DEFINED|| The Proof of love
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Intro
Intro
The Message of John’s Letters Chapter 5: How the True Light Shines 1 John (2:7–14)
With these verses John concludes the evidence by which we can know we are truly walking in the light with God. Real fellowship with God is marked by increasing consciousness and confession of sin (1:6–10), and by growing likeness in character to Christ through obedience (2:1–6). Now the emphasis comes to rest on the other mark of real fellowship with God, and a great theme of this letter: genuine love for fellow Christians.
With these verses John concludes the evidence by which we can know we are truly walking in the light with God. Real fellowship with God is marked by increasing consciousness and confession of sin (1:6–10), and by growing likeness in character to Christ through obedience (2:1–6). Now the emphasis comes to rest on the other mark of real fellowship with God, and a great theme of this letter: genuine love for fellow Christians.
THE PROOF OF LOVE
THE PROOF OF LOVE
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.
ESVBeloved, 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.
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.
John is setting up for what he is about to say - the command to love one another. stating its not new but it also now old...
New and Old? Is it one or the other? Its both!:
Old: Its old because love has always been the essential part of the Law and essential part of the Gospel -
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
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.
And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers
Levit
Love is at the forefront of God’s message, his character, his law. - and we all have a sense of love - its basic to humanity. So its old in the sense that its, basic to us being image bearers of God and that most people have a sense of it. But more than that its been a part of God sense the beginning and particularly since John had shared the Gospel with these particular people. But what then is new about it?
New: Its new in how Christ gave it a new level of understanding - he was the living embodiment of love - he revealed it in a new way - gave a new deeper and richer meaning to love. The love he was revealing was from the another age the age to come - and the Christ gives us this love to heal us but as way to love one another. - Christ says love as I have loved you - love in a way that reflects the divine power of the holy spirit within us. - Christ himself says its a new command in a way
Duet. 6:18
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.
but God gave this command in the OT before Christ
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.
So whats different? - “Love as I have loved you…”
New: Christ gave it a new level of understanding - he was the living embodiment of love - he revealed it in a new way - gave a new deeper and richer meaning to love. The love he was revealing was from the another age the age to come - and the Christ gives us this love to heal us but as way to love one another. - Christ says love as I have loved you - love in a way that reflects the divine power of the holy spirit within us. Often to love as Christ does it is difficult which is why we have to rely on him to love that way - which truly shows that we fellowship with God because we get that kind of love from him not ourselves - to love enemies and those who wrong us - my flesh says no thank you - i Would rather not - actually I would like to fight them - Christ says forgive 7x77 times - for his love has to come from somewhere else - from the age to come
John is sayings its true in Christ in Christ and in us - because of our fellowship with him and his spirit with in us - He gave us a model and demonstration to what it looks to love in the way that God is calling and commanding us too. -
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
To walk in the light, live as Christ lived, as john already expressed is to walk as he walked and that is to walk in the light
Often to love as Christ does it is difficult which is why we have to rely on him to love that way - which truly shows that we fellowship with God because we get that kind of love from him not ourselves - to love enemies and those who wrong us - my flesh says no thank you - i Would rather not - actually I would like to fight them - Christ says forgive 7x77 times - for his love has to come from somewhere else - from the age to come
The Message of John’s Letters 1. The Light Shines in God’s Law (Verses 7–8)
The Christ who perfectly fulfilled that law has made available to us his divine resources of power to live that way also. As he was its embodiment and therefore our example, so we are to receive and reflect that light, as members of the new kingdom
So now this light as John describes it is shining - this love that is from this new age is peeling back the darkness as it fades - ‘the age to come’ came with Jesus. He inaugurated it, so that the two ages now overlap one another and the one is fading and the other is shining brighter and brighter- and it is Christ’ love that is the light - it reveals the truth about who God is and what he is about -> and now we as christians who experienced Christs love and have walked in his light - we have been rescued from this present age
who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
Gal
and have already begun to taste the powers of the age to come
and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,
Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
So The light of love:
The light of love:
Is true in Christ
and Is true in us
So we shine it brightly because we know he coming again - so we walk in the light now following his command as we wait.
Then John jumps into the next test of authenticity of fellowship with God - this is the test of love.
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.
The claim then is that a person is in the light. God is light, so he talking about being in Christ, having fellowship with God.
But then the way a person does life reveals the authenticity of this claim - If the conduct is that they hate their brother
Then that person is still in the dark.
There is a link here - back to the message that God is light - and their is darkness is in him at all - hate is paired with darkness - therefore to love God means to love his people - and your neighbour. So hate and light are at odds. They cannot coexist.
Those who choose hate exist in darkness, they walk in darkness, and are blinded by this darkness.
Hate alway distorts our view. Think of how when a person dislikes, is negligent about, or indifferent about people - they begin to not see them - but harden their hearts and think through that filter.
The Letters of John and Jude The Effect of Love and Hate (1 John 2:9–11 Contd)
When people have hatred in their hearts, their powers of judgment are obscured; they cannot see an issue clearly. It is not uncommon to see people opposing a good proposal simply because they dislike, or have quarrelled with, the person who made it
When people have hatred in their hearts, their powers of judgment are obscured; they cannot see an issue clearly. It is not uncommon to see people opposing a good proposal simply because they dislike, or have quarrelled with, the person who made it
Think about how people treat other who are different from them. Think about the decisions made during world war II around humans of flesh and blood just like the rest of us. But because of hate people cold not see clearly the could not see the humanity before them.
John at one point before all this asked the Lord if he should call down fire on a samaritan city because they mocked the Lord and the Lord rebuked him then later he was back their laying hands on those same people and imparting the holy spirit.
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.
-59
Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
Acts
Those who were enemies and hated are now loved brothers sharing in the body of Christ.
Love gives sight - because its living in the light - it sees straight, thinks clearly, and makes us balance our outlook, judgements and conduct.
For those who claim to live in the light proved in in loving the brothers and sisters and so in them their is no cause for stumbling - meaning they have clear perspective and avoid sinning against their brothers and sisters or cause them to sin or stumble.
Think about that -> John is showing the ideal way to go about living in the Light with God’s people. Helping one another proactively seeking to encourage and build up those who are among us.
They are proactively seeking to encourage and build up those who are among us.
this is part of the reason why family language is used here. You cannot be indifferent towards those you call brother and sister. Love doesn’t allow it, your relationship to them doesn’t allow it.
I really like how Dave Jackman puts it
The Message of John’s Letters 2. The Light Shines in Christians’ Love (Verses 9–11)
If we are thankful to God for the way in which he has shone his light into our lives, how can we but be thankful for every one of our fellow Christians, who has had a similar experience of grace? We must determine to do everything we can to channel more of God’s love into their lives by our active love towards them.
We should be black and white about how we are towards each other - not creating twilight zones for us to be ambiguous - Thats not how Jesus oporates not how is it for the church to operate. For we are to imitate him and walk as he walks.
So John’s second test shows that the genuineness of our faith is not only connected to right relationship with God through repentance and obedience but also having right relationship with those we are connected to through Christ - loving our brothers and sisters.
John so the second test is shows that the genuiness of our faith is connected to right relationship with God and those who we are connected to through Christ.
If we have hate in our hearts we cannot move forward in our spiritual lives we are blind and left stumbling - but with this new love Christ has given us we find we know the way because we know truth.
“As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking them more.” CS Lewis
Think about Jesus story about the good samaritan.
The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary b. Love, or the Social Test (2:7–11)John has told them they must walk as Jesus walked (6); and that was a walk in love.
ESVwho gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
ESVwho gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
He has delieved us from this present evil age and or the “world” and now we have the light that is already shining - that is Christ The newness of this command remains new because it comes from the new age to come - we access it becaues Christ has brought into the world So Christ is light and to walk with him is to walk in his way and his way is love - light and love cannot be seperated and can have no fellowship with darkness and hatredSo the true christian brotehr walks in the light - they obey God and love his brother.
“As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking them more.” CS Lewis
We have to choose to love people we just go for it and as we obey our feelings will follow.
What is God calling us to this morning as his people?
Often scripture can seem abstract or knowledge to put into our store bank of information - but this is a specific call to action we cannot ignore. We confirm our faith in our love and to walk like Jesus means to love like he did.
Think what did it look like for Jesus to love people? How can you imitate that in your life right now? What actions of your are loving? What actions are hateful?
How can we love more? How can we support each other better and channel more of God’s love into another life?
Maybe you are here this morning and you need some love
Maybe you are here and you need to repent of your lack of love and make amends with a brother or sister.
Maybe you are just stoked to love even more
Christ enlarges our capacity to love others because of his spirit in us.
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Gal
What will you do in response to living in the light of God’s love?
What will you do in response to living in the light of God’s love?
I WRITE TO YOU ...
I WRITE TO YOU ...
I am writing to you, little children,
because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.
I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, children,
because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
ESVI am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
Little children
Little children
Fathers
Fathers
Young Men
Young Men
DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD
DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
ESVDo not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
“As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking them more.” CS Lewis