Podcast: 1 John: The Nature of Love

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And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
-1 John 2:3-6

Would it seem strange to you if I told you that I wanted to go see my grandmother? Would you give me a weird look and ask, “Why?” Probably not. Or even if you did, I would just answer, “Because I love her,” and all would be explained.

That wouldn’t seem so strange to us. What perhaps would seem strange is if I claimed to love my grandmother, and yet never had the slightest desire to even speak with her. If that were the case, you’d probably start questioning me.

I think we have conflicting definitions of love in our brains. In many ways, love is just something we claim. It doesn’t seem to have any meaning. If you ask the normal person, that person will probably say, “Sure, I love God.” But it’s just a word to be claimed. It doesn’t have any teeth to it.

In real life, this use of the word love looks a little odd. We would question the love a man has for his grandmother if he keeps avoiding her calls. We would question the love a man has for his kids if he refused to spend time with them.

But let’s get things straight here – the love produces the action, and not the other way around. Let’s pretend I said to someone, “Man, I have to ask you about your supposed love for your kids. You never spend time with them!”

If that man replied, “Fine, I’ll spend more time with them!”, we wouldn’t be more confident in his love. See, you can spend time with your kids from obligation as easily as you could from love.

Which brings us to 1 John. John has been differentiating between walking in the light and walking in darkness. Walking in the light is walking with Christ, and remaining the darkness is remaining in sin. But He has made it clear that we don’t get into the light by being perfect, because no one is, but because of the grace of God. It is by the Blood of Jesus, who is our advocate with the Father, that we can be in the light.

That eternal life is something we do not deserve. In our sin we deserve death. We have offended God with our lies, lusts, ambition, stealing, adultery, selfishness, and pride. Being just as He is, God must demand punishment for those sins. That is the only right thing to do. But in love, Jesus came to earth to take our punishment for us when He died on the Cross. He has paid our way so that we can walk in the light, even though we deserve to be in the darkness.

So the question John now tries to answer is this – “How do I know if I’m walking in the light?” And the answer is a simple one – “If you obey the commandments.”

But didn’t John just tell us that we have all sinned? Yes. But now we have to be perfect? No, because at the beginning of the chapter, John tells us that Jesus remains our advocate, even if we sin again. So what’s going on here?

What happens is that something changes us when we know Him. When we are saved, God, as Ezekiel put it, gives us a new spirit. He will remove the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh.

It’s like what we were talking about with love. Can you love your grandmother and not care about what’s going on with her? Can you love your kids and not want to spend time with them? In the same way, you cannot know God and not follow Him.

We will still sin. John spoke of that in the previous two verses. We are not talking about a perfect walk here. We’re talking about a change. Are you less interested in sin now? Do you have a desire to read the Bible? Have you stopped sleeping through the sermon at church? Do you have a fading interest in worldly things while your interest in spiritual ones is growing?

If you said no, the answer isn’t for you to try harder. The problem is not your actions, but your relationship. Sanctification is the process in which the Holy Spirit begins to conform you to the image of Jesus, but it doesn’t work if you don’t have the Spirit. You cannot force yourself down that road.

The problem isn’t that you just don’t want it bad enough. The problem is that you need Jesus.

I cannot stress this enough. I could feel guilty for not speaking to my grandmother more, so I might force myself to call every day for a month. But does this mean I love her more? In the same way, we may try to be better people out of guilt, but does that mean we really know Jesus? No.

Test yourself by this standard. I know a lot of churches out there tell you never to question your salvation. This is a lie born out of the pit of Hell. This is a scheme of the devil to tell lost people to not worry about really knowing Jesus. The Bible tells us to test ourselves. 2 Corinthians 13:5 tells us, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

John here is telling us to do the same thing. There are so many of us who had an emotional experience at church camp and now think that we are Christians. Test yourself. Look back on your life. Was there a change there? Was there something that happened in your life that could not have been anything but the power of God?

Ask God for the wisdom to know. Seek His counsel in this. And when you find those places in your life that have not been touched by Him, fall upon your knees and repent of them. You may find that you have never truly experienced Jesus. Repent and believe! We have all fallen short of the glory of God, but by the Blood of Jesus we may be judged righteous on the Day of Judgment.

And on that day, those of us in Christ will find that His love in us has been perfected. At last we will be conformed to His image, and there will be no more need for tears or pain.