The Old and New Command to Love | In light of love | 1 John 2: 7-11 | Ep.5

Welcome to Preaching from Bryanson Bible Church, located in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa.

It is our prayer that this teaching would bless you, deepen your love for God's word, and encourage you as you follow Jesus.

And if you are not a Christian, we pray that this message would encourage you as you explore the Christian faith.

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment than 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.

This year, right?

Next year 2027, we'll be all at the starting line, ready to run it.

Now I'll be at home watching you all on TV because this frame is not built uh for long distance uh running at all.

But it's so wonderful to be here together as we continue in a series in the uh uh in the letter of John.

And so in this first letter last week, we saw John actually confront us with a reality, a truth that we need to take deeply into our hearts.

And it is this that knowing God is not proven by what we claim, but Baha we walk.

Knowing God is not proven by what we claim, but Baha we walk.

And so if we truly know God, or say that what people who know God, then our love must increasingly show it, not just through the things we say, but through the things we do, through the things we do.

And so therefore, John didn't leave us with a challenging word at the end of the section last week, calling us to observe or to have this as part of our pattern, loving pattern as we lead our lives before the Lord.

And yes, what he said in 1 John 2, uh 2, verse 6 Whoever says he abides in him that is knows and has genuine fellowship with God, ought to walk in the same way in which he walked, or to walk in the same way in which he walked.

And so then we saw that sincere obedience looks like walking as Jesus walked.

It looks like walking as Jesus walked.

And so, just like it was with Jesus, he did not simply claim that he knew God, but he showed, displayed that he knew God by the way in which he led his life.

And so, therefore, if we want to be a people, you truly are saying that we have true fellowship with God, then we got to walk like Jesus walked.

And so then the question this week becomes how does it look like to walk as Jesus walked?

How does it look like to walk as Jesus walked?

And so John gives us the answer into that sticks, and it is this to walk like Jesus is to love like Jesus.

To walk like Jesus is to love like Jesus.

And so John will go on to describe in our text that love is the oldest and newest combinement, demand of the Christian life.

The oldest and newest command, demand of the Christian life.

That love is not this optional extra thing that the emotionally expressive amongst us get to do, or simply reserve for those who have warm personalities.

No.

But our love is at the heart of what it means to truly have fellowship with God and to walk as Jesus walked.

And so we'll see throughout the six that we're not simply called to love because the word says that we ought to love.

No, we're called to love because we truly are abiding in Christ, and Christ abides in us.

And so, as John begins this next section, notice the term he uses to refer to his readers.

Verse 7 Beloved, I am writing you.

Beloved.

Now that is a term that John will use repeatedly throughout this uh his letter.

And it is a term that he usually uses when he's beginning a new thought.

And yeah, in this particular text, he's doing so masterfully.

Why?

Because before he calls his readers to show their love towards one another, he reminds them that they are already loved.

That they are already loved.

And so you see, the Christian love does not simply begin with our love towards each other.

No, the Christian love begins with God's love for us in Jesus Christ.

And so, therefore, this call to love one another is a call that we are only able to do once we have realized that in Christ Jesus, God loves us.

God has already loved us, and that is an important motivator that John will come back to in chapter four.

Then he continues in verse 7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning.

And so, in one sense, this command to love each other is old.

It's old.

And so from the beginning, since the beginning, God had expected, called his people to show love for him and love for one another.

And so we see in Deuteronomy 6, verse 5, God said, You shall love the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 6:5

The word of God said, We shall love the Lord our God.

And in Leviticus 19, uh verse 18, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

And so the uh and so from the very beginning, God had always called, expected his people to love him and to love one another.

And so John is not setting before his readers some strange new Christian ethic for them to live by.

No, love for God and for one another had always been what God had expected from his people.

It's not a later biblical development or some sort of kind of mana footnote that we ought to observe.

No, from the very beginning, it was incorporated in God's law and then was affirmed throughout the rest of the scriptures.

But then John goes on in interestingly to make this remark, verse 8, at the same time, it is a new commandment that I'm writing to you.

And so, which is it, John?

Is it an old commandment or a new commandment?

The answer, yes.

Right?

Yes, and so then the first point we see John is making is this that love is the oldest and the newest demand of the Christian life.

The oldest and the newest demand of the Christian life.

It is old in a sense that God's people have always expected to love or been called to love one another, but then it is also new in that that love has now been fully revealed and embodied in Jesus Christ.

Fully revealed and embodied in Jesus Christ.

And so then it's not a new invention, love, but we see it play itself out in its fullest in Christ Jesus.

And so, in fact, Jesus himself demonstrated this, showed this, by bringing together those two Old Testament commandments.

Because you remember when Jesus Christ was asked, what is the greatest commandment?

What did he say in Mark 12?

He said this, that the most important commandment is you shall love the Lord your God.

And the second is you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than these.

And so then we're seeing Jesus bring together and confirm that love for God in Deuteronomy 6 and love for one another in Leviticus 90 have always been central to what it means to have genuine fellowship with God and with one another.

And not only did he teach that, but then he went on to demonstrate that.

And so in Jesus, we see love walk among us, we see love touch the unclean, we see love share uh reach to those who are feeling ashamed, we see love bear insults, we see love crucified for the sins of the world.

Ultimately, we see love lay its life down for his people.

As a Jesus Christ revealed, revealed in himself, in the clearest way, the deepest way, the beauty and depth of what true love is meant to be, and what it calls us into.

We see that play itself out in Jesus Christ, and so that we've been called as a people.

If we're truly to walk in the way in which Jesus walked, so realize that Christ Jesus is the fullness of the love of God made manifest to us.

But then there is something deeply, deeply remarkable that the apostle John goes on to say about this love and about Jesus.

Look at him at verse 8.

He says this that love is true in him, Jesus, and in you, us, his people.

Meaning that if that love was true in Jesus perfectly, then that love needs to become true in us increasingly.

Why?

Because get this the Christian life, friends, it's not a matter of just looking at Jesus Christ from a distance and marveling as like, wow, isn't he such a great example?

No, instead, we ought to understand that Jesus Christ by faith has not been united to us, that he abides in us, and we now abide in him.

And so then that means that his life, his light, his love must not become true of us, increasing in increasing measure.

And so then this call that we're all being called to love one another, like Christ Jesus, is not a call that we manufacture by our own strength.

No, this love we're called to embody towards one another has its source in Jesus Christ, and it is the fruit of belonging to Christ Jesus.

That is why true believers are not called to see love as just merely being optional.

No, if Christ Jesus is truly abiding in us and us in him, then our lives must not display his love towards one another.

That's what we're being called to.

And so, therefore, to walk to truly display the love of Jesus Christ becomes in many ways the way in which we demonstrate that we're truly in the light.

In fact, that's what John goes on to say next.

Uh next, that love confirms that we are walking in the light.

That we are walking in the light.

And so look at verse 9.

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.

It's still in darkness.

And so, like what it was the case with last week, John is still dealing with a claim, the gap between a claim and a reality.

And so last week we saw the claim being I know God.

This week the claim is I am in the light.

And John is saying that claim can only be tested and validated by love.

And so you can claim to be in the light all you want, but in the end, ultimately, it is your walk of love, not hatred, that becomes the visible confirmation that you're truly walking in the light.

Hence he goes on to say, verse uh uh verse 10 whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

And so the one who loves loves truly is no threat to any to himself or herself or anyone else.

Why?

Because they're walking in the light of love and not in the darkness of hatred, and so then to be in the light and then go on to hate a brother or sister in Christ, those two realities cannot coexist.

Now, that does not mean that we always love people perfectly.

We know that that's not the case, right?

It does not also mean that every Christian relationship is easy.

But like what we saw with sincere obedience last week, John is not looking for perfection.

What John is looking for is that we would have a genuine, repentant pattern that increasingly yields towards God's call in Christ to love one another.

That we ought to have a genuine, repentant pattern that is increasingly yielding towards Christ's call to love one another.

And so then that means, as Christians, friends, we cannot make peace with hatred in our lives.

We cannot make peace with it, we cannot harbor resentment, we cannot fuel bitterness, withhold mercy, despise a brother or sister in Christ while still claiming to be in the light.

Even when we have been truly hurt, even when wisdom will mandate or require that certain boundaries be put into place, true believers do not allow hatred to become justified in their lives or protected or allow hatred to bear itself deep into the crevices of our hearts.

No, because we're called, friends, we're called to be a kind of people through whom we reflect the life and the character of Jesus Christ by walking in the light and loving one another.

Now we're talking about love, said quite a bit about it, but we've got to ask ourselves a question: what does that love truly look like?

It looks like both in its characteristics and qualities.

And so this morning, let's look at first its characteristics.

And so John helps us understand the characteristic of this love we're called to embody towards one another through the danger of its opposite hatred.

And so look at verse 11.

But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going.

Why?

Because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

That's such, such a sobering verse.

And so John is saying to us, friends, hatred does not merely place us in darkness or makes us walk in darkness, but in its darkness, hatred ultimately blinds us.

It blinds us to the way in which we see ourselves, the way in which we see others, the way in which we see a given situation, and eventually it blinds us to the ways in which we see God and He's called up on our lives.

That's why, if you were to think about it for a moment, if you're to observe someone who's acting out of hatred, whether it be yourself or someone else altogether, one of the things you'll notice is just how much they actually feel like they are seeing things clearly, right?

Or feeling like their actions are actually validated, right?

Or right.

And so to them, their coldness seems justified, right?

Their bitterness seems to make sense, their withdrawal seems to be wise, their passive aggressiveness seems reasonable, their right to punish seems a given.

And so in the moment, you can observe that they are failing to see what others who are outside the blinding power of their charge response can see.

And so to them, they just keep on replaying the story over and over again.

And then what does it do?

It only but fuels, fuels the anger, their hatred, and it just keeps it burning.

And so, friends, this morning, if we are to avoid the blinding power of hatred, it's going to cost us something.

You want to know how to cost sacrifice.

It's gonna require sacrifice.

We would have to sacrifice, let go of whatever darkness and hatred will want us to cling on to.

That's what we'll have to let go of if we're to step outside of its blinding power.

And so we would have to give up, give up the offense, give up the strength of our case, give up our bitterness, resentment, victimization, our anger.

To be clear again, that does not mean that we have to pretend that we were never hurt, or that boundaries are not required, or that trust doesn't require both repentance and time to be restored.

It doesn't mean that.

Consistently choose in our lives not to feel what belongs to the darkness.

And so then if we're to walk like Jesus walked, we have to sacrifice, give up, give up what darkness and hatred would want to feed off of in our hearts, and to be able to do that, friends, we need to look to Jesus Christ.

We need to look to Jesus Christ because think about it, who had every reason to cling on to offenses done towards him, and then out of that offense and the feelings that it would have elicited in his heart to have acted incarned, if not Jesus.

He was rejected by the very people he came to save.

He was betrayed by a close friend, he was abandoned by his disciples, he was falsely accused, beaten, mocked, and then crucified on a cross.

And so, and yet Jesus Christ did not, did not choose to cling on to what hatred would want to use as fuel.

He did not return insult for insult, he did not view his innocence as a reason why to despise the guilty.

Instead, what did he do?

He gave of himself sacrificially, laid down his life for sinners.

Sacrificial love for those who do not deserve it.

So then what are we seeing?

We're seeing, friends, if we are to walk like Jesus walked, we all need to love like Jesus loved.

And to love like Jesus means sacrificing like Jesus.

To love like Jesus means sacrificing like Jesus.

And so that is the characteristic of the love that we're called to have towards one another.

Cross-like, sacrificial love.

Now, if that's the characteristic of that love, then we got to ask ourselves what are some of its practicalities?

In other words, we're asking the question: what would it truly look like for us to be a church where we love one another through cross-like, sacrificial love.

And so your three tangible ways it can look like.

A repair.

Repair.

Now, some of us may need to repair certain broken relationships we may have with other people in this church.

Now, that does not mean that every broken relationship can be repaired instantly and immediately.

But it certainly means that we must not become casual about broken relationships among us.

And so then this morning, if you're here and you've been harboring bitterness of a leadership decision in the church or in a particular area of ministry where you serve, brother, sister in Christ, bring it into the light.

Bring it into the light.

If you have sinned against somebody in your gospel community through a misplaced comment, then confess and seek their forgiveness.

If out of pride you have chosen to withdraw over secondary issues where people have freedom in Christ to enjoy, then brother humble sister, humble yourself.

Or if you're finding your heart growing cold or hard over how things are done here, then ask God to soften your heart.

Why?

Because Christ-like sacrificial love always moves towards peace wherever possible.

Always moves towards peace wherever possible.

And so then ask yourself this morning: who am I angry with?

Who do I need to forgive?

Who must I approach?

Who must I stop avoiding?

Where have I allowed coldness resentment to take us off because Christ like sacrificial love will call us friends to not allow hatred to grow in the dark.

Be expressed.

Express.

Now some of us may need to express our love towards others more clearly.

Because it is possible to truly feel love towards people and yet not show it in ways that are sufficient towards others.

I should know why, because this is where the text is pressing me and challenging me, man in love.

Friends, Jesus Christ did not simply feel love towards people, He demonstrated it all the time.

All the time.

Because we're called to be a family of Christ, after all, right?

Where we relate to one another as true brothers and sisters in Christ, not as people who must be suspiciously distant from one another.

And so then, are we seeking to grow in the ways in which we love one another through wisdom, holiness, appropriateness, and sincerity across men and women in the church?

And not only across there, but what about across generations?

Backgrounds, cultures, truly loving one another in those ways.

You see, the church is not supposed to be a place where people simply come and yet that they are loved by Jesus, but it's meant to be a place where they experience their love through the people of Jesus.

Through the people of Jesus.

And then see, extend.

Extend.

Some of us need to love beyond our comfort zones.

Beyond our comfort zones.

And so are we only loving those whom are easy for us to love?

Or those who love us back, or those whom we're familiar with, where it's convenient and enjoyable for us to love them.

Let's think about Jesus Christ again.

Christ Jesus loved across, across every barrier.

He loved the weak.

He loved the sinner.

He loved the undeserving.

He loved you.

He loved you.

And so if we're truly walking as Jesus walked, we've got to ask ourselves, is my love becoming more and more expansive?

Or is it simply remaining selective?

You know, I express it.

And so then this morning, are we only loving the circle of people with whom we have been attending this church for a very long time?

Are we only loving the people who are easy to relate to because there's no language barrier between us?

Are we only loving those who can benefit us, perhaps through some future business deals, or shared networks, or leisure activities that we enjoy with them?

Are we only loving those who are like us, speak like us, think like us, live like us?

Again, cross like sacrificial love calls us to love beyond our inconveniences.

It notices the lonely in the foyer.

It welcomes the outcast at gospel community.

It reaches, it comes near those whom we are aware are struggling in the church.

It serves the vulnerable through justice and mercy initiatives.

It crosses cultural barriers about going on mission to share the gospel.

And so then this morning, let's ask, who is God asking me to move toward in love?

Who have I perhaps not seen in this church community?

Who have I kept at a distance because I know if I truly move towards them in love, it's going to cost me something.

A few weeks ago at our staff meeting, we took some time to commemorate some of our long serving staff members.

And so there were a few, and I happened to be one of them.

And so I stood there and uh doing this whole thing.

I couldn't help but remember my first day on staff here at BBC.

My first day on staff.

I remember arriving here that morning at a church here in Branston that I really did not really know anybody all that well.

And as I came in through the front office, and the door was actually down here, as I came in through, I was greeted by one of the staff members at that time, a young Afrikaans lady.

And she did not hesitate, don't skip a bit, to give me one of the biggest hugs I've ever received in my life.

Now, maybe she would have if she knew that I am not the most naturally huggy person.

In fact, it's awkward.

If you don't move in for it and you hesitate, my body doesn't know how to move to come for it.

And so you have to come in, come in and just name and claim it for yourself.

And so she gave me this hug.

It came with some of the warmest words I ever heard at that time.

And she said this to me: she said, It is so good to finally meet you.

So looking forward to you starting here, and you're going to love your time with us.

Now that moment left an impact on my heart, upon my soul, because there was this young African girl meeting and welcoming this tall, dark, and handsome Congolese man.

As though he truly belonged.

And so that simple gesture of love, simple gesture of love, went beyond just welcoming a new staff member.

But yes, what she did.

She helped me experience this church as a home.

And 12 years on, it is still the place I love to call home.

Friends, that is what sacrificial love like Christ can do through small acts that may not seem that big of a deal at the time.

A greeting, a welcome, a conversation, an invitation, a hug, a willingness to move towards somebody who can remain unseen.

But then God uses that precise small act of love to leave a lasting impact on their soul and on their lives for the sake of Jesus.

And so this morning, as we reflect upon this core, to be a people who walk like Jesus walked, but loving as Jesus loved through repair, express, and extend.

Friends, when we seize the opportunity to do that, we're not just simply helping people to realize that this is a church that they can attend, but we're helping people realize that this is a place where they can call home and find a family through whom they are loved by the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so this morning, we're going to take a moment just to reflect upon where may God be calling us individually, individually, to walk like Jesus walked.

To walk like Jesus walked.

And to reflect upon this call to love one another like Jesus.

I'm going to hand over to Mark, who will lead us into that moment.

Thanks for listening to this sermon from BBC.

If you have questions about what you've heard or would like to find out more about the Christian faith, we'd love to hear from you.

You can visit our website or reach out using the contact details below.

God bless you.