Writing to You
1 John 2:7-14
On April 16th, 1963, a grieved and stressed Dr. Martin Luther King sat in his jail cell and wrote a letter to his fellow ministers pleading with them to respond to the call of the gospel with love and justice in action. He wrote honestly expressing his frustration and pain with white Christians who would not stand with him in the cause of justice. He wrote as churchmen to the church.
In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise?... But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.
And even in his pain and frustration, Dr. King wrote as a brother with a heart of love and charity.
If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.
I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.
Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” was one of the most famous letters in American history. His message resonated with the nation then and his message continues to resonate today.
The thrust of Dr. King’s message was to communicate how the church must be a community of love and brotherhood. The church should not be divided due to ethnic differences but united in their common bond of Christ. The church is defined by their love for Christ and for one another. Dr. King longed for unity within the church and for hatred to swallowed up in love for the day when, “the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.” Beloved, we are called to shine as stars in this dark world so that the world would know Christ.
The Apostle John, like Dr. King, looked at the church and was frustrated and grieved with the lack of love he saw among those who claimed Christ so he wrote a letter to the church. There was a group in Ephesus that decided against love for the body of Christ choosing to hate the brethren and leave the body. As we look at John’s letter written to us, I hope we would be encouraged to love one another and cast aside the dark stain of hatred and truly know who we are in the Lord Jesus.
Writing to you about the Light of Life
If you had lunch with a friend and your spouse asks you, “What did you talk about?” You are probably going to response with 2-3 things that summarized the entire conversation. A short epistle like John’s letter is like a lunch conversation in that it has 2-3 main topics of conversation. You will see the same themes throughout this series which I pray we will be able to examine from many different angles like a jeweler examining a diamond. 1 John 2:7–8
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
John appears to contradict himself by saying he is writing an old commandment then immediately calling that old commandment a new commandment. John does not specify exactly what the commandment is but based on the context it appears it is in regard to loving one another.
The old commandment to love one another is not new to John’s readers. They had heard it from the beginning, most likely a reference to the beginning of the relationship with Jesus Christ. At the time of John’s writing, the incarnation of Jesus would have been, in the mind of John and his readers, long past. The message of the gospel to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ trusting in his death and resurrection as the only hope for salvation proved itself in the ethical command in loving one another. If the first test given to the church for their faith is a moral one, John’s second test of conversion is a social one. One shows themselves to be a follower of Christ in how they love their brothers and sisters in the church. Jesus said in John 13:34-35,
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jesus calls the command to love one another a new commandment. The new commandment to love another is not like the old command to love, but the new command to love in Christ.
Jesus is called his followers to love with a supernatural affection. Consider Jesus re-interpretation of the law in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:43-48,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Christian love is new. It is new because Jesus has come.
John centers his command to love in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has brought in the new age, or the last days. Jesus has ushered in the new age of the kingdom where God’s people are indwelt with the Holy Spirit shown in a supernatural affection for one another in a radical, self-sacrificial love. The darkness or the present evil age is passing away for true light is already shining. Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus shines into the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Jesus demonstrated his great love for us that while we were yet sinners he died for us. Jesus is love and his love overcomes the darkness. Jesus has dawned on the darkness like the rising sun which slowly extinguishes the night as it climbs into the sky. The love of God was clearly seen in Jesus Christ during his life in how he treated people like the promiscuous Samaritan woman, greedy extortionist Zacchaeus, the vile thief on the cross, and even those who crucified him (asking for their forgiveness). The love of God is seen in Jesus and the love of Jesus shined into the world ushering in the new age of the Messiah which will overtake the darkness.
The new age of radical, self-sacrificial love of God’s people is true in Jesus and is true in the church. The church will show a radical, self-sacrificial love to the world in how they love one another. Is your life demonstrated by love? Is this new commandment to love another true in you?
Writing to you about the Lie of Darkness
The early church was not perfect. There were false teachers, harsh divisions, and grievous sin in the body of Christ. The church at Ephesus experienced a bitter split in people walking around from the community back into the darkness. John confronts the lie of those who have returned to darkness and an appeal to those who may be tempted to follow their example. 1 John 2:9–11,
Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 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.
Light and darkness. Love and hate. Christian and Non-Christian. Saved and Lost.
We live in a post-truth age. Truth is relative or everyone has their own truth or what someone says or believes that is their reality. If I were to say, I am seven feet tall and have jet black hair, you would like at me and know I was lying. No matter how much I believed that I was seven feet tall or how much I wished to have black hair, the reality is that I don’t. We cannot merely claim things with our words. We are in an election season and we find our candidates making truth statements that are quickly fact-checked as lies. We are in an age of fake news never really knowing what is true or false. John is teaching that there were some claiming to know Christ and be in the light, but after fact-checking their lives the reality was that they were still in darkness.
The test for your Christianity is linked to your love for the church. You may claim to know Christ, but if you do not love what Christ loves, his church, how can you truly know Christ? The life of Christ was shown in a radical, self-sacrificial love for sinners. Is your life characterized by self-sacrifice or self-protection? Giving to or taking from others? Love or hate? This test that John gives us, is the test that Dr. King was giving the church in 1960s. Listen again to Dr. King’s words,
I have heard numerous southern religious leaders admonish their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers declare: "Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is your brother." In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: "Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern." And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, un-Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.
I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South's beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: "What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?"
Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise?
Dr. King looked at the church and did not see love. He did not see brotherhood. He looked at the church and asked, “What kind of people worship here? Who is their God?”
Beloved, the world is looking at us and watching our twitter feeds and asking, “Who is their God? Who do they worship?” “Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.” I have been deeply saddened in how I see the those who claim to be in the light, walk in darkness toward the body of Christ. Have we lost our witness? The world is watching and what do they see? Do they see love or hate? More than that, if someone had a window into your heart and saw your thoughts of the body of Christ, what would they see? And remember the Lord’s command to us is not merely to love our outwardly, but from the heart. We are called not only to love those who are like us, from the same political party or ethnic heritage, we are called to love all people with empty tomb affection. Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven…For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” Our love does not bring us into the light, but rather it proves that we already belong to the light.
God is purifying his church. In John 15, God is the vinedresser that takes his shearers out and prunes the vine. Jesus says in John 15:1–2, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” The Father cuts off those who hate and are in darkness for they do not belong to the light. He also prunes those who are in the light so that their love may bear more fruit. Every cut hurts, but every cut has a purpose. We have to allow God to cut us to the heart every time we walk in darkness so that we may come back to the light.
Do you ever try to walk around in the house with the lights off? There are some days I get up very early before my wife and I try to be very quiet and keep the lights off so I do not wake her up. Far too often I stumble or run into something because I cannot see. There is no pain like a stubbed toe. The only way to avoid stumbling is to turn on the light so one can see where we are going. John is trying to turn on the lights so we can love. “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.” Darkness has several meaning in John’s epistle. It may be sinful behavior or, like I believe it does here, it means the realm where sinful behavior dominates. Sin is blinding and deceiving. If you walk in the darkness and surround yourself with darkness, you will not be able to walk in the light. Darkness wants to blind you. Turn on the light so you do no stumble away from the truth.
Writing to you about the Life with God
It seems that John makes an abrupt turn in verse 12. He shifts his focus off the negative behavior of those who are hating their brothers and sisters in the church to reminding the church of their special status and relationship with God. John also switches from prose to poetry. If prose appeals to reason, poetry appeals to emotion. Remember John does not only want people to know the truth but to follow it; not only to understand it, but live it. 1 John 2:12–14,
I am writing to you, little children,
because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.
I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, children,
because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
After charging the church to self-examination in how they are loving one another in the church, John shifts to encourage them to reminder what God has done for them in Jesus Christ. We are not saved by what we do or how we love, we are saved by Jesus Christ who is from the beginning who offers forgiveness on account of his life, death, and resurrection.
John addresses little children, fathers, and young men. Some have interpreted that John is referring to three different groups in the church based on their spiritual maturity. Children who are immature believers, fathers who are mature seasoned believers and young men who are growing believers. Although it may be appealing to interpret the text this way, I believe it is more accurate that John is addressing all believers as his children and then those who have more years and those who have less years. John wrote this epistle to help the church know that they belong to the Son and have eternal life. He provided at test in 1 John 2:7-11 and now he wants to remind them of the assurance that they have in Christ.
As we close, let me make 5 quick applications. First, everyone has sin and has been overtaken by the evil one. If you are not a follower of Christ, we want you to know there is a way for forgiveness. But before you know the way of forgiveness, you have to first realize that you need forgiveness. We need forgiveness because of our sin. The Bible is clear that we are all sinners and all of us will have to pay for our sins. Our world may not seem just, but God is just and a just God must punish sin. At the end of history or at the end of your life, you will have to answer for you sin. We sin because we have hearts that want to sin. We sin because we have been captured by the evil one to do his will. Satan lies and deceives us to think that sin is the way to happiness, but if you chase after sin, you will only be left empty. The evil one never makes good on his promises.
Second application, forgiveness is offer in Christ and in Christ alone. Anyone who repents of their sin and turns to Jesus Christ as Lord will be forgiven. We are forgiven for his name’s sake. To be forgiven for his name sake means on account of his name or on account of what Jesus has done for the sinner. Jesus became the propitiation for our sins and not ours only but the sins of the whole world. If you want forgiveness, turn to Jesus and trust in his work on your behalf. Salvation only comes in Jesus Christ. Beloved, how comforting is it to know that we are saved and forgiven on account of his name. We are not saved based on how well we love, but on the object of our love. We are saved because of Christ and what he has done for us. He died for us. He was raised for us. And now he lives with us by his Spirit.
Third application, we have overcome the evil one. One of the lies of the evil one is that we will never be able to overcome sin and temptation. I know that there are some of you here who have fallen to temptation this past week. Maybe it was anger or lust or greed or envy or hatred, but you feel the weight of condemnation because of your sin. Take heart, Jesus Christ has overcome the evil one. And as he has overcome the evil one so have you. You belong to Jesus Christ so whatever he has done has been accredited to you. “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him.” There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You are holy and blameless in Christ. You are a new creation. You are a saint. You are redeemed. You are have overcome the world.
Fourth application, you are strong and the word of God abides you. The reason we can overcome temptation is that the word of God abides in us. We are not strong in ourselves but we are strong because we live in and through the word of God. When we hold fast to the Word allowing it to do its work on our heart and mind, we can overcome the evil one. When Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted by the evil one, Jesus responded to the Devil’s temptations each time, “It is written.” Jesus demonstrated for us how to overcome evil. We overcome evil by the Word of God. We store God’s word in our heart that we may not sin against the Lord and so that we may walk in the light. Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” We are strong in the Lord when we walk by his word. As the great hymn of the faith states,
When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Beloved, be happy in Jesus. Love one another. Walk in the Light. Obey his Word. When you are tempted to doubt God’s love for you, remember he has written you a love letter. 1 John 2:12–14
I am writing to you,
because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.
I am writing to you,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you..
because you know the Father.
I write to you,
because you are strong,
and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
God has written to us of his love. Let us never forget his word for it is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Fifth, and finally, we are God’s letter written to the world. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:2–3,
You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Beloved, we are God’s letter written to show the world that Christ is true. And it is by our love for one another that the world will know we belong to Christ. The world is reading the message of our lives, what are we communicating? I pray our lives are so radically transformed by God’s grace that when people ask, “Who is their God?” that it would be evident that we belong to Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, who while we were yet sinners died for us and was raised to give us eternal life. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light and in him there is no cause for stumbling. People are going to read your life, let us make sure they read the right message.