No murderer…

“Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.”

Hatred is a strong emotion and we reserve the language for extreme dislike and opposition. When does opposition and antagonism become hatred? Hatred is as much an action as an emotion. We think badly of people and feel dislike of them and then say of do something to hurt them or put them down. The extreme end of this emotion and deed, is the act of murder. We can physically murder someone through killing, and we can murder their character and reputation through gossip.

It is very easy for us to fall into this kind of hateful mindset and we justify ourselves so effectively and blame the offending person, rather than checking the thought processes and attitudes in ourselves that lead to murderous behaviour in deed or word. The Word of God is very clear, that hatred is murder. Hatred leads us down the road to perdition and ends the life, the character and the reputation of another person.

How can we hate our sisters and brothers in Christ?

We can be so caught up with contentions about faith and doctrine that we tip over into hostility and hate. We can get so annoyed with people about their particular stance on an issue that is important to us, that we ignore the human and jump on a band wagon of aggression and opposition. It all ends in ill-will and bad feeling. We become separated from Christian friends and end up with a huge gulf between us and them. Us and them becomes the normal and we have disunity and even outright war.

“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.”

Ephesians 4:31-32

The Apostle is clear in this verse that no one who indulges in these sentiments of hate has any part in the kingdom of God. There is no eternal life in the contentious person, as they have allowed hate to infiltrate their mind and heart and even their actions and words, and the Spirit of God does not blend with these attitudes in the family of God. Eternal life is a life of love towards God and other people. There often seems precious little of it in the church and so much judgmentalism, that people are oppressed and hurt and left out. This should not be.

“But refuse foolish and ignorant questionings, knowing that they generate strife. The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all, able to teach, patient, in gentleness correcting those who oppose him.”

2 Timothy 2:23-25

We must be filled with gentleness and not the natural-born harshness we all possess. We should put love first and be able to constrain others who are against us, which should not be children of God opposing each other. We seek the bond of peace.

“I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Ephesians 4:1-3

Passed out of death

“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. He who doesn’t love his brother remains in death.”

How do you know you are alive? You love the sister and brothers in Christ…

We can be walking around as physical bodies and full of the vigour of life, and yet be spiritually dead to God. It is not about church or reading the Bible or prayer, but about having the life of God dwelling in us, that is, the love of God, the work of the Holy Spirit. If we have this spiritual life we are in the family of God and will love Him and also other believers. This is the true mark of the true Christian. There are many that are following the system of Christianity but are full of judgment, pride and argument against fellow Christians. This should not be.

“… and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Romans 5:5

If we have no love for God or other Christians we are dead people. Dead to God and with no spiritual sensibilities at all, no matter what we might think of ourselves. The Apostle John states the truth quite clearly, that only those who love have passed from this death to spiritual life. This is the deciding factor in our Christian assurance, that we love people.

If we do not love others around us generally, or more specifically our fellow sisters and brothers, we cannot count ourselves Christian. We remain dead to God and therefore spiritually dead too. If we live in the realms of hate, we do not know God no matter what spiritual exercises we may perform.

What does it mean to love other Christians?

It means we bear with them and forgive them their indiscretions and misunderstandings, absorbing their slights and replying with only loving answers to their perceived wrongs. We bear with people who have different views from us about the various issues in the Christian life, and are respectful and generous in our treatment of others who are different. It does not mean we tolerate error, but keep the bond of peace with sisters and brothers who do not follow exactly what we might follow.

We are to love our enemies too and be able to forgive others as we have been forgiven. We will maintain the peace between each other and in all our relationships, as a top priority as it is our Christian witness amongst everyone we know, saint and sinner alike.

“… doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;”

Philippians 2:3

This is the way of Christ, who gave up His life for our sake. This should be our attitude towards each other and the abiding demonstration of our passing from death to life.

Don’t be surprised

“Don’t be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you”

We must not be infants in regard to the attitudes of this sinful world. There is nothing to be gained as Christian people by being ignorant of how people function and examining motivations and attitudes. Naivety is not a virtue. We should understand how the human mind works and come to understand why people do what they do. We should also understand ourselves and how our mind works and what our motivations are.

As we have seen in the last verse, there is a godless mindset that lead us into sin and death, as happens with Cain and Abel. We are to avoid it and put on the righteous attitudes of Christ as we live our life daily in this world. We should understand our own weaknesses that we might avoid the sin that so easily besets us.

“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.”

Romans 13:14

We must turn from the mindsets of this fallen era and put on the mindset of Christ which belongs to the kingdom. This mindset is diametrically opposed to the gospel and so this will have an effect on how people view us and their attitude toward us as the people of God. The godliness we live by should be obvious and it will necessarily show up the evil that is around us, specifically the evil deeds that people follow, and this will cause guilt and a feeling of being judged and so, jealousies and rage set in. This is often levelled at the people of God and various labels are attached to us. “Sanctimonious” is a good one, and supposes that we are living to judge the bad behaviour all around, when we are simply living in obedience to Christ.

People will not like you for being a holy person. The feeling of judgment will be too great for them, and they will cast you out of their social settings and give you derogatory labels. The Apostle John tells us not to be surprised when the world turns against you for it did the same to our Lord.

“For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” and, “a stumbling stone and a rock of offense.” For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.”

1 Peter 2:7-8

We must continue to walk worthily against the odds and be encouraged by the Word of God and the people of God around us. This is why fellowship is so important, for it supports us as we help each other along the heavenly way. We cannot really manage without it, for we can become cold so easily.

“Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

Luke 10:16

We must not fall into the trap of believing what ungodly people say. They sound so authoritative, but it is not of God. Jesus sent out His disciples into a hostile world and it is the same for us.

“Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.”

Luke 10:3

Beloved, we remember that God is with us and will never leave us. We bless His name and carry on for His sake. He will bring us safely into the heavenly fold where we will be forever blessed.

His works were evil

“… unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.”

We all want to do what we want to do the way we want to do it.

“All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way…”

Isaiah 53:6

The Bible characters were no different in their thought processes than us, and all of them who walked righteously with God had to come to Him in repentance and faith, just as we do. We look back at the sacrifice of Christ for our sin and they looked forward to the promised Redeemer, promised from the very start. As Eve and Adam sinned and fell, and brought the human race into spiritual death and alienation from God, God promised a coming Saviour who would crush the head of the serpent Satan, the instigator of evil. One day the price would be paid through the shed blood of the sacrifice of the Son of God, for the sin of people, women and men who would believe. It is through faith in the Saviour Jesus and what He did for us on the cross that saves us and gives us peace with God. This is the message in the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is all about trusting in God’s provision for us and not working out things to do for ourselves to ingratiate ourselves to God. We cannot save ourselves but must look to the work of God.

Abel, the son of Eve and Adam, chose the appointed way of God to come to Him in repentance through the shed blood. He offered the blood sacrifice of a lamb to make recompense for his sin, as a forward looking spectacle of the cross at Calvary. His brother Cain did not. He decided for himself what was suitable and what he could bring to God, that is the fruit of his own hands. He brought foodstuffs that he had grown and did not seek the sacrifice of a life to atone for his sin. God did not accept his sacrifice and so Cain was jealous to the point of murder against his brother.

God warns Cain against the virulence of the sin that has infiltrated his psyche. He is allowing the processing of hatred to lead him further and further into sin and further away from the loving Lord.

“If you do well, won’t it be lifted up? If you don’t do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it.”

Genesis 4:7

Cain does not heed the remonstrations of the Lord, to turn from his sin, repent and do well, so the inevitable happens. The crouching sin pounces and devours Cain. In the end there was tragedy and godly Abel lost his life and Cain was rejected by God and place under a dreadful curse.

We are not to be like Cain and seek our own ways and solutions to our moral dilemma, but humbly accept the provision of the Lord, which are offers as a free gift to us. We must acquiesce to the love of God, both His love for us and to have His love in our hearts. All other loves will fail or don’t last, and the eternal love of the Father is the only thing that will keep us to the end.

We must not go down the same mind-road as evil Cain, who followed the selfish and unloving ways of Satan, and ended up killing his brother! We are to love others as God loves and foster that love in our mind and heart, working it out in deeds daily. We are to love others and learn from them, especially the godly examples of our Christian sisters and brothers. Our motivations must be rooted in love or they will fail. Our motivation must be deeper than petty jealousies towards other people, which is the way of this fallen world mindset that we live in. We live in the love of God, who was willing to give all that we might live.

Love one another

“For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;”

From the very beginning of the kingdom, as Jesus the Lord instigated it, the call has been to love each other. It is the defining mark of the church of Jesus Christ, because God is love. It is the unwavering difference between Christianity and other religions, that we love each other unconditionally and share together as we have need.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just like I have loved you; that you also love one another.”

John 13:34

Jesus has made it very clear and this love for God and of God, is the defining feature of the Christian person. We should love each other from our hearts and make sacrifices to help each other and support each other as we walk through this world, which is not our home. The body of Christian believers should be different to the world around them and be an attractive place to belong. The warmth of the fellowship should attract the unbelieving hearts from the coldness of this world to the embrace of Christ.

It was also the message at the beginning of creation when God made Adam and Eve and put them together in the garden of the world. God made the woman for the man and they were together in a close love relationship in the garden. They lived in the garden and enjoyed the close love relationship with the Lord and there was a togetherness known only by the people of God.

“The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.”

Genesis 2:23

We are instructed to love our wives as ourselves and put their needs as paramount in our considerations.

“Husbands, love your wives, and don’t be bitter against them.”

Colossians 3:19

It is clear from the Scripture that we should love each other in all circumstances and in all our relationships, especially those who belong to the family of God.

“So then, as we have opportunity, let’s do what is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith.”

Galatians 6:10

These are the remonstrations of the Word of God that we walk worthy of the love that has been shed abroad in our hearts and that we love each other fervently with a Christlike passion. Love is not for the faint hearted, but for all who will put down self and put the other person first. It has always been so in the relationships of God in the trinity and the result is faith and peace. This is the goal of our Christian mindset, that we might live in peace and walk worthy of our Lord Jesus.

Children of God are revealed

“In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever doesn’t do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who doesn’t love his brother.”

Our personal walk with God in the way of righteousness is the mark of the true believer. The fact that we are obeying the Word of the Lord and keeping His commandments is a crucial element in our identity as Christian people. Our obedience reveals who we are. Our disobedience also reveals who we are. The Christian who is not making strenuous efforts to walk with God has a dim and perhaps backslidden position before the Lord and as personal testimony before other people. Those who continue in sinful ways are not of the household of faith, but following the ways of the devil. It is logical that we are like our Father God and have his family likeness in our lives in the person of the Holy Spirit, we will walk with Him and be like Him.

“He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.”

John 7:38

The other marks of the Christian mentioned here in this verse is the defining mark of love. It is put on the end of the verse for effect and cannot go unnoticed, almost like a side issue but absolutely crucial to the argument. If I do not love my sisters and brothers in Christ, I am not a child of God. It is the overwhelming and specific identity mark of the true believer, indeed it also extends to all women and men, because we are also constrained to love the outsider.

Love for the other children of God is what sets us apart from the world. Love is not a feature of this world’s fallen system, as there is no love in a life of sin. But there should be love and vigorous life in the outworking of the Spirit in our lives as Christian people. Being a Christian is no second-rate futile existence but living the very life of God every day. It is a life full of love for other people centred on the love of God. It is a love of life that transcends all this world’s tawdry examples of lifestyles and lives quietly and triumphantly for God.

It does not matter that people may be against you, for the love of God is our comfort and power.

“Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Matthew 5:12

Do not mind the detractors and those who blame, carp and quibble, for we follow the Lord Christ and are His obedient servants. Our responsibility is to walk worthy in the sight of the Lord, not our own sight, and follow the word of God. We love the sisters and brother of the faith and encourage them in every right way. This is the way of Christ as He taught his disciples and was patient towards them. We do not judge and treat others harshly, but in the all sufficient love of God. We do not treat ourselves harshly either, but persevere in that mighty love of the living God towards us and for us, after all He gave all he had for our wretched sakes, and has made us Queens and Kings and Priests to God. We are revealed to a fallen world as His beloved people and so we should be before a watching and hurting world.

Beloved, may those living waters of love flow out from us and into the lives of the people around us for their blessing and the glory of God.

Born of God

“Whoever is born of God doesn’t commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can’t sin, because he is born of God.”

The Christian is born again into the family of God. They have experienced two births – natural physical birth and supernatural spiritual birth. The Christian is born of God and now has the family likeness of God imprinted in their psyche. Their heart and mind has been changed and they are new people.

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.”

2 Corinthians 5:17

We now have a new nature that wants to please God and live righteously, however the old sinful nature is still there and wars against the spiritual. This is a source of conflict for the Christian and one that needs many lessons and skills to learn to overcome. But we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who teaches and empowers us to fight and win the battles with self and sin. We have the seed of God, the family likeness of God in us that gives us the motivation to fight until we overcome the sin that is pulling us down and going against our new spiritual outlook and demeanour.

“Therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

Matthew 5:48

The verse, and our text, seems to suggest there is some sort of sinless perfection for the “real” Christian, but the meaning is not that we are somehow now perfect, but that our new disposition is to not want to sin. The sins we commit will be in error or with some other proviso, but not continuing in sin with knowledge, for this is against our Christian character. To live a life in deliberate sin suggests the lack of true repentance in the first place. The Christian will be marked by a life lived in holiness to the Lord and in serving Him with a true heart. A Christian will not habitually live a life of sin, but have the motivation and the practice of a godly life, that has deliberately turned its back on the action of sin and puts both self and sin to death.

It stands to reason that if we have confessed our sin and truly repented and have seen the horror of our sin, we will not live in that sinful mindset any more. We have confessed it and so now walk in faith and obedience to God, not ourselves or the enemy, the devil, who practices sin continually. We will be like our Father God, loving righteousness and holiness and shunning all evil. We will not sin with impunity but we may fall into sins and get entangled with them for a while, but will seek repentance again and be free from them. Sin does not have the mastery over us any more.

“For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.”

Romans 6:14

We are saved by God through the work of grace in our life and not from our own efforts, therefore He will give us the victory over our sin, through Christ and through the work of His Spirit in our life, as we fight with the spiritual weapons we now have at our disposal. This is the reality of the Christian.

That he might destroy

“He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed: that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

The Bible is a very polarising book. You either love God or not. Either you are for Christ or against Him.

“He who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word which you hear isn’t mine, but the Father’s who sent me.”

John 14:24

Those who are not obeying God are not serving Him and are bolstering up the work of the devil. This is straight talking. God does not mince words or try to fudge the issue. He is not willing that any should perish, so He spells it out for us. If we do not love Him we will not obey Him because our hearts do not belong to the Father. Our sinful mind and soul belong to the devil and we are in his family rather than God’s family. We are like our father, who has been a sinner from the very beginning. The heart of Satan became full of pride and he thought he could have self-determination like God, led a rebellion against the Almighty and found himself forever in chains to sin. He was once glorious and now fallen. We also were once glorious, made for the friendship of God, but now ruined by the rebellion we also mounted against the Lord. Satan tempted our Mother and Father, Eve and Adam, and they succumbed to it, choosing their own way rather than their Creator’s way.

Christ has now come to reverse and destroy this work of evil in our history and hearts. He has come to deal with the disease of sin and remake us as living souls to God.

“But now once at the end of the ages, he has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

Hebrews 9:26

The work of Satan is now destroyed and humankind can be free from it. It is possible to conquer the sin that so easily infests us, through the shed blood of Christ. Only He can set free from its grip and power and raise us up to be what we should be and are in Christ. Only Jesus our Saviour can destroy the devil’s work in us and work the saving power of God in our life. Those who will turn to Christ and follow Him will be saved from sin and death and break the power of Satan over them.

Beloved, let us turn from the sin that so easily infests us and walk in the ways of the living God. Let us not listen to the lies of the father of lies, but walk in the truth of God.

As he is righteous

“Little children, let no one lead you astray. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.”

In this verse we are once again reminded of God’s view of us as His beloved children. The sentiment is warm and full of love. God is our Father and we are the children of His family and always will be. He will never lose us or throw us off, but will continue to teach us and make us into the image of His Son, our Saviour, Jesus. We might think we are mature and clever about certain aspects of life, but in reality we are only small children learning from their Father in heaven. We must listen to Him and obey that we will grow up in Christ and be strong in faith, hope and love.

God constrains us to listen to Him and not to the folly of false teachers who would lead us away from our relationship with our Father through disobedience and false faith. There are many in our day who would lead us down false paths and into the destitution of the bondage of reliance on them. There are many who seek control and authority over others for their own satisfaction. They propagate a false gospel so that we look to man and not God and become reliant on the acceptance of the social group rather than walking with God. There are so many cults, factions and denominations that it is impossible to pick your way amongst them and find truth. Truth is where it has always been – in the Word of God and we must know it and study it to stay close to the Father.

“For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts;”

2 Timothy 4:3

There are those who seek only personal satisfaction and a veneer of religion to satisfy their conscience that they believe in something, but they do not seek the truth of God, but a belief system that will suit their lifestyle choices. The media is full of self-proclaimed teachers and preaches who will satisfy the desire for comfort and healing and not talk about the painful issues that tend to trouble us more. We get the situation where people will follow leaders and hang onto their comforting words, and neglect Christ and their souls health. God calls us as His beloved children to believe in Him.

If we follow His righteousness we will be righteous. If we practice righteousness we are demonstrating that we belong to the Lord of righteousness. The loving children of their Father will seek to be like Him and to please Him and will therefore take on His characteristics and obey His will. This is what it means to be a dear child.

Whoever sins

“Whoever remains in him doesn’t sin. Whoever sins hasn’t seen him and doesn’t know him.”

This is the primary mark of the true Christians person – that they stay away from sin, hating it for what it is and what it does. Those who have truly faced their sin and recognised its effect and consequences in their life, and come to Christ for salvation, will necessarily be set apart from that sin. Sin as disease will infiltrate the life easily and spread like wildfire. Once a sin has got hold of the person, it is a mighty fight to overcome it again and grow in holiness.

“… and some save, snatching them out of the fire with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.”

Jude 1:23

We must stay away from this moral disease and never let it take hold of us again. To be a backslider does not always involve gross sin, but just the toleration of it on a daily basis. The Spirit of God is grieved and we become weak and ineffectual. In all our difficulties and struggles, sin is usually behind it, somewhere. Either we are soft-pedalling on a hidden sin, excusing ourselves when our conscience is telling us something is wrong, or just being so used to thinking a certain way, speaking a certain way or going certain places that we hardly notice the sin at all. To be a holy person will require close self-examination and an honesty with ourselves that we cannot face up to without the forgiving power of God! Only the mercy of the Lord can help us to face it.

“Come now, and let’s reason together,” says the Lord: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

Isaiah 1:18

In our progressing Christian life we will be becoming increasingly close to our Lord Jesus and becoming more and more like Him. Holiness will be increasingly important to us and keeping the commandments at the centre of our thought processes. To stay in Christ means to stay away from sinning. We cannot call ourselves by His precious name and keep on with the staining effect of sin on our moral character.

People who can sin with impunity have never known Christ nor have they any recognition of Him in their souls. We cannot have a sinful lifestyle and yet think that we belong to God or have any security in His kingdom. If we have faced up to our sin and repented of it, turning from our wickedness, then we will be different people, godly people who love righteousness.

However, there are times and seasons that the Christian may fall into sinful habits and allow themselves to be overcome by a fault. The Lord is gracious and knows all our weaknesses and bears with us in our struggles with this issue. He will help us in the fight and as we continually strive to overcome, He will give us the victory. We put on the full armour of God in this fight and coach ourselves out of the dilemma. We fight with weapons of spiritual warfare that are always available to us and will give us the victory.

Surely, self is a most virulent and difficult foe and we use our armour to put it down every day and keep ourselves in the love of God. The Christian life is no cakewalk but a fight to the death of self and the victory of the life of the Spirit. Beloved, remain in Him and put to death the works of the flesh.

“Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.”

Galatians 5:24