Abide in the Light
Notes
Transcript
Introduction - Last week we were reminded that we must keep His commandments in order to walk with Him. The commandments are easy to understand but not always easy to do. But that is the good thing about His commandments, they are do’s and not don’ts. The ten commandments and the law are a list of don’ts which are hard to keep. But Jesus gave us some new commandments, the do commandments. There isn’t really anything new about the commandments - they were there all along but they were sort of hidden in the mess of don’ts. There were so many rules about what not to do that the small do commandments were lost and forgotten. Nothing has really changed. There are so many laws now that we don’t even know all of them - in fact there’s so many we can’t even know all of them. The problem with there being so many laws is that there are probably a few really good ones that nobody knows. And these good ones get lost in the abundance of laws. John began this portion of his letter talking about these laws. He talked about them to remind the readers the importance of these do’s. To remind us of the importance of these commandments that tell us what to do instead of what not to do. Let’s take a look at:
7 Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.
8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.
9 The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
10 The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
11 But the one who 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.
12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.
13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.
14 I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
So what is John saying here? If you follow the new do commandment you will be able to abide in the light and not stumble along as you walk with Christ.
7 Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.
A first quick reading and John seems to be talking in circles - you need to interpret what he is saying and let it sink in. This is like the difference between men and women talking ------ Pink and Blue!
So, in verse 7 John is talking about not writing a new commandment, but an old one - It’s new because it was buried for so long in the rules they were supposed to follow but never really saw. So what are these new but old commandments?
30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
31 “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
These are both buried in all of the don’ts. They need to be searched for as if they were a prized jewel that will bring us great wealth.
But if they are old how can they be new?
But then in verse 8 John spins the story again.
8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.
These are new commandments because they are new in Him. In Him we find love and have seen love and through Him we can love others as He loved us.
But there is a wonderful thing about His love. His love is driving back the darkness and the darkness is passing away. The true light is shining. But what is this true Light?
This true light is Jesus Himself. John 8:12 says:
12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
So when verse 8 says the true light is already shining he is talking about Jesus. That true light is the light of life. It isn’t light like we see but Spiritual light. The light of life is the Spirit that brings us to life in Christ Jesus. That confession of sins and forgiveness, the reconciliation with God brings that true light into our lives and allows us to shine out in the darkness. The darkness is passing away because every time someone accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior more light shines in the world. And every time the light in us shines for someone to see it gets a little brighter. Every time we act like a city on a hill we push back a little more darkness.
This leads us to verses 9 & 10...
9 The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
10 The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
I see these two verses as two sides of a coin:
with verse 9 John is once again telling us if we say one thing but do another we are liars. If we say we are in the light… in other words if we say we know and are in fellowship with Christ but we don’t love our brother we are in darkness. In other words if you are in the Light, In Christ Jesus you will love your brother. In Christ Jesus we should love one another as ourselves - that’s the ole commandment that was made new in Christ Jesus.
So, Love is light and hate is darkness. When we love our brothers we are in the Light, we are in Christ Jesus. Remember this isn’t actual light. This is the light of life, this is the Spiritual light that we receive when we become a child of God and walk with Jesus. We abide in the Light. We dwell in the Light and make this Spiritual place our home.
According to verse 10 when we abide in the light there will be no cause for stumbling for the one who loves his brother. Stumbling is another way of saying sinning. When we walk in the light the light illuminates our way. The light will keep us from sinning, the Spirit will lead us into all righteousness. Paul said this in his letter to the Ephesians:
13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.
When the light shines on something it can be seen so you won’t stumble over it. One way to illustrate this is: Our story about the neighbor and the cake which was used as a propitiation to appease his wrath:
The neighbor walked in darkness - didn’t treat you well. However, you treat your neighbor well. The light eventually pushes back the darkness. The lack of love from the neighbor for you shows in how they treat you, and your love for your neighbor shows in how you treat your neighbor. People who walk in the darkness will not treat their neighbor with love and kindness. The light will eventually expose the darkness and the deeds of darkness will become visible.
But why is the darkness a cause for stumbling? Anybody ever walk around in the dark? But this stumbling isn’t about actually falling and breaking a hip. Its about sinning. The light exposes our sin and helps us to turn away from them. As we walk in the light we are able to avoid stumbling or falling back into a pattern of sin. The very sin that Christ Jesus died to free us from. But if we never truly turn away from the darkness and we hold onto our sin patterns we have a habit of stumbling, of getting stuck in the sin pattern. So abide in the light, love your brother and your neighbor and there will be nothing to cause you to stumble. Do the do’s.
And then we come to verse 11:
1 John 2:11 (NASB95)
11 But the one who 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 is the guy who is in trouble. This is the neighbor who hates you and your dog for messing up the garden and never sees the light after you bring over the cake as a propitiation to appease his anger. This guy is walking in darkness and will never see the light because he doesn’t want to. He wants to live in darkness because he is afraid of the light. Just as I said Eph 5:13 says:
Ephesians 5:13 (NASB95)
13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.
The darkness is afraid of the light because the evil things of darkness will be exposed. People don’t want to have their stuff, their sins exposed by the light. Sometimes we feel that our sins are just beyond what the light can clear up, or maybe we just don’t want anyone to know just how bad our sins are. In the darkness the sins can be hidden, the ugly stuff of our lives can be kept secret. So we stay in the dark and keep our eyes blinded to the light. Because we continue on in the light we hate our brother because the dark doesn’t know love. The darkness doesn’t know Jesus’ love.
Now the last three verses of this passage.
1 John 2:12–14 (NASB95)
12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.
13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.
14 I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
This passage of three verses speaks to four different groups of people, Little Children, Fathers, Young men and children.
Verse 12 speaks about Little Children
12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.
But who are the little children? Little children like the ones we just sent out for children’s church probably couldn’t read well enough to comprehend this letter. And that’s alright - because John isn’t talking to physically little children - he’s talking to spiritually little children. This letter is a reminder that there sins are forgiven. It’s a reminder that Jesus forgave them and He did it for His name’s sake. He did it because He loves us and wants us to be in heaven with Him. He doesn’t want even one of His children to be lost.
This letter will also help them to grow. It helps us to see that we need to walk with Him and our brothers and sister in Christ. We can’t just have a head knowledge of Jesus and each other we have to have a heart knowledge of each other. Each piece of this letter so far points to doing - Walk in the Light- we walk in the light by confessing our sins, receiving forgiveness and allowing Him to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Be in fellowship with others- love one another as ourselves. Keep His commandments, abide in His love and allow God to perfect His love in us.
He is urging the little children to give themselves to the Father completely.
verse 13 speaks to three other groups Fathers, Young Men and Children
13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.
The first group is the Fathers. But who are the Fathers? Not the old men in the church who have children - but the spiritually mature. But what does it mean to be spiritually mature?
maturity ⇔ completeness n. — the full development of a Christian in knowledge, obedience, and beliefs; understood as having every necessary or normal part or component or step.
This is what we should all be striving for. The Fathers who are reading this letter should know this - for them it is a reminder. Don’t lose sight of what got you to your level of maturity, but remember to help others less mature to understand these things. Hebrews 6:1 says:
1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
The elementary teaching about Christ is the fact that God is light and that Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. So move on the bigger things, walk in your maturity.
The next group he mentions in verse 13 are the Young Men. Once again this is not young men in age but spiritual maturity. These are the men and women who haven’t come to full maturity. There is still room for growth, they don’t know enough to be mature and they still may have some obedience issues or some old beliefs getting in the way with their walk. These are the ones who may be saying they walk in the light but still don’t love all of their brothers. There may be some forgiveness or bad habits that have not been changed. What John has written will help them understand that they must still work toward maturity.
However, if you notice John reminds them that they have overcome the evil one. They know enough and obey enough to not let the evil one direct their path any more. They know enough to stand against all the evil that is going on in the world to move towards God and not away from Him. They are continuing to grow in their walk.
The third group mentioned in verse 13 are the Children. If you noticed he didn’t use the adjective little. He isn’t talking to the brand new believers here but the ones who have grown a little bit. These are the teenagers. They know some but still don’t know enough. John says he is writing to them because they know the Father. They aren’t mature and they aren’t strong enough in their faith to have overcome the evil one. But, they know from where their salvation comes - they don’t need to keep going back to repentance.
John has provided some encouragement to every level of Spiritual maturity. The mature Fathers, the young men, the children and the little children. Where do you fall in this assortment. Are you a Father with a faith that keeps you rooted in the word and in fellowship? Or maybe a young man or child. No matter where you are now the light is shining in you and the light can shine brighter. The light of the Lord dwells in us and we abide in the light and the light pushes back the darkness.
That is the thing we need to remember the most, the true light over comes the darkness. Every time someone accepts Jesus as Lord a little more light shines. Every time a little more light shines the darkness passes away just a little bit more. We carry the light of life in us - so let your light shine brighter. Let your light push back the darkness.
Pray