in Jesus Chirst in order to restore your relationship with Him.
Do not be deceived, if you have not come to believe in Jesus for your salvation, you are enemies with God. I ask you to repent today, that is to change your mind about who you are and look to Jesus in faith and believe in Him, that he loves you that He lived a perfect life for you, that He died a sinner’s death for you, and that He was resurrected so that when you believe in Him you will be forgiven of all your sins and it will be as though He lived your life and you lived His.
If you believe in Jesus this morning, you will be called a child of God. You will have a restored relationship with your Father in heaven.
And for those of you who are believers, I urge you to think upon the love of Jesus Christ. This great love that is matchless and boundless. Jesus says in John 15:13 that greater love has no one seen but that one lays down his life for His brother. This is what Jesus did for us.
Trinitarian Love (Love of the Father, Son and Spirit)
As you think about this love, I hope you can see how this love is a trinitarian love. John clearly outlines the love of Jesus, that is God the Son, but friends, do you know that you are loved not only by the Son, but also by the Father and the Spirit.
Dear friend, think of how The Father loves you enough to call you His child. John says in the beginning of this Chapter, see how great a love that the father has shown us that we are called children of God. In Chapter 4 verse 10 he says this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent His son to be a propitiation for our sins. This was the Father’s only begotten Son. John 3:16 talks of God's love for the world that He sent His Only Son, John 16:27 Jesus says the Father Himself loves you. How much has God loved you to send His own Son to die for you. Paul writes in Romans 8 He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us how will He not with Him give you all things. This is the Father’s love for you, and it is seen in His sacrifice of His own Son.
Think of how God the Holy Spirit loves you. The spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son, think of how He washed you and regenerated you, how He made you into a new creation. Think of how he became the Seal and guarantee of your salvation. Dear friend, think about how the Spirit indwells you and how he intercedes for you in prayers. Think of how He guides you and leads you into all truth by pointing you to Jesus. Think of the Spirit’s sacrificial love in how he allows Himself to even be grieved because of our sin when we fall short, but then convicts us of sin and points us to the cross of Jesus Christ.
Dear congregation may I tell you now, you are loved immensely. God loves you dearly. So if you have not believed in Jesus, believe today, if you have, think and dwell upon his love, come to God in gratitude for the love of the Father, the Son and the love of the Spirit for you.
Loving Others
John then applies this love upon the believer and shows us what the response of the believer should be seeing that Jesus has sacrificially loved us. John says, in verse 16, that we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sister.
Now while we might not all be presented with this kind of opportunity to literally die for our brothers and sisters, we must however have this mind which was also in Christ.
Paul writing to the Philippians says in chapter 2 verse 3 do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than ourselves. He says do not merely look out for your own personal interests but also for the interest of others.
This is what John meant back in chapter 2 verse 6 when he says that the one who remains in Him must himself also walk just as He walked.
Dear brothers and sisters, as we look to Jesus Chrits’ sacrifice, as we look to his finish work on the cross, let us be imitators of Jesus, Let our love for one another be sacrificial.
True Love’s Service
John then zeros in into how this sacrifice plays out practically which brings us to our second point. The way by which we can test and practice true love is not only by love’s sacrifice but also by love’s service.
Jesus’ service of love
Jesus says in Matthew 20:28 the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. Jesus left us an example to serve one another. He washed the disciples' feet in John 13 to show how this true love is displayed in acts of service to others.
John opens the next verse, verse 17 by laying out a negative statement. We see it in that word but, that is to say that we love one another, but if you see this, then that is not true love.
John outlines something interesting here concerning the service of love. It starts with having (possessing) and moves to seeing (or perceiving).
Possessions of goods
Notice John says, if one has the world's goods. That is the possession. Now the world goods here does not necessarily mean that one has to be rich. This points to simple possession. That is to say, this affects all of us. Not just those with 9 figure salaries.
In order to look at love’s service it's important for us to see what we possess. This is like God asking Moses, "What do you have in your hand?" Beloved do you know that God will use what he has placed in your hands to give you opportunities to express genuine love to others by way of service? This calls us to look at what we have. All that we have comes from God.
God has a track record of using the small things He places in our hands to do great things. Think of the two fish and the 5 loaves of bread, think of the widow with the oil in Elijah's time.
God puts those things in your hands. Dear friend, think of your money, your time, your apartment, your house, your circles, your skills, your car, or motorcycle, or bajaji, think about your small business or your job. Do you know dear friend that the Lord has placed those things in your hands for a purpose? Do you think of those things as having come from God? Or do you think of them as fruits of your own strength? Moses in Deuteronomy 8 tells the children of Israel to remember that it is God who gives them power to generate wealth.
Perception of needs
John tells us something more, he says one then sees that others are in need. We see it in verse 17. This is perceiving those around you are in need. There is a way one can be so blind and so self centered they only see the problems that they are personally experiencing. They fail to see that God deliberately places people in our lives for us to be a blessing to. This calls for us to look outside ourselves. Deuteronomy 15:11 tells us that the poor will not cease to exist in the land.
This is even exemplified in this gospel that we preach, God saw that we were desperately in need. Jesus says come to me all you who are wary and heavy laden, and I shall give you rest. Jesus perceives a need for rest in sinful man.
The purpose of our worldly goods
John goes on to say that if we have been blessed by God with worldly goods and perceive those around us who are in need then we close up our hearts, then that’s evidence that that great love of God is not in us.
This is what was going on in the church with the false teachers and the false professors. These are people who claimed to be christian but were greedy and hypocritical in their love. John reminds the Christians that that is not who we are. He urges the believers to look to Christ and His sacrificial love for us. When we look to Christ, the Holy Spirit will produce the fruit of love in our hearts, to serve our brothers and sisters with the blessings that the Lord has blessed us with.
Paul to Timothy tells us that all that we have has been given to us by God and they are meant to be received with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4), he also tells Timothy to urge the rich in the congregation not to hope in their riches but instead to share with others (1 Timothy 6:17).
Our response to other’s needs
Closing our hearts from other’s needs exposes a dead love that results from a dead faith that James talks about in James 2:14-17.
Friends this is completely counter to what our culture's view is on wealth. The culture is more focused on accumulating wealth. In the kingdom culture Jesus warns about where we store our treasures for where our treasures are there our heart will be also. In Matthew 6 Jesus says we should store our treasures in heaven. The way we store up our treasures in heaven is by meeting the needs of others.
Conclusion
Loving with word and tongue
In verse 18 John once again employs this term that he has now been using to identify true believers, little children. John turns to these true believers, away from the false teachers and false professors and he wants to give them a message. The message is that they should watch how they love.
So not all love is genuine love. There’s this false love which is loving merely by words and tongue. This is talking the talk and not walking the walk. This is not how christians should be.
Loving in deed and truth
There’s a different kind of love. A true love, a love that comes straight from God. This is a love that loves in action, or deeds. Loving in deed means that our actions are in keeping with who we are. That is we are ones who have been shown love by God and are willing to cheerfully show love to those around us.
True love is also loving in truth. I believe loving in truth here is loving according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is loving by Grace through Faith in Christ.
Loving by grace means we love without expecting anything in return. This is a love that is not merely transactional. God loved us while we were still sinners not because we deserved this love. This is how we should love others. Not because they deserve to be loved, but rather because this is who we are.
Loving by faith means that we love as an act of faith. That is loving convictionally, loving whole heartedly, not holding anything back. Loving without hypocrisy.
Finally, loving in Christ means that we love the way Christ loved. We love sacrificially and we love in service of others.
This kind of love can appear as protecting from sin & stumbling, providing for needs, preaching the gospel, praying for others etc.
I wanna close with a quote by Herbert Lockyer. He looks at love as the greatest fruit of the Spirit and applies it to all other ones.
Joy is love exulting. Peace is love reposing. Long-suffering love enduring. Gentleness is love in refinement. Meekness is love with a bowed head. Goodness is love in action. Temperance is love obeying. Faith is love confiding. Herbert Lockyer, All Doctrines Of The Bible, p118