The Christian Loves (1 John 2:3-11)
The Christian loves God and loves others, specifically other believers.
We have seen in the past sermons on 1 John that the Christian is brought into fellowship with God and other believers. And that this relationship makes a difference in our lives. As Christians we live in the light, and when we fall into sin, we turn to Christ who gives forgiveness. And today we will see what it means to live in the light. To live in the light is to love.
The Christian loves God and loves others, specifically other believers.
The application of this in our day is incredible. Remember, John is dealing with the heresy of Docetism and the specific teacher he had in mind was Cerinthus and his followers. They separated the idea of body from spirit to say that they could live sinfully but not being sinning in the spirit. They could also behave in cruel manners toward believers and separate that as well. But we are not wading in unfamiliar territory here. Let me put it in today’s terminology:
“I’m spiritual but not religious.”
What they mean by this is that they love God, or whatever they are calling god, with their spirit, but their physical life does not conform to God who exists outside of them. There is a separation of body and soul that means that no matter what they do with their body, they are spiritual. And like the Docetists of John’s day, they are badly mistaken.
This matters because we are whole people. My physical body and my spirit are not two different entities working in the same body. We are whole people. Because of the Fall those who die in Christ have a temporary separation of soul from body, but this is not how things will always be. When Christ returns and all things are made right, our body and soul will be reunited. And because we are whole people our lives align with who we are.
Here, John asserts that the Christian will love God by keeping His commands and love others, specifically other believers.
The Christian Loves God (Vv. 3-6)
How is it that a person knows that they have come to know Christ? Simply put, they keep God’s commands. (1 John 1:5) We will discuss a few other things on our way to this idea, but this is the main idea. The Christian will keep God’s commands. Or, as he said it in chapter 1, they will live in the light.
What does John call the person who says that they are a Christian but does not keep Jesus’s commands? John calls them a “liar” and says that “the truth is not in him”. (1 John 2:4 NASB)
On the opposite end of the spectrum is the person who claims to be a believer but keeps God’s commandments. What does John say about that person? He says that “the love of God is truly perfected.” (1 John 2:5 NASB)
The point is that a person who lives in the light, whose life is marked by righteousness, can have assurance of salvation because their life matches their claim. It is not presumptuous for them to have assurance of salvation. Their life matches their belief. It is the person who claims to have faith in Christ, but lives in sin that should have no assurance.
We believe that God the Son took upon Himself human flesh, He lived a perfect life, and then died a sacrificial death on the cross. Then three days later, He rose from the grave. When we turn from ruling our own lives and trust the Savior, we are credited with that perfect life of Christ, our sins are paid for on the cross, and we are raised to newness of life, or given a new nature by the power of the Holy Spirit. The person who lives in the light has been credited with Christ’s righteousness, has had their sins forgiven by the blood of Christ, and has been given a new nature by the power of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit will continue to work in us until we make it to the New Heavens and Earth. Therefore, we believe that Christians are seen as righteous in the eyed of God, seen as sinless in the eyes of God, given a new heart that longs to follow God, and are becoming more and more Christlike with regards to our actions on this Earth. The salvation we have been given makes a difference in us. How could it not?
Answering the Question On Your Mind
So, then we start asking the question that is likely on some of your minds. Is the person who is currently living in sin a believer?
We should start by remembering that this is about a specific thing happening at a specific time, but it does apply to us today. I believe it would be helpful to have a discussion about time here. Christians can go through periods of time where they fall away. And, believers in the past did a very good job thinking through this so I will lean on them.
The 1689 London Baptist Confession really does a good job on this idea. This comes from Chapter 17 Section 3 of that Confession.
“They may fall into grievous sins and continue in them for a time, due to the temptation of Satan and the world, the strength of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of means of their preservation. In so doing, they incur God’s displeasure and grieve His Holy Spirit; their graces and comforts become impaired; their hearts are hardened and their consciences wounded; they hurt and scandalize others and bring temporary judgments on themselves. Nevertheless, they will renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end.”—The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 17:3
This is a complex question and I think the Second London Baptist Confession gets this right. The unbeliever will not be able to forever remain in sin. God will bring them to Himself. As my wife is fond of saying, “God won’t share His people with the world forever.”
So, think through your life. Have you seen Christians turn from a life of sin? Have you seen people who have fallen away for a time return to the faith?
I certainly have.
I would include myself within that camp. In my senior year of High School I was awarded the Brandon Burlsworth Christian Athlete of the Year Award. I was the first person to win this honor because Brandon Burlsworth died in a car accident early in the year that I won the award. It was also a few years before it came with a scholarship. One year later I was not attending church, partying, and giving no thought to God whatsoever. But, I will tell you this. God didn’t share me with the world forever.
One night, in the strangest of ways, the Holy Spirit impressed upon me that I was not supposed to be living this way. I was convicted of sin in my own life and understood that I was in rebellion against God. I almost cried at a friends’ house because I had walked away from the Lord. I went home repented and was back in church the following Sunday. God brought me to Himself. He would not allow me to wander forever.
I have seen other people go through devastating events in their life that brought them back to the Lord, because God won’t share His people with the world forever.
The One Who Really Loves God
Now, as we look back at the text, we have a phrasing issue to figure out. John says that the person that keeps God’s Word, “in him truly his love for God is perfected” (1 John 1:5 NASB). Does this mean the love of God from us or God’s love for us?
Because of the parallel expressions in 1 John 2:15 and 1 John 5:3, most commentators believe that this expression is about our love for God. So, it would be like saying that in the person who keeps God’s Word, his love for God is complete or real. In other words, the person who says he is a believer and follows God’s commands does love God.
If you met a man who said that he loved his family and he provided for them, protected them, cared for them, and sacrificed for them you would see that his life was in agreement with his claim.
If you met a man who said that he loved his family while being abusive toward them or lying on the couch all the time while Mom did everything, you would say there is something incomplete about his life for his family. His love for them is in profession only.
Love for God is not in sappy language about God. Love for God is expressed in obedience to God’s commands. And John goes ahead and brings us to the logical conclusion of this line of reasoning when he says,
“the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” (1 John 2:6 NASB)
If we say that we are Christians then our pattern of life should conform to that of Jesus. It really is a simple concept to grasp. We don’t really love Jesus if we live in rebellion against Him.
How are you interacting with people on a daily basis? Do you keep God’s commands? Do you walk like Jesus walked?
How are you interacting with people on social media? Do you keep God’s commands? Do you walk like Jesus walked?
We all fail, but keep in mind what was said last week. We are talking about a style of life and not the single moments of failure.
Think about a child following their father in the snow. I know we don’t get a lot of snow here but bear with me. If there is a decent amount of snow on the ground and Dad goes out in the yard, sometimes a child will try to put their footsteps where Dad did. But Dad’s big with much longer legs. So, the child lifts up his leg as far as he can and puts his footprint inside Dad’s footprint. Sometimes the child misses. And sometimes the child falls over in the snow. But the point is that he child is at least attempting to walk as Dad walked.
Christians will attempt to walk like Jesus walked. Will we fail? Absolutely. But we have a longing, desire, and growing success in walking as Jesus walked.
The person who names the name of Christ and gives no heed to God’s commands has reason to fear. Every indication is that they need to repent and trust in the Savior. What if you are listening or reading this today and you trusted Christ long ago but are living in sin today? Well, your response is little different. You need to repent and trust the Savior. And I hope and pray that you will for today is the day of salvation, you have not been promised another. Trust the Savior, Jesus Christ.
Christian, Christ accomplished salvation from sin. Christians are saved from sin. They are raised out of their captivity and given new, resurrection life. So, they fight sin and live in the light. Christ accomplished that for us. As was discussed last week, we will fail. And when we do, we run to the Savior and seek His forgiveness.
Church, we are a gathered group of people who are not perfect and who are not yet perfected. But we are redeemed people. We are in fellowship with God. And we love God, therefore we do His commandments because we are transformed by the gospel.
The Christian Loves Other Believers (1 John 2:7-11)
Here, John focuses the discussion in upon our love for one another. The Christian is marked by obedience to God and love for his brothers and sisters in Christ.
So, John calls this commandment old because they have had it from the beginning. And then he says that it is new. What?
Well, the commandment is new, in that it is one that Jesus gave. And this command was in the Gospel of John, which had been read by the people in these churches.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”—John 13:34 NASB
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.”—John 15:12 NASB
“This I command you, that you love one another.”—John 15:17 NASB
As you can see, Jesus Himself called this a new commandment. But on further contemplation John has to call it an “old commandment” (1 John 2:7). It is old because it was a command they received when they first came to know Christ. It was part of the original message they heard long ago. John is now elderly and has known about them for a very long time. He has known about most everything that has gone on in these churches and even helped to establish them. He knows that this is part of the original message they received because he was there. He likely also taught this commandment from the Old Testament, because this commandment was not original to Jesus while He was here on Earth, but renewed or reissued by Jesus like pulling a lost treasure out of the ocean.
“You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.”—Leviticus 19:18 NASB
Love has always been a part of the Christian message. We don’t need to abandon it just because the world mis-defines it. And we don’t need to distort ideas of love just because the world has done so. Love, real love not the ungodly distortions, has always been a part of the Christian message. It will always be a part of the Christian message. And it will always be how Christians are to behave toward one another.
John now argues that there is a newness and a specialness to the command in his day and it is in ours as well. It is “because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.” (1 John 2:8 NASB) The light of the gospel is on the move. The Kingdom of God is expanding. More and more people are being brought into the light, into fellowship with God. And as that takes place the darkness is being conquered. And so, “the one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.” (1 John 2:9 NASB)
The advance of the Kingdom of God is shown by John to be Jesus coming into the dark world (John 1:9). Jesus inaugurated the new age when He came to Earth. So, this love toward one another will always be “new” in the sense that it is not part of the “old” age or the world’s system, but it is part of “the age to come”. Let me break this down a bit because it is incredibly powerful.
Christian, you were once lost and dead in your trespasses and sins. At that time you belonged to the old age that is passing away. You were a card-carrying, full-fledged member of this world system, which we can call the Kingdom of Darkness. At some point you heard the message of the gospel preached and the Holy Spirit worked in you and caused you to believe. When you trusted in Christ you were transferred from the Kingdom of Darkness that is here being called “the old age” into the Kingdom of Christ or “the new age”. We are part of the “new age” and the love Christians have for one another is part of the “new age” that is on the march. There will come a day when Jesus returns and consummates His Kingdom, at that point “the old age” will completely pass away and “the new age” will be all there is. But until then we are living in a time where both ages can be seen at once.
The Dichotomy Created By Love
The end of this text is a dichotomy that really drives this point home. On one side John places those who walk in darkness, who are part of the former age and on the other side he places those who are part of the fellowship with God and other believers (Vv. 9-11). This is something that John does often in the Book of 1 John. And it is effective because apparently there were people who claimed to still have fellowship with God that did not love the believers, and later we will find out that they actually left the church.
The person who does not love his brother or sister in Christ is part of “the old age”. They are part of the Kingdom of this world that is passing away. The way we would usually say this is that the person who does not love his brothers and sisters in Christ is not part of Christ’s Kingdom and is outside the faith. And the person who loves his brothers and sisters in Christ “abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him” (1 John 2:10 NASB) So, the person who professes Christ and loves his brothers and sisters in Christ sees Christianity rightly, they see God rightly, and they see others rightly. They see how to avoid sinning against God and others and know how to love both properly.
How do you treat those people you love? You care about their well-being. You help them when they are in need. You are happy when they succeed. You are sad when they fail.
How do you treat those people you hate? You don’t care about their well-being. You probably don’t provide them help. You would probably enjoy seeing them fail.
If you love your brothers and sisters in Christ then you will treat them as people you love. You will care for their well-being. You will help them when they are in need. You will be happy when they succeed. You will be sad when they fail. And John says that the person who loves his brothers and sisters in Christ, has “no cause for stumbling in him”.
If you do not love Christians, you are in darkness, you “walk in the darkness”, and you are blinded. You are part of the age that is passing away, the Kingdom of Darkness. When we walk in darkness we do not see things properly. In deep darkness we can’t see at all. Sin works that way. It’s part of the reason our culture has gone so far into madness. But individuals go through the same process. As a person becomes more and more sinful, they are more and more blinded by darkness. And here, we see, the hatred of others distorts our view of them.
“Hatred distorts our perspective. We do not first misjudge people and then hate them as a result; our view of them is already jaundiced by our hatred. It is love which sees straight, thinks clearly and makes us balanced in our outlook, judgments and conduct.”—John Stott,
Jesus died so that we would become one in the bond of love. If there are any people that are part of the body of Christ that you need to make amends with then you should approach them and do so. Simply put, Christians love one another. Sure, we will have arguments and hard discussions, but people who love each other do that from time to time. But if you hate your brothers and sisters in Christ then your soul is in grave danger. And this is a perilous position to be in because hatred will distort our perspective of people.
So, what do we say to those people who say something to the effect of, “I love Jesus. It’s Christians I can’t stand.”? We say with unwavering confidence, “Bologna! You hate Christians because you hate Christ! You can’t have fellowship with Jesus and hate His bride!”
If you walk into church and hate everyone but a couple people here, then you are probably not part of the fellowship of light. Christians are characterized by love of others.
A story that I’ve already told as an illustration bears repeating here because I find it incredibly helpful. There was a junior high boy who had grown up in church involved in a youth ministry I worked in. He told me that he loved Jesus but hated everyone in the youth ministry. I informed him that this was not possible and that if he hated all these people, he didn’t love Jesus. If we love God then we will love His people.
Closing Words
There is a lot of information here, but I hope that this message came through loud and clear. The Christian loves God and loves his brothers and sisters in Christ. God brings the Christian into His Kingdom, into the Light and that is where they live. There they have fellowship with God and with other believers. God loves us and other believers. We love God and other believers. Our love for God means obedience to Him. Part of that obedience is loving one another. And we also love one another because they are part of our family, in the Light.
The Christian loves God and loves his brothers and sisters in Christ.
R. Dwain Minor