Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

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

​ 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.

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 -

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

but God gave this command in the OT before Christ

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.

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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 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

Gal

and have already begun to taste the powers of the age to 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.

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.

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.

-59

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

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.