A New Commandment: Love One Another as I Have Loved You
Truth Taught- Our salvation is shown to be real as we love one another
Pastoral Prayer
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Humanity does not naturally love others the way God loves. We are too selfish for this to come naturally. We must have God to create us new and then to command us to do it. John tells us that because this type of love for fellow believes does not come naturally because of our sinful condition, this love becomes a mark of someone who has been made new.
In our text today, John is going to refer to a commandment Jesus gave us back in the Gospels…
John 13:34–35 (ESV)
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. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
It has always been a mark of godliness and godly activity to love and care for others within the local Church where you attend.
In the OT, we see that God gave His people the command…
Leviticus 19:18 (ESV)
18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
Notice what Jesus is saying…in light of OT passages the best God could do before Jesus’ incarnation is to say love others like you love yourself. This is good but do you see how even this comes from an inward selfish motivation. God, is saying, I know how much self love you have you should love others as much as you love yourself.
Now in Jesus’ new commandment we can see more clearly exactly what it means to love others the way God wants us to. Because of the incarnation, God literally acts out before us what He means by loving others. Jesus’ example of dying for us is exactly what God means by loving others.
Now the New Commandment is bound up in our receiving the Holy Spirit and God pouring His love into us and by seeing how Jesus loved us.
Romans 5:5 (ESV)
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Galatians 5:22–24 (ESV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Because of true sacrificial love and because of the cross we are made sons and daughters given the Holy Spirit by which God pours His love within us so that we can now love the way He does.
Ephesians 5:1–2 (ESV)
5 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
We should see that on a very vital level we must be showing love to those in our families and in our church.
Paul prayed for the early church that the people would grow in their love for each other…
1 Thessalonians 3:12 (ESV)
12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,
He also commanded those in the area church around Galatia to…
Galatians 6:10 (ESV)
10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Then our Lord tells us what happens when our love for one another is increasing.
35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Those on the outside will take notice that we are truly Jesus’ disciples as we love one another. Others will know we are truly Christians. Sometimes assurance of salvation comes from those who are lost. When outsiders see our love for the brethren, they understand our commitment to Christ is sincere.
That’s the background of our text for today and the new commandment John refers to as a marker of true faith and true salvation.
Please Stand…
1 John 2:7–11 (ESV)
7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever 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.
1. Jesus’ Commandment, Love One Another as I Have Loved You (2:7-8)
7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
John begins to remind his Church about a commandment that Jesus had given His followers at the beginning. They too had it as they began their Christian life, so it was at their beginning.
This commandment is not new, it’s not one John has just started but it is a command which came from Jesus and even then, was a commandment made by God centuries before, now perfected in Christ. The original is not new but the New Covenant version is new.
God has taken the love your neighbor as yourself to love your neighbor like Jesus has loved you. That is a massive difference. Beloved, don’t love others as you love yourself, love others as Jesus has loved you. Now, we know what love looks like and what love does.
Throughout his ministry, Jesus displayed his love and compassion by healing various illnesses and disabilities. His acts of healing showcased his desire to alleviate suffering and bring wholeness to those in need.
Jesus’ miracles of healing were not only physical but also demonstrated his deep care for individuals. His love and compassion extended to people with various illnesses and disabilities, showing that no affliction was beyond his reach.
Luke 5:12–13 (ESV)
12 While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 13 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.
No one here has the ability to cleanse sickness and disease. We do have the ability to visit the sick, care for them and pray for them. We love like Jesus loves as we care for the sick.
Jesus alone can love others by forgiving their sin.
Mark 2:5–12 (ESV)
5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
Jesus has the authority to forgive sin. Only God can do that. I can love like Jesus when I spend time with someone and counsel them and care for them by challenging them to repent of their sin and to trust Jesus as Savior and Lord.
To love like Jesus is to look at His life shown through the Gospels and ask yourself, how can I love others like that?
That is who we are now as Christians. John tells us that is a mark of true faith because lost people cannot love like Jesus loves.
8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
the word here for passing away, means that right before our eyes the darkness is moving past us and dying. It’s the Greek word parago. Jesus brought the Old Covenant to fulfillment and begins His New Covenant where people are truly made to be God’s people with new hearts to love Him and love His people.
2. Love for One Another Shows We Are Walking in the Light (2:9-10)
9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.
This is the third time John makes such claims…
Whoever claims to be in the light or be a Christian must know him…live in Him…Love his brother.
For the one who claims to be a Christian yet hates his brother is not a Christian at all. We saw last time; John called this man a liar.
We have real and ongoing opportunities to love one another here and now, within our Church fellowship. Are you loving your brother or do you hate your brother?
Hatred of a Christian shows that you are not saved.
He goes on to tell us that if we love one another then we are in the light. God has brought us from death to life and has given us the capacity to love the way Jesus loves.
Only if we are in the light can we do this.
He goes on to tell us that while we are loving one another and walking in the light there is no reason that we should fall into sin. Loving one another is putting on Christ. Loving one another is a shield against sin. and in him there is no cause for stumbling.
When we are not loving one another, sin begins and continues to get worse.
3. Darkness Blinds and Deceives (2:11)
11 But whoever 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.
When people within the local Church hate other members, they prove that they are not Christians at all they are still in darkness.
To hate/not love one’s fellow Church member is to walk in darkness or we could say walk in lostness while thinking they are saved.
John’s words are very strong here. He’s telling us that when someone hates his brother he is living in the realm of darkness where sin prevails. To walk in this realm is to live in the realm where lost people live. The reason they live here is because they have not been taken from death to life or from darkness to light.
This person has been living in the realm and is deceived, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
John 12:35–36 (ESV)
35 So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”
When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
By the Gospel, Jesus has taken those who were selfish and haters of God and others and brought us into a different realm, one where He is. We are given His Holy Spirit and now because we are in the light, where Jesus is, we can love others like Jesus did. However, to remain in hatred of one another is to prove that you have never been brought into the light by the Gospel.
Many think they are in the light because they have gotten used to the darkness and sin has deceived them.
Jesus calls to them…come to Me and enter into the light. The darkness is passing away and so will all who live there.
Come to Jesus today and believe the Gospel and be saved?
Words of Blessing
Now may the Savior who has given us a new command equip us and compel us to love one another as He has loved us.
May we love one another as He has loved us as we watch the darkness pass away as the true light shines.
May no hatred, malice, or ill will be found among God’s people.
Now the God who is from everlasting to everlasting,
Who has loved us with an everlasting love, give us everlasting life
May He support us with everlasting arms until Jesus returns.
AMEN!
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