Dear Christian friends:

A Civil War chaplain approached a wounded soldier on the battlefield and asked if he'd like to hear a few verses from the Bible. The wounded man said, "No, I'm thirsty, I'd rather have some water." The chaplain gave him a drink, then repeated the same question. "No, sir, not now, but could you put something under my head?" The chaplain did so, and again repeated the question. "No," said the soldier, "I'm cold. Could you cover me?" The chaplain took off his inside coat and covered the soldier with that. Afraid to ask a fourth time, the chaplain started to leave, but the soldier called him back and said, "Look, Chaplain, if there's anything in that book of yours that makes a person do for another what you've done for me, then I want to hear it." (Christian Globe Network, May 7, 2000)

This story illustrates a benefit of showing Christian love and a very important one. However, there are other benefits of our showing Christ's love and compassion to others.

Our text, which is the Epistle Lesson for this Sunday, shows two other benefits or blessings of our showing Christian love to others, benefits to ourselves, personally.


I. It frees us from being hypocrites.

In our text the apostle St. John, the apostle of love, says, "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." (verse 18)

It's easy for us Christians to talk the talk, to sing the songs, to pray the prayers, and to confess the creeds. As John says here, that's "loving with words and tongue." "Talk is cheap." It cost us nothing. It proves nothing!

In the verse preceding our text, John asks a good question: "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? (verse 17)

And in his Epistle James asks another good question: "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead." (James 2:14-17)

We are not to love only with words and tongue but with actions and truth.

"We love because God first loved us." (1 John 4:19) God demonstrated his love through action. Jesus had a life of active love, performing miracles, teaching and doing good. His suffering and death proved without a doubt the sincerity and depth of his love, and his resurrection was the Father's stamp of approval.

God's amazing love in His Son Jesus Christ should move us to respond and show our love through our actions. In verse 16, preceding our text John shows this, saying, "Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." Surely we should love those whom God has loved: we shall certainly do so, if we have any love for God.

And this active Christian love should be in the highest degree, so fervent as to make us willing to suffer even death for the good of the church, for the safety and salvation or our dear brothers and sisters in the church. St. Paul was willing to risk his life for the Christians at Philippi. He wrote to them, "Even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you." (Philippians 2:17)

And some of the members at the church in Rome were willing to risk their lives to protect St. Paul and his ministry. He writes, "Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. (Romans 16:4)

God doesn't just want our money and time in the service of the brotherhood, he may ask us to lay down our lives! (Tell about Corrie Ten Boom) How disdainful should we Christians be to this life! How prepared to lay it down! And how assured of a better life in heaven!

Let's not just talk the talk; let's walk the walk! Then we will be free of hypocrisy.

A second benefit of active Christian love according to St. John is:

II. It gives us a good conscience before God. (verses 19-23)

Verses 19-20 speak of a bad conscience. A bad conscience is a terrible thing. It discourages prayer and fellowship with God. Sometimes we hear a person say, "I forgot to pray" or I don't have time to go to church." Those are just excuses. The real problem is a bad conscience. We naturally don't want to face God, because we feel guilty and fear His wrath and condemnation or we are too proud to admit and confess our sins. So we try to forget God by being busy etc.

A bad conscience also prevents us from having real communication and fellowship with other people. In order to hide our own sin and inadequacies we judge and condemn others. Putting them down makes us look good. You really can't have a satisfying relationship on that basis.

Psychologists tell us that one of the major problems in our society is that people do not like themselves. However, if you ask these same people how they are, they will tell you that they are fine. This is a case of words not agreeing with actions. We often see how people express the absence of love in their lives through self destructive lifestyles: indulging in drugs, alcohol, immorality, sexual immorality, and abortion.

It is vitally important that we have a healthy self image based on the love of God for us in Jesus Christ. (verses 16-20) If God loves me and declares me forgiven, then my conscience can be at peace, and I can have confidence before God. (read verse 21) But if I consider myself unloved and unlovable, then I am rejecting God's unconditional love and the truth of the gospel.

On the contrary, a good conscience is a great blessing. (verses 21-24) It encourages prayer and gives assurances that our prayers will be heard. (read 21-22) "We receive from him anything we ask." This presupposes that we do not ask for anything contrary to honor and glory of God or for anything that might be harmful to our spiritual life. The Lord's Prayer is a perfect guide for our prayers.

Those who pray according to God's will can be sure that He hears their prayers because they, "obey his commands and do what pleases him."

Obedient Christians are prepared for blessings and they have promise that God will hear and answer their prayers. This does not mean that they are perfect or without sin. But it does mean that they believe in the name of God's Son, Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of sins and then with his help, out of love and gratitude for so great a salvation, they strive to love one another. (verse 23) When they fail to do this they are remorseful, contrite and seek his forgiveness and resolve to do better.

On the other hand, those who love sin and do not believe in Jesus Christ, and do not respect God's will cannot expect him to hear and answer their prayers. The Psalmist writes, "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." (Psalm 66:18) And in Proverbs we read: "If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable." (Proverbs 28:9)

Obedient Christians enjoy fellowship with God. (read verse 24) God lives in us and we in him through His Word and Sacraments, and our faith fixes on him by the operations of His Spirit. Then happens the battle of His divine indwelling or habitation, the struggle between faith and unbelief, good and evil, the works of the Spirit and the works of our sinful nature, which we Christians still have in us until death. By this struggle between the old person and the new person we know that God lives in us and we in him. "We know it by the Spirit he gave us."

In spite of all the problems and difficulties this struggle causes us, in spite of what we see or don't see in our lives regarding the Spirits presence and some times it seems that we are back sliding rather than progressing in active Christian love.

We have the promise and we hold tight to that, "The Spirit has been given to us." We believe He continues to teach us, to lead us into all truth through the foolishness of what is happening right this hour.

Such is the blessedness of active Christian love: we're not hypocrites and we have a good conscience before God! May God help us to not only talk the talk, but also to walk the walk!

Amen.