First John was written to counter the lies that crept into the church by 90 AD. These lies, we saw, are still present and so the responses John wrote almost 2000 years ago are quite applicable to us today.
The first lie John dealt with is the lie that a right and healthy relationship with God and with one another comes from a secret knowledge. Many people today are trying meditations and rituals to discover such a secret knowledge. From 1 John 1:1-4, we found that the answer to a right and healthy relationship with God and with one another comes from Jesus Christ, Who is our peace offering between God and sinful humanity.
The second lie John dealt with is the lie that we have within ourselves the solution for our violation of God’s image and standard. As a result of this lie, some try to do enough good to outweigh the bad to make right their relationship with God. Others work at never doing wrong again; that’s perfectionism. Still others claim that they have never violated God’s image and standard; that’s denial. In 1 John 1:5-8, John tells us that the only sufficient solution for violation of God’s image and standard is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.
The third lie John dealt with is the lie that obedience to God is not important to a right and healthy relationship with God. Many people believe that sincerity or head knowledge is good enough. In 1 John 2: 1-6, John tells us that not only is obedience to God important to a right and healthy relationship with God, but also that obedience to God is a possible response and a relational response.
If any of these sound interesting to you and you want more detail, you can go online to our church website or get the message on audiotape. This morning, we will continue with 1 John 2:7-11 and see how John deals with a fourth lie, the lie that obedience to God cannot be measured.
John tells us this morning that the obedience to God can be measured and this measure is not new. In fact, we who know God have heard this command from the beginning; we have seen, by way of Biblical records, the command lived out in Jesus Christ, and we are capable of living out this command also. This measure or command John writes about is the command of love for one another.
Of all the things God use for measuring our obedience to Him, why does He choose love? Why not choose Bible reading or prayer as a measure of our obedience? Then those who read five chapters from the Bible and pray daily would be more obedient to God than those who read one chapter a day and pray now and then. And those who read one chapter a day and pray now and then would be more obedient than those who never crack open the Bible or pray except on Sundays. Wouldn’t that be easier, God?
And God, there is the other problem of definition with using love as the measure. There are many definitions for love. Our culture tells us love is like a boat, something we fall into and out of. The media illustrates love as emotionalism or hedonism, that is pleasure seeking. Love in the pages of self-help and many religious writings is no more than dressed-up selfishness or escape from pain and suffering. Love in your upbringing may be understood as reward for desired performance. And love in your marriage maybe a game of give and take.
So, God, how can You measure our obedience to You, when Your command for our obedience is love for one another? But John would have us know that we have heard the command from the beginning; we have seen the command lived out in Jesus Christ, and we too can live out this command. So our obedience can be measured.
FIRST, we have heard the command from the beginning. We see this in verse 7. John reminds us not to listen to the false teachings and new definitions of love in our day, but to go back to the definition we had heard from the beginning.
What is that definition? Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13)." And then Jesus went to the cross and laid down His life to be the payment for our sins against a Holy God. The good news is that God loves us enough to die for us, and the measure of our obedience to God is that we would love others enough to lay down our life for another.
Someone tells the story of Sarah who was asked to donate her bone marrow to her little brother so he could live. As she was being wheeled into the pre-operating room, she said to her mother, "When I die, please give Johnny my toys also."
Sarah didn’t know she didn’t have to die to give her bone marrow, but she was willing. That is the measure of true love for her brother.
Rather than fulfilling a list of do’s and don’ts, love for another through self-sacrifice has been the command and measure for obedience in Christians from the beginning. All other definitions of obedience to God are encompassed in love: Love that is willing to die to self for the benefit of another.
Now I’m not talking about sacrificing yourself so that other can have their way, if their ways are not beneficial to them or are harmful to others. You do not help the man who gambles his money away by giving him your paycheck. Love is the willingness to die to self for the benefit (not the addiction, abuse or abnormal behavior) of another, but the benefit of another.
FIRST, we have heard the command from the beginning. SECOND, we have seen (in our case, by way of Biblical records) the command lived out in Jesus Christ. We read this in verse 8.
Two summers ago, I went to Washington DC to be mentored by Pastor David Wong. I’ll be going with Susan and Esther to be mentored by him and his wife later this year. The truth is, I didn’t learn anything from Pastor David that I had not already heard from my seminary professors.
The reason why I plan on taking my family with me to be mentored by him is not to hear something new, but to see what I have heard illuminated in real life. The old that I had read from the Bible and heard from radio preachers, from my pastor and from seminary professor, I want to see in Pastor David’s ministry, family life and dealings with people.
John says the command of love is old, but the command is new when you see that love lived out in Jesus Christ and in you (and we’ll talk about that later). Jesus shed light on the old command to love one another by his demonstration of love in his life and on the cross.
We read in 1 John 3:16, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." Love is not emotionalism, not hedonism, not dress-up selfishness and not reward for performance. Love is the willingness to die to self for the benefit of another.
Throughout the Bible’s record of Jesus’ life, we see that Jesus died to self before he died on the cross. Dying to self meant putting his own interest beneath the interest of God the Father and the interests of others. Dying to self required that Jesus sacrifice his sleep to answer Nicodemus’ questions. Jesus also sacrificed his reputation to save the people of Sychar. Moreover He sacrifice cultural acceptance to heal the sick. First and finally, He sacrificed His rightful place in Heaven by descending to earth to redeem sinful humanity.
Jesus said in John 13:34, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." Again the newness is not in the command, but in the carrying out of the command. Love is the willingness to die to self for the benefit of another.
FIRST, we have heard the command from the beginning. SECOND, we have seen the command from the life of Christ. THIRD, we are capable of carrying out the command in our own lives. Thus, our obedience is measurable. We see this in verses 9-11.
To have heard or to have seen does not guarantee true understanding or life change. The only measure of true understanding and obedience to God is love in action in us. Sam Levenson said, "Love at first sight is easy to understand; it’s when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle!" But if we truly understand, or are walking in the light of what Christ has done for us, we will love one another even after the honeymoon period, because of our obedience to God.
I’m jumping ahead when I quote from a later portion of this letter, but John explains himself better than I can explain John. 1 John 4:19-21 read, "We love because he [God] first loved us. If anyone says, ’I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."
Love of another is the measure of obedience to God. Such love is the willingness to die to self for the benefit of another. I wish it weren’t so. I wish God would measure my obedience by the number of hours I put into preparing my sermons or the percentage of my income that I put into the offering box. But that would only be two of many outward expressions of love for God and for one another.
If you want to know how far along you are in your obedience to God, don’t look at the number of verses you know from the Bible or what you are able to do for the church. See if you are able to die to self for the benefit of another.
Take a look at what happens to you when your spouse neglects you. Are you more interested in getting even? I’ve had to face my sinfulness. I remember making plans to hurt Susan when she hurt me, even when I knew she hurt me unintentionally. The Bible tells us, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)." Instead of hurting us when we hurt Him, God loved us.
Take a look at what happens to you when others speak poorly of you or get in the way of your goals. Does anger rise up in your heart? Not only does anger rise up in my heart sometimes, but when there is no way to vent, depression sets in. The Bible tells us, "When they hurled their insults at him [Jesus Christ], he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him [God the Father] who judges justly. He [Christ] himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed (1 Peter 2:23-24)." True love returns good and not evil.
The Apostle Paul reminds us, "Love is patient; love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)."
Let’s continue to make this practical. When the driver of another car cuts you off, you can either seek your own rights or you can die to self and respond for his benefit. You cannot seek your own rights and die to self.
When your child brings disorder into your work schedule or work place, you can either seek your own rights or you can die to self and respond for the benefit of your child. Sometimes a response for your child’s benefit is playing with her and other times it’s teaching her to play independently. Love is the willingness to die to self for the benefit of another.
God is not unreasonable when He measures our obedience by the measure of love. Receive that as a compliment, that He would measure the obedience of His adopted children, that’s us, with the same measure He used with His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
We’ve heard it. We’ve seen it in Christ. We can do it with Christ’s help.
