In May, the church is teaching about 1 John, which repeatedly emphasises "love one another". In the Mandarin congregation, we spent four consecutive Sundays discussing 'loving each other'. Brothers and sisters asked why I kept repeating this theme. I explained that this is the theme of 1 John. The Bible repeats it four times in different chapters. We are studying the whole book and should preach according to the Bible. That is faithfulness to the Bible.
In the context of the book of 1 John, there was heresy and discord among the members of the church. Therefore, John wrote the letter to the church, teaching them that God's greatest intention was for Christians to love each other. God not only used John to repeat this message repeatedly in 1 John, but also recorded in the Gospel of John 13-17, the night before he went to the cross, that Jesus himself taught his disciples to love each other. The visible heart of Jesus Christ shows how much He desires Christians to love one another.
This also shows that although we have believed in the Lord and become Christians, we still need to learn how to love each other. Because of our sinful nature, we live with a self-centered and self-righteous attitude. Therefore, we don’t want to understand other people. We don’t have compassion or empathy. We would not love each other.
But thank God, there is a promise in the Bible, 1 John 5:15 “If we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.'' The context is not only about loving each other but also reminds us to pray for sinners. Thank God that praying for others is also an expression of mutual love. So, the scriptures also say in 1 John 5:3 “In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,'' It is not difficult to love one another, not because we have the ability to love, but because in Christ, we rely on Him and allow His love to flow through us to others. Thank God for giving us the strength to love and to pray. We will have stronger faith to live out loving each other.
五月份，教會都是在教導《約翰壹書》，裡面不斷重複‘彼此相愛’。在國語堂，我們用了連續四個星期天，都是講‘彼此相愛’。弟兄姊妹問，為什麼講完又講，我說，不好意思，是因為這是《約翰壹書》的主題，而且在不同章節，重複了四次。整本書卷來看，我們就按著經文的順序講就對了，不是因為別的原因，因為忠於聖經。聖經怎樣寫，我們就怎樣傳遞。解釋神的話語，惟有就是按照真理去傳遞。聖經怎樣寫，我們忠心的傳遞。
約翰當時的教會情況，因為有異端的出現，而且教會裡的肢體，也出現了不和。所以，約翰必須寫書給當時的教會，教導他們，神最大的心意，是要基督徒之間的彼此相愛。神不但使用約翰，在約翰一書裡面不斷重複，而且，也在約翰福音中，記載了，耶穌基督，在上十字架之前一晚，親自教導衪的門徒，要彼此相愛，從約翰福音的第十三章，一直記載到十七章。可見耶穌基督的心意，是多麽希望基督徒之間，能夠彼此相愛。這也是說明，我們雖然已經信主，成為基督徒，但彼此相愛的學習及鍛鍊，一點都不可減少。因為我們的罪性，就是讓我們活在自我中心裡，我們都認為自己是對的一方，我們都是自以為義，所以，我們都不懂得體諒別人，沒有憐憫，也沒有同理心。也就不會彼此相愛。
但感謝神，聖經裡面有應許，約壹5：15“既知道他听我们一切所求的，就知道我们所求於他的，无不得着。”這經文的上文，是教導我們彼此相愛，而下文，是提醒我們要為犯罪的人禱告。感謝神，為別人禱告，也是彼此相愛的一種表現。所以經文也說，約壹5：3“我们遵守神的诫命，这就是爱他了，并且他的诫命不是难守的。”不難行出彼此相愛，不是因為我們有能力去愛，而是在基督裡，我們靠著主耶穌基督，而可以讓衪的愛通過我們，把愛傳遞給別人。感謝神給我們能力及祈禱的應許，我們便更有信心，去學習及實踐彼此相愛。
