Sermon Tone Analysis

1 John 2:7-11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen Caswell © 2001

Introduction

 

I just /love/ that hat! Man, I really /love/ the old fashioned kind of baked beans!

/But, Mom, don’t you realize that Tom and I love each other?

/Words, like coins, can be in circulation for such a long time that they start wearing out.

Unfortunately, the word /love/ is losing its value and is being used to cover a multitude of sins.

It is really difficult to understand how a man can use the same word to express his love for his wife as he uses to tell how he feels about baked beans!

When words are used that carelessly they really mean little or nothing at all.

Like the dollar, they have been devalued.

*In today's passage John highlights the importance of love.*

The kind of */love/* John describes is ajgaph, God's unconditional love.

John places the commandment to love above all others.

As John describes the life that is real, he uses three words repeatedly: /life, love,/ and /light./

In our passage today, we learn how Christian love is affected by /light and darkness./

A Christian who is walking in the light is going to love his brother Christian.

We will see three things about walking in love.

*/An Old Edict From The Law, A New Example From The Lord, A New Experience To Be Lived./*

/Firstly,/     An Old Edict From The Law

 

/a.

The Precept Of Love/

 

*1 John 2:7: */Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning.

The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning./

The commandment to love wasn't new.

It goes back to the very beginning.

Christians were commanded to love from the Church's very beginning.

John reminds believers that love has always been required of God's people.

The Law commands love as well as the Gospel.

Both covenants require love.

*Deuteronomy 6:4-5:/ /*/Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!

*You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.*/

*Leviticus 19:18:* /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./

/ /

/b.

The Preeminence Of Love/

/ /

*Matthew 22:36-40:* /Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

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

On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets./

/ /

As we have just seen, Jesus confirmed the preeminence of love over all the commandments.

/How is it possible for one commandment to stand head and shoulders above the rest?/

This is explained by the fact that love is the fulfillment of God’s Law.

*Romans 13:8-10: */Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.

For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law./

/ /

Love In The Home

 

According to law parents must care for their children.

Child neglect is a serious crime.

/But how many parents have a conversation like this when the alarm clock goes off in the morning?

The Wife. /Honey, you’d better get up and go to work.

We don’t want to get arrested.

/The Husband./

Yeah, and you’d better get up and get breakfast for the kids, and get their clothes ready.

The cops might show up and put us both in jail.

/The Wife./

You’re right.

Boy, it’s a good thing they have a law, or we’d stay in bed all day!

 

It’s doubtful that the fear of the law is often the motive behind earning a living or caring for one’s children.

Parents fulfill their responsibilities because they love each other and their children.

To them, doing the right thing is not a matter of /law/ — it’s a matter of /love./

The commandment Love one another is the fulfillment of God’s Law in the same way.

When you love people, you do not lie about them or steal from them.

You have no desire to kill them.

Application

 

Love is the greatest commandment of all.

Love is given preeminence in both the Old and New Testaments.

/Why?/

Because love fulfills all of the commandments.

Love is the positive fulfillment of the thou shalt nots! /Do you take the commandment to love seriously?

Do you love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind?

Do you show your love by serving Him? Do you love your neighbor as yourself?/

/Or do you focus on outward appearances like the Pharisees?

Do you seek to fulfill God's law through love?/

 

/Secondly,/ A New Example From The Lord

 

*1 John 2:8: */Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining./

In verse 8 John points out, that Christ, was the first one to keep this commandment of love.

Then he goes on to say that believers can also keep it.

Jesus Himself is the */greatest Example/* of someone who loved.

He loved friend and foe alike.

He even loved people when they didn't appreciate or return His love.

His love was costly.

He loved to the point of death.

He forgave those who crucified Him.

He laid down His life for us.

*/Truly,/* Jesus showed us what love is like.

Like a light shining in a dark place He showed us how to love unconditionally.

In fact, Christ raised the standard of the commandment /to love/.

*John 13:34:* /A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; *as I have loved you*, that you also love one another.

By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another./

/ /

Love distinguishes God's children from the world's children.

The apostle John says that love distinguishes true believers from false believers in his letter.

This comes to a climax when he says God is love.

/Since God is love shouldn't His children be known for love?  /

 

*1 Corinthians 13:4-8 *describes God's love: /Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

*Can you or I place our name in the text instead of love ?*/

No!

Then, we have some work to do.

/How are we to love one another?/

The way that Jesus loved us.