Love in Motion: Sacrifice, Love, and Commands

Chapter 2 continues to talk about the importance of walking in the light, but uses more theological language as opposed to illustrative language. Like a grandfatherfather advising his own grandchildren, he gives another reason why he writes to them. “I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense. Other translations use the word advocate in verse 1. The word used here refers to someone who steps in as a friend in defense. Or like a lawyer stepping in to plead our case, Jesus comes in to save the day for us. He steps in because, as verse 2 says, Jesus is our atoning sacrifice- our propitiation- for our sins and the sins of the whole world. The power of Jesus blood is strong enough to wipe away all sins. The theological waves just keep coming, and before we can catch your breath with trying to grasp life, lying, forgiveness, advocate and atonement, John goes directly to the theme of obedience. John shows who Jesus is- he is life, he is light- now live the same life, and live in the light.

For me, the most striking thing about verses 2-6 is how the theme of obedience ties in with another major theme that runs rampant through I John. It’s the fusion between obedience and love. I John is a short book, but the word love appears 52 times. It’s first mentioned in 5: But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. Does that sentence make you scratch your head? It does mine. How can God’s love be made complete through our obedience?

This connection between the love of God and discipleship in I John is a mysterious concept for us. For example, I John 5:3 says, This is love for God: to obey his commands. But a more literal translation puts it this way: For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. Again, John connects discipleship with the love of God. That what we do reveals the love of God. We typically view discipleship as something we do to show our devotion to God. But John makes us think twice- If we obey his word, the love of God is made complete. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.

We’ll be talking more about love in later sermons being that it’s sprinkled all over the book. And so just to conclude this evening, let’s do a quick recap of what we’ve talked about. First, Jesus is the Word of Life. He came as a real person that ate and drank and was totally human. Second, we are called to walk in the Light as God is in the light. John dives into the topic of sin right off the bat and encourages his listeners- stay away from sin, walk in the light. If you wander off along the path, we can trust that Jesus came to die for us and sticks up for us as our advocate and as our atoner. Thirdly, we are called to love- walking in the light means loving like God loves. God’s love comes to light by our living in him. God’s love comes to light by our living in him.