How to Treat Other Christians

There is an old story about a man who died and went to heaven. The man was a fine Christian and he was welcomed through the pearly gates by the Apostle Peter. No sooner had he arrived than he made a special request. He asked Peter if he could, for just a moment, catch a glimpse of hell in order that he might appreciate his good fortune even more. So Peter arranged that, for just a moment, a window into hell be opened for him to see.

This is what he saw. To his surprise, there was a long table, stretching into the distance as far as the eye could see. On the table were all sorts of delicious foods. But the people who were sitting at the table were all starving to death. The man asked Peter to explain how it was that in the presence of all this food, the residents of hell were starving. Peter said, “Everyone is required to take food from the table only by using the four-foot long forks that are provided. The forks are so long, though, that no one can get the food from the table to his mouth. That is why they are starving.”

As the window to hell closed and the man pondered what he had seen, Peter welcomed him into heaven’s banquet room. Imagine the man’s shock when he saw the identical table, laden down with the identical foods. But the people who were sitting around the table were happy and well-fed. The man asked “What do they use here in heaven to take food from the table?” Peter answered “We use the same four-foot long forks that they have in hell.”

“Then how is it that the people here in heaven are happy and well-fed, while the people in hell are starving to death?” the man asked. “Very simple.” replied Peter. “In heaven we feed each other.”

In heaven we feed each other. We come today in the book of 1 John to a mark of Christianity which is above all other marks the hallmark of the faith. John has given us other identifying characteristics of the authentic Christian. Let’s remember what they are:

1. The authentic Christian is one who deals biblically with sin in his life.

2. The authentic Christian is one who seeks to obey God and do his will.

3. The authentic Christian is one who loves the Father not the world.

4. The authentic Christian is one who believes that Jesus Christ is God.

5. The authentic Christian is one who continues in fellowship with Christ.

6. The authentic Christian is one who does not keep on sinning.

Today, we come to the seventh mark. It is fitting that, seven being the number of perfection in Scripture, we reach the hallmark today. John is going to spend a lot of time in the rest of his epistle on this hallmark of Christianity. Here it is:

Authentic Christians love one another.

1 John 3:11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers.

The mark of genuineness in a Christian is love for other Christians. Now certainly Christians are told in Scripture to love all people, Christian and non-Christian alike. But love for other believers is the identifying mark of the true Christian. That’s what singles him out as a follower of Jesus Christ.

John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

There is in this passage in 1 John 3 on the subject of love:

1. A command

2. A caution

3. A confirmation

The command is found in v.11: We should love one another.

As Baptists, we do not follow the liturgical calendar through the year. So you may not know that the day before Good Friday is called Maundy Thursday. How did it get that name? The word “maundy” comes from the Latin “mandatum”, which means “mandate”, or “command”. It was on the day before his death, in the Upper Room at the Last Supper, that Jesus gave his disciples the new commandment that is found in John 13:34:

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

That is his mandate to us and to all his disciples… that we love one another. Now it should be immediately obvious that Jesus is talking about a different sort of love than that which we talk about. Nowadays, we’ve persuaded ourselves that love is a feeling. We talk about falling in love, or falling out of love, of being overcome with feelings of love, and so on. We say things like “I just can’t love him anymore. He rubs me the wrong way. The feelings are just not there.” And it only follows logically that if love is a feeling, you can’t command someone to love. Feelings have a mind of their own. You can’t control them.

But this is not the kind of love that Jesus is talking about. He’s not talking about “feeling love”, he’s telling us to love one another as an act of the will. The love that Jesus says we should have for one another is a doing love, not a feeling love. Jesus didn’t command us to feel love for one another, he commanded us to love one another. There’s a world of difference.

But you know something? There’s a neat little trap in Jesus’ command. The trap is that motion creates emotion. In his book “The Myth of the Greener Grass”, author and psychologist J. Allan Petersen describes how that trap was sprung in the life of a woman who was considering divorcing her husband. Let’s listen to him tell it:

Read Petersen, p.200.

Who do you have trouble loving? You should begin to love them as an act of the will, and you will find that soon motion will create emotion.

There is a caution in this passage as well. It is found in v.12

1 John 3:12 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.

Cain’s hatred for his brother Abel happened for two reasons. First, Cain was a child of the devil. He “belonged to the evil one.” The devil was giving Cain his cues. And anytime a person takes his cues from the devil, hatred and murder will be the result.

But secondly, Cain murdered Abel because he was envious of Abel’s standing with God. You remember the story in Genesis 4. The two men had brought their sacrifices to God. Abel had brought a lamb from the flock. Cain had brought some fruit from his garden. And the Bible says

The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Why did God accept the one and not the other? I believe that the answer is in Hebrews

Hebrews 11:4 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.

Abel offered his sacrifice by faith. In Scripture, faith is always our response to that which God has revealed to us. When God says to do something and we do it, that is faith. I think that it is fair to assume that God had revealed to Cain and Abel what kind of sacrifice He was looking for. Abel obeyed the instructions, Cain did not. Abel brought a blood sacrifice. Cain brought his own works, the fruit of his own labors. God says to Cain in

Genesis 4:7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?

Abel obeyed God and did what was right. Cain did not. It’s as simple as that. And Cain was seething with anger against his brother. He hated him because God had accepted him. And he killed him. The word here in 1 John 3 actually means that he butchered him, he slaughtered him. He dismembered his brother. It was a massacre.

That is how the children of the devil feel about the children of God. That is how sin reacts to righteousness. Jesus knew what he was up against when he spoke with the Pharisees in John 8. Jesus said,

“I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

“Abraham is our father,” they answered.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does.”

“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Hatred and murderous thoughts have no place in the life of the authentic Christian. Such things are literally of the devil. Such things are the hallmark of death. And Christians are often the target of such feelings from those who are in the devil’s family. It is no wonder that John says

1 John 3:13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.

Then, finally, there is a confirmation given to us in v.14

1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.

John tells us how a person can get from death to life in…

John 5:24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

And he tells us here in 1 John 3:14 how to know that you’ve crossed over. Love for one another in Christ is the confirmation. If you are loving other Christians, you have crossed over.

A young man named Duncan McColl was a British soldier in the Revolutionary War. It so happened that in the course of one of the battles that McColl was given a very dangerous assignment that would bring him under the barrels of the American guns. As he carried out his mission, an American officer commanded his men to hold thier fire. The officer told his men that he believed that that British soldier had work for God to do. History proved him right. After the war, McColl went into the ministry and settled in Canada, along the St. Croix River in New Brunswick, just over the border from Maine. He founded a church in St. Stephen. Members came to worship from both sides of the border.

When the War of 1812 between the British and the Americans came, McColl taught his members that they were brothers in Christ. He taught them to love one another. So they ignored the war and they continued to worship together to this very day. That church set an example for the two communities and today St. Stephen, New Brunswick and Calais, Maine are bound together with ties of brotherhood and good will that stemmed from Duncan McColl and his little flock of Christians. They were people who took seriously God’s command to love one another.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke of the importance of loving one another. He said that loving one another is more important than going to church.

Matthew 5:23-24 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

Love is the hallmark of the authentic Christian. Jesus doesn’t want to see you in church if you have something against your brother. He doesn’t want your worship under those circumstances. Your presence will just stifle the working of the Spirit of God. Because you can’t worship a God of love if you’re harboring bitterness and hatred in your heart.

But how joyful and wonderful is the fellowship in a church that has learned how to love one another.

The story is told of a man named John Fawcett. He was a minister in England. For many years he pastored a small church in a rural setting. He got to know and love that little congregation, and the feelings were mutual. Then one day, Pastor John Fawcett was called to pastor a much larger church in the city of London. After many days of prayer and deliberation, he reluctantly decided to accept. The fateful day arrived for he and his wife to move. The wagon was packed and ready to leave. Then the people of the little church began to come to bid him farewell. In ones and twos, in family groups they came to express their love and appreciation for him. Many of them were shedding tears. Finally, his wife began to weep herself. She cried out, “Oh John, I just can’t bear this. They need us so badly here.” The pastor himself was touched deeply. He exclaimed “I believe that God has spoken to us through his people. We cannot break such ties of fellowship and love. Tell them to unload the wagon. We will be staying.”

And it was that experience that caused Pastor John Fawcett to take pen in hand and write the words that are found in our hymnbook at #187. Let’s sing it together now.