“Proof that God is Within” - A Message from 1 John 3:11-24

How do we know that we are a Christian?

We might answer this by saying something like … that we have accepted God’s invitation of grace and received Jesus as our Saviour.

So I’d ask another question.

How do we know we are a growing Christian?

Possibly a harder question to answer! But this is the interest of this passage of John’s letter. Where is the proof that God is active within our lives? How do we measure this? Are we being effective followers of Jesus? How can we know?

When Raelene and I were on holidays in Bright in July, we were invited along to Bright Church of Christ. The pastor there, Ray Smith, (with his wife) also runs a little antique and Devonshire tea place in Wandiligong, which we’ve gone to a number of times.

On the Sunday this pastor preached from this passage in 1 John, and I was completely enthralled by this simple yet profound reality check. How can we tell that God is working through our lives, and we aren’t just part of an elaborate pretence!

Verse 14 answers our inquiry: "We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death."

The credibility of our words of faith is proven by our capacity to love others.

This would not just be when it suits us or when we feel like it, but rather as the consistent pattern of our lives.

Having become a Jesus follower is indeed a shift “from death to life”, which is shown to be a reality through love. Receiving God’s gift of grace is the entry ticket into the spiritual life and the basis on which we build faith, but love is the evidence of this happening.

The central dynamic within the church community should be love. Glenn W Barker writes: “… love is the basis for life in the believing community”.

The story is told of a man who looked in the window of a second-hand bookshop and saw a book with the title “How to Hug”. This caught the man’s interest … fancy having a whole book written about the art of hugging! In fact so fascinated was he … he was really a bit of a romantic fellow … that he went inside the shop to purchase the book. Imagine how disappointed this man was when he found out that the book “How to Hug” was actually the seventh volume in a set of encyclopaedias that covered the letters HOW to HUG. What a disappointment! This is how it might be like for the person who comes to church looking for expressions of love, a place where you would expect to find them, and doesn’t really find any!

As a Christian Church, we cannot do otherwise than act in love.

Likewise, the central dynamic expressed by the church community to those outside of it should … not be judgement, not be condemnation, but should be love.

And of course, as John points out again, it is Jesus himself who provides the example of what it means to truly love. Verse 16: "We know love by this … that he laid down his life for us — and we ought to lay down our lives for one another".

This is a massive call – that we should go beyond our natural desire to have our own needs fulfilled, to consider the needs of others to be greater than our own.

Jesus’ own desire to live became secondary to the service he felt called to bring to humanity.

So in relationships, families, friendships and communities, there will be many opportunities to make sacrifices on behalf of others. Positive responses to such opportunities will of course prove that God is within us and we are followers of Saviour Jesus. The reverse would be the case where the sort of refusal described in verse 17 is seen: "How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help"?

What is the only available answer to the question put here?!?
It [love] can’t!

Love is designed to go beyond word, speech and sentiment into action. G Campbell Morgan writes that, “Love in word may possibly be sincere, but it is of no real value if it stops short of the deed”.

And so love can be costly, just like Jesus’ love for us was costly to him. We learn to love by discovering how great the love of Jesus was for us. And this love will see past a lost of frustrations and disappointments in other people, to how God sees the potential in these same people.

In the world this level of active practical love will be noticed. This is because it can stand in such stark contrast to the individualism, the rampant commercialism, the self-serving behaviour, and the uncaring violent outbursts around us. This level of love could gain us great credit. On the other hand it may attract opposition, as it did in the day in which John wrote this letter, and on that day when Cain was affronted by his brother Abel’s right living and killed him. Yet the repeated emphasis of this text gives us no option but the life of love.

This passage does include some great encouragement for us (in verses 19-20). While we never get life completely right, and thus we can tend to get down on ourselves – as we endeavour to practice love on a daily basis, despite not always getting it right, God recognises us as belonging to Jesus. This is because, although we still struggle, our heart is in the right place. We might convict ourselves, or others might point the finger at us, but what really counts is what God thinks; and God honours the person who truly loves. God knows what makes us tick, and where we’re coming from, and when this is centred on active love, we are reassured of God’s favour. There can be nothing to fear.

And as we grow in love, and as our desires begin to conform more to God’s will for us, then life starts to pan out more beneficially. We are now not just plucking at God trying to gain some of His attributes here and there, but abiding wholly in God embracing everything that God is … and the most of what God is … is Love. We now know what to pray for, and our prayers are answered accordingly. But, it all starts with a heart of love for God and others.

Love is the unmistakable evidence that God has touched us and that Jesus has entered our hearts.

So we have to ask ourselves … Is there enough evidence to convict us of being a Christian?

I asked God to take away my pride.
And God said no.
God said it was not for Him to take away,
But for me to give up!

I asked God to grant me patience.
And God said no.
God said that patience is a by-product of life’s challenges;
It isn’t granted, it’s learned!

I asked God to give me happiness.
And God said no.
God said He gives blessings,
Happiness is up to me!

I asked God to spare me pain.
And God said no.
He said suffering was part of growing,
And brings me closer to God!

I asked God to help me love others as much as God loves me.
And God said … Ah, at last. Now you have the idea!