A New Commandment

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7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.

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7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.

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This evenings message in entitled “A New Commandment”
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8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
Pray
11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
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Besties

Engage
I recently spoke to the teens on this same subject that Pastor has asked me to speak on tonight. And it is a topic I spoke to in Sunday School some years ago as well.
I will start they way I did with the teens by bearing my heart on this subject, to this point: There are people that I would consider to fall in this category of being brothers and sisters in Christ, who I would prefer not to fellowship with. I understand that in this church context that this probably isn’t something that you people want to hear, but it is the reality.
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There are people where honestly I have no reason to doubt the sincerity of their profession of faith, and I have no reason to think that they aren’t saved Christian people but I know that if I spend time with them I run some risks: There poor attitudes might rub off on me or my family, they have chosen comfort over truth, or they may have…and I hope for only a season…decided to reject the word of God and live according to sin. More superficially, it may just be that it is someone where are personalities just don’t click.
That is the reality of Christian life, we aren’t going to become the best of friends with everyone who walks into the door of the church.

No Middle Ground

Tension
Tension
This book of 1 John is a book that is written to help us with Christian assurance. In other words, if you want to measure yourself to determine if you are saved this is the book to read.
On this subject of love we are given two sides of a coin: On one side we can love our brothers, v10 says if you love your brother you abide in the light. But on the either side of that coin we can hate our brother and just as love and hate are opposites, our bible tells us in v11 to hate our brother is to be in darkness
We are only given 2 options. And their is a reason for that. In his commentary on Romans Fritzche in the 1800’s wrote
Eastern people are more excitable in their personalities so they react in extremes - Love or hate. Western people have cooler personalities and are more likely to react with interest or disregard
On one hand we have Love: A greek word you have heard many times, Agape. It means to have love for someoene or something, based on sincere appreciation and high regard.
Then there is Hate. Meh-say-yoh: it is to dislike strongly, with the implication of aversion and hostility.
I would like to sort of live in the middle with a lot of people, but that really isn’t a thing. At least not so far as the Bible is concerned.
Look at this example in Matthew 6:24

24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

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What are the options? Love or Hate. Hold or Despise. There isn’t a middle ground being made clear to us in a way that clicks with our western brains. This is true of what we know of God’s feelings towards Jacob and Esau

13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

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There is a preference being expressed here. This isn’t telling us of God’s disdain for Esau, in context it speaks of loving less or having a preference. We get this same type of language being used with Abraham’s relationship with Rachael and Leah.
We need to understand this difficultly in our languages and difficulty between cultures. Where you and I might have love, hate and something like tolerance or cordiality in the middle. The people at the time when our Bible was written don’t have that.

A New Commandment

Truth
So where on this scale are we supposed to love? Look what we read in :7-8

7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

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This very language throws me a little. Is it an old commandment? v7 seems to think so. it calls this a commandment which ye had from the beginning. But just when you have that settled on that subject you get down to v8: Again, a new commandment I write unto you. So which is it?
This commandment to love one another doesn’t seem to be anything new. reads:

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

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And this is just placing importance on the commandment from

18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

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But in then at the Lord’s Supper, the last instruction Jesus is giving to his Apostles before he dies what does he say?

34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

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Now we are back to this idea of it being a new commandment.
But the word translated new in our English Bible is in the Greek word Kaine. And it’s more than just new it carries the idea of being new … and… improved. That this new thing is better than the old. That isn’t always the case is it.
I do a lot more driving at work than I have ever done in the past. In February I put 2000 business miles on my car. Now for some of the guys here who are truck drivers that probably doesn’t seem like much, but for me it was a big adjustment. And on top of spending that kind of time in the car I am also taking products that my company sells to customers for demonstration and the 4 door sedan I had just wasn’t cutting it anymore. Sitting in the car for hours every day was starting to become painful and loading things in and out of the trunk or back seat was difficult.
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 58.71 καινός, ή, όν; νέος, α, ον

58.71 καινόςb, ή, όν; νέοςb, α, ον: pertaining to that which is new or recent and hence superior to that which is old—‘new.’

So, I just recently purchased a new car; and when I looked for a new vehicle I had a lot of options. I could have purchased a new smart car. And it would have been new, as in manufactured more recently than the car I had. But a smart car would not have been an improvement over the car I had. Something that small wouldn’t have been more comfortable after a 100 miles, and it certainly didn’t have the cargo capacity I was looking for.
When we read this word new in our Bibles, it isn’t just new but it is improved. It is better than the old thing. We have an upgrade.
Take a look at 1 john 2:8 again

Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

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There is a colon in that verse. It tells us that we have had this commandment all along, but there was a lack of understanding. It says that it was understood in darkness. But now we have light for this verse, it is made easier for us to see. We could call it, commandment 2.0
Take a look at again

34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

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the commandment to love one another isn’t new. We don’t have to get very far into the Bible to get that commandment right…Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus…there it its. But this clarification, this shedding of light on the subject, that is where this commandment becomes new. Jesus says that we are to love one another, and this is key....as I have loved you.
When we look at that
It is a very new commandment, this love we are told to give. It is so far improved than anything that has every been expressed in history up to this point. It’s not just that we are to love, but it is that we are to love like Christ. And when Christ condescended his throne in heaven to become man, live the life of man perfectly and then die on a cross for us he exhibited love that is so far beyond anything that had ever been understood by man before.
says that darkness is in the past and now true light is shining on this commandment, and that light is the Lord Jesus Christ.
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says this
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It is a self-sacraficing love that

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

if we ask what sort of love we are supposed to have, this is it.

A Higher Standard

Application
Application
Our standard for how we are supposed to love is Christ. That is a pretty far standard for us to live up to. To be honest one of the most troubling verses in all of scripture comes from Paul In

3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

When I measure myself against Christ I can excuse myself to some extent, after all Jesus is God and I can never live up to that. But here is Paul, just a mortal man no different than you and I. What kind of love does Paul express? Paul says that he would wish himself accursed. He would take eternity in Hell if it would be of eternal benefit to his countrymen.
I have a heart to reach my countrymen, but to have this level of love for them seems almost out of reach. My salvation is the most precious thing that I have, and Hell is the most terrifying thing I can imagine. Yet this is the standard and I am going to guess that you fall sort of it just like I do.
But we need to keep the standard in mind. I told you at the beginning that 1 John is a book about Christian assurance. When he writes things like what we read in v4

4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

This is a pretty tough statement, especially until we break it down a little. Keeping the commandments doesn’t mean we sinlessly walk in perfection, never breaking a single commandment. I wish. What it means is that we stand guard, we keep watch over the commandments and it is something that we strive towards perfection in. it is the process of sanctification right, growing more and more Christlike over time.
It is this same thing with loving our brothers. I am not saying that you have have to be perfect in your love. I know that I don’t measure up to the Apostle Paul’s level of love, much less Christs. More than likely neither do you.
What is important is that we are constantly pushing forward on this. If you don’t love Christians and you don’t care that you don’t love Christians, then you need to be warned that you are in danger. Our bible says that you walk in darkness. But if you do love your brothers and sisters in Christ and you recognize the example of our Lord and strive towards it, even falling short as is inevitable. If that is the case then you can plainly see what v10 says

He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

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A Different Kind of Love

Inspiration
Love in the church isn’t like the love of the world which is fickle. So many people say I love you today, and don’t really understand it. People get married, and they say at the alter that they love one another but then later decide that they are ‘out of love’. People can have friendships or even family and claim that they love each other but then something happens, feelings get hurt and now the love is gone. says:
Love in the church isn’t like the love of the world which is fickle. So many people say I love you today, and don’t really understand it. People get married, and they say at the alter that they love one another but then later decide that they are ‘out of love’. People can have friendships or even family and claim that they love each other but then something happens, feelings get hurt and now the love is gone. says:

39 And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus;

For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.

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The world loves because they are loved. They have relationships and put a value on people on what they get out of those relationships.
I think Paul would agree with me on this point. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do to me. You may have harmed me and hurt me. It doesn’t matter what you have done, or what poor attitude I might have shown. If you are my Brother. If you are my Sister in Christ. I love you.
We defined the word love, Agape, earlier: to have love for someone or something, based on sincere appreciation and high regard.
If I see that you are going through difficulties, If I see that you are heatbroken. I am heartbroken for you.
The world regards and appreciates using themselves as the measurement. They ask, what value does this person bring me? and make judgments accordingly. But in the church we appreciate and have high regard because we measure according to our God, and we know that God has placed a high value on those in his church.
It made the news earlier this year that a man took a watch that he had purchased for $346 in 1974 to the antique road show. The appraiser floored the man when he told him that the watch was worth $700,000 now and the owner was understandably floored.
But if someone were to give me that watch, I obviously would have placed a value on it that would have been pretty high. It is a Rolex, and I know at least enough to know that Rolex’s are valuable. I might have guessed $2,000 and I would keep it in a special place and wear it out a couple of times a year on special occasions.
But when I recognize that I am not the authority on that watches value, that the appraiser is and he says that the watch is worth $700,000; now I am going to treat the watch differently. See, now I am going to sell the watch and pay off my house, and my car and then I am going to have to figure out what I am going to with a lot of money that is left over!
If we love people based on how we appraise them then we are not going to love them as we ought. We are going to undervalue them. But if submit to the authority, who is God. And we love them based upon the value that God puts on them, then we are going to love them much, much more.
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This is the Place

Application
Action
Love in the church is different. I started with an admission. I am not the best of friends with everyone who I would consider to be a brother and sister in Christ. There are people who by their choices to embrace sin publically we have to separate ourselves from, I am not even talking about them. Some people, our personalities just don’t click, we just prefer not to spend time together.
But you have to understand that even those people who for some reason or another, fellowship isn’t what it ought to be. We take joy in their joy and our hearts hurt when they are hurt.
Love is a choice. It doesn’t matter what you do to me or how you feel about me. How I love is a choice that I make and has nothing to do with how that love is returned.
You can leave the church, and you can make a mess of things out there in the world. You can get yourself involved in all sorts of things and hurt a lot of people. I hope that you wouldn’t but those are things that you could do.
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This is a place where you are going to find forgiveness, acceptance and love. Love that makes no sense to the world.
But you need to understand that no matter what you do; this is the place where you will find love and forgiveness. And you should be encouraged that it isn’t because of a value that other people put on you, but it is because you are loved greatly and valued greatly by our God.
We need to be real about it though. People are at different levels of Christian maturity, and some of the church isn’t really the church. I hope that you aren’t loving people according to the value that you put on them instead of the value that God puts on them. And if that is the case you need to make a decision today that you are going to push towards that example of self sacrificing love we see demonstrated in Christ’s love toward us.
If you are seeking this amazing love I am talking about you need to seek it in the right place. You need to find those people in the church who can love like I am talking about and aren’t still loving like the world. Those are the people you should be building relationships with and seeking council from.
And if you are hearing about this love of Christ. And as you hear the words of

11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

If you don’t know how to love like Christ because you haven’t experienced the love of Christ, I encourage you…I beg you to do this. Find one of those people in this church where you can see that they walk in light because they love their brother. Find them and pour your heart out to them and ask them to tell you about their savior.
Because Paul continues in the next verse

I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.

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You sins can be forgiven you, you can experienced love in this place, for Christ’s name’s sake.
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