Jesus is Our Example of Agape Love
1 John 3v16
3rd March 2023
It seems to me that in this letter John the apostle is contrasting a real Christian and a fake Christian. We know what makes a Christian a Christian. It's the blood of Christ, God-given faith in Jesus's sacrifice, and repentance. But What demonstrates that a person is a Christian? What evidence is there that you or I have been born again? What are the guaranteed consequences of becoming a child of God?
John gives us several answers to that question, and he gives some of those answers more than once. One of the most profound is in verse 10 of this chapter, where he says, "Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God. Nor is anyone who does not love his brother." That is, true conversion is confirmed by a righteous life and by agape love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. As John writes in verse 11, "This is the message we have heard from the beginning: we should love one another." But how do we know what agape love is? John doesn't give us a definition. instead, He gives us an example, the perfect example:
1 John 3v16a
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
Jesus willingly laid down His life, dying on the cross to pay for our sins. I never tire of hearing this message, or of writing about it. It's the most amazing message in the history of the universe. The second Person of the Holy Trinity came to earth and died for you and me. This is how we know what agape love is. Agape love is what caused Jesus to want to die on the cross, in agony, so that hopeless sinners like you and me could be forgiven our sins and adopted as God's children.
Another of the most profound marks of the true Christian is gratitude to God. I've been a Christian for a long time, and yet I'm still amazed that the Son of God would die for me. All true Christians feel the same. Who are you, and who am I, that we should be called children of God? Why would God have mercy on someone like me? How could Jesus, the perfect one, totally sinless, totally good, the creator of heaven and earth, love me enough to die in my place? I hope you share that sense of utter bewilderment that the King of Kings should die for me and for you. As Paul said:
Romans 5v8
... God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Chrst
for us
Ephesians 2v8
God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in
transgressions.
For us to have right relationship with one another and with our neighbours, the first prerequisite is to have right relationship with God. If you're truly born again, that right relationship begins with being permanently and enormously grateful to God. I've heard Christian people complaining about God, because He hasn't done this, or He hasn't done that, or He has permitted the other thing. But our overriding attitude to God surely should be gratitude that He bothers with us at all. All men are like grass (Psalm 103v125) and yet Jesus died for you and for me.
When we meditate on the love of Christ, who endured the cross for us, our hearts are filled bot with gratitude and love for God and in love for others and, in particular, love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. He is our example of agape love.
John writes about the attributes of the true Christian and those of a fake Christian in very black and white terms, including the idea that Christians have agape love their and non-Christians don't. But it is nevertheless true that all the aspects of godly character, what Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit: love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5v22-23) are more developed in some than in others.
Partly that's a matter of time. Some of us have known Jesus longer than others, so God's had longer to work on us. But there's more to it than that. Some of us co-operate more with God in the development of these character attributes than others do, by investing time in prayer, Bible study, worship and the breaking of bread, and in service to our brothers and sisters. Some of us are more willing to repent, to agree with the Bible, and to do what the Bible says.
John isn't only writing to define the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian. He's also writing to exhort us to co-operate with God in developing godly character in us. Here, John uses Jesus's example to inspire us to be more loving towards our fellow Christians than we currently are. He says:
1 John 3v16b
Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our
brothers.
There have been times when a Christian has literally had to die to save other Christians. But I don't think that's what John is getting at. I think he means that every day we lay down our lives for each other. Every day we make sacrifices so each other can be happier in Jesus, and can have all the things they need. Laying down our lives for your brothers and sisters surely involves doing what they need before we do what we want.
This is one reason why the true Christian, the mature Christian, is almost always in church on Sunday mornings, because you can't encourage, and bless, and help your brother if you're not there with them. The mature Christian doesn't go to church for what he gets out of it; he goes for what everybody else gets out of him being there, and because God is honoured when we come together.
The sort of person who would say, "I'm a Christian but I don't go to church" may be deeply hurt, and it may be understandable that he doesn't go because he doesn't want to be hurt again. Nonetheless, the mature Christian, filled with the agape love of God, will lay down his life for his brothers, will risk being hurt again, in order to be a blessing to his brothers and sisters. When we gather in Christ's name, we greet each other and encourage each other.
We all need to feel loved. We express that love by serving one another in various ways, finding ways to be kind to one another and to affirm one another. We'll think more about that next time.