A New Love June 7, John 2:7-11

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1 I. Introduction A New Love June 7, John 2:7-11 To talk about love on a morning when we remember God s love as we celebrate the Lord s Table is very appropriate--1 John 3:16 says, 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 to be the ultimate sign of a genuine believer. As most of you know, Greek has several different words that are translated as love. To be safe, let s review them quickly. First, there is the word agape (avga,ph). Agape is the unconditional, sacrificial love we see in God For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son (John 3:16). Agape type love is more than a feeling, it is a deliberate choice and for that reason God can command that we agape one another. The second word translated as love is phileo (file,w) e.g. Romans 12:10. Phileo is the shared love or strong feelings between family members or good friends. This is often called brotherly love. Philadelphia gets its name from this word. The third word is storge (,storgh) e.g. Romans 12:10. Storge is the natural love between parents and children. This love could be called parental love. The fourth word translated as love is eros (ἔρως). Eros is sexual or romantic love. The word eros is not found in the Bible. It is agape love unconditional, sacrificial love that is to be the sign of a Christian. Because it is an integral part of a Christian s life, agape love is also a sign and an assurance of true salvation. Though the word love appears only once in today s Scripture, love is clearly the theme. In these verses John describes love as an old commandment, a new commandment, and a way of living. II. Love as an Old Commandment Love was an old commandment, God had commanded love of Himself and love of others in the Old Testament--Deuteronomy 6:5 says, Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Leviticus 19:18 says, Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. Paul summed it up in Romans turn to Romans 13:8-10. Love is the fulfillment of the Law this includes the Ten Commandments. In the 2 nd part of verse 7, when John wrote which you had since the beginning, he meant the beginning of the Christian life. When a man or a woman becomes a Christian, they commit themselves to obey God s law, to love Him, and to love others just as Jesus had taught them in 1

2 John 13:35 Jesus taught, By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. When a sinner trusts in Jesus Christ, he receives a new life and a new nature. The Holy Spirit comes to live in him--romans 5:5 says, And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. And with the Holy Spirit come the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The first part of the fruit of the Spirit is love. III. Love as a New Commandment Love of God and love of others is not a new commandment, what is new is the illustration or the example of love Jesus Christ. Such love had never seen before or since turn to Philippians 2:5-8. When one reads through the Gospels, agape love is seen throughout Jesus life. He never showed hatred to others. In His righteousness, He hated all sin and disobedience, but He never hated the people who committed such sins. There was always a feeling of love as He dealt with each person in each situation. For example, consider the woman caught in adultery in John 8:1-11. When her accusers had all left, Jesus didn t berate her; He told her, Go now and leave your life of sin. Jesus agape love was seen in His dealing with the disciples. They broke His heart over and over as they argued who was the greatest or tried to keep people, including children, from seeing their Master. He was patient with Peter s impulsiveness, Thomas unbelief, and even Judas sneakiness. When Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another, He was only telling them to do as He had done. In His life, in His teachings, and in His death, Jesus is the perfect example of this new commandment, Love (agapao [avgapa,w]) one another. This is what helps to make the commandment new in Christ Jesus; we have a new illustration of the old truth that God is love and that the life of love, as seen in Jesus, is the life of joy and victory. John wrote that the new commandment or the new example of love has come Because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. The true Light is Jesus Christ, the light of the world (John 8:12) who had come to establish His kingdom. The birth of Jesus Christ was the beginning of a new day for mankind! As He lived and taught men and women, Jesus spread the light of life and love Matthew 4:16 says, The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. 2

3 The kingdoms of Christ and of Satan are in conflict today--john 1:5 says, The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Proverbs 4:18 says, The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. The darkness is passing away little by little, and the True Light is shining brighter and brighter in our hearts. IV. Love as a Way of Life If one has the Holy Spirit in him, i.e. if he or she is a Christian, then supernatural love agape love should be a way of life. It is easy to talk about Christian love, but it is difficult if not impossible to practice it without the Holy Spirit. But as Paul wrote in Philippians 4:13, I can do everything through him who gives me strength. John wrote that hatred of a fellow believer is evidence that a person is not really in the Light. He is not in the divine kingdom of light but remains in the darkness. Putting it a different way: it is impossible to be in fellowship with the Father and out of fellowship with another Christian at the same time. This is what Jesus was talking about in the Sermon on the Mount turn to Matthew 5: A gift at the altar is of no value as long as the worshipper has a dispute against his brother. To have fellowship with God, one must have fellowship with fellow believers. When a believer doesn t love his brothers, he lives in darkness even though he may think he is living in the light. He thinks he sees, but he is actually blinded by the darkness of hatred. This is the kind of person who causes trouble in Christian groups. He thinks he is a spiritual giant with great understanding, when actually he is a babe with very little spiritual understanding. He may read the Bible faithfully and pray intensely, but if he has hatred in his heart, he is living a lie. John wrote that a second result of a believer not loving a brother is that he may cause him to stumble, i.e. he causes a brother to sin. An unloving brother stumbles himself and in addition he causes others to stumble. The best way to help other Christians not to stumble is to love them. Love lifts others up; hatred or envy or malice makes people stumble and fall. It is important that Christians exercise love in the church, otherwise there will always be problems and disunity. When we are falling over each other in hatred, instead of lifting each other higher in love, we will never become a truly, happy spiritual family. John reiterates that anyone who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. In 1 John 3:15 he wrote, Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. Such loveless people must question their salvation, it s possible that they are outside the 3

4 kingdom of Light and without spiritual life loveless people must be concerned that they don t really have eternal life. John described them earlier in 1 John 1:5-6, This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. This is serious-- such people need to question their salvation if they have made Jesus their Lord and Savior or not. V. Conclusion Jesus Christ is the standard of love for Christians. In John 13:34 He said, A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. What is true in Christ ought to be true in every believer. We need to love others with a sacrificial, unconditional love. In John 15:12 Jesus said, My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. We aren t to measure our Christian love against the love of some other Christian but against the love of Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the new command that will be seen in us. All of us must admit that we cannot create this agape love in our own strength or power. Unconverted sinners, without love and living in spiritual darkness, cannot possibly fulfill Jesus command to sacrificially love one another. They don t have the power of the Spirit to enable them to walk as Jesus walked. By nature what Paul calls the old man we are all selfish and hateful just look at the rest of the world. It is only as God s Spirit fills the hearts of believers with agape love that we can truly love one another. Romans 8:9 says, You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. If we walk in the Light, the Spirit of God gives each believer the ability to carry out the command: Love one another. John wrote that one test or proof of a genuine believer is the presence of agape love for fellow believers. So is a new love a sacrificial, unconditional love obvious in your life? Are you trying to love in your own strength or in the power of the Holy Spirit; paraphrasing Jesus from Matthew 5:16, Does your light your love shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven? 4

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