“Loving Greatly”

(1 John 3:11-24)

Series: A Word for the Church [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

October 3, 2021

The Passage

11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another, 12 unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

13 Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. 16 This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a fellow believerin need but withholds compassion from him—how does God’s love reside in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.

19 This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and will reassure our hearts before him 20 whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows all things.

21 Dear friends, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight. 23 Now this is his command: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps his commands remains in him, and he in him. And the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he has given us.

Introductory Comments:

We are continuing our series in the book of 1 John. These are the words with which John finished the passage last week, “Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister.”

I told you last week that we would come back to this statement about loving our brothers and sisters. Well, here we are. This is John’s introduction to the next section: “For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”  So, today’s sermon is entitled, “Loving Greatly.” [on screen]

So, today, let’s talk about love a little bit. Before we do, let’s go to God in prayer and ask Him to speak to us. 

(prayer)

Have you ever had someone compare you to someone to whom you really did not want to be compared? Perhaps they said something like, “Wow, that guy is like Hitler when it comes to his employees!” Or, perhaps the one that’s hard for certain people to hear, “You’re acting just like your father.”

Well, in today’s passage, John gives a terrible comparison for a certain behavior; one which you will definitely want to avoid, but one from which we should learn. 

So, this morning, we’re going to look at four aspects of love that come out of this passage. 

First, . . .

I. We should love (11-12)[on screen]

Let’s get this clear: Christians are to be people of love. Love is a gift from God, love is who God is, and love is who we are to be as followers of God. 

Let’s look at what John has to say about this. Look at verses 11-12. 

11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another, 12 unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

John says right out of the gate, “ . . . this is the message you have heard from the beginning . . .”

This message is foundational and fundamental. It’s one of the oldest messages for the followers of God.What’s the message? John says, “We should love one another.”

John is going to speak a lot more about love in chapter 4, so I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. However, as followers of Jes