LOVE GOD AND LOVE YOUR BROTHERS

1 John 3:1-24
Key Verse: 3:16

          "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down
           his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for 
           our brothers. "

     The essence of Christian life is love. God is love. So as the
children of God we must obey God's command to love. Jesus Christ
defined what is true love by giving up his life on the cross for
all sinners. By the grace of God we became the children of God.
Therefore, we must immitate our Father's character, love. How? We
must love God and love our brothers as ourselves. We must follow
Jesus' example of love in this unloving and selfish world. Love is
a best medicine to heal our wounded, broken and bitter hearts.
Let's practice the love of God not with our lip service but with a
real action. I pray that we may become doers of God's love not
talkers by helping our brothers and sisters who need the word of
God in our daily lives. May God bless us to learn true love by
feeding God's flocks sacrificially in this coming Fall semester.

First, how great is the love of God (1).

     Look at the first part of verse 1. It says, "How great is the
love of the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called
children of God!" How great a privilege it is to be called the
children of God. Here, "children of God" has deep meaning. The love
of God is that God sent his one and only Son to save men from their
sins. There were so many people. How can it be that God should send
his one and only Son to save us from our sins? It was because God
could not send someone else, because of their sins. God sent his
one and only Son Jesus Christ. Let's think about how difficult it
was to send his Son as the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the
world. Here the words "atoning sacrifice" are the same as the
sacrificial lamb. Could anybody send his or her only son as the
atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world? No, it is impossible
for anybody. How many of us have someone who would die for us?
None. God loves you, and he has proven his love-He gave his Son to
die for you.
     
     How do we know the love of God? When we believe that God sent
his one and only Son Jesus Christ as the atoning sacrifice to save
men from their sins, we can realize the love of God. Jesus gave up
his honor, glory and power of the kingdom of God and come down to
this world of darkness. Jesus was infinite God. But he had to be
limited in time and space in a human form. Jesus' incarnation is
full of grace and truth because he gave up all his glory, honor and
power of the kingdom of God. From God's point of view, Jesus'
incarnation is also a life-giving sacrifice and unmanageable
sorrow. How can we understand God's sorrow when he sent his one and
only Son to this world to save men from their sins? It is a
wonderful thing that God gave his one and only Son Jesus Christ to
demonstrate his love. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life." The greatest motivating
force in the world is God's love. Love is the greatest drive in the
human family. A young man falls in love with a woman, a woman falls
in love with a man, and some make such tremendous sacrifice for
each other. When human love is genuine love, it is a beautiful
thing, it is a noble thing, it is a wonderful thing, and it
generates a tremendous energy. Without love the world may be a dry
desert without an oaisis or a scary graveyard. But God's love for
his children far exceeds anything we can experience in this planet.
God's love is the highest form of love because it involved the
sacrifice of the Son of God.

     When we read verse 1. There is the word, "lavished." It means
that God did not spare his Son, but freely gave him to us so that
we may be saved from our sins. When we think about the word,
"lavished,", it is a very difficult word to practice to fallen
mankind. Everyone is stinge in giving up anything in the world. But
God lavished his one and Only Son Jesus Christ as the atoning
sacrifice to save men from their sins. This is the love of God and
this is the reason that God is love. Isaiah the prophet knew about
the coming of the Son of God to the world to become the atoning
sacrifice. So he said in Isaiah 53:1, "Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" To Isaiah, even
to hear that Jesus would be the atoning sacrifice was too sorrowful
to believe. So he cried out, "Who can believe this? Why should this
happen to Jesus?" Isaiah cried and cried. Isaiah 53:7 says, "he was
oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led
like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is
silent, so he did not open his mouth." Jesus took all our
infirmities and transgressions silently, so silently. God's
lavishing his one and only Son is indeed remarkable and is beyond
description. When Jesus had to become the atoning sacrifice on the
cross, the earth shook and the rocks split(Mt 27:51). Jesus'
atoning sacrifice made the heavens and the earth cry. 

     Look at verse 1a again. "How great is the love of the Father
has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And
that is what we are!" We become the children of God by the precious
blood of Jesus. We become the children of God by the infinite love
of God. Here we learn that we must have great pride being the
children of God. Our God is Almighty. And we are the children of
the Almighty God. Our God is holy, holy, holy God. Because God is
holy, we are the holy children of God. There are many young people
who live under the power of sin and death. Many people are
possessed by the evil spirits and torture themselves. Without God
we are under the dominion of Satan. Without God we are the children
of darkness. With God many good things happened. Imagine the world
and our future without God. It is dreadful just to think about the
prospect. But God lavished his one and only Son as the atoning
sacrifice. Thus, we became the children of God. (Ro 8:15-17)
When we lived without God, we were not the children of God but the
children of this world due to our disobedience. But now we became
the children of God once again by the grace of Jesus. Then we began
to enjoy many privileges.

     Look at verse 1b. "The reason the world does not know us is
that it did not know him." We are the precious children of God. The
reason the world does not know us is that they did not know God.
When we are saved by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, our value
system changes. When we became the children of God, we were brought
out of the darkness into the marvelous light. People who live in
darkness unconditionally hate the children of God, because when the
children of God come around them their sinful lifestyles are
exposed in public, and what is more, their darkness vanishes away.
It is natural that the children of darkness hate and despise the
children of light. Otherwise, they will vanish by the children of
the light. There are many people who love their pet dogs. And there
are also many people who hate the children of the light without
question. When we are persecuted by the worldly people, it is a
clear mark that we belong to Christ and live in the light of Jesus.
We should not despair when the world treats us with hatred and
prejudice. We should always rejoice in the love of God.

Second, the hope of the children of God (2-3).

     Even though we are the children of God, we live in the world.
Sometimes we feel that to be children of God is not easy. But in
reality, it is very easy when we have the hope of God. First, we
must believe the Second Coming of Jesus. Look at verses 2-3. "Dear
friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not
yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope
in him purifies himself, just as he is pure." These verses explain
that as Jesus promised, he comes again.

     In verse 2, his coming is expressed with the words, "when he
appears." While we are living in the world, to woman, the marriage
problem is serious. To man, the future security is a bone-crushing
item. But we should not be caught by the things of the world. We
must wait for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. When we have faith
that he is coming again we can be holy pilgrims. When we have faith
that he is coming again we can be faithful. When we have faith that
he is coming again we can live a holy life. When we have faith that
he is coming again we can love God and we can love our brothers.
When Jesus comes again we will see him face to face. We will all be
changed to be like him. 1 Corinthians 15:49 says, "And just as we
have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the
likeness of the man from heaven." Wow! What a prospect we have as
a child of God. When Jesus appears, we we shall be like him. We
will receive the glory of Jesus as the children of God. We have a
glorious future we do not see yet. When Jesus appears, we are going
to be with Jesus in the New Jerusalem where he will wipe away all
the tears. There will be no sorrow, there will be no suffering, and
there will be no separation. More than anything else, we will be a
new creation. Rev. 21:5a says, "He who was seated on the throne
said, 'I am making everything new!'" We have many regrets about our
past life. Many times I wish I could have done it better. I wish I
could start everything all over again if it were possible. But as
you know, life is one way street. We cannot go back to our past. In
the movie, "Back to the future," Michael Jay Fox went back to the
past and found what their parents were doing. But it is only
possible in the movie. Many times I wish I had prepared a better
message after delivering Sunday message. I wish I had been a better
father than I was. I wish I had been a better husband, a gentle,
caring, loving, sensitive hasband than I was. Sometimes we are
tired of the fact that we remain same all the time and inability to
do things we really want to do. We are frustrated with the fact
that we are not changed at all since we became the children of God.
But Jesus asked an invalid man who has been sick for 38 years in
John 5:6b, "Do you want to get well?" Jesus gave this man hope by
healing his sickness. Our life is not through with God yet. Better
things are coming later. When Jesus appears, we are going to be
able to start all over again. We are going to live an eternal life
and to attain our goal of life. I am sure I can do better when I
begin everything new from the starting point. 

     But it is not easy for us to believe the Second Coming of
Jesus because we still have a craving attachment to the world. When
Jesus talked about going up to the Father's house and coming back
again, his disciples worried about their future security problems,
and Peter went into the restroom and cried with a loud voice. But
John 14:1-3 says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in
God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it
were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a
place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."
Many times Jesus taught his Second Coming to his disciples. The
hope of Jesus' Second Coming motivates all Christians to endure
hardship and drives them to press on towards the goal.

Third, do not keep on sinning (4-10).

     St. John warns the children of God not to keep on sinning. It
is because sin is lawlessness. When we keep on sinning, the world
becomes lawless. When we keep on sinning habitually with many
excuses, the beautiful children of God all become like the devils.
Most importantly, those who keep on sinning cannot see Jesus. Those
who keep on sinning become ignorant and cannot realize the love of
God. Finally, they all become the children of the devil. The
children of God must keep themselves away from deceptive people,
because he who does what is sinful is of the devil, and the devil
has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God
appeared was to destroy the devil's work (8). Those who are born of
the devil will keep on sinning. Those who are born of God do not
keep on sinning. We know that we are the children of God when we
love God and when love our brothers(9-10). The best advise to us is
to stay away from sin. Sin and God cannot mix together. The best
way to express our love to God is to maintain pure life by hating
sin. Joseph in the Genesis stayed away from sin because he loved
God. He treated his brothers harshly to remove sin from their
lives. Look at verse 9. A child of God is given a new character,
and that new character does not and will not commit sin. Once again
I give you an example about the Prodigal Son. The reason that he
could not stay in teh pigpen is that he was not a pig. He was a son
of the Father, and he longed for the Father's house. Though he
became a wild sinner to satisfy his flesh desire, he was not happy
with his wild life. So he was able to come back because he tasted
the love of his father through repentance. If we are child of God,
we want to be in the Father's house not in the house of sin, and we
will long to have fellowship with the Father. When we receive a new
nature, we did not lose our old nature--that is the problem. Even
St. Paul cried, "What a wretched man I am! Who shall rescue me from
this body of death?" If some sins bother you, ruin your life, make
you helpless and hopeless, take away your joy and make you
miserable, you should get rid of your sins right away. Don't let
sin dwell in your heart.

Fourth, the way to know the love of God(11-15).

     How do we come to know the love of God? Look at verse 16.
"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life
for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." Those
who love God and practice God's love to their brothers are those
who know the love of God. There are many people who say, "I love
God." There are many people who say, "God is love, so I am saved,
despite my wretchedness." These people make use of God's love.There
are actually three Greek words that are translated by our one
English word love. The First greek word is eros, and it is never
used in the new Testament. It refers to erotic love, having to do
with sex. The Greeks talked a great deal about sex like Americans,
and they had the god Eros. The second word, phileo means
friendship. It means a love of the brothers. The third word, the
highest word, is agapao. That is God's love. There are several
characteristics in God's love. It is unconditional. God loved while
we were great sinners. Many times we found that our love is
conditional and limited. We do not deserve to be called the
children of God. But God made us his children simply because he
loved us. Second, God's love is sacrificial. It requires pain and
tears. There is a song named "love is a seed of tears." In this
world we see this kind of love from mothers. Mothers are
sacrifical. I see many great mothers who sacrificed their lives for
their children. I know one mother who sells things in the street to
send her son to colllege in the hope that he will be a great man in
the future. Mother's love is higher than mountain. Without Monica's
tearful love there is no St. Augustine. Without Jesus' sacrificial
love there is no disciples.  Look at verse 13. "Do not be
surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you." We should not be
surprised if the world hates us. It hates us because we have passed
from death to life. In other words, when we live in the light those
who live in the darkness hate us continuously. The world hates us
because we love our brothers. The world wants us to hate one
another diligently. But people of the world see that the children
of God love one another. We buy Big Macs and pray for one another.
They cannot understand why we love one another (13-14a). But the
Bible tells us that those who do not love remain in death. Anyone
who hates his brother is a murderer, and has no eternal life (15).
They are like Cain, who killed his lovely younger brother out of
his petty emotional feeling (12).

Fifth, practice the love of God in our pratical lives (16-24).

     Look at verse 16. "This is how we know what love is: Jesus
Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our
lives for our brothers." There are many people who say, "I love
God. I love my brothers." But if they have to spend even a little
money for their brothers, they become very unhappy. Look at verse
17. "If anyone has material possesions and sees his brother in need
but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" We
Christians should not love our brothers with words or tongue, but
with actions and in truth (18). When we do so, we come to know that
we are in the truth (19). When we are in the truth, we have the
peace of God. But when we do not have the love of God in our
hearts, the feeling of condemnation accompanies us. When we come to
God, God is greater than our hearts. Therefore we must practice the
love of God, and when we are tired of practicing the love of God we
must come to God for help (18-20). The work of God in Washington is
the work of God's love. We did not do many things but we influenced
several American students.