Thoughts From 1John 3 - Part 4

  This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1John 3:16-18

           I'm always perplexed by these passages. Why do the apostles seem to always include a "one another" or in this case "a brother or sister" when it comes to acts of kindness? Why doesn't he just say, "If you see anyone in need, take pity and help them." You would think that's the point of the Good Samaritan parable that Christ gave to them. Does "brother and sister" here refer to the universal brotherhood and sisterhood on account of common creation? In Galatians 6:10, Paul says,

 " Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."

      I don't think the language of the epistle writers is to exclude but convict to include. Let me explain my point this way; when talking to people about divorce I came up with this thought and I think it is one of my few original thoughts. Couples search the whole world to find the one person they could love the rest of their lives and they marry them. If they end up hating that person, what chance do they have of loving their enemies? In the same way, John and others are saying that if you have no pity on a brother or sister in the Lord (we have a new family) and don't help them, how can you possibly hope to emulate the Good Samaritan?

      There are a number of caveats here that need to be delved into and to do so would require a book, but this does raise some questions of what does "in need" mean and are we just to "have pity." The second one is easier to answer because in context it says "actions" and self-sacrificial "laying down." Having pity implies meeting those needs. So what is a need? It's got to be food, shelter, and clothing. Are there more? What about medical or dental care or essential medications but they can't afford it? What about transportation to employment so they can meet their needs? What about electricity in their homes? And what if they have the money to meet those needs but choose to spend it on non-essentials? Are we then to meet the essential needs for them in mercy like God gives us what we don't deserve?

      I don't know - these are things I wrestle with and these are reasons we offer money management classes at church. But I do know that statistics tell us that if someone has a home and two cars they are among the 95% richest people in the world.

       So what are we to do here. My guess is John is not writing this passage to give us reasons to exclude but to include and err on the side of pity, mercy, grace, self-sacrificial giving to meet everyone's basic essential needs starting first with your family of believers then looking for ways to use God's money to show Christ to unbelievers.