2ND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Text: 1 John 3:13-18
Source from Back to Luther with German archive reference. Back to Walther's Epistle Sermons.
God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the true Father of all who are called children in heaven and on earth, grant you power according to the riches his glory to be strengthened by his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you may be rooted and grounded in love. Amen.
Dear friends in Christ Jesus.
Biblical and church history reports: When things went well in the Christian Church or in a congregation, this for the most part was revealed through love. Whenever by God's grace a great awakening took place in churches and congregations, whenever God again wonderfully built up his fallen Zion by gracious visitations, whenever God's Word came to the light of day and became mighty in many hearts, this was in the main revealed in the fact that in such congregations an inner, heartfelt, mutual brotherly love was again awakened. If at any time God gave a better light of Evangelical knowledge to whole congregations, and if this light was faithfully used, then also a greater, more ardent love soon showed up among them.
When on Pentecost God's Word won such a wonderful victory that by the preaching of Peter's one sermon a congregation of 3,000 souls was gathered, not only was their faith praised, but at once their love is also spoken highly of. We are told: "And all that believed were together, and had all things common, and sold their possessions and parted them to all men, as every man had need." Acts 2:44.45. And when a few days later the number of men along had come to 5,000, Luke reports again, as the apostles who had been reviled and threatened returned from the presence of the Sanhedrin: "The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common." Acts 4:32.
And when St. Paul wanted to lead the fallen congregation of Galatia back to its former good state, he reminds them of their previous love and cries to them: "Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your eyes, and have given them to me." Gal. 4:15. Almost no congregation is described in such a glorious manner as the one at Thessalonica; and what does the apostle say of it? "But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you; for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren." 1 Thess. 4:9.10. "Your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of everyone of you all toward each other aboundeth." 2 Thess. 1,3. Oh, blessed is the congregation of which such a testimony can be given! And blessed are the Christians who can go the narrow way to heaven in such a loving fellowship!
My dear hearers, as it was in apostolic times, so it also was at all times. Every time the Church blossomed in faith, the fruits of brotherly love immediately appeared. The first three centuries, when during the persecutions of the heathen emperors so many thousands sealed their faith with their blood, were also the times during which love ruled among Christians as it never has since. Although they lived scattered in all lands, they were united by love as though in one large family. All called themselves brothers and sisters, the great the humble, the humble the great. If a Christian was in distress, all felt it. Then they still wept with the weeping and rejoiced with the joyful. No brother was ashamed of his brother. Fearing no danger, the free brethren visited those who had been imprisoned because of their confession; often huge numbers of Christians entered into a prison and comforted and refreshed the prisoners with their tears, words, and gifts of love.
We have the same experience in the later history of the Christian Church. When under the oppression of the papacy the pure doctrine and the true faith were lost, the first lost also disappeared in Christendom; and when in the darkest times true Christian congregations by the name of the Waldensians and later the Bohemian Brethren came into being when the Bible was read, it was Love again by which one could recognize the confessors of the truth. In these times as well the papal persecuters often laid aside their instruments of torture, moved by that love until death itself which they saw united the believers.
And if we go to the times of the Lutheran Reformation, when the apostolic doctrine again came to light in its purity, we see that then also love awakened with faith. When Luther went unafraid into the camp of his angry enemies, when he stood before emperor and kingdom in Worms and could expect nothing but death by fire, how all the believers in Germany prayed to God for this faithful man! How all were moved by love toward him! How all trembled lest harm should come to this beloved witness of Christ! When nine years later the Protestant lords made their immortal confession at Augsburg, what a firm bond of love was shown among those who were united by one faith! None forsook the other in distress, but the greater the danger became if they were to remain with the believers, the more ardently and firmly they clung together. This was also the time when because of the newly awakened love most of those charitable institutions for churches, schools, the poor, widows, and orphans were founded, whose blessings even now thousands in the lands of the Lutheran Reformation enjoy or could enjoy.
Therefore it is obvious: Whenever there was a great awakening in God's Church through the Word which was brought to light, this revealed itself every time especially in the fact that the first ardent brotherly love returned to the congregations. As this is the case in regard to whole churches, so it is also with the individual. The moment he becomes a true Christian, the moment he comes to the true faith and a living knowledge of the truth, he is also filled with true love. Therefore whoever has love has a comforting testimony that he has the true faith and is under God's grace. Let us now direct our devotion to this comforting and edifying subject.
The text. 1 John 3: 13-18.
" Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." V. 13. 14a. This is the way the apostle begins in our text. With these words he tries to comfort the Christians in the face of the hatred of the world by the fact that with the love to the brethren, which they have in their hearts, they have the positive testimony that they are no longer in the death of sin but filled by a new, spiritual, divine life. This moves me to present to you:
BROTHERLY LOVE A POSITIVE, COMFORTING, AND EDIFYING SIGN OF OUR STATE OF GRACE
We ponder:
1. How certain, and
2. How Comforting and Edifying it is.
Oh God, Thou who art love itself, who lovest all men and would love all, pour Thy love also upon us by which we can know that we are Thy children. Show all who are still without love, that they are far removed from thy grace and fellowship and awaken in them the yearning for true love; grant that they will not rest until their hearts also are filled. And show those in whom thou hast already worked love toward the brethren through thy Holy Spirit, how they
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may be certain by their love that thou dwellest in them with thy grace. To that end bless thy Word so that the loveless may be awakened and thy children of grace may be comforted for the sake of thy eternal love. Amen.
I.
My dear hearers, if we consider people as they are by nature,as they are when they as yet know nothing of God’s Word or have not accepted it, we cannot deny that even fallen mankind is held together by an amazing bond of a kind of love. Though the selfishness, self-interest, and deadness of all men who love the world and live on without God’s grace is great, we nevertheless see that even among unbelievers there still is an affection toward relatives who have the same descent as they, that often the most godless parents have a most tender love for their children, unbelieving children for their parents and brothers and sisters, and worldly-minded friends for their friends. We often experience that people who do not thank God for countless benefits are most thankful toward their human benefactors; that people whom God’s inexpressible love in Christ cannot move are often easily moved to sympathize with and help the hard pressed and unfortunate. Yes, we must be surprised that people who know nothing of God or want to know nothing of him are often exceptionally obliging, helpful, and generous toward the poor and needy.
Yet we dare not be deceived. When Holy Scripture speaks of Christian love, this impure love which still remains in man's heart even after the fall is not at all the one meant. This natural love is by no means a sign of our state of grace; one can have it to a high degree and still lie in spiritual death and under God's wrath and displeasure.
True love toward our neighbor,which bears witness that we are in God and God in us,is not inherited from our parents. The apostle says in our text: " Here by perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." V.16, Hence by nature no one knows what this true love really is; by nature no one knows how high it ascends; " Hereby," says John, " perceive we love of God, because he laid down his life for us." Hence, in Christ alone we can know which love God demands of us.
He, who has true love, loves not only his relatives and friends, not only those who love him and do good to him, but, as Christ, also his enemies, also those toward whom all the children of the world bear hatred and malice in their hearts. He who has true love makes no distinction between people; he looks on love as an obligation which he must daily pay all his brethren according to the flesh; he considers all the creatures of his God whom He has loved so highly that he gave his beloved Son into the death on the cross for them; he considers ail the possession of the Lord Jesus, his dearest Redeemer, whom He has bought not with gold and silver but with his precious blood; he looks on all people as those in whom the Holy Ghost does not want to refuse to begin his gracious indwelling. He who has true love does not despise the most wretched, yes, the most godless; he rather treasures the souls of all men, for he knows how precious and dear each individual soul is considered by God. He who truly loves knows of no person on earth upon whom he would wish evil; he, as Christ, wishes from his heart that it would be well with all his fellowmen in time and eternity, and he does what he can to promote the welfare of his neighbors; be rejoices when even his enemies prosper, and he takes their distress to heart; he would rather suffer himself than see others suffer. If he has this world's goods and sees his brother suffer want, he does not close his heart to him but he has an open heart and a charitable hand for his brother's need; however, he does not give in order to be seen, nor to receive in return, but to share even if he can expect nothing but thanklessness. He knows how God does not cease
pouring out his goodness upon the world, even though it gives God nothing but thanklessness, contempt, and sin in return.
He who has true love does not consider himself lord of his goods but only a steward who according to God's will distributes to his needy brethren. If he therefore is liberal, he does not brag about it, but considers himself an unprofitable servant who does merely what he has to do. If someone injures him who has true love, he is not depressed because wrong was done him, but rather that his enemy sinned against God, forfeited God's grace, and ruined his precious soul; therefore he is always ready to be reconciled and gladly relinquishes some of his rights in order to establish peace.
He who has true love does not rejoice at his enemy's fall; he is not eager to speak of the sins and failings of others, and does not reveal them but covers them, excuses them as well as he can with a good conscience, and seeks only the sinner's welfare and conversion. He who has true love places his neighbor's profit ahead of his own; yes, he is ready to give up his life for his brethren, if by his death perhaps many or a more important life than his own can be preserved; he would rather die than lose or jeopardize the lives of others by keeping his own. And if he in whom true love dwells cannot show love in deeds, he nevertheless shows it in truth because his heart is attached to all in love, and his heartfelt intercessions ascend daily to God. He loves not merely with his tongue and his words; rather, there is always more love in his heart than his mouth can utter.
This love toward one's neighbor is not in the heart of any person by nature. This love is a daughter of faith, a fruit of the Holy Spirit who for this reason is called a Spirit of love; it is a working of grace, a gift on high, a heavenly fire, a power of the Lord Jesus, a divine plant in repentant believing hearts which has its roots in God himself, who is love eternal. So universally, so honestly and cordially, so unselfishly and devotedly, so humbly and purely, so tirelessly and faithfully until death can no one love but he whose heart God himself has changed.
This love no one can give to himself. Not until a person is awakened from his sins and has truly known his inexpressible misery without Christ; not until he has finally found in Christ rest for his restless heart, grace for his guilt, and forgiveness for his sins; not until he has finally come to know that God is no longer angry with him, that in Christ he has been accepted as God's child, and that in spite of his unworthiness life and salvation is given him free of charge, not until then does the heart of the sinner open to the love of him who has loved him from eternity; then love toward God through the Holy Spirit is poured into it; thus he is also inclined, drawn, and sweetly urged to do good to his fellow redeemed and to seek his temporal and eternal welfare from his whole heart and with all his power.
Therefore, my dear Christian, if you can love those whom you hate by nature; if you can rejoice over the good fortune and prosperity of your enemy; if you with a heart full of love pray for those who smite you in the face; if you can heartily forgive and forget; if you feel particularly drawn to those of whom you believe that they have Jesus in their heart; if you, therefore, rea lly love Jesus in them; if you feel a continual impulse to help all without making any distinction wherever you can; if you would rather suffer injury than injure; yes, if you are ready from your heart to sacrifice yourself for your brethren if necessary with all that you have, yes, with your very life, then you have a positive sign that God is in you And you in God; for God alone is love and from him alone it enters into our heart, when we are born again through faith. Then you are certain that your sins are forgiven, for only he to whom much is forgiven loves much; then you are a child of God, for only God's children have God's mind; then your faith is of the right sort, for it has the correct fruit;
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it is active in love.
As the natural movements of your body prove that you are alive, so the divine movements of love in your heart give evidence of your spiritual life. Then you are no longer in death. Then a great, blessed change has come over your heart. You have become alive. For where there is love, there is life, and where
there is life there is love. Then you can also confidently say with the apostle in our text: " 1 know that I have passed from death unto life, because I love the brethren." V.14a. In other places God's Word also give you testimony of this, when, for example, the same apostle says: "Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God," 1 Jn 4:7; or when the Savior says: "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Jn 13:35.
II.
This, however, is not only a certain, but secondly also a most comforting and edifying truth. You see, if love is a mark of our state of grace, then it is not the perception of a strong faith, nor of a great knowledge, nor of great glowing works, nor of a great holiness of life.
You see, my dear Christian of weak faith, you need not become dismayed, when you hear of the strong faith of an Abraham, of a David, of a Peter and Paul, or a Luther; you need not become dismayed if you cannot sing triumphantly in great joy with Job: "I know that my Redeemer liveth;" or if you cannot exclaim joyfully with Paul: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." 2 Tim 4:7.8. You need not become dismayed if you cannot rejoice with Luther that hero of faith:
Though devils all the world should fill,
All eager to devour us,
We tremble not, we fear no ill,
They shall not overpower us. (262,3)
You need not be dismayed if perhaps many a fellow Christian joyfully confesses that he is divinely certain that he is in God's grace, that he joyfully looks forward to death and Judgment Day and is ready any moment to appear before God's throne; though you can perhaps grasp Christ but feebly and must often exclaim: Oh, if only I could believe; Lord, I believe, help my unbelief! Be confident! God has not referred you to the feelings of your strength of faith; if your weak struggling faith has worked only love in you, that in itself gives you a certain and comforting mark of your state of grace.
Or do you perhaps lack a rich knowledge, you understand only a little and much remains dark when you read God's Word, you see that many have a much better knowledge, you are not in a position to answer many important questions about spiritual and church events; do not believe that this could prejudice your salvation; not your knowledge but your love is to be the mark of your state of grace.
Or perhaps you are concerned because you can point to no great shining work, that you can do nothing from morning until night but the work of your earthly calling, you cannot as Other saints relate great deeds which you have done for your Savior, nor mention great suffering which you have endured for Christ's sake. Be confident! God does not judge by externals. Just be faithful in your earthly calling; do it in the fear of God and in true love to your neighbor and your works which seem so small are still the greatest, the holiest, the
most acceptable to God; yes, if during your whole life you have rendered only the most humble and despised service, if you do this in love, you are unceasingly in the most wonderful service of God, and your works are as holy as though you had built churches and with apostolic sermons delivered the souls of your fellow redeemed.
Perhaps many will now say: How can I be comforted, that brotherly love is a mark of our state of grace, since I discover so little of this love in my heart? For the most part, I feel so cold and hard that I am ashamed when I read or hear of true love; I could weep when I think of the ardent undeserved love of my Savior; alas, how often I let myself be moved by lovelessness, yes, by loveless gestures, words, and deeds !
My dear Christian, you who lament thus, you are to know: We are to perceive God's work in us, our state of grace not by the perfection of our love but only by its truthfulness. The love of God's children also has its failings and its degrees; the love of the one is greater, more knowing, and purer, that of another is smaller, weaker, and less perfect. Though you may not have any sweet perception of love, that is not a mark that love is not in your heart; steel and stone are also cold and hard and yet they produce fire when they are struck together. You feel that you are cold and hard, but your longing for love are bright sparks which testify to the existence of love in your soul. He who yearns for love cannot be without love, for if you really hated someone you would never wish to be able to love him. Your concern over the shortcomings and weaknesses of your love is a sure sign that God has already changed your heart and has certainly started love in you.
If you find that your love is still weak, if you sin more often against love even though you would gladly remain in love, do not despair; all the saints of old have complained about that; upright Christians are the ones who must always struggle with the natural lovelessness of their heart, for the Old Man is constantly trying to regain his dominion; just keep up the battle; if you stumble, go to Christ and ask for forgiveness; his love is perfect; he wants to and will cover all your failings. Read of Christ's love every day in The Book, in his Gospel of grace, ponder upon it with a quiet heart and exercise yourself in faith in it; thus you will daily experience Christ's love in your heart and your love toward your brethren will become purer, firmer, steadier every day.
However, my dearly beloved, the truth that love toward one's brethren is a mark of our state of grace is not only comforting for all who walk in love even if they are ever so frail; it also serves to warn and judge those who nourish hatred, enmity, and irreconcilableness in their hearts. In our text God's Word testifies to this in words which cannot be recalled: " He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." V.14b. This pronounces sentence upon all the loveless. Though a person may be able to speak ever so beautifully about Christ, though he may surpass all other Christians in the knowledge of God's Word,though he may think he has ever so strong a faith, though he may do works which seem to be Christian, though outwardly he may be friendly, humble, patient, charitable, stern, and zealous for the pure doctrine, though he may separate himself from the world and to men's eyes lead a chaste, moderate, self-denying life, though seemingly he may take disgrace and suffering upon himself for Christ, yes, if it were possible, end his life at the sake in behalf of God's Word, if he lacks love to the brethren, he is not a Christian, not God's child, does not stand in grace, but still lies in spiritual death. Yes, though he who lacks love may seem to be ever so holy, though he may have the appearance of having all his desires directed only toward Christ, it only seems so; before God he is a murderer; for our text adds: " Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." V.15.
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Ah my dear man, you who are irreconcilable, you who forgive but do not want to forget, you who still hate many people in your heart, you who are not patient with your neighbor, you who quickly judge and condemn, or you who close your heart to the misery of your brother, how unfortunate you are! You pray, you read God’s Word, you sing and speak of Christ, you go to the Lord's Table. Remember that without love this is all lost. You can have all the marks of God's children, but if this one is lacking: Love, all the others are only show, fraud, deception. If love is missing, Christ is not present; where Christ is missing, grace is lacking; if grace is missing, salvation is lacking; if salvation is missing, eternal death is present. For in our text God says clearly through his servant John: " He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." V.14b.
Therefore, whoever of us has in the past lived his Christianity without love, whose love has not testified as to the integrity of his faith, may he let himself be warned; oh, may he cast away his entire previous Christianity, even if he finds it ever so trying to do so or could boast of ever so many things which seem to be works and struggles and sufferings; he still has been nothing but a dead, fruitless tree which will be chopped down on Judgment Day and cast into the fire eternal. May he pause and from now on go a different way; may he repentantly confess his former lovelessness, seek forgiveness in the love of Christ through faith, let himself be filled by Christ's love, and then walk in this love; thus in all times of temptation he will have the testimony that he is God's child and is in his grace.
And you who already have this love toward your brethren, who pray daily for them, who pray that all your works be done in love, that you devote yourselves entirely to your brethren in love, oh hear the exhortation of your most insignificant fellow man: Remain in this love; never forsake this way which the apostle calls the best way; let the commandment of love, which the Lord calls his new commandment, be new to you every day; let the bond of love among you never be torn, for it is the bond of perfection; let nothing cause your love to become tired; do not cease loving, even if you see that your love is often deceived; never use any other guide in judging your brethren but love; let your works be done in love, your tongue ruled by love, your attitudes directed by love, your heart possessed and permeated by love; then Christ's image will be glorified and shine in you; God will dwell in you, and even if your love is misjudged, if you are reviled and your state of grace called in question, your love will give you its testimony. Yes, " Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." Vv. 13.14a. Amen.