"The Answer is Yes" 5-26-24

Overview

Old Command or New? The Answer is Yes

Writing to a church besieged by false teachers who denied the full deity and humanity of Christ, John makes a striking claim in 1 John 2:7-8: the command to love is both old and new. It is old because love was woven into creation itself. Adam and Eve were made in pure love—loving God, one another, and creation by nature. It is the same command later given through Moses in Leviticus 19:18: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

But sin shattered our capacity to keep it. From the moment our first parents reached for the forbidden fruit—God had said simply, "don't touch"—love stopped being natural. By the days of Noah, "every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually" Genesis 6:5. When we measure ourselves against Paul's description of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7—patient, kind, not envious or boastful, not irritable or resentful—we stand condemned. Trying harder in our own strength is exhausting and futile. The old command exposes us; it cannot save us.

This is why the command becomes new in Jesus Christ. "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" John 3:16-17. The Light entered the darkness John 1:5, bore our sin on the cross, and rose victorious on the third day. Jesus fulfilled the command we could not keep, and then reshaped it for his disciples: "Love one another, just as I have loved you" John 13:34. The command is no longer rooted in our willpower but in his prior love for us.

The pastoral application is freeing. Through the Holy Spirit—the Helper poured out at Pentecost—God himself works love in and through us. We learn to see our neighbor through the lens of Christ, caring for their well-being and their soul, not because we have summoned love from within, but because "we love because he first loved us" 1 John 4:19. Old command, yes. New command, yes. And the power to keep it rests not on your desire or ability, but on the God who is love working in you.

Transcript

If you would please open your Bible to the first letter of John chapter 2, if you're using 3s

a Pue edition of the Bible, this can be found on page 211 in the New Testament. 10s

We're in 1 John chapter 2. 17s

The context of this letter that John writes, he is writing to the early Christian church, 21s

and he's writing to the church that is under attack of false teachers. 28s

He's writing to them and he says that he writes an old command yet he writes a new command, 34s

which begs the question in this series, this final sermon of the series difficult, 39s

saying, this begs the question, is it an old command or a new command? 46s

And the answer is yes. 53s

The answer is yes. 57s

In the beginning, life was created with the unspoken command to love. 60s

The unspoken command to love, Adam and Eve were created in the existence of pure love. 67s

They were created in a pure love with the Father. 75s

They were created in a pure love with one another. 79s

They were created in pure love with creation. 81s

They were by nature loving. 86s

They were by nature a loving people, but they brought sin into this world. 90s

And love was no longer natural and love was no longer easy. 98s

And it didn't get easier as time went on. 105s

In Genesis, we read that in the days of Noah, the Lord saw that the wickedness of 110s

humankind was great in the earth and that every inclination of the it thoughts of their hearts 116s

was only evil continually. 123s

Every inclination of mankind's heart was only evil continually. 128s

Time continued. Moses entered into the picture and the Lord gave Moses a command to share 137s

with the Israelite people. Leviticus chapter 19, the Lord tells Moses to share 144s

with the Israelites, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The command was to love your neighbor 151s

as yourself. And it still wasn't easy. And it still wasn't 159s

perfect. Centuries went by centuries of rebellion, centuries of cruelty lived out amongst 167s

all men, amongst the Israelites, amongst the Canaanites, amongst all men and women 178s

here on the face of earth. And then God was silent. 184s

We have 400 years that took place between the old and the new 192s

testaments where God did not speak to his people. Where God did not share his word 200s

with the prophets to go forth. The command stood to love your neighbor as yourself 207s

but mankind couldn't and wouldn't and God was silent. God had told them. He had told them 215s

from the very beginning to love. God had created Adam and Eve to love. It is the basis of 227s

existence when Adam and Eve were created. They didn't know anything outside of the 239s

pure love of God. From the first moment that Adam and Eve thrust their teeth into that 245s

forbidden fruit, they were incapable of loving. They were incapable of loving God. They were 252s

incapable of loving one another and they were incapable of loving the creation. 260s

That they had been brought into. The moment they ate of that forbidden fruit, the entire 266s

existence shifted. The entire existence shifted and living in the purity of love 276s

was no longer something that was for them and that was no longer something that was for 286s

the people to come. Life had been forever tainted by that very first rebellion. 296s

When kids are born and brought into this world they rely on the adults around them to help 309s

lead them and teach them and guide them and we all know that that is our role as big people to do for 316s

these young lives. A really common occurrence is when there is a fire or something hot and what 325s

is it that the parents says don't touch. Don't touch. Simple command. Nothing more nothing less, 333s

just don't touch. And as the child grows, more explanation is given. Don't touch. 340s

Hot. Don't touch. It's hot. And the child continues to grow and they understand more and so the 346s

parent says don't touch. When you do the temperature has been risen so it is so hot. It will burn 356s

your skin. Don't touch. And eventually they learn the full lesson. Don't touch. If you touch it 362s

so hot it will burn your skin. It will hurt and you may have to go to the hospital. All. All of it 373s

is based and rooted in the same simple command. Don't touch. Don't touch. When God created Adam 383s

and Eve he placed them in the center of the garden of Eden in the in the paradise itself. And he 394s

said you can touch. You can eat from every single tree you see except for one. The tree of the 400s

knowledge of good and evil. To this tree he said don't touch. Don't touch. He said don't touch. It's for 409s

bitten. Don't touch. It's for bitten. If you touch it you will surely die. Don't touch. It's for 419s

bitten. If you touch it you will surely die. And sin will enter the world and what did they do? They 431s

touched. They touched the tree. They touched the fruit. They took the fruit. They said their teeth 440s

into the fruit and sure enough they brought with it. Sin and death into creation and they were 448s

banished. Banished from the presence of love banished from the presence of God. But it was not just them 458s

that were banished from the garden that day. They acted on behalf of all mankind in that moment. 472s

They rebelled against God and they earned for us for all of us banishment. Separation from God. 484s

Banishment and separation from pure love itself. John was writing. He was writing to a church 495s

that was under attack by false teachings and false teachers. He was dealing with 507s

nostics who were coming in to try to teach things about Jesus that were absolutely not true. 513s

They were denying that Jesus is fully God, fully man. They were denying the very existence 521s

of the second person of the Trinity. They were denying who God is. And so John writes to these people 528s

and he's trying to set them straight and he writes, look with me please at verse 7, he writes, 538s

beloved, I am writing to you no new commandment. But an old commandment that you have had 544s

from the beginning, the old commandment is the word that you have heard. He's saying, you know this. 551s

You know the command. You know the law. You know that this command is not something 561s

fanciful that I'm coming up with. It's from the very beginning of existence to love one another. 566s

It was given to Moses to give to us to love your neighbor as your self. 575s

And yet that command, when we look at that command, 585s

love your neighbor as your self. We see that we are condemned. We are condemned 592s

under the command to love our neighbor as our self. We're condemned because we don't 603s

we can't love our neighbor as ourselves. In first Corinthians Paul writes, 614s

about love he says love is patient, love is kind, love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. 624s

It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice in wrong 633s

doing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, 641s

and doors all things. The old command to love your neighbor as your self. 650s

If this is love, we stand condemned because I am not patient. 661s

Given to my own desires, I am not kind. I am envious and rude and boastful, 675s

arrogant, love my neighbor as my self. 690s

To love as God calls us to love, we stand condemned. Under this command, we can try, 698s

we can try all day long to love our neighbor as ourselves, but if we're being honest, 707s

if we are trying out of our own strength, our own power, our own ability to love our 716s

neighbor as our self, it's exhausting and irritating. We stand condemned because it's not the 723s

natural way for us to be. The command to love cannot be fulfilled by us. The command to love 737s

cannot be fulfilled in our own doing, our own strength. The command to love is fulfilled. 752s

Is fulfilled in Jesus' grace. The command to love our neighbor as ourselves is wounded in 762s

Jesus' grace to His sacrifice, His atoning sacrifice for us upon the cross. 769s

The work that He had done made effective through the resurrection. 777s

The love that we are called to is not in the realm of our reality. 783s

But it is in the realm of God's reality because God is love. In our gospel reading today, 790s

we heard from Jesus where He told Nicodemus God so loved the world that He gave His only son 800s

so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life. 807s

Indeed, God did not send the son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the 814s

world might be saved through Him, God entered into creation. He entered into the flawed 820s

existence of creation in order to save creation. The gospel of John writes how Jesus Christ 832s

is in the light and that the light has entered into the darkness and the darkness has not overcome the 840s

light. And we know that the darkness will not overcome the light. Jesus entered into creation 849s

in order to save creation. And when He went to the cross, He took all of the darkness, all of your 858s

darkness, all of my darkness, the darkness of our sin, and He took it upon Himself. 867s

And He took the punishment for our sin upon Himself receiving the full wrath and fury of the 876s

whole victory that He has over our sin. He gives that to you. As He hung upon that cross, 897s

the whole world was darkened and it looked for a moment that darkness was extinguishing the 911s

light. As Jesus, the light of the world gave His spirit to death. It looked as if all had been 920s

lost that darkness had indeed overcome. Three days later, three days later at the dawn of the morning, 932s

as light began to rise. The tool was found empty. Jesus Christ was found to be resurrected to be 943s

found to be alive and we see that the light indeed has conquered. The light indeed has been 952s

victorious over the darkness. Jesus entered into creation, creation that is incapable of 960s

loving creation that is unwilling to love. And He entered in. The second person of the Trinity love 974s

in its fullness entered into creation in order to redeem creation. In order 986s

to redeem you and to redeem me, the old command to love was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. 997s

To love your neighbor as yourself, it was fulfilled and answered for when He entered into creation, 1012s

dying for our sins, rising victorious over our sins in Jesus' sin. He takes this old command 1021s

love your neighbor as yourself which you and I cannot live up to and He takes this old 1030s

command and He shifts it. And He shifts it to the new. Look with me please at verse 8, 1037s

where John writes, yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in Him and in you because 1046s

the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. God pure love, pure light, 1055s

taking the darkness of sin upon Himself. He did this in order to save us and He promised. 1067s

He promised that He would not leave us lingering but that He would send His own spirit. The Holy 1076s

Spirit, the advocate, the helper who would come and lead us, we celebrated this last Sunday, 1085s

when we celebrated Pentacost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, that His own spirit would dwell 1092s

in us, that would abide in us as we abide in Him. And so we know that this old commandment, 1098s

love your neighbor as yourself is new as it is seen through the lens of Jesus Christ, 1109s

as it is placed in its proper position out of Jesus Christ and His love for us. 1118s

Jesus told His disciples, in the gospel of John, love one another, just as I have loved you, 1129s

you also should love one another. The shape of this command, given by Jesus, 1136s

effective through the Holy Spirit, it gives us new form, it gives us new shape as Christians, 1147s

as we lead our lives. In Christian love, we are enabled to look upon our neighbor 1160s

through the lens of Christ, to look upon our neighbor and have concern for His security, 1169s

have concern for His well-being, have concern for His soul. 1175s

And we find as we look upon our neighbor through the lens of Christ and through the lens of the 1183s

love of Christ, that we can love our neighbor as ourselves, because it is not we who love first, 1189s

but it is Christ who loved us first. And as Christ loved us first, and as we are shaped and transformed 1201s

by His love and His mercy and His grace, we extend that out into those that we meet, into those 1214s

that are in our lives around us. And this is how that old new command is played out. 1225s

In the practical way of our existence, every day, this side of heaven, we are given the opportunity 1233s

to see our neighbor through the lens of Jesus Christ, and we are given the opportunity for the 1242s

Holy Spirit to move in and through us, that we can love our neighbor as ourselves because God has 1249s

first loved us. When He died, Jesus promised to send His own Spirit, and that is exactly what we 1257s

have received. And so Jesus, Jesus fulfilling the command to love our neighbor as ourselves, 1267s

empowers us through His Holy Spirit so that we may love our neighbor as ourselves. 1280s

Old command, sure, yes, love your neighbor as yourself, new command, yes, because it is not 1288s

resting upon your ability or your want or your desire, but it's resting upon the power of God 1303s

outwork in you through His Holy Spirit today and all ways. 1313s