Taking Up Our Cross, Laying Down Our Life

1 John 3:11-24

"¹¹ This is the message you heard from the beginning:

We should love one another.

¹² 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.

¹³ Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.

¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life,

because we love our brothers.

Anyone who does not love remains in death.

¹⁵ Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer,

and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

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.

¹⁷ 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?

¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue

but with actions and in truth.

¹⁹ This then is how we know that we belong to the truth,

and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence

²⁰ whenever our hearts condemn us.

For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.

²¹ Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us,

we have confidence before God

²² and receive from Him anything we ask,

because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him.

²³ And this is His command:

to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ,

and to love one another as He commanded us.

²⁴ Those who obey His commands live in Him, and He in them.

And this is how we know that He lives in us:

we know it by the Spirit He gave us.

I want to start journaling my thoughts by quoting Galatians 1:10, written by the apostle Paul. I believe that this verse also really applies to John, the beloved disciple of Jesus Christ:

"Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God?

Or am I trying to please men?

If I were still trying please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."

God used both of these men (Paul and John) to write His words, to be read and applied by millions of people throughout the world, spanning thousands of years of time. What they wrote was not their own thoughts, used either to accuse or condemn men, or to tickle the ears of those who read. What they wrote was the message that God wanted to give to mankind, and they wrote as His Spirit revealed it to them. The men that penned the word of God could not worry about what their audience might think, wondering how they would accept the words they wrote. They could only be faithful to their King, the One they whole-heartedly served. And so, the words of Scripture that kick off this blog are the words of God, recorded by His faithful servant John, for us to read and learn from. The thoughts that follow are mere words written by a mostly uneducated person who just loves to think about these kinds of things. Though my prayer is that one day something that I write will point someone towards the Truth, they are just words and thoughts expressed. I too, would hope that in my writing, I would not be trying to win the approval of others, but rather, would be focused on Christ, my Master, and on serving Him with all of my heart...

As I became engrossed in my study, slowly trying to dissect it in order to gain understanding, I realized a pattern in the passage above, which I then realized is repeated multiple times** in this book.

John often gives a command (an instruction which a child of God should be following), and then, in the following verses he expounds on it. When he has given his wise insight, using many wonderful, eye opening examples, etc., he closes that section, or train of thought, by repeating the instruction again. Often, in closing, he will show us the benefit, or reward, for His true children as they follow this instruction. So, this is the pattern that I saw in this portion of Scripture:

God's Command: verse 11

Instruction: verses 12-22

              - both negative examples - of those who failed to obey His command,

                and positive examples - of someone who obeys His command.

              - helpful advice to teach and guide us, and reasons for why this will benefit us.
              - assurance that we may have confidence before God, as His children, when
                we follow this instruction.  

God's Command Repeated: verse 23

Closing: verse 24

              - Blessing for obedience. A reminder of the wonderful gift given to believers

God's command is to "love one another", and this has been His message to us "from the beginning" (these three words are also often repeated - 5 times - in 1 John, showing us that John is not presenting new or foreign ideas; rather, he is presenting God's original, familiar message to us yet one more time in hopes that our eyes will be opened to His truth).

"Do not be like Cain...". Cain is the first example we have, from almost the beginning of time, of someone failing to love his brother. Abel, Cain's younger brother, was a shepherd, and Cain was a farmer, working the soil. Both of these men at one point, brought offerings to the Lord (read about it in Genesis 4:1-17). The Lord was pleased with the sacrifice that Abel brought, but He was not pleased with Cain's sacrifice. As I studied more Scripture about sacrifice, trying to understand the lesson in this story more clearly, I found a lot of verses that showed me which kinds of sacrifices God is pleased with. First of all, because He is all-knowing, it is important to remember that though we often only see the actual events of a story, God knows the heart of each character intimately, as He did with Cain and Abel, and which motives were behind their sacrifices. Psalm 139:1-4, as well as parts of Hebrews 4:12 and 13 show this:

"O LORD, You have searched me and You know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O LORD."

"For the Word of God is living and active...it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight."

1 Samuel 16:7b says:

"Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Because He is able to perfectly read our hearts, I trust that God's judgements are always right and just. God, deeply involved in both Cain and Abel's lives, saw their hearts, and that Cain's was not obedient to Him. Therefore, He could not find pleasure in the gift that Cain presented to Him. 1 Samuel 15:22 tells us:

"Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord?

To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry."

There is a lot revealed in that verse, but what stands out to me is that obedience is the quality that God can work with. If we are willing to trust Him and to show that trust by submitting to Him in obedience, then God will be able to do much good in our lives. This kind of trust (which is what faith is built on) was something that Abel possessed, and it motivated him to seek to do God's will in what he did. In Hebrews 11:4, Abel is commended for his faith:

"By faith, Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did.

By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings.

And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead."

Abel has left a lasting example of what obedience to God looks like. Faith and obedience go hand in hand - they are the qualities that God can work with, favorable in His sight. These are also the very things that can stir up anger, or hatred, in the heart of someone lacking them, especially in those trying to put on a façade of faith, which was what Cain seemed to be doing.

Cain became "very angry" that Abel's sacrifice had been accepted and his had not. I believe that verse 12 in the passage above reveals why he was so angry. He was jealous, because he saw that Abel's actions were right before God because his heart was pure, while at the same time, it had been revealed that his heart was not pure, that his actions were not right. As jealousy festered and grew inside of him, he became an angry man. These wrong thoughts overtook him to a point where it "changed his countenance". It robbed him of joy, peace, and contentment, and followed him around like a black cloud. Jealousy and anger, if not dealt with, will easily lead to hate. Hate has a way of 'uglifying' things, of blinding us to the truth, which will escalate the severity of the problem, as it did with Cain. Jesus was familiar with this kind of hatred, and He warned His followers that they would also experience it from those who had the same mindset as those who had opposed Him.This kind of mindset is an 'earthly minded' one, as opposed to the 'heavenly minded' one we as believers will have. Jude calls this type of person "godless" (v. 4), men who "speak abusively against whatever they do not understand" (v.10), "grumblers and faultfinders", men who "follow their own evil desires" (v. 16). About such people, he says, "they have taken the way of Cain" (v. 11), showing that the same negative spirit that was in Cain at the beginning of time will still live on in those opposing God's perfect way until the end of time.  In John 15:18, after reminding His followers about the love they were to have for each other as His followers, Jesus said:

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first.

If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.

As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.

That is why the world hates you." 

As a child of God who is living obediently for Him, following His commands and serving Him with a pure heart, we do not need to be shocked or worried if there is a dividing line between us and those who reject God. There are some who hate us. Those whose eyes have not yet been opened to the kingdom that Christ is building will likely hate us. Evil hates righteousness like it hates light - it does not like to have its deeds exposed for what they are.  

God does not easily give up on these kinds of people though. He pursues them, in hopes that they will forsake their sin and turn to Him. In His love and concern for Cain, the Lord sought him out, addressing Cain's anger and his "downcast face". In a way that is characteristic to God throughout the whole Bible, He showed Cain the way out of his sinful condition, telling him, "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?" It is never too late to turn from evil and do good (Psalm 34:14). God is patient, not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9), and is a great Giver of second (or third or fourth...) chances. But because God always allows us to make our own free choice, not forcing us into anything against our will, He warned Cain how it would play out if he kept on going the way he was going; "If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (Gen. 4:5).

One thing that has been apparent from the beginning of time is that the devil does not wait for us to come to him. According to 1 Peter 5:8, "the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour". In God's words to Cain, I imagine that same imagery - a ferocious, hungry lion crouching, waiting to pounce on anyone that comes his way so that he may devour him. Thankfully, the Bible is full of reminders for us to be aware, to be watchful and vigilant, and so to avoid falling prey to our enemy the devil.

God's desire was for Cain to be victorious in defeating this sinful pattern of thought he had fallen into, but Cain rebelled against Him (opposite of obedience), choosing instead to give in to and follow the devil. Because he made this choice John, in verse 12 of the opening passage, could truthfully say that Cain "belonged to the evil one". Going back to chapter 3:10 (covered in my previous blog "Learning To Live 'In Him' "), his behavior was like that of "children of the devil", because he chose to "not do what is right", and his actions over a course of time progressively showed that he did "not love his brother". Cain's anger, towards God and towards Abel, turned into a hatred that was strong enough that it led him to killing his brother. This is the account of the first murder, and it is evidence of the truth of the words in verse 15, where John writes:

" Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer,

and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him."

Hate = Murder = Death.

The previous verse (v.14) contrasts this by saying that "we know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers".

Love = Life

Anyone who does not love remains in death. There is only one equation that fits us.

Love is a product, or fruit, of a child of God, and as that, we do have eternal life in us. Eternal life is the reward, or outcome for us, if we love as Christ commanded us to love. This kind of love only comes by laying down our own desires, and following Jesus' example. In the next verses, I see the positive example of love that we as believers are supposed to follow.

Cain's example was given, I feel, to show me what love is not! The example given of Jesus laying down His life for us - dying for us so that we could experience eternal life - shows me what love is (1 John 4:7-5:3 talks a lot more about what love is!).

John 15:13:

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

Romans 5:7:

"Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man,

though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this:

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

This love that Jesus Christ so willingly offered us while we were still living in rebellion towards Him, in our sin, should have us responding to Him. The best way we can show Jesus the love that we have for Him is by loving those around us like He loves us. As His child, we are blessed to have Him living inside of us, and that life that He wants to live through us wants to love! That is Christ's character.

So, "we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers". Does this mean that we should die for them? Well, I believe that it means that we should be willing to die for someone if the need arises. There are many stories that touch my heart about people who have laid down their lives for the sake of others in this way, and I am blessed to see such sacrifice! However, as I read the verses that followed, I realized that there is another, maybe even deeper, meaning to these words. We belong to God now and it is our desire to live for Him, which means we willingly set aside our own desires so that we can do what He desires. My possessions are not my own anymore, but God's. Therefore, if I see someone in need, I should care more about God's desire to provide for that person's needs than about my desire for my own gain. I should want to lay aside the life that I might want to build for myself in order to help my brother. If I desire to do any less, God's love is not flowing through me. It is easy to say "I love God", while it is often more difficult to do the things He would do through us because we love Him. James 2:14-17 provides a vivid example of "loving" in word only, but not in deed:

"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?

Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.

If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed",

but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." 

Our actions will show whether what we say is true or not. Is our faith real? It will show itself as real or counterfeit depending on the kind of life we live. Yes, my prayer is that I would be willing to die for someone in order that they might live, if I would ever happen to be in such a situation. But my prayer also is that I would be willing to "die" to my own desires a hundred times a day in order to show someone in need Christ's life in me. This, for now, is maybe a more realistic prayer, for I know that I will be in this kind of situation many times almost every day that I live. There are so many people in need of experiencing Christ's love. Will I be willing to let Him give it to someone through my actions? A verse that came to mind over and over again as I was thinking about this was Luke 9:23, which says:

"Then [Jesus] said to them all: "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself

and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"

Romans 15:1-6, and Philippians 2:3-8 talk about emulating the example that Jesus gave while He lived on this Earth as a man. He did not live to please Himself, but rather, made Himself as nothing in order to give us salvation. Jesus humbled Himself to a point of total obedience, and died as a falsely accused, innocent man. He died a shameful death that He did not deserve, even though all the while He had the power to change His situation. Like a favorite Easter song says, "He could have called ten thousand angels...but He died alone for you and me." In John 10:18, Jesus says:

"No one takes [My life] from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord."

It was Jesus' spirit, His will, that was completely obedient to His Father, and He is our example.

Once I start loving in word, in action, and in truth, I will have a sure knowledge that I belong to the truth. Just like we are sure that the child who is the spitting image of the parent beside him belongs to that parent, when we start resembling our Father in Heaven, it becomes clear that we are His. If Satan comes at us with attacks, trying to make us doubt our salvation, we can examine our hearts, our motives, our deeds. As the Lord reveals, this is where one would confess and repent of anything that is not a product of genuine Christianity. Once we have done that, we are ready to go on to verse 21, where we start seeing the reward of loving Him, loving our brother, in our lives.

Once a person has reached this point in their walk with Christ, one is able to have confidence in coming before God (see Hebrews 4:16). We are told that we will "receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him". This is an amazing promise!! Sometimes people who don't understand, or who want to abuse the Word of God, twist verses like this one, and end up confused, because they have asked something of God, and did not receive what they asked for. I feel that it is very important to remember who this promise is given to. This promise is given to Christians who have learned to submit themselves to God in total obedience. It is for people who's greatest desire is to follow Jesus' example of humility, of serving others and serving the Father; of wanting nothing more than what He wants. Will this intimate relationship of love change what we ask for? I believe that it will. People in this kind of relationship with God usually end up praying a lot differently than those who are still focused more on themselves than on Him.
I do not mean to discourage! Although I still find that my focus is often misplaced, I have been privileged to see the Lord giving me exactly what I asked for at times, and there is no feeling as joyous as realizing that a prayer of mine was answered because I was praying according to my Father's will!

Verse 23 reiterates what we read at the beginning. God's command is to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and it is to love one another as He commanded us. If that's me, then I am assured that I live in Him, and He lives in me (that is, my life is secure, and hidden in Him, and He has put His forever life that bears the good fruit inside of me, where before there was only fleeting life on this earth, filled with all the bad fruit, and then death - separation from my Giver of Life, and His love and His goodness. I don't really know how to explain that very well with words, but I sure know how it feels! It's something that, when a person has experienced it, becomes the most important thing in life!). And how do I know that Christ lives in me? I know it by the Spirit He gave to me.

"Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

Who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those

who are God's possession - to the praise of His glory."

                    

Ephesians 1:13b,14

* I realize that this entry is really lengthy, which reflects on the amount of study I put into it. I
  felt that it took a long time for me to process this section, and by the time I had done so, I
  had studied so many things, from the life of Cain, to the life of Jesus, and many things in
  between. I don't know if, in the long run, it ends up being too lengthy of a read, but what I
  do know is that it was an excellent way for me to get digging deep into God's Word :). So,
  enjoy, and maybe grab a cup of coffee or take an intermission halfway :)! Thanks for
  reading!

** Some more examples of a similar pattern/format that I found (described near the
    beginning of this blog) are in chapter 2:24-28 'Continue/Remain in Him',
                                                  chapter 3:6-10 'Don't Keep On Sinning',
                                                  chapter 4:7-12 also themed 'Love One Another',
                                                  chapter 5:1-5 'Believe That Jesus Is God's Son' (or for a
                                                  broader example, one could possibly use chapter 5:1-13).    
    These, of course, are just things that helped me in my personal study; I have no idea
    if they would be recognized by actual Bible scholars :)! If any readers have time,
    go ahead and study this, and let me know what you think!