The Message You Have Heard

1 John 2:7 and 8

 

⁷ Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one,

which you have had since the beginning.

This old command is the message you have heard.

⁸ Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in Him and in you,

because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining."

 

 

I love to receive letters. These days, most of the 'letters' I receive are in the form of an email or a text message on my phone, but still, I enjoy the communication! I enjoy sharing my heart with others, and hearing them express to me what is on their heart! Getting it in writing is special, because you can read and re-read the words, taking special note of the phrases that speak to you in a special way! 

Of course, when a person is communicating with someone, and you can tell that they care about the one they write to, and are passionate about what is being talked about, it helps to draw a person in...you want to continue reading, to hear what they have to say! That's why I love reading this letter - the book of 1 John.

 

John cared deeply about what he was writing about, and about the people he was writing to. He had a love for these people - the love of a close friend...also, the love that a father would have for his children.

Out of curiosity, I did a quick count to see how many times John adds the words "dear children", or "dear friends" as he writes this letter, and I came up with 9 times for the first, and 6 times for the second. To me, that is meaningful, because it shows me an example. As believers, there will always be people around us who we can show love to, whom we can encourage. Every one of us probably has people that are more mature than us (older in age, and also, more mature spiritually) that we can look up to, and also, we will have people that are less mature than us (younger in age, and also, people who have not been walking with Christ as long as we have, and therefore, "younger' in their spiritual walk) whom we might be able to set an example for.

 

Years ago, as a young mom, in a ladies' Bible study, we studied this passage, found in Titus 2:3-5, which says:

 

"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live,

not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 

⁴ Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children,

⁵ to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind,

and to be subject to their husbands,

so that no one will malign the word of God."  

 

Verse 7 and 8 of that passage say:

 

"In everything set them an example by doing what is good.

In your teaching show integrity, seriousness ⁸ and soundness of speech

that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed

because they have nothing bad to say about us."

 

Through these verses, we were shown the importance of opening our hearts to listen, learn from, and take in the things that our older peers can teach us (the verses surrounding these, in Titus, also have similar words of wisdom and advice for the older and younger men)! As we learn from the example our spiritually mature elders set, and grow in our own faith, we will eventually become teachers to those around us who are younger and less experienced in walking in Christ's ways. We will probably spend most of our lives being taught, and being a teacher, at the same time, for most people will always be able to point out some people around them who are 'older' and some who are 'younger' in all seasons of life. Sometimes, we may not even know who all our lives are impacting! 

 

So now, all these paragraphs later, I have shared my thoughts on the first two words of the small section of verses I posted at the beginning! I just felt that it was important for me to focus on the role that John had, as a wise, older man, to use his wisdom and what he had learned to encourage others in their walk with the Lord. It is in this way that the body of Christ (the church, made up of all true believers) can grow, and remain strong! Who can you encourage today?

 

John goes on to talk about old commands versus new commands. Since the Bible is split up into the Old Testament and the New Testament, with the old covenant and the new covenant, I assumed it had something to do with that. I have to admit, though, I was a bit confused as I tried to understand these verses. I kept praying that God would teach me any truth, or any lesson or application that He had for me in these verses, not wanting to miss it! Eventually, in my study last fall, I moved on, taking these verses at face value. John was writing this 'command' to them, but it was not something new - it was the same command that they had heard from the beginning - the message that they had heard. But then he goes on to say that it IS a new command, and this is where I got confused. How can something be old and new at the same time?!? Last week, I went online and read pages of commentaries, which I can never get enough of if I have the time to read. Eventually, thanks to the wisdom of some great Bible scholars, I felt like I could grasp what was being said... I will try to put into my own words what I learned, instead of trying to actually quote bits and pieces from all the commentary I read... :).  

 

What is this "old command" which we have had "from the beginning"?

As I thought about this, I couldn't help but think about the Ten Commandments, and about the theme that seems to run throughout the Bible, which Jesus Himself said summed up the whole Law and the Prophets. In Matthew 22:34-40, when the teachers of the Law were trying to outsmart Jesus, they asked Him to tell them what was the greatest commandment in the Law. He said, in verses 37-40:

 

" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul

and with all your mind.' ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment.

³⁹ And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.'

⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." 

 

The theme, or thread, of these two commands can be found throughout the Old Testament. 

The commands God made for the people of Israel to live by really were made to ensure that the people would live right before God, and that they would treat others justly.

 

In Deuteronomy 6:5 we read the first and greatest commandment (in the Ten Commandments, the first four are really all about how we view and treat God). This verse says:

 

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul

and with all your strength."
 





In the Ten Commandments, the last six commands have to do with how we are to view and treat other people. If everyone would follow these commands, we should be able to live in harmony with the people around us. Leviticus 19:18 says:

 

"Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people,

but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord."

 



So, these are the "old commands". Mainly, we need to remember that they taught people to love and obey God, and to extend that kind of love to others.

 

And then there is also another beginning - the beginning of a person's life after they come to faith in Jesus Christ. When we first came to Christ, we accepted the gift of love that God gave us in sending His Son to die for our sins. When we love God, His love is supposed to be evident in our lives. He now lives in us, and His life flows through our lives, which we have surrendered to Him. If we are "in Him" (see 1 John 2:5,6), we will follow Jesus' example of loving God, and loving others. This is that same command, the message that we as Christians most likely have heard from the beginning of our life with Jesus as our Savior.  

 

Shortly before Jesus was crucified, He had a special meal with His disciples, known as the Last Supper. As they talked, Jesus shared many things with them, things that they were going to recall and that would help them once He ascended to Heaven after the Resurrection. In John 13, as Jesus is talking to the disciples, He also calls them "My children", using a deeply affectionate title that shows how He cares for them (most parents will agree that they are able to understand the depth of God's love for us a little more fully once they have experienced the kind of love that they have for their own child). Jesus says, in verse 34:

 

"A new command I give you: Love one another.

As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

 

 

They had heard those words before, "Love one another", but Jesus called it a new command. They would now actually be able to love as He loved, because He would be within them, teaching them how to love. Every believer is given the power of the Holy Spirit, Who dwells within them, teaching them to live like Jesus. One message I read on these verses included Romans 5:5, when explaining how the 'new part' of this command is at work in us as believers. Romans 5:5 says:

 

 

"...God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit,

whom He has given us."

 

We don't need to try to find love within our own selves to reach those who are hard to love, or even to more perfectly love those who we already do love. We need only to live by the Spirit, and there we find Christ's love to be of such a much better quality than the love that we ourselves could ever give. Wonderful too, is the knowledge that His love never runs out! As long as we allow His life to flow through us, we will have love to give.

This truth was seen in the life of Jesus. Think about the people He loved. He loved people who doubted Him. He loved people whom society rejected, often reaching out to the very people that the 'higher' class was repulsed by. He loved those who mocked Him and were ungrateful to Him. He loved sinners - people who had travelled down many wrong paths before they finally found Him, and His grace.

John says, in John 13:35:

 

"By this all men will know that you are My disciples,

if you love one another."

 

The truth of this 'new' command - to love as He loved - is seen in His true disciples, as it was seen in the life that Jesus lived. Am I a true disciple (follower) of Jesus? Jesus says that if we are, we will love one another. As I think of my failure so often to live as Christ commands in this area of love, I am drawn to cry out, "Lord! Teach me to die to myself, to allow Your life to flow through me!" I think of the verse, in Galatians 2:20, which says:

 

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live..."

 

That is, my old sinful nature that lived to please and look out for - myself.

 

"...but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith

in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

 

My life is not my own anymore. The life that Jesus lived was also not His own. He lived His life for the Father, and to do His will. He willingly died, for me. For you. For each one that will allow Him into their heart!

 

So the truth of this command, which seems to be love for God, and love for our 'brothers', is seen in Jesus' life, and it will also be seen in us. Sometimes we as believers focus far to much on the darkness that still lingers, the sin that still hinders us and other Christians from fully living as Jesus calls us to live. The Word says, "...the true light is already shining." The darkness of sin, of our former way of life before we knew Christ, is passing, and His power is seen as His love is made complete within us!  

 

My prayer is that I will allow more of the darkness to pass in my own life as I allow God greater access to my heart, and that I will continue to live by faith, believing that God is working to change my heart to be like His. My prayer is that, as I look at others, even those who (like me) are not perfectly following in His footsteps each moment of every day, I will not focus on the darkness that still tries to overtake, but look instead for His light shining, and that I will praise Him when I see it shine! We have a glorious hope that awaits us, the hope of one day being surrounded only by light. In that city, there will be no darkness, only the Lamb and His bride, whom He has cleansed from all sin, so that she shines perfectly for Him.