Has Christianity been rejected by many based on a caricature which has been mistaken for the real thing? Perhaps! Yet, John calls us back home, to our foundation, to the fundamental matters of our faith. God uses John to help the church repair that which is broken, to correct the twisted caricature of Christianity.
Caricature: Primarily concerned with behavior
Truth: Concerned with character
Caricature: Attitude toward life is negative
Truth: Discovering the secret to the fullest life possible
Caricature: Based upon mere stories, legends, about Christ
Truth: Actions of God in history
Caricature: Goal is to produce a heaven filled with starchy, stiff, hymn-singing saints.
Truth: Produce love-filled individuals, homes, and churches
“Visible Christianity” Ray Stedman
The book of I John is about Christians experiencing completeness in Jesus Christ. I John 2:5 is a key verse:
But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. (NIV)
But whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. (RSV)
I would hope that most of us desire to become better Christians. John wrote his letter to increase the believers’ joy. Those who are static in their Christian experience quickly become frustrated and unhappy. The following questions require more than a true or false answer:
• Do believers walk in the light? What about you?
• Does empowerment for joyful living involve confession? Are you empowered for joyful living?
• Do Christians strive for the ideal? What about you?
Harold Bryson said, “Christians cannot be happy remaining as they are. Christians can only be happy when they are becoming better believers.”
Question, How does one become a better believer? Several ideas were circulated in the churches to which John wrote:
1. Gain more knowledge–knowledge of esoteric, privileged, myth, astrology, etc.
Contemporary: Study religion, read the Bible.
2. Deny yourself–Asceticism, do without things to enhance your relationship with God.
Contemporary: List of things to refuse, give up—wasting away in closed off places.
3. Good deeds–The more you do the better you are.
Contemporary: Attend church, tithe, witness, etc.
Great activities flow out of an intimate relationship with Christ, they do not fabricate what is not already there. How then, do we become better believers? John reminds us that it begins by daily doing a “fearless and searching” inventory of our lives; doing this daily is a good practice. How well do we keep His commands? What do we see under the microscope?
? Sins of commission
? Sins of omission—what are these?
? Not Forgiving (Matthew 6:15)
? Failing to honor others (Romans 12:9)
? Failing to keep your Fervor (Romans 12:9)
? Failing to serve or give (Romans 12:9)
? Failing to live at peace (Romans 12:18)
? Failing to love God (Mark 12:30)
? Failing to love your neighbor (Mark 12:31)
? Failing to trust God (Isaiah 26:4)
? Failing to trust Christ (John 14:1)
? Failing to worship God (Deuteronomy 6:13)
? Failing to honor God (John 5:23)
? Failing to honor the Son (John 5:23)
? Failing to believe in Jesus (John 3:16-18)
? Failing to honor one’s parents (Exodus 20:12)
? Failing to give thanks to God (Romans 1:21)
? Failing to glorify God (Romans 1:21)
? Failing to fear the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:13)
? Failing to test new teachings by Scripture (Acts 17:11)
? Failing to discern and guard against false teachers and prophets (Matthew 7:15-20)
? Failing to learn and believe Scripture (2 Timothy 2:15)
? Failing to guard life and doctrine (1 Timothy 4:16)
? Failing to repay debts (Romans 13:7)
? Failing to care for orphans and widows in distress (James 1:20)
? Failing to defend the faith (1 Peter 3:15)
? Failing to share the gospel (Matthew 28:19)
A cursory reading of I John would lead some to believe John is simply reworking the same old stuff. We need to remember that he is not attempting to put new stuff in old forms. He is suggesting that the old commandment is, in some sense, new. May I draw your attention to the fact that the new, at least in part, points to the fact that God wants to put His will and ways into His new creation.
Matthew 9:17 Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
I. A NEW KIND OF EMPHASIS: OBEYING THE COMMANDMENTS OF CHRIST (2:3-5)
How do we know authentic Christianity? John’s instructions to the believers said authentic Christianity is verified by obeying the commands of Christ.
Here is a question that comes to my mind when I read this text: Do we not live by grace instead of law? If we live under grace, why then does John refer to obedience to commands? Is John advocating the establishments of churches that are legalistic, harsh, judgmental and filled with extreme fundamentalism? No! Nor is he advocating churches that fail to function by an ethical standard that sets them apart. What then is John suggesting?
John does two things in his letter.
? He demonstrates an appreciation for the grace dimension of the Christian faith. Look at what he has already said. What happens when we sin? Does God deal with us in a legalistic, harsh and judgmental manner? No! In fact, John doesn’t say we are to beg God for forgiveness. He says that,
I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
May I suggest that neither should we wait until people beg for forgiveness before we forgive them and extend grace to them.
? John calls Christians to obedience to a new kind of ethics. Look carefully at verse 5:
But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him.
Believers cannot experience completeness without experiencing life lived by the ethics of Jesus. Wholeness is not possible apart from fulfillment of the lifestyle to which Jesus has set before us.
Verses 7-11 explains the phrase, “the love of God is being perfected.”
II. A NEW KIND OF EXAMPLE: IMITATING THE LIFE OF CHRIST (2:6)
John makes a distinction between legalism and antinomianism, lawlessness, and the ethics of the Kingdom of God. What he says is critical, if we are to realize the goal of the Christian life. What is the goal of the Christian life? To love as Jesus loves.
Matthew 22: 36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
I am amazed by the way loneliness has become a popular talking point. Ravi Zacharias addresses the subject in a series he calls, “Cries of the Heart.” Loneliness has a negative effect on all areas of a person’s life, spiritual, mental, emotional, social, and physical aspects of life.
Ray Steadman says, “The one single, most desperate need of humanity is for love. Yet, the twisted paradox of our lives in this century is that we increasingly find it almost impossible to give what another one desperately needs. Therefore, because others have the same trouble, we find ourselves unable to have what we cannot live without–love. There you have the whole pathetic tragedy of human life today. A hunger for love, on the one part, and an inability to satisfy it on the other. That is the dilemma of human life. “Visible Christianity” p. 2
Paul would remind us that the secret to finding fulfillment in the Christian experience is in Ephesians.
Ephesians 5:1-2 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
Allow me to draw your attention to a key principle for understanding John’s letter and how we find courage and inspiration to imitate Jesus.
One of John’s favorite phrases is used in verse 6, “in him” (menein) (inf pres active). John is saying that believers must be in relationship with Jesus. However, he is talking about more than an occasional relationship. He is saying believers must stay, tarry, dwell, live, abide constantly in Him. This is the idea behind John 15:5.
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
How do we know when we are truly abiding in Him? I have been approached by those who say, “Jack, God seems so distant. Do you believe I will go to Heaven?” It is hard to offer encourage it “there is no there there”.
Matthew 7:15-20 New King James Version (NKJV)
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
People often say, “We are not to judge people.” What is really meant by this statement is that we shouldn’t prejudge people. My thoughts, we don’t have to judge people because we judge ourselves. Each day we judge ourselves by this standard (the Bible).
Ephesians 5:15-16 The Message (MSG)
11-16 Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.
Wake up from your sleep,
Climb out of your coffins;
Christ will show you the light!
So, watch your step. (some translations say, “walk circumspectly) Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!
We will fail miserably if we attempt to live out the obligation of loving as He first love us, if we do not abide in Him. The imperative command to imitate Jesus’ lifestyle assumes a habitual fellowship with Him.
III. A NEW KIND OF EXPERIENCE: MODELING CHRIST’S LOVE (2:7-11)
:7-8
1 John 2:7-8 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
What is old and yet new? What John says almost sounds like a riddle. In these verses John takes the challenge another step. John is saying this old command,
Matthew 22: 36 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
is in some sense new. “New” = ?a???? kainos {kahee-nos'}, often meant new-in-kind. Self-giving love is the new-in-kind of love Jesus demonstrated. Jesus calls us to this new order of loving.
Jesus gave newness to the commandment when He said,
John 13: 34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
“As I loved you” is the key–this is what makes it new-in-kind.
Have you ever thought about how difficult it was for Jesus to love the disciples? Lest we glamorize them and propel them into sainthood let us remember who they were:
Peter:
Boastful, overbearing, difficult to get along with and often falling on his face
James and John:
Called “Sons of thunder”–reflective of their temperament, spoiled young men–having their mother ask Jesus for special treatment.
Thomas:
Stubborn, unmovable, doubting
Andrew:
Hardheaded
There were occasions when Jesus, close to exasperation, said, “How much longer must I put up with you?” They were not easy to love. Yet, the wonderful truth is that he loved them, and they became heroes of the faith.
Apart from the new birth and the abiding presence of Jesus there is no way we can love people according to the old command. Here is our question: How are you doing? Have you made progress in loving people the way Jesus loved them? As with the Jewish leaders we run the risk of creating a “us” vs “them” mentality.
Just as love and light go together, so, too, says John, darkness and hatred go together. If you have not paid attention to anything I have said, I want you to listen to these verses.
:9-10
We know hatred. It is that feeling of extreme hostility or extreme dislike of another. It may be active or passive; the passive is as destructive as the active, never fool yourself.
Here are some questions for the text. Who is John referring to in v. 9? How much “truth” do you have to ascribe to in order to be saved? Is he suggesting the Gnostics have the kind of faith to be saved? I believe John understood the ease to which Jesus included people in His “church.”
The great contradiction of our society is believing that we can disregard the commandment to love and insulate ourselves from each other without losing something. We assume it is a personal decision that carries no consequences. When you see immorality, injustice and societal acts of violence that is fueled by disregard for the sanctity of life, you will discover hatred filling the void love has not been able to fill.
Which is worse for America, calling the Moore, Oklahoma, beheading terrorism or workplace violence? Both tend to elicit fear. Both reflect deep seated forms of violence, a psychopathic inability to experience guilt and understand the value of life. Both reflect a deadness of the soul where there is no remorse over the loss of life. Both has distain for Jesus’ command for us to love each other, even our enemies. My greatest concern would be to learn what happened in Moore is truly “workplace violence.” Why? Because it would suggest that beheading may become an American trend, a way of acting out anger, hatred, and distain for the sanctity of life. As a teenager fighting usually involved punching your enemy in the face. There has been a progression in the forms of violence that threaten people’s safety. We know that media, even in the name of reporting events, often shape trends for people. I can only trust and pray that beheading people will not become a trend for people to act out violence. To illustrate, in the same week the grandmother was behead in Moore an Oklahoma City man was arrested after he threatened to cut off the head of a coworker.
Jesus intends for love to burn like a fire in the heart of His people. When it does not, the heart grows cold and unresponsive.
Matthew 24:12 And because wickedness is multiplied, most men's love will grow cold.
Two things happen when a person allows hatred to invade their lives:
First, they become deceived–thinking they walk in the light, but they are in the darkness.
Ray Stedman tells of an encounter with a woman along these lines:
I remember counseling a woman about a physical problem which really had a spiritual basis in her experience. I discovered that she hated another person and had hated her for years. She told me the circumstance, and she had without doubt been treated unjustly, but the thing had eaten like a canker in her heart for years and years. Hate had turned her bitter and rancid and had poisoned all her thoughts. I said to her, "You must find it in your heart to forgive this person, as God has forgiven you." She looked at me and said, "I can’t forgive her, I’ll never forgive her!" I said, "But God says you must." She said, "But I can’t." I said, "If you can’t, then you need to face the fact that you are not a Christian. Because if you can’t forgive, then you’ve never been born again." She looked at me and said, "I guess you’re right. I know I am a Christian, and I see that I have just been deceiving myself. I need to forgive." And she did! There came a change in that woman’s life which was like a turning from night into day. “Christianity in Action”
Second, not only will a person become deceived about their walk with the Lord, they will begin to cause others to stumble. Warren Wiersbe says, it is serious to walk in the darkness. It is dangerous to walk in the darkness when stumbling blocks are in the way.
Illst. A man was walking down a dark street and saw a beam of light advancing toward him. The faltering manner in which the light advance led him to believe that perhaps the person was intoxicated. As he drew nearer, he could see a man with a flashlight carrying a white cane. Wiersbe, p. 60
He wondered and then asked, “Why would a blind man be carrying a light?” “I carry my light, not so I can see, but so that others can see me. I cannot help it if I am blind, but I can help being a stumbling block.” Scripture is clear. If there are people you have failed to love, you are struggling with that which makes you a disciple who reflects one who follows the new-in-kind commandment of Jesus.
How do we show the kind of love that John writes about?
PRACTICAL WAYS TO DEMONSTRATE OUR LOVE:
1. We demonstrate our love by how we think about another. “Loving actions must first begin by loving attitudes.”
2. We demonstrate our love by how we speak about and to one another—without hypocrisy. Scripture exhorts us to speak words seasoned with grace.
3. We demonstrate our love by how we act toward one another–love is more than a feeling, it is an action of the will. “Christianity in Action”
CONCLUSION
The “new-in-kind” of love to which Scripture calls us is something that we must experience. It must be more than recognizing its importance or studying the manner it was embodied in the person of Jesus.
Christian growth is stunted, and we fail to find fulfillment at the point we stop exercising self-giving love. Genuine Christian love has a direct link to our joy–love produces joy.
A Christian couple visited with their pastor because their marriage was falling apart. “We’re both saved,” the discouraged husband said, “but we just aren’t happy together. There’s no joy in our home.” The pastor discovered they were both nursing grudges–each recalled many annoying little things the other had done.
The pastor told them, “If you really loved each other you wouldn’t file these hurts away in your hearts. Grudges fester in our hearts like infected sores and poison the whole system.” He reminded the couple that “love never keeps records of things others do that hurt us. When we truly love someone, our love covers their sins and helps to heal the wounds they cause.” (I Peter 4:8)
Nursing grudges robs the heart of joy because we consciously or sub-consciously live by justification, justifying why we choose not to seek reconciliation. Granted, sometimes we have been deeply hurt; however, we rob ourselves of joy if we fail to go to that person, share our hurt, and seek forgiveness and healing. Paul says we should not go to bed harboring anger. If we do this it becomes our personal sin. Anger is a natural emotion that grows out of hurt and/or fear. The sin is when we hang onto the anger beyond the immediate point of hurt and/or fear. Forgiveness of these wounds is needed. This is the new kind of love to which we are called, the kind of love that was modeled by Jesus. The fruit of the Spirit of God is love and joy.
Here is a question for us, who is the most difficult person or type person for you to love? Will you take the parkour challenge and reach out and love them? The degree to which we do this is a measurement of our joy. Parkour is a risky passion and people have died trying to do tricks. Determining to love and extend forgiveness is often a life-changing experience! It brings life, not death!
