Grace Church exists to glorify our Heavenly Father by
 continually making more disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

No Mistaken Identity 1 John 3:10-18 Get Real: A Study of 1 John Sermon #15 You probably remember the story from the spring of 2006. Laura Van Ryn's family spent five weeks sitting by Laura's bedside after a car accident left their daughter, an Indiana college student, in a coma. Her mother, father, sister, and other friends and family spent the time reading to her, talking to her, encouraging her to respond to their voices by moving her fingers or blinking her eyes. They had little time to think of the four other students riding in the van, including Laura's friend Whitney Cerak, who were killed in the crash. While the Cerak family buried their daughter, the Van Ryns prayed and hoped that theirs would come out of her coma. Then, after a five-week vigil, they got their wish…and then again, they didn't.     The first words Laura Van Ryn spoke when she awoke from her coma were, "My name's not Laura. It's Whitney." Dental records confirmed it. The young woman with whom the Van Ryn family sat vigil for five weeks was not Laura Van Ryn but Whitney Cerak. Sadly, the young woman buried as Whitney Cerak was Laura Van Ryn. At the scene of the accident the identification of the victims was scattered. Whitney and Laura were both blonde, blue-eyed, and looked enough alike that they were mistaken for one another…enough alike that not even their parents could tell the difference. Their Taylor University van was struck by a semi. Four students and an employee were killed. Laura Van Ryn's identification is placed with the injured Whitney Cerak. Whitney Cerak, misidentified as Laura Van Ryn is flown to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne.   Can you imagine what it must feel like for parents to realize that they have been sitting vigil for their daughter while they should have been grieving for her? Can you imagine what it feels like for parents to realize that the daughter whom they buried is not dead after all? What a tragic case of mistaken identity!   God never makes that mistake. He knows exactly who His children are. That’s precisely what this section of 1 John 3 is about. 1 John 3:10-18 (p. 863). “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are.” We do not have to wonder who is a child of God and who isn’t. We don’t have to wonder if we know the Lord or if we don’t. There is No Mistaken Identity when it comes to God’s family…a child of God is loving, a child of the devil is hateful.   John has already reminded his “dear children” of Jesus’ command to love one another command (2:7-11). John’s letter has been compared to a spiral staircase because he keeps returning to the same three topics: love, obedience and truth. In our text John is in the second cycle of applying the three tests of authentic Christianity, the social test of love for one another.     With John it’s either pass or fail. There is no in-between. You are either in God’s family demonstrated by the fact that you are loving or you are part of Satan’s family demonstrated by the fact that you are hateful. Our parentage is either divine or diabolical. The righteousness that demonstrates our membership in God’s family is not cold or clinical, it’s inseparable from love. Too often we think of Christianity in negative terms, “I’m a Christian because I don’t do anything bad.” John puts Christianity in positive, proactive terms, “If you’re a Christian, you’ll be loving and do good to your fellow believers.” Faith and love belong together throughout the New Testament. They are the essential evidence of genuiness. Paul goes so far as to say, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Gal. 5:6).   If you’re taking notes then, John says that: The identifying trait of the children of the devil is hatred, the identifying trait of the children of God is love. “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother” (v. 10).   That’s a strong statement. Perhaps you’re thinking, “I’m not sure that’s true.” Most of us have met some wonderful, loving unbelievers and some real stinkers who were professing believers. We’ve all met people who claim to be Christians, but frankly you’d rather snuggle with a porcupine than try to get close to them! So how do we square what John says with what we’ve actually experienced? 1. The identifying trait of the devil’s children is hatred. “Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you” (v. 13). John himself had born the brunt of this hatred. John was condemned to death by being boiled in oil but was delivered miraculously. Later he was banished to the penal isle of Patmos.   This past Tuesday the Victims of Communism Memorial Park was opened in Washington, remembering the one hundred million people who died under the oppression of Communism. A large percentage of them were Christians. Every day all around the world our Christian brothers and sisters are persecuted, imprisoned and even martyred by governments and groups who hate God and His family.    The Lord Jesus warned us that this would happen, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first” (John 15:18). By the world John means the unbelieving world which is under Satan's dominion in opposition to God. When John speaks of love, he points us to the supreme example of Jesus laying down His life for us (3:16). Thus, a helpful definition of biblical love is: a self-sacrificing, caring commitment that shows itself in seeking the highest good of the one loved. Jesus sacrificed Himself because He cared for us and He is committed to seek our highest good, namely, that ultimately we might share His glory.   Hatred is the opposite of love so we can define it as; a selfish, insensitive attitude that shows itself in disregarding others’ good as I seek my own interests. The essence of hatred is the self-centered bent of fallen human nature that says, “I'll help you if it helps me or if it's not too much of a hassle. But if it comes down to you or me, I'm looking out for me!” When we understand hatred like that, we can see that it characterizes the unbelieving world. The world is motivated by self-interest. Self-sacrifice to the world is crazy.   We need to ask though, “what about examples of genuine love on the part of unbelievers?” While it may be true that most unbelievers are motivated by selfishness, we sometimes see examples of unbelievers who sacrifice themselves on behalf of others. We see unbelieving parents who give themselves selflessly on behalf of their children. We hear of those who donate a kidney so that a family member, or even a perfect stranger, might live. We hear of soldiers who willingly die to protect their comrades. Don't these examples contradict John's words about the world's hatred?   I don’t think so. Such examples may be explained by the fact of God's common grace. Remember Jesus said that the Father “causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Mt. 5:45). Love is one of God's gifts that He has not withdrawn completely from unregenerate people. It should serve as a witness to them, to point them to the source of it, because, as John will later point out, “love is from God” (4:7). The fact that God has not completely withdrawn His grace from this rebellious world does not contradict John's generalization that the world is marked by hatred.   John points out five identifying traits of hatred which are in direct contrast with God's love that is to characterize the believer.   a) Hatred is demonstrated by Adam’s firstborn, Cain. “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous” (v. 12). This is the only explicit Old Testament reference in all three of John’s letters and the only proper name, except for references to Christ or God. I think that John chose Cain because he was the first person born on this earth under the curse of sin. His hatred toward his brother typifies the self-centered, evil bent of the fallen human heart. While our self-centeredness seldom goes to the extreme of murder, the roots are there. Hebrews 11:4 says that Abel offered a better sacrifice by faith. Since faith is always a response to God's revelation, we must assume that God had revealed to Cain and Abel the proper kind of sacrifice that He required and Abel obeyed by faith. Cain, in defiance and disobedience, brought an unacceptable offering. When his brother's offering was accepted and Cain's was rejected, his envy began to seethe. Even though God confronted Cain and encouraged him to repent, Cain ignored the warning. As a result, he slaughtered his brother.   Just a few years ago the nation’s attention was riveted on the murder of Laci Peterson. Her body was found decapitated and all or part of her limbs was missing. Her husband, Scott Peterson, not only killed her, he mutilated her body. When Scripture says Cain “murdered” his brother, it suggests that he mutilated the body of Abel. History’s first murder was a very violent one. The Greek word used means to slit the throat or to butcher. John begins with Adam's firstborn, Cain, who is a prototype of the world and it’s hatred for the family of God.   One more thing, Cain was religious. He’s presented as a worshiper. The greatest enemies of the family of God and the people of faith are religious people. Jesus was not crucified by atheists.   b) Hatred originates with the devil. “who belonged to the evil one.” A better translation is “was of the evil one.” That doesn’t mean that the Devil was Cain’s father. John is emphasizing origins. If our spiritual experience originates with the Father, then we must love one another. But if our spiritual experience originates with Satan, then we will hate one another.   The reference to the murderer recalls Jesus' words in John 8:44, where He states that the devil “was a murderer from the beginning.” Hatred and love do not find their roots in the human heart. Hatred finds its source in the devil, whereas love originates with God.   Now this isn’t a “the devil made me do it” excuse. John doesn’t blame the devil and absolve sinful people of responsibility for their sin. The point is that to harbor hatred is to oppose God and put yourself in league with the Satan! That’s why we must be quick to judge our own hearts when we first see selfish attitudes rearing their ugly head.   c) Hatred kills relationships. Moody Monthly once told of a church split that started when one man received a larger slice of ham at a church lunch than another man. “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (v. 15). Famed criminal lawyer, Clarence Darrow, said, “Everyone is a potential murderer. I have not killed anyone, but I frequently get satisfaction out of obituary notices.” Murder begins in the heart long before it is in the hand. And many more would murder if they didn’t fear the consequences.   At its best hatred becomes indifference or avoidance of another person, causing separation and distance in relationships. At its worst selfishness and hatred become murder. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said anger is the equivalent to murder in God's sight because all murder begins there. While we cringe when we hear of someone murdering someone else, we often tolerate the roots of this sin by excusing our anger as justifiable. We must see our own selfish anger as abominable and yank it out by the roots! God will someday judge for attitudes and desires as well as actions. Hatred is incompatible with spiritual life.   d) Hatred is motivated by guilt. John asks, “And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.” It wasn’t because Abel was some scoundrel doing evil. Rather, Cain's deeds were evil and Abel's were righteous. The root of Cain's slaughter of his brother was that Cain was in rebellion against God. So while hatred may be directed at other people, invariably the hateful person is really at odds with God and needs to confront his/her own sinful heart. Thus, hatred is typified in Adam's firstborn, Cain, It originated with the devil. It divides people and may result in murder. It is motivated by personal sin or rebellion against God. Bad people always hate good people. The life of a righteous person continually passes a silent judgment on the life of an evil person…and it bugs them.   e) Hatred is the evidence of spiritual death. “Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him” (vss. 14b-15). What’s John saying? A person whose life is marked by selfish hatred of others shows no evidence of new life in Christ. Now he’s not saying a murderer can’t be saved. Remember the Apostle Paul was a murderer before his conversion. David and Moses murdered men after they were saved. John again uses present tense verbs that point to the overall direction of a person's life. A person whose life is marked by a pattern of selfishness, envy, jealousy, strife and hatred gives evidence that he remains in spiritual death.   While John's words are an evidential test of a person's spiritual condition, they are also an exhortation to those that profess to believe in Christ. As believers, we have to battle the hatred that stems from our own selfishness. While on the one hand, spiritual growth results inevitably from spiritual life, on the other hand it does not happen without our constant effort. Whenever the deeds of the flesh rear their ugly heads, we must put them to death and replace them with the fruit of the Spirit. John shows that the mark of the world is hatred, that self-centered "look out for number one" mentality, which if unchecked, ultimately results in murder.   So how many have you murdered through hatred in your heart? Did someone get a raise or a promotion you thought you should have gotten? Do you hate an ex-spouse? How about a sibling? Do you hate liberals? Democrats? Hillary? Abortionists? Hatred is of the Devil and the evidence of spiritual death. The opposite end of the pendulum John says is… 2. The identifying trait of God’s children is love. Verses 11 & 14. “This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another…We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers.” John loves to use opposites and contrasts. He draws a sharp, point-for-point contrast between the hatred that marks the world and the love that marks the church.   He also assumes the doctrine of original sin in 3:14, when he states that we have passed out of death into life, but the one who does not love abides in death. No one begins as neutral or basically good and then decided either to choose or reject God. People are born into this world in a state of spiritual death as sinners and they must have the new birth in order to pass out of death into life.   While a lost world forms clubs; Lions Clubs, Toastmasters, Greek Clubs, Chinese associations – and they are incredibly homogeneous. You go there and it seems like a bunch of clones. The Church is not to be like that. We’re to accept anyone and everyone. Those like us, those very different to us. Those we would normally like, those we would not normally choose to hang out with. This newfound love for other believers is an indicator that one has truly been born-again and John includes himself here with the pronoun, “we.” It should send up red flags when a professing believer doesn’t want to spend time with other believers. If you love someone, you want to spend time with them.   19th century poet, Emma Lazarus, had one of her works, The New Colossus inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.” That’s to be the cry of the church. Though we have different backgrounds, races and cultures, we are united. We know we are wretches saved by grace, sojourners in a strange land. We are aliens none of whom quite fit this world. We find our unity in Christ. We are one, therefore everyone is to find a haven here. The key to making this whole diverse patchwork function is love. As hatred is typified in Adam's firstborn…   a) Love is demonstrated by God’s firstborn. Christ. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (v. 16a). John may have introduced the sinister character of Cain in order to set forth even more clearly, by way of contrast, the self-sacrificing love of Christ. Cain sacrificed his brother’s life to his own wounded self-love but Christ sacrificed His own life to His brothers and sisters. Christ’s sacrifice was for those who were totally undeserving and even undesirious of His sacrifice.   Verse 16 literally reads, "By this we have experientially come to know love, that That One laid down His life for us." There’s hardly a passage in the New Testament that speaks of God's love which does not also speak of Jesus’ cross. If you want to know what God's love is like look to Jesus, the Righteous One, who willingly sacrificed Himself on behalf of the ungodly.   As self-preservation is the first law of the physical life, self-sacrifice is the first law of the spiritual life. But whereas hatred originates with the devil…   b) Love originates with God. Chapter 4 will clearly state this but it’s implicit in this passage. Love in the believer comes from God. 1 John 3:10 said that the one who does not love is not of God, implying that the one who loves is of God. 1 John 3:17 says that if we do not demonstrate practical love for those in need, the love of God does not abide in us. If you lack love for someone, first make sure that you are born of God. Then, ask Him for it. Whereas hatred divides people and may result in murder…   c) Love unites people and produces a sacrificial lifestyle. “And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” (vss. 16b-17). Jesus showed His love by laying down His life for us. Thus “we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” Now those are tough words! Be honest, would you lay down your life for the people in this room…other than perhaps your own family? You can easily sit here and say, “Yes, I’d die for my fellow Christians.” But the urge to save your own skin is pretty strong. Who can truly say in advance, “I’d die for my brothers and sisters?” But John doesn’t leave us to sit around speculating about what we might do if persecution hits. He brings it down to everyday living. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” (v. 17). Ouch! It’s easy to say you’d lay down your life for other Christians, but if you aren’t doing it inch by inch in the little details of setting aside your selfishness to serve others, beginning in your marriage and with your family, then it’s empty talk to say, “I’d die for my brothers and sisters in Christ!”   And just in case you’re thinking, “I’m poor,” if you drove here today, if you have a frig full of food, this verse is directed at you. Charles Barkley, former NBA basketball star, said his mother was upset with him because he had voted for George Bush in the recent election. "Charles," she said, "George Bush is the rich people’s president!" "Mom," he answered, "we are the rich people." Guess what folks? We’re the rich people too!   Self-sacrifice is never convenient. It’s always more of a hassle to meet someone’s needs than to ignore them. But John’s point is the same as Jesus’ point in the parable of the Good Samaritan: We must not ignore others’ needs, but rather, sacrifice our time, energy, and money to help them out. This does not mean indiscriminately doling out money to those who are lazy or irresponsible (2 Thess. 3:10-12). We need discernment and wisdom to know how best to help a needy person. But we also need to be careful not to excuse our indifference by labeling the other person as lazy or irresponsible. Love unites people through practical deeds of self- sacrifice.   As I was preparing this, an application that all of us need to flesh out in the Grace Church family struck me. We have a whole group that is truly needy and needs our sacrificial love, the next Grace Church, our children and grandchildren. Scripture is clear that we are to give in worship. 1 John adds another motivation, we are to give to help our brothers and sisters in Christ. There’s hardly a family at Grace that is not brimming over with God’s blessings. We are overflowing with material possessions. Most families have two cars, multiple computers, TVs, cell phones and so many toys we don’t have room in our garages to put our cars because they’re so full of stuff. We have this world’s goods plus.   Sadly, the majority of folk in our church family know nothing of a tithe or anything similar to Biblical giving. The greatest tragedy is that we are missing out on God’s blessings both upon ourselves and our church because we are so short-sighted and often (and I hate to use the word but I fear it’s true) so stingy. We have this world’s goods. We must obey. We must learn to be faithful givers and generous to God’s work.   Jesus was drawn to human need like metal shavings are to a magnet. When Jesus saw a need, He had to do something about it. That’s the way that you and I are supposed to be. We are not called to give our lives in sacrifice but we are called to give.   A stranger met a small girl carrying her little brother and said, “What a burden you’ve got there.” To which the small girl replied, “This isn’t a burden. It’s my brother.” That’s love’s way. It’s not a burden…it’s family.   For too many Christians God’s blessings are a dam in which they impound all of the benefits of His goodness for themselves, but God instead intends that we should be a channel through which His blessings and benefits flow to reach others. John is clearly saying that as life does not dwell in the murderer, love does not dwell in the miser. Sometimes the greatest gift we could give a brother or sister might be our time. There are many individuals in our church who are lonely and would love to just have a friend. And time for some of us would truly be a sacrifice. The tragedy of these verses from 1 John is that we do not take them seriously but virtually blow them off. Then, whereas hatred is motivated by personal sin…   d) Love is motivated by gratitude for God’s love. That’s the point of verse 16. If God’s love as shown on the cross abides in your heart, it will flow through us to others. If you’re running short on love, stop and meditate on what Jesus did for you. Remember in the parable, if the servant who had been forgiven the huge debt had stopped to think about it, he would have forgiven his fellow servant the lesser debt (Matt. 18:23-35). Or as John states in the next chapter, “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (4:11). As hatred is the evidence of spiritual death…   e) Love is the evidence of spiritual life. John says, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers” (v. 14).While this fruit of the Spirit never grows to perfect maturity in this lifetime, you should be able to see growth in love when you compare your self-centered life before conversion with your focus since you were saved. If you say that you know Christ, but continue to live for yourself, if you're unwilling to be inconvenienced or sacrifice yourself and your possessions to meet the needs of others, you need to examine whether or not you've truly passed out of death into life. If you have tasted God's love in Christ at the cross, the new direction of your life will be to grow in love for others.   f) Love is an action, not just words. A woman was surprised at church one day when another woman, who had often snubbed her, went out of her way to give her a big hug before the service. She wondered what had initiated this change of heart. She got her answer at the end of the service when the pastor instructed, "Your assignment for next week is the same as last week. I want you to go out there and love somebody you just can't stand" If loving others were only as easy as giving a hug to someone you don't like, we all could excel in love. Just hug them and move on! But, love is more difficult than that!   John says talk is cheap, love requires action. “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (v. 18). Love requires continual effort, because at the heart of loving others is putting the other person ahead of yourself. That’s always a huge battle. For this reason, the New Testament as a whole and the apostle John in this letter never tire of exhorting us to love one another. God's love flowing through us to one another should so mark the Church that it draws a sharp contrast between us and the world. Conclusion: The late Ray Stedman told the story of a Jewish man named Arthur Katz, who was raised as an atheist. Early in life, he became a committed Marxist. At the close of World War II he was in Germany with the American army and saw the gas chambers at the concentration camps. It filled him with hatred, first toward the Germans and then, as he realized that this went deeper than nationality, at the whole human race. He came back to Berkeley and gave himself to education, but he came to see that it was not the answer. Education could not change hearts. Finally, he resigned his position. His wife lost her mind and was put in a mental institution. Divorced, and without ties, he went out to wander. One rainy day in Greece, grubby and dirty, he was hitchhiking. No one wanted to pick up a seedy looking character like him. He had stood in the rain for hours when a Cadillac stopped. To Art's amazement the driver did not just gesture for him to get in. He got out of the car, came around and began to pump his hand and welcome him warmly. He took Art's dirty rucksack and threw it on the clean upholstery. Then, he drove Art to a hotel, rented him a room, and gave him some food. Finally, he asked Art what he was doing and where he was going. All the pent-up heartache, misery, and resentment of a lifetime came pouring out of this young Jewish atheist, while the man sat and listened. When Art was through, the man said, "You know what this world needs? Those who are willing to wash one another's feet." Art said, "I never heard anything so beautiful. Why do you say that?" The man said, "Because that's what my Lord did." For the first time in his life, this young atheist heard a clear presentation of the gospel. He became a Christian and went on to devote his life to serving the Lord. The thing that broke through all those years of hatred, all the pent-up resentment and bitterness of his heart and life was one act of kindness which manifested to an apparently undeserving young man--genuine courtesy and kindness in the name of Jesus Christ.   “By this” Jesus said, “all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). That’s the path of love. If life is there, that kind of love will be there too. Now, let it show, is John’s exhortation. “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”