The Issue of Loving (the brethren)
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Week 12
The Issue of Loving (the brethren)
(ESV)
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
8 At the same time,
it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.
11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
As we saw last week, John boldly stated that
the REAL PROOF of whether a person is
a Christian or not is in that person’s life…
The Christian is NOT someone
who just says
he or she is a Christian…
The Christian isn’t someone
who just goes
to church on the weekends…
The Christian isn’t someone
who occasionally does a good deed or two
out of feeling guilty…
Instead,
the Christian is a person who has accepted the Gospel
of Jesus Christ,
and has put his or her trust in Jesus Christ,
and at times he same time recognizes
his or her sinful condition
and repents of
his or her sin,
and now LIVES
his or her life
with Christ and the Word of God
in the center of his or her life…
So the Christian therefore
does not just follow the letter of the law
but rather keeps the commands of the Lord
in spirit as well as
in action.
Logically then...
if there were more
true Christians
living in America,
there would be a lot less reason
for people
without Jesus
to be calling Christians
Things like
hypocrites,
or mean spirited,
or gossips,
other things.
So John wrote in order for instructing
Christians...
the church,
which tells me there were issues back then among those
who called themselves Christians,
so it is for instructing the church that John said back in verse 5,
but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
“5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
“5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
This tells us that
Our lives are supposed to LOOK MORE like the life Jesus lived
because He is in us,
and then because we are following Jesus
we also are supposed to be letting
His Living Word guide our lives as well.
This was why John described this as the Christian
“walking in the same way as Christ walked.”
The Christian LIVES out who he or she is…
not just doing ‘Christian looking stuff.’
This is a visible lifestyle…
and it’s why other people can see the difference in
Christian men and women
versus even ‘good people’ in the world.
Now, John moves to another great teaching doctrine of the
New Testament
which is another of the VISIBLE things,
John now addresses “the love for the brethren”…
John is speaking about
OUR love FOR other Christians...
Christians in our church...
Christians all over the world.
Once again,
instead of trying to ‘broaden’
what John is saying
In order to cover something it does not say…
and here we must remember rules of biblical interpretation...
In this case who is John writing to?
remember,
John is not addressing this to the general population…
But specifically he is speaking to and dealing with the brothers and sisters in Christ…
These are people People who are
part of the family of God…
These are people
who have been adopted into God’s family because
they have trusted in Jesus Christ.
So with that listen To
verse 7, John says,
“ (ESV)
7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.”
A couple of things that are key here…
Again, as we’ve seen, John writes using this greeting, beloved, which speaks with softness,
and a loving and caring attitude.
Then notice if you will that he says,
that this is NOT something new…
I’ll bet the people probably were like us, and went,
Hallelujah…
because they didn’t really want an apostle adding a bunch of additional rules that they needed to try to live by.
They had been set free from that...
So, John is saying just as Jesus, Himself, had already said,
that this is NOT something new…
Rather, this is something that the people already knew this…
Yet, he is
reminding them that while this is NOT
a new command,
at the same time,
it is a very essential command…
The reason is that what John is speaking about is part of the whole gospel of Jesus Christ…
It’s about being PART of a NEW family,
and loving each of those family members.
Again to keep us in context with God's Word,
You may remember that Jesus taught this Himself
much earlier
when He referenced , which says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
again, it’s very important to remember what Scripture is teaching and not to take it out of context…
So When Jesus said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”
we must remember that Jesus was talking about
how the Israelites
long before
had been commanded to do exactly
this same thing…
They, the Israelites, had been SEPARATED or set apart as
God’s Own People,
and as such then they were to Love One Another because
THEY were part of that NEW FAMILY.
Likewise, once a person comes to know
Jesus as Savior and Lord,
We are then adopted into God’s own family…
listen to (ESV)
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
And also a little later John writes in
(ESV)
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Listen to this here in v 2...
2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
So, again, and keeping in context
rather than trying to make a broad social statement,
this was NOT a general ‘love everyone around you’ command…
Instead, the command was to love “one another who were part of that Old Family of God”
Love your fellow Israelites…
and now John is writing in the same way,
That the Christian is supposed to love one another…
Love the brethren...
Next, We see that
John goes and makes a statement that at first glance
seems to contradict what he had previously said…
Now he goes and says it is a ‘new command,’
even though he had just said it was not a ‘new’ one in verse 7.
Ok...why is this valid?
Not new but yet it is new?
actually,
it became “new”
not as a new one given,
but as the way it was accomplished…
It was new because it was ‘accomplished’ by Jesus Christ…
Jesus fulfilled the command Himself,
as He said in … “17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
So when it comes to ‘loving the brethren’
John is telling the church that
this being able to love one another
was only possible
because of Christ in them,
and the same also applies to you and me today...
this tells us that today, that we too
are able to love only because of Christ in each of us.
This loving one another,
which is unconditionally loving (it's agape love as we seen in verse 10)
This loving our fellow Christian...our church family...
is not possible if you don’t have Christ…
In fact, this is why the world itself cannot put this into practice…
It’s an idealistic goal that people all over the world would love one another,
and that there wouldn’t be any more fighting or stealing,
or political maneuvering…
but that just won’t work in the lives of people
who do not have
Jesus Christ in them…
So for us or anyone else to go and tell people to love one another…
it just doesn’t work…
Christians have Christ in them,
and because of that,
just as Christ loves, then we as a brother or sister in Christ
are also able to love our fellow brothers and sisters as well.
We can love like Christ because we are a new creation
as the Apostle Paul wrote of this in
(ESV) 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
this ‘new’
is a theme we are reminded of over and over,
As we see in
(ESV)
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
Notice this...
12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.
15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood.
Fear God.
Honor the emperor.
And then John lays out the test for each person in the church, and he gets a little blunt as he does at times…
he says,
(ESV)
Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
What it boils down to
is that
we proclaim or show exactly WHAT
we really are by
our actual conduct
and behavior.
If we don’t love our fellow Christians,
then we’re still in darkness,
and that darkness is still in us regardless of what else we might say.
And this is very important,
because while we may get hostile feelings or anger towards one another at times,
That's out of our flesh,
we had better not continue that way for very long…
and reconciliation should come quickly.
It’s a big red flag when we hear a Christian say something like,
I HATE so-and-so…
I just cannot love
so-and-so
and God doesn’t expect me to…
they hurt me too much…
I CANNOT and WILL NOT ever forgive them.
There's a real heart problem in such statements. Those are DARK statements.
So it's Like John was telling the church then,
And it applies to us today as well...
if that’s where any of us are, then we need to repent quickly,
because those feelings and rationalizing are NOT of the Holy Spirit.
And the light of Christ should show in our lives.
We simply have to ABIDE in the LIGHT…
we have to ABIDE in JESUS CHRIST…
His Light can and will show in our lives when we let Jesus have complete control of our lives…
And letting Jesus have complete control in our lives is
the only way to have complete happiness…complete joy.
Light or dark...what's your life show?