We will consider three verses: 1 John 4:7, 3 John 11, and Philippians 2:13:
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:7Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.
3 John 11For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Philippians 2:13
The first two of these verses come from John and the last from Paul. The three passages are not naturally linked together in the Scriptures, but they do work together well. We will, of course, deal with each verse in the context of the passages where they are found as well as taken together.
For the first verse, let us consider it in a greater context … 1 John 4:7-11:
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
In this passage, we find one of God’s greatest and dearest commandments — one that Jesus articulated in His ministry and is recorded for us in John 13, that we should love one another. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
How is it that people will know that we are Jesus’ disciples? Is it because people know that we attend worship weekly? No. That is certainly important, but no. Is it because we readily talk about Jesus with others? Again, very important that we do so, but that is not how people know that we serve Him. It is by our evident love for one another.
Love is the defining quality of the disciple of Christ. Love is Jesus’ defining quality — Jesus is love. How can we claim to be His disciples if we do not have a genuine love for one another? Not just a verbal declaration of love, but a tangible expression of love — caring for one another. If we do not know love, we do not know Jesus.
It is, in fact, this same point, concerning God, the Father, that John makes in 1 John 4:8: “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
How do we know that God loves us? Is it because He said so? With God, that ought to be enough, but God has done better than that. Is it because God created this magnificent world and has anticipated our every need and has wonderfully provided for us through His creation? As incredible as all of this is, that is not the answer either. Listen to 1 John 4:9-10:
In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
In essence, we know love, not because it is an innate quality that humans possess, but because God demonstrated it to us, first, through the sacrifice of His Son for us that we might not be condemned for our sins. We only know what true love is because God has taught it to us by His example.
Then John sums the whole matter up beautifully in 1 John 4:11, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” What excuse could we possibly make for not having the most incredible care for one another … not merely some kind of affection, but genuine care for one another. There is no command that we like one another, but if we love one another as He loved us — the affection will follow in due time.
Before we move on, I would like to consider a related verse because it ties in well with the next division of our lesson:
In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
1 John 3:10-11
If we do not love our brothers and sisters, we do not know God, we are not of God. Likewise, if we do not practice righteousness, practice goodness, we do not know God, we are not of God. This is the exact message of 3 John 11:
Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.
In our world, today, there are so many influences to tug us in every direction that we can imagine — mostly in the opposite direction of our God and Father. This is especially dangerous for youth, who are particularly impressionable.
We ought to be careful about our conduct and who we look to for our examples — our youth are watching. We are never so aware of bad habits as when we see them magnified in our children’s behavior. It is a quantifiable fact that children learn our bad habits before they learn our good habits. How often has this been proven true in our lives?
Our influence matters.
We have to be careful who we choose to follow. We need to look for examples that can lift us up when we follow them, not validate our most base behavior. We must remember that as we are looking to others for our examples in conduct, some — some are looking to us.
The Apostle Paul offers the finest example and he knew that others in the body of Christ are fine examples as well. He encourages us to follow him and others in the body who lead righteous lives. Listen to Paul, “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.” Philippians 3:17
Again, John tells us, “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.” We hope that the examples of good for us to imitate would be most readily available within the church, and for our youth, it is imperative that this is so.
John continues in verse 11, “He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.” It is our youth’s reasonable assumption that the brothers and sisters in the church that they have come to know and love are living good, Godly lives that they can imitate — we cannot let them down. Our kids need to have confidence that we, their examples, are of God, that we belong to God and that our lives are led by His will.
This brings us to our final verse, Philippians 2:13:
For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
I would like to read the verses before and after to put this passage in its proper perspective: Philippians 2:12-16a
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life …
This is what Paul wanted for the Philippian brethren — and for us. This is exactly what I have wanted for my family. I wanted my children to love one another, imitate what is good, not evil — and obey God — not in my presence alone, but on their own when I am not watching.
It is important that we understand that God is not judging from afar, but providentially involved with us, just as Philippians 2:13 tells us, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
It is my hope that it is not a struggle for any of us to live “for His good pleasure,” least of all, our youth in the church.
When our kids were young, we taught them that when we asked them to do something, it was for their own good and that they should obey without questioning and complaining. We all know how we felt when our parents told us the same, so we know the frustration our children sometimes felt when they didn’t understand why they were to do a certain thing we asked. It was important that they learned to obey so that they could become useful, productive members of society who could take direction from those who are in authority over them. However, it wasn’t until I became a child of God that I truly understood the lesson of childhood obedience.
Certainly, we want to be, and we want our kids to be good citizens and employees, but as important as it is to be useful to society, it is much more important that we are useful to the Father.
Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life …
Philippians 2:14-16a
We need to learn to obey God without question, for everything He asks us to do is for our own good and for His good pleasure. If we will obey Him, we can be useful to Him “as lights in the world.”