Old Commandment Made New | 1 John 2:7-14 | Walking in the Light
When the Apostle John tells his readers that the commandment he is writing is not new — and then says it is — he is not contradicting himself. He is pointing us to Christ.
The command to love one another is ancient, rooted in the nature of God himself before the foundation of the world. But in Jesus, that command has been remastered. The same song, heard now in full depth and clarity, illuminated by the life, death, and resurrection of the one who loved us first.
In this sermon from our series Walking in the Light, Pastor Mark Groen traces John's movement through 1 John 2:7–14 — from the old command made new, to the sobering floodlight John turns on the church, to the unexpected pastoral comfort that closes the passage. John does not end with the indictment. He ends with assurance: your sins are forgiven, you know the Father, you have overcome the evil one.
The light exposes. But the light also leads us home.
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Thank you for joining us for this week's sermon from First Reformed Church in Edgerton, Minnesota. Each week we dig into God's Word trusting that the Holy Spirit will continue the good work of sanctification in us.
At some point, I think regardless of our age, we have all likely commented on how quickly the passage of time occurs. Sometimes it's in the short term. You can't believe how fast the week has gone or how fast the summer's going, or you may even have made a lot of comments like, "How are we in the fourth quarter of school already? It's just going by so fast." We also have those more long-term examples when you get a wedding invitation for the child of a friend that you don't even remember that they graduated from high school. Turns out, they're in their mid-twenties and they're getting married. And one of the few things that I pay attention to on social media sites are accounts that share anniversaries for album releases. Now many times I have seen someone post that a particular album by a band came out 20 or 25 or even 30 years ago. That makes you feel old really quick. Now, my first response is to doubt the accuracy of that information that has been presented to me. There's no way I'm that old, right? Well, sometimes what I do is I check Wikipedia and find out that it was right.
But most of the time, my memories prove that my objection to the information I've been given is unfounded, because music can be like an imprint on the brain, and I think of a song, and I'm reminded of the period of life that I was in when I remember listening to it, and then I realize I am as old as the calendar tells me I am. Well, as a collector of vinyl records, the passing of time in this way is a benefit because many times they re-release albums on these anniversaries, and getting original releases is expensive or they're just unavailable. Well, due to the release anniversary, what they do is they will use this language— you've probably heard it— they promote these re-releases as "remastered" or remixed. It's pitched to us as an improvement of the original release. Now, sometimes these musical groups will often even go back into the studio and re-record the entire album. Now, when I have pre-ordered a release such as this, I have particular expectations of what will happen when I open up the packaging, take it out, put it on the turntable, and drop the needle on the wax. The expectation is it is going to be the same songs that I remember and that I know.
If they recorded all new songs and put them on the record claiming it to be the original songs, myself and all the others who had purchased it would be quite upset. When it says it's remastered, remixed, or it's a re-recording of the original songs, I expect that I'm going to get the original. And most of the time, these type of things, these re-releases, will draw out different parts of the songs that maybe weren't brought out in the original releases, the original mix, or now maybe it's been changed because we have different types of speakers and headphones. And so as we continue through the second chapter of 1 John, we see John telling us that the command that he's giving is not a new command, but the commandment that they had from the beginning. But he says at the same time, it is new. The coming of Jesus remastered the command of love, and it is His work for us that gives this command to love a distinct clarity and depth. And so what John has written to this point in the book has been substantial. He has established the significance of the incarnation, He has also shown us the importance of acknowledging our sin.
He has also told us how Jesus turned aside the wrath of God for us as his people. You can read what we've been through so far in 1 John in about 90 seconds, maybe less. But what we've seen so far in this book has touched on deeply foundational and practical elements of the Christian faith. And now he lands on the extremely practical topic of loving one another. And he tells us this command isn't new or anything. Often there is this idea propagated to us that the Old Testament was about laws and rules and wrath, and the New Testament is all about love. Well, that isn't the case at all. The fundamental purpose of the law was to instruct us in how to first love God and then how we are to love our neighbor. Remember back several years ago to our series on the Ten Commandments when we dug into those commands and I drew out that there's two tablets of the law. The first table is the first 4 commandments directed towards our love for God, and then we have commands 5 through 10 speaking of our love for our neighbor. And this goes down to the summary that Jesus gave of the law, right?
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength," first table of the law. "Love your neighbor as yourself," the second table. And as John says here, the command to love is from the beginning. Not the beginning of his letter, not from the beginning of the church in the book of Acts, or back to the start of the earthly ministry of Jesus. The command to love is a command from all time. When John speaks of the beginning, whether it be in talking about Jesus or the idea of loving one another here, he is going all the way back to before the foundation of the world. And he is expressing to us that this is the way things have always been. It's not a new idea that he and the other apostles came up with last Tuesday. It is inherent in the nature of God. It's who God is, and it's how we are then to act towards one another. And notice also here, that John wants us to be sure that this isn't some secret — we don't think this is some secret message that needs new knowledge in order for us to apprehend it.
It is a word that has been heard. Remember that those that John is writing to are having these people come in trying to deceive them, telling them that they need to have this secret knowledge. There were secret knowledge cults that taught that they had special and enlightened knowledge that would allow them to elevate to salvation. John wants them to know this command to love isn't a part of that. John is making sure that they know that this command is not only old and from the beginning, but it isn't secret. It's been made known to them. And it's been made known clearly from the beginning. But John wants his readers to also know that the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ does in fact shed new light on the understanding of this command. In other words, the old commandment has been made new. It has been remastered. It is the same song, but Jesus helps us to hear it in all its depth and fullness. John lets them know that this commandment is not only true in him, but it's true in his readers as well. It has become more clearly visible. And so the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
And John continues here to use imagery that is not only powerful, but it's unbelievably easy for us to understand and comprehend. Because the world is a dark place. The evil that is done in the world can easily consume like darkness, and it causes fear. The solution then is to step into the light. And the way that is done is to spread the light of Christ. Jesus is the source of light, and we reflect His light in a dark and dying world. This is our calling. As we move on to verse 9, we see another theme coming out in this passage. John reminds us that light doesn't just help us to see beauty. We see that it exposes the evil that lies hidden in that darkness. So the illumination of darkness isn't a light John is shining on the world out there. He doesn't tell us that he's shining the light now to show the sin out there in the world. Instead, we're going to see here that it is a floodlight shining on us here as a body of believers and on us personally as these few words here disclose to us the condition of our hearts.
It's easy for us to verbally acknowledge that we have faith and say that we are in the light. We know the saving work of Christ for us, and we acknowledge that we have faith in his atoning work for us, but still the sin of anger can easily linger within us. Grudges hang on. Past rivalries can hang on far longer than we care to admit. And John has some gut punch moments in his letter. We've seen a few of them so far, and here is another one. We desire to walk in the light and we feel like we are. And then we realize that the light isn't just showing the proper path we're to be on. It's actually exposing that many times we're not on the path at all. Maybe you've played the blindfold game. You move around for a while. You have a blindfold on. You're in a familiar space where hopefully you can't be harmed. You move around. You think you know exactly where you are in the room or where you are outside. Then the blindfold comes off, and as your eyes adjust to the light again, you find out that you thought you were over there, but you're actually over here.
And that's what John is doing for us here. He's orientating us to where we really stand. And as our eyes adjust to the light that John is shining, it's important for us to ask some questions that can hit us really hard. When someone who has hurt you experiences hardship, what's your first feeling? Are there people you pray for and others you simply refuse to pray for because of what remains in your heart? Is there a name that when it comes up in conversation changes your tone? Well, John has flipped on the floodlight and it's exposing our hearts. And the question for us is, are we going to run and hide? Or are we going to acknowledge the darkness and use this light that John has flipped on to get on the path of the light. And that's what John directs us to do in verse 10. When we love our fellow believers, he tells us that we are abiding in the light and that then there is no cause for stumbling. And this imagery once again is really simple and it resonates with us. We've all had the bad idea, thinking that we don't need to flip on the light.
That we can make our way through the darkness. At the least, you did like I was telling the kids I did, and you run into the wall or the doorframe. But most likely, when you try that, you stub your toe or you trip over something that you didn't know was there. Remaining in darkness when there is a light source is a foolish and unnecessary decision. To continue in hatred for a fellow believer when the light of God's love is right there is far more foolish than us walking around in a dark room. And I know how our sinful hearts respond to these moments of conviction. We all quickly go to how we believe we were wronged by this person that we harbor anger towards. We use it to justify the grudge that we just can't let go of. Well, sisters and brothers, we have to leave this animosity that we hold on to behind because however we were offended, it's nothing compared to the way our sin offends a holy God. Yet, God in Christ turned aside the wrath of God for our sin and He continually intercedes for us, and He is our Advocate before the Father.
If God has so forgiven us, we are called to forgive one another. We are called to love one another. And when we do this, we abide in the light, and in us there is no cause for stumbling. And I know, we know the truth of this, and yet, we so easily choose the darkness of the hatred that remains in our hearts. If every time you saw a friend, they had a new bruise or a broken limb from walking with a blindfold on, what would you do? You'd rip the blindfold off. You would throw it away. Take a moment and assess how many of the bumps and bruises of your sin are from the malice in your heart towards someone else. Likely many of them. May the Holy Spirit take this good word from John's first epistle and may it lead us in paths of righteousness and cause us to love one another. May we put to death the grievances we have towards one another and may we walk in the light. And as we continue through this passage, you might think that John would leave us here because these are good convicting questions. You would think he would let us dwell on this and consider it and maybe even drive the point home further.
You might think that he would want us to consider whether we are in the light or whether we are in darkness. But as he continues here, he does so with encouragement. He comforts instead of offering continual rebuke. He doesn't say, "Next up, you need to start loving one another and get in the light or you're headed to eternal damnation. So start loving your brother and sister in Christ." That's not what he says. Instead, he reminds them that their sins have been forgiven. Even though his words have just convicted us of our sin, he quickly reminds us of our forgiveness. And notice, we aren't forgiven because God is lax about our sin. Instead, we are called little children. The people of God are called little children because we know our sins are forgiven for His name's sake. And for John, he wants us to remember that we're children of God. Because we have been forgiven, because we've been brought into the family, because we're united to the Son, we are the children of God. But he amps it up. He quickly says that he is writing to them as fathers as well. He says that he is referring to them as this because they have known the One who is from the beginning.
In other words, they are able to pass the knowledge of this forgiveness, the knowledge of this salvation in Christ, on to the next generation. Walk in the light. Pass on the message. Be fathers and mothers in the faith to others. Walk in the light because you have been forgiven. And he then calls his readers young men and he speaks to the fact that they have strength because they have overcome the evil one because of what Jesus has done for them. And then John does something. He uses repetition. He addresses the children, the fathers, and the young men once again. He wants them to clearly understand who they are in Christ and that even though they may choose to walk in the darkness, they may have hatred towards their sisters and brothers in Christ, there is forgiveness and you can walk in the light. He again speaks to the children because they know the Father. They're not orphans. They are those who have been called to the Lord Jesus Christ, and so they are a part of the family of God. And he then repeats the reason he is writing to fathers word for word. He says the same thing again to emphasize that they know the one who is from all time.
They know the God who created them, the God who called them, the God who saved them. And he then addresses them as young men once again and speaks of the strength they have and reminds them that the Word of God abides in them. And he again repeats the truth that they have overcome the evil one because they have this Word of Christ. The light he has shed on sin — this sin of not loving one another — exposes the darkness that we often choose to remain in. But John is emphatic that this is not what we are to dwell on. We are to remember the love of God in Christ Jesus and let that give us confidence that we are the forgiven people of God, the ones who have overcome the evil one, the ones who have overcome the darkness and walk in the light. And the words at the beginning of our passage today were very convicting because we are all prone to sin in that way. But John doesn't rub our nose in the fact that he's discovered a weakness that we have. Instead, he thrusts us towards Christ. He drives us to the gospel to give us confidence that we have overcome and continue to overcome even our sin of hatred towards fellow believers.
What an amazing turn this passage has taken here. John emphasizes that the command to love one another isn't new. It's the same command as from old, but now in Jesus, we see it in a new light because the love that God has shown to us in the fact that we know the Father, the one who is from the beginning, is the way by which we have overcome. We are a people in whom the word of God abides. And as we let this word abide in us and we take it out into the world with us this week, I want us to remember that this forgiveness that he comforts us with here is not an excuse to continue to have malice in our hearts towards a sister or brother in Christ. Because we know that we're forgiven, that isn't a license to continue to harbor these things. The gospel truth of forgiveness that he reminds us of is to push us to show the love and forgiveness that we have first been shown by Jesus, and this should cause us to love one another. And I am not standing up here and implying that this is easy, by no stretch, because when we are called to love one another in Scripture, it is about more than just having warm feelings deep down for other people.
Love is more than just emotions. Love is an action that we do. When we talk about the love of God, we don't mean that a spiritual being out there somewhere has warm fuzzy feelings for us. When we speak of God's love, we are speaking of the sacrificial love that He has for you. He created you. He redeemed you through the work of Jesus on your behalf. And now He builds you up through His Word and Spirit. That is how we know the love of God is an active thing. The love of God is active, and we are called to love one another in a sacrificial attitude of servanthood as well. Now, you might be sitting here this morning convicted of the anger that you have in your heart towards a fellow believer, but at the same time, you might be thinking it's going to be a struggle for you to get to the point of even liking them, much less loving them. The fact that love for one another is active then is actually a blessing. Start by serving them. Start by praying for them. Start by speaking well of them. Not flattery or pretending whatever is between you isn't there, but consciously decide that when their name comes up, you won't speak ill of them.
Maybe it starts by taking note of their presence in the body of Christ. Remember that when they come to the foot of the cross, they do so in the same way that you do. Remember that like you, they come to the Lord's table for communion in the same way that you do. And they have the same Savior as you. When I started out, I mentioned the remastering of audio recordings and how they can draw out new things that you hear. The old commandment is made new, not by its contents, but by the fact that the Gospel draws out how we are to love one another because it shows us the sacrificial love of God for us. So as you depart from here today with the knowledge of the Gospel, may our knowledge of God's love in Christ Jesus have us turning up the volume on our love for one another. So that when people look at us, as believers, they would see and hear and know that we love one another because we are loving one another as Christ first loved us. And because we believe the truth of that forgiveness that we have in the gospel, we can't help but share that love.
Amen. Let us pray. Great and merciful God, we know that we are so blessed to have Your Word, that even when we read these convicting passages, they follow with the truth of Your great love for us. And so, may that knowledge of the gospel stir up in us love for one another, that because we know that You have loved us when we were in rebellion against You, we will choose to love one another because you have loved the other, because you have loved us. So we want to reflect that light. We want to walk in that light that you might be glorified and that the world might see that your gospel leads us to love and to share your mercy and grace with others. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.
Thank you for joining us for this week's sermon. For more information about First Reformed Church, head to our Facebook page or website, edgertonfrc.org.
“Old Commandment Made New” is part of our ongoing series through 1 John, Walking in the Light. Explore the full series or browse our complete sermon archive to keep digging into God's Word.
