Since January, I have been preaching from various 3:16 passages throughout the Bible. It seems there are several significant passages that fall on this marker, and it has been an interesting series of sermons as we have looked at several of them so far. On Easter Sunday, we looked at 1 John 3:16, and saw the epitome of love explained.
John writes this in the first of three short epistles that bear his name:
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. This passage teaches us about the love of Jesus, about his sacrifice, and what our response should be.
There are a few different things that we can see in this brief description of love. The first thing John shows us is an explanation of what love is. He defines it as an action. Throughout the New Testament, there are four words used that are translated into English as the word “love”: storge, affectionate love, or family love; phileo, which is brotherly love; eros, romantic or passionate love; and agape, unconditional, selfless love. And what John does here is show us that the selfless love of God is seen as an action. Jesus willingly laid down his life for us, showing us the fullest explanation of just what it means to love.
In this explanation, we also see an example to follow. Jesus leads us to display love in the same way. He doesn’t expect us to follow just something he has told us to do, without doing it himself. No, he exemplifies love by taking the initiative and leading the way for us to follow. Jesus displayed love in action: he served others, he showed compassion and mercy, he offered forgiveness and grace, he loved.
In displaying such love, Jesus ensured that his love would last for eternity. By taking our sins upon himself, he paved the way for us to have an unhindered relationship with the Father. We have been restored to the Father, reconciled, and the debt of sin has been satisfied, ensuring that we can join him forever. By becoming the sacrifice for sin, by paying the penalty that we should have had to pay, Jesus became the epitome of love, satisfying the demands of the law, and the holy righteousness of God.
That’s good news! But that’s not all the good news. By doing so, by taking care of the sacrificial part of our redemption, Jesus no longer needed to stay dead! That’s the hope that Easter and the Resurrection brings to us! Jesus died for our sins, but he was raised for our justification and to give us eternal life with him!
And that brings us to our response to the love of Jesus. Such love must be exercised, it must be acted upon, it must be continued. We must do the same thing that Jesus did, and offer our lives as he did. The price we pay may not be to die on a cross, or even to die at all. Our sacrifice may come in a different form entirely. But we must be willing to set aside ourselves, and place others ahead of ourselves, loving selflessly as Jesus did.
The message of the cross is one of love. The message of the resurrection is one of love. And the message of 1 John 3:16, is one of love. We must love… because he loved first.
Question: How do you display the selfless love of Jesus in your own life? What does that look like on a practical basis? You can leave a comment by clicking here.