'The Test of Brotherly Love'
1 John 2:7-11 September 24, 1989 (Series on 1 John: No. 5)
We have said that John will give us three great tests by which to measure the
genuineness of ours or any person's profession of being a Christian, three tests by which
to distinguish a true and living faith in Christ from its counterfeit. Each of these three
tests, he introduces in chapter 2, and each he will discuss in greater detail in the
remainder of the letter. Last week we considered the first of these three tests, which
John introduces in vv 3-6: the test of obedience to God's commandments. Today we come to
the second, which is the test of brotherly love, of love for others in the church.
Now, it is surely proper to say that this is John's second test; that is the way he
treats 'brotherly love'; as a second mark of genuine Christianity next to obedience. But,
John is aware and we should be too, that love, in fact, is obedience, and that, in
another way, these are really just two different aspects of that fidelity to Christ which
is the great mark of genuineness in spiritual life. John himself, in his second
letter, will say, in verse 6: 'I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we
walk in obedience to his commands.'
So long, then, as we do not think of obedience and love as separate things, but as
belonging together, it is possible to treat obedience as one subject and love as another.
Now John speaks of this love, paradoxically, as both an old commandment and a new
commandment. You remember that John, in his Gospel 13:34, records Jesus as telling his
disciples: 'A new command I give you: Love one another.' Well, there was nothing new about
the command to love one another. Leviticus 19:18 reads: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
Jesus told the Pharisees that loving your neighbor was the second of the two greatest
commandments of the law of Moses. But, in another sense it could be said to be a new
command because of the new depth of meaning and the new power which Jesus invested in that
commandment by his own example and his own laying down of his life for his people. That's
what John seems to be referring to when in verse 8 he writes: 'Yet I am writing to you a
new command: its truth is seen in him.
And then further, when he says that the truth of this new command is further seen 'in
you' he seems to be saying that this ancient command can also be said to be new because of
the always fresh realization of the life of brotherly love in the hearts and behavior of
Christians. As Robert Candlish put it, in these lovely words: 'though doctrinal
Christianity is always old, [experiential] Christianity is always new.'
This is a second great test, says John, that we love one another in the church. A
person cannot claim to live in the light--that is, he or she cannot claim to walk with God
and have fellowship with God--if he or she does not love the brethren. Of course, it is
quite easy to claim--and many do so claim--to love God. Love for God is an inward,
invisible commitment. Who is to know whether you do or not? Who can tell?
But, says John, in the kingdom of God, true love, the love that the Holy Spirit gives
and nurtures in those he has made new creations in Christ, that love always expresses
itself as well to men as to God; indeed, love to God expresses itself as love to men. Love
for God and for Christian brothers and sisters are but two sides of the same coin; one is
never present without the other. So, it is possible to measure, to test, to authenticate
one's claim to love God, by examining his practice of love for the saints.
And John minces no words here. There is but this single alternative--another reason why
this test is so useful and so revealing. One either loves his or her brothers and sisters
or he or she hates them. There is no middle ground, no neutrality. This is so for two
reasons.
First, the Bible minces no words about our hearts and our behavior. Much of what we
think of others and what we speak about others is real hatred. We would deny it and say it
is something else or less: but it is not. Those who in some way have not worshipped us as
we feel we deserve, have not served us as we think they should have; or those who gain the
affection, or the honor, or the status, or the reputation, that we have wished for
ourselves; or those who irritate us, or cause us work--when we think ill of them, or speak
ill of them--however disguised our ill-will may be--or do them harm or fail to do them
good: that is all hatred in God's eyes, nothing less.
But, it is also hatred simply to ignore or to be indifferent to your brothers and
sisters to whom you owe the obligations of love. Withholding love is also hatred in the
Bible. Such are the high standards of God's own magnificent love.
And then, John finishes his brief paragraph by saying that love is not only a measure
of true faith, not only a characteristic of those who walk in the light; but it also and
further contributes to the light in which we walk. If we are loving people; if we practice
love, he writes in v. 10; we will see more clearly how to live; know better what God
expects of us; our consciences will direct us more unerringly to the good; and we will
desire more and more perfectly that which God desires for us. Hatred distorts a person's
perspective; love causes him to think straight and to act wisely and beautifully.
That is John's introduction of the test of love in these few verses and his
anticipation of the further exposition of love which will come in chapters 3 and 4.
So, we will have much more to say about this most fundamental Christian ethic and
lifestyle--that of brotherly love--as we come to John's more extensive discussion later
on.
This morning, I want to remind you of what this love is according to Holy Scripture.
John is saying that loving our brothers and sisters is a test we should give ourselves and
a fundamental part of true Christian living. But if it is to be that diagnostic test, if
we are to use love as a basis of our self-examination; and if these verses are truly to
spur those of us who are Christians indeed on in the life of love, then we need to
know exactly what this love is and amounts to.
'Love' is a very slippery word. We use it for many degrees and levels of affection and
desire. We love God and love dill pickles, but not in the same way. Rock stars sing of
love and so do mothers rocking their babies to sleep; but the former often mean lust and
the latter deep and tender affection. Husbands love wives and Christian men love one
another, but in different measures and different ways. What exactly does John mean when
he speaks of loving the brethren and what then is the love which serves so unerringly as a
test of true life in Christ? And what is the love which so brilliantly will illuminate
our paths and keep us from stumbling?
Well, the Bible is from beginning to end a book about love; so a great deal could be
said. Let me, however, point the way, at this early stage in John's exposition of love as
the test of life, by saying that, whatever else this brotherly love is in the Bible, it is
always and especially three things; or, rather, has always in it these three aspects. And
this is my great point, each of these three aspects exists first and majestically in the
love with which God and Christ have loved us. Our love for one another, as John will
repeatedly say, is to be a reflection of his love for us.
I. First, this love is forgiveness.
You cannot love your brothers and sisters unless you forgive them; and a measure of
your love is just the readiness and the promptness and the unqualifiedness and the
completeness of your forgiveness. How often when the love of the brethren is discussed in
Scripture this matter of forgiveness comes to the fore. Jesus taught his disciples to
forgive seventy times seven and said that if they would not forgive those who sinned
against them, he would not forgive their sins.
And Paul, in his great passages on the Christian life says such things as these:
'In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. Get rid of all
bitterness and malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just
as in Christ God forgave you.' Ephesians 4
'Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.
Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them
all together in perfect unity.' Colossians 3
These and many other such expressions like them in Scripture are just the Lord's way of
saying to us that love, true and genuine love, involves and requires forgiveness. We are
always and in every way letting one another down in the church--let's face it, we are. Is
there anyone here who wishes to say that he or she has been all to all the rest of the
brothers and sisters that they have a right to expect or that the Lord himself requires?
We fail one another constantly.
But love keeps no record of these wrongs! Love forgives every one of those
indiscretions, and failures, and blunders of speech and action and attitude committed
against us by our brethren. And it has this motive and this engine and this principle: all
our own far greater sins against God and man, have been completely forgiven and remembered
no more through Jesus Christ; how then, can we not forgive others.
The worst pagan loves his friends and admirers. Christian love is distinguished by
this: that it loves its enemies--even and especially those who are our enemies, if only
momentarily, by some fault or failure--among the saints in the church. There isn't a
brother or sister here this morning who is completely at peace in his or her heart with
everyone else. There are resentments and irritations and hatreds.
Hear then the Apostle John and the Holy Spirit, beloved. Do you wish to make your
calling and election sure? Then do not wait one moment longer; forgive that Christian
enemy against whom you have harbored ill-will; in your heart make him or her once again
what he or she is--a brother or a sister in Jesus Christ. Or if you will not, be honest
and speak the awful truth to yourself: say, 'Jesus promises to forgive all the terrible
crimes I have committed against him; but, I will not forgive this minor indiscretion which
my brother or sister committed against me. Jesus loved me and died for me while I was his
enemy, but I will not forgive even this my brother or this my sister.' You cannot really
say that, can you? If you can, you are no Christian. Jesus was only saying in other words
what John says here when he said, if you will not forgive those who sin against you, I
will not forgive your sins.
The Lord saved us to live in love and calls us to the practice of that love; he wants
the life which bears his name to be love all compact. And that love shines first in the
fact that, forgiven as we have been, we stand ready to forgive our brethren whatever they
may do or fail to do in respect to us. Practice forgiveness at every turn, if you would be
a true and loyal follower of Jesus Christ.
II. Second, love is suffering.
It is you know. This is often denied by those who want to think they love but who are
unwilling to pay its terrible and wonderful price. But, true love always suffers! John
will tell us later in his letter, what the whole rest of the Bible is always telling us in
hushed and amazed tones: 'This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and
sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved
us, we also ought to love one another.' [4:10-11]
Well, if we are to love as Christ loved us and God the Father loved us, we are going to
have to suffer for one another, as they suffered for us. Herman Bavinck lays it down as a
rule that he or she who loves the most, suffers the most. And it must be so.
Consider the mother with a sick child. Because she loves her child, the little one's
pain she bears herself and feels herself. If you love someone, you will not only have to
bear the pain of your own trials, you will inevitably bear the pain of your friends as
well; they will make you weep and worry and lose sleep as well as your own problems. And
it isn't only this sympathy which causes you to feel the woes of another.
In many practical ways love is a trial and a painful effort. Indeed, taking all of the
instruction in love and the illustrations of love in Holy Scripture together, we may lay
it down as a law that if you are not inconveniencing yourself for others, you are not
loving them.
Here is an easy way to measure the quality, the tenacity, the integrity of our love for
the saints. We are busy--having difficulty getting done all that must be done--; we are
tired and could use rest ourselves: do we then still go and visit that person who needs
attention from us; do we write that note; do we volunteer that help; do we say yes to that
request or do we not. It is in just those moments, the thousand and one such moments of
our lives that we find out how much love we have and practice. That is the measure; not
our feelings or our words--but the actions which inconvenience us for the sake of others;
the help given to others at our own expense. James has harsh words for the Christian who
utters loving words but will not back up those words with real deeds that cost him
something. Talking love is cheap; but practicing love is expensive.
That is exactly the measure of our Savior's love for us, his suffering for our
salvation--and his love is to be the model for our own. The monks used to wear hairshirts
and forbid themselves good food and adequate sleep--all to bring their lives into
submission to the Lord and to demonstrate their devotion. Well, better than that, we
should look for ways to inconvenience ourselves for the sake of others--that is what the
Lord would have of us. And it is a good question and a good test to give ourselves--if we
be Christians--just how many times and in what ways have I inconvenienced myself for
someone else today, or yesterday; and, lest I fool myself: would that person also agree
that I had suffered something for his benefit or hers?
Such questions as those a genuine believer will ask himself or herself after hearing
John say that 'anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the
darkness.'
III. Third and last, love is a passion, it is radical.
Our Savior taught us this above all things; that love knows no limits or boundaries. It
fights through to the end on behalf of its object. Christ finally--after suffering
humiliations of every kind and every manner of deprivation all his life long--gave himself
up to the cruelest possible death that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
And that is always the character of love in Scripture: as Paul puts it so pointedly in
his great chapter on love: 'love always protects, always trusts, always
hopes, always perseveres.' That is, not only when it can be given without pain, or
without loss, or without heartbreak--but always and ever until it has accomplished what it
set out to do. Christ, John tells us in his Gospel, loved us to the end. And true
love always has about it that radical abandon which counts no cost. All of us who have
been in love in the romantic way know what utter fools we make of ourselves for love. We
say things to our beloved that we would be absolutely mortified to have anyone else hear;
we utter sentiments that would make us cringe if we had to repeat them before others in
the cold light of day. My favorite example of this is a letter of David Lloyd George, the
former Prime Minister of Great Britain, the urbane, sophisticated, learned associate of
Winston Churchill, a letter he once wrote to his mistress, after she had written a note to
him mentioning that she was hungry:
"When I woke up at 6 my first thought was of the loving little face engraved on my
heart & I had a fierce thought to go there & then to cover it with kisses. But
darling I am jealous once more. I know your thoughts are on roast mutton & partridge
& chicken & potatoes & that you are longing to pass them through the lips
which are mine & to bite them with luscious joy with the dazzling white teeth that I
love to press. I know that today I am a little out of it & that your heart is
throbbing for other thrills. [Last Lion, vol. I, p. 677.]
Yuk! But such is love; and such is the abandon of love; and, necessary changes being
made, there ought to be this forsaking of form and reputation and this forgetting
ourselves and this unfettered abandonment in the love we offer to one another as well.
Turning our cheeks without a thought to what others might think; going extra miles and
being glad for the opportunity to do so; grabbing up burdens so that others might not have
to carry them with all thought of our own weak back forgotten.
Is there such an abandon and such an unconcern for consequences and for measurements in
your love for the saints. If John Bunyan could speak of times in his life when he felt
that if he had a 1000 gallons of blood in his body he could spill it all for the sake of
Jesus, can we not say that if we had 500 gallons or 100 or even 50, we could spill it for
the sake of our brothers and sisters in Jesus' name? Practice doing things for your
brothers and sisters that seem outrageously generous; it is how the Lord Jesus loved you.
I am your minister, beloved; and I am charged to love you all in this way. And I know
that I have hardly begun to do so. There is still so much of the sinful nature in my love;
it is so easily put off; it carries grudges far too long; it favors some so much over
others; it still so carefully measures the cost to myself; and still holds back when
suffering is required. But, when I hear John speak of love as the mark of the Christian,
and then think of what that love is in the Bible, I can honestly say that I want to love
you that way; that I want nothing so much as to love you in just that Christlike way.
It is such a grand and beautiful and ennobling vision of life, which our Savior has
exemplified for us and to which he has summoned us. It is so obviously the life we ought
to live and would be blessed were we to live. And what a spectacle we would present to the
world; what a credit we would be to the Savior's Name!
And, if we live that way, John says: forgiving others, suffering for them and with
them, abandoning ourselves to their welfare, we will not only have made our calling and
election sure, but we will walk in the brightest light all our days, basking in the
Savior's smile, who loved that we might love.
Now remain these three; faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.
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