1 John Study
Lesson # 10
Loving In Deed
& In Truth
Introduction
Do we really love God? John addresses this question throughout chapter three & the rest of his book. Really loving God is far more that just saying that you love Him. Real love is something that is demonstrated over & over in lifestyle far more than in words. One can say anything, but real love will demonstrate itself. John has already shared things like seeking to be pure & not practicing sin as well as loving our brothers. In this section John shares that real love for God will show itself in living & loving as Jesus did.
1. Don’t merely love in theory
a. Amplified version - “Little children, let us not
love [merely] in theory or in speech
but in deed and in truth -
in practice and in sincerity”
b. It’s easy to say we love others, but God wants us to love sincerely
a. Most people feel for others that are suffering needs – some will act
b. Yet if that person has done evil against them, feelings change.
1) Attitude is no longer compassion – deserve it
2) Just reaping what they sowed – made bed, lie in it – God is
judging them
c. Jesus demonstrated love in loving
the unlovable – Rom.5:6-8
d. John wants us to love as Jesus loved – even the unlovable
c. When we cane grow to love the unlovable (our enemies) than we are going
beyond mere words & theory. There should never be any question or
doubt about our loving one another
– Jn.13:34,35
d. Brotherly love means – to willingly sacrifice for another. Although we may
never have the opportunity to die for another as Jesus did, we do have
opportunities to demonstrate our love in meeting everyday needs. To fail
to do that, demonstrates that we do not love God.
e. Question – are we willing to sacrifice what we might have spent upon
ourselves to meet the needs of others? If not, the love of God is not in us.
f. Fine words will never take the place of fine deeds & the talk of Christian love
will never take the place of actions that demonstrate that love.
2. Do we belong to the truth?
a. In the human heart there are always times that we have some doubt.
1) Am I really doing the will of God?
2) Is there some way that we might be fully assured? John says – yes
3) That assurance comes when love is truly demonstrated in our actions
4) We may be conscious of many sins, but if we are conscious of love for
our fellow man, then we are not far from Jesus.
b. Christianity
is far more than just being coldly correct.
1) The Scribes & Pharisees were coldly correct, but Jesus calls us to go far
beyond them in
our righteousness – Mt.5:20
2
2) Focusing upon the letter of the law is not enough; God wants us to
focus on fulfilling the intent of the law.
3) Gal.5:22-26 – there are no limits to how far we can go in living out the
fruit of the Spirit. We can be as creative as we desire & practice
these in abundance.
c. Question – when a group of Christians are faced with a need in the life of
another; is the love of Christ demonstrated when they merely pray about
that need & yet do nothing to meet that need & yet they have thousands of
dollars in the bank that could be used to meet those needs? Can they be
assured that they are in God’s will?
3. Having our hearts at rest in His presence
a. Everyone’s heart condemns him or her sometimes. God wants our hearts to
be sensitive concerning the sin that is in our lives.
1) When we are in the presence of a sinless God we will feel guilty
2) That sensitiveness is to motivate us to change – to repent
b. What
does phrase “God is greater than our hearts” mean?
1) If our heart condemns us, realize that God is infinitely greater than our
heart, so how much more must this holy & all knowing God
condemn us?
a) If we take this meaning, we are left with nothing but fear &
dread concerning being in the presence of God.
b) John’s context is confidence, not fear & dread, so it must mean
something different.
2) Our hearts condemn us – that’s inevitable; but God is greater – He
knows not only our sins, but also our love, our longings &
motivations.
a) This knowledge gives Him sympathy & understanding.
b) He knows we are limited & accepts not only what we have been
able to accomplish, but also what we meant to do or would
do if we had the opportunity & can forgive us & accept us
as we are.
3) God wants us to be filled with comfort & assurance as we walk
faithfully with Him.
a) Therefore He
continually cleanses us from sin – 1 Jn.1:7
b) He also wants us confident that we will be cleansed as we strive
to confess &
deal with any sin in our lives – 1 Jn.1:8-2:2
c) In addition, as we strive to demonstrate our love for Him by
loving others, (as imperfect as that demonstration may be)
He still assures us & wants our hearts to be confident.
4) Man can only judge by actions, but God looks deeper – at the heart.
God sees the longings that never became deeds, the dreams &
intentions which never came true.
a) David wished to build a Temple for the Lord, but that dream
never came to
fruition. It was denied him – 1 Kings 8:17,18
3
b) We too may long to do things for God but are never given the
opportunity; but rest assured God knows the heart.
5) If in our heart there is love, then, however dim & feeble or imperfect &
helpless that love may be, we can still confidently enter His
presence – He knows our heart.
6) God’s perfect knowledge should not bring us fear, but hope.
4. Brotherly love leads to confidence in prayer
a. When our hearts do not condemn us we have confidence before God. The
context is, loving others as Jesus loved us; so this confidence John speaks
of is because we are striving to love one another.
b. Therefore we can come into His presence knowing He accepts us & wants to
answer our prayers. We have no need to doubt that He will accept us.
c. We know that we are pleasing Him. Command keeping, is one condition of
answered prayer, as is also abiding in His love & loving one another.
5. God’s command – believe in the name of His Son; love one another
a. What
does it mean to believe on the name of someone?
1) A person’s name stands for what he is, for the kind of person he is and
for the kind of things he does; not simply the name by which he is
called.
a) It means the whole nature & character of that person as fare as it
is revealed to us.
b) Ps.124:8 – “Our help is in the name of the Lord”
(1) Not mean – our help lies in the fact that God is called
Jehovah
(2) Means – our help is the love, the mercy, the power &
the compassion, that has been revealed to us in the
nature & character of God.
2) Therefore, to believe on the name of Jesus Christ means to believe in all
that He stands for and in all that He is.
a) We believe that He is the Son of God
b) We believe that He perfectly reveals God to man
c) We believe that He completely saves us by His sacrifice of
Himself on the cross.
d) We accept Jesus for what He really is.
b. Must
love one another as He loved us – Jn.13:34,35
1) Love in that same selfless, sacrificial & forgiving way
2) We are His body here on earth & should live as He did
c. Putting
these two commandments together shows that the Christian life
depends upon both the right belief as well as the right conduct.
1) You cannot have one without the other
2) There is no such thing as Christian theology without Christian ethics.
3) Also there is no Christian ethic without Christian theology
4
6. How we know He lives in us – by the Spirit He gave us
a. My opinion - Bad place for a chapter break – thought continues into chapter 4
1) Chapter breaks are not inspired
2) There are there to help us find certain areas
b. John doesn’t want his readers listening to or following false teachers.
1) 1 Jn.2:18-27 – warned them of antichrists
2) Great danger in 1st century of false manifestations of the Spirit of God
3) Many diverse manifestations & a testing of those was needed
c. We will discuss this in greater detail in the next lesson