John just finished writing about practicing righteousness rather than sin. He moves right into this.
11 The central truth—the one you have heard since the beginning of your faith—is that we must love one another. 12 Please do not act like Cain, who was of the evil one. He brutally murdered his own brother. Why would he do something so despicable? Because his life was devoted to evil and selfishness, and his brother chose to do what is right.
This is like saying to us, “Please don’t be like Charles Manson.” To John, murdering a biological family member is on par with not loving a spiritual family member. He’s building on Jesus’ teaching that one who kills and one who hates have the same heart in the eyes of God.[1] So whatever follows is going to be a big deal. The stakes are high.
13 Brothers and sisters, don’t be shocked if the corrupt world despises you.[2] 14 We know that we have crossed over from death to real life because we are devoted to true love for our brothers and sisters. Anyone who does not love abides in death (“lives among corpses”).
John compares those who don’t love to someone who lives in a cemetery. This would have been unimaginably impure to John’s Jewish audience (and probably creepy to his Gentile readers). Living without love is like living among the dead. So unloving people are 0-2 here: they are like murderers of family who hang out with their dead victims.
15 Everyone who hates other members of God’s family is a murderer. Does a murderer possess the eternal, beautiful life that never ends? No. 16 We know what true love looks like because of Jesus. He gave His life for us, and He calls us to give our lives for our brothers and sisters.
Rather than taking life (like Cain), love gives its life. Rather than living in places of death, love lives in and points toward the beautiful life that never ends. Once again, note the language of murder. John does not want us to take this lightly.
17 If a person owns the kinds of things we need to make it in the world but refuses to share with those in need,[3] is it even possible that God’s love lives in him? 18 My little children, don’t just talk about love as an idea or a theory. Make it your true way of life, and live in the pattern of gracious love.
One could have read up to the last paragraph and thought, “I have not killed anyone and don’t hang out with dead people. I think I’m good.” John basically says, “Are you, though?” And he gives one example that hits close to home: our pocketbook. Lest this seem abruptly out of place, John is just highlighting a topic that Jesus highlighted.[4] Jesus talked about money more than he talked about heaven and hell. 1/3 of the parables are about money. The only topic he talked more about was the Kingdom of Heaven.
Straight up: this is going to be an uncomfortable sermon about money. It’s going to make you uncomfortable like it has me, but that’s John’s fault. I encourage you to table all the excuses you are going to think of and just let the core teaching settle in. Then come to Message+ and we can unpack the nuance that ought to follow.
John says if we don’t want to live like murderers – his analogy not mine – we must love of neighbor with “the kinds of things we need to make it in the world.” This is another way of saying “livelihood,” the material objects that sustain life: food, clothing, and shelter.[5] Giving sacrificially for the needy around us is ‘righteous practice’ for laying down our lives in honor of what Jesus did for us. In fact, what we do with our money might reveal just to what extent we actually would be willing to sacrifice for them – or for God.
“Here is a test of this love; if we do not divide our bread with the hungry, we certainly would not lay down our life for him. Whatever love we may pretend to mankind, if we are not charitable and benevolent, we give the lie to our profession. If we have not bowels of compassion, we have not the love of God in us; if we shut up our bowels against the poor, we shut Christ out of our hearts, and ourselves out of heaven.” (Adam Clarke)
I want to (briefly) walk you through how this has played out in church history just so you can see how seriously followers of Jesus have taken this, and then talk about what it looks like for us today.
The early church practiced this kind of love right away was through agape feasts or "love feasts."[6] The meal provided an opportunity for congregations to give practical expression to their love through action (Acts 6:1 - 6; 1 Corinthians 11).[7] It was usually hosted by someone wealthy who provided food for all. Sharing material goods replaced possessing the goods as a value for Christians.[8] Possessions weren’t wrong; they just understood that God expected generous stewardship of what He gave. We are not our own;[9] neither is our stuff.
The Shepherd of Hermas (100 to 150 AD), a popular book in the early church, states that the wealthy should “assist widows, visit orphans and the poor, ransom God’s servants, show hospitality, help oppressed debtors in their need… the Master made you rich for this purpose that you might perform these ministries for him.”[10]
Ignatius of Antioch (died in 108 AD) characterized heretics not in a theological sense but a practical one: they “have no regard for love; no care for the widow, or the orphan, or the oppressed; of the bond, or of the free; of the hungry, or of the thirsty.”
By around 1100 or so, Canon Law (church law) had developed guidelines for giving alms: “the quality of the beggar[11], the capacity of the donor. . . the reason for the demand, . . .[and] the quantity being requested.”[12] This allows some ‘outs’ that aren’t necessarily spelled out in the Bible, but I there is an argument that stewardship includes not only sacrificial generosity but wise generosity.
The Catholic Church became a societal hub of charity by the Middle Ages. While they encouraged helping people personally, over time charity became largely channeled through the church, who gave that money to the needy.
With that much money, there was bound to be problems (giving counted as an indulgence; money intended for the poor made the clerics wealthy rather than helping the poor). Martin Luther, as part of his Reformation, wanted to reform the corruption that crept into that process.[13] He began the movement of shifting the care of the poor to the government,[14] which he thought was better suited to distribute it.
So, followers of Jesus were taking this seriously. There were some problems because greed crept in, because the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.[15] But it was a central focus in the life of the church.
This brings us to the first attempt to create an Acts-style community in the history of what we now call the United States. This is my last (and longest) example.
John Winthrop was with the Massachusetts Bay Company, part of a group that established a Puritan community in New England. Winthrop was the governor for nearly twenty years. His 1630 speech, "A Model of Christian Charity"[16] provides a record of how Puritans (who wanted to “purify” the Church of England) sought to form bonds of Christian community in line with what the Bible has to say about doing life together such that they would fulfill the biblical mandate to be a light in a dark world.
"A Model of Christian Charity" became one of the most well-known Puritan works ever printed. Over time it became thought of as sort of a prophecy because of its famous line about MBC being “a city on a hill,”[17] which has, for 350 years, been applied to the potential for America.
However, Winthrop’s ‘city on a hill’ was not a national vision. He wasn’t thinking of making a nation. He was thinking of a church-based community united by Christ’s love expressed in taking care of each other financially. It’s what the entire speech is about; it’s why the charter was drawn up. I can’t stress the enough: the entire premise is that when Christians take care of each other financially, they will be the city on the hill that shines the light of God’s Kingdom into a dark world.
Now, John Winthrop was just a dude, so don’t hear what follows as sacred Scripture. He built on Scripture, which is good but not the same. I just want us to hear how, in our very specific history in the United States, people we admire as godly founders thought to build communities that made Christ and his Kingdom compelling.
THE PRINCIPLES
First, Winthrop assumed there would be rich and poor (as the book of Acts assumes), and Winthrop thought that was fine.[18] His emphasis was not on equality of living but on communal[19] living, with the wealthiest and most prosperous members of society freely giving to the poorest members.
Second, Winthrop points out that the interests of God must come before any person's interests, and God's instructions are clear: "If thy brother be in want and thou canst help him, thou needst not make doubt of what thou shouldst do; if thou lovest God thou must help him… We must love brotherly without dissimulation, we must love one another with a pure heart fervently. We must bear one another's burdens. We must not look only on our own things, but also on the things of our brethren.”
Third, individual households are intrinsically connected in Christian community: "It is a true rule that particular estates cannot [be maintained] in the ruin of the public." In other words, individual households might prosper more than others, but the community cannot prosper if there are individual households that fall into ruin. Think of the body analogy in 1 Corinthians 12.
Fourth, he describes the structure of the church in the book of Acts, where "44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2) As with a body, each individual part serves the whole. The members of the community are united toward a common goal—serving God—and therefore should work to support and protect God’s family.
THE PRACTICAL
First, a person is responsible to make provision for one's family and the future, but the overriding principle is: "if thou lovest God thou must help [thy brother]."
Second, charity consists of providing money and material goods to others who need them. Material things "are subject to the moth, the rust, the thief," and therefore should not be held in excess of what one needs for one's own self and family.
Third, charity can be exhibited by forgiving a debt that is owed. When a person can repay, it’s just business, not charity. When approached by people who can’t or probably won’t repay a loan, Christians should simply give the person whatever he can afford instead of lending it.
Fourth, charity can be shown by offering love to others without expecting anything in return. Just as a truly loving mother gives love without any expectation of receiving something in return, so must a Christian freely dispense love and mercy to other Christians in need.
Fifth, the amount of help given should be regulated only by one's own most basic needs. Under normal circumstances, people should give away whatever they do not reasonably need.[20] Clearly, giving up all of one's wealth is not required,[21] but Winthrop encourages Christians, especially in times of emergency, to help "beyond our ability rather than tempt God in putting [others in need of] help by miraculous or extraordinary means." Winthrop refers to this as a "duty of mercy."
Winthrop believed that if the MBC could do this, “we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be a by-word through the world."
In his own diary, Winthrop reported the frustrations and failures. "As the people increased, so sin abounded." By the late 1600s, the material success of MBC had killed the dream. Too many people wanted the city upon a hill to be just another mercantile colony. What was left was just the shell of Winthrop's model.[22] In other words, though we love his vision of the United States as “the city on a hill,” Winthrop himself was convinced it collapsed long before there were states to unite because people loved money more that God.
And yet, his speech and his vision have remained, and I think rightly so. There is something compelling about this kind of community. Why? Because it’s a community model taken from the Bible. Winthrop quoted our text today in his speech:
“ If a person owns the kinds of things we need to make it in the world but refuses to share with those in need, is it even possible that God’s love lives in him? Don’t just talk about love as an idea or a theory. Make it your true way of life, and live in the pattern of gracious love.”
______________________________
So, what’s the big takeaway here from John’s text and the way in which the church has tried to live out this reality? What’s the practical implication for our lives?
Those who love God love others.
Self-sacrificially loving people do self-sacrificially loving things.
We practice dying for others by dying to self and living for others.
Let’s start with our money, which Jesus and the writers of Scripture seem to emphasize as kind of a barometer for how much we are actually ready to sacrifice for others. If we get this one right, the rest of the sacrifices will probably fall into place.
I’m not saying you have to give more here at CLG. This is not a sermon to guilty you into raising your tithe (though we will never complain if you do J). If you want to give to the Benevolence Fund here, we will distribute it within our church family as we see needs arise. However, you don’t need us as a mediator. Odds are good you know someone who needs financial help. Or that you know someone who would be encouraged by a gift card or an anonymous donation. I encourage you to think locally first, then think more broadly. Practice showing love by being generous.
“Make it your true way of life, and live in the pattern of gracious love.”
__________________________________________________________
[1] Matthew 5:21-22
[2] “This was a lesson to the Church, preparatory to martyrdom. Expect neither justice nor mercy from the men who are enemies of God.” (Adam Clarke)
[3] Let’s get this out of the way. Are there boundaries to this command? Yes. But don’t worry: there are plenty of opportunities that remain J “IF A MAN WILL NOT WORK, HE SHALL NOT EAT” (3:10)….The Greek text makes clear that Paul is not speaking about the inability to work but rather the refusal to work (the text literally reads: “If someone does not want to work...”). While the church must continue to care for those who genuinely need help (3:13, “never tire of doing what is right”), it must not tolerate those who are unwilling to work. The Didache, an early Christian manual of instruction, makes the same point in its teaching on how to deal with visitors “who come in the name of the Lord”: “If the [visitor] who comes… wishes to settle among you and is a craftsman, let him work for his living. But if he is not a craftsman, decide according to your own judgment how he shall live among you as a Christian, yet without being idle. But if he does not wish to cooperate in this way [i.e., to work], then he is trading on Christ. Beware of such people.” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament)
[4] “ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15) In some Jewish traditions, withholding goods from someone in need made you complicit in starving them. Also, this from Jesus: 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven...21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, (fixed on good treasure –the things of God) your whole body will be full of the light of God’s will. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy (greedy or envious for things they see), your whole body will be full of the darkness of greed and self-interest.[4] If then the ‘light’ within you is darkness, how great is that darkness![4] (Matthew 6:19-23
[5] The Bible has plenty to say on how we should treat the poor among us:
“Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will protect them from those who malign them.” (Psalm 12:5) “I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.” (Psalm 140:12) “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” (Proverbs 14:31) “If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. ... Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.” (Deuteronomy 15:7–8, 10)
[6] 1 Corinthians 11 links it with a celebration of the Lord's Supper, but it eventually became something done separately. Jude warns about protecting it: “ These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.” (Jude 12)
[7] New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology
[9] 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
[10]https://place.asburyseminary.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1074&context=firstfruitspapers
[11] Probably based on biblical passages like this:
· Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man. (Proverbs 6:6-11)
· For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”
· “We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.” (2 Thessalonians 3:7-13)
[12] https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=dhp
[13] See the addendum at the end.
[14] Some see this as the beginning of what has turned into the ‘welfare state.’
[15] 1 Timothy 6:10
[16] Read the whole thing here, in all of its confusing1600s English language glory:https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Model_of_Christian_Charity
[17] JFK used that line in 1961, and Reagan quoted the "city upon a hill" passage as part of his Presidential inaugural speech in 1981 and is on record saying it at least 30 times as President.
[18] A Model of Christian Charity" begins with the following proclamation regarding inequality in human society: “God Almighty in His most holy and wise providence, hath so disposed of the condition of mankind, as in all times some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity; others mean and in submission.”
[19] Not the same as communism, in which the government forces economic equality. In communalism (see the book of Acts) individuals voluntarily take care of each other from their abundance.
[20] As for saving wealth to be prepared for disaster or tragedy. Winthrop argues that a man who gives will be taken care of by God, and that all those he helps will stand as witnesses of his generosity and mercy when his day of judgment arrives. In addition, Winthrop notes that physical objects of wealth "are subject to the moth, the rust, the thief," and that they can cause a person's heart to lose sight of the true treasure of serving God.
[21] "There is a time when a Christian must sell all and give to the poor, as they did in the Apostles' times." But, he is clear, not all the time.
[22] All my information on Winthrop is from https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/educational-magazines/model-christian-charity