Monthly Archives: November 2013

The Light You Shine

1 Reply

John wrote in a confusing way about an “old command” that is a “new command.”  (For more about that, see: John vs. John Lennon)  The “old command” (Love your neighbor) is made new, by Jesus redefining what love is.  Jesus’ kind of love, the “new command” He gave, is simple to describe but impossible to do.  Love, He taught, is a choice to put aside what I want in order to minister to what you need.   Sounds simple, but it is impossible on our own, because we are wired by our experiences in this world to “take care of number one” as a number one priority.  Jesus’ kind of love doesn’t make sense in our world; it only makes sense when you see the world through His lenses, His “logos.”  That Greek word, weakly translated in English as “word,” really goes way deeper.  It describes a whole mindset and understanding of reality.

When you read a book, and are observed doing so by your dog, your “logos” of what you are doing is very different from your dog’s “logos” of what is happening.  See that?

Jesus’ commands fit beautifully when you understand His “logos.”  In a very real sense, His commands are a part of His way of seeing reality.  That is why, in 1 John 2:7, John wrote, “This old command is the message (that’s the word, “logos”) you have heard.”

When you live in Jesus’ logos, His kind of love emerges in what you do, not from self-effort but from the Holy Spirit, living within you.   (See: Who Can Fix It?)  That is why John wrote about this “new command”:

…its truth is seen in him (Jesus) and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.  (1 John 2:8)

John said that the light of Jesus shines in those who have come to Him by faith.  Already.

You are probably thinking, “If this means I must perfectly resemble Jesus in every way, I’m so far off that mark it’s hopeless…”  Don’t freak out.  Instead, look carefully at the verbs in verse 8 above:

… its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness  is passing and the true light is already shining.  (1 John 2:8)

When someone surrenders to Jesus by faith, receiving His gift of forgiveness and fellowship with God, the Holy Spirit begins to live within his or her soul, as God always intended.  (See: Who Can Fix It?)  In John’s words, “the true light is already shining.”  However, that person is still profoundly shaped by all of life’s experiences and illusions.  Those habits, personality traits and outright addictions don’t simply vanish.  John says “the darkness is passing.”  

Picture a bright light shining in a room full of smoke so thick you can hardly see it.  A window is raised for fresh air to blow through the room.  The smoke is passing, but the light is already shining.

Jesus shines through the life of those who have fully trusted Him.  They are not perfect; they may not even be aware of how He is doing so at any one moment.  However, “the truth is seen,” John says, in Jesus and in you, too.    That’s how we know we know Jesus.  That’s how they know, too.

John vs. John Lennon

1 Reply

Last time we got together, I made this statement:  “God loves us so He can love others through us.   That’s His purpose.”  And I said,” Jesus gave us many commands.  He summarized them in one command: “Love one another.” (See “The Acid Test”)

Did you buy that?  Is that true?  If it is, does that mean the Beatles were right when they sang:

“It’s easy…   All you need is love… (ya ta da da da…)  Love is all you need…”  

And if you think John the Apostle and John Lennon were on the same page, think again.  There is a vast difference between the feel-good and be-nice kind of love behind the Beatles’ lyric (and most other pop songs) and what  Jesus commanded us to practice.  Jesus’ idea of love put a new, radical twist on an old command.  That’s why John wrote:

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 you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.  (1 John 2:7-8 )

The old command, the one “you have had since the beginning,” came right out of the earliest writings of the Old Testament: “… love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18b).   But this old command was made new, radically new, when explained and demonstrated by Jesus.    John says you can see that new understanding, that new truth in Jesus.  How?

Jesus made “love your neighbor as yourself” new by comparing it to and combining it with  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength,” and declaring these intertwined commands to be the foundation of all the teachings of the Bible.

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  (Matthew 22:40)

But Jesus also made this old command new by His teaching and His example.  Love, He taught, is a choice to put aside what I want in order to minister to what you need.    A simple example might be for me to love you, by setting aside my desire to express anger and frustration, so that I can give you the opportunity to be understood.   Simple, but not so simple, right?   Jesus taught the most extreme example of that kind of love:

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  (John 15:13)

This new, radical form of love, is not the sappy idea the Beatles were singing about.   It is not “easy,” as they sang.   This new understanding of love was demonstrated most fully in Jesus’ choice to endure a bloody, violent death, so that you and I could live!   

But what does John mean when he says that “its truth is seen in Him and you“?   Chew on that.  See if you can figure it out and we’ll take it up next time.