1, 2, 3 JOHN: LOVE IS THE POINT

Pastor Jonathan Falwell 

Today, we will have brief view of 3 important, yet quite small, letters within the New Testament. The Apostle John wrote all three of these letters to deal with significant threats to the church of Jesus Christ. Whether through threat of Gnosticism or the inappropriate, dictatorial actions of Diotrephes (3 John), he knew that any time a follower of Jesus Christ ceases to follow the teachings of Jesus and follows the teachings of man, bad things will happen. John wrote to encourage the church to remain faithful and committed to what they had seen, heard, and experienced.

1 John 1:1-4 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—2 that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—3 what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 

1. Love is not an option 

1 John 4:7-8 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

• It is vital for Christians to understand the importance of loving one another when it comes to fellowship as the body of Christ. There is no room for a lack of love.
• Dan Womack says “Tradition tells us that in his extreme old age when he could no longer minister the word, John was carried into the church and when asked for a word of wisdom, would invariably say, ‘little children, love one another.’”[1]

[1] The Christian Life Bible, Porter Barrington, editor., Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tn., pg 1277.

3 John 11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God 

2. God’s love is absolute 

1 John 4:9-10 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice, for our sins.

• God loved us so very much, He gave His only son for us
• Without this ultimate display of love, we would be unable love or live
• Today, there are many who are spending their lives “working their way to Heaven” while all along missing the only way there

1 John 5:13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

• Our hope of eternal life in Heaven is a direct result of the work of Christ on the cross, not the works of man 

3. You can’t fake love 

1 John 4:11-12 Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and his love is made complete in us.

• The power of His presence is manifest through the love we have and the love we show

1 John 4: 14-16 And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent his Son as the world’s Savior. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God. 16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

• It is impossible to be “one who loves” without embracing that God is love 

2 John 6 This is love: that we walk according to his commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: that you walk in love. 

• Our actions are a direct reflection of our love, and our relationship, with God 

[1] The Christian Life Bible, Porter Barrington, editor., Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tn., pg 1277.