Am I a Christian? - The Test of Love
1 John 2v9-11
3rd April 2020
This week we're studying the third of the three tests that John presents in Chapter 2, verses 5-11 of whether we are truly Christians. We've looked at the test of obedience and the test of imitation. The third is the test of love.
1 John 2:9-11
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.
Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.
But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does
not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
John now focusses on Jesus’s new command: that Christians must love each other as Jesus has loved us (John 13v34). If you claim to be in the light, if you claim to have a relationship with God, if you claim to be a Christian, if you claim to believe the Bible, but hate another Christian, then you're still in the darkness. That is, John says, you're not a Christian. Or, at the very least, you’re not living the Christian life.
There are Christians in churches who teach things that we believe to be false. We can pray for them, but we have no right to despise them.
There are Christians who've said and done bad things, but we have no right to judge them. We're called to love all our brothers and sisters all the time, as Jesus loves us.
On the other hand, if we love all our brothers and sisters, it demonstrates that we are in the light, that God’s truth and God’s love live in us.
I'm sure some of your Christian brothers and sisters can be annoying, and some of them have hurt you, sinned against you. But they are your brothers and sisters. Jesus loves them so much that He died to pay for their sins, and He sent the Holy Spirit to comfort them, help them and sanctify them. How can we hate God’s children? How can we hate Jesus’s brothers and sisters? Can we not forgive? And if we don’t forgive others, how can we expect God to forgive us?
John says that whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. Hatred for our fellow believers is darkness indeed! Such a person does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. He's living outside God's favour. He's cut himself of from God's blessing. Anybody who will not give love will not receive love. Anybody who will not forgive will not be forgiven. That person is denying by his attitude the very Gospel he claims to believe. The Gospel is about love and forgiveness for sinners.
If we fall into unforgiveness, resentment or anger against a brother or sister, it can lead to hatred: either a total disregard for their well-being or even a desire for them to suffer. If we reach that stage, we have been blinded by our own sin. We have disregarded God's commands to love. We have lost our way.
May God keep us from falling into the temptation to feel superior to our brothers and sisters, to hold grudges against them, or to judge them, or despise them in any way. They are God’s holy, chosen people. And if any of us have fallen into unforgiveness or anger, may God forgive that person and lead him back into the light.