The principles of all genuine fellowship with God

The principles of all genuine fellowship with God

Today we’ll pick up from where we left off before we got side tracked on the part about prayer.

1 John 3:16-18 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Right at the very start here John shows us what true love looks like. He minds us that Jesus is the personification of love and of course our goal is to be like Him. Since we’ve had some time away from the original text, like me remind us here too that when John speaks of “brother”, he is referring to other true believers in Christ, not to our neighbors or even our families. I am not saying that we shouldn’t be this way with non believers too, I just want to make sure we remember the context that we’re reading this in. Jesus laid down His life for each of us who has accepted Him. Therefore we should be more then willing to do the same for any other believer.

John goes on to bring the point more down to earth since it’s unlikely that many will be asked to die for another believer. He reminds us that when we are aware of another believer who is in need, if we have what that person needs, we need to share it with him. John says, if we don’t do this, not out of “duty” but out of love and pity for the person, then we can’t possibly be in a close relationship with Christ. As believers the Lord shows us His heart and little by little changes our hearts to be more like His. The word translated “pity” is splanchna and means a deep seated emotional concern or sympathy. This is one area that I’ve noticed that the members of Fresh Hope really seem to excel in. I’ve lost count of how many people have been helped by members here both financially as well as emotionally by our members. It always makes me feel so honored to be part of the body of Christ that is working the way it’s supposed to be! John tells us here, that we should show our love for other believers with our actions as well as our words whenever we can, and this is something that our members don’t seem to have any problem with at all!

Note too that John isn’t telling us that we “must” give in order to be saved. He’s saying instead that those who do love their fellow believers and show it this way are obviously saved. This kind of love comes from the Lord, not from our old natures. Again, works do not save us, but are the “proofs” that we are saved.

If someone who wasn’t saved were to read these passages and attempt to love others in this way and really worked hard at it, they would be doing much good, but they still wouldn’t be saved. True believers don’t have to “work” at doing these things because these things are all fruit of the spirit that are born out of our love for what the Lord has done for us.

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