For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We must not be like Cain who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? (1 John 3:11-17, NRSV)

How does one lay down your life for another?

Yes the easy answer is to die for them. But that isn’t really what God is asking us to do, at least not literally.

God wants us to die to self. Not think about ourselves more than we ought. God wants us to put others before ourselves. We need to help those in need and our brothers and sisters around us.

We can not murder, harm, think ill or our brothers and sisters and be walking in God’s light.

Love as He loved you.

Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God’s seed abides in them; they cannot sin, because they have been born of God. The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters. (1 John 3:9-10, NRSV)

If you do not love your brothers and sisters you are not from God. This doesn’t mean you agree with them always. It doesn’t mean you agree with everything they do. It means you love them. And not the kind of love that needs it’s own way to be done. The kind of love like Jesus has for you. Accepting them as they are and loving them where they are.

Love you brothers and sisters.

Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:4-8, NRSV)

Hold on just a minute. Everyone who sins is a child of the devil. And if you are in Him you do not sin?

Makes me stop and wonder if I really have been redeemed by Jesus.

Makes you wonder if you are a child of God. But here is the things. We are God’s children but this world and its ruler have a way of getting under our skin and turning us away from God.

This is where the Luther concept of sinner and saint comes in. Always chd of God, always child of devil. We ha e two natures.

Let God win.

Let Love Win.

If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who does right has been born of him. See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. (1 John 2:29-3:3, NRSV)

What joyous news that is!

You are a child of God.

God has named and claimed you as His own. He loves you not for anything you have done but because you are His creation. Sheep of His own redeeming, a lamb of His own gold. You are His beloved child.

Never forget that.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 1:5—2:2, NRSV)

This is part of our service. If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sin God who is faithful and just will forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we lie and say we are not sinful we can have no part of God but if we say what we have done, God will forgive us.

God will always forgive you.

So confess to God and let Him love you.

I write these things to you concerning those who would deceive you. As for you, the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming. (1 John 2:26-28, NRSV)

Don’t let anyone deceive you and do not deceive anyone.

Make your way clear for the coming of Christ. Not so you earn anything but so you have allowed the world to see Jesus through your life.

Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and you know that no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he has promised us, eternal life. (1 John 2:18-25, NRSV)

You can not deny the Father and the Son and be in the light. And if you aren’t in the light you are a liar. Earlier today I heard an adult tell a youth ot is better to tell the truth than a lie because you don’t have to have a good memory to tell the truth. If you lie you have to remember what you said and to who. The truth is always easier and better.

So tell the truth and be connected to God.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever. (1 John 2:15-17, NRSV)

The things of this world will pass away. Cars and homes. Money and possessions will all fade away.

We should not love these things because they will not always be here.

We are to love those whom God has created and care for them as God has cared for us.

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven on account of his name. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, because you have conquered the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (1 John 2:12-14, NRSV)

We have known God and conquered the evil one. Do you always think you know God? Do you feel like you’ve conquered the evil one?

We don’t always feel that way but we can be assured that God abides within us and we have strength through Him.

Live in the strength. Loving the world as God loves you.

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness. (1 John 2:7-11, NRSV)

We are called to live in love. If we say that we love someone but do not or act in a way that is contrary to that we do not actually love them.

Darkness surrounds us and we need to be the light for the world.

Love as Christ loved you and walk in the darkness of this world to bring the light.