Sermon Tone Analysis

*“The Old New Commandment”*

*1 John 2.7-17*

 

As human beings, we often benefit from repetition, hearing things from a different angle, and being comforted by divine truth in times when we forget God’s promises.

Often we become immersed in temporal things that we neglect to see things from a different perspective.

This appears to be John’s modus operandi.

He revisits issues, says them in different ways, and continually reminds the true believers of their confidence in the Lord and their salvation.

We have stated from the beginning that John’s purpose is to bring clarity to what it means to be a Christian.

The readers of John’s letters are being influenced by some who had left them and were being presented with false teachings.

They may claim the title of “Christian,” but their actions would disqualify them from their claims.

And John is out to answer the question, “what is a true Christian?”

John uses black and white language to communicate this.

He speaks of light and darkness, truth and lies, and love and hate in the text before us this morning.

We are in 1 John 2.7-17.

Please turn there in your Bibles along with me.

And we will read the text to get underway.

*READ.*

The first point we will look at is *Love Reveals the Light.

*For John, saying the right things is not sufficient to identify oneself in fellowship with God the Father.

Time and again, he will look for the fruit in one’s life as evidence of their claim to fellowship with him.

So again he will speak of evident contrasts that will demonstrate whether or not one is a Christian.

Here he will speak of those characterized by their love or hate of fellow believers.

And he begins with another reminder of his love and concern for his readers.

In the first verse of the chapter, John had begun the address with “my little children” – calling to mind his pastoral concern for his readers.

And here there is more confirmation as he addresses them as “beloved.”

And for a guy that likes to have clarity, John begins the section with a seemingly paradoxical thought.

He says in verses 7 and 8 that he is not writing a new commandment but an old commandment.

But at the same time, it really */is /*a new commandment.

Everyone has that figured out, right?

What is John getting at here?

Whereas on the surface it may seem confusing, when you think about this for some time, it is really a powerful point that John makes here.

The Christian reader would be well acquainted with the greatest commandment.

The nation of Israel would no doubt recall the words from Deuteronomy 6:5 “5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

You would recall also that Jesus himself was asked about the greatest commandment.

In Matthew 22:34–40 “34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.

35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

38 This is the great and first commandment.

39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Foundational to all Christian thinking and living is the understanding that we are to love the Lord our God with our entire being, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

This is evidence of our fellowship with the Father.

It originates in the Old Testament.

And, in the case of the readers of this letter, this would have been clear when they were first presented with the gospel and their conversion.

This is what John refers to when he says that they had it from the beginning.

They could not have had it at the beginning of creation, but when they first heard the good news of Jesus and believed on him.

The point that he is making by referring to the commandment that they had from the beginning is not that he is imposing some new obligation upon his readers, but recalling to them what they knew from the very beginning of their Christian walk.

And we all need these reminders from time to time.

Many times we overcomplicate things and neglect the basic and foundational components of our Christian faith.

If we neglect to love God and neighbor, then we’ve missed it entirely.

And then John says, “at the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you.”

And with that, we need to recall the words of Jesus in John 13:34 34 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.

Really, there is nothing “new” about the command itself.

Christians are still to love.

What is significant here is a standard is introduced.

Jesus says that we are to love as he has loved us.

So there really is no point in which the believer in Jesus can say, “That’s enough.

I have loved this person enough.”

There is no way that any of us can love to the same extent that Jesus loved us!

And at the same time, we have a perfect example to emulate.

We watch as Jesus is patient with his disciples.

We read of how he sat and washed the disciples’ feet.

We see Jesus love and compassion to the outcast and hurting, the oppressed and destitute.

And finally, we see the ultimate expression of love where he laid down his life on the cross for his children.

Jesus says, “love one another, just as I have loved you.”

This is the new commandment.

John adds in verse 8 that this new commandment “is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.”

You may recall in the weeks leading up to Christmas, we looked at some Old Testament prophecies regarding the birth of the Lord Jesus.

One of the passages was Isaiah 9 where we saw prophecies fulfilled with great specificity.

Hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah wrote this: Isaiah 9:2 “2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.”

One of the passages that speaks of its fulfillment is found in John’s gospel.

John 1:4–9 “4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.

8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”

Jesus even identified himself in this way.

John 8:12 “12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 12:46 46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

And with the introduction of the true light to the world, the darkness is passing away.

This present evil age is passing because the new age under the lordship of Jesus Christ had begun.

In the next chapter, we will see that the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Now we know that presently the devil is still quite active in the world, and will continue to be until the day that Jesus returns in judgment of evil and salvation of the faithful.

However, Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the grave assured the victory to come.

It is a common theme throughout Scripture.

In one sense, the kingdom of God has come in Jesus Christ.

And yet, we still anticipate the final fulfillment and reign of this kingdom upon his return.

It’s what is known as the already~/not yet of the Kingdom.

But with all certainty, the darkness is passing and the true light is shining!

But how is the new commandment true in the lives of the believers?

Those who have trusted in Jesus Christ no longer walk in the darkness but in the light.

Colossians 1:13 “13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” 1 Peter 2:9 “9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

It is ONLY because believers have been */rescued /*from the domain of darkness and transferred that this new commandment is a reality in their lives.

This cannot be fabricated.

When Jesus said that the new commandment is to love as he loved, the next verse says this: 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

And this is where John is going as well in the next few verses.

Love or hate?

This says a lot about you.

John says in verse 9 that you cannot claim to be changed by Jesus and not love your brother.

It is inconsistent.