Widow Makers or ?
Trinity II
John's First Letter ch. 3:14-18
" In the kingdom of love there is no
competition; there is no possessiveness or control. The more love you give away , the more love
you will have..." John O' Donohue in A Book of Celtic Wisdom
We have
also heard "it is more blessed to give than to receive" If the truth be told we do not act that way
very often. We try and retain all we can
and keep all we can so that we are full of it.
Literally we are sometimes and we find it hard to not control and
possess in this life.
I. John says in our letter that an evidence of
our love is life. " We know that we have passed from death unto life
because we love the brethren." 3:14a
" Crossed over"- the New English Bible. ( this reminds me of
the crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites---And " Moses stretched out
his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east
wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided Ex.
14:21) ( I was rather pleasantly surprised by the movie " of Gods and
kings" which depicts this in an astounding fashion ) Love is the evidence of eternal life John
says. That is also what we hear in
Galatians 5.22 " The fruit of the Spirit is love" In other words we have eternal life John
says and we are showing that we do have it by our good choices of love for
ourselves and others.
We know
John has already said the opposite.
2:9,11 " he that saith he is
in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now" " But he that hateth his brother is in
darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because
that darkness hath blinded his eyes." " Light and love, darkness and
hatred belong together" , said John
R.W. Stott, the evangelical Anglican on this passage.
Remember the false teachers John was addressing
in this letter. They were called Gnostics because they believed in the
superiority of knowledge alone for eternal life. John bears down on this idea
in a very reasoned way. He says that knowledge
of Jesus, the doctrine is important , but that the Christian life is lived in a
body and that body we have must demonstrate a loving spirit. Bishop Ignatius of Antioch in the early
church describes them in his letter to the Smyrnaeans. " ..Having quoted
the 'new commandment...that ye love one another' ..he goes on, ' Do ye,
therefore notice those who preach other doctrines, how that they affirm that
the Father of Christ cannot be known, and how they exhibit every envy and
deceit in their dealings with one another. They have no regard for
love."-Stott in I John
II." We know that we have passed from death
unto life, because we love the brethren." 3:14 The opposite is true in 3:14b " He that
loves not his brother abides in death."
John 5:24 says it this way, " Verily, verily , I say unto you, He that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come
into condemnation ; but is passed from death unto life."
I was over at Home depot the other day looking for
a saw to cut some big tree pieces that had fallen in our yard after the
storms. They are slowly coming into
piles and being cleared. I found the saw
I wanted. I had to ask where they
were. The person helping me said, "
Oh, that one is the widow maker."
What? In other words he was
saying that saw would kill me. I would
not have life. Some people are widow makers too John says. They have not passed over and they show it in
their conduct of their relationships. " The flesh lusts against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the
other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Galatians 5:17 (
" But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed
one of another" 5:15)
I trust we are not widow makers in our conduct
with others and ourselves. We are only
proving our lack of life John says. We are abiding in death instead and have
not passed into eternal life by hearing His Word and believing in Christ . These are strong words but John is directing
them at such members in the church he was addressing that were not acting in
loving ways. They thought that their
knowledge was enough and it made them special, but John says this is not a
Christian practice, knowledge of Christ without love for all.
III.
Lastly, John says that the essence of love is self-sacrifice 3:16-18,
the self sacrifice of Jesus and our emulation of that in our love for others
" Hereby perceive we the love of God,
because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for
the brethren. But whoso hath this
world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"
" Love is positive, seeks the other person's
good, and leads to activity for him, even to the point of self sacrifice."
Stott
We see the need , do not pass over it, but we
meet the other's need. Of course this
does not always have to be just in material goods. It may be something else is called for. A humble spirit of imitation of Jesus is
called for in our speaking , and in our praying, and in our relationships. So much in our world is harmful to our
attitudes. We must take a page out of
the NT instead of the TV guide. "
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of
others." Philippians 2 :4
It may also mean yielding to others in our own
opinions which is most difficult to do...in things that are not of the essence,
for ex., what color is the carpet? etc............
Conclusion----In the kingdom of love there is no
competition; there is no possessiveness or control....there is only God, His
Light, His Son and His Life. And His
Love for Him and all others is the evidence of that possession in our own
hearts and individual lives and relationships.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Ghost. Amen.
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