Intro: Mark 12:30-31 | 1 John 3:10-24
- Study Failure: Heart of Cain (1 John 3:10-15)
- Study Success: The Heart of Christ (1 John 3:16-18)
- The Love of Christ is Willing (1 John 3:16)
- The Love of Christ is Fueled by Compassion (1 John 3:17)
- The Love of Christ is Driven to Action (1 John 3:18)
3 Aspects to Loving Like Christ
- Take the Test: Is My Heart like Cain or Christ (1 JOhn 3:19-24)
- Pass the Test: Gain a Heart of Confidence (1 John 3:23-24)
Galatians 5:14 - For sthe whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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Pastor Jeff:
00:26-00:32
I remember walking into Chick-fil-A and Justin and Michelle were both dressed like cows.
Pastor Jeff:
00:33-00:37
Because it was dress like a cow, get free Chick-fil-A day, right?
Pastor Jeff:
00:38-00:48
So I walk in, here's this new, exciting, really fun young couple from church that pastor's gonna sit down and meet, and I walk in there and they are both dressed like cows.
Pastor Jeff:
00:48-01:00
And I knew from that moment, I said, "I like these people." Justin is a profoundly deep thinker and he's a great communicator and we're really privileged to be having him bringing us God's Word today.
Pastor Jeff:
01:00-01:03
So Justin, let's hear from the Lord today, shall we?
Justin Cady:
01:03-01:04
Thank you very much, Pastor Jeff.
Justin Cady:
01:05-01:06
Good morning, everyone.
Justin Cady:
01:06-01:10
It is an honor to be with you here this morning sharing the Word.
Justin Cady:
01:11-01:12
Let's say a quick prayer.
Justin Cady:
01:12-01:14
Lord God, I thank you for this day.
Justin Cady:
01:14-01:16
I thank you for this church.
Justin Cady:
01:16-01:18
I thank you for the people that are gathered here today.
Justin Cady:
01:19-01:24
I pray that right now, God, as we discuss your word, that that would be the focus.
Justin Cady:
01:24-01:28
And God, you would just use your word to speak to us this morning.
Justin Cady:
01:29-01:30
Please bless this time in Jesus' name.
Justin Cady:
01:31-01:31
Amen.
Justin Cady:
01:32-01:35
How many people here have ever taken a test?
Justin Cady:
01:36-01:43
I'm talking about a written exam, you know, the pop quiz, filling in the circles with the number two pencils.
Justin Cady:
01:44-01:45
Most of us have done that, right?
Justin Cady:
01:46-01:51
How many of us here have taken a test that we did not study for?
Justin Cady:
01:52-01:52
Is it just me?
Justin Cady:
01:52-01:53
Okay, all right.
Justin Cady:
01:54-01:56
I was worried, but thank you for the honesty in this room.
Justin Cady:
01:57-02:01
This happened to me way back when in AP US History.
Justin Cady:
02:02-02:05
And what do we typically do in these situations?
Justin Cady:
02:06-02:07
We sort of talk ourselves into it, right?
Justin Cady:
02:08-02:12
I'm thinking, "How bad can this be?" You know, I've been to every class.
Justin Cady:
02:13-02:15
I've read some of the chapters.
Justin Cady:
02:15-02:16
I live in the United States.
Justin Cady:
02:17-02:18
I should be able to do all right here.
Justin Cady:
02:20-02:21
And then what happens next?
Justin Cady:
02:21-02:29
Of course, teacher hands out the test, and I look at the first page, and I'm like, "I have never heard of that guy." I turn the page.
Justin Cady:
02:29-02:31
Yeah, I've never seen any of this in my life.
Justin Cady:
02:31-02:32
Has anyone been there?
Justin Cady:
02:33-02:38
So now, reality is setting in, and sweat starts coming down the brow.
Justin Cady:
02:38-02:41
I'm not even really reading the questions on the test.
Justin Cady:
02:41-02:46
I'm just thinking, "How many times in a row do you think C is going to be the multiple-choice answer.
Justin Cady:
02:46-02:49
So needless to say, I did not do well on that test.
Justin Cady:
02:50-03:00
I'm sure many of us here probably have similar stories, or maybe recurring dreams, but what a feeling of panic and dread in that moment.
Justin Cady:
03:01-03:02
And why do you think we have that?
Justin Cady:
03:03-03:09
I think it's because when we take a test, we're trying to prove whether or not we know something.
Justin Cady:
03:09-03:13
If you didn't study, it's super unlikely that you're going to know.
Justin Cady:
03:13-03:16
And today, we're going to take a test together.
Justin Cady:
03:16-03:18
Don't worry, we're going to study first.
Justin Cady:
03:19-03:24
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 13, 5 that we are to examine ourselves and test ourselves.
Justin Cady:
03:25-03:30
And today, we're going to test ourselves on if we're loving the way that God calls us to.
Justin Cady:
03:30-03:35
Now, at hearing that, the first reaction might be, well, sure, I love God.
Justin Cady:
03:36-03:36
I love people.
Justin Cady:
03:36-03:37
I should be fine.
Justin Cady:
03:38-03:41
And I think on the surface, we can say that.
Justin Cady:
03:41-03:44
But today, we're really going to have to dig deep.
Justin Cady:
03:45-03:48
And that's because the Bible teaches that God is love.
Justin Cady:
03:48-03:54
And the commandment that Jesus gives to us, above all others, is to love.
Justin Cady:
03:55-03:58
And we see that in Mark 12, verses 30 and 31.
Justin Cady:
03:58-04:03
Jesus here is asked which commandment is the greatest, the most important.
Justin Cady:
04:03-04:05
And this is how he responds.
Justin Cady:
04:05-04:11
"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength.
Justin Cady:
04:12-04:16
The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Justin Cady:
04:17-04:28
There is no other commandment greater than these." So in light of Jesus' response there, testing ourselves on the way that we love seems pretty important, doesn't it?
Justin Cady:
04:28-04:37
And actually, the test that we're going to take together today is the most important thing that you're ever going to evaluate about yourself.
Justin Cady:
04:38-04:44
First off, I think we need to clarify a little bit, what do we even mean when we say, "I love people"?
Justin Cady:
04:45-04:59
Culturally, today, the first thing that comes to your mind might be, "We're all sitting in a circle, holding hands, singing kumbaya, everybody's accepting everything that everyone else does, it's all cool." That's not love.
Justin Cady:
05:00-05:07
At its core, love is putting the needs of someone else ahead of your own needs.
Justin Cady:
05:08-05:09
That's the essence of love.
Justin Cady:
05:11-05:16
So if you'll turn with me to 1 John 3, we're going to see more about that.
Justin Cady:
05:16-05:20
It's towards the end of your Bible, and it's going to be the guide for our test today.
Justin Cady:
05:21-05:31
And of course, as we hopefully learned from my experience in US history so long ago, we need to study first, and then we're going to take the test.
Justin Cady:
05:32-05:38
And in this passage, John is going to give us two examples that we can study in preparation.
Justin Cady:
05:40-05:44
So 1 John 3, and we're going to pick it up in verse 10.
Justin Cady:
05:45-05:51
It says, "By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.
Justin Cady:
05:52-05:59
Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
Justin Cady:
05:59-06:05
For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
Justin Cady:
06:06-06:10
We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother.
Justin Cady:
06:11-06:12
And why did he murder him?
Justin Cady:
06:12-06:15
Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.
Justin Cady:
06:16-06:19
Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.
Justin Cady:
06:20-06:26
We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers.
Justin Cady:
06:27-06:29
"Whoever does not love abides in death.
Justin Cady:
06:30-06:42
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." So John laid out our test in verses 10 and 11.
Justin Cady:
06:42-06:43
Did you see that?
Justin Cady:
06:43-06:50
He said, "Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
Justin Cady:
06:51-06:57
For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." That is the test.
Justin Cady:
06:58-07:00
To be children of God, we must love.
Justin Cady:
07:00-07:07
And John is writing to his brothers and sisters in the church here, reminding us that we've heard this from the beginning.
Justin Cady:
07:07-07:10
He's referring back to Jesus' response that we just saw.
Justin Cady:
07:11-07:13
So we know what the test is.
Justin Cady:
07:13-07:16
But before we take the test, we have to study.
Justin Cady:
07:16-07:18
And that brings us to our first point today.
Justin Cady:
07:19-07:22
Study failure, the heart of Cain.
Justin Cady:
07:23-07:26
So the first example John describes for us in this passage is Cain.
Justin Cady:
07:27-07:34
Way back near the beginning of your Bible, and actually near the beginning of time, there were two brothers, Cain and Abel.
Justin Cady:
07:35-07:38
Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd.
Justin Cady:
07:39-07:43
To make a long story short, both of them brought an offering to the Lord.
Justin Cady:
07:44-07:47
Abel's offering pleased God, but Cain's did not.
Justin Cady:
07:48-07:58
And rather than listening to God and changing his ways, Cain became jealous of his brother Abel and how God was pleased with him, and he killed him.
Justin Cady:
07:59-08:01
It was actually the first murder in history.
Justin Cady:
08:02-08:10
So what does John, writing through the Holy Spirit here, want us to learn from the example of Cain as we study how to love others?
Justin Cady:
08:11-08:19
Well, of course, Cain is provided as the exact opposite of the way that we're supposed to love, and literally, because he's an example of hatred.
Justin Cady:
08:20-08:22
And certainly we know that we're not supposed to hate.
Justin Cady:
08:24-08:31
It's important to know how did Cain get to the point of hatred, to the point of killing his own brother.
Justin Cady:
08:32-08:34
It started with jealousy.
Justin Cady:
08:35-08:44
Cain was jealous of Abel's approval from the Lord, and that jealousy grew into resentment, and that resentment led him to murder.
Justin Cady:
08:45-08:55
And today, we don't get jealous over sacrifices of animals or crops, But we still have plenty of opportunity to repeat Cain's mistake.
Justin Cady:
08:56-09:00
We can see the other person at work getting the promotion that we think we should get.
Justin Cady:
09:01-09:05
Or we see our friend driving a brand new car that we would want to drive.
Justin Cady:
09:06-09:10
And in those little moments, a seed of jealousy gets planted.
Justin Cady:
09:10-09:17
And as we saw in the case of Cain, sometimes we get jealous even when the other person is doing everything right.
Justin Cady:
09:18-09:21
maybe especially when the other person is doing everything right.
Justin Cady:
09:21-09:26
And over time, that jealousy grows into a resentment of that person.
Justin Cady:
09:27-09:44
You think, "You know, he's never been the same since he got that promotion, or since he started driving that new car, but really, who has changed?" And that resentment turns into hatred, and you can see just how quickly we can fall into that same spiral of jealousy before we even know it.
Justin Cady:
09:45-09:50
But still, you might be saying to yourself, "Okay, I get it. Cain is a bad example.
Justin Cady:
09:51-09:53
But this is pretty extreme, right?
Justin Cady:
09:53-10:00
I mean, even if I've been a little jealous of a co-worker or a friend, I've never killed anyone. I'm not a murderer.
Justin Cady:
10:01-10:11
So, if we're taking a test, can I just mark the 'not a murderer' checkbox, and we can keep studying something else?" And the answer is no.
Justin Cady:
10:12-10:17
You see, God has a higher standard for loving the people around us than just not killing them.
Justin Cady:
10:18-10:33
And it ties into that last verse that we just read, where it said, where John wrote, "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." The immediate reaction to that is, "Wait a second.
Justin Cady:
10:33-10:38
Does that mean that God can't forgive murderers?" No.
Justin Cady:
10:39-11:41
You see, there's heroes of the Bible, like David, who committed murder and had to face the consequences on earth, but repented and was forgiven by God. And remember that Jesus himself, while he was on the cross, prayed for his murderers to be forgiven when he said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." So no, that's not what John's talking about here. What he's talking about is having the heart of a murderer, a heart that's marked by hatred. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 that those who hate will be liable to the same judgment as murderers. So John is echoing those words of Jesus here, saying, "By hating someone, it's the same to God as if you had killed them." So the example of Cain is here to remind us that yes, we should not murder like Cain, but also we must not hate like Cain. So back to the test.
Justin Cady:
11:41-11:48
We've now studied an example of someone who failed, but we want to pass, right?
Justin Cady:
11:49-12:35
And the next example that John provides is someone who passed the test so hard he became the answer key. I think you'll see what I mean. Let's pick it back up in verse 16. "By this we know, love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. That brings us to our second point today, Study success, the heart of Christ.
Justin Cady:
12:36-12:42
In these verses, John is referring to Jesus Christ, who laid down his life for us. Amen?
Justin Cady:
12:43-12:57
With the example of Christ, we're definitely at the other end of the spectrum now, and it really is striking to look at just how opposite of an example Christ is from what we read about Cain. Cain's heart was full of hatred.
Justin Cady:
12:57-13:01
Christ's heart was the truest love that's ever walked on the earth.
Justin Cady:
13:02-13:07
Verse 12 said that Cain was of the devil, but we know that Jesus was the son of God.
Justin Cady:
13:08-13:22
Verse 14 said that hatred like Cain's leads to death, but we know that the love of Jesus leads to life. Cain took a life in committing a murder. Jesus sacrificed himself.
Justin Cady:
13:23-14:07
So these two examples really are polar opposites. Cain's example shows us what we should avoid in our heart. Jesus' example shows us what to strive to change our heart into. Well, Christ's love is infinite and it could be the subject of every sermon from now until the end of time. There are three specific aspects of Christ's love that we can pull out of this passage. So here are the three aspects we see here of loving like Christ. Number one, in verse 16 we see that the love of Christ is willing. Jesus willfully made the decision to lay down his life for us. Love starts with a choice.
Justin Cady:
14:08-14:26
That's what love is. You have to choose to love. Jesus didn't just show up at the cross and decide right then and there, "I guess I'll sacrifice myself." No, the whole reason that he came was that He had already chosen to love us, and He wanted to rescue us through His sacrifice.
Justin Cady:
14:27-14:32
And there's a very common place that we remind ourselves of love beginning with a choice.
Justin Cady:
14:34-14:34
Wedding vows.
Justin Cady:
14:34-14:52
When you're at a wedding, and you hear the bride and groom say, "In sickness and in health," you can directly translate that to, "I am choosing to love you, whether we are sick or healthy." "I am choosing to love you whether we are richer or poorer.
Justin Cady:
14:54-15:17
"I am choosing to love you when our circumstances are better "and when they're worse." And those words stem from Jesus looking at all of us and saying, "I am choosing to love you "no matter what you've done "and no matter what it costs me." What an incredible choice Jesus made.
Justin Cady:
15:18-15:21
Number two, the second aspect we see here.
Justin Cady:
15:21-15:27
In verse 17, we see that Christ's love is fueled by compassion.
Justin Cady:
15:29-15:50
It says, "But if anyone has the world's goods "and sees his brother in need, "yet closes his heart against him, "how does God's love abide in him?" You see, Jesus made the choice to love not just because God said so, though that would be enough, but because he saw our need and he felt compassion.
Justin Cady:
15:51-16:02
And the Bible even specifically records in Matthew 9.36 and 14.14, and in many other places, that Jesus had compassion on the crowds that were following him.
Justin Cady:
16:04-16:14
And we likewise need to love people not just because God said so, though again, that is enough, but because we care about them.
Justin Cady:
16:15-16:18
And as I was thinking about this, I thought about the dentist.
Justin Cady:
16:19-16:26
And the reason I say that is, it was just before Michelle and I were getting married, and I needed to find a new dentist.
Justin Cady:
16:26-16:29
So I did what I thought was a sensible thing to do.
Justin Cady:
16:30-16:33
I googled and scheduled an appointment with one of them.
Justin Cady:
16:34-16:45
And to be fair to them, maybe they were just having an off day, but have you ever been at the dentist and they're a little bit too cavalier with that minty buzzsaw that they have.
Justin Cady:
16:46-16:52
And so not only do your teeth get polished, but everything in the near vicinity is getting hit.
Justin Cady:
16:52-17:00
And then after that, the dentist comes back and I just, I've never met this person before and I just said, "Yeah, so how's everything looking?
Justin Cady:
17:00-17:04
What's the plan?" And he said, did not look up at me.
Justin Cady:
17:05-17:10
"Well, I'm going to look through your teeth and try to find holes, and if I find some, I'm going to fill them up.
Justin Cady:
17:12-17:14
That's dentistry." "OK!"
17:15-17:15
(Laughter)
17:16-17:16
So
Justin Cady:
17:16-17:25
I told Michelle about this, and she said, "Well, why don't you just come to my dentist?" So the next time, when my next appointment was up, I did just that.
Justin Cady:
17:26-17:31
And let me tell you, maybe it was because of the first experience, but the second one was completely different.
Justin Cady:
17:33-17:36
The chair was comfortable and luxurious.
Justin Cady:
17:37-17:40
People were just complimenting my teeth as I walk in.
Justin Cady:
17:40-17:44
They were careful and precise with that buzzsaw.
Justin Cady:
17:44-17:45
It was completely different.
Justin Cady:
17:46-17:55
Now, I know that technically, both of those offices did the exact same procedure to my teeth, didn't they?
Justin Cady:
17:55-17:57
Technically, they did the same thing.
Justin Cady:
17:58-18:09
But what a difference it made when someone was carefree and not super concerned about my needs, and someone who was extremely caring and careful.
Justin Cady:
18:09-18:16
And in the same way, we can tell when someone's helping us and their heart's not really in it, can't we?
Justin Cady:
18:16-18:21
When they're just going through the motions, we cannot be like that.
Justin Cady:
18:22-18:34
We not only need to help people, but do it out of a true compassion for them. They can tell the difference and it makes a huge difference, like at the dentist.
Justin Cady:
18:35-18:55
The third aspect we see about loving like Christ from these verses is in verse 18. We see that Christ's love is driven to action. After first choosing to love us and then being fueled by his compassion for us, Christ didn't just talk about making the ultimate sacrifice. He did it.
Justin Cady:
18:57-19:34
And we need be the same way. Love without action isn't love. I tried really, really hard to come up with another way to say this, but loving like Christ is not talking the talk, it's walking the walk. That's exactly right. We can't just talk about loving. We have to be like Christ and actually walk it out like He did. So we see from the example of Christ that we should first choose to love, then be fueled by compassion for the people that God has placed in our lives, and then do something about it.
Justin Cady:
19:36-19:41
So now that we've studied both examples, it's time to actually take the test.
Justin Cady:
19:42-19:44
And that's point number three for today.
Justin Cady:
19:45-19:46
Take the test.
Justin Cady:
19:46-19:48
Is my heart like Cain or Christ?
Justin Cady:
19:49-19:51
Let's pick it back up in verse 19.
Justin Cady:
19:53-20:04
By this, meaning loving like Christ in the verses that we just read, by this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him.
Justin Cady:
20:05-20:10
For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and he knows everything.
Justin Cady:
20:11-20:23
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God and whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him.
Justin Cady:
20:25-20:34
And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He has commanded us.
Justin Cady:
20:34-20:38
Whoever keeps His commandments abides in God, and God in him.
Justin Cady:
20:39-20:51
And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us." So there's a lot to unpack in this text, but I want to focus on verse 19.
Justin Cady:
20:52-20:57
By loving like Christ, we shall know that we are of the truth.
Justin Cady:
20:58-21:08
And so, I want you to ask yourself, and you can just limit it to the last week, have I been willfully choosing to love people, or am I choosing to ignore them?
Justin Cady:
21:09-21:14
Does seeing their need fill me with compassion, or do I not care at all?
Justin Cady:
21:15-21:19
Do I go from seeing that need to actually loving and helping them?
Justin Cady:
21:19-21:26
Or do I just talk about loving and helping people with words that end up hollow because I don't do anything about it?
Justin Cady:
21:28-21:31
We talked at the beginning about academic experiences.
Justin Cady:
21:32-21:34
Do you remember what it feels like when you fail a test?
Justin Cady:
21:35-21:38
The teacher is handing each one back.
Justin Cady:
21:39-21:41
Yours goes face down on the desk.
Justin Cady:
21:41-21:42
They just keep walking.
Justin Cady:
21:43-21:43
There's no eye contact.
Justin Cady:
21:44-21:50
And after a few minutes, you finally get the courage to turn it over and see what the damage is.
Justin Cady:
21:51-21:52
Doesn't feel good, does it?
Justin Cady:
21:54-22:00
Maybe answering those questions about how you've been loving people might have brought back some of those feelings.
Justin Cady:
22:01-22:08
And if so, I can promise you, you are not alone, because I've felt that so much while studying this text.
Justin Cady:
22:10-22:17
But the unique thing about testing yourself on loving like Christ is there's not a single other person on the planet who can give you a grade.
Justin Cady:
22:18-22:22
The only people who know your true heart are you and God.
Justin Cady:
22:24-22:24
That's the end of the list.
Justin Cady:
22:26-22:29
And sure, people who know you can make a really educated guess.
Justin Cady:
22:30-22:34
They can look at the fruit of your life and how you act when you're in front of them.
Justin Cady:
22:35-22:43
But ultimately, only you and God know if, like we just read, your heart is condemning you or not.
Justin Cady:
22:44-22:52
Only you and God know what your heart really looks like when you're driving and someone cuts you off and slams on their brakes.
Justin Cady:
22:54-22:56
Do you feel the hatred like Cain in that moment?
Justin Cady:
22:58-23:10
Only you and God know what your heart really looks like when your coworker messes up in the exact same way for the fifth time this week.
Justin Cady:
23:11-23:17
Do you have compassion and try to get to the root cause and try to help them?
Justin Cady:
23:17-23:20
Or do you just gossip about them behind their back?
Justin Cady:
23:21-23:30
Only you and God know what your heart really looks like when you see someone struggling and you have the means or the skills to help them.
Justin Cady:
23:30-23:35
Is your first reaction to help or is it to come up with excuses not to?
Justin Cady:
23:36-23:49
And we have to understand that John's writing here is starkly black and white, total hatred or total love, and even at our best, we're not going to achieve the perfection that Christ did.
Justin Cady:
23:49-23:50
We're not.
Justin Cady:
23:51-24:04
But we need to take a long, hard look inside and ask ourselves, "Am I focused on imitating Christ and I'm stumbling here and there, but getting back up and getting back on track?
Justin Cady:
24:05-24:11
Or is the truth that I haven't looked at Christ's example in a long time?
Justin Cady:
24:12-24:16
And my heart is so bitter now that I don't even recognize it.
Justin Cady:
24:17-24:18
I don't know your heart.
Justin Cady:
24:20-24:21
Only you and God do.
Justin Cady:
24:22-24:31
But I do know that all love comes from God, and so a habitually loveless person does not know Him.
Justin Cady:
24:32-24:33
It's straight from the text.
Justin Cady:
24:34-24:44
"Whoever does not love abides in death." A habitually loveless person does not know him, even if you think you do.
Justin Cady:
24:46-24:52
But the beauty of this passage is that it doesn't end there, and it doesn't just remind us of failing.
Justin Cady:
24:53-24:59
Do you remember studying hard for a test and passing, getting an A+?
Justin Cady:
25:00-25:01
You studied so hard.
Justin Cady:
25:02-25:07
the work, all that you put into it, and you did it, you passed.
Justin Cady:
25:08-25:14
What a sense of calm and relief, the weight being lifted off your shoulders, the peace.
Justin Cady:
25:15-25:22
And the feeling of passing an exam is amazing, but it's nothing compared to what John writes here.
Justin Cady:
25:23-25:28
When we are walking in love, we have complete assurance in the Lord.
Justin Cady:
25:29-25:31
And that's our final point for today.
Justin Cady:
25:32-25:36
Point number four is pass the test and gain a heart of confidence.
Justin Cady:
25:38-26:06
Verse 19 says, "By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before Him." Verse 24, "By the Spirit whom He has given us, we know that He abides in us." Verse 21, "We have confidence before God." Verse 22, "We keep His commandments and do what pleases Him." You see, when you take the test and you do see the love of Christ flowing out of your life, there's only one explanation.
Justin Cady:
26:07-26:12
You know the Lord and His Spirit is working through you to love others.
Justin Cady:
26:13-26:22
What a feeling of peace and confidence comes from the fact, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you know Him and you're an active participant in His plan.
Justin Cady:
26:23-26:45
And as you love others around you, the power of love is not only are you blessing that person, but you yourself are being reassured, "My walk with God is real." You have a confidence that Christ is molding you and shaping you, and you will see him one day, and you know it without a shred of doubt.
Justin Cady:
26:47-26:52
in a lot of areas in our lives, we have a tendency to overcomplicate things, don't we?
Justin Cady:
26:53-26:58
We can get wrapped up in the details and miss the bigger picture.
Justin Cady:
26:59-27:05
So don't miss this foundational truth about our call to love others.
Justin Cady:
27:05-27:07
It's right there in verse 23.
Justin Cady:
27:08-27:19
And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and we love one another just as He has commanded us.
Justin Cady:
27:20-27:37
Galatians 5.14 also speaks about how Jesus has commanded us, saying, "For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Justin Cady:
27:38-27:48
Those words of Jesus are so often repeated, twisted and mixed up and we hear them all the time in some form.
Justin Cady:
27:49-27:52
May we never become numb to them.
Justin Cady:
27:53-28:16
Those words are mind-blowing because they're so simple and at the same time condensing thousands of years of teaching into one statement and even at the same time asking us to do the single most difficult thing that we will ever be asked to do, to die to ourselves.
Justin Cady:
28:17-28:31
But by following his supreme commandment of love, we serve Christ, we serve others like he has called us to, and we gain complete confidence in our relationship with him.
Justin Cady:
28:33-28:35
That is passing the test.
Justin Cady:
28:36-28:41
So as we close for today, John's call to us here is clear.
Justin Cady:
28:42-29:02
We need to study the examples and not be like Cain and fall into jealousy and resentment and hatred, but instead study Christ and follow his example of choosing to love through compassion and with action.
Justin Cady:
29:04-29:12
And we need to take the test and remember that today should not be the only day that you do, because we're all going to stumble.
Justin Cady:
29:14-29:23
But rather than dwelling in it, we're going to retake the test and refocus ourselves, our lives, on loving like Christ.
Justin Cady:
29:24-29:30
And that'll lead us to pass the test and have complete assurance of our standing with God.
Justin Cady:
29:31-29:33
And maybe you've stumbled.
Justin Cady:
29:35-29:41
But today can be the day that you can refocus and take the test and get back on track.
Justin Cady:
29:42-29:47
Or maybe you're here today and you don't have the assurance that I was talking about.
Justin Cady:
29:48-29:55
And you know that it's not because you've just stumbled, but it's because you don't yet know the Lord.
Justin Cady:
29:57-30:05
And if that's you, you need to let Christ into your life, because without Him, you cannot pass the test.
Justin Cady:
30:06-30:12
Today can be your day, and you can get that confidence that we're talking about.
Justin Cady:
30:13-30:15
You can pass the test.
Justin Cady:
30:17-30:17
Let's pray.
Justin Cady:
30:19-30:21
Father God, I thank you for our time today.
Justin Cady:
30:22-30:23
I thank you for your word.
Justin Cady:
30:25-30:30
I thank you that you sent your Son, and He first loved us.
Justin Cady:
30:33-30:45
I pray, God, that all of us here would focus our hearts on imitating the example of love that Christ was for us.
Justin Cady:
30:48-30:57
God, let us continually be transformed by His love and pass that love through ourselves on to others, God.
Justin Cady:
31:02-31:11
God, I pray that everyone here would pass the test, Lord, and you would continue to mold us and shape us to be more like your Son.
Justin Cady:
31:13-31:15
Thank you for His sacrifice.
Justin Cady:
31:16-31:18
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read 1 John 3:10-24
How can we guard ourselves against falling into the spiral of jealousy*/resentment/hatred?
What challenges do we face in loving others the way that Christ does?
How can we build the habit of testing our hearts in order to avoid bitterness?
Beyond assurance of our own faith, what benefits can we gain from complete confidence in our relationship with God?
Breakout:
Pray for each other