Over the last week or so we’ve been doing some of our favorite work at the Stone home: decluttering. Now, we didn’t even have a cluttered home to begin with; if anything could properly be called clutter it would have been my study sagging with books. I find unique satisfaction and contentment in that which is simple.

I’ve found myself—as we’ve studied 1 John—often thinking about John as something like the apostle of “declutterment.” He continually puts before his readers the simple, yet essential truths of authentic Christianity. And this is so helpful for us. We live in a world of near endless possibility, in a culture that celebrates near limitless potential, and thus we can easily be tempted to do everything. Yet, we will eventually discover our attempts to do everything only bring great complexity and clutter. This is temptation can creep into the church as well. How easy it is to do so many things in the name of God that we lose focus on God.

So as we begin to wind down our time, let me mention a few thing our text tells us about a simple corporate fellowship.

A Simple Fellowship According to 1 John

A testimony-driven fellowship. “This is the testimony, that God gave us . . .” It’s an amazing thing, isn’t it? God entrusts His word, which is His testimony about His Son, to His church. His testimony is what dictates, directs, and drives His people. Just as a car moves forward when you step on the accelerator, a church moves forward for God’s glory when it’s devoted to God’s testimony. This is why we a praying in 2015 for unusual devotion to gathered worship, for here we rally around God’s testimony together in song, prayer, sermon, and sacrament. What drives and directs your personal life? Family life? John tells us it must be God’s testimony.

A faith-filled fellowship. When God’s testimony goes out, God means for His people to receive it and believe it—to be full of faith. As God’s testimony grow, faith grows and so fear, anxiety, and worry diminish. Have you ever considered how worry and doubt increase when you live apart from God’s testimony? God’s word is what the Spirit uses to stir up faith.

Where a testimony-driven fellowship leads to a faith-filled fellowship, we can expect thirdly the church will be . . .

An alive-to-Christ fellowship. “This is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life.” Life flows into a church in so far as it joyfully concentrates on Christ. The testimony is about Christ, the faith is in Christ, and so life come from Christ. What is it that most excites you or enlivens you? What is it that most animates us as a church? Oh, may it increasingly be the glory of Christ, for life is found in Him alone.

Simply authentic fellowships aim for three basic things: devotion to God’s testimony, growth in faith, and increasingly love toward Jesus.

Why should you believe God’s word? Because Jesus’ baptism, cross, and spirit shout forth its truth. What happens when you believe God’s word? You find life in Christ. Let us then take God at His word.

This post is adapted from my recent sermon, “The Love of Life,” on 1 John 5:6-12.

In John 11:25-26 Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Believe His Word

This is fifth of the “I am” statements in John and is stunning. Jesus is saying, “I don’t just teach the resurrection, I am the resurrection. I don’t just believe in God’s power for life, I am God’s power for life. Don’t just believe it, believe in me.” Do you believe this? Do you believe Jesus’ word about Himself? We must remember that true faith is not mere trust in information and facts about Jesus. Rather, it’s belief in Him, in the one in whom all truth resides.

Martha says she believes in 11:27 and soon here sister Mary comes to where Jesus is, weeping, and essentially says the same thing as Martha, maybe with more tenders, but it’s still a subtle questioning of Christ’s love. She says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Mary is essentially asking the question we so desperately want to ask any time we lose a loved one, “Why didn’t you stop it?”

Oh, how we must pay attention to what Jesus does next.

Look at 11:33, “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” English translations of Jesus’ emotional state at this moment are notoriously bad. A more accurate translation is, “Jesus was irate.” It was a phrase often used in extra-biblical literature of a warhorse snorting. Jesus was visibly and audibly irate, but irate at what? I’ve heard most people say—preachers and commentators alike—that Jesus is angry at the great enemy of death. But I’m not so sure. The rest of the text highlights just how easily Jesus could have stopped death if He wanted to. What then brings about His indignant displeasure? I think it’s the subtle (Martha and Mary) questioning of his love and not so subtle questioning of his power in 11:37. There the crowd wonders aloud, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

This irate Savior asks to see the tomb and when He arrives 11:35, the shortest verse in all the Bible says, “Jesus wept.” There is a force in the Greek that means Jesus erupted into tears. As tears of anguish fall down his face, the time has now come for them to see His work.

See His Work

We need not tarry long or complicate the matter here. Jesus says, “Take away the stone,” and Martha, ever the pragmatist, is horrified in 11:39 saying, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Look at Jesus response in 11:40, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” In the kingdom of Christ believing leads to seeing; not the other way around. Is there anywhere you might not be believing in Jesus because you are not seeing it from Jesus?

Now, you must picture the crowds around Jesus at this moment. They are not expecting anything particularly unusual to happen. They believe Jesus is mourning before the tomb, just like they are. It’s why Martha thinks it unnecessary for the tomb to be open and undignified stink to arise. But Jesus has different, unexpected plan.

The stone is moved and look at His prayer in 11:41-42, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” Then with a loud voice he cried, “Lazarus, come out.” One old author said Jesus had to say the name Lazarus lest every person in the grave come out—such is the Lord’s power.

What a scene this must have been! The dead man walks out, covered in burial clothes, and Jesus commands in 11:44, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

If you are not a Christian, you will never find a better portrait of the life Jesus alone can give. The Bible says you are dead in your sin, rags of unbelief ensnare you and garments of sin cover you. There is nothing you can do to make yourself alive. But God makes dead sinners alive when they believe in Jesus. He died in the place of sinners, rose again, and so holds the keys to death and hell. He calls from this text to you saying, “Come out! Turn from your sin and trust in me. And I will loose you from the binds of sin and set you free.” Will you trust His wisdom? Believe His word? And see His work?

This post is adapted from my recent sermon, “The Dead Will Walk Again,” on John 11:1-44.

For most of my soccer career I was in the starting eleven, but when I started playing professionally my spot was less than secure. And so I had a different sense during practice, it was a sense of worry and doubt that I wasn’t doing enough to make the week’s top eleven. I can’t describe to you the feeling when at the end of my second season I was assured of a starting spot. I played with a freedom during practice like I’d never had before. There was power in the assurance you were in the coach’s favor.

In a very real sense, the same thing is true of our spiritual lives. To know you have the Father’s favor and His eye of delight falls on you brings power! In his book on assurance called Heaven on Earth Thomas Brooks said, “Assurance is the beauty and apex of a Christian’s happiness in this life. It is usually attended with the strongest joy, with the sweetest comforts, and with the greatest peace . . . [assurance] is heaven on this side heaven.” John wants us to abide in this assurance, to abide in this power and love. As begin to close I want to simply pull on two threads from our text on the growing power that comes when churches abide in assurance.

Abiding in Assurance Brings . . .

Growing reliance on God. Look again at 4:16, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.” If you have an NIV it says, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.” Although the Greek word there is best translated believe, rely communicates something that’s integral to belief — reliance. To believe the chair you are seated in will hold you up is to rely on its strength. To believe the light will turn on is to rely on the power of electricity. To believe God has loved you in sending His Son is to rely on His love. Is there any better place on which to place our reliance than God’s love?

• Maybe you are in great anguish or suffering; rely on His love.
• Maybe your children are running away from everything you hold dear; rely on His love.
• Maybe relationships with a friend or family member seem to be falling apart; rely on His love.
• Maybe secret sin is lurking and seems like it will win; rely on His love.

John says we can rely on God’s love because we believe He’s sent His Son. Which leads to the second thing assurance brings to God’s people . . .

Deepening confidence in Christ. 4:17-19 tell us that faith in the love of Christ on the cross means we can be confident to stand before the God of the universe on the day of judgment. If we can stand before the judgment seat of the God of the universe and not have our knees knocking, what fear can stand against us? To abide in assurance is to live in the powerhouse of confidence in Christ. Are we church confident in what Christ is done? Is doing? I am, I see it everywhere in your lives and our life together.

Emily and I were recently talking about something related to the church, something in which many might be fearful, and I told her, “I have no fear whatsoever.” We have God’s Spirit, we believe God’s word, we trust God’s love, and we love God’s people. Why would we fear? What power there is in such assurance.

Living in God and loving like God are the two feet on which assurance moves. May He give us growing reliance and deepening confidence in His love for us in Christ. May we abide in assurance and so live in loving power.

This post is adapted from my recent sermon, “The Love of Abiding,” on 1 John 4:13-21.

I think I was probably 11 or 12 when I discovered that my soul quakes at heights. My family used to vacation in the summer at a camp in Colorado called Horn Creek. One of the weekly activities for the courageous spry was to climb Horn Peak, some 13,500 feet in the air. So my dad and I took off. Eventually we made it to Little Horn, which is about 500 feet short of the summit. We sat down, I looked down, and said to my dad something like, “I don’t want to go any further.” The thought of going just another 500 feet to the highest point was terrifying—I was quaking even though I wore a hat proclaiming, “No Fear.” So down we went.

The next year we returned to Colorado and conquered the Horn. I think I also conquered my somewhat debilitating fear of heights. But thoughts of summits still make my heart flutter. Who can stand at the Grand Canyon, look out and not tremble in awe? Who can look down from Mt. Everest and not be moved? To stand on or next to grand heights will always move the soul; it’s part of being an ordinary human being.

From the last three words of 4:8 through 4:10 we come to the Grand Canyon of God’s grace and the Mt. Everest of God’s love; we come to the cross of Jesus Christ. The most hallowed ground in history. Will you be moved? God intends you to be and John intends you to be.

How might we know that God is love? John says look at the death of Christ. Notice 4:9, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” Love came so that we might live. How does His love in Christ bring us life? Look at 4:10, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” I want you to see two things about God’s love in this most precious of verses.

2 Truths About God’s Love

God’s love is a sovereign love. His love is not a response to ours, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us.” He initiated the work of salvation according to His own eternal, sovereign decree of love. The cross shines forth and shouts out God’s sovereign love.

God’s love is a satisfying love. He “sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” What is this word “propitiation?” “Propitiation” is a sacrifice that satisfies divine wrath. It was on the cross that Jesus suffered, and His greatest anguish was not the immense physical pain associated with crucifixion, but the agony of being treated by the Father as a sinner. He who knew no sin was made to be sin, and so suffered the wrath of God. And His suffering was perfect for God’s wrath was satisfied. As the hymn says, “Til on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.”

Interestingly enough, last summer a mainline Presbyterian denomination, the PCUSA, published a new hymnbook and much hullaballo ensued about their decision to not include “In Christ Alone” in the book. They’d contacted the Keith Getty and Stuart Townend (writers of “In Christ Alone”) asking them if the denomination could change “the wrath of God was satisfied” line to “the love of God was magnified.” The writers declined and the denomination yanked it from the hymnbook. God’s wrath is something they’d rather remove than sing about, and what they don’t realize is that to apologize for God’s wrath is to rob Jesus’ of due honor and praise. To lessen the wrath of God is to make light of the sin of men, rob majesty from Jesus’ work of propitiation, and steal glory from God’s love.

If you are a Christian, are you affected by this incredible sovereign and satisfying love of God? If not, let me submit to you that it’s probably because you have a low view of sin and thus of God’s wrath. If God’s wrath is not great, your experience of His love will be small.

Maybe you’re not a Christian, if so, you just stop and consider here the wrath of God towards sin. The Bible says we all have been born in sin and sin makes us indifferent towards God. But God is not indifferent towards sin; it is a traitorous offense that demands His consuming wrath. That wrath will fall on you if you don’t turn from your sin and trust in Christ. Eternal life, not wrath, can be your portion if you believe Jesus is the loving savior from your sin.

What, for John, is the logical outcome of God’s love for us in Christ? Notice 4:11, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” Love for one another is thus the grateful duty of every person who knows God’s supreme love revealed at the cross.

Love one another because of who God is and love because of what God did.

This post is adapted from my recent sermon, “The Love of God,” on 1 John 4:7-12.

In all the soccer of my youth I had no small number coaches who employed a particular tactic to assess whether or not any of us were practicing on our own: they would look at the wear and tear on the ball we brought each week. The more wear and tear the more likely it was the player was doing hard work on his own time to increase his skill. Devotion to the game would show on the ball itself.

Something similar happens with God’s word; devotion to the Bible will show in our lives. As we begin to close I want to think about a few ways in which 1 John ought to rub off on us, ought to show up in our life together. In our passage John is continually addressing the church—the pronouns are overwhelmingly plural. One of the great things about John’s repetitive teaching is that even though these things I’m about to mention come out of 4:1-6 they are found several other places in the book.

Living in the Truth of 1 John 4:1-6 Means an Authentic Church Will . . .

Think discerningly. This is the crux of John’s teaching on antichrists: “Don’t believe everything you hear, be discerning.” What is discernment” We can define it as: “the skill of understanding and applying God’s Word with the purpose of separating truth from error and right from wrong.”¹ The degree to which you are growing in understanding and applying God’s word will be the degree to which you are able to think discerningly. Where devotion to God’s word increases, discernment increases.

Now, I think we need to recognize “[t]here is a sickness behind this command: it makes me unteachable.” ² Soon I’m weighing the teachings of anyone and everyone to a point where I become the final arbiter of truth. So how to we combat this? First, by remembering the command to think discerningly is a corporate command. Second . . .

Listen eagerly. John says in 4:6, “We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us.” For us in the 21^st century that means, “Whoever knows God, listens eagerly to his word.” The Bereans in Acts 17 are commended for their humble discernment and hear the key: “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”

How is your eagerness to hear God’s word read, preached, and studied? If you aren’t devoted to listening to his word, how will you grow in discernment? John says, “How can you be sure you are a Christian?” Think discerningly, listen eagerly, and finally . . .

Fight confidently. We’ve said enough on this point, but lets settle our souls here. The cosmic battle we are in is primarily a war over truth. False teachers and antichrists abound, but we need not fear our position in the battle “for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

Faithful churches don’t believe everything they hear and fight for truth without fear. They are places where the Spirit of truth saturates their life together. And where the Spirit is moving we know joyful exultation in Christ will be growing. For the spirit of error distracts attention from Jesus, while the Spirit of truth empowers our souls to concentrate on the majesty of Christ. May God help us to live in the Spirit of Christ and so exult in the truth of Christ.

This post is adapted from my recent sermon, “The Love of Truth,” on 1 John 4:1-6.

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John says, “And now, little children, abide in him.” We saw last week how the command to abide in Jesus means continually living in Jesus through His word and in His spirit. Such abiding, John says, has a future purpose.

The Pure One is Coming

Notice how the verse continues, “[A]bide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.” Jesus is coming soon and John says you will either stand in confidence or shrink in shame. Never forget that Jesus’ second coming will be one of comfort for some and terror for others. What is it specifically that John thinks will give confidence at Jesus’ coming? Devotion to God’s word and Spirit; abiding in Jesus. Continuance in Christ now gives confidence then.

See now how in 2:29 John elaborates on this relationship with Jesus. He writes, “If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” This is like John’s spiritual paternity test: if God is your Father, if you’ve been born of him you be growing in the practice of righteousness. That’s one way to know if you are truly a Christian. It’s also our first clue on what “being like Jesus” means—it means growing in righteousness, as He is righteous. But what does that look like? Practicing righteousness is reflecting the standard of all that is good and true. Jesus is righteous; He is the standard. We are to reflect Him, abide in Him . . . be like Him. Remember now, our righteousness isn’t the cause or condition of the new birth, but it is the evidence of it.

A Theological Rabbit Trail of Love

Do you have anyone in your life who tends to pursue rabbit trails in conversation? Or maybe your small group is often chasing down a conversational rabbit. If so, you have good company with John. The mention of people born of God gets John going down a wonderful rabbit trail for a few minutes as he thinks about the joy of the new birth; the reality that dead sinners can be made alive in Christ. Look at 3:1, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” This may be the height of John’s amazement at and adoration of God in the whole letter. The Greek word he uses for “what kind of” (patopen) means “of what country” and show us how unusual God’s love is: it’s of another country, another world! John wants us to feel the force of God’s love and find it taking our breath away.

As soon as each one of our boys has been able to say, “Daddy,” I’ve given them a Stone family catechism of sorts. I ask, “Who loves you?” To which I train them to say, “Daddy.” In the course of a normal week whether it be driving in the car, wrestling, or during times of discipline the question will randomly pop up, “Who loves you?” By this point the training is so engrained within the boys answer with as much though as they give to breathing.

I can’t help but wonder if the same thing has happened to many us as Christians. We know the truth of God’s love and are functionally unaffected by it; that’s how familiar it is to us. We are in a sad state if we are not surprised by God’s love for us. For why should he invite us into His family? Or maybe you are so aware of your own sin that you think, “Why would He welcome me into His family? He’d never want me.” The simple answer is: because He loves you. Faith in Jesus is the confirmation of God’s love. For faith God’s gift of grace to those whom He loves. Do you have faith, even small faith, in Christ? Than you know God loves you.

This post is adapted from my recent sermon, “The Light of Righteousness,” on 1 John 2:28-3:10.

In 1 John 2:18 the apostle writes, “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.” In the New Testament “the last hour” refers to that whole period of time between Jesus’ ascension to heaven and His immanent second coming from heaven. What, for John, proves the fact the last hour is at hand? The presence of antichrists.

Even though the concept familiar to the Old Testament, Jesus, and the apostle Paul, John is the only biblical author to use the word “antichrist.” He says there is an ultimate antichrist that is yet to come, but many antichrists—small copies of the one to come—have already come. Have you ever considered that antichrists may be much closer to you than you think? How might you notice them? In 2:19-23 John gives us three truths about ordinary antichrists.

3 Truths About Antichrists

#1: They will depart from the church. Look at we he says in 2:19, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” Those who do not continue in the fellowship of Christ reveal they were never truly in fellowship with Christ. This verse also tells us that little “a” antichrists are not just prominent political powers or religious rulers. They often show up in ordinary churches. They are eventually unmasked by their unwillingness to stay in Christ’s church.

#2: They will deny Jesus is the Christ. Notice 2:22-23, “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” To believe Jesus is the Son of God is the doctrine that makes Christianity different from all other religious. Why is denying Jesus as the Son such a big deal? Simply put, to deny Jesus is the Son is to deny He is God’s perfect source of revelation and salvation. Jesus incarnation as the Son of God, His coming into history as one man in two natures (divine and human) is the central tenant of our faith. As such He perfect revelation of God, Jesus as the Son, makes God known. And then Jesus as the sinless substitute achieves salvation for His people. Anyone who denies Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, is an antichrist.

Lest we think that denying Jesus is something other people do, let not forget we can deny Jesus with our lips and lives. Have you fallen into persistent hidden sin? Is that not a denial of Christ’s commands and calling? Run to him tonight and lay hold again of the blood of Christ that cleanses from sin.

#3: They will deceive those in the church. The final distinguishing mark according to this passage is in 2:26 where John says, “I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.” An antichrist is never one who is content to sit on the sidelines, they are covert operatives for the kingdom of darkness. An antichrist is a spy of Satan who continually offers counter-intelligence and disinformation to the church. Their mission is destruction through deception.

This post is adapted from my recent sermon, “The Light of Truth,” on 1 John 2:18-27.

–This post is adapted from my recent sermon, “The Light of Eternity,” on 1 John 2:15-17.–¹

One of the more interesting things about 1 John is that the apostle is much more concerned with declarations than duties. Have you noticed how he’s consumed with declarations of truth and reality? We been in his message for a month and it’s not until 2:15 we encounter John’s first command. In fact, 1 John has fewer commands, in terms of their percent to the whole letter, than any book in the New Testament. Thus, we want to give unique attention to those imperatives he does give us.

His point in our three verses is piercing: Love for the world is incompatible love for God. Just as Jesus said you can’t love two masters, John says only one thing can ultimately captivate your affection: the world or the Father. It’s a clear separation we want to see and feel. What we want to experience from this text is what John says about the nature of true faith: Authentic faith is the treasuring of God above all else. Genuine Christians are those who, more than anything in this world—power, pleasure, possessions—treasure the surpassing beauty and glory of God.

YOU CAN’T LOVE THE WORLD AND LOVE THE FATHER

2:15 says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world.” That’s the command, but notice the verses also give us a warning, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” We must remember the Bibles warnings are not restrictions from an irritated God who doesn’t want us to enjoy ourselves. Nor are they relics of a bygone era, irrelevant to those of us in the 21^st century. God’s warnings are expressions of His mercy and wisdom, given for our good to protect us from sin and its consequences. “Love for the world,” John warns, “proves you don’t love the Father.”

We need to think rightly about what John means here when he says, “Do not love the world.” Throughout John’s gospel and letters “the world” is a phrase used in different ways depending on the context. An over-simplification of it is that there are two ordinary ways to understand “the world”:

2 Ways to Understand Loving the World

1. Loving the world as the holy love of redemption. Think of John 3:16 here, “For God so loved the world,” He sent Jesus to die for sin. That’s a love for the world we should emulate and cultivate in our lives. But that’s not what John is talking about here. He’s talking about . . .

2. Loving the world as the selfish love of participation. This is how John most commonly refers to the world in 1 John. If you sat down and read through the whole letter in one sitting you’d notice how, for John, the world is the devil’s playground. It currently lies in his grip, 1 John 5:19 says.

I had a friend several years ago whose favorite home appliance was a vacuum sealer. He’d routinely make a large batch of some kind of food, divide it up into small plastics bag, turn on his cherished device and suck every ounce of air from the bags.

John’s telling us love for the world function like Satan’s vacuum sealer. Cherished worldly desires suck out the life in our love for God. Have you noticed your love for God waning recently? Does it feel as though your devotion and joy in Christ is disappearing? Our text says it’s probably because your love for the world is raging in fresh ways. You can’t love the world and love the Father.

Throughout the ages of Christianity people have often defined worldliness as living outside a specific set of rules or conservative standards. If you listen to music with a certain beat, dress in fashionable clothes, watch movies of a certain rating, or indulge in certain luxuries of modern society, you must be worldly. Others have called out these fundamentalist tendencies and assumed worldliness is impossible to adequately define, so we shouldn’t even bother with it.

Yet John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, cuts through both false ideas by taking us the debate down to its true level: to the heart. For that’s where worldliness is. Notice what he says in 2:16, “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.”

He gives us three perspectives on worldliness. Let’s take each one in turn.

• “The desires of the flesh.” This is quite broad, it has in mind any sinful interest that draws us away from God or any sinful passion that makes fellowship with God impossible. We might think of this as the preoccupation or obsession with things of the flesh. For many today this it’s something like the preoccupation with physical pleasure that often manifests itself in pornography, and physical gratification outside of God’s design in marriage. Or for others it’s the obsession with body image, the compulsive chiseling of a body that will soon lie in dust. Obsessive desires of the flesh chip away at one’s obsession with God.

• “The desires of the eyes.” The eyes are like window into the soul, giving us chances to not just see, but to covet. This is what happened with Eve in the Garden of Eden, she saw the fruit was pleasing to the eye (Gen. 3:6). This is what happened with David when he committed adultery with Bathsheba, he saw “the woman was very beautiful” (2 Sam. 11:2). The old children’s song is right when it warns, “Oh be careful little eyes what you see.” What sights consume you vision each day? Satan loves paint and put pretty things in front of you and dare you to resist. Sometimes his schemes are overt, but most of the time they are covert. He’s ripping apart your love for God with all kinds of little things your eyes take in each day. Satisfying the sinful desires of your eyes steals captivation with God’s beauty.

• “The pride of life.” One way to translate this phrase, and better captures the meaning John has, is, “The pride of possessions.” In this perspective worldliness is the boastful pleasure in what you are in the world and what you have in the world. The worldliness of pride puts self on the stage and says, “Gaze upon my greatness.” We do this in so many subtle ways. How often in a conversation do you insert something about your life, so that people might be impressed?

What are you tempted to love more than God? How you answer that question exposes the place where worldliness has crept into your heart.

So then, what is worldliness? From 2:16 here’s my definition: the gratification and exaltation of oneself to the exclusion of God. ² It’s to cherish the treasure of me more than the treasure of God.

You can’t love the world and love the Father. Notice now in 2:17 how John says, “You Can’t Love the World and Live Forever.”

YOU CAN’T LOVE THE WORLD AND LIVE FOREVER

He writes in 2:17, “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” As sure as any snow that falls in Texas will eventually melt, so too will this world and its desires pass away. So John’s point is, “Why on earth would you preoccupy yourself with them?” Pray for God to protect you from, what John Owen called, “living affections to dying things.” Did you see the promise in 2:17? “Whoever does the will of God abides forever.” Spirit-wrought obedience is the great seal of salvation and gives assurance of life everlasting. There is no future whatsoever in the things of this world, but there is a future in godliness. As Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:8, godliness “holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” Love the world and die forever, or love the Father and live forever—which will you choose?

Last year when I turned thirty I had spent time considering my first three decades of life, my successes and failures. I found myself resonating with Philip Henry, the father of Matthew Henry, who said at the dawning of his fourth decade: “So old and older than Alexander when he conquered the great world; but I have not subdued the little world of myself.” ³ Have you ever felt that way? Maybe you are even feeling that way now, in light of our text?

The Bible’s warnings intend to call us to sober self-examination. While being a vital thing, examination is a dangerous thing. The Spirit means for it to stir us to conviction, yet Satan means for it to stir us to condemnation. The Wicked Worm loves to speak into your hearts lies like, “You’ll never be able to give up the things of earth you love so much. You are beyond hope.”

You are beyond hope if you try to overcome the world with your own strength of self-denial. You are beyond hope if you try to conquer desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, and the pride of life with strenuous, near monastic self-control. So how can we overcome? Flip over to 1 John 5:4, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” Faith in Jesus makes one born again, and the new birth severs our satisfaction with the world. He overcame so that we might overcome. Authentic faith is the treasuring of Christ above all else.

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–This post is adapted from my recent sermon, “The Light of Love,” on 1 John 2:7-14.–¹

John’s opening salvo in his message came in 1:5 when he said, “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.” Since then he has guided us to see how we might know we are truly walking in the light with God. At the end of chapter one he said increasing consciousness and confession of sin reveal true fellowship with God. We saw last week in the beginning of chapter two that we know we are in Christ if we obey his commands.

His instruction continues in our text with the test of genuine love for fellow Christians. His burden in this passage is oh so simple, “A church who lives in the light walks in love.” I want to hone in on that truth with this main point: Love for the family of Christ is the true test of living faith in Christ.

TAKE HEED!

Look at how 2:7 and 2:8 begins, “Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment . . . At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you.” Do you wonder if John is merely confused in his old age? He refers to a commandment that is simultaneously old and new. How is that even possible? The context makes clear he’s talking about the command to love each other (cf. John 13:25; 2 John 5). So here’s the question we must ask at the outset, “In what sense is the law of love old and new?

In What Sense is the Law of Love Old and New?

First, it seems likely John’s opponents in Asia Minor accused him—and other church leaders—of theological novelty in their confession of Christ. An easy rhetorical swipe in religious debates throughout the centuries has been to call some doctrinal teaching “new.” Novelty ordinarily undermines theological stability. Thus, John wants his readers to know that his commandment actually isn’t new; it’s not something he recently invented.

Notice how 2:7 helps us see what John means by the law’s “oldness.” He says, “[This is the] old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.” When John refers to the message heard at the beginning he always referencing the gospel message that arrived with Christ. Anyone familiar with the ministry of Jesus would know his command to love was a central tenet of his teaching. So, the law of love is old because it originated with Jesus, in his commands and ministry.

But in what sense is it also new? Look at 2:8, “[The] new commandment . . . is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.” That last phrase “the true light is already shining” is a favorite way that John, in his gospel (Jn. 8:12; cf. 1:19; 3:19; 9:5; 12:35, 46) likes to talk about a new age dawned with Jesus. The law of love is new because it culminated in Jesus. One commentator say that in Jesus “a new era has dawned, a new age has come, a new empowering light is shining, all of which give the church new possibilities for love and a new imperative” to love. And if you survey Jesus’ teachings on love I think you can summarize its “newness” in three ways:

• It was new in its emphasis. In Mark 12:30 Jesus said the greatest commandment is loving the Lord with your whole being and right next to this is loving your neighbors as yourself. Loving God and loving your neighbor are two sides of the same “commandment coin.” And as common as that might be today, we have no record of anyone combining them before Jesus.

• It was new in its extent. To an orthodox Jew the Gentiles were not to be loved; they believed God created the Gentile peoples for hell. But Jesus called His people to love everyone, to share his love with the Gentiles nations.

• It was new in its example. John wants us to know that just as the sunrise pierces the night, Jesus’ life and death broke the dark dominion of sin. And at the epicenter of His burning light is white-hot love for His people. As he said in John 15, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus death on the cross is the greatest display of love the world has ever seen because it shattered sin forever.

If you are not a Christian, oh how I pray you would know this love of Christ. The Bible says God showed his love for us that even while we were still sinner, Jesus died for us. Where are you turning for love? Anything or anyone in the world can never love you perfectly, but Jesus, the King over this world, will love you to the uttermost. He only calls you to turn from your sin and trust in Him.

Church, we can’t miss the spiritual gold John tucks away in the middle of 2:8, this new commandment of love “is true (lit. “genuine”) in him and in you.” John expects the church of Christ will reflect the love of Christ. What kind of love do you have for your brothers and sisters in Christ? John believes it is to be quite literally “otherworldly.” We are corporately tested by our love for each other.

I once saw an article that during World War II the United States loved to have a color-blind soldier on reconnaissance and spotter flights because they could not be fooled by the ordinary and colorful tricks of camouflage. Seeing in black and white let them cut right through to the truth.

It seems like John is almost colorblind spiritually, he always categorizes people in black and white categories. For notice, as we move into 2:9-11, how he puts people into one of two categories: lovers or haters.

Look at 2:9, “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.” The point is clear enough, true Christians and true churches reveal the light by their love. But what’s interesting is John polarization of categories. You might be thinking, “Just because I don’t love someone doesn’t mean I hate them.” But John intends to lift us out of the casual indifference we can be tempted with towards our fellow Christians. What ways this week can you more greatly channel God’s love into the lives of your fellow church members?

See now John’s positive contrast in 2:10, “Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.” I want to come back to this verse more at the end, but for now we need to see how John is bringing all the previous strands of teaching together in this verse. In chapter 1 he said we are to walk in the light as He is in the light. Last week John spoke of obedience to Jesus’ commands in general as the way we test ourselves. This week he speaks of obedience to the love commandment in particular is the ultimate test of assurance. Love is the living evidence of new birth and eternal life.

Notice how John returns to the dark side in 2:11, “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.” He’s upped the ante here hasn’t he? The first part of 2:11 echoes 2:9, but then he compounds the spiritual danger of hating one’s brother by saying us it makes one wander around blind in the darkness. A lack of love is like a spiritual blindfold over the eyes of your heart. It’s blinds you from seeing that satisfaction and salvation are found in Christ alone. Hatred blinds the heart and hardens the soul to that a person only wanders deeper and deeper into sin.

John point is quite simple isn’t it? “A church who lives in the light walks in love.”

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