The Holy Spirit won’t let me leave chapter 4 without one or two more lessons on the subject of “love.” If you are thinking, “Oh no, not this again,” I assured you, you are not the first to have that cross your mind. I had to remind myself that John has referred to love in chapter 2 and 3, then here and in chapter 5. He brings it up again in his second epistle and then again in his third. Are you sure, Lord, that you want me to come back to this? The Spirit said, “Yes,” and we’ll get to His voice in just a minute.
But before I go on I need to compare the word “agape” to the related word “phileo.” “Phileo” is another word translated “love” but it speaks of a more earthly and limited kind of love. I Thessalonians 4:9: “As touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.” Hebrews 13:1: “Let brotherly love continue.” We are never commanded to “phileo” God, but we do share that command between ourselves. And “phileo” is not nearly as common as “agape.”
For an introduction, I take you back to our introduction from last Sunday morning. Brother Tchida pointed out that in our song books, the hymn “The Love of God” doesn’t have a chorus. I later said that for some reason the chorus was very familiar to me as it was to Judy. So I went through about a dozen of my hymnals and found the chorus – but only in two books. “Oh, love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong. It shall forevermore endure – The saints and angels song.” It appears that refrain was added by Claudia Mays – the daughter of the man given credit for the hymn.
Many, if not most, of the hymns we sing have a chorus, which is repeated after each of the 2, 3 or 4 verses. Have you ever asked yourself why that is so common? The answer is: the author or arranger wanted to summarize and emphasize the primary theme of the song. That is precisely what the chorus does for that great hymn by Fred Lehman: “The love of God, how rich and pure! It shall forevermore endure.”
Incidentally, that repetitive conclusion of so many songs may also be called either the “chorus” or the “refrain.” Good dictionaries tell us that the noun “refrain” comes from French. At its root, the word refers to the “BURDEN” of the song.
And here is my point: there is a burden the author or the arranger wants us to feel. And if I can put it this way: “love” appears to be the refrain or the burden of this hymn John has penned. Sing it over again to me: “Beloved, let us love one another.” “He that loveth not knoweth not God…” “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” I thought about asking you to excuse and forgive the repetition and reiteration in this message. But instead, let’s just think of this message as the refrain after the last verse of John’s hymn.
First, let’s consider: WHO is exhorted to love?
“Beloved, let us love one another.” It would not be entirely wrong to encourage a drunken father to wake up and begin to love his family. “Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them” (Colossians 3:19). Children, you should love your parents even when you think they are being too hard on you. “What this world needs now is love, sweet love; oh no, not just for some but for everyone.” The problem with the drunk, as it is with world in general, is: his ability to love has been corrupted by sin. That means, for the most part, it is almost a waste of time to exhort sinners to love one another. And it is religiously criminal for the false prophet to lead people to think that through their love they are bringing themselves to salvation. Sinners love for other sinners doesn’t save them, and professed love for God doesn’t either.
John is writing to people who have a genuine capacity to love. He is addressing Christians. He is speaking to people within a family: the family of God. “Beloved, let us love one another.” We look at the beginning of verse 7 in our English Bible, and we see six words. Actually John wrote only three words: “Beloved, love brethren.” There isn’t any grammatical or verbal wiggle room in that statement. It isn’t: “let’s think about it,” or “if it is convenient let us love one another.” John says, “Do it.”
And again, WHAT is it to love?
My second favorite dictionary, “Chambers Etymological Dictionary” uses the word “pre-eminent” in its definition. Love is a “pre-eminent kindness, fondness, devoted attachment; to delight with exclusive affection.” Thinking about human love, not divine love, isn’t there usually some reciprocity in it? God loves, because God is love, but we love God because He first loved us. We reciprocate with love. And it is very common among human beings to love those who love us in return. When one half of the love within a partnership dims, the other half eventually follows suit.
What is love? Isn’t it quite often reciprocal affection? So often love involves reciprocal joy. We rejoice with them that rejoice, and we weep with them that weep because we love them (Romans 12:15). On the other hand, at its highest level, love is given without expectations. Love doesn’t look for excuses not to express itself.
And as is so often expressed: love is practical. Yes, “love” is a noun, but it is more impactful as a “verb.” “For God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son…”
In the margin of my Bible at Luke 10:30 is the heading “The Parable of the Good Samaritan.” It probably is a parable, a story the Lord Jesus used to teach an important lesson. But perhaps it is worth considering that neither Jesus nor Luke call it a parable, whereas other stories are clearly labeled as such in the text. Is it possible there was a certain or specific Jew who was beaten up on his journey to Jericho, and a certain specific Samaritan stopped to help him? Is there any reason to emphasize the Greek word “a certain Jew” and “a certain Samaritan?” Couldn’t these be specific and particular people, of whom the Lord was well aware? Whether or not that idea is justified, the lesson remains the same, the love the Samaritan had was demonstrated in a very practical and sacrificial way.
When John exhorted, “Beloved, let us love one another,” WHOM did He have in mind?
Yes, he was thinking of other Christian brethren: other beloved. Chapter 3: “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” My wife has a little plaque on the wall in our bedroom which says, “A sister is a special part of all that’s precious to the heart.” When the Lord puts us into a family there is opportunity for a love which can’t be duplicated anywhere else. And the same is true within the spiritual family. A Christian brother was sharing with me some of the struggles he is having right now, and my heart ached for him. I am sure that if I was listening to a Muslim Imam tell the same sorty, I wouldn’t have felt the same way.
But that brings up an other aspect this command: we are to love the unsaved. No, it is not the same kind of love, and it is not love to the same degree. But we are to love them enough to share with them the gospel. Because of the love we have been given by God, we have been made debtors to the Greeks and the barbarians, both to the wise and unwise. Our love to the Lord, in response to the love He has given us, should be expressed in love to the unloveable who live down the street from us. The Lord Jesus told us in Matthew 5:44: “I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” We should love missionary in the Philippians and the heathen Filipinos whom we have never met. Without getting mushy and falling into the ditch, there is a sense in which we should love everyone.
And of course, it goes without saying that we are to love the Lord who saved us.
But what does it mean IF WE DON’T LOVE as we should?
At the very least it means that we are disobedient to the commands of our Saviour. What did the Saviour say in John 13:34? “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples.” In the midst of John 15, the Lord said, “these things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Matthew 5:43: “Ye have heard that is hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse, you do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Paul said in Romans 13:8: “Owe no man anything, but to love one another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.” In the light of these and other scriptures we need to examine our hearts to see if we are obeying the Lord. A lack of love is disobedience.
Verse 16 reminds us: “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him.” We may have all our theological ducks lined up; we may have every doctrine fine tuned. But it isn’t our theology alone which reflects God onto the hearts of the unsaved. We may be the greatest soul-winner on the planet. But we may be evangelizing with a love for our glory, and not with a love for the glory of God. And it may have nothing to do with love for that lost person. We may be serving God in many ways, and yet love may not be a part of any of it. But if we don’t love the brethren, and if we don’t love the lost, then we don’t possess the nature of the God who loved us when we were lost and unlovable.
And returning to what appears to be John’s primary theme: if we aren’t in love with the things of God, then we may not possess the greatest of all God’s blessings.
I need to challenge myself, and I need to challenge you: Examine that heart of yours, looking for the evidence of true love. We have guidelines laid down in God’s word, so the magnifying glass is already in our hands. Use it. “Beloved, let us love one another,” is not an option. There is no wiggle room in those words. That is a command.