Good morning, everyone. It's good to be with
you this morning as we get into God's Word as
we Study it together and as we think about these
things together indeed it is great to be loved
by our God and Also have the opportunity to love
one another One year Shelley and I visited the
Australian Army Museum in Fremantle now if you've
never been there you should go you would enjoy
it. One of the great areas that you see when
you first walk in is the area where they have
pictures of Victoria Cross recipients, VC recipients,
those who have received the Cross, this Victoria
Cross Award for their sacrifice, for their efforts
to save others. for their efforts to face the
enemy and to deal with the risk and sometimes
even losing their life. The acts that we read
about, the stories that were written there were
really inspiring, actually quite challenging
as well. Each of these recipients faced very
difficult circumstances and gave their lives
or gave a great effort to save and rescue their
fellow soldiers. After reading many of the accounts,
I was surprised by the remarks of one of the
VC recipients who actually ended up being a governor
in New South Wales, of all places, but his name
was Sir Rodan Cutler. I'm going to read you what
he said about the Australian soldier. He said,
the Australian soldier is known for not being
good at taking orders. A captain who orders his
men to exit the trenches and go charge the line
will find that his men are not good at that.
However, if the captain jumps out of the trenches
and says, come men, follow me, he will find that
the Australian soldiers will follow him. The
Australian soldier will follow their commander's
lead. John's teaching in what we see here in
1 John chapter 2 verses 7 and 8 talks about an
old command and a new command. The new command
comes from Jesus lips way back in the book of
John in the gospel of John chapter 13 verse 34.
Just as I have loved you, you ought also to love
one another. That's the command. And our brave
king sacrificed himself to face the enemy, our
enemy, and to rescue us. The command to love
one another is not from the lips of a king who
gives the order, go and charge the enemy, and
stays in the trenches himself. Our king ordered
us out of the trenches, but he went first. He
went ahead and we follow his lead giving sacrificially
and sacrificing and loving one another For those
in Christ so what we read in first John chapter
2 verse 6 So a little bit earlier than where
we started this morning in first John 2 6 for
those of us in Christ Whoever says he abides
in him ought also to walk in the same way in
which he walked. We follow the lead of our Savior.
Genuine fellowship with God in Christ leads to
genuine love for others who are in Christ along
with us. So how will we as a church and how will
us as individual brothers and sisters, how will
we love? one another. Well, He loved us, so we
need to follow Jesus' command, right? To love
others. So don't be surprised that the King gives
us a command. He's in charge. We're in His kingdom.
This is where we belong. He's called us to live
here in His kingdom. Therefore, we are to keep
the King's commands. Again, chapter 2 verse 4,
just leading into the passage that we're in,
says this, someone who says, I know the king,
I know Jesus, but doesn't keep his commands.
Chapter 2 verse 4 says that person is a liar
and the truth is not in him. Now that's really
strong language, isn't it? If you're not obeying
the king's commands, then you're a liar if you
say you know him. Wow. That's pretty tough, but
it underscores the expectation of what we're
meant to do as brothers and sisters in Christ
in the kingdom of our Savior So there's two commands
here that Jesus talks about sorry that John talks
about this old command this new command and Together
they teach a crucial truth the gospel command
to believe Jesus to trust him is directly linked
to the command to love one another. So let me
just walk you through it. The old command is
this. We see it in verse seven, so we're finally
getting to our passage now. You're probably thinking,
why is he going to back to all these other passages?
Okay, we're in a passage now. Verse seven, John
writes, an old command you had from the beginning.
The old command is the word that you have heard.
What was that word that they heard? Well, they
first heard about this king. They first heard
his command when they heard the gospel. Remember,
in the opening of John's letter here, 1 John,
chapter one, verse three, he talked about Jesus,
his readers, hearing the apostles. hearing from
the Apostles and the Apostles heard and they
touched and they saw Jesus who is the word of
life and then John proclaimed this word to the
people and They believed and they became brothers
and sisters who shared in fellowship with the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and all
those who believe So by believing we become part
of the kingdom of God then we take on and live
that way. We obey the old command when we believed
the gospel. That's the old command. But then
John again appeals after our passage. He says,
let what you heard from the beginning, this is
chapter 2 verse 24, let what you heard from the
beginning abide in you. If what you heard from
the beginning abides in you, so believing on
the Lord Jesus, trusting Him, then you too will
abide with the Son and the Father. And His promise
is made to us. And it's this eternal life. So
by obeying the command, we enter into a fellowship,
into this relationship with God and we have eternal
life. That's the initial command, the old command.
Now let's get to the new command. Verse eight.
He mentions this new command. At the same time,
it is a new commandment that I'm writing to you.
Now, he doesn't separate the old from the new.
The gospel command to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and the new command to love one another
are linked. You enter the kingdom. You become
God's child by believing in the Son. And your
faith in Jesus connects you to this new kingdom.
And you love those in that kingdom as well. John
says, and this is the commandment that we believe
in the name of his son, and we love one another
just as he commanded us. So these verses, chapter
two, verses seven and eight. And right at the
end of verse 8 illustrates the connection of
the old and new commandment using that illustration
of light. John loves this illustration. He talks
about light often. Light and contrast to darkness.
Now Jesus Christ loved his people. That's really
evident from all of the Gospels and really across
all of scripture. Our God loves his people. His
command to love was fully active in Jesus. He
was the one who perfectly loves and So that's
why when John says in verse 8 at the end of verse
8 He says the true light was already shining.
What's he saying? Jesus is light Jesus is the
light of God's love Jesus loves perfectly. He
is light And the astounding truth in verse eight
is that this new command is true and in him,
not only in him, but look at what verse eight
says, and in you. If Jesus is alive in you, if
his light is shining in you, then you are shining
as well. because the darkness is passing away.
Jesus abiding in Jesus and Him abiding in us
means that we are light, the light of Christ
we love as well. The light that shines in Him
shines out from believers as well. Jesus and
his love if I could think of oh, there's bigger
numbers than this But think of Jesus as a two
million candle power torch You know, just this
huge bright if you want to say two billion, that's
fine. If I say two trillion That's fine, too.
Just a big number a very very very bright torch
He's entered your life and he lights it up If
you're a believer in Jesus he has entered your
life and he lights up your life Faith connects
you to the true light and your darkness is passing
away. And again, when we talk about individuals,
we know that God works in individual lives, but
he works in us as well as a body. So don't just
think in your life, but think about what he does
in the life of this congregation. Think about
what he does in the life of the church across
Perth and across the globe and throughout time.
The light of Christ shines and it drives away
the darkness. See, His related, this new command
and old command, it calls us to believe in Christ
and then it calls us to love one another. So
how are you going to love one another? How are
you going to carry this off, this loving for
one another? Because I know you guys, some of
you are very difficult to love. And if you really
got to know me, see I'm smiling and happy up
here, but if you got to know me in my down times,
I'm a little cranky person. In fact, Shelly thinks
that I'm one of the grumps that she really does
love. She loves the grumpy people. If you talk
to Shelly about the history situation, she loves
the grumpy ones in history. And I'm one of the
grumpy ones that she loves as well. I know we're
all difficult at times to love, right? So how
am I going to love you when you're difficult
to love? How are you going to love me when I'm
difficult to love? We need to walk in Jesus'
light. We need to walk with Him. See, John's
use of light illustrates two key issues for us,
two key things we need to take on board. First,
Jesus is the light. That's the first thing we
really need to take on board. Those who say,
I follow Jesus, we are in the light. Believe
it or not, if you're a follower of Jesus, you
are in the light. You may not feel like it. your
light will shine in the light of Jesus will shine
through you that love of Jesus or if it isn't
shining verse 9 is true of you look at what verse
9 says whoever says he is in the light in other
words I'm a follower of Jesus whoever says he
is in the light but hates his brother he's still
in darkness So you can't hide behind spiritual
words, yes, I'm a believer in Jesus, and not
love your brother. It's not allowed. Or to put
it this way, think of it as a test. If you're
hating your brother, but you say you're a believer,
you fail the test. See, we reject the gospel
of the king if we hate our brother. However,
verse 10 is also true. If you're thinking of
that as a test, whoever loves his brother abides
in the light. So you put nine and 10 together,
putting verse nine and 10 together, the right
place to be is in the light. Those who are outside
the light are in the darkness. They hate their
brother, but those in the light, they love their
brother. Jesus two million candle power light
is shining in your life as you love one another
Those who follow him will shine the light of
Jesus light in your life. It will happen As we
walk together with Jesus again that togetherness
You see love is a group activity It's something
we do together I can't just say I'm lover if
I don't have someone to show love to. Jesus from
all eternity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, they loved each other perfectly, always.
Three persons in the Trinity loved perfectly.
And then they love us and bring us in. And so
we love like they love. Well, we're learning
anyway, right? We're learning. Okay, so we learned
the first thing is that Jesus is the light. The
second thing we learned from these commands is
that walking in the light removes stumbling.
Jesus walked in perfect obedience to the Father.
He obeyed all of God's commands. He perfectly
displayed God's love. He is the perfect Son,
and He perfectly loves. And as we follow Jesus,
obedience to His light, or in obedience to His
command, then the light shines in us as well.
The benefit of His light is, look at what verse
10 tells us, the end of verse 10, the benefit
of walking in the light is that there is no cause
for stumbling. The word for stumbling there is
scandal. Scandalon, that's the Greek word, but
you can hear the word scandal. We don't cause
others to stumble. We don't cause others scandal.
We don't desire to see other people tripped up
by our mess -ups, by our lack of love. In my
childhood, my sister and I had an uncle. His
name was Uncle Pete, and Uncle Pete was blind.
And one of the house rules, when we would play
over at my grandmother's house, my grandmother
was married to this guy, Uncle Pete, who was
not my grandfather, he was, but we called him
Uncle Pete. Anyway, so when Uncle Pete, when
we were around the house and we were playing,
our toys had to be picked up when we were done
playing. We also like to set up little... furniture
tents, you know, you put out the blankets over
two chairs and you make a little cubby and we
make little forts. And so my sister and I used
to play around. And when we were done, the house
rule was you picked up all your toys and you
put the furniture back where you found it so
that you didn't cause Uncle Pete to stumble.
However, like little children do, many times
we'd forget that we had put out or left out our
toys or we'd forget to put furniture back and
then we cause Uncle Pete a bit of pain because
he would run into the furniture or you'd stumble
on a toy and if any of you've ever stepped on
a little Lego you know what that feels like so
we we sometimes we messed up our disobedience
would cause Uncle Pete to stumble over our toys
and to hit his shins on the furniture since we
never intended to hurt our beloved uncle When
our disobedience injured him, we always apologized.
Because we had hurt him, we were hurt as well.
We felt bad. You see, we walked in the light
and we wanted to make sure that our uncle did
not stumble and that we had no cause, that we
had done nothing to make him stumble. But when
we failed to obey, when we failed to obey the
house rules, when we failed to love Uncle Pete
properly, we humbly admitted that we caused him
to stumble. Similarly, as Jesus' true followers,
none of us will follow Jesus perfectly. We won't
always get it right. We don't always obey, sometimes
intentionally messing up, sinning. And sometimes
by mistake, we sin by just not doing it right.
We don't want to cause others to stumble, but
when we do, we must humbly admit our disobedience.
We must return to walking in the light. That's
the loving thing to do. Now, what if my sister
and I actually hated our uncle? What if we really
didn't care about him? What if we actually put
out Legos in front of him just so that we could
watch him fall over and stumble? What if we left
out the furniture so that we could just, you
know, have a giggle when he ran into it and goes,
oh, again? We'd be ratbag children, wouldn't
we? I mean, we'd be some pretty awful kids to
make a blind guy stumble. You'd have to be pretty
callous to do that. Essentially, look at verse
11. That's what John is saying. Whoever hates
his brother is in the darkness. You're a rat
bag. And you walk in the darkness and you don't
know where you're going because the darkness
has blinded your eyes. See, again, it's love.
practical ways of showing love, demonstrable
ways of showing love that truly show that we
walk with Jesus. How will you love your brother?
Followers of Jesus, you and I, us together as
a church, as a congregation of God's people,
we need to walk in the light. Just as He loved
us, so we love our brothers and sisters. But
when we don't, we must apply the gospel. Love
can still be shown. Ask Jesus for forgiveness.
He's the lover, the perfect one. He loves his
people. He will forgive. And ask those who you've
sinned against to forgive you. Ask for forgiveness.
When you cause another brother or sister in Christ
to stumble, rely on Jesus' promised love to forgive
you, and allow your brothers and sisters the
opportunity to practice their love for you as
they forgive you as well. We read Leviticus earlier.
Leviticus 19, and there's a lot of commands there.
And did you notice at the end of each one of
those commands, those little sections, it was,
because I am the Lord your God, was the command
there underscored by the fact that God is God.
We need to listen to him because he's God. We
need to do what he says because he's God. Here
we have, in a similar way, Jesus commanding us
to love one another because he's God. And those
were practical things that we saw in Leviticus
19. Love the needy. Love the poor. Love the stranger.
If you see your brother in need, make sure they
have what they need. Don't be false with your
brother. Don't lie to your brother. Don't steal
from your brother. Don't oppress your brother.
These are all from Leviticus chapter 19. Don't
do injustice to your brother always treat them
equitably always treat them with respect and
dignity Don't slander them Don't talk evil. Don't
say untrue things about them Don't hate them
don't seek vengeance if they've done you wrong
don't seek vengeance in return Actually, in Leviticus
19, it isn't just with your brother, it's with
those around you, your neighbors, even the aliens
and strangers among you. Love your neighbor as
you love yourself. That's not just a New Testament
command, it comes from the Old Testament as well.
You see, we overcome... in what Jesus has done
for us in loving us and saving us, not in what
we do. No sin or failure to love others. If we
fail, if we don't, if we don't do this properly,
no sin gets us kicked out of the family. Jesus
work is complete. He saves to the uttermost.
He's taken care of all of our sin. He's accomplished
our salvation. It is all powerful. He is all
sufficient. The darkness is passing. His true
light is shining. But don't hide your sin when
you fail. Don't hide your sin. Instead, humbly
admit your sin. Allow Jesus' love and the love
of your brothers and sisters to shine and drive
out the darkness. Do you remember what Jesus
said was proof to the world that you are Jesus'
disciples? It's from John 13. You are my disciples
if you love one another. That's the proof that
we are really the followers of Jesus Christ,
not our words. but our actions of love towards
one another. Well, our words as well. We do want
to give hugs and say we love you and all that.
All the greetings that we have. Afterwards, each
of you hug one another. Okay, never mind. A holy
kiss? I don't know, whatever. Demonstrate love
for one another. Stay around, socialize, pray
for one another, care for one another. You see,
it's really God's Word here that is feeding and
strengthening us, encouraging us to love, to
care for one another. It's what we're going to
see at the table, Jesus giving His life for us,
that shows us that God has proven His love for
us. God doesn't command us to love without supplying
us with the love that we need to love one another.
God commands and He also gives us the love that
we need to carry out His commands. That's what
Jesus has given to us. That's what He proves
to us with the table. That's what we're going
to celebrate in a moment. God's love for us,
but also in communion, loving one another. I
read an article this week reflecting on the mercy
all of us need from Jesus. as we seek to walk
in obedience. The article told the story of someone
who battled sin and really struggled to properly
love one another. And over time, here's what
this person learned. Here's what he came to learn.
I'm just gonna quote from the article. Christ's
love for him. Was the given on which his life
depended it was the bedrock it was the anchor
on which his life depended the love of Christ
He could daily because of Jesus love he could
daily Seek Christ's mercy for what he needed
forgiveness from the lamb strength from the king
protection in the refuge of Christ's love guidance
under the shepherd's hand. How will we love our
brothers and sisters? We need to follow Jesus
commands. We need to walk in His light. We need
to follow our King out of the trenches and sacrificially
love, forgive, and serve one another. Brothers
and sisters depend on Jesus love to meet all
your needs seek his mercy to forgive your sins
and His strength to persevere in the difficulties
that you face each day Seek his protection from
the evil one and Seek his guidance all along
the way each step of your day. Let's do that
together as the body of Christ here in Armidale.
Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we recognize because
you love us and your light shines in us, our
lives are changed. Lord, we want to see that
darkness driven out, not just individually in
our lives, but this darkness driven out of this
congregation, of the people of God, so that we
would be proper witnesses to a world that we
indeed do love one another because we are followers
of yours. Lord, help us to do this well by the
power of your Spirit and by the love that you
shine in and through us. Heavenly Father, thank
you for sending your Son. Thank you for loving
us. certainly beyond what we deserve, help us
to walk in Jesus' name.