Nicknames

When Jesus called his disciples, they came from all different kinds of backgrounds, and they all had different kinds of personalities. I have to believe Jesus did that on purpose, and it’s fascinating to see how he made use of those differences… and how, in a least a couple of cases, he also seemed to make fun of those differences! Not in a mean way, but in a teasing way.

You know what I’m talking about, the kind of good natured fun that happens in a group of people who know each other well.

Two of Jesus’ disciples, James & John, were brothers. And these brothers were hotheads. If you read through the gospels, they seem to be at the center of most of the arguments that happen within the twelve. They were cantankerous.

• In Matt 20, (right after Jesus’ had just told them he was going to Jerusalem to die, and right before the triumphant entry into Jerusalem), they get their mom to ask Jesus to promise that her precious little boys could sit on either side of him when he’s on the throne (because everyone knows that’s how you get important government positions, by asking your mommy to ask for you!).

• A while before that, in Luke 9, they pass through Samaria on their way to Jerusalem, and the disciples go ahead into this village to make preparations for him, but the village didn’t welcome them. So James & John come back to Jesus and ask, “Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?!?” Overreact much, fellas?

• Most people believe it’s this kind of response that caused Jesus to give them the nickname he does in Mark 3:17: “James and John, the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus nicknamed them ‘Sons of Thunder!’” I love that we get just a hint of Jesus’ sense of humor.

“Now that’s funny right there, I don’t care who you are.”

• John had seen the love of Christ demonstrated that night in the Upper Room, when Jesus took the basin of water and washed the disciples feet.
• He then heard Jesus say right after, “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)
• Then John saw the supreme demonstration of Christ’s love when he willingly went to the cross to die for our sins.
• Maybe this is why the idea of loving one another is such a big deal to John—because it transformed his life from the inside out.
• Throughout the years that have passed, the church gave John a new nickname. He went from being one of the Sons of Thunder to “the disciple of love.”

TEXT

For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another, unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

1 John 3:11-15

Because love transformed his life, John can’t stop talking about how love can change ours.

If we get weary of hearing over and over about the need to love one another, we should remember that John wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who knows our hearts. We need to examine ourselves constantly because our default mode is to revert to selfishness, not to love.

Steven Cole

RECAP: CONTRASTS

• Light vs. darkness
• Truth vs. lies
• Christ vs. AntiChrist
• Loving the Father vs. loving the world
• Righteous vs. unrighteous
• Children of God vs. children of the devil

EXAMPLE OF CAIN

Love can be hard to define; to get a better understanding of, it’s helpful to look at the opposite. That’s what John does here. Definition of hate ( via Stephen Cole):

The essence of hatred is the self-centered bent of fallen human nature that says, “I’ll help you if it helps me or if it’s not too much of a hassle. But if it comes down to you or me, I’m looking out for me!”

1. Hatred is typified in Adam’s firstborn, Cain (12).
2. Hatred originates with the devil (12, 15).
3. Hatred divides people and may result in the taking of life (12, 15).
4. Hatred is motivated by personal sin (12).
5. Hatred is the evidence of spiritual death (14–15).

I think that John chose Cain because he was the first person born under the curse of sin. His hatred toward his brother typifies the self-centered, evil bent of the fallen human heart. While our self-centeredness seldom goes to the extreme of murder, the roots are there.

“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”

Matthew 5:21-22, NLT

COMMUNION

This is how we have come to know love:
He laid down his life for us.

1 John 3:16a

LOVE TO US → LOVE FOR OTHERS

This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him—how does God’s love reside in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.

1 John 3:16–18

• “He laid down his life for us,” past tense.
• “We ought to be laying down our lives for one another,” present, continuous tense

Most of us know John 3:16 but 1 John 3:16 is more challenging because we’re called to have the same kind of love for others that Jesus has for us.

He has been talking about this love, but, wise teacher and pastor as he is, now an old man who has had a long experience, he realizes that you cannot just live these things as general statements, so he comes right down to the practical level… It comes down to details, details which we feel at times to be almost ridiculous, but the Bible knows us so well and it recognizes that nothing can be taken for granted.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Children of God

Talking about love is very easy; it’s another matter to be walking in love. To love the world to me is no chore; my big trouble is loving the guy next door.

To dwell above
With saints we love
O, that will be glory;
But to dwell below
With saints we know
Well, that’s another story!

Loving everyone in general may become
an excuse for loving no one in particular!

The more often we feel without acting, the less we will be able
ever to act, and, in the long run, the less we will be able to feel.

C.S. Lewis