1st John 2:7-11
“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. 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. He that saith he is in the light, and
hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He
that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there
is none occasion of stumbling in him. 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” (1 John 2:7-11).
“Let’s
turn in our Bibles to 1st John chapter 2. If
you’re visiting with us this morning, it’s a
pleasure to have you with us. There are little information cards on
the back of some of the seats, you’re welcome to fill
out a little information about yourself if you’re new
and visiting [or if you’re visiting this website, be
sure to do the same by signing our Guestbook]. Maybe you’ve been coming here for
awhile and consider this your church, and want to let us
know that you consider this your home church now, you might
want to fill out one of those cards and let us know. Remember,
too, after the service we have ice cream Sundays downstairs. We’re
just trying to get little creative ideas to just hang out
with each other and spend some time together before we run
off and do our things on Sundays. So
something you can take part in downstairs before you run
off…Let’s say a word of prayer. ‘Lord, as we look at your Word today,
we just simply need you to speak to our hearts. Of
course it’s great to have a Bible study, it’s
great to learn, to have our knowledge of your Word increased. But
it’s so much more important just hearing your voice
speak to us. Lord
we want to be closer to you, we want to please you and honor
you, so speak to our hearts. Holy Spirit we need you so much. So we ask very simply that you’d
be upon all of us, and upon me now as we go through your
Word. We ask that you’d bless the study
and teaching of your Word. And
we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.’
So
far, we seen in 1st John, the apostle John has
made things real clear for us, that’s for sure. He
writes in such a manner that you and I would have absolutely
no doubt as to where we stand with God. Do
we know God? Are we in the light? Are we in the faith? He writes in a way that we can answer
those questions with 100 percent assurance. But
not only does he want us to know whether we are truly Christian
[or Messianic believers in Yeshua], but as you’ve seen
he also wants us to know, those of us that are believers,
he wants us to know where we are as far as in our present
fellowship in relationship with God. Are we believers presently in close communion
with the Father? Or
is there darkness presently in our lives that is hindering
our fellowship with the Father? As John has been clearly demonstrating
to us, it is vital for us to also know the answer to those
questions. And so as we make our way today through
1st John a little bit further, we’ll continue
to see this two-fold effect where John wants us to know he’s
just confirming to us our position, whether we’re in
or outside of the body of Christ, but also he’s revealing
to us as believers, our present depth in our relationship
with the Lord. Our last study had that two-fold effect,
as you remember we studied verses 3 to 6. He
gave us a very clear test to determine whether or not we
truly know God. He
wrote ‘If we know God, there is going to be this obedience to the commandments
of the Lord, there’s going to be this heart within
us to want to please God, our ambition is going to be such
that we want to please him and walk with him, and glorify
him in our life.’ So,
he wrote in verse
3 “we know that we know him, because we obey his commandments.” So
that test—am I in Christ, or am I not in Christ?—will
be proven by whether or not I obey his commandments, not
perfectly, but even more as we talked our heart, our heart
will desire to obey those commands. But at the same time, speaking to the
believer, if I am truly abiding close to God as a believer,
you’ll see more and more of Jesus Christ in me. I’ll
be walking just as he walked, doing the things that he would
do. Of course Jesus lived to please the Father. So,
abiding close to him, you’ll see more and more of that
type of heart in me as a believer, just wanting to abide
close to the Lord. But
then, on the other hand, if you look in my life, and I am
believer in Jesus Christ, and there’s compromise in
my life, then clearly I’m not abiding close to the
Lord. My relationship
is being hindered by darkness that is presently in my life. So
there’s that two-fold effect. We
saw it in last week’s study, we’ll see it in
this week’s as we continue to look at verses 7 to 11. So
may the Lord just open our hearts, and may things become
all the more clear to us. John
will be very straight forward again in his teaching style,
his delivery. He’ll
cut right to the chase this morning, leaving very little
question. Here
again is just a very simple outline as we go through these
verses. (1) First
point, foundational
to the Christian faith; (2) Second point, fresh
in experience; (3) Third point, flame
in the darkness; and (4) fourth point, false
profession; (5), then we have fulfillment
of the law; (6) and the sixth point, futile
experience.
Verses 7-11, “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. Again
a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true
in him and in you: because the darkness is past away and
the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and
hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He
who loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there
is no occasion of stumbling in him. 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.” So, last study John told us that we
can know whether or not we’re in the faith by whether
or not we keep God’s commandments. And
obedience to his commandments will also show us how closely
as believers we’re walking with God. So
he talked about commandments, and now he focuses in, he
narrows in, narrows it down even more, simplifying further
the heart of the matter by giving us a very practical and
very powerful principle—and this is what it all comes
down to, basically where the rubber meets the road, and
this is the one word love. He looks at now, one commandment. This week I was on vacation, and we were
staying at a place and there was a swimming pool. I decided, I had looked at the library
two weeks ago, and I had seen a little book in our library
downstairs by Jim Cymbala, and I just love to read his
books. And
it was a book “God’s
Grace From Ground Zero” that he had written right
after the September 11th 2001, Attack on the
World Trade Center, so I brought that with me as we went
on vacation. And
my little kids, they like to swim, so we were hanging out
at the pool, and I had been in there already enough, so
I was getting a little waterlogged, my skin was starting
to itch from being in the water too much, but they just
loved to swim. So I was reading this book beside the
pool, and as I was reading this book, Jim Cymbala in his
very concise and wonderful way of writing talks about the
need for the church after September 11th is
not to be judgmental as some have been of our culture,
or judgmental of certain groups, but the need for the church
in America more than anything is to be Christians filled
with love. So
I was reading about this, and as he went on further, [he
says] especially there should be a love that moves our
hearts to want to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to the
lost and dying world. As I was reading this author, you
know, wanting to encourage his readers to share the gospel,
this family came in, and I was sitting next to the pool,
their kids were swimming, and there was Grandma and Grandpa
and a Mom sitting there next to me. We
started to talk a little bit. And
as we began to talk, the door seemed to open up for me
to share the gospel with them. But
as happens sometimes, I don’t know what it was, I
guess it’s pride, I was a bit sheepish and skittish
about sharing the gospel, here I am a pastor. But I kind of tip-toed around and kind
of went through it. Well,
anyway as I walked away from that time and went back to
our room with my kids, I even told my wife, I was just
ashamed. I
mean, I had an opportunity it seemed, to really share the
gospel and I was kind of in fear of doing it, and it bothered
me. And here
I’m reading a book about sharing the gospel, you
know. I had no excuse. So anyway, next day at the pool I had
kind of repented, and I was reading this book again—‘you
give me an opportunity, I’m not gonna miss it Lord.’ And
I was asking for another opportunity. So
this family comes in again, comes in to spend time at the
pool, and they were sitting next to me. So
now I’m really eager, I’m looking for every
opportunity to you know, make things right, and feel better
and share the gospel with this family, and I was trying
to find ways and throwing out little nuggets and nothing
seemed to be happening. And finally my kids were tugging at my
arm, time to go back to the room, they wanted to get back,
they were done, and I was running out of time. So
I just decided to get a little bit more pressing with the
Mom who was still sitting there, and started to ask her
questions about her nursing career that I could use to
get into the gospel. And
eventually we got into the gospel. And
I had thought the day before, ‘maybe they are Christians’. She
had said some things to me that sounded like maybe they
were Christians, and as they talked it seemed to me that
maybe they were believers, Catholic believers. So
I didn’t try to hammer the point too far, but I made
the point that it’s about Jesus, it’s about
knowing him, about walking with him, about having Christ
in our heart, which she totally agreed to. But
as I continued to talk, and talk about her nursing, she
made this statement to me, which I agreed to, she says, “Here
on earth I think the most important thing is that we love.” And
she talked about working in the cancer ward, and how she
would seek, and ask the Holy Spirit how she could just
love these people and minister to these people. And it was a joy in her heart to just
share God’s love with a different people that were
suffering. And of course, that’s where John
now brings us. He’s
been working this way, narrowing it down to this point,
but certainly this is where he takes us. He reminds us of the commandment to love,
the commandment to love [one another], which fulfills all
the other commandments, as you remember in the Scripture. In
fact, really, there’s two parts of this commandment
to love. You could say there’s two commandments,
or just one. But
it’s the commandment to love. And
it fulfills all the commandments. [Comment:
The first commandment is for us to love God, and
the second, as Jesus stated, ‘is like unto it, to
love your neighbor as yourself.’ Both
of these commandments are broken down further by the Ten
Commandments, the first four defining how we’re to
love God, and the last six, how we are to love our neighbor. But the actual fulfilling power and energy
does not reside in man. The
Law, as such, can only be fulfilled by God’s indwelling
Agape love, provided by the indwelling Holy Spirit. So
you see where John is headed. So
many people get hung up on trying to fulfill the Ten Commandments
(all on their own), and yet the power to fulfill them,
and to even love your neighbor only comes from God’s
love within us via the indwelling Holy Spirit. Even
our ability to love God without his indwelling Agape love
is not within us.] Now
John told us last week, “we know that we know him, if we obey
his commandments”, you could say then “we
know that we know him, if we love.” I
know that I know God if I love God, I know that I know
God if I also love others, and there’s this love
in my heart for people, a true love in my heart. If
there’s a lack of love, then that would indicate
that I don’t know God, or that there’s something,
there’s darkness in my life that’s hindering
presently my fellowship with God. So this commandment of love, tying it
back into the previous verses, that if we keep his commandments,
we know that we know him—and that means that I love. Do
I love? Do
I love God? Do I love people? Do I care for people, do I love my enemies? If
I love my enemies, that says that there’s something
happening in my life, clearly I’m a believer, clearly
I’m walking in a neat relationship with the Lord
if that’s true. [Remember Jesus expounded on the spiritual
intent of the Ten Commandments in Matthew 5? He
said the spiritual intent of the 6th Commandment,
which was “Thou Shalt Not Kill [Hebrew: murder]”
was that we are not even to hate. And
then Jesus brought this to the highest
level, and said we were even supposed to love our enemies. What John is saying all fits into what
Jesus taught previously.] Well
John as he brings us to this subject in verse 7, he initially
refers to it as ‘not a new commandment’, he says “Brethren,
I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment.” Now why does he say that? Well, as he explains, it’s an old
commandment, not a new commandment because we have had it
from the beginning [he says] there in verse 7. “an old commandment which you have
had from the beginning.” And
then he says after that, “the
word we heard from the beginning.” So
it’s an old commandment, it’s not new. It’s
something we have had from the beginning. Now
when he says “beginning” there, what is he referring
to? He’s predominantly referring to
the beginning of our Christian faith. And
this leads me to my first point, “foundation to the
Christian faith.”
Foundation to the Christian Faith
Love is, simply
put, foundational to the Christian faith. It
is where it all begins for us, it is the very beginning of
the Christian [or Messianic Jewish] life. When
I became a Christian, something very powerful happened to
me. We talked
about this already in 1st John. But when I became a Christian, the Holy
Spirit came into my heart. And
the fruit of the Spirit is love. [cf.
1 Corinthians 13:1-8; Galatians 5:22-23.] So
my heart, when I became a Christian, was filled with love. As Paul shared with the Romans in Romans
chapter 5, verse 5, “Now hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
by the Holy Spirit which was given to us.” He says, because the love of God has been
poured into our hearts. When
I became a Christian, the Holy Spirit came in and the love
of God entered into my life. So,
in that sense, this commandment is an old commandment, meaning,
when I became a Christian, foundational to the Christian
experience is this aspect of love, the love of God in my
heart. Paul told the Thessalonians “But
concerning brotherly love, you have no need that I should
write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love
one another.” Holy
Spirit, in me, teaching me, moving me, filling me with his
love, this love for God and this love for others. So
as a believer, love is foundational, it’s part of who
I am. Before Christ [came into my life] I didn’t
necessarily have that love. Of
course, I didn’t have that love. I
might have had a love for my brother in a Philio sense, or
an Eros sense there might be that kind of love [i.e. romantic
love between husband and wife], but this Agape’
love, this unconditional love, the word that he uses here,
was something new, something that happened when I became
a Christian, a love for God, a love for others, even a love
for my enemies. So
it’s part of the Christian experience, it’s foundational
to a Christian life. Now
when John writes in that verse, he says “the word which
you heard from the beginning”, you also think of Jesus’ words
in John chapter 13, verse 34, where he said to the disciples,
and he says it to you and I too, “A new commandment
I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved
you, that you also love one another.” So Jesus gave the commandment to the disciples. So
it started right there at the beginning of the church, the
first group of the disciples, this commandment to love one
another. Of course,
that term “love one another” appears many times
in the New Testament. In fact, it appears at least a dozen times. But truthfully, also, that command to
love goes back to the Old Testament, to the beginning of
the Law, the people of Israel. Deuteronomy
chapter 6, verse 5, God told the people of Israel “You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your strength.” And then in Leviticus chapter 19, verse
18 he said, “You shall not take vengeance nor bear
any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall
love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” So when he says it’s not new, it’s
an old commandment, it goes way back even to the Law. It’s
at the beginning of the Christian experience, it’s
part of my life. But
also it goes back to God working with his people. So
the command to love is not a new commandment. Now
when John says “new” in verse 7, he uses the
Greek word kainos [Strongs # 2537, kainos,
new (esp. in freshness)], which does not mean new in
time, but new in qualities, something different. And
of course there’s no new commands, there’s no
different commands being added to God’s Word. Revelation
chapter 22, one of the last verses of the Bible, warns about
adding to God’s Word, we have the whole deal. So
there’s no qualitatively new commands, so love is an
old commandment, and it is certainly foundational to the
Christian life. In
fact, I’ll quote to you from one writer who is summarizing
1st Corinthians 13. He
said it this way, “The Christian life without love
is nothing.” So
it’s an old command, it’s from the beginning
of my experience as a Christian. It is foundational to being a Christian. And without love the Christian life
is nothing when you look at 1st Corinthians 13.
But
then we get to verse 8. John
seems to contradict himself in verse 8. He
writes, ‘you know, I don’t write a new commandment,
I give you an old commandment’. And
then he uses the very word, that word kainos in
the Greek, when he says “But a new commandment, a new
commandment I write to you.” Now, that seems contradictory. Seems kind of confusing. I mean, sometimes it’s tough enough
to study and to understand. Why
is he doing that? Why
can’t he be straight forward? What does he mean? Is he contradicting himself? Is he saying it’s old, and then
he’s saying it’s new, what does he mean? What
he means is this, it’s not a new commandment in the
sense that it’s been there, he’s not adding anything
to the Word, it’s an old commandment. Been there from the start. But it’s new in its meaning. It’s new in that it’s fresh. It’s new
in that it’s dynamic. What
he’s talking about here is not something that’s
stale. It’s
something that’s very vibrant, it’s something
that’s alive. So it’s new in it’s meaning. So this brings us to our second point. We have Love
is Foundational to our Christian Life, now we have our
next point: Fresh in Experience, and that is true.
Fresh in Experience
What he is saying
in this command as we go on, it should be something that
is fresh in our day to day experience. It
is new. The command to love is new, new every
morning, as the Holy Spirit is working in me, it’s
new in it’s application. It’s
fresh in its experience. The
command to love has been [in effect] since the beginning
of the Law, but now Jesus Christ is also giving me, in this
command, he’s given me new meaning, new depth, new
insight. By his example, by his teaching, you know
you look at the gospels, you look at his teachings. When
Jesus came he gave a whole new depth and illustration to
what this command means to love one another. Of
course you remember even with the disciples, the one day
where he took off his outer garment there [at the last Passover
supper] and got down on his knees and began to wash the disciples’ feet. As
the Master, he stooped and washed disciples’ feet,
and he said “As I have done, you go and also do.” So
Jesus came and gave us a whole new picture, illustration
to what loving one another meant. And then of course he went to the cross,
which completely takes love and puts it in a light that’s
unbelievable, so wondrous. So
it’s an old commandment, but it’s also a new
commandment. It’s
new especially because of what Jesus has done with it, and
then as a Christian [or Messianic Jewish believer] now, Jesus
has placed the Holy Spirit in me, so now I also have the
ability to truly love. Earlier
in the Law, the Israelites, you know, were told to love your
neighbor as yourself, but they didn’t have the power
of the Holy Spirit in them to fulfill that. But
now I do, I have this work of the Spirit in me, and the fruit
of the Spirit is love. So in this sense, it’s an old command,
but also it’s a new command, and fresh and powerful
and a new and day to day experience. I
think of my time in India again, giving you different stories. I
was listening to the radio this past week, and I heard somebody,
and right off I knew he was talking about India. He
had come back from India, and all he was talking about (he
was giving a great study), but he kept talking about his
experiences in India. And that made me feel good, because I
tell you a lot about my time in India, because it was a neat
experience. But I was in one Hindu village where just
previously the pastor of this little Calvary Chapel, meeting
in a small little hut, was getting started, where just previously
the pastor had had his leg broken by some Hindu’s there
who were very hostile against Christianity in the village. And
then also, he had his motorcycle destroyed by these Hindu’s. So
when we came into this community we were warned, be very
cautious, there was persecution. And
so we spent time, we were cautious, just hanging out with
this pastor in this little bitty room with this little church,
they had it all decorated. But
it was just a little tiny 12 by 12 room, packed in there
with 20 or 30 new believers. But
then as we left, too, you could just sense the hostility
in the community against what this man was doing. So
we prayed for him. But why was he doing what he was doing? As we gathered, he had his leg broken
a couple weeks before, he had his motorcycle destroyed, but
he was there with his believers, loving them, praying for
the community, you know, wanting to be encouraged, wanting
to reach out, [wanting to know] how could they share Christ
in this difficult environment—why was he doing that?—it’s
because of this Christian experience, the love of God in
his life, the Holy Spirit in him, new. He
had this love for people, a love to get out the gospel. We
also went to another Christian church, a little Calvary Chapel
in another community, the building had been torn down twice. We
were given the little story, and if I remember the story
correctly, the last time it had been torn down the pastor
continued to minister, he had all kinds of opposition in
this community. It
was a slum, but he wanted to get out the gospel, and he was
ministering to a leper, and this leper came to Christ, evidently
a real radical leper, who then went to the city officials
and pleaded with the officials to allow this Calvary pastor
to build another building. And
he even worked it out with the official that they were able
to build a new building, and it turns out this new building
sits right in the most visible place in the slum, as you
drive down the highway. In
fact, there was an American not too long ago, in India, wondering
whether there was any Calvary Chapels in India, and he drove
by this building, and you can’t help but see it next
to the road, Calvary Chapel, right at the edge of the slum. But
the pastor had gone through all kinds of difficulties, seeing
his building destroyed twice, and opposition. And
when we were there, they reached out to kids with this little
school ministry, children’s club thing, and when we
were there they had the kids doing little dances, little
skit’s for us—but they had a guard at the door
because there were at that time hostile Hindu’s outside. So
they had to guard the door and keep it shut so that they
would stay away from what was going on. But
they continued to do it. And why did they do it? Because there is love in their hearts,
there’s no other reason, they’re not brain-dead. They’re not weird. But they love. They love. So,
it’s a dynamic experience. It’s
an old commandment, yet it’s a new commandment. There’s something very real going
on, something moving the heart. Then
the question to you and I, is it true of our hearts today? John writes further there, in verse 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.” And
is it true in you? This
is in you, this love, this love for others? Is
it in your heart? If
it is in your heart, that’s a good indicator that you
are in Christ because you have that love. If it’s not, maybe it’s an
indicator you’re not in Christ. Or
maybe you are in Christ, but there is darkness in your life
that’s hindering your relationship with God, there’s
sin in your life. That’s
the way he moves through this Epistle. Then he says “…which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness
is passing away, and the true light is already shining.” When he says “darkness” there in that verse, he’s referring
to the darkness of the world. Darkness,
he’s using that Greek word skotia, we’ve
seen it before. It
refers to the effects and the consequences of sin in the
world. So all
the just ugliness and hurt and pain around us, just the darkness
around us in the world, that’s what he means. The
darkness is passing away [for believers, not the world right
now], which is encouraging. Time
is moving on, and there is light, the light is already shining. When
he says “the
true light is already shining”, what does he mean? Well
he uses the same expression that’s in John chapter
1, verse 9,
“that was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the
world.” He says “true
light”, same expression here. He’s
referring to Jesus Christ. The
darkness is passing away, but the true Light, Jesus Christ is already shining,
his light is in the world [through us, of course], he came and he began to
give Light, and then he left and the Holy Spirit is come into the Church, and
his Light is in us, and that Light is shining and shining forth. So
that brings us to our third point. We
have this first point, foundational
to the Christian life, then we have our second point, which is fresh in experience, now this third point, flame
in the darkness.
Flame in the darkness
And that is,
this Light is shining in this dark world. The
darkness is passing away, the Light is shining, it’s
counteracting the darkness. That’s the sense of what is meant
there. And how is that happening? It’s happening through Jesus Christ
in us as the Church. We
as believers have his Light now shining in and through us. But
consistently when you go through and you study in 1st John,
when John is talking about love,
consistently in those same passages, he refers to life, and he refers to
light, he groups the three together. When
you have light, you have love, and you have life. Those three belong always together. So when he refers to light here, as shining
in the darkness, this light shining now in the Church, shining
through the Church, there also is then seen in that love,
the love is shining through, the love is seen in the Church. So
we are as Christians presently flames, just a flame in this
dark world. My son and I, my kids, we were at Coast
Guard Beach on Cape Cod this last week, one of the nice days,
one of the few non-rainy days that existed here in the last
number of weeks, it was a great beautiful day. That
happens after a lot of rain and then it doesn’t rain,
you have a wonderful day after that. We had a wonderful day at Coast Guard
Beach, but if you’ve been there before in Chatham Massachusetts,
there’s a lighthouse. So
as we were driving around the lighthouse and heading to the
beach, my son saw the little tower, saw the light going around,
and he asked, “What’s that for?” “What
do they have that thing going around in there for?” And
we told him it’s a light. It’s
a lighthouse. And
that light serves a purpose. When
people in their boats are out in the water and there’s
a storm or it’s night, the light there is a beacon
to show them the way to safety. It’s
there to help them. And
he says here, John says, about this light, this true light
shining in the darkness, meaning Jesus Christ now in the
Church, and that’s what we are now, we’re lighthouses,
flames in the darkness, beaming the Light of Christ. And
what’s seen in that especially is the love of Jesus
Christ. I think of Jim Cymbala’s book, you
know, just within days he talks about his experience of September
11th [2001]. September
10th he couldn’t sleep that night. His
church is in Brooklyn, New York. And
he couldn’t sleep the night of September 10th,
didn’t know why. Kept getting up. In fact, he stayed awake until like 4
O’clock in the morning, just could not sleep. And
a Scripture continued to come to his mind, and it was the
Scripture that “the harvest was plentiful, the harvest
is plentiful, but the workers are few.” And
then also a Scripture from the Proverbs, about the lazy man
misses out on the harvest. So he was up and he was wondering what
was going on. Finally
I think he fell asleep about 4 O’clock, a couple hours
he got up, and he got up to the reports of what was happening
at the World Trade Center. A
number of people from his church worked in the World Trade
Center, in fact some of them died in the 9/11 tragedy. But
as he shares and writes in his book just a short time after
the tragedy, he writes to the Church because a lot of the
Christian leaders at the time were standing up and just passing
judgment upon our country, saying “God is judging our
country” and saying harsh things about certain groups
of people. You
may remember some of them. I
won’t refer to any individual. But
he was writing this book to say that the Church, at this
time especially, should just be putting the light out, the
light of Jesus Christ in a dark world, especially at this
time. [Comment:
From here on out, whenever I use the word Church in capital
letters, I am referring to the whole body of Christ that
is truly born-again. All
other times, the word church in lower case refers to a local
church, or congregation, or perhaps even a denomination.] And that’s what we see here
in 1st John. John
is going to this very point, this point of love. It’s
what the Church is all about, it’s what I am all about
as a Christian, this thing of love…Other Christians
and their family, they thought they were in the light, they
acted as if they were in the light, but clearly John says
they’re not in the light, because there was a bitterness,
an unforgiving spirit, a hatred towards a brother or sister
in Christ. So,
the question is, is this true of you this morning? Is
it true of you? Do
you love the brethren? Is
there unconditional Agape’ love, that’s what
he means there, for the brethren? Can you say “I love the Church,
there isn’t anybody, any Christian especially that
I’ve got any hardness of heart towards, that I’m
bitter towards, that I have anger or hatred towards? Well if you can say that, then that’s
an indication that you’re in the light, and walking
close to the Father. But if you know, right now, there’s
an individual, there’s somebody, and you’ve been
feeling ‘they’ve done this, I won’t forgive
them, former church experience, another Christian member
of your family’, and you’re sitting here thinking ‘Yes
there’s this issue in my heart, but I’m not going
to make any changes because that’s just the way it
is’, then know that you’re in the darkness. You
are in the darkness. You
are not in the light. You can’t defy God’s law or
his Word. And God says very clearly here, “He who says he’s in the light
and hates his brother he’s in darkness until now.” When
a Christian is lacking love he’s showing that he’s
in darkness, and therefore he does not have the heart of
God, and that is certainly a significant issue in the Church. I
just think of this last week, I was listening to WEZE there
as I was driving around with my family on vacation. And
one of the preachers I was listening to was talking about
Gandhi and his experience, and I’ve heard of this story
different ways, and I don’t know exactly which story
is totally true, but here’s the story he shared. He talked about Gandhi early in his career,
I guess you could say he was reading the Beatitudes of Jesus
Christ every day. He
was really moved by the Beatitudes. He
was curious and moved by Jesus. But
then for some reason he traveled to South Africa, I do not
know why, and in South Africa he began to look for a church
to check out this Christian thing, went to a church, but
they did not allow him in because of the color of his skin. And because of that, he decided at that
moment, “If I can’t go in that church because
of my skin color, Christianity is not for me.” So
he walked away from the Church. That’s
been an issue in the Church all along, this darkness, really,
darkness in the Church—a lack of love. I
was also even watching the news this week, and it was just
another example of that. It was a newscast, and there was one political
leader, I won’t give his name, but he was debating
another opponent, and they were showing the debate. They
were going back and forth, you know, split-screen on the
news, and evidently Judge Moore, there in the South has gotten
a display of the Ten Commandments, and he’s kind of
resisting the Supreme Court ruling, or making a stand in
one way or another, but he’s got the Ten Commandments
displayed somewhere around a courtroom. And
this one person who professes to be a Christian, a political
leader, was debating with this other person who was saying
that separation of Church and State, you know, this was a
courtroom, Church belongs in a church building, they don’t
belong in a courtroom. And
he talked about there were Christians coming and having prayer
vigils and little worship services. [The
other politician] was saying it just doesn’t belong
there, it belongs in a church. Of course I don’t agree with him. But when I turned off the newscast I was
burdened, and that’s because the whole thing was a
debate. And this one person was debating this
non-Christian and saying to him ‘You know, we’re
going to win this, Judge Moore’s going to win this,
we’re going to be able to display the Ten Commandments
in that way.’ And
the opponent was saying ‘How can you force your Christianity
on us?’ And the opponent has a good point. We can’t force our Christianity
on anybody else. But
the whole point of this thing, and the reason why it burdened
me, especially, there was no love there. It was a debate. It was the Church trying to force issues
on society. And
now don’t get me wrong, I think the Ten Commandments
should be displayed. But
the real issue is love, is love. And
when the world is saying “You can’t force this
on me, you can’t force Christianity into this…”—they’re
right. It’s
about love, man. It’s
about loving them and showing the life of Christ, and sharing
the gospel. But we can’t legislate Christianity,
that is for sure. And
the world is darkness. And,
well anyway, I was thinking of that, and thinking of the
other day, too, coming back from this conference in Maryland
and talking to some of the church leaders, it’s an
opportunity, as we drive back the 6 or 7 hours to update
each other about things going on, and as we were driving,
we got into a discussion, you know, when I’m not here
we have a guest speaker, and I don’t necessarily know
all the things that are said when I’m not here. That’s
not easy to do, unless I listen to a tape after. And this particular speaker, I listened
to the tape anyway, but they were sharing with me how one
speaker came, person I respected, person I loved, but they
were troubled with the message that he gave. And
as I talked to him [one of the pastors he was riding back
with] about it, I asked him, “What’s troubling
you about the message that he gave?” And
they shared with me, other leaders in the church [of his
denomination], it wasn’t so much what he said, it was
how he said it. What he said was true, but it’s
the manner in which he said it. And
then they said, when I asked him to summarize it, “It
lacked love.” “It
lacked love.” It was a hardness issue, and it lacked
love, and it was because of that. And
then considering that, reading Jim Cymbala and his book again,
he shared the same experience, one day sitting in church,
having a guest speaker, he’s sitting a few feet behind
him, and he said the whole message troubled him. It wasn’t that it was wrong, there
was no untruth, it was true what he was saying. But
it was the way it was being taught, it lacked love. It lacked love. And you can actually destroy the very
work that you’re trying to do. So,
love. Love is so key, and he nails this in verse
9, saying when there is a lack of love, man, it’s as
darkness. Darkness in my life individually, darkness
in the Church collectively. If
there’s a lack of love in the church, he just says
there’s darkness, there’s sin, there’s
the effects of sin in the church, and there’s not the
light. The light is so needed man, we’re
lighthouses. Well,
as John continues, he says “But
he who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is
no cause for stumbling in him” (verse 10). So
he who loves his brother abides in the light, and there’s
no cause for stumbling. What does he mean “there is no cause
for stumbling in him”? I
think of Jesus’
words, if you love God and you love your brother, you fulfill
all the law. Loving God fulfills the first Tablet,
all those commandments about worshipping God and obeying
the Sabbath, if I love God I fulfill that first Tablet, and
then if I love my brother, I fulfill the second Tablet of
the Ten Commandments, all dealing with my brother. [As we saw explained in the last transcript,
God’s Agape’ love shed into us by the Holy Spirit
gives us a love for God’s Law, whether that be the
Old Testament application some feel obliged to use, or the
Law of Christ given in the New Testament,
which other believers feel obliged to use. The choice of which set of “laws” is
left entirely up to the believer, who then selects the proper
denomination that adheres to the “set” of laws,
cf. Romans 14:1-23.] You know, don’t murder, don’t
covet, don’t commit adultery, all these different things. So
when he says “he who loves his brother abides in light,
there is no cause for stumbling in him”, he means,
if I’m loving my brother I’m not going to break
the Law [whichever version your Christian conscience leads
you to believe applies]. I’m
fulfilling the Law. The
Holy Spirit is working in me, I’m just loving, I’m
reaching out, I’m doing the right thing, I’m
not going to anything that’s going to harm my brother. I’m
not going to break the Commandments of the Lord.
The Fulfillment of the Law
So, my fifth
point is the fulfillment of the Law. Fulfillment of the law to love,
to walk in the light, to love my brothers, it is the fulfillment
of the law. Now the Greek word there for stumbling
is the word skandalon
[Strongs 4625: dr. of 2578; a trap-stick, snare:--occasion
to fall (of stumbling), offence, thing that offends, stumblingblock.] which
means, literally, offense. Scandal
or trap. It means
the trigger in a trap, which when activated kills its victim
or makes him a prisoner. I think of like a bear-trap. Saw one on TV the other day, one of these
animal programs, they found this big bear trap in the woods. And they were showing, if you just touch
that little trigger, man, those claws just come together. Put a piece of wood in there and it just
clamps down. And
that word for stumble has that same kind of sense. It
denotes the conduct of an individual who deceives himself
or another into thinking that what one is about to do would
be beneficial, but when it isn’t beneficial. They either think it’s beneficial
for them, or they’re deceiving another, saying ‘This
is beneficial for you’ and it isn’t. So
they stumble, they stumble themselves, and they cause others
to stumble. So
that trap has been set, thus a believer, sees another believer
engaging in a particular sin, and since he seems to be doing
well in spite of it, he too [feels] he can benefit from the
same behavior, so the trap has been set and he has been caught. That’s
what he means by stumbling. But
he says there’s no being trapped if I’m loving,
I’m not going to be deceived, I’m not going to
be trapped. I’m
not going to stumble myself, and because I’m loving
my brother I’m not going to cause others to stumble. You
can’t help but think of Paul in 1st Corinthians
and Romans—we do this for those that minister in our
church—people that minister on-stage, we’ve laid
it out that there’s freedoms that we have in Christ,
but the greatest is love. So as a pastor I put aside certain things
in my life, things that I believe I have freedom in my life
to do, such as partake in alcohol. I
believe I have the freedom, I don’t think it would
be a sin for me to drink alcohol, Scripturally there’s
freedom. Yet,
there’s love that goes above that. And
as a believer I don’t, as a pastor especially, I don’t
want to be a cause of stumbling in anybody’s life. [And
these churches he’s a part of minister especially to
people who have alcohol and drug addictions.] I
don’t want somebody who struggles with alcohol to look
at me and say, ‘Well, if Pastor drinks, so, I guess
it’s fine to drink, and they stumble because they’re
weak. So I go without, meaning, I do that for
the sake of love. So
we have people who are in visible ministry, [and they’re
required to maintain the same standards out of love for the
brethren], it’s love, man. It’s
love. We don’t
want to be a source of stumbling in any way in anybody’s
life. Warren Weirsby in his commentary gives
this story. I
think it’s a cool story. A man was walking down a dark street one
night, and saw a pinpoint of light coming toward him in a
faltering way. He thought perhaps the person carrying
the light was ill or drunk. But
as he drew nearer he could see a man with a flashlight carrying
a white cane. Why would a blind man be carrying a light,
the man wondered? And
then he decided to ask.’ So
you got a blind man carrying a flashlight at night. The
blind man smiled. ‘I
carry my light, not so I can see, but so that others can
see me.’ ‘I
cannot help but being blind’, he said, ‘but I
can help [from] being a stumblingblock.’ So
a blind man carrying a flashlight so others would see him. I
mean, going that far to make sure that he isn’t going
to be a stumbling to someone else at night. I
think that’s kind of neat, a neat picture. That’s
the heart of what’s here in verse 10, if I love, you
know, I’m carrying a flashlight, making sure you can
see your way. Making
sure nothing that I’m doing is going to cause you to
stumble. Well then we come to verse 11, “But he who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks
in darkness, and does not know where he is going because
the darkness has blinded his eyes.” He
who hates his brother is in darkness, he walks in darkness. What
he’s saying there, there’s like a double sense
to it, meaning ‘he’s in darkness, he’s
not in the light, but not only that, the darkness is in him.’ Even
if you took him potentially out of the dark, the condition,
and you put him in the light, he’s still in darkness,
it’s in him. He’s in the darkness, but the darkness
is in him. So he says, “he does not know where
he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” It’s effected him. There’s those fish in the Echo Cave,
in the Mammoth Caves in Kentucky, there’s these fish,
they’re always in the darkness, and maybe you’ve
heard about them, and they have eye-sockets, but they don’t
have eyes. That’s
the way they developed, they’ve got the sockets for
eyes, but they don’t need eyes, so they don’t
have eyes. And
it’s like that picture here, in darkness, the darkness
has effected him, because it is in him, he doesn’t
know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded
his eyes. And
that leads me to my last point, futile
experience.
Futile experience
And where there’s
no love man, it’s a futile experience. You’re
in darkness, you’ve been effected by the darkness. And
the truth is, there are people who can even hear a message
like this, and because they’re so effected, it just
doesn’t even connect in them, because there’s
no light there, there’s no light at all. I pray that isn’t true of any of
us. [This could also be true in churches who
may be doctrinally correct, but suffer from dead orthodoxy.] But man, John is so clear, he cuts right
to the chase, he doesn’t mess around. And
we have our six points this morning [one is missing, #4 “false
profession” but the text covers that, he just didn’t
name it, must have overlooked it]. And it’s all summarized in this
word “love”, love is foundational to the Christian life, if
I am not showing love and saying that I’m a Christian,
I’m not near God, because when I became a Christian
the Holy Spirit came into me, and the fruit of the Spirit
is love. It’s
just part of it, it’s a Christian, love. It’s fresh in experience, man it’s an
old commandment, been around, God has made it clear. Love your neighbor, love God. But then Jesus came and showed me the
extent of what that means, it means Agape’ love, man,
it means denying myself and loving others. And
also now he’s given me the Holy Spirit [who provides
that very Agape’ love within believers]. Foundational
to the Christian life, fresh in experience, flame in the
darkness—man, the light is shining in the darkness. That
God the darkness is passing away, there is a light, and the
light today is the Church. And
when there is light, there is love, there is love. And
I pray all the more here, and in our lives within this congregation
that there would be light [shed] into this community, meaning
that there would be love that goes forward into the community. Not
judgmentalism or criticism, not a harshness, not a pious
prideful attitude, but love. Well
then we saw the false profession, you can say one thing,
but if there isn’t love, if there isn’t love,
then you’re not in the light, but you’re in darkness. To
walk in love is to walk in the light, and it is to fulfill
the Law. To walk in darkness, how futile it is
to be in darkness. So,
man, it’s about love. At
the end of chapter 2 in his book, Jim Cymbala’s book “God’s Grace From Ground-Zero” ,
page 40, he talks about truth and love and the need for the
Church to have wisdom. You
need truth, and you need to balance it with love all the
time, and he ends his chapter with a prayer, and when I got
to the end of this chapter I prayed this prayer out loud,
and I’ll share it with you this morning. “Dear
Father, the fields are ripe for harvest, and we want to be
workers you can use. Change
the way we think and live. Fill
us with your love and power. Take
away judgmentalism and fear, and make us bold as we reach
out in compassion to people for whom you died, do this all
for Christ’s sake. Amen.” Lord, we thank you. We thank you that we can study your Word
this morning. We
pray that prayer of Jim Cymbala’s to you, Lord. Fill
us with your love, Lord. Fill
us with compassion. It
is our nature to be unloving. In
fact, you said that in the last days men would be lovers
of themselves, lovers of pleasure, lovers of all sorts of
things of the world, but towards others they will be unloving. And that is how you describe the latter
days in 2nd Timothy. And
Lord we look around, and certainly that is our society. But
Lord, yours is the Light of Christ, and indeed we are lighthouses,
that Light is in us, and may it all the more be shining through
us—that Light, and with that Light there is always
love, love abounding through our hearts. Lord,
we pray you’d just pour your love into our hearts. And
if there is anything hindering us, Lord, anything hindering
us from being close to you, from being full and overflowing
in the Spirit, reveal it to us even now, Lord. Maybe
it’s an unforgiveness towards an individual. Man,
you make it clear in your Word, it’s a big deal to
be unforgiving. Maybe it’s a lack of love for people. We’ve just judged them and not loved
them. Maybe there’s
a former church leader or former friend we had that was a
Christian that we got hurt by and we just have these issues
in our heart. You’ve
made it very clear to us, it doesn’t matter what they’ve
done, the truth is, today we sit here and we’re in
darkness because we haven’t forgiven them. You
made it clear, Lord. We’ve
been forgiven so much, and being forgiven all that we’ve
been forgiven, we should readily forgive others. You made it also clear that we have a
responsibility to make things right with others. So Lord, we pray that you would minister
to our hearts and get right with you and that we would not
be in darkness but that we would be in light. May
we all the more have that quickening fresh experience, that
dynamic experience in our hearts of the love of God, working,
moving. Lord
we pray for that boldness that comes with the Spirit to share
the Gospel with the love of God to those around us. We
thank you Lord…” [transcript
of a sermon on 1st John 2:7-11 given somewhere
in New England.]
Interesting points brought out
by Rodney Stark about the early Christian Church in his
book “The Rise of Christianity”
There were three
major new ideas early Christianity brought to the pagan society
that were totally foreign to that society, and which helped
revitalize that society. They were:
1.
God loves those who love him.
2.
Because God loves humanity, in order to please
God, humans must love one another.
3.
That love must extend beyond their own “Christian
community” out into the community in general.
That summarizes
pages 211-212 in his book, and they are the very principles
brought out by Jesus in the Gospels, and by John in 1st John
2:7-11, as we’ve seen. There is a two-fold method of proclaiming
the Gospel, but one without the other is next to useless. Just preaching the gospel without showing
active Christian love for others—by giving of yourself,
even risking and laying down your lives for others less fortunate
than yourself—is next to useless. The
two actions must be coupled together. The early Christian
church did just exactly that. See Legacy of Love at http://www.unityinchrist.com/LegacyOfLove.htm to
learn how the early Christian churches put John’s Epistle
into action. It’s a fascinating nugget of history
that till now has
been almost totally overlooked.
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