1 John 3

Lip Love And True Love

My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth. 1 John 3:18.

This does not mean that we are never to say kind things, that we are never to say loving things; it means that we are not to stop short at saying them or talking about them; we are to do them.

The apostle John was the apostle of love. He writes more about love than any of the other apostles do. St. Paul wrote a whole chapter about love in one of his letters to the Corinthians, but St. John writes a whole letter about it. He writes about God's love to us, and our love to God and to one another, and he never seems to grow tired of the subject.

There is a beautiful legend about the apostle which perhaps you may have heard, but it is so beautiful that you won't mind hearing it again. It tells that when St. John was an old, old man, too frail to walk, he was carried by his friends into the church at Ephesus, and there he was asked to address the congregation. You can imagine how the people would wait breathlessly for his sermon, but it consisted of only a few words repeated again and again “Little children, love one another” And when his friends asked him why he would say nothing more, he replied, “Because it is the commandment of the Lord, and sufficient, if only it be fulfilled indeed.”

That story is so true to the character of the gentle, kindly old man that we should like to believe it is more than a legend. But in any case the words of his sermon are the words he repeats in some form over and over again in his Epistle “Little children, love one another.” St. John had grown to be an old man, and he had come to see that nothing really mattered but love. If people only loved enough and in the right way there would be an end of envy, and selfishness, and strife, and malice, and all the ugly passions that spoil God's beautiful world.

In this verse he tells us how we are to love. We are to love not “in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth.” I think that verse tells us two things.

1. I think it tells us first that love means doing.

Love means doing, not just talking or feeling. You love your mother and you tell her so. At least I hope you do. I hope you are not ashamed to tell her that sometimes, because it means a lot to her. You love your mother. You would be highly indignant if any one told you that you didn't. You would knock down anybody who made fun of her or said anything untrue or unkind about her. You love your mother, but how do you prove your love?

Do you grumble because the pudding is the same as the one you had the day before yesterday, or sulk because she has forgotten to mend your football sweater? Do you do anything to make her life a little easier or freer from care? Do you run her errands? Do you treat her with courtesy? Do you obey her commands? Do you give up anything for her your own way, your own will?

“I love you, mother,” said little John;

But, forgetting his work, his cap went on,

And off he ran to the garden swing,

And left her the water and wood to bring.

“I love you, mother,” said rosy Nell,

“I love you more than tongue can tell”:

Then she teased and pouted full half a day,

Till mother was glad when she went to play.

“I love you, mother,” said little Fan;

“Today I will help you all I can;

How glad I am that school don't keep”:

So she rocked the babe till it fell asleep;

Then, stepping softly, she brought the broom,

And swept the floor and tidied the room:

Busy and happy all day was she,

Busy and happy as child could be.

“I love you, mother,” again they said,

Three little children going to bed:

How do you think that mother guessed

Which of the children loved her best?

“Father,” said a small boy, “I do love you.” “Do you love me enough to weed the garden as I told you yesterday?” was father's reply. Yes, love means weeding the garden, it means doing things, doing the things that are dull and uninteresting, perhaps. And that brings us to the second thing this text tells us.

2. For I think it tells us that love means doing the things that cost.

There grow in the garden of life two flowers our souls to prove

The passionate rose of self, and the spotless lily of love.

We never can have them both one flower for each of us blows;

We choose the lily for aye, or for ever we choose the rose.

Love means giving up and that is why it costs. But listen.

There is a famous picture by a great artist which represents an angel standing by the cross of Christ. With his fingers he is feeling the sharp points of the thorns which had pierced the Savior's brow, and on his face is a great look of wonder and astonishment. The angel cannot understand the marvel of that love, and we shall never understand it fully here below, but perhaps we can get a glimpse of what it means if we, too, are wearing the crown of thorns.

For I think the thorns stand for the irritations and worries of daily life, the little bits of self-denial and self-sacrifice. We speak of bearing Christ's cross, and I think the cross stands for the big troubles, the great sacrifices, but the thorns stand for the small things that hurt and annoy, the little daily sacrifices of love. We may not be asked to bear the cross; we may all wear the crown. The thorns are the glory of love. It would be a poor, worthless thing without them. Shall we shrink from them, or wear them gladly and with joy?

“My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth”