Know you live in love -- One
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I remember having to help a minister preach through this when I was very new to preaching. That was in the days before personal computers had become popular, & I can remember as I wrote the last of the ones I had to do, that I didn’t want to work on 1 John for a long time to come. It wasn’t until I got into doing Sudoku puzzles that I suddenly realised more about the structure of 1 John. Have you done a Sudoku before? Do you like them? Does anyone know how they work, who’d be able to stand up & tell us how to do one? The first study
is on the theme of Abiding. By this
we may be sure that we know him, if
we obey his commandments. Whoever
says, “I have come
to know him,” but does not obey his commandments…; but whoever
obeys his word, …. By this
we may be sure that we are in
him:
?whoever
says, “I
abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked. Walking as he walked means obeying him so that we end up doing similar things to what he did. We end up like him. We grow more like him, not by secret mystical things, but simply by listening to him and obeying what he said for us to do. So if we claim to abide in him, it should show in our attitudes & actions. 12
I am writing to you, little
children, because your sins are forgiven on account of his name.13 I
am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the
beginning. I am writing to you, young people, because you have conquered
the evil one.
14 I write to you, children, because
you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him
who is from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because
you are strong and the word of God abides in
you, and you have overcome the evil one. Now the young people are told by the apostle that the word of God abides in them. Unlike the reader who forgets the word of God (who is like the person who looks in the mirror and forgets what he looks like), the young people he wrote to remembered God’s word and it remained in them. As Lent begins tomorrow, and we remember the temptation in the desert, don’t forget how Jesus quashed the barbs of Satan while he was starving there. He was able to resist Satan (even when Satan misapplied the Scriptures) by remembering and quoting appropriate Scriptures. We know that by his death, Jesus conquered Satan. Hebrews 2:14 says “…so that through death Jesus might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.” We have not seen the ultimate fate of the devil. That will come when Jesus returns. Until then, we are to avoid that prowling lion who only seeks to destroy what he can in his death throws, and by having God’s word abiding in us, we can overcome the evil one too. Would someone please read out 1 John 2:18-19 18 Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us. They would have abided with us. The people who accepted the false teaching, who did not belong to the believers, showed themselves to be false because they departed and did not abide with the believers. So were they the Antichrist because they left? Is this a passage which legitimises calling others names simply because they don’t see eye to eye with you & depart? To answer that, would someone please read out 1 John 2:22-24 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. They left because they denied Jesus was the Christ, God’s Son. That is what being an antichrist means. Flowing from that, he gives us three abides in the one verse. The message of the good news is to abide in them, not simply be heard, be acted on & then forgotten. Consider the New Testament for a moment. There are 27 books in that small library. Yet each of the books is focused on the message of what Jesus has done for us. The same message is applied to various situations and issues. What does the gospel have to say about marriage relationships? What does the gospel have to say about parent-child issues? What does the gospel have to say about the priority of a message from God in a gathering of Christians? What does the gospel have to say about the way you react when your next door neighbour tips garbage over your front lawn? What does the gospel have to say when you watch your loved one nearing death? Instead of leaving the message behind and finding new ways of thinking or ethics, the Bible encourages us to abide with the message of Jesus, and to let it abide in us. and as it abides, we’re to see the relevance of it and apply it to everything. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. By letting the gospel message abide in you, you abide in the Son and in the Father. The antichrists no longer abided in the message & therefore they no longer abided in the Father and the Son. The public display of that was that they no longer abided with the gathered people of God So, having heard all that, it is your turn. At your tables, read the passage & answer the questions. 26 I
write these things to you concerning those who would deceive you.
27 As for you, the anointing that you received
from him abides in you, and so you do not need
anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all
things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught
you, abide in him. 28 And
now, little children, abide in him, so that
when he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame
before him at his coming. 1. What is it that John says abides in us in this passage? 2. What is the benefit of having the Word abiding, and the anointing abiding? 3. Jesus taught (eg Matthew 5-7). He taught his disciples to teach. Timothy and others were to teach (eg 1 Timothy 6:2) and to instruct others to become teachers, and to stop false teachers from teaching lies (eg 1 Timothy 1:3-11). God appointed pastors/teachers to equip the saints in his church (Ephesians 4:11-12). In 1 John, he repeatedly says that he is writing for an educational purpose. How can all these be valid if we do not need anyone to teach us? What do you think “so you do not need anyone to teach you” means? 4. As he was addressing the believers, John says the anointing already abides in them, therefore in us, if we believe. Yet the words “Abide in him” are a command. From what we have seen so far in this study, how do we abide in him? If you thought the teaching passage was hard, wait until we tackle this one about sin. For if it means what we modern people literally read, then none of us are destined for heaven, and we are all seen to be children of Satan. Would someone please read out 1 John 3:4-10 4 Everyone
who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5
You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and
in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides
in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. 7
Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who
does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8
Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for
the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was
revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9
Those who have been born of God do not sin, because
God’s seed abides in them; they cannot sin,
because they have been born of God. 10 The
children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this
way: all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those
who do not love their brothers and sisters. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. If we abide in him, we will not sin, because he was revealed to take away sins & in him there is no sin. There have been all sorts of explanations for this passage. Because of time, we won’t abide in all of them, but let me give you what I think is the best explanation. Often in John’s writings, John reports of people either being in one condition or in another, with no middle ground. So, for example, Jesus says we are in light or darkness (both during the day and at night), we have life or remain in death (even while we breathe); then in John 9 he said that he came for judgment, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. As a Pharisee objects and claims he sees, Jesus says that because he claims he sees, his sin abides or remains (9:41). Here in 1 John 3:4-9, I believe John is using the categories of you are either in the camp that is captured in sin, or you are in the camp which has had sin dealt with. So how do we understand “No one who abides in him sins”? Does it mean that Christians will not sin at all? No. & the reason we can say that confidently is because 1 John 1 & 2 state categorically that we do sin, & if we say we have no sin, we make Him out to be a liar. However, like Jesus at the last supper, as he spoke to Peter about washing his feet, he said that someone who has had a bath does not need to wash, except for his feet. They get dirty, but the rest is clean, except for Judas, who was still dirty. To me, that is the category distinction that abiding in him brings with regards to sin. So does that mean we can believe & do whatever we want, & sin, because we’re forgiven or washed? No. & the reason is that God’s seed abides in us & we cannot do that. We won’t want to do it. It will go right against all that God is doing in us. It will show through, so that God’s children will be like our righteous Lord, & Satan’s children will still be ungodly. Attitudes based on the results of faith will affect our constant behaviour. Or as Jesus said, you’ll know the tree by its fruit. The next three verses containing abide in 1 John have a similar way of categorizing & appear almost as astonishing at first. 14 We
know that we have passed from death to life because we love one
another. Whoever does not love abides in death.
15 All who hate a brother or sister are
murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life
abiding in them. 16 We
know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought
to lay down our lives for one another. 17 How
does God’s love abide in anyone who has the
world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses
help? People abide in death because they don’t have eternal life abiding in them. & God’s love is not abiding in people if it does not stir them on to care for others. We will look at the life and love themes on other nights. The last four verses in 1 John which contain abide,
are more concerned with helping us to understand how we know that
God abides in us and we abide in him. The verses are 3:24 (All
who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And
by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has
given us.), 4:13 ( By this we know
that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his
Spirit.), 4:15 (God abides in those who confess that Jesus
is the Son of God, and they abide in God.) & 4:16 (So
we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love,
and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.) That final one says that if we abide in love, we abide in God & He abides in us. As a final thing to do around your tables tonight, read John 15:1-11. Then answer these questions. 5. Who or what does Jesus say will abide, and in whom will the abiding take place? 6. How does Jesus say we abide in him? 7. What does abiding in him and He in us bring us? 8. Is there any similarity with abiding in 1 John? 9. Is there any difference to abiding in 1 John? At the start, I asked what sorts of persons or things are likely to abide in 1 John. You said this (look at board). How well did you go? This is what 1 John says: Me with God, Word of God in us, people with us,
message with us, Us with Father & Son, Spirit’s anointing in
us, us in Spirit, us in Jesus, God’s seed in us, unsaved people
in death, eternal life in us, God’s love in us, us in God, God in
us, us in love. Last week, I suggested that unscrambling the themes of 1 John was rather like trying to do a Sudoku puzzle. We then searched through the text for the passages on abiding. This week we come to another theme, this time of knowing. Philosophers have been puzzling over knowing for centuries. They have tried to work out what knowing is. How do you know? How do you know when you know? What is knowledge? Has all information been pre-recorded in our brain & then experience taps into certain sections of the brain that means we can recall what was planted in there, or does each child come with a blank brain which is thirsty for any sized bytes of information? And scientists are now also interested in the other end of knowing, especially because of dementia problems… What causes us to stop knowing? Which parts of the brain are affected by Aluminium, or does it have any effect? How can what we know as children become so vividly into focus as we age? But the philosophical & medical side of knowledge is not what we will be investigating tonight. Rather, we’ll be looking at the 30 passages in 1 John that speak of knowing something or someone. Are you ready? Do you know what is coming? If so, then why are you here? Why aren’t you out telling others what you know? Wait, don’t leave, but let’s abide & pray instead. The first passage we look at tonight, is the same passage we looked at first last week. Would someone please read out 1 John 2:3-6 3 Now by this we may be sure that we know him,
if we obey his commandments. 4
Whoever says, “I have come
to know
him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such
a person the truth does not exist; 5
but whoever obeys his word,
truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By
this we may be sure that we are in him: 6
whoever says, “I abide in
him,” ought to walk just as he walked. Last week I said that there was a connection between knowing Jesus & obeying him & abiding in him. That is true. But look carefully at how knowledge is referred to. By this we may be
sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey
his commandments, is a liar... For John, it was possible to claim that you knew Jesus, yet you would be a liar. Being classed a liar is a parliamentary term demanding reproach, but in the Bible no punches are pulled if people claim to know the Lord, yet are deceitful. To know the Lord is different to having head knowledge. It has to have a practical life changing effect seen in obeying what he commands. To know the Lord is not to win in Biblical trivial pursuit while living like a pagan. Would someone please read out 1 John 2:11-14 11 But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness. 12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven on account of his name. 13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, because you have conquered the evil one. 14 I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. The first is
that you can know the way to go. The person who hates his fellow
believer is really in the dark & does not know the way to go.
It is similar to what Jesus spoke of in John 9, when he healed the
man born blind. V39-41 says “Jesus
said, ‘I came into this world for judgment so that those who do
not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’ Some Pharisees
near him heard this and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are
we?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have
sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.’” Then once again
John says in his letter that it is quite possible, and is a matter
of fact that people can really know God the Father. “Him who is
from the beginning may be referring to the Father, but in 1 John
1:1-4, it also refers to Jesus the Son of God. These people, to
whom John and the other apostles bore witness about Jesus, who had
never touched him, unlike John, knew Jesus & his Father. We
too can know God, the Father and the Son, without ever having seen
Jesus. We know him by accepting the testimony of the apostles. As
1 John 1:3 says, as we accept what they said, we have fellowship
with John, and with the Father & with the Son. At your tables,
read the passages & answer the questions. 2:18-21 18
Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that
antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this
we know that it is the last hour. 19
They went out from us, but they did not belong to us;
for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us.
But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to
us. 20 But you have been anointed by the
Holy One, and all of you have knowledge. 21
I write to you, not because you do not
know the truth, but because you know
it, and you know that no lie comes from the truth. 2. “All of you have knowledge.” From what we have seen so far, what sort of knowledge do you think this is referring to? 3. “All of you have knowledge.” This was written in a section dealing with the antichrists and not accepting their lies. a. In what ways do you think having a knowledge of God and truth will prevent them from following the antichrists? b. If they were immune to following the lies of the antichrist because they had been anointed by the Holy One and had knowledge, then why did John write to them to tell them about it? 2:29-3:2 29 If
you know that he is righteous, you may be sure
that everyone who does right has been born of him. 1
See what love the Father has given us, that we should
be called the children of God; and that is what we are. The reason
the world does not know us is that it did not
know him. 2 Beloved,
we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.
What we do know is this: when he is revealed,
we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. 4. Of whom or what is the word “know” used in verse 29? What do you think is the difference, if any, between “to know” and “to know that”? 5. “The world does not know us”. What do you think this means? Now I would like you to help me fill in a table. To do this, I have printed off the following verses which contain the word for knowing in them. As we read through each one, I will ask each table in turn to help me fill in the appropriate lines on the table. If you have a question which comes up about the meaning of the verse, then please don’t be afraid to stop me and ask, but keep in mind that we still have 4 more evenings to go, & I don’t want to steal my thunder from those nights. 14
We know
that we have passed from death to life because we love one another.
Whoever does not love abides in death. 16
We know
love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to
lay down our lives for one another. 19
And by
this we will know that we are from the truth
and will reassure our hearts before him 20
whenever
our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he
knows everything. 24
All who
obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by
this we know that he abides in us, by the
Spirit that he has given us. 4 2 By this you know
the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is from God, 6
We are
from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever
is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know
the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 7
Beloved,
let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who
loves is born of God and knows God. 8
Whoever does not love does not know
God, for God is love. 13
By this
we know that we abide in him and he
in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 16
So we
have known and believe the love that God
has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God,
and God abides in them. 5 2
By this
we know that we love the children of
God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 13
I write
these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so
that you may know that you have eternal life. 14
And this is the boldness
we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he
hears us. 15
And
if we know that he hears us in whatever
we ask, we know that we have obtained the
requests made of him. 18
We know
that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born
of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. 19 We know that we are God’s children,
and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come
and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are
in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God
and eternal life.
7. At your tables, discuss what you have learnt by doing this table. 8. Were there any surprises? 9. Are there any questions that you have? 10. Select someone to speak for your table to share, with the whole group, 3 different things you have found about knowing in 1 John. Let’s pray Study 3 - Life This
is the 3rd study on 1 John in
this Lenten series. I hope you know you abide with our Lord, as
we have discussed already. John writes about
eternal
life.
What does John say about eternal life? The first surprise
is the way he describes it in the opening verses of the letter.
Would someone please read 1 John 1:1-3 “We declare to
you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have
seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our
hands, concerning the word of life— 2 this life was revealed,
and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal
life that was with the Father and was revealed to us— 3 we declare to you
what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship
with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son Jesus Christ.” Did you notice any
surprising thing about eternal life in this passage? Look first
of all at verse 2. “…the eternal life that was with the Father and
was revealed to us...” I don’t know about you, but when I think
of eternal life, I either think of a never-ending time, or a life
outside of time, usually in paradise, but sometimes I mix it up
in my thinking with eternity in hell. But this passage says that
the eternal life was revealed to us. It treats the eternal life
as an item or being which can be seen. & that, of course flows
quite naturally from the first verse where the Word of life is seen,
heard, looked at & touched. The life has been revealed. &
John and his fellows were in the process of declaring it or proclaiming
it to others. So as we begin this
look at life, we have to consider that for John, eternal life was
not simply a life-time or an endless life in paradise. It was something
that was revealed to, heard, seen & touched by them. What is
this eternal life, this word of life, this revealed life which they
declare? From verses 2 and 3 we can assume that he is talking about
the Father’s Son, Jesus Christ, which the first verse calls the
Word of Life. Right at the start
of his letter, he has declared that Jesus Christ is the eternal
life. Somehow (& hopefully it will be revealed to us as we go
through the letter), eternal life is so focused in, on & through
Jesus, so that John can say Jesus is the eternal life. & as he did, so
we can declare to others the message of the eternal life which they
physically touched, saw, & heard. Last week, we discussed in
our table groups the importance of the apostles for what we know
about Jesus. They were the witnesses of him. They saw, touched,
heard & looked upon him, & were able to testify to what
they experienced & found out. John says that this man they knew
was the eternal life. He was obviously very impressed with Jesus. What I want us to
do know is to look at other passages in 1 John which refer to eternal
life. As you read them, ask yourself is eternal life merely another
name for Jesus, or is there something else being described? 1 John 3:14-15 We know
that we have passed from death to life
because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death.
15 All who hate a brother or sister are
murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal
life abiding in them. 1 John 5:11
And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal
life, and this life is in his Son. 1 John 5:13
I
write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of
God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:20
And we know that the Son of God has come and
has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true;
and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the
true God and eternal life. 1 John
3:15
Yes / No 1 John
5:11 Yes
/ No 1 John
5:13 Yes
/ No 1 John
5:20
Yes / No It is
clear from that exercise (especially from 5:11) that eternal life
is found in Jesus Christ, but is not to be fully equated with Jesus
Christ. You may think I am a bit daft by going through that exercise,
but I have been sent reams of paper from a person who is convinced
that peace = heaven. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, means Jesus is
the Prince of Heaven. Every time he sees the word peace, he immediately
considers that it is referring to heaven. By doing that exercise
of replacing the word with the other word, you can quickly work
out if the two words are identical in meaning. So Jesus Christ is eternal life,
but that is not the totality of John’s teaching on eternal life.
He does have the concept of never dying. We find this in 2:17. ?17 “And
the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the
will of God live forever.” So having eternal life is not simply
having the Son of God abide with us in this life. In 1 John there
is the concept of living in fellowship with God (the Father and
the Son), forever. For that verse says that the ungodly desires
& passions of this world will die, but people who do God’s will,
live forever. John tells us of the promise of an eternity with Jesus beginning in this life but being a reality experienced in its fullness after our life on earth has ended. This is certainly the meaning of 2:25, when John says 25 “And this is what he has promised us, eternal life.” Go through the verses we have had so far in this study, & call out the verse & way described, so I can write them on the table on the board.
The next question that we have
to ask of 1 John is, ‘when does eternal life begin?’ Does it start
when we die, or have we somehow already begun it? Look at the verses
again, and see if any promise that we will have eternal life, and/or
whether any promise that we already have (or others already have)
eternal life? (Write the verses in the following spaces). Now
_______________________________
Then _______________________________ Having looked at eternal life,
and the possible meanings & how & when we get it, John equated
“the eternal life” in 1:1-3 with the “Word of Life.” He said “We
declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched
with our hands, concerning the word of life—” “Word of life” can be interpreted
in 3 distinct ways, all of which have a different nuance. 1. “The word of life” can be interpreted
as “The Living Word”. This focuses on the word “Word”, as being
alive, & unlike other words. It matches with this living word
being eternal life. For those who like to see the Greek philosophy
influencing John’s writings, it brings with it the whole concept
of Jesus Christ being the logos, the divine force behind the universe,
which John carefully used in his gospel which appealed to so many
people influenced by Greek philosophy in the centuries following
Jesus life, death & resurrection. However John does not develop
this theme in this letter. In the gospel he stressed that the Word
became flesh, but in this letter he follows the “word of Life” with
“this life was revealed”. So although we may see a vague reference
to the divine Logos of Greek philosophy, it is not the obvious interpretation. 2. “The word of life” can be interpreted
as being the message concerning life. In the surrounding opening
verses, it is clear that the life is Jesus. So the meaning becomes
“The message of Jesus Christ, who is the life”. 3. “The word of life” can be interpreted
as “the life-giving word”. The first meaning focused on the living
quality of the word. The second focused on the message being about
life. & now the third is that life comes to people because of
the word. This interpretation is found in other parts of the letter,
as we shall see soon, because the Father gives life as he gives
us His Son. If we have the Son we have life. & that life comes
as we believe the message, thus know that we receive the Son (whom
we know) & then it will show in our actions as we abide in him. Can you see the intertwining of
the themes? Some people want to simplify the themes down to 3 series
of 3 tests of how you know if someone is a Christian or not, &
thus find a moral test, a social test & a doctrinal test. But
the division of the letter is very messy & confused. I prefer
to accept the messiness & apparent confusion, & follow the
themes through because life is not simple, & neither is this
letter. I think that as we grasp hold of the themes & see how
they intertwine, then we are better able to cope with the complexities
of life, & we will have various levels & layers of understanding
Christianity, so we will be less fooled by people claiming to be
Christians than if we simply use the 3 tests of obedience, love
& whether someone is an antichrist or not (as helpful as those
categories may be). Enough of that for the moment,
so let’s go back to concentrating on life. John has written about
eternal life, but he also uses the word LIFE without eternal in
front of it. To begin this section of the study,
I want us to look at 1 John 3:16. Most of us should know John 3:16
off by heart… “For
God so loved the world, that…”
Whoever puts numbers in the Bible must have had a special thing
for 3:16’s, because they make up a great slab of theology. I have
often wondered about preaching on every 3:16 verse, or maybe I could
do that for the next Bible Study series… 1 John 3:16 is no exception to
the great 3:16 verses. 16
“We
know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay
down our lives for one another.” It’s not a “Know
that”, but a “we know love”, personal, experienced & not just
a summation of statistics. How do we know love? John says it is
by the fact that Jesus laid down his life for us. I was chatting
with someone the other day who said that Jesus died young because
he didn’t want to hang around here anymore, with all the pain &
hurt of our world. I pointed out that in dying he went to hell,
which was much worse for the perfect Son of Man & Son of God.
I could have pointed out that 33 was about middle age for someone
back then, so he wasn’t as young as we think. But I could also have
pointed to a verse such as this one. He willingly laid down his
life for us. We know from the events leading
up to that first Good Friday that he could have escaped & not
died. He could have refused to drink the cup. But as John 13:1 says
“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the
end.” Or as it
also translated, “he showed them the fullest extent of his love.”
We know his love because he laid down his life for us. From the flow of the verse, it
is obvious that John is equating laying down his life with dying.
So he did use the word “life” as meaning having breath & not
‘not-breathing’.” But in the third part of 1 John 3:16, John gives
us that meaning, but with an extra meaning. “and we ought to lay
down our lives for one another.” I am positive that that means more
than simply we are to willingly die for one another. It also includes
the attitude that we are to metaphorically lay down our lives, by
serving one another, thinking more highly of each other than ourselves,
etc. So in 1 John, there are the normal
uses of the meanings of the word “life”. Some time ago, on one of the University
campuses around Yet
John writes 1 John 5:11-13
And
this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son. 12
Whoever has the Son has life;
whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 I write these things to you who believe
in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have
eternal life. Have a chat among yourselves at
your table and work out what you think what you think the meanings
of life in 1 John 5:11-13 are. (have an answer from each table) Finally, as John wrote about issues
of how we live as Christians, life and death came up. We need to
realise the connection between the life we have in Christ, and the
effect that life has on our actions. Some of the connections appear
very black and white, because of the major category of those who
have life compared with those who do not. As you find these black
and white distinctions, remember the upper room and Jesus washing
the disciples’ feet (John 13), which I mentioned last time. All
the disciples, except Judas, were clean, yet they got dirty feet.
Anyone who has had a bath is clean, yet needs a foot wash. The large
categorisation was those who are in Christ are clean, while those
not in him are not. The characteristic of the clean is not that
they do not sin, but they will not persist in sin, but they have
been, are and will be cleansed. In this letter John uses black and
white categories as well. In your table groups, (or one per
group if time is short), look at the following verses and note the
connection between how we live and life. 2 10 Whoever loves a
brother or sister lives in the light,
and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. 3
14
We
know that we have passed from death to life because we love
one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 All who hate a
brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do
not have eternal
life
abiding in them. 4 9
God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent
his only Son into the world so that we might live
through him. 4
12
No
one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his
love is perfected in us. 5 16 If you see your
brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will
ask, and God will give life to such a one—to
those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do
not say that you should pray about that. Collate
answers. We
have seen that Eternal Life may refer to Jesus, or to the life we
live with God, beginning now as we trust in Jesus, & continuing
after our mortal death, so we are with him forever. Then we considered
a little bit about the word of life, & finally looked at how
having that life in us should affect our behaviour. Any
questions? Let’s
pray. This
is the 4th study on 1 John in this Lenten series. I hope you know
you live as you abide with our Lord, as we have discussed already. Not very surprisingly, 1 John is
a letter which says a lot about love. It is the letter that gives
us that marvellous verse that says “God is love…”, which too many
people in our world want to swing around to be “love is God.” Love
is not God, but God is love. So let’s pray that his love fills us
& helps us to understand more of his love for us & for each
other. Tonight, my plan is not to go through
each verse & see what it says about love. We could, but it would
take a long time. Instead I want us to think about 3 questions and
see what information John’s first letter brings to them. They are
printed on your sheet, so in your table groups, write down some
initial responses to the 3 questions before we investigate any further. 1. Jesus commands us to
love one another.
How can a commanded love be deep & committed? 2. Sometimes Christians
can so love God that they ignore people, or so love people that
God seems to be pushed aside. Is there a balance we should strike? 3. If, as Paul says in 1
Corinthians 13:13, “faith, hope and love abide, and the greatest
of these is love”, and he means that they will abide even through
this temporary life into the next, what effect does love have
on God’s children not just in this life, but into the next? 1. Jesus commands us to love
one another.
How can a commanded love be deep & committed? 1
John does bring us the command to love. We find it in 3 23 “And this is his
commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus
Christ and love one another, just
as he has commanded us.”
And in 4 21 “The commandment
we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers
and sisters also.” We
also have it clearly stated in the verses which state that we ought
to love, or should love, such as 3
11
“For
this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should
love one another”;
and 4 11
“Beloved,
since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.” Unlike
the gospels, in 1 John there is no command that we must love God.
It wasn’t necessary for him to state to his audience that they were
commanded to love God. It appears that this was accepted by them.
More likely the bigger problem was those who said they loved God,
yet it did not show in their lives. For example in 4 20 “Those who say,
“I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for
those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot
love God whom they have not seen.” The
more urgent need was for him to stimulate them in their love for
each other. He could have done this by exhorting them & imploring
them to love one another, just as he did in 3 18 “Little children, let us love,
not in word or speech, but in truth and action”; and in 4 7 “Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and
knows God.” Or
he could have put the exhortation in a negative way, so as to say
that it is wrong not to love one another, as he did in 4 20 which we read a minute
ago, and in 3 10
“The children of God and the children of the
devil are revealed in this way: all who do not do what is right
are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and
sisters”; and 3 14 “We know
that we have passed from death to life because we love one another.
Whoever does not love abides in death”; and in 4 8“Whoever
does not love does not know God, for God is love.” By
doing each of these three methods, we see that John was deeply moved
by God to impress upon them that they were to love one another.
Yet what really motivates people? If we had a motivation expert
come in & talk to us, what do you think they would say really
makes people want to do something? There’s
no simple answer, is there? For our motives are all varied. Some
people really get switched on if you give them a set of goals to
achieve. Others need to see the relational benefits of doing something.
Others focus on the financial bottom line. Others focus on getting
out of trouble. Etc. But there is a small group of people for whom
the big motivational thing is that there is a rule that you must
follow, so because we are commanded, therefore we must do it. For
that small minority, Jesus commanded you to love one another… Feel
the buzz & get loving! Now you’re motivated, you won’t mind
loving the rest of us by allowing us to think a bit longer about
this issue, because in your love, you will know that it may take
us a bit more than a command (even from God) to get our motors running. In
your table groups, go through those 3 sets of verses, & identify
any stated benefits from loving, & any stated costs for not
loving.
When
we put all these costs & benefits together, does that give us
enough motivation to love one another? For some of us, we will be
motivated to try. Some of us will look & still think about some
of the nasty things that some people have done & wonder if it
is worth it, or possible. & for some of us, as we reflect on
the bad days we’ve had, we may be looking at the list & thinking
that we are in major trouble & be wondering how can God’s love
be in us? How
can a love that is commanded, or even a love that is exhorted upon
us, or even a negative exhortation that tends to make us feel somewhat
lacking, inspire us to a committed & deep love? Is
there any hope? Is this where we grab the Bible & go searching
for other passages to help support our views? But wait a minute!
This letter is the one which very clearly says God is love. This
is the love letter of the Bible. Surely there is hope here! So
let’s look at 2 of the verses we’ve read already, before we track
down a couple more. 4 7 “Beloved, let us
love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is
born of God and knows God.”
We are commanded to love, & exhorted both positively & negatively
to love, yet where do we think loves comes from? When we’re commanded
& exhorted, we naturally think we have to dredge it up from
within our own resources. But see, God is the resource giver. He
supplies the love that we are to give. If anyone is born of God
& knows God, they will love, because he supplies love to his
children. That is why anyone who loves is born of God & knows
him. This is reinforced
in 3 10 “The children of
God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all
who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who
do not love their brothers and sisters.” God has so supplied the love that
you can see the family resemblance & it helps us identify brothers
& sisters of Christ. Therefore we are encouraged by 31 “See what love
the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God;
and that is what we are.”
419 begins to take on
a deeper meaning too: “We
love because he first loved us.” So
if God supplies the love, we do need to be reminded of the need
to use what he gives us. So it is fair and reasonable for us to
be commanded to use the love that he supplies. But what type or
form of love should we have? That is where passages like 1 John
3:16 (which we started with) comes in to greater effect. We can
see what love is, & we know love because we see it in what Jesus
Christ did for us. So our love for one another should resemble his.
He is not only our Saviour, Redeemer, & divine lover, but He
is also our example for how we ought to love. So then to our next question. 2. Sometimes Christians
can so love God that they ignore people, or so love people that
God seems to be pushed aside. Is there a balance we should strike? In
our groups we said…. 1
John says 4 21 “The commandment
we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers
and sisters also.” The
balance is we must be at both ends at the same time. Fully love
God and fully love people. 3
17 “How does God’s
love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother
or sister in need and yet refuses help?” We
are to love in such a way that we are continually being obligated
to lay down our lives for one another. He
supplies the love to do both. But
how can we know that we love God? What does John say? 2 15 “Do not love the
world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not
in those who love the world;”
317
“How
does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees
a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” and 4 20-21 “Those who say,
“I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for
those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot
love God whom they have not seen.
The
commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love
their brothers and sisters also.” John says
that our love for God is seen in the way we love one another. But how can
we know that we love one another? What does John say? 5
2
“By
this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God
and obey his commandments. 3
For
the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his
commandments are not burdensome,” We
love people by the way we love God and obey his commandments. This
final part helps keep us in line with what he wants us to do. For
it is easy these days to state that love is the most important thing,
& define love in ways that are not in accordance with God’s
commandments. For
example, is it loving to affirm someone & help them achieve
their goals? But what if a person’s goals are to kill or main every
Lebanese person who walks down a road? It could be claimed that
you are not being very loving if you try to prevent that person
from achieving those goals, & not affirming their desires. That
is why God has provided the guidance of those who saw and touched
and looked upon and heard our Lord through the days of his ministry
from his baptism until he rose from the dead. With the help of the
Holy Spirit, they wrote their accounts and letters which help flesh
out the command to love, so we don’t stray by loving in a way which
God says is not loving. And finally 3. If, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians
13:13, “faith, hope and love abide, and the greatest of these is
love”, and he means that they will abide even through this temporary
life into the next, what effect does love have on God’s children
not just in this life, but into the next?
What did your table groups say? Look at 1 John 4:10-19 10
“In this is love, not that we loved God but that he
loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Beloved, since God loved us so much,
we also ought to love one another. 12 No
one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us,
and his love is perfected in us. 13 By
this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given
us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and
do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the
world. 15 God abides in those who confess
that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16 So we have known
and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those
who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17 Love has been perfected
among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment,
because as he is, so are we in this world.18 There is no fear
in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with
punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.
19
We
love because he first loved us.” As
we stand before God on the judgement day, we can stand with great
boldness. It is not because we are arrogant or foolish. It is because
of the love God has for us, seen in the atoning sacrifice of his
Son for our sins. He is our Saviour. He has given us His Spirit.
He abides in us & we in him. & his love casts out all fear.
I often hear the quote of perfect love casts out all fear used in
times when we are scared here & now. But did you notice that
in the flow of the verses, it also has to do with the judgement
day. We won’t be cowering in fear, but standing in his abiding love.
The
command to fear God and obey his commandments, which echoes through
the Old Testament, is now resplendent in the command to love God
and obey his commandments. It is not that there is a lack of respect.
It is not that there is a lessening of the awe and majesty of God.
Rather it is the surprising wonder of God redeeming his people,
forgiving their sins, giving them His Spirit & lifting them
up to Him. Fear has to do with punishment. Perfect love casts out
fear. So
know you live in love as you abide in him. Next week, we’ll look at truth.
Any
questions? Let’s pray. This
is the 5th study on 1 John in this Lenten series. I hope you know
you live in love as you abide with our Lord, as we have discussed
already. Would someone please pray for us
as we begin. Tonight we’ll begin to investigate
truth by looking at lying. In 1 John, the apostle John assesses
the situation of the people who have split away from the main body
of Christians. They claim to know the truth, yet they are liars.
They lie, because they do not have the truth in their lives. Let’s
read what he says in 2:4, 2:22 & 4:20. 24 Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist (literally “and the truth is not in that person”); 222 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 420 Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. At your tables please answer the following questions. 1. If someone said to you
that the truth does not exist in you, how would you feel? 2. What do you think John
means by the comment? 3. 2:22 says that the antichrist
denies the Father and the Son, is a liar, and denies that Jesus
is the Christ. What else have you heard about the antichrist? 4. What truth is being lied
about in 4:20? John points the finger & declares
that others can be liars. How do we know that they are lying? If they claim to know Jesus,
or love God, it is their actions that show them to be liars. A tree
is known by its fruit. John is stating, like Jesus, we should be
careful of the words people use, & not merely accept them at
face value. Of course we have to accept their words when we first
meet them, but over time we will know their character, & John
clearly states that actions & words should match. But there is more at stake than
simply whether people will be believed by Christians if their actions
don’t match their words. For by not believing in God because of
the testimony of the apostles, they declare that God is a liar.
510 Those who believe in the
Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not
believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony
that God has given concerning his Son. In preparing these studies, the
impact of this has hit home more than ever before. I have heard
it before, but it has given me an added depth of understanding of
what happens when people reject God. If
rejection is their permanent attitude, then not only do they stand
condemned, not only do they reject the good news of Jesus, but they
are also declaring that God’s message is not true, and therefore
God has lied. If someone came along with some
great news, let’s say: that we should all scrape together some money
to buy XYZ shares, for their value will grow 1000% in the next 6
months. Some of us will rush out & buy some… because we believe
them & see the benefits. Others of us will be cautious &
watch a bit & then may buy. Others of us will dismiss it as
a gimmick, even if we could afford it, & not buy any at all.
Whenever we hear news that appears too good to be true, we not only
make an assessment of the news, we also assess the person who told
us, & we also assess where they got the news from. The message
is important, the sources are important, and the character of the
sources are important. The message is the gospel of Jesus
Christ. We are to proclaim it. Where did we get it from? We are
to faithfully proclaim the testimony of the apostles. However, their
testimony comes from God. Reject it, & you call God a liar.
That is how closely John felt about his message of Jesus. He knew
it was from God. Rubbish it, & you are rubbishing God. Pretend
you have it & you do not have the truth in you. Such is the
preciousness of the gospel. It is God’s message. Such is the testimony
of the apostles. So we ought to treat it carefully & faithfully. That was the assessment of those
who split off. Yet the possibility is that the people left in the
fellowship may also lie in word or action. John states that we too
can be liars, & we need great care. 1:6-10 . 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true (literally “we lie and do not do the truth”); 7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. In your table groups answer the following questions: 5. How do people know we are lying if we declare we have fellowship with God (v6)? 6. Is there a different measure being used for the “staying Christians” as compared to those who had departed from their group? If yes, what is it? If no, what does this suggest? 7. In v8, declaring we have no sin could be proven to be a lie by experience, but John makes a bold statement, similar to the statement by those who denied Jesus is the Christ. What do you think “the truth is not in us” means in this verse? 8. Can we make God out to be a liar? It is such an important part of our humble repentant response to God, that if we puff ourselves up & say that we do not need to be forgiven, because we do not sin, then we make God a liar, & his word is not in us. If you remember when we looked at abiding, if his word does not abide in us, then Jesus does not abide in us. If Jesus is not abiding in us, then we do not have the truth. Saying that we have not sinned is as blatant as rejecting the gospel, & we state that God is lying. This is affirmed by 2:27. 227 As for you, the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him. So if the anointing is true, what is the truth? That question was asked by Herod at Jesus’ trial. It has been pondered on & over by many philosophers throughout time. We don’t have time to investigate it fully, except we will have a look to see what the apostle John wrote about it in his letter. He was conscious of writing about it, because he said in 2:21 that they already knew it. 221 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and you know that no lie comes from the truth. The question is what is the truth that they knew? For us, truth has become so relative that we want to ask something like which form of truth or which truth. We don’t even ask anymore, which part of the truth as if “the truth” was something large & out there (That went out with the end of the X-Files… it is so yesterday). John does not define the truth
for us. He gives hints, but he also gives some parallel statements,
from which I think we can gather what he meant. So to find out more
of what he meant, we’re going to read passages of his letter. Look again at 1:6-10. From that passage, we can see that the truth is not an abstract unattainable concept. Since some lie and do not do the truth, we are able to do the truth. Also, v8 is paralleled in v10, with some slight variations. Our false attitudes to sin not only mean we deceive ourselves, but we make God a liar. & as we do that, the truth is not in us, neither is his word. Could it be that his word is the same as the truth? It is possible in this passage. Let’s see if that holds all the way through his letter. 2:4-9 Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; 5 but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: 6 whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked. 7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Can anyone see a parallel about truth in that passage, apart from the parallel we looked at earlier with the passage from 1:8? There are negative parallels between the lack of truth & the lack of light, and the lack of truth and the lack of love. Is it possible to identify the truth with the word? It may be possible, but it is a little messy. We have the old commandment, which is the word that we heard from the beginning. But there is no new commandment, except the new commandment is true in him & in you. Some may want to see a relative truth creep in here, as if he was suggesting it is true for him & true for you, but may not be for someone else. This means we may doubt its veracity in every case. But that is never implied. Rather the stress is that it is true in Jesus & in humans, therefore we can trust this commandment. Once again in that passage, the truth will automatically lead into activity within the person which others can see. Having the truth for John is the same as living the truth for us. Not living the truth for us is not having the truth for John. The same goes for light and love. 2:20-27 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and you know that no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he has promised us, eternal life.26 I write these things to you concerning those who would deceive you. 27 As for you, the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him. We have looked at v21 already,
yet in context, the truth probably means the content of the knowledge
given in the anointing of the Holy One. This knowledge involves
knowing that Jesus is the Christ. What you heard from the beginning
was the news about Jesus, whom he handled, saw, touched etc. That
anointing is true and is not a lie. This passage on the anointing
parallels the verses on the commandment. 3:17-20 17 How
does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees
a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? 18 Little children,
let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. 19 And by this
we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts
before him 20
whenever
our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he
knows everything. No lie comes from the truth (2:21),
and we are from the truth (3:19). The truth is either in someone
or not. I suggested that the truth could possibly be another description
of the gospel of Jesus. Yet it now appears that John is drawing
a much bigger picture. 4:2-6 By this you know the Spirit
of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh is from God, 3
and
every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.
And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard
that it is coming; and now it is already in the world. 4 Little children,
you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in
you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the
world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world
listens to them. 6
We
are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not
from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of
truth
and the spirit of error. The Greek for “spirit of error”
is literally the “spirit of wandering”. The word for wandering is
only ever used in the New Testament to mean wandering from the truth.
Notice the “you”, the “they” and the “us” in this passage. Once
again John is very aware of his position with the testimony of the
apostles. He knew he was writing with God’s authority and truth. 5:6
This
is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the
water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the
one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. Now he declares that the Spirit
is the truth, not simply that we can know the spirit of truth from
the spirit of error. So the message is the truth, we are from the
truth, we are from God, and the Spirit is the truth. The anointing
is true, and the Spirit is the truth. 5:19-20 19 We know that we
are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power
of the evil one. 20
And
we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding
so that we
may know him who is true;
and we
are in him who is true,
in
his Son Jesus Christ.
He
is the true God and eternal life. Now the Father of Jesus Christ
is the true, the true God and eternal life, yet we know that the
Son is eternal life (1:2), so the Son is the truth, and the Spirit
is the truth. My suspicion that the truth is the gospel of Jesus
yet is greater than it is now confirmed. God is the truth. When John declared that the truth
was not in someone, he was not talking abstractly about a principle
or standard which we can call the truth. He was talking of the gospel,
but he was also talking of God himself. It matches with his claims
about abiding in God, and him abiding in us; of living in love,
and love in us; & of knowing the truth, knowing love and knowing
God. As we are to grow in the way we become more like Christ, to
be more godly, our actions will show whether we are living with
the truth, and our words are empty and lies if we claim we know
God, or love God, if he is not making changes in us. Next week, we will be spend more
time on considering what it means to be “In God” in 1 John. Any
questions? Let’s pray. This is the final study on 1 John
in this Lenten series. I hope you know you live in love as you abide
with our Lord, as we have discussed already. Would someone please pray for us
as we begin this final study? Many of you know that I began this
series of Lenten studies by comparing the book of 1 John to a sudoku
puzzle. There are many themes intertwining together & repetition
is the norm. Along the way I have also stated that I do not think
that the popular way of understanding this book, which is or seeing
it as a series of 3 tests (moral [obedience], social [love] and
doctrinal [belief]) matches fully to the material in the text. If
the 3 tests are the grid to help us understand the letter, then
it helps, but it gets messy & there are things that don’t fit. During the week, I have been reading
this letter several times, as well as much of the Bible, to see
if there are any patterns or sequences of events which occur elsewhere
& are found here. Alas, it is not that simple. He is not simply
writing a Christian commentary on Deuteronomy, or Isaiah etc. Yet,
there are things in 1 John which do put a Christian twist on things
found in Deuteronomy, Isaiah & elsewhere. Nor is it simply a
revision of the gospel of John, or the Revelation of St John the
Divine. About a month ago, I was chatting
to one of you after a study, & I was grappling with this problem.
The person said that it is easy. The whole letter is about Jesus.
Everything points to him. That is true, just as everything
in the Old Testament & the New Testament points to Jesus. The
promises all find their yeses in him. Time is divided into pre Jesus
& after Jesus. But to spend all our time on this text, to come
up with the Sunday school answer, although also profoundly true,
will help us miss out on the intricacies & nuances that John’s
first letter gives. For each book of the Bible, given its due place
in our canon of the Scriptures, brings its own texture & weave
in the united pattern that is the Bible. Eg the Book of Hebrews gives us a
great revelation as to how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament sacrificial
system. & how much we would miss out on Melchizedek if we didn’t
have Hebrews? Jesus is greater than the angels, Moses, the High
Priests, & the new covenant is superior to the old etc, are
all major themes in Hebrews. So if we had to say from the studies
we have done so far, what would you say are some of the characteristics
of 1 John that give it its unique flavour in the New Testament? (List on board) As I have been reading it in the
flow of the Bible, several issues have been striking me, which may
not appear so obvious at first. 1. One major issue that
begins in the early passages of Genesis, & goes throughout the
Bible until the final chapters of Revelation, is God’s desire to
be with his people. As he is a holy God, he cannot tolerate sin
& rebellion. So, a lot of the Bible is concerned with how our
Holy God can live with his people without blasting them from the
face of the earth. The institution of the law, the sacrificial system,
the priesthood & the tabernacle then temple, was the major Old
Testament way that God could live among his people. Through loving
obedience & sacrifice at the appointed place by the appointed
priests, God would deal with their sin, & forgiveness was theirs.
God could live among them, but with layers of protection for the
people. Only the High Priests could go into the holy of holies.
Only the priests could draw into the next layer. Only the men could
go the next step, then the ladies & then non-Jews, & then
the disabled & handicapped as the final layer. By this system,
God’s people had the marvellous privilege of having their God with
them. But in the first few verses of
1 John, we’re told that John & the other apostles have handled,
seen, heard & looked at the eternal life himself, & it is
through hearing about this Son of God & what he has done that
we not only have fellowship with the apostles, but also with the
Father & with his Son Jesus Christ. & this is a very joyous
event, which is why he was writing, to make the joy complete. So he begins the letter, by stating
that what the Jews eagerly longed for, & received through their
complex system in the Old Testament, has now been achieved for us
in Jesus. What unfolds in the letter seems to be the explanations
of how this can be, & the “what about’s” of the examples of
abuses etc. 2. As I read through
Proverbs, I was struck, especially in the first 8 chapters, by the
style of writing, which generally was of an older man teaching his
child. I couldn’t help but wonder about the nature of 1 John, as
being a piece of New Testament wisdom literature, where the concern
is “how should we live in a godly way?” Maybe the apparent disorder
of themes and repetitions comes from a deliberate attempt to be
like the proverbs, where some people have said that it is like reading
the telephone book… good characters, but not much of a storyline. 3. I have always been
puzzled by the last verse in the book, not because I don’t know
what it means, but because of its placement. 5:21 “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” Why is it there?
It sticks out like the headland at Bombo near Kiama. You cannot
miss it. Does this sum up what he has been saying all the way through
his letter? Is it a clue as to the major theme of his writing? Was
it, as many have suggested, simply because John was writing in So the way I finally decided to approach this last study was to ask you to examine all the passages of purpose in the letter. We’ll look at the verses which state something like This was done SO THAT that could happen. As we do that, we’ll see hopefully, a more united approach to this book. In your table groups, read through the following verses and fill in the table. 13 we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 14 We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 21 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 228
And now, little children, abide in him, so that when
he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before
him at his coming. 38 Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 49 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 417 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. 513 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 520 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Has
this table helped in your identifying the purposes for which the
letter was written? To
me, it reaffirms my earlier statements about the concern for living
with God here on earth, while confidently waiting for living with
God after the judgement. We are certainly encouraged to know we
live in love as we abide in the truth. Then,
as we found when looking at the session on Knowing & Truth,
any knowledge, if it is true at all, will flow through into action.
We are liars if we do not live out what we believe and know. The
wisdom literature is very acutely aware of this, & sought to
show how the godly person ought to live in very practical &
helpful ways. Sometimes the proverbs were so generalised that it
looked as if they could not be true. An
example, picked just by opening the Bible to a few pages: Proverbs
16:26
“The appetite of workers works for them; their hunger urges them
on.”
That is normally true, but not always. What if they come into an
inheritance? Their hunger won’t be pushing them. We can always think
of exceptions. Proverbs
12:21
“No harm happens to the righteous, but the wicked are filled with
trouble.”
It is true from God’s eternal perspective, yet it doesn’t appear
to hold true for us in the cut and thrust of this world. In
the same way, there are statements in 1 John which are very black
and white (such as 2:1…
I am writing these things so that you may not sin…”), and appear not
to be true on first reading. Yet, when seen in the context of the
book, & in light of say John 13, where Jesus said his followers
are clean, only requiring foot washing, their truthfulness is seen. So
the style of his writing appears to be heavily dependant upon the
wisdom literature. Yet
it still doesn’t answer the question about keeping ourselves from
idols. Why
finish the letter with this? Is it to much the abrupt start? After
all there is no designated readers, & there is no author’s signature
on the letter. Were the front and back bits of the letter chopped
off? Or is there another explanation for ending this way? As
I have been understanding 1 John, John has been showing that if
you know the true God, and abide in him through Jesus Christ, then
your actions will match your beliefs. If however, your view of Jesus
varies from what John has taught, or your understanding of God differs,
then it will show in what you do or say. Either you will deny the
Christ, or you will fail to love, or you will cut off fellowship
etc. The
whole of the letter has been focusing on the abiding, loving, living
fellowship between God & people. My understanding of the letter
is, if we allow ourselves to be drawn away from the true God in
any way, then it is idolatry. Since living as a Christian is so
directly linked in 1 John to what you believe and know about God,
any variation will be seen. I
am open for discussion on this. Any discussion on the purpose of
the letter? Any
other questions? Let’s pray. "The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright \, 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.". |
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