Evidence of Love:1 John 3:16-24

“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16, NASB).

Singer and recording artist Dionne Warwick recorded a song saying, “what the world needs now is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that this world has too little of.” What is love? Where does love come from? How can the world get more love? Many people are confused about the word love. “Love is not a feeling, love is what you do,” is what I have heard many times. In his writing John the apostle, a disciple of Jesus has much to say about love. What does John mean? How do we know if we have love? How do we know if we are loved? In this article I want to talk about the ways that John says that we can know that we love our brothers and sisters in Christ as also those not yet in the body of Christ.

Growing up my mother and father told my brothers and sisters and me how we were to treat each other. I don’t remember them saying that we should love each other. Now that I think about this, I wonder why they did not use the word “love” that often. Usually I heard the word love when people talked about the feelings that one person had toward another person. My mother would say that people can learn to love each other. A man and a woman could get married and learn to love each other. My brother, Bruce, said to me often, “I can love whoever I want to.” Tina Turner asked the question, “What’s love got to do with it? What’s love but a second hand emotion? The word love is used in various contexts with different meanings, it seems to me. Yet, it seems that the audience that John wrote to knew exactly what he meant. It seems to me that John spoke of love in terms of action. For John, love is an action that leads to feelings. The evidence of this love is not in what one says; rather it is in what one does.

When Darlene met Charles she felt that she loved him. She thought that he was a good candidate for her to marry. On one occasion Darlene asked Charles if he loved her. His answer was not what she was hoping that he would say. Darlene called me and told me her frustration because of the answer that he gave. Darlene hoped that Charles would say “yes” and further tell her about his feelings for her. However, instead of Charles giving a “yes or no” answer, Charles begins to describe what he saw in her. He talked about her character, his beliefs in what they could accomplish together. Darlene was frustrated because Charles would not give her a simple answer “yes or no.”

After listening to Darlene’s complaint, I said to her: “He answered your question. He said I love you.” Charles went beyond the simple answer yes. He described his love for her in that he told her what he expected that each of them would do and what they as a couple could do together. Darlene wanted to know Charles’ feeling. Charles was stating evidence that she could look for so that she would know that Charles loved her. Charles and Darlene got married. Like any other marriage there were bumps in their relationship. However, their character led them to right actions that gave evidence of their love for each other. Darlene and Charles were married for twenty years until Darlene lost her life to cancer. During their years together they showed evidence of their love for each other.

In his writings John writes about love in terms of action. John’s first mention of love is found in the best known verse in the scriptures. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16, KJV). God did not merely say I love the world. God did not try to appeal to our emotions. He did not try to make us feel good. Is it possible that the serpent was able to deceive the woman in the garden because he said something that made her feel good? How many people have had their hearts broken because they listened to their lover’s word that made them feel good? They failed to see what their lover was doing. They did not seriously watch their actions because their words made them feel so good.

When John writes the book of 1 John his goal is that they have eternal life. In John’s writings Jesus proclaims that His purpose for coming into the world was that people have eternal life. In John 6 the crowds follow Jesus because he had fed them. When the crowd finds Jesus He says to them. “Do not work for food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal” (v. 27). The goal of love is eternal life. The purpose that Jesus came into the world was that people have eternal life. However, it took action on God’s part to make eternal life possible. Jesus was the One in whom the Father made life possible. Apostle Paul writes: “But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, NASB). Let us examine our scripture passage more closely.

In 1 John the author explains the necessity of love in order that human beings can be forgiven of their sins, be reconciled to the Father, and have eternal life. John writes that we can know for sure that we have eternal life if we become like Christ. This means that we will have His character and do as He does. If God makes possible eternal life through His love as demonstrated on the cross, then we too will demonstrate our love for others and particularly for our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is not possible to have the love of God except we believe in Jesus. Those that believe in Jesus have in their hearts the same love that Jesus has. Jesus was motivated by love to do something. His action was to die on the cross for the benefit of others. Those that are in fellowship with Christ are also motivated by love to do what is good for others. What evidence do we have that we have the love of God in us?

The first evidence that we have is that “we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death” (1 John 3:14, NASB). It is impossible to have love for the world ruled by the evil one and love for God at the same time (2:15). John refers back to Cain who murdered Abel his brother (3:11, 12). “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in Him” (v.15).

The second evidence is this: “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (v. 16). John further explains the evidence that we love each other when he writes: “But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him” (v. 17)? Remember, we cannot have the love of the world and the love of God in our hearts at the same time. If we ignore the needs of others we have to ask ourselves if we truly love Jesus. We have to be like Jesus. We make the necessary sacrifices so that the needs of our fellow brothers and sisters are met (See Philippians 2:3-4).

The third evidence of our love is not in what we say but in what we do (v. 18). If we have this truth in us our hearts will not condemn us. Instead we keep His commandments, and we receive what we need in order to obey His commandments. In this context we have love for our brothers and sisters. We make sacrifices so that we can meet their needs. God gives us what we need so that we can meet the needs of others.

The final evidence of our love is that we obey His commandments. The commandment is that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He commanded us. We keep His commandments because we believe in the Son Jesus Christ. In John 6 the crowd asked Jesus, “What shall we do, so that we may do the works of God” (John 6:28). “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (v. 29).

In John’s writing Jesus is what Jesus does. God is love. Therefore God loves. God shows us what His love is like. His love is His actions; the work that He does to save us from sin and give us eternal life. We too are not merely who we say that we are. We are what we do. We are children of God not because we speak the name of Jesus. We are God’s children because we do what God does. Jesus sacrificed His life for us, and we in turn sacrifice our lives for our brothers and sisters in Christ.