1 John 3:14-18 - GOD Is Love – Live a Life of Love
Doug Partin – The Christian Church – Aug 30, 2017
Given the services this past week for tragic death of Trevor, and the unexpected death of Kenneth, my thoughts have been on how we tend to indicate to another person who may not have heard the news that a person has died.
Speaking of death makes us uncomfortable at best, and not knowing how someone may react makes us cautious, so we say things, like the apostle Paul did when writing to the believers in Thessalonica. He referred to the dead as “those who sleep,” but we don’t often use that language, for it can be easily misunderstood. I had a nephew who wouldn’t sleep after being told that his great grandmother had “fallen asleep” when she died. He was afraid that, like her, he might not wake back up in the morning. So, I explained to him that his great grand mother had died, not gone to sleep, and he was able to settle down at night.
The apostle Paul also spoke of a “Sabbath rest” for the people of God. He did so when reminding some ancient believers that the disobedient would not “enter His rest.” He encouraged them to be diligent, calling on the name of the Lord, so that once theirlabor in this life was over, when their work for the Lord was done, they would enter His rest. I think that’swhere we get the phrase “rest in peace.”
These alternative ways of speaking about death came to mind because in our text the apostle John speaks of “Passing” out of life into death. We often speak of someone passing away. The word that John used “metabaino” is a compound word that means to change-basis. The second part of that word “baino” or basis, was also used to refer to one’s feet. So, to change your footing, or to change your basis, was there way to speak about changing location. When the crowds grew uncomfortable with Jesus, they told him to “depart” to “leave” using this same word.
Bible scholars say that John is the only biblical writer to use this word for changing location “figuratively.” But I don’t think that he did. When John wrote of “passing” from death to life, he was speaking of a real change. Not of location, but of existence.
He used it to describe what lay before Jesus on the night that He was betrayed, writing, “Jesus, knowing that His hour had come, that He would pass out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”
And John alsoused it to describe the change in a person when they died to their old life, and took up their new life in Christ. For John, this change was absolutely real. In speaking of someone “passing” from death to life, he was not trying to soften the reality, but emphasizing it.
The new life we receive through Christ begins with a tragedy: the old life really does come to an end. It dies, never to rise again. And in its place a new life is born.
Because we have the whole of the NT, we know more about this new life than did Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a well-respected Pharisee who served on the Sanhedrin. He was captivated by what Jesus had been teaching, and so he sought him out, but did so by night. He didn’t really want it known that he was meeting with Jesus. Jesus was not put off, on the contrary, he spoke to Nicodemus openly. Jesus told him, “Truly, Truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nevertheless, Nicodemus was baffled by what Jesus said. He actually asked, “Can a person enter into their mother’s womb again?” Nicodemus knew better, but it expressed his inability to grasp that the death and rebirth of which Jesus spoke was a real event.
This encounter appears only in John’s gospel. He felt that it was vital to telling the “good news.” It was in this conversation that Jesus said that “unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Jesus told Nicodemus, “Do not be amazed that I said to you, “You must be born again.” Jesus also told him, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.”
It was Paul, writing to the ancient believers in Roman, who said, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” He spoke of a real change.
In the book of Acts are recorded “conversion” experiences. Times when people responded to the gospel by repenting, confessing, being baptized by immersion in water, and receiving the Holy Spirit. These were real people who experienced real change.
By the time John wrote this letter that we are studying, the accepted procedure for dying and rising again was well established. Some might say that it had even become “ritualized.” It was what someone did to become a Christian, a follower of Christ.
So it makes sense for Titus to proclaim, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Tt 3:4–7.
He was speaking about real people experiencing real change. But as can happen with any accepted procedure, some were only going through the motions.They would say the words, and sink into the watery grave of baptism, only to rise wet. Instead of displaying, some evidence that they had received the Holy Spirit, they quickly slipped back into the pattern of their former ways; which should only have been expected, since they did notactually pass “out of death into life.” There had been no change at all.
The modern church struggles with the same thing: “How can you tell whether someone has really been born again?” Is it about saying the right words, or going through the right motions? Evidently, this ancient church had in it what we might call “placebo” people. People who had observed the rituals, so they looked like the real thing, but were missing the active ingredient (the indwelling Holy Spirit). No Spirit, no change.
They were like the people that Paul came upon. He noticed that they did not have the Holy Spirit, and asked, “Into what were you baptized?” They told him that they only knew of John’s baptism, and so he spoke to them of Jesus and baptized them into Him, and they received the Spirit. I bring this up, because a real change is supposed to take place.
Since we don’t have Paul’s ability to discern, we can follow John’s means of evaluating whether someone has really passed out of life and into death. He said that they would “love the brethren.” There was a real change in their behavior, they changed from being people who hated into people who loved.
Then John pushed into even more uncomfortable territory by saying, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murdered, and no murdered has eternal life abiding in them.” Which leaves us with the question, “What is the difference between love and hate?”
John did not leave these concepts undefined. He said that we can know love by looking at Jesus because He laid down His life for us. Which means that we can know those who have been born again because they lay down their lives for the brethren.
Is it getting hot in here? Can’t we just go back to focusing on the rituals? This seems to be advocating judgmental behavior. I mean, “Who are we to say that someone is… well…dead?”
John was not one for pulling punches. He let the hammer down by offering an example of Christ like sacrifice. He asked, “Whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how can the love of God abide in him?”
Don’t worry, we can get out of this one, right? Wrong. John said that those who are born again do not love with reason nor language, but with deed and truth. In other words, a person who has passed from death to life, makes a difference in the lives of the people around them.
While at the North American Christian Convention, I was drawn to a booth put up by Libby Christian church. It is a church in Libby, Montana. It drew my attention because they were selling ammo that a ministry of their church had begun producing (.223 and .308). You’ve just got to ask what gets a church into the ammo business.
Evidently, Libby is facing hard economic times. Thousands of people have left the area. Between the loss of timber and mining jobs, the unemployment rate among those staying in the area is close to 25%.
Those who still have a job have given and given, and their resources are beginning to thin. It was back in 2014 when the Elders were sitting around asking what they could possibly do to help these people. What they needed were jobs, and the church is not known for producing jobs. They thought, “If we can provide sustainable jobs for families, hope can flourish and God will get the glory. So, they tossed around a lot of ideas, and finally settled on entering into an industry that resonates with those who live in that area. Making ammo for the sportsman commerce.
If you are interested,I’ll share their website with you, and I can even get you a 20% discount. But this church is not alone. They’ve inspired other churches to do similar things. There is now a Christian church in Missouri that is manufacturing mattresses.
I don’t know what their worship style is like, I don’t know if the sermons are something that you would like, but I can say that these sound like spirit filled churches. Think about it. What would do if the lab closed, or severely down sized? I hope that we would respond with a love that is real.
Given John’s apostolic insight into whether a real change has taken place or not; you might ask yourself, “Am I alive in Christ or am I dead?” Or you could just ask, “Do I love in a way that those in need find relief?”
Prayer: Jesus, We long to live a life of love. Help us. Amen.