“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13:35

YOUR WALK IS THE WAY YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE!

“Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who 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.”
-1 John 2:7-11

THREE QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS TEXT:

I. WHAT IS THE COMMANDMENT?

“And He said to them, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” —Matthew 22:37-40

THREE QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS TEXT:

II. WHAT MAKES THIS COMMANDMENT NEW?

“A new commandment I give to you, Love one another,even as I have loved you.” - John 13:34

Two dynamics that make this commandment new:
A) JESUS—Before we had a Law, now we have a Life

“Even though the Old Testament taught the duty to love, never before had perfect love been so plainly manifested as it was in the incarnate Christ.” —John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary

*REALITY:*Jesus did not come to be my helper; Jesus came to be my life!

Two dynamics that make this commandment new:
B) THE CHURCH—Before the command was general, now it is specific

“Jesus said our love for each other—not our doctrinal
beliefs—is our greatest witness to the world…when we come together in love as a church family from different
backgrounds, race, and social status, it is a powerful witness to the world.” —Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

THREE QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS TEXT:

III. WHAT IS THE APPLICATION FOR ME TODAY?

“The true Christian, who knows God and walks in the light, both obeys God and loves his brother. The genuineness of his faith is seen in his right relation to both God and his fellow human beings.” —John R. W. Stott, The Letters of John

“What makes false disciples so difficult to detect is that they often have the outward trappings of genuine disciples, such as visible morality, an intellectual knowledge of the Bible, and even a level of involvement in the church. But such things are neutral; they neither prove nor disprove the genuineness of a person’s faith.” —- John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary

REALITY: Abiding in the light will result in a genuine love for others.

“In the darkness of spiritual death there is an absence of love and the absence of God in our lives. And tragically, we don’t even see it, having lived so long in the darkness. We are like blind men in a dark room who have no idea where they are or where they are going. It is a true tragedy.” —Daniel Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”
- 1 John 4:7