1 John Ch2v7-17

Good morning.

As you can hopefully see, 1 John chapter 2.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

If you are using the Red Church Bibles, it's on page 1225.

So just before I read the passage, recently I was at my brother-in-law's wedding.

Well, during the ceremony, an extremely wise and well-spoken man spoke about love.

And in particular, the couple's love for each other.

Well, this amazingly literate and handsome individual, he pointed out a number of things that the couple have done throughout the years,

which show that they love each other.

I hope that anyone that's married here today can think of ways that they and their spouse have shown that they love each other.

If you aren't acting on those promises you made on your wedding day, what's the point?

What does love even mean?

The only way to know if you love someone or something is by your actions.

How you live reflects what's true in your heart.

Well, today we're going to be looking at how we can be sure of knowing God and loving God through how we live, through our actions.

Our assurance of knowing God and experiencing eternal life comes from our obedient living.

Let's dive right in.

Just as we begin looking at our passage, let's start with some background to how we got here.

The church that are receiving this letter have suffered a drop in numbers because there's false teachers milling around and leading members astray.

The church are finding it tough to stand by what they know to be true.

So John writes this letter then to encourage them to stand strong in the faith.

Upon reading this letter, the believers would have felt assured of them gaining eternal life.

They would have received the confidence boost they needed that they were on the right path.

And that the Jesus they learned about and came to trust on day one is the same Jesus that's ensuring they reach the goal of eternity.

The first few verses of chapter 2 then are promising that those that know Jesus will be identified by keeping his commands and by not sinning.

So where we begin our passage here in verse 7 is continuing on from there.

It's trying to show exactly what keeping God's commands and not sinning looks like.

So 1 John chapter 2 verses 7 to 17.

1 John 2:7–17

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one which you have had since the beginning.

The old command is the message you have heard.

Yet I am writing you a new command.

Its truth is seen in him and in you because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.

Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.

But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness.

They do not know where they are going because the darkness has blinded them.

I am writing to you dear children because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

I am writing to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning.

I am writing to you young men because you have overcome the evil one.

I write to you dear children because you know the father.

I write to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning.

I write to you young men because you are strong and the word of God lives in you and you have overcome the evil one.

Do not love the world or anything in the world.

If anyone loves the world, love for the father is not in them.

For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life comes not from the father but from the world.

The world and its desires pass away but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Let's pray.

Father God, thank you for bringing us all here today.

Thank you that you are here with us.

And we pray for your message to get across today.

Thank you for your Bible, for the teachings that it brings.

And we pray that you are working in everyone's heart to take it in on a Sunday but to practice it then during the week.

In Jesus' name, amen.

So this passage that we are looking at today is laid out with one contrast and two battles.

The contrast is the new command versus the old command.

And then the battles that we look at a little later are light versus darkness and the world versus the will of God.

But the contrast comes first in verses 7 and 8.

John begins by saying he is not writing a new command but an old one.

Then in verse 8 he says he is writing a new command.

Well, he is not attempting to confuse people here.

He didn't just get his words mixed up.

Listen to verse 8.

I am writing you a new command.

Its truth is seen in him and you.

Because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

Its truth is seen in him.

It's speaking about Jesus.

The true light is already shining.

It's speaking about Jesus.

John is helping us understand that.

The reason this old command is now seen as a new command is because of Jesus.

John is taking this train of thought from Jesus himself.

We read in the Gospel of John, written by the same author, in chapter 13 and verse 34,

Jesus says,

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

Well, loving one another is not a new command.

We see that from the very beginning.

But Jesus defines it as a new command by saying,

Just as I have loved you.

Jesus has now lived on this earth and shown us firsthand exactly how humans are supposed to love each other.

A couple of weeks ago in Sunday school, we were learning how Jesus is fully God and fully man.

And so he has the authority to say,

You love one another by copying me.

Well, we obviously need to ask ourselves then,

How did Jesus love that's so revolutionary?

What did he do differently to this command of love your neighbor that we see in the Old Testament?

Well, I think the answer is twofold.

How he loved and who he loved.

So if you're a believer and someone asks you for an example of how Jesus loved,

naturally, I would guess most people would go first to the cross.

Jesus sacrificed his own life because he loves us so much.

This is what we're called to do in 1 John.

To love to the point of sacrifice.

Not just to love when it's convenient.

To those that are in school or college or the workplace,

do you love your classmates and co-workers by telling them about the most important love in the world?

The love that can save their souls.

To those that are married, do you pray for and with your spouse,

even when maybe you think they're not living up to their end of the deal?

To those that are parents, do you read the Bible and pray with your kids every day,

even when you're tired or have a million jobs to do around the house?

True love takes sacrifice.

Well, taking a step further in how Jesus loved,

we see throughout the Gospels that Jesus was a servant.

When I was in college, every year we used to organize hoodies with a Bible verse on the back.

Well, this particular year that I'm thinking of, the Bible verse was Mark 10 45.

I brought my friend along to an outreach event and he spotted all our hoodies.

I'll always remember the reference of this famous verse because of him.

He said,

So tell me, who is this Mark guy?

And what did he say at quarter to eleven?

So when I hear about servanthood, I always think of Mark 10 45,

which says,

For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve,

and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Jesus came with a servant heart.

He put others before himself.

Even when he was tired from a full day of preaching and loving people,

when they needed him, he preached and loved some more.

If we're going to obey this new command,

we need to be servants to one another.

The last thing then about the Old Testament command to love your neighbor

that Jesus defined more specifically is,

Who is my neighbor?

Most of us are probably familiar with the famous verse in Matthew 5

where Jesus tells his disciples to love their enemies.

Well, this was a groundbreaking idea at the time

because under the Old Covenant,

God would have judged Israel's enemies by a number of different ways,

but some included using his own people to bring about that justice.

Now Jesus is saying under the New Covenant

that it's our job to love our enemies

and to leave the judgment to God.

Obviously, we still seek justice in this life,

but ultimately, if we're wronged,

we're called to love, forgive,

and to leave the rest in God's hands.

One day in the staff room in school,

another teacher snapped at me,

and there were some of my colleagues around.

I spent the next couple of hours

until the day was done thinking about

how I was going to approach him

and how forcefully I was going to let him know

that he was being a prat.

Well, thankfully,

we didn't cross paths the remainder of the day,

and I began thinking on the drive home.

A Christian song came on,

on my Spotify playlist,

and I realized I should include God

in my decision on how to handle the situation.

When I got home,

I text him asking if he was all right

and apologized if I had unintentionally offended him.

He texts back and assured me

there were no issues,

he was just on edge.

But by choosing to forgive

instead of justifiably maybe retaliating,

I'm certain I saved myself a lot of strife

and dwelling on the situation.

I handed it over to God

and felt a genuine peace about the whole thing.

Whereas if I didn't forgive

and let the injustice fester,

I would have a strained work environment

probably to this day.

I've heard since from other colleagues

that this particular individual

knows well how to hold a grudge.

But when people wrong us,

friend or enemy,

we're called to love and forgive

and trust God for the rest.

The first battle we see in this passage

is between light and dark.

The darkness of this world is passing

and the true light is already shining.

Jesus has already lived on this earth.

He has already overcome the evil one

by defeating sin and death

when he died on the cross and rose again.

And so we live in an age

when the light is shining

and we're capable of living in this light.

How do we do it?

Verse 10,

by loving our brothers and sisters.

This is talking specifically

about those in the Christian community.

The mark of a Christian should be love.

When people see Christians of any denomination

interacting with each other,

they should be overcome by the love shown.

That's why I hate seeing all these debates

of theology online.

Some of the debates I've seen on Facebook

get very heated

and it seems to me to be a serious lack of love.

I completely understand

how people get worked up about certain things

and what they feel to be mistakes

in people's beliefs or theology,

but a social public outlet

is not the place for these arguments.

There's great gain to discussing these things

and to challenging one another's beliefs and actions,

but not on a platform that's open to anyone,

not on a platform that could be anonymous,

and not on a platform

where people's tone can so easily be misconstrued

or misinterpreted.

But I've spoken to many visitors to this church

and regularly I hear the feedback

of how loving and welcoming it is.

I hope they're not just saying that

because they know I'm a member,

but I trust that this is an extremely loving

and welcoming church.

Let's keep it that way.

The mark of a true Christian is his love,

so be encouraged.

Your love is on show every week

and is being taken notice of

by people who maybe have not experienced

the love of Christ yet.

The love that you show,

not only here,

but throughout the week to your families and friends,

is proof that you know God.

If you've been in any way unsure of your salvation,

let me assure you of it.

I see the love you have for your brothers and sisters in Christ

and others have seen it too.

This is a sure sign that you're walking in the light.

As I regularly say at my parent-teacher meetings,

keep up the good work.

The second battle we meet

is the world versus the will of God.

John has spent these last few verses

telling us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Now he begins verse 15,

do not love the world or anything in the world.

Anything in the world is not talking about people.

John has made that very clear

that we're to love everyone in the world,

even our enemies,

and especially other Christians that know God as well.

To make abundantly clear

that we know what he's talking about,

in verse 16,

he clarifies what loving the world looks like.

It's giving in to the temptations

of the lust of the flesh,

the lust of the eyes,

and the pride of life.

Well, the lust of the flesh

is that which we desire in this life.

Primarily, I think he's talking about sexual desires,

but also gluttony,

having more food and drink than we need,

and laziness.

How often do you choose to watch TV

instead of helping to clean the house?

How often do you allow your kids to go to bed

with no Bible or prayer time

because you've had a hard day at work?

The lust of the eyes, then,

is talking about envying that

that's not yours.

Do you look at a friend's car

and decide you need it?

Or an old flame on Facebook

and wonder, what if?

And finally, then, the pride of life.

In the ESV, it's translated as

pride in possessions.

So the pride of life is talking about

our possessions,

things we own.

Do you always boast about how good your job is

or how big your house is?

Well, these are the things that happen

when we love the world.

God is telling us in these few passages

to look at the contrast of loving your neighbor

and loving the world.

Your actions reflect what and who you love.

Only yesterday, Sarah abandoned us

for the whole day.

I was left at home with the children

on my own.

If anyone saw my middle daughter, Emma,

this morning,

you may have noticed a burn on her face.

I say again,

I was left alone with the children.

Well, this morning,

I was joking with her

and I was saying,

oh my goodness,

what are we going to do?

I'm going to be in so much trouble

when mommy wakes up

and sees what's after happening

on her day off.

Well, Emma showed her love for me

when she was like,

daddy, it's not your fault.

It was the wind's fault.

We were having a barbecue.

The ash flew into her face.

So she proved her love

by her actions.

And that's what we're called to do

in this passage.

If you're putting others first,

it's a sure sign that you know God

and will experience eternity with him.

However, if you're putting yourself

and the desires of this life first,

then it's a sure sign of verse 15.

Love for the father is not in you.

Everyone struggles with these temptations

and no one is without sin.

Everyone has given into these temptations.

What John is trying to get across is

if you are struggling

with these temptations,

then you can be confident

that you know God.

You can be confident

that you will live forever with God.

It's when you're not struggling

that the problem arises.

It's when you give in

to these temptations

time and time again

and find yourself not caring.

That's when the love of God

is not in us.

There's a song by Florida Georgia line

and a line goes,

we cuss on them Mondays

and pray on them Sundays.

Or bad grammar aside,

if that's you,

if you go to church on Sundays

and by the time Monday comes,

you go back to the same old routine

of not reading the Bible,

not praying,

not including God

in any situation

or any of your decisions,

then you need to,

as another famous song says,

check yourself

before you wreck yourself.

That's when a reality check

is needed and fast.

That's when we need

to hit the ground running.

If that's you,

then get back to reading

your Bible daily.

Get back to praying

and asking for God's help

in identifying these temptations

and standing strong against them.

Get back to putting others' needs

above your own

and get back to serving others

and sacrificing yourself for them.

Hit the ground running.

You don't need to ease yourself

back into it.

You don't need to try

to make yourself

just a little bit holier

before you turn to God

and ask for His forgiveness.

You need to start afresh

right now

and get back to doing

all those things

that you know

you should be doing.

Jesus sacrificed

everything in heaven

to come down to this world,

to live life as a human

and to die

at the hands of humans

just so you have a chance

at a relationship with Him.

Jesus loves you

and has proven it

by His actions.

Jesus loves you

and wants you

to love Him back.

But He's not going to force you.

You need to choose.

You need to make the decision

to reject the world

and love Him.

You need to decide

whether you will live

in the dark

or in the light.

Whether you will choose

the side of the world

or the will of God.

Only one of those things

lasts forever

and has infinite value.

Verse 17

The world and its desires

pass away

but whoever does

the will of God

lives forever.

When you start putting

the will and word of God

first in your life

then you will experience

the assurance

of knowing God.

When you start loving others

and putting their needs

ahead of your own

then you will experience

the assurance

of living forever.

When you start

fighting temptation

and stop giving in

so easily

to the desires

of this world

then you will

experience

the assurance

that your salvation

is won

already.

You don't do these things

to gain salvation

but when you do

these things

the Holy Spirit

enables you

to have this

sure confidence

in your eternal life.

so that you can

continue to do

good things

in this world

that so desperately

needs us.

This message

goes out to

every single person

in this room.

Verses 12 to 14

repeat that this message

is for children,

fathers,

young men.

This message

is for everyone

of all ages.

John is encouraging

everyone

to resist temptation

and live for Jesus.

The end of verse 14

I write to you

because you are strong

and the word of God

lives in you

and you have overcome

the evil one.

The only way to know

if you love someone

or something

is by your actions.

How you live

reflects

what's true

in your heart.

If you are chasing

after the lust

of the flesh,

the lust of the eyes

or after worldly possessions,

your priorities

are askew

and you need

to act fast.

However,

if you are fighting

temptation,

we all give in

occasionally,

but if you are fighting

and struggling

against it,

if you are sacrificing

yourself to serve

others,

if you are trying

desperately

to know God

better,

then you are safe

and secure.

Whoever does

the will of God

lives forever.

God has forgiven you,

saved you,

and has granted you

eternal life

and nothing you do

can lose it.

Live in that freedom

today.

Live in that freedom

this week.

As you go into work

or as you care

for your family

this week,

love everyone

to the best

of your ability

in the confidence

that if you

mess something up,

nothing can separate

you from the love

of God

and eternal life.

Do everything

you can

for the eternal

kingdom of God,

not the temporary

fancies

of this world.

I write to you

because you are

strong

and the word

of God

lives in you

and you have

overcome

the evil one.

Your salvation

is secure.

You have nothing

to fear

in this temporary

world.

Eternity

is your goal.

Let's pray.

Father God,

thank you for

your word.

Forgive us

for the times

where we take

it for granted.

We pray

that you help

us

to use it,

avail of it

and to do

what it says

in our everyday

lives.

Help us

not to leave

what you've

been talking

to us about

here this

morning,

here on Sunday,

but to use

it in the

week ahead.

To love

others

sacrificially,

to serve

them in

the confidence

that we're

not doing

those things

to try and

earn your

favor.

You have

already done

everything

that is

necessary.

But we do

those things

because we

love you

and we want

to please

you.

And we ask

you to

fill us

with the

confidence

through the

power of

your Holy

Spirit

that we

are safe

and secure.

That what

you say in

your word

is 100%

true.

In Jesus'

name.

Amen.

Thanks,

Alex.

Thank you,

Connor.

We're going

to respond

again in

song.

So let's

stand and

sing together.

Thank you.

Thank you.