LETTER FOR LOVE-

We mentioned last week how letters have great importance to us. Love letters are cherished. Letters from parents are held dear. Letters from friends are kept and read throughout the years. They hold importance to us because the love and respect we have for the writer, but they also hold importance because of their contents.

Because John begins chapter two with “My little children, these things I write to you...” (2:1). This is why we are entitling this miniseries through chapter two Letters to Children. This chapter is a handful of letters written from a spiritual father to his spiritual children. We already saw the letter for security. John tells us we have an Advocate, while we certainly do not want to take a light approach to sin, we do not need to be overcome by it. We have security. But then John switches his focus from security to love.

This is a letter for love. Now, as we look at this passage we can keep this thought in our mind: love in the Scriptures is different than love as is generally understood. Love in the Scripture is selfless. describes the type of love spoken of here by John:

The New King James Version Chapter 13

4 dLove suffers long and is ekind; love fdoes not envy; love does not parade itself, is not 2puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, gdoes not seek its own, is not provoked, 3thinks no evil; 6 hdoes not rejoice in iniquity, but irejoices in the truth; 7 jbears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

The New King James Version Chapter 13

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

The world’s understanding of love is very self-centered. Think of why men and women break of relationships. “I just don’t love him anymore.” Or, “I am not happy with her anymore.” These are selfish thoughts, very different than the love we see God display and desire in His children.

This letter for love, then, is seeking to help our understanding of this basic truth of a disciple and its ramification for our lives.

I. A NEW BUT NOT NEW COMMANDMENT- vss. 7-8

The first thing John does is describe that he is not writing a new commandment. In fact, this commandment has been in existence “from the beginning.” That is, these disciples, these dear children, have had access to this commandment.

A. The Commandment is located in God’s Word- vs. 7

What John is telling his little children is a basic truth of the faith: Look to God’s Word for His truth. The Scriptures tell us what we need to know about God, His character, His work. The Scriptures also tell us what we need to know about ourselves, our problem, our purpose, what we need for restoration. John is locating this commandment in its origin: the Bible.

One danger that many Christians face today is to practically ignore the Old Testament. That is, since the New Testament tells us about Christ and how to live, we almost exclusively focus on it. We have a tendency to neglect the Old Testament, which is to our own detriment. Why? The thought, “The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed; the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed,” attributed to Augustine, is key to our appreciation for the Old Testament. Getting back to the basics requires a love for and appreciation of the Old Testament.

Why do I belabor that point? Because this is precisely what John is doing. In this letter for love, he anchors this command of love in the Old Testament. Consider , and really you can read the entire chapter to see how God expects us to treat one another. is another passage that illustrates God’s expectation of how His people should treat their enemy, the theme is picked up by Christ in .

You see, God’s commandment to love is based in His very nature as revealed in this letter. In fact, John would later state that “God is love” in . We learn from this, then, that as God has revealed Himself in His Word, it is a revelation of His nature, that He is love. This is described and presented in both the Old and New Testaments.

B. The Commandment is lived out by Christ- vs. 8

The reason I refer to this as the new but not new commandment is because, though it is anchored in the clear teachings of the Old Testament as revealed through the very nature of God, it is new in the sense that Christ lives it out. John is saying, “Hey, this is new because it is lived out by Christ!”

If we took the time to trace this thread, which finds its end in the phrase “which thing is true in Him and in you,” we would see it goes back to Jesus. This new commandment finds its origin in Jesus. That is, Jesus enfleshes this commandment in such a new and startling way, John uses the contrast between light and darkness to describe it.

Without going into detail, the life of Christ fleshes out the command to love in a stark and mind-blowing way. Think of one example: the woman at the well in . Here is a woman who has lived an incredibly immoral life. She comes to the well to draw water in the middle of the day, likely due to her known-immorality. Jesus, a man and rabbi, if He followed the customs of the day, would have never talked to her. Jewish rabbis in the day of Christ would have never imagined talking to a woman of such reputation. But, in love Christ chooses to head this direction to minister the Gospel to this lady. It was an amazing display of love. This is the love John is discussing in this passage. That is, this new commandment is not really new in an innovative sense, but new in a fresh way. It is like a blanket that comes out of the dryer, it smells fresh, its warm and soft, and you just want to wrap up in it. Jesus lives out the command to love people in a new and fresh way.

One more point before we move on, John connects Jesus’ fulfilment of this commandment to love with light. This phrase “the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining,” tells of the coming of Jesus. Now, if you remember, John’s letter brings us back to the basics. That is, it covers the basics of the Christian faith. And one of those basics is that Jesus has come, the light is already shining, Christ’s kingdom is being built.

So, we have seen this New But Not New Commandment, which is located in God’s Word and lived out by Christ. Let’s spend the remainder of our time looking at...

II. OUR RESPONSE TO THE COMMANDMENT- vss. 9-11

This commandment, though not directly stated by John here, is elsewhere described as shown in , that is, love one another. It is the second great commandment, as Jesus declares in .

So, per the habits of Scripture, John connects our understanding of this commandment, as located in God’s Word and lived out by Christ, to our lives. The Christian Faith is extremely practical. There is always a connection between doctrine (what we believe) and life (how we live). John describes our possible responses to this commandment.

It is like being on a trip and seeking to arrive at a specific destination. It is like standing at a fork in the road. There are only two ways forward, one way goes left and the other way goes right. Only way way we choose will bring us to our destination. That is, one way is right and one way is wrong.

In a similar way, John presents our response to this commandment. We can either obey it or disobey it. That is, there is a negative response to this commandment and a positive response to this commandment.

A. Negative Response—disobedience-vss. 9, 11

The first response John discusses is the negative response. He connects being in the light, practicing holiness, with loving your brother. If you say you are in the light, and yet hate your brother, you are in darkness until now. That is, you are under the power of sin.

The negative response places actions over against speech- “he who says…and hates his brother...” (actions speak louder than words)

The negative response displays a person’s practice- “is in darkness until now…walks in darkness” (A failure to love a brother shows that this person’s lifestyle (practice) is darkness, not light)

The negative response denotes blindness- “does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes” (When we respond negatively, that is, when we disobey the clear teachings of Scripture, we show that we are blind. This has several implications. We cannot see where we are going, in other words, we are on dangerous grounds. Additionally, when we are blind, our perspectives are skewed. This is important because when we are walking in darkness, our evaluation of life, how things are, is skewed. That is, we are unable to properly understand how things work.)

B. Positive Response—obedience- vs. 10

The positive response, then, is obedience. That is, it is observing the commandment. Notice how John phrases it, “He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”

John connects our obedience with loving our brothers. That is, when we display the with each other, we are obedient to the commandment of God. Furthermore, as a result of our obedience, we have no causes for others to stumble. The idea is putting something in front of someone’s path. When you cannot see, it is really difficult to walk. And what John is saying is that, when we love someone with selfless, biblical love, we will not be putting stumbling blocks in their way. They won’t trip up on coffee tables that we push in their path.

This idea that we will not be a cause of stumbling is simply the outworking of our love for them. When you love someone, you will do what you can to avoid causing difficulties in your brother’s or sister’s life. That is, you will limit your own personal freedom for the cause of Christ. You will not do things that are perfectly normal in order for your brother or sister in Christ to grow. There is a lot more that we say here, but I trust the Holy Spirit will show you and I how this can be applied in our own lives.

TAKE AWAYS

One vital important aspect of this passage of Scripture is the supremacy of all the Word of God. The Old and New Testaments present the same foundational truths. That is, this commandment to biblical love is founded in God’s Word.

In addition, this new-but-not-new command is personified in Jesus Christ. That is, Christ, in a fresh way, displays what this command of love truly means.

On that basis, then, we have a choice. Through the Holy Spirit’s grace and empowering, we can respond positively, growing in our love for one another by showing deference to one another. We want to love people so deeply that through our lives they grow more like Jesus.

However, with that positive choice has a negative flip side. We can follow our natural instincts, that is, our nature prior to our new birth in Christ, and not love. We can choose to be selfish with our time, resources, etc. John is speaking in broad terms because we are dealing with basics, not specifics. A failure to obey the command of Christ to love each other proves that one is in darkness. When one fails to love one is blind and cannot see where he or she is going.

I pray that we will, through the Holy Spirit’s power and grace, love one another.