Love for Brothers

Intro:

AG:

TS: John had just reminded us to obey Christ’s commands and walk as he walked. Now he singles out one specific injunction for special attention. This, the command to love, may be said to include all tRhe others (;).

RS:

Matthew 22:36–40 ESV

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Now he singles out one specific injunction for special attention. This, the command to love, may be said to include all the others (cf. ; .). Because[1]

Romans 13:8ff ESV

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

RS: We still must realize that love embodies all of God’s commands. Love for God and each other fulfills it all.

1. Its oldness (7)

1 John 2:7 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.

John’s audience , just like us today, shouldn’t be surprised at the example he uses.

This old command which they had from the beginning.

What could he mean.

Findlay states it well: “ ‘The commandment’ here intended can be none other than Christ’s law of love for His disciples—that which our Lord singled out amongst the Divine precepts to stamp it for His own by saying, ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I loved you’ ()” (p. 155).[2]

Findlay states it well: “ ‘The commandment’ here intended can be none other than Christ’s law of love for His disciples—that which our Lord singled out amongst the Divine precepts to stamp it for His own by saying, ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I loved you’ ()” (p. 155).[2]

John 15:12 ESV

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Jesus commanded we love each other.

This is old news, but we often forget it

John’s audience had been attacked by people saying the demands of the Christian life were new.

they wanted older ways

More comfortable traditions.

Traditions which speerated people

But the church's theology hadn’t evolved into something new

The command to love is from Jesus and was a summary of all the OT>

2. Its newness (8a)

1 John 2:8a ESV

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.

While it was old, it also was new.

It had new implications.

By “new” John means novel, new in kind or quality. “Old” suggests that the command under discussion was one with which the readers should have been familiar.[3]

John says “at the same time”which here means “in another sense,” “from another point of view.”

Verse 7 teaches that in itself the command to love is not new.

Verse 8 teaches that there is, however, another sense in which it is new.

In at least three ways the command is new:

First, it is new in its authority.

Though the essence of it can be found in the Old Testament, Jesus, as it were, gave it new birth, clothed it with fresh sanction, and enjoined it as the command for the new age which He inaugurated ().

John 13:34 ESV

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

Jesus, God in the flesh, called it new.

As head of the church, King of Kings

and lord of Lords, he gives a command to love

The world both religious and secular, wasn’t used to this kind of love

Second, it is new in its standard.

That is to say, Christ made the command new by making His own love its model (). He thereby gave fresh meaning to it.

It is modeled dafter Jesus

Sacrificial

He put the needs of others, even His enemies , ahead of His own needs.

Unconditional

It is based upon His choice not because of any worth in us

He loved us first!

Third, it is new in practice and application.

As Conner says, “It is as old as the Gospel and as new as each soul’s experience of the love of God in Christ Jesus” (p. 63).

Ramsay explains that though the command is as “old as the earliest apostolic preaching, it is ever new as a fresh and vital and present force. ‘Old as the sun, new as the dawn’ ” (p. 261).[4]

Everyday as we experience the Love of God and grow in our capacity to love others, this command is made new.

Aws we apply it, we begin to love others as CHrist did.

we start putting them ahead of us

We focus on serving rather than being served.

We love first and undonditionally

3. Its appropriateness to the new era (8c)

1 John 2:8c ESV

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.

John points out that loving is completely in line with the new age in which we are.

This is suggested by John’s statement of his reason for urging this command on his readers: I am writing you … because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining (verse 8c, rsv)

The is passing away, and the true light is already shining (verse 8c, rsv)

. The gist of it is that “the ideal state of things, to which the perfect fulfillment of this commandment belongs, has already begun” (Plummer, p. 41)

We are living in the days after CHrist’s advent.

The Light of the world is dispelling the darkness.

Matthew 5:14 ESV

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

As we fulfil His command to love, we reflect His light

Apparently some of the arguments John was countering were that believers were inappropriate in their love and concern for each other and the world

They crossed all human barriers

Rich and poor

slave and free

male and female

All were loved by God and by the Jesus’ disciples

Each church and believer today should still love that way.

4. Its capacity to reveal character (9–11)

1 John 2:9–11 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.

1 Jn 2:9-11

John concludes his discussion by pointing out the revelation brought about by how we treat each other

One’s response to the command to love reveals his essential character.

In short, the man who habitually breaks that commandment shows that he belongs to the darkness; the man who habitually keeps it shows that he belongs to the light.

How tragic it is when I hear of christians fighting.

so often the source comes down to selfisly demanding we get our way.

Other times, it is holding back due to the diversity in the Kingdom

They aren’t like us, so I have trouble loving them

It can be their appearance, background, preferences, language,

None of that matters!

If we withold love, it reveals our dark nature.

On the other hand, when we see God bringn togher a diverse chruch amde up of all kinds of peole, we see His light on full display!

AGe doesn’t matter

Preference to worship style doesn’[t matter

Clothing style doesn’t matter

We see each other as brothers and sisters and seek to meet each others needs.

Conclusion:

Jesus’s call to love is a call to put others ahead of ourselves.

[2] Vaughan, C. (2011). 1, 2, 3 John (p. 44). Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press.

[3] Vaughan, C. (2011). 1, 2, 3 John (p. 44). Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press.

[4] Vaughan, C. (2011). 1, 2, 3 John (p. 45). Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press.

rsv The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version (New York: American Bible Society, 1952).

[5] Vaughan, C. (2011). 1, 2, 3 John (p. 46). Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press.

[6] Vaughan, C. (2011). 1, 2, 3 John (p. 43). Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press.

[7] Vaughan, C. (2011). 1, 2, 3 John (p. 47). Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press.