1 John 5:1-5

[1] Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. [2]  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. [3] For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. [4] For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith. [5] Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Here is a challenge, “Everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him” (1Jn 5:1). It’s pretty easy to love God. Loving other believers is challenging. It is easier to get offended, or to dismiss one another than to love one another. In verse 3 he says that love of God means keeping his commandments. What are his commandments? In chapter 3 John defined God’s commandments as a single command, “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us” (1Jn 3:23) To keep God’s commands means to believe in Jesus and love one another.

People find it easier to love God than they do to love one another. Of course, we can get angry at God too, but that is another issue. John warns us, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar” (1Jn 4:20). He goes on to argue that if we do not love our brother, we cannot love God. How often have we been guilty of worshiping God on Sunday morning while holding bitterness in our heart toward a brother/sister?

Pastors can be guilty of this. We pour our hearts into the study of the Word. We passionately prepare to proclaim God’s Word to God’s people only to find that they have better things to do than show up on Sunday morning. We faithfully teach God’s Word only to see little commitment and little change in the lives of those we teach. In our frustration it is easy to stop loving those God has called us to serve. In fact, it is easy to become bitter toward them. But how can we love God if we fail to love his people?

Pastors are not the only ones that can get bitter. Church people get crossways with each other, or with their pastor. We can grumble, brood, and stew over offenses real and imagined. We can hold offense long after the offense if gone and forgotten by others, sometimes even long after the offender is gone. When we allow bitterness to eat at our soul we lose our ability to love God whether we believe it or not. Our worship becomes something other than worship. Like the Jews who failed to understand that God had left their temple because of their sin, so we have failed to comprehend that our worship is only singing to the air because God is not listening. We cannot love God while hating our brother.

Now some will argue, I don’t hate them, I just don’t love them. But God equates the two. In 1 John 4:20 John writes, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar.” But in 1 John 5:1 he writes, “Everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.” Not only must we not hate our brother or sister, we must actively love him/her. We cannot love God if we do not love those who believe God. The only way I can do that is by the grace of God.

Today, as we worship, may our hearts be filled with love not only for God, but for those sitting around us in worship. May we love those worshiping in other churches in our community. May we even those who have failed to make it to church today, and yes, may we even love those who fail to love us. Because, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him” (1Jn 5:1).