“The True Light Shines”
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Abd Al-Rahman III was a ruler in 10th-century Spain who lived in complete luxury. Here's how he assessed his life: "I have now reigned above 50 years in victory or peace; beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity."
Fame, riches and pleasure beyond imagination. Doesn't that sound great? He went on to write: "I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: They amount to 14."
In an article in The New York Times, here's how the columnist Arthur C. Brooks assessed the life of Abd al-Rahman III:
[He] had a formula as he sleepwalked through life: Love things, use people. It is the worldly snake oil peddled by the culture makers from Hollywood to Madison Avenue. But you know in your heart that it is morally disordered and a likely road to misery. You want to be free of the sticky cravings of unhappiness and find a formula for happiness instead. How? Simply invert the deadly formula and render it virtuous: Love people, use things.
Loving people is the best way to live as many are finding out, but for us as Christians there is something more to it. We are not loving others because it is the better way to live. We love others because it is a commandment of our Lord. It is the command Christ has given to his followers. And yet this commandment continues to be a struggle for many in our culture today. What John wants us to see is that our lack of love for others may be showing us something deeply wrong with us.
What we are seeing more and more today, I believe, is that the Lord is cleaning house. He is beginning to reveal those who are truly Christian from those who only profess to be. It is one of the only explanations for all that is going on in modern evangelicalism today. John is giving us here tests for the assurance of salvation… genuineness of salvation. Last week it was loving and obeying the commands of the Lord… this week it is loving others
Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.
1 John 2:7-
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.
The Old
The New
The Old Old Story
The first thing we will look at today is the old aspect of the command of God to love our neighbor. The second thing to consider is the new way to understand the command to love our neighbor in light of the word and work of Jesus. And finally, we will take a look at the word and work of our Lord Jesus and rejoice in the everlasting love of our Lord seen in the wonders of the Gospel.
Thesis: Though deception, the rebellion of humanity and the fallen world distorts our understanding of love and misplaces love for things over people, it is the love of the Christ that brings us salvation and the power of the Holy Spirit that will cause us to experience newness of life and the ability to love others like we never have before.
I. The Old
- The old command to love others.
A. The tests for assurance continues. Last week we dealt with a moral one. Now we begin to deal with the social aspect of testing. Last week we know that we are truly saved because we desire to obey His commands. We also find assurance in reality that we love one another. Loving His commands and loving our neighbor.
Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before.
B. Interesting if you were paying attention. A paradox? First of all, he is saying that the command is not new, but then he says that it is new. Hmmm. So is it new or is it old? Its both. Lets look at it closer.
C. Now remember, John was dealing with the false teachings of the gnostics who were infatuated with novelty. The latest and greatest. New and clever innovations. But the apostle John was making clear that this was not a new invention. It is not a new command. This goes back to the very beginning. Loving our neighbor is not a New Testament innovation.
D. In Old Testament times when God’s people were in the Sinai desert, God instructed the Israelite to love his neighbor as himself.
“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
Next, John cannot call this command new. Already in Old Testament times when God’s people were in the Sinai desert, God instructed the Israelite to love his neighbor as himself
Leviticus 19:18
Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of James and the Epistles of John (Vol. 14, p. 259). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.
E. So here is the sense of this verse. “I am gonna tell you something here, but you already know it. From the moment you came to know Christ you have heard this emphasized over and over again. I am not adding to this gospel that has been delivered. I am reminding you of what you already know.
F. Martin Lloyd Jones - It is there in the Old Testament Law: Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself, so that even when our Lord talked about a new commandment He was in a sense simply emphasizing that old commandment that was given to the children of Israel long ago. They had been separated as God’s people, and God had told them that they must have this love one to another.
II. The New
- The new sense of the old command to love others.
A. Now there are several reasons that this law is also in a sense new. But the first thing we need to acknowledge is that it is new because our Lord called it new.
So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.
B. But what did Christ mean by this? Because of Christ, his word and work and the power of the Holy Spirit this law is possible in a way that was not possible before. Because of Christ, it has been truly fulfilled in a deeper and richer way. Look what the Lord has done.
C. First, it was new in the emphasis he gave it, bringing the love commands of and together and declaring that the whole teaching of the Law and the Prophets hung upon them.
Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:
First, it was new in the emphasis he gave it, bringing the love commands of and together and declaring that the whole teaching of the Law and the Prophets hung upon them. Secondly
D. Second. He gave it a new quality. A disciple was to love others not just as he loved himself but in the same measure as Christ had loved him, with selfless self-sacrifice even unto death.
He gave it a new quality. A disciple was to love others not just as he loved himself but in the same measure as Christ had loved him, with selfless self-sacrifice even unto death.
Stott, J. R. W. (1988). The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 19, p. 97). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
E. Thirdly, it was new in the extent he gave it, showing in the parable of the Good Samaritan that the ‘neighbour’ we must love is anyone who needs our compassion and help, irrespective of race and rank, and includes our ‘enemy.’
But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!
F. It was also, fourthly, to continue new by our fresh apprehension of it, ‘for though doctrinal Christianity is always old, experimental Christianity is always new’ - Robert Candlish.
Stott, J. R. W. (1988). The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 19, p. 97). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
It was also, fourthly, to continue new by our fresh apprehension of it, ‘for though doctrinal Christianity is always old, experimental Christianity is always new’ (Candlish).
G. And now because of the power of the Holy Spirit, loving our neighbor takes on a new aspect for us personally.
Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones - “John is here reminding them that they are left without excuse; it is possible now for Christians, as a result of receiving new life from Christ, as the result of the power of the Holy Spirit, to love their fellow men and women, to love their brethren in the way that God originally intended.”
H. Let me try to drive this home. Oh the foolishness of trying to hold the world to uphold and love the laws of the Lord. If there is one thing we see from the pattern of this world is the utter disdain for the commands of God. True love for the brethren is not possible for those who do not have new life in Christ. This is why I continue to assert the futility of preaching biblical morality demanding them to practice it. We cannot preach a Christian ethic to unbelievers and expect them to actually do it.
I. Our foundations are not the same. Our desires are not the same. Our motivations are not the same. Our source of truth is not the same. If a person’s whole foundation is autonomous self centeredness, how do you convince them to sacrifice their life for another. Why abortion does not make sense to some unbelievers. Their choice is more important than a life. Their life is more important than another life. They look at us and scratch their head. How do you convince a person to follow the commands of a God they will not acknowledge? Of course a dog will bark… thats what they do. Of course a lion will roar… thats what they do. Of course unbelievers will rebel that what they do. Its all they can do. Anything apart from faith is sin. Without faith it is impossible to please him. A tree with bad root will bear bad fruit.
J. Jesus lived it and now we are also living it in a new way. Now that we are Christians there is new possibilities in life. We have received new life and life more abundant in Christ. We have received the Holy Spirit. As Christ has loved so now we can love. And truly love others. And truly love our enemies.
In the Christian catacombs of Rome, the following story (retold in Modern English) was found:
"A rich man named Proculus had hundreds of slaves. The slave named Paulus was so trustworthy that Proculus made him the steward over his whole household. One day Proculus took Paulus with him to the slave market to buy some new workers. Before the bargaining began, they examined the men to see if they were strong and healthy.
Among the slaves stood a weak, old man. Paulus urged his owner to buy this slave.
Proculus answered, "But he is good for nothing."
"Go ahead, buy him," Paulus insisted.
"He is cheap. And I promise that the work in your household will get done even better than before."
So Proculus agreed and purchased the elderly slave. And Paulus made good on his word. The work went better than ever. But Proculus observed that Paulus now worked for two men. The old slave did no work at all, while Paulus tended to him, gave him the best food, and made him rest.
Proculus was curious, so he confronted Paulus, "Who is this slave? You know I value you. I don't mind your protecting this old man. But tell me who he is. Is he your father who has fallen into slavery?"
Paulus answered, "It is someone to whom I owe more than to my father."
"Your teacher, then?"
"No. Somebody to whom I owe even more."
"Who then?"
"This is my enemy."
"Your enemy!"
"Yes. He is the man who killed my father and sold us, the children, as slaves." Proculus stood speechless. "As for me," said Paulus, "I am a disciple of Christ, who has taught us to love our enemies and to reward evil with good.""
K. Shane you gotta be kidding me. Nope. If they are really an enemy, we are commanded to love them. There is just no way I could do that. This is the radical nature of what it is to love our neighbor. Not just that, but love our enemy. There is no way. I would agree that we cannot do something like this on our own. But the reason Christ can expect this from us, is because we are not to do any of this on our own. If you are a Christian today… you are not your own, you are bought with a price. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit dwells within us. So why does the Lord expect us to love our enemies? Because we are the ones who can.
III. The Old Old Story
- The old old story of Jesus and His love.
A. And with all of this talk about love… the reason why we can even talk about the assurance of salvation. The reason why we can even talk about the ability to truly love others. The reason why the darkness is passing away is because the true light is already shining. The beauty of the Gospel of Jesus. The love of Jesus for His people. The good news today is Jesus and His love.
B. Christian today, especially those who have been a Christian for a while, we come far in Christ, but we should always remember why we can rejoice today. Before we became a Christian we did not nor could not follow the laws of God. We did not love others like we should. But it was all of us.
C. The scriptures declare that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. Yes things were not looking good for us. But because of the Lords great love. Because God so loved the world… The unbelievable… while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
D. Today we celebrate the wonderful love of the Lord.
The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
Psalms 103:8-12
E. The darkness is disappearing and the true light shines. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures… The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance...
F. Because of His love salvation is here… if you confess with your mouth. All who call upon the name of the Lord...