1 john 2:3-11

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are at 1 John chapter 2, verses 3 through 11. How do we know if the love of God is in us? How do we know if we're truly walking in God's ways? How do we know that we're actually Christians?
Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into what John says about that. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for giving us your written, inspired, perfect Word. God, we pray that we would read and understand. We pray that we would be taught. God, where we need corrected and rebuked, we pray that we would hear and heed, but that also we would be trained. that we would be ready to do righteousness. Please let us walk in the light as you were in the light in Jesus's name. Amen. Here we go. First John chapter 2 beginning at verse 3.
Now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. He who says he abides in him, ought himself also to walk just as he walked.
Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Again in New Commandment I write to you which thing is true in him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes."
Well, we need to ask ourselves our three questions. A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? Well, what is this about? In verses 3 through 6, we have John saying, how do we know that we know him if we keep his commandments? This is a whole section about how do we know that we know God? How do we know that we know Jesus? Because we walk in His ways. We walk in the light as He is in the light.
And so the second part that he says in verses 7 through 8 is, this isn't a new commandment, it's an old commandment. It's the same commandment that the Lord gave us. It's the same one that Jesus gave, and it's the same summary of the law that Jesus gave. What's the summary of the whole law? What are the two greatest commandments?
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Summarizing the first four commandments, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, the first table of the law, and then the second table of the law. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Honor your parents. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not covet. Do not bear false testimony.
All these, I've said those two backwards, but you get the point. All these things are how we love our neighbor. It's not a new commandment he's writing, but it's a re-issuing of this commandment. This is how they're going to know that we're his disciples, if we keep his commandments. if we have love for one another.
So verse 9 and 10, this is the difference between walking in darkness and walking in light. He who says he walks in the light, or he is in the light and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. You can't hate your brother and say that you're walking in the light when Jesus didn't hate his brother, and Jesus is a light, and God is light in him. There's no darkness at all, so you can't say you're in the light if you're not walking in the ways in which Jesus walked.
No, no, you can't do that. He who says he abides in him also himself also to walk just as he walked. That's the same thing first Peter said, right? We walk in his footsteps. So we can't lie to ourselves and hate other Christians and say that we're following after God's ways.
And likewise, he who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. Do you see the hating the brother versus loving the brother? he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes." Right? Hatred is like taking a stick and poking it in your eye, right?
And notice what this is speaking of specifically. There's this thing that came about in the 1900s neo-orthodoxy in saying that the universal love of God, and the universal brotherhood of man, and that all of us are brothers. And while I agree with monogenesis, we are all descendants of Abraham, or sorry, not of Abraham, of Adam and Eve, and through specifically Noah, I don't think that that's what this is talking about here. This is specifically talking about in the household of faith, in the family of faith, amongst other blood-bought redeemed Christians, those who have been filled with the Spirit of God, who cry out, Abba, Father, who have the same adoption as you, if you say, I hate you. How does a love of God abide in one like that?
How can you say you're walking in the light when Jesus paid with his own blood for that person? There's an incongruity there. Something's off. The Lord is helping us here. How do we know? What is a way that we're able to test our lives if we truly love Him? Do we love each other? Do we love each other? that word for love, right, is thrown around all over the place. I have a friend down in Kansas, Kyle Borg, who wrote a great little book, What Is Love? I'd highly encourage it. It's from Crown & Covenant through their Grass Markets Press. I'd highly encourage that book because love today is seen as acceptance.
Love today is seen as just not wanting to hurt somebody else's feelings and even needing to validate them and their lives. But that's not true biblical love. Jesus loved people perfectly and confronted them when they thought wrong, when they lived wrong, when they spoke wrong, when they loved wrong. So love is just not this blanket acceptance. while love looks like truly caring for the other person's eternal well-being. So my pastor, how Micah Ramsey, how he used to describe what is love, he would say, being committed to someone else's eternal well-being. I think it's a beautiful definition.
So do we love? Are we patient? Are we kind? Are we keeping a record of wrongs? Because love doesn't do that. Are we puffed up and proud? Are we quick to anger and irritable? That's not love. And sadly, in the church, we see love breaking down. We see people at each other's throats, unwilling to reconcile, unwilling to love, unwilling to be gracious with another person when they disagree with them.
So we must love. what's the best verse to summarize this? Well, I would underline verse 3. By this we know that we love him if we keep his commandments. And then I would say verse 10. He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. So what are we called to do?
Who is it in the church that you find unlovable? Do you need to endeavor more? to walk graciously with them, to encourage, to bless them. Maybe there are those, even in the church, that you get the sense that they are cursing you. Can you bless them and not curse them? Could you reach out to them? Could you pray for their good? Every time they come to mind, will you actively pray for God to bless them and care for them, to teach them, to love them? Do you truly love your brothers and sisters in Christ?
So much so, even for those who you may have a hard time loving, will you even bless them with the worldly things of this life? When you see them without food or drink, clothing, a place to sleep, gas money, will you help them? Will you care for the unlovable or hard to love?
Because I know what, I'm sure it's hard for Jesus to love me. I look at how sometimes I'm short with my kids, impatient with my wife, and yet Jesus hasn't turned his back on me. He's sanctifying me, showing me my sin. Will you be patient with others? Will you be patient in their sanctification? Will you pray for it and bless them?
Let's pray. God, we pray that we would be filled with the love of Jesus Christ, that we who have received such great love, that we would become vessels of mercy for those, even in the church, Lord, we pray that we would love, that we would care, that we would even lay down our lives for one another. Lord, we thank you for the love you have shown us in your son, Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen. May God bless you because he loves you. May you walk in his love. And I'll see you next time. Bye.