View Video Blog, Right Click Link: I John 3:17
But if anyone has the
world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him,
how does God’s love abide in him?
THE STUDY:
How appropriate it is, during this
time of the year, to be reading about Love. Not just love received but also
Love given. Christmas is the time of the year when people seem a little more
loving than the rest of the year. We not only see love in people by their heart
felt cards and words given but we receive it in the form of gifts.
In this verse we read how Passing
love on to another is not merely to express warm thoughts. Shared love has
substance. Love consists of giving goods, material possessions (lit. the life [bios] of the world). The
word bios appears rarely in the NT
and always suggests life in its external aspects; it expresses concern over the
affairs of material existence. In 2:16 the NIV translates it as what one “has
and does.” Probably it is intended here as the “things of life” the necessities
of life in the world. [1]
When others have material needs we
can open our hearts and respond to their need. Or, instead, we can have no pity. The Greek text is vivid, saying
one may be tempted to lock (kleisēi) away one’s inner being from him. To refuse to help another when God
has placed the means in our hands is to lock those resources inside ourselves
away from the needy other. The verb kleiō
suggests a key or locked door, holding someone outside (Matt 23:13; Luke 11:7).
To have no pity is to close off
compassion to another.[2]
WHAT WE CAN WALK
AWAY WITH ….
- We walk away this morning with the understanding that Love is not just words but action as well. To say we love someone yet not show it by meeting a need or giving from the blessings the Lord has given us means that the Love of God doesn’t abide (remain) in us.
CONCLUSION:
Four-year-old Martha, hugging a doll in each
of her pudgy little arms, looked wistfully up at her mother and said, “Mamma, I
love them and love them and love them, but they never love me back.”
Let today be a day that God shows His
love for His people through you and me! Meet a need, give a hug, say a kind
word, whatever the moment calls for, be Jesus!
Blessings my friends
Pastor Rod
[1]
Williamson, R. (2010). 1, 2, & 3
John: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition. New Beacon Bible Commentary
(125). Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.
[2]
Williamson, R. (2010). 1, 2, & 3
John: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition. New Beacon Bible Commentary
(125). Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.
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