Yesterday John reminded us that if we claim to be sinless, we are denying what the word of God says. If we don't acknowledge our sins and repent of them, we are living in darkness. Today he points out that if we don't love our fellow man, we are living in darkness. We must question whether we truly belong to Christ at all if we don't have the love of Christ in our hearts for those around us.
John wants his readers to live godly lives. He is an aging apostle now and he has the experience to help others in their walk of faith. He wants to show his fellow believers how to live successful, victorious lives. "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father---Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:1-2) John says something like, "I want to keep you from making as many mistakes as possible. But when you do mess up, there is Someone who will intercede for you with the Father. You can come to the Father in repentance and ask forgiveness on the basis of your relationship with the Son."
The apostle isn't teaching a "universal salvation" when he says Christ is the atoning sacrifice for the whole world. The sacrifice Christ made is great enough to save the whole world, but each person must accept Christ as his or her Savior. Each person must make the choice to commit his or her life to Christ in order to have Christ as their advocate with the Father.
If we belong to Christ, we ought to look like Him. We ought to say the things He would say and we ought to do the things He would do. "We know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commands." (1 John 2:3) The Lord Jesus said the same thing: "If you love Me, keep My commands." (John 14:15) We aren't being honest with ourselves if we claim to love Christ and yet have no desire to do what He says to do.
"Whoever says, 'I know Him,' but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys His word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did." (1 John 2:4-6) Have you ever known anyone who said they were a Christian but there was no evidence in their life to back up their claim? In most of those cases I think they have either deceived themselves or they have been deceived by false doctrine. Of course I realize some people may be lying in order to gain something by claiming to be a Christian, but most of the people I've known who said they were Christians and obviously weren't had been fooled by doctrine that contradicts the gospel or else they had fooled themselves into thinking that because they were raised up in church, or because their whole family was Christian, that this automatically made them Christians too. They don't understand that being a Christian means having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Without a personal relationship with Him they can't possibly be like Him. This is where we who are in Christ have an opportunity to help them to understand what being "in Christ" really means. We need to do this with a loving attitude, not with an accusatory or condemnatory attitude. We could easily have found ourselves in their shoes if we had been taught false information about the Christian faith or if we had things in our background that caused us to want to tell ourselves we are okay when we are not okay.
When John asks his readers to examine their lives, he says it with love in his heart for them. He has their best interests at heart. "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. 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." (1 John 2:7-8) Each of the ten commandments deals with how to relate to God or how to relate to others. So in that sense, these commandments are not new. But in another sense they are new, because in Christ we are able to love God in a new and personal way. The Lord Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father." (John 14:9) We no longer have to wonder what God is really like because His holy character and His love were openly displayed for us through the Son. We are able to relate to Him in His form as a human being and not as an invisible, unknowable being. We are able to follow the example Christ set, and Christ set a perfect example of how to love our fellow man. So although the commandment to love God and to love others is not new, we are able to follow it with a fresh new understanding of it.
"Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble." (1 John 2:9-10) We naturally want to do good toward those we love, don't we? As the Apostle Paul said, "Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." (Romans 13:10) This is why love helps to keep us from stumbling in the form of sinning against our fellow man. When we love someone, we do our best not to hurt them.
The person who doesn't love others must (if he honestly examines his heart) conclude that he does not love Christ. There is hope and help for the person who is willing to be honest with himself. The real danger is when someone doesn't know and doesn't care that his heart isn't right with the Lord and with his fellow man. "But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them." (1 John 2:11)
Jesus said if we love Him we will keep His commandments. (John 14:15) Jesus commanded us to love one another as He has loved us. (John 13:34, John 15:12) Jesus said that our love for one another is how the world will know that we are His disciples. (John 13:35) These words ought to prompt us to examine our hearts. If we don't love the Lord and our fellow man, we have to question whether we have given our hearts to Christ at all. If we know we have given our hearts to Christ, but lately we have found ourselves being more impatient with others than normal, or if we have felt less compassion for others than usual, we need to repent of our bad attitudes and draw closer to Christ. We need to spend more time with Him in prayer and in Bible study so He can have His way with our hearts. His way is always the way of love.
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