Here are a couple more Sermons that every Christian should hear:
Showing posts with label 1 John. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1 John. Show all posts
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Children, Fathers, & Young Men - 1 John 2:12-14
I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. 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 men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
As we return once again to our study of 1st John we come to verses 12-14 of chapter 2 where John is once again addressing his readers as little children. But in this passage he adds two more titles and he also calls them fathers and young men. Some have suggested that this is a reference to physical age, or that it is possibly a reference to the three stages of Christian maturity, but the sequence doesn't allow for that as it puts fathers as the middle term. So then what is it that John is communicating here? John Walvoord writes:
Next John says that a Christian is one who has come to know Him who is from the beginning; in other words, a Christian is one who knows God. This does not mean that we know about God; this is referring to an intimate and personal relationship with God. As we saw in the quote above from Dr. Walvoord, a true Christian is one who has truly experienced fellowship with God. The Greek word that is translated know here is ginó̄skō, which means to know in a complete sense. This is the same Greek word that is used in Matthew chapter 1, where we read:
John then writes that true Christians are also those who have overcome the evil one. How have they overcome the evil one? In verse 14 he says that it is because they are strong and the word of God abides in them. When Jesus was tempted by the devil He fought back with the word of God (Matthew 4:1-11), Paul tells us that the word of God is our sword (Ephesians 6:17), and in the Psalms we are told that we can overcome sin by hiding Gods word in our hearts (Psalm 119:11).
So what does it mean that they have overcome the evil one? Does it mean that they have become sinless? No, John has already addressed this several times (1 John 1:8, 1 John 1:10, 1 John 2:1). What this means is that the pattern of their life is moving in the direction of holiness; we overcome the evil one as we day-by-day resist him and submit our will to the will of Christ. The apostle Paul addressed this very thing in his letter to the Philippians when he wrote:
Now John repeats these same statements - almost word-for-word - in the next verse and a half. Scholars disagree on why he might have done this, but my opinion is that he repeated this for emphasis; this is important and John wants us to get it.
What then can we take away from these few verses? That in Christ our sins are forgiven. That our sins are not forgiven for anything that we did, but that we are forgiven for the sake of God's holy name. That as we grow in the word we are able to overcome the evil one and move in the direction of holiness in our lives. And finally, that we can know our heavenly Father in an intimate way as we spend time with Him in prayer and the reading of His word.
This is a wonderful passage; take some time today, reread these verses and meditate on the truths that they present and the blessings that we have in Christ.
1John 2:12-14
As we return once again to our study of 1st John we come to verses 12-14 of chapter 2 where John is once again addressing his readers as little children. But in this passage he adds two more titles and he also calls them fathers and young men. Some have suggested that this is a reference to physical age, or that it is possibly a reference to the three stages of Christian maturity, but the sequence doesn't allow for that as it puts fathers as the middle term. So then what is it that John is communicating here? John Walvoord writes:
[T]hought of as “children,” the readers had experienced the forgiveness that their heavenly Father grants to His own. As “fathers,” they had an experience that touches eternity past, since they have known Him who is from the beginning. In the light of 1 John 2:3-6, this implies they have truly experienced fellowship with God. As “young men,” the readers had engaged in spiritual warfare and had overcome the evil one, Satan.So if this is correct, and I see no reason to believe otherwise, then what John is writing here applies to each and everyone of us regardless of where we are in our walk with Christ.The first thing that he writes is that Christians are those who have had their sins forgiven, but notice that he writes that our sins are not forgiven for our sake but for His name's sake. This is reminiscent of what God said through the prophet Ezekiel when speaking of the New Covenant, He said :Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (2:890). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.What we see here is that God says He is going to act, to redeem Israel, not for their sake but for the sake of His holiness and to vindicate His great name and His holiness before their eyes and the eyes all nations. John is telling us the same thing here when he says that our sins are forgiven for His name's sake. God forgives our sins in order to glorify Himself and make His name great, not ours.Ezekiel 36:22-23
Next John says that a Christian is one who has come to know Him who is from the beginning; in other words, a Christian is one who knows God. This does not mean that we know about God; this is referring to an intimate and personal relationship with God. As we saw in the quote above from Dr. Walvoord, a true Christian is one who has truly experienced fellowship with God. The Greek word that is translated know here is ginó̄skō, which means to know in a complete sense. This is the same Greek word that is used in Matthew chapter 1, where we read:
When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him: he took his wife, but knew (ginó̄skō) her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.So what we see here is that another mark of a true Christian is that they intimately know God. This is a knowledge that can only come from spending time with Him in His word and in prayer.Matthew 1:24-25
John then writes that true Christians are also those who have overcome the evil one. How have they overcome the evil one? In verse 14 he says that it is because they are strong and the word of God abides in them. When Jesus was tempted by the devil He fought back with the word of God (Matthew 4:1-11), Paul tells us that the word of God is our sword (Ephesians 6:17), and in the Psalms we are told that we can overcome sin by hiding Gods word in our hearts (Psalm 119:11).
So what does it mean that they have overcome the evil one? Does it mean that they have become sinless? No, John has already addressed this several times (1 John 1:8, 1 John 1:10, 1 John 2:1). What this means is that the pattern of their life is moving in the direction of holiness; we overcome the evil one as we day-by-day resist him and submit our will to the will of Christ. The apostle Paul addressed this very thing in his letter to the Philippians when he wrote:
Not that I have already obtained this [resurrection from the dead - verse 11] or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.So according to Paul this is a process; we are to forget what is behind us and move forward toward the goal and as we do this as a pattern of our life we overcome the evil one.
Now John repeats these same statements - almost word-for-word - in the next verse and a half. Scholars disagree on why he might have done this, but my opinion is that he repeated this for emphasis; this is important and John wants us to get it.
What then can we take away from these few verses? That in Christ our sins are forgiven. That our sins are not forgiven for anything that we did, but that we are forgiven for the sake of God's holy name. That as we grow in the word we are able to overcome the evil one and move in the direction of holiness in our lives. And finally, that we can know our heavenly Father in an intimate way as we spend time with Him in prayer and the reading of His word.
This is a wonderful passage; take some time today, reread these verses and meditate on the truths that they present and the blessings that we have in Christ.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Back To 1st John - Another Test
Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever 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.
As we return to our study of 1st John we come to the next test of genuine Christianity - love for fellow Christians. You will notice in these verses that once again John is making a contrast between light and darkness. If you remember, back in chapter one John told us that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5) and then he went on to say that if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie an do not practice the truth (1 John 1:6).
Now John gives us another test to show us if we are truly walking in the light - if we love one another we are in the light, but if we do not love we are in the darkness, we walk in darkness, and our eyes have been blinded. And to take this back to the truth from chapter 1, we are out of fellowship with God as well.
So what does John mean here when he says love? And for that matter, what does he mean when he contrasts this with hate, is not loving your brother or sister in Christ the same as hating them? Let's look at both of these words and see what we can learn. First, the Greek word translated as hates in verse 9 & 11 is the word miséō, which means malicious and unjustifiable feelings towards others, whether towards the innocent or by mutual animosity. In the Greek language this word is the exact opposite of agapáō, the word that is translated as love in this passage. In order to better understand what John is teaching us here let's look at agapáō to see how Christians are to treat one another.
The Greek word agapáō, the strongest of four Greek words translated as love in the English versions of the New Testament, can best be understood by looking at how the apostle Paul defined it in 1 Corinthians 13; he wrote:
So what can we take away from these few verses today; what is our practical application here?
We can all use this as a measuring stick to see where we are in our walk with Christ; these verses say here that if we say we are in the light and yet we hate our brother we are not in the light - we are still in darkness. John said that followers of Jesus love, Jesus said that as we love one another the world would know that we belong to Him, and Paul showed us what that love should look like.
You say you are a Christian, do you love your brothers and sisters in the Lord? If you can't answer yes to that question you had better check your salvation because this passage tells us that you are not walking in the light. And since that is where God is, you are not walking with Him.
As we return to our study of 1st John we come to the next test of genuine Christianity - love for fellow Christians. You will notice in these verses that once again John is making a contrast between light and darkness. If you remember, back in chapter one John told us that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5) and then he went on to say that if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie an do not practice the truth (1 John 1:6).
Now John gives us another test to show us if we are truly walking in the light - if we love one another we are in the light, but if we do not love we are in the darkness, we walk in darkness, and our eyes have been blinded. And to take this back to the truth from chapter 1, we are out of fellowship with God as well.
So what does John mean here when he says love? And for that matter, what does he mean when he contrasts this with hate, is not loving your brother or sister in Christ the same as hating them? Let's look at both of these words and see what we can learn. First, the Greek word translated as hates in verse 9 & 11 is the word miséō, which means malicious and unjustifiable feelings towards others, whether towards the innocent or by mutual animosity. In the Greek language this word is the exact opposite of agapáō, the word that is translated as love in this passage. In order to better understand what John is teaching us here let's look at agapáō to see how Christians are to treat one another.
The Greek word agapáō, the strongest of four Greek words translated as love in the English versions of the New Testament, can best be understood by looking at how the apostle Paul defined it in 1 Corinthians 13; he wrote:
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.As we read through this passage we see that the overriding characteristic of agapáō is that it is concerned with the welfare of others and has the best interest of the other person as its foremost motivation. This is the same word that John uses here in the passage that we are looking at today, and he says that if we do not have this type of love for our brothers and sisters in Christ then we are not walking in the light. This is the same word that Jesus used when He said:
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love [agapáō] one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love [agapáō] one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”And then:
This is my commandment, that you love [agapáō] one another as I have loved [agapáō] you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love [agapáō] one another.
We can all use this as a measuring stick to see where we are in our walk with Christ; these verses say here that if we say we are in the light and yet we hate our brother we are not in the light - we are still in darkness. John said that followers of Jesus love, Jesus said that as we love one another the world would know that we belong to Him, and Paul showed us what that love should look like.
You say you are a Christian, do you love your brothers and sisters in the Lord? If you can't answer yes to that question you had better check your salvation because this passage tells us that you are not walking in the light. And since that is where God is, you are not walking with Him.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
The Command To Love
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
In our previous study we saw that keeping the commandments is a test of genuine conversion. In those verses (1 John 2:3-6) John was speaking of the commandments as a whole; in this passage he narrows his focus down to just one as he gives us our next test.
John begins by addressing his audience Beloved. The Greek word he used here is agapētós, which could also be translated as brothers or dear friends, and it shows John's deep affection for those to whom he is writing. This is the first of six times that John uses this word in this letter and although the use of this word makes it appear that John is beginning a new section here he is really just continuing the previous section where he wrote that if we know Him we will keep His commandments, and as I mentioned above he now moves his attention to just one commandment - the commandment to love.
John then writes "I am writing no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning." He then adds, "The old commandment is the word that you have heard." So what is this commandment? As I have already said, this is the command to love. But love is not mentioned anywhere in these two verses, so where do I get that from? In John's second letter he writes:
And now I ask you, dear lady - not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning - that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
As well as three other times here in First John:
For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
From these passages we can see that to John (and to Jesus) it was very important that Christians show love for one another, and that is the commandment that John is referring to here in 1 John 2:7-8. So that brings up the question then, how do we do this and what does it look like when Christians love each other?
The Greek word translated love in these passages is the word agapáō, which is the love that God has for each of us. It is an unconditional, self-sacrificing love. It is a love where you put the needs of the other person above your own needs and you do what is best for them - even if it inconveniences you. It is the highest form of love. And this is the love that Jesus commanded each of us to have for our brothers and sisters in Christ. So, what does this look like? For the answer we just need to look at Paul's letter to the Philippians where he wrote:
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.Philippians 2:3-7 (NASB)
We are to regard others as more important than our selves and look out for the interests of others . We are to have the attitude of Jesus, who emptied Himself and became a servant for our good. That is what Biblical love looks like. And in a verse that we just looked at, John 13:35, Jesus said that is is by our love for one another that the world will know that we are his followers.
To bring this all back to 1 John 2:7-8 then, what we are seeing is that as a follower of Jesus Christ we have been given the commandment that we are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, and as we move into the next verses in this passage next time we will see that this commandment to love one another is the next test that John gave for us to know if our faith is genuine.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
The Test Of Obedience
And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
We now come to the next test of genuine faith in 1 John - the test of obedience. John tells us here that the one who knows God keeps His commandments, and conversely the one who does not keep His commandments does not know Him, and is a liar if they say that they do. John also tells us two times in these three verses that this is how we can know that we really know Him and that we are abiding in Jesus, so let's go through this passage in a little more detail and see what we can learn.
John starts by saying, in verse 3, "by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep his commandments." What does it mean to know God? Have you ever thought about that question? I think about that question a lot. I am the kind of person who likes to do research and likes to study so it is a real danger for me to study and know all kinds of things about God and not really know Him. This may be a danger for you as well, so be on guard.
The Greek word used here is the word ginó̄skō, which means to know by experience. The word used here is aa active verb in the perfect tense, which in Greek indicates that this is an action that is being accomplished by the subject of the verb (in this case we) and that is is an action or process that has taken place at a point in the past, but the results of which have continued on to the present. In other words what John is saying is that we can say that we know God, but if we are not keeping His commandments then the knowledge that we have of Him is just that - knowledge - we have not known Him experientially, we have only known about Him.
This then leads us then to another question, which commandments is John referring to here? Is he talking about the 613 ceremonial laws in the Old Testament? Is he referring to the 10 Commandments? Or is he talking about something else entirely? This is an important question to answer, because according to this passage, if we get this one wrong we are lying when we say that we know Him. I think John gives us a clue as to what he is referring in verse 5 where he writes, "whoever keeps his word..." The his in this verse refers back to the subject of verses 1 and 2, which is Jesus Christ. So what John is saying is that it is the keeping of the word of Jesus (His commandments) that proves the genuineness of our salvation.
This then leads us to our next question, what are the commandments of Jesus; what is His word that we are to keep? To answer this question we need to go back to the Gospels and see what it was that Jesus told us we are to do; when asked directly which commandment is the most important of all Jesus replied:
John then tells us that whoever does these things, in them the love of God is perfected. What does this mean? I believe what John is teaching us here is that as we obey God we will grow more and more to love Him and we will find that we are no longer doing these things because we were commanded to do so, but because of our love for Him.
John concludes these verses by stating again the importance of obedience; in verse 6 he says, "By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."
We are to walk as Jesus walked. In the Bible to word walk is often used to depict action or lifestyle. In other words, what John is saying here is that as a professing believer in Jesus Christ we are to live our life in the same way that He lived His life here on earth; we are to do what Jesus did. This goes back again to what Jesus told us we are to do: love God, and love each other. These are the things that Jesus did, and these are the things that He told us to do as well.
Take some time today to examine yourself in light of 1 John 2:3-6. If you pass the test rejoice and praise God for the salvation that He has given you. And if you find that you fall short, confess your sin, repent and rejoice that you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1). Then obey what He commanded you to do.
We now come to the next test of genuine faith in 1 John - the test of obedience. John tells us here that the one who knows God keeps His commandments, and conversely the one who does not keep His commandments does not know Him, and is a liar if they say that they do. John also tells us two times in these three verses that this is how we can know that we really know Him and that we are abiding in Jesus, so let's go through this passage in a little more detail and see what we can learn.
John starts by saying, in verse 3, "by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep his commandments." What does it mean to know God? Have you ever thought about that question? I think about that question a lot. I am the kind of person who likes to do research and likes to study so it is a real danger for me to study and know all kinds of things about God and not really know Him. This may be a danger for you as well, so be on guard.
The Greek word used here is the word ginó̄skō, which means to know by experience. The word used here is aa active verb in the perfect tense, which in Greek indicates that this is an action that is being accomplished by the subject of the verb (in this case we) and that is is an action or process that has taken place at a point in the past, but the results of which have continued on to the present. In other words what John is saying is that we can say that we know God, but if we are not keeping His commandments then the knowledge that we have of Him is just that - knowledge - we have not known Him experientially, we have only known about Him.
This then leads us then to another question, which commandments is John referring to here? Is he talking about the 613 ceremonial laws in the Old Testament? Is he referring to the 10 Commandments? Or is he talking about something else entirely? This is an important question to answer, because according to this passage, if we get this one wrong we are lying when we say that we know Him. I think John gives us a clue as to what he is referring in verse 5 where he writes, "whoever keeps his word..." The his in this verse refers back to the subject of verses 1 and 2, which is Jesus Christ. So what John is saying is that it is the keeping of the word of Jesus (His commandments) that proves the genuineness of our salvation.
This then leads us to our next question, what are the commandments of Jesus; what is His word that we are to keep? To answer this question we need to go back to the Gospels and see what it was that Jesus told us we are to do; when asked directly which commandment is the most important of all Jesus replied:
The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.So according to John, we can know that our faith is genuine if we keep the words of Jesus. And the words that Jesus gave us to obey are these: love God above everything else, love our neighbor as ourselves, and love our brothers and sisters in Christ. Ironically, if we obey these words of Jesus we will also have obeyed the 10 commandments as well. On the other hand, John also tells us that if we do not do these things we are showing that our faith is not genuine and that we have reason to question our salvation.
John then tells us that whoever does these things, in them the love of God is perfected. What does this mean? I believe what John is teaching us here is that as we obey God we will grow more and more to love Him and we will find that we are no longer doing these things because we were commanded to do so, but because of our love for Him.
John concludes these verses by stating again the importance of obedience; in verse 6 he says, "By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."
We are to walk as Jesus walked. In the Bible to word walk is often used to depict action or lifestyle. In other words, what John is saying here is that as a professing believer in Jesus Christ we are to live our life in the same way that He lived His life here on earth; we are to do what Jesus did. This goes back again to what Jesus told us we are to do: love God, and love each other. These are the things that Jesus did, and these are the things that He told us to do as well.
Take some time today to examine yourself in light of 1 John 2:3-6. If you pass the test rejoice and praise God for the salvation that He has given you. And if you find that you fall short, confess your sin, repent and rejoice that you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1). Then obey what He commanded you to do.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Jesus Christ, Our Propitiation
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
As we continue our study of First John we come to what is arguably the most important word in the entire Bible after the name of Jesus; in 1 John 2:2 we are told that He (Jesus Christ) is the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation is somewhat difficult to define because there is so much more meaning here than anything we can express with mere words. Webster's Dictionary defines the word propitiate as: "to gain or regain the favor or goodwill of : appease, conciliate" and propitiation then as "the act of propitiating: something that propitiates: an atoning sacrifice." This is what the word means, but in the life of the Christian this definition does not adequately express what it means that Jesus is our propitiation.
In order to get a glimpse of what this word really means for us we need to first see clearly our condition before God apart from the propitiatory work of Jesus. We read in Romans that all have sinned and fall sort of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but have we really ever stopped to think what that really means? In Paul's letter to the Ephesians he wrote:
John then finishes verse 2 by saying that Jesus is not just the propitiation for our sins but also for the sins of the world. This can be a very controversial verse and some have used it to teach a universal salvation meaning that because Jesus died for the sins of the whole world the whole world must be saved. But that cannot be what this verse means because this would contradict other passages that clearly teach that salvation is given only to those who repent of their sins and place their faith in Jesus Christ. So what does this phrase mean then?
I think that what John is telling us here is not that the whole world will be saved by the work of Christ on the cross, but that the work of Christ on the cross is sufficient to save the whole world. Let me put it another way; Jesus died for our sins as our propitiation, and His death is sufficient to pay the price for every sin that every person who ever lived ever has or ever will commit. However, in order to appropriate that payment to the account of the individual sinner it is the responsibility of each sinner to repent and turn to God for salvation. Or to put it yet another way, Jesus' death is the complete and perfect sacrifice and nothing else is needed or can be added to it, it perfectly covers every sin - we just need to accept it by faith, repent of our sins, and turn to God. When we do this there is a propitiation for all of our sins, and not ours only, it is also available to all who believe.
As we continue our study of First John we come to what is arguably the most important word in the entire Bible after the name of Jesus; in 1 John 2:2 we are told that He (Jesus Christ) is the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation is somewhat difficult to define because there is so much more meaning here than anything we can express with mere words. Webster's Dictionary defines the word propitiate as: "to gain or regain the favor or goodwill of : appease, conciliate" and propitiation then as "the act of propitiating: something that propitiates: an atoning sacrifice." This is what the word means, but in the life of the Christian this definition does not adequately express what it means that Jesus is our propitiation.
In order to get a glimpse of what this word really means for us we need to first see clearly our condition before God apart from the propitiatory work of Jesus. We read in Romans that all have sinned and fall sort of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but have we really ever stopped to think what that really means? In Paul's letter to the Ephesians he wrote:
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience — among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.What we see in these verses is that apart from Christ we are dead, we are under God's wrath, we are called sons of disobedience, and if we follow this all the way to chapter 5 Paul actually tells us that the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 5:6). Once again we see that we have a dilemma; we are under the wrath of God and we have absolutely no way to appease that wrath. We need someone who can reconcile us to God and move us from being under His wrath to a position of favor - that is propitiation. When John writes that He is the propitiation for our sins what he is telling us is that Jesus has acted on our behalf and appeased the wrath of God that we were due because of our sin. And how did Jesus do this? I really like the way the NASB translates this verse because it tells us that "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins..." In other words, Jesus' death on the cross was the atoning sacrifice that God required to pay the penalty for our sins; Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, took our sin on Himself and took the wrath of his Father in our place and in return He gives us His righteousness so that we can have favor with God. Here are just a few verses that illustrate this point:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”And Finally:
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it — the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
As you can see, this is a very important doctrine, and I have only scratched the surface of all that this implies in the life of the believer. We could study this for the rest of time (maybe even eternity) and never exhaust or fully understand what it means that Jesus is Himself our propitiation.
John then finishes verse 2 by saying that Jesus is not just the propitiation for our sins but also for the sins of the world. This can be a very controversial verse and some have used it to teach a universal salvation meaning that because Jesus died for the sins of the whole world the whole world must be saved. But that cannot be what this verse means because this would contradict other passages that clearly teach that salvation is given only to those who repent of their sins and place their faith in Jesus Christ. So what does this phrase mean then?
I think that what John is telling us here is not that the whole world will be saved by the work of Christ on the cross, but that the work of Christ on the cross is sufficient to save the whole world. Let me put it another way; Jesus died for our sins as our propitiation, and His death is sufficient to pay the price for every sin that every person who ever lived ever has or ever will commit. However, in order to appropriate that payment to the account of the individual sinner it is the responsibility of each sinner to repent and turn to God for salvation. Or to put it yet another way, Jesus' death is the complete and perfect sacrifice and nothing else is needed or can be added to it, it perfectly covers every sin - we just need to accept it by faith, repent of our sins, and turn to God. When we do this there is a propitiation for all of our sins, and not ours only, it is also available to all who believe.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
We Have An Advocate
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.
In the previous chapter John has made it clear that we all sin, and in verses 9-10 (which we looked at last time) he told us that if we confess our sins God will forgive our sins and He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. John's motive here is not to encourage us to sin, but to show us that we do not have to sin; John is not giving us a license to sin and that is what chapter 2 is about.
John begins chapter 2 with the words "My little children." With these words, and the switch to the first person singular (I as opposed to we in chapter 1) John is drawing his readers attention to the exhortation that he is about to give them. John does this with the affection and compassion of a father as he addresses his readers as his children in the faith. And what is his message to his children? He tells them that he has not written this letter to them to give them either permission or an excuse to sin; he has actually written to them so that they will not sin, which may seem odd considering that in that last few verses of chapter 1 John made a point to make sure we all knew that we all sin and that God will forgive us if we confess our sins. He even when so far as to say that if we say that we have no sin we are a liar and the truth is not in us. Now he says he has written this to us so that we may not sin, so how do we explain this seeming contradiction here? I think Warren Wiersbe sums this up well when he writes:
This is the point that John is making here; when we look at the compassion and mercy of God, and the fact that he says that he will forgive all of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, our love for Him should motivate us toward holiness and not toward further sin; we show our love for our Heavenly Father by our obedience to his word, not because we have to but because we want to.
John goes on then to again remind us that even though we are to live a holy life there will be times when we realize that we have fallen short of what God has called us to be and he tells us that when that happens we are not to give up and stop trying. Why? Because we have an advocate with the Father. Webster's Dictionary defines the word advocate as:
The Greek word used here is paráklētos, which means, "a legal advisor, pleader, proxy, or advocate, one who comes forward in behalf of and as the representative of another." So the picture that we are getting here is that when we sin as a Christian we have someone who will come forward on our behalf and plead our case before the Father; we have someone who will defend us and who will represent us. John then gives us the identity of this advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. We will see in the next verse that not only is He our advocate, but that He is also our propitiation; not only does He defend us, but He also is the one who paid our fine (more on that next time).
Notice that John refers to Jesus here as Jesus Christ the righteous. John here is pointing to the holiness and perfection of Jesus, he is reminding us that Jesus is the perfect Son of God and that as our sinless advocate, when Satan brings an accusation against us (Revelation 12:10), He is able to point to His finished work on Calvary and say, “Charge that to My account.”
So as you spend some time alone with God today take a few minutes to thank Him for all He has given you; thank Him for the promise that if you confess them He will forgive all of your sins. And take some time to praise and thank Jesus for being your advocate, for coming to your defense, and for standing up in your place as your representative since you are not able to do so yourself.
In the previous chapter John has made it clear that we all sin, and in verses 9-10 (which we looked at last time) he told us that if we confess our sins God will forgive our sins and He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. John's motive here is not to encourage us to sin, but to show us that we do not have to sin; John is not giving us a license to sin and that is what chapter 2 is about.
John begins chapter 2 with the words "My little children." With these words, and the switch to the first person singular (I as opposed to we in chapter 1) John is drawing his readers attention to the exhortation that he is about to give them. John does this with the affection and compassion of a father as he addresses his readers as his children in the faith. And what is his message to his children? He tells them that he has not written this letter to them to give them either permission or an excuse to sin; he has actually written to them so that they will not sin, which may seem odd considering that in that last few verses of chapter 1 John made a point to make sure we all knew that we all sin and that God will forgive us if we confess our sins. He even when so far as to say that if we say that we have no sin we are a liar and the truth is not in us. Now he says he has written this to us so that we may not sin, so how do we explain this seeming contradiction here? I think Warren Wiersbe sums this up well when he writes:
There are three motives for obedience. We can obey because we have to, because we need to, or because we want to.
A slave obeys because he has to. If he doesn’t obey he will be punished. An employee obeys because he needs to. He may not enjoy his work, but he does enjoy getting his paycheck! He needs to obey because he has a family to feed and clothe. But a Christian is to obey his Heavenly Father because he wants to—for the relationship between him and God is one of love. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
This is the way we learned obedience when we were children. First, we obeyed because we had to. If we didn’t obey, we were spanked! But as we grew up, we discovered that obedience meant enjoyment and reward; so we started obeying because it met certain needs in our lives. And it was a mark of real maturity when we started obeying because of love.
“Baby Christians” must constantly be warned or rewarded. Mature Christians listen to God’s Word and obey it simply because they love Him.
Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1989). The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"--Jkt. (1 Jn 2:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.
This is the point that John is making here; when we look at the compassion and mercy of God, and the fact that he says that he will forgive all of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, our love for Him should motivate us toward holiness and not toward further sin; we show our love for our Heavenly Father by our obedience to his word, not because we have to but because we want to.
John goes on then to again remind us that even though we are to live a holy life there will be times when we realize that we have fallen short of what God has called us to be and he tells us that when that happens we are not to give up and stop trying. Why? Because we have an advocate with the Father. Webster's Dictionary defines the word advocate as:
1 : one that pleads the cause of another specifically : one that pleads the cause of another before a tribunal or judicial court
2 : one that defends or maintains a cause or proposal
3 : one that supports or promotes the interests of another
Merriam-Webster, I. (2003). Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary. Includes index. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, Inc.
The Greek word used here is paráklētos, which means, "a legal advisor, pleader, proxy, or advocate, one who comes forward in behalf of and as the representative of another." So the picture that we are getting here is that when we sin as a Christian we have someone who will come forward on our behalf and plead our case before the Father; we have someone who will defend us and who will represent us. John then gives us the identity of this advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. We will see in the next verse that not only is He our advocate, but that He is also our propitiation; not only does He defend us, but He also is the one who paid our fine (more on that next time).
Notice that John refers to Jesus here as Jesus Christ the righteous. John here is pointing to the holiness and perfection of Jesus, he is reminding us that Jesus is the perfect Son of God and that as our sinless advocate, when Satan brings an accusation against us (Revelation 12:10), He is able to point to His finished work on Calvary and say, “Charge that to My account.”
So as you spend some time alone with God today take a few minutes to thank Him for all He has given you; thank Him for the promise that if you confess them He will forgive all of your sins. And take some time to praise and thank Jesus for being your advocate, for coming to your defense, and for standing up in your place as your representative since you are not able to do so yourself.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
If We Confess Our Sins
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
In the last post we saw the importance of recognizing our own sinfulness, and that without that recognition we will not be able to come to the Savior.This time we are going to look at the last 2 verses in chapter 1 and see what we are to do once we have acknowledged our sinfulness, repented of our sins and come to God, and we then find that we are still living in a body of flesh that struggles with sin.
Let me say here right up front that I in no way am indicating that someone can say they are a Christian and then continue in a pattern of unrepentant sin. That is contradictory to the teaching of the Bible in general and to the message of 1 John in particular. (There will be a much more in depth discussion of this topic when we get to chapter 3.)
Before we get into these verses from First John we have to ask a question, do Christians sin? There are many who would say no, but that is not what we see in the Scriptures. What I want to do here is show that as a follower of Jesus Christ who still lives in a fallen world we still have to deal on a daily (hourly?) basis with the presence of sin. After that I want to look at what John said that we are to do about it.
1. Do Christians Sin?
To answer this question we need to look at what the Bible teaches about the believer and sin. I want to start today with a clear passage from Paul's letter to the Galatians. In Galatians chapter 6 the apostle Paul wrote:
This verse in Galatians is not the only place where we find the Christians' struggle with sin (it is always dangerous to try and build a theology on only one passage or verse) we can also see this all throughout the Bible. Here are just a few more passages that teach this:
In Romans 7, in the context of wanting to do good and not doing it, the apostle Paul writes:
We could spend a lot more time on this topic, but for the sake of time let's move on to the second question and 1 John 1:9-10.
2. How does John say the believer is to respond to sin?
We now arrive a 1 John 1:9, which says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and then cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This verse brings up at least 3 more questions that we must deal with:
Let's take these one at a time:
First, what does John mean when he says we are to confess our sins? Is confession just saying, "I sinned, I'm sorry." or is there something more involved? The Greek word used here is the word homologéō, which means to say the same thing as another. So what John is telling us here is that confession is not merely saying that you are sorry, it is acknowledging openly to God what we have done and agreeing with Him (saying the same thing) that what we have done was sinful. For example, according to the definition of the word homologéō if you have just realized that you have been gossiping about someone and that you need to confess it to God you would say something like, "I have sinned Father. I have been gossiping about ... and Your word makes it clear that gossiping is a sin and that it is wrong. I agree with what you say and I confess that what I have done is a sin. I repent of this and will not do it again." Confession is not simply saying that you are sorry; that is obviously involved, but confession is much more than that.
The verse then goes on to say that if we do confess our sins that God is faithful and just to forgive our sins, which brings us to our next question: Why does John say that God is "faithful and just" when he forgives us? To answer this question we only have to go to the book of Isaiah and read what was prophetically written about the death of the Messiah; Isaiah wrote:
Finally then we read in verse 9 that "He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness." John has already told us (verse 8) that we are not to deceive ourselves by thinking that we are sinless, and he has just told us that we are to confess our sins to God. Now he is giving us a wonderful truth that as we confess to God every sin that we are aware of that because God is faithful and just, and because Jesus has paid the penalty for our sin with His blood, that God will forgive not only the sins that we know of and confess to Him, but He will forgive ALL of our sins - even the ones we are unaware of!
John then wraps up this chapter in verse 10 where he once again reminds us that we are all sinners and when we deny that fact we show that we do not believe God's word about us; we make Him a liar and we prove that His word is not in us.
In the last post we saw the importance of recognizing our own sinfulness, and that without that recognition we will not be able to come to the Savior.This time we are going to look at the last 2 verses in chapter 1 and see what we are to do once we have acknowledged our sinfulness, repented of our sins and come to God, and we then find that we are still living in a body of flesh that struggles with sin.
Let me say here right up front that I in no way am indicating that someone can say they are a Christian and then continue in a pattern of unrepentant sin. That is contradictory to the teaching of the Bible in general and to the message of 1 John in particular. (There will be a much more in depth discussion of this topic when we get to chapter 3.)
Before we get into these verses from First John we have to ask a question, do Christians sin? There are many who would say no, but that is not what we see in the Scriptures. What I want to do here is show that as a follower of Jesus Christ who still lives in a fallen world we still have to deal on a daily (hourly?) basis with the presence of sin. After that I want to look at what John said that we are to do about it.
1. Do Christians Sin?
To answer this question we need to look at what the Bible teaches about the believer and sin. I want to start today with a clear passage from Paul's letter to the Galatians. In Galatians chapter 6 the apostle Paul wrote:
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.There are 2 important things to point out in this verse: first, in the context of this verse Paul is writing to those who are walking by the Spirit (Galatians 5:24-25). It is to this audience that Paul then writes, "if anyone is caught in any transgression" indicating that it is possible for a Christian to fall into sin. The second thing we see here is Paul warning the Christians that he is writing to that they are to proceed with caution when it comes to restoring a brother or sister who has fallen. Why? Because they too can be tempted to fall into the same sin. If it were not possible for a Christian to sin Paul, writing through the power of the Holy Spirit, would not have given us this warning.
This verse in Galatians is not the only place where we find the Christians' struggle with sin (it is always dangerous to try and build a theology on only one passage or verse) we can also see this all throughout the Bible. Here are just a few more passages that teach this:
In Romans 7, in the context of wanting to do good and not doing it, the apostle Paul writes:
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.And one last passage. This one is Jesus, on His last night with His disciples before He was betrayed. In John chapter 13, as Jesus and the disciples are preparing to celebrate the Passover, Jesus laid aside his garments, put a towel around His waist, and took a basin of water and began to wash the disciples feet. When He came to Peter, Peter protested, and Jesus replied: “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” (John 13:8). Then Peter said, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” (verse 9). Jesus then answered Peter with these words:
The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean..."Why did Jesus say this? In addition to showing us that we are to all serve one another with humility He was also making the point that once a person comes to faith in Him and repents of their sin their salvation is secure, but we get dirty feet from walking around in this world so we need to wash our feet. There is no need to be re-saved every time you commit a sin, you simply need to confess it to your Heavenly Father, repent of it, and move on.
We could spend a lot more time on this topic, but for the sake of time let's move on to the second question and 1 John 1:9-10.
2. How does John say the believer is to respond to sin?
We now arrive a 1 John 1:9, which says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and then cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This verse brings up at least 3 more questions that we must deal with:
- What does it mean to confess our sins?
- Why does John say that God is "faithful and just" when He forgives us?
- What does it mean that He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness?
Let's take these one at a time:
First, what does John mean when he says we are to confess our sins? Is confession just saying, "I sinned, I'm sorry." or is there something more involved? The Greek word used here is the word homologéō, which means to say the same thing as another. So what John is telling us here is that confession is not merely saying that you are sorry, it is acknowledging openly to God what we have done and agreeing with Him (saying the same thing) that what we have done was sinful. For example, according to the definition of the word homologéō if you have just realized that you have been gossiping about someone and that you need to confess it to God you would say something like, "I have sinned Father. I have been gossiping about ... and Your word makes it clear that gossiping is a sin and that it is wrong. I agree with what you say and I confess that what I have done is a sin. I repent of this and will not do it again." Confession is not simply saying that you are sorry; that is obviously involved, but confession is much more than that.
The verse then goes on to say that if we do confess our sins that God is faithful and just to forgive our sins, which brings us to our next question: Why does John say that God is "faithful and just" when he forgives us? To answer this question we only have to go to the book of Isaiah and read what was prophetically written about the death of the Messiah; Isaiah wrote:
But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.According to this verse when Jesus died on the cross He paid the penalty for our sin, so it is just for God to forgive us not because we deserve to be forgiven, but because the penalty for our sin has already been paid. Our faithful God is justified in forgiving us simply because the debt of our sin has already been paid, and to require another payment for our sin beyond what His Son has already paid would be unjust because it would be like a judge requiring a criminal to pay a fine that has already been paid in full.
Finally then we read in verse 9 that "He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness." John has already told us (verse 8) that we are not to deceive ourselves by thinking that we are sinless, and he has just told us that we are to confess our sins to God. Now he is giving us a wonderful truth that as we confess to God every sin that we are aware of that because God is faithful and just, and because Jesus has paid the penalty for our sin with His blood, that God will forgive not only the sins that we know of and confess to Him, but He will forgive ALL of our sins - even the ones we are unaware of!
John then wraps up this chapter in verse 10 where he once again reminds us that we are all sinners and when we deny that fact we show that we do not believe God's word about us; we make Him a liar and we prove that His word is not in us.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Are You Deceived?
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
In my last post I wrote that we would cover verses 8-10 next time, but as I began to study these and pray about these 3 verses I decided to break this down into 2 posts. So today we are going look only at verse 8 of 1 John chapter 1, and we will pick up verses 9 & 10 next time.
In my previous 2 posts on First John we have seen that God is holy (God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all) and that he requires holiness from us as well. Then we saw that it is only through the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, that we can be made holy (the blood of Jesus, his Son cleanses us from all sin). In this verse we are going to see that without the acknowledgment of our sin we are not in fellowship with God. In fact, John goes so far as to say that the truth is not in us.
As I read this, the question that came to my mind was: What does it mean to say that we have no sin, or conversely, how do we acknowledge that we have sin? If getting this wrong results in self deception, and this is somehow tied into our very salvation, we had better get this one right.
What does it mean to say that we have no sin, and why is this important ?
John begins by saying, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Why would John tell us that if we say we have no sin then truth is not in us? I think the reason is that far too often we tend to see ourselves as better than we really are. The world teaches us that man is inherently good, but the Bible is clear that we are just the opposite - we are evil. The Bible actually teaches that apart from Christ we are dead in our sin (Ephesians 2:5).
In our minds we may have made some mistakes, but overall we're pretty good people. But this is not how God sees us and not how we should see ourselves. There are many passages in the Bible that teach the total depravity of man, but without doing a whole study on that subject let's look at a one; Paul wrote in the letter to the Romans:
None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.This is how God sees us, and before we can have fellowship with Him we must first see ourselves and our sinfulness as He sees it. James tells us to:
Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Why would James say this? Because this is the reaction a person has when they see themselves as God sees them, and they see God as He really is. This is really nothing new, in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus begins with these words:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."
What Jesus is telling us here is that true salvation begins with us recognizing that we are totally sinful - we are wretched through and through, and there is no good in us at all. Before we can repent of our sin (which is a requirement for salvation) we must first acknowledge that we are sinful and that we have willfully and defiantly disobeyed and rejected God and His commandments. It is not just that we have made little mistakes, but that we are evil to the very core of our being. When we come to this place we will see ourselves as poor in spirit, and we will realize that we have nothing to offer to God. At that point we are then ready to place our faith and trust completely in Him and His provision for our salvation; now we see our sinfulness, and we see that there is nothing within us that can change who we are. Now we can see our need for Christ. Now we see the wickedness of our sin in the eyes of a holy God. This is when mourning comes in, and Jesus tells us that those who mourn will be comforted.
So let's take this now and apply it to what we are seeing here in 1 John 1:8. John is telling us here that anyone who says he has fellowship with God, and does not recognize his own sin, is deceiving himself and the truth is not in him. Does this mean that you cannot be a Christian if you don't recognize your sin? I believe that it does; if we don't see that we are sinful we will never see our need for a Savior. Remember, Jesus said that it is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick and that He didn't come to call the righteous but sinners (Mark 2:17).
John goes even further in this verse and actually says that those who say they have no sin are self-deceived. Jeremiah tells us that our hearts are deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9) and that is being reiterated here. We must be honest with ourselves and honest with God when it comes to the condition of our heart, because according to what we are seeing here, if we are not we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. In order to experience salvation we must come to grips with our own sinfulness, and as we do and as we confess it to God, He promises to forgive us (more on this next time).
Spend some time today alone with God and ask Him to show you any area of sin in your life that you may have overlooked. Then take what He shows you and confess it to Him, repent of it, and thank Him for the forgiveness of sin that He offers through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Walking In The Dark
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Last time we looked at what it means that God is light; today we are going to see what it means to walk in darkness, and then how each of us can walk in the light as He is in the light.
1. What does it mean to walk in darkness?
John begins today's passage by writing, "If we say we have fellowship with Him and we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." As we saw in the previous verse light is a metaphor for holiness and perfection, and here by John using the metaphor of darkness he is telling us that without us being holy and perfect ourselves we cannot have fellowship with God. Light and darkness can never occupy the same space, so John says, if you say you are in a relationship with God and you continue in darkness then you are a liar. Because God is holy and pure He cannot fellowship with darkness and sin. In other words, since God is light and cannot live in darkness it is up to us to walk in the light to have fellowship with Him. We cannot continue to walk in darkness and claim to have fellowship with Him because light drives our darkness and by continuing in darkness we prove that we are not in the light. So this then brings up yet another question: in what ways do we walk in darkness?
In his letter to the Galatians (among other places), the apostle Paul gives us a list of actions that we are to avoid as Christians. and this list would be a good place to begin to see what it means to walk in darkness. Here he writes:
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
So here we have a list of the things people do that show that they are walking in darkness; these are the practices that we can look at and according to 1 John know for sure that if we are practicing these things we are not walking in the light. In fact, John goes so far as to say that if we say we are in fellowship with God and we are doing these things then we are a liar and we are not practicing the truth. In John's mind a person is either walking in the light, or they are walking in the darkness; the very nature of light and darkness do not allow for a person to be in both places at the same time, so John then writes. "But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." This brings us then to our second question:
2. How can we walk in the light as He is in the light?
As we saw last time, light here is a metaphor for the holiness of God, who commands each of us to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16). In fact, Hebrews 12:14 tells us that without holiness no one will see God. So we have a dilemma, we are sinful and God is holy, and he requires that for us to have fellowship with Him we must also be holy. God is light, he cannot come into the darkness so for us to be with Him it must be us who moves into the light. But even if we take the list above and commit to not do any of those things ever again we are still not holy, because we are all sinners and Jesus told us that sin comes from within us and causes our actions, not the other way around (Mark 7:20-23).
But if we keep reading here John gives us the answer to our greatest problem; he concludes today's passage by reminding us that, "the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." This is the greatest news we could ever receive; we can be cleansed from all of our sin. And how do we get this cleansing? It is by the blood of Jesus. In Galatians 3:27 we are told that those who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. In 2 Peter 3:10-14 we are told that those who are in Christ will be spotless and blameless at the coming Day of the Lord. Ephesians 5:25-27 tells us that Christ gave Himself up for us so that we could be presented to Him with no spot or wrinkle, but that we would be holy and blameless.
What this means is that as we repent of our sins and put on Christ, His blood cleanses us and we become holy, not because of what we have done, but because of what He has done. In Christ we can now walk in the light, and in Christ we can now have fellowship with the Father.
What this means is that as we repent of our sins and put on Christ, His blood cleanses us and we become holy, not because of what we have done, but because of what He has done. In Christ we can now walk in the light, and in Christ we can now have fellowship with the Father.
What does this look like? Just as we looked at Scripture to see what it looked like to walk in darkness we can also look to Scripture to see what it looks like to walk in the light; in the very next verses from the passage we looked at earlier in Galatians, Paul wrote:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
So just as Galatians 5:19-21 shows us what it looks like when we walk in darkness, verses 22-24show us what it our life will look like when we are walking in the light. He then concludes with:
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
So we can see here that the life that is lived out in the light is the life that is being actively lead by The Holy Spirit, and it will take on the characteristics of the Holy Spirit which are given to us here. So take some time today and ask the Spirit to reveal any sin you have not repented of, repent of it, and move into the light where God is and where we can have fellowship with Him.
Next time we will look at 1 John 1:8-10 and what it means to confess our sins.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
God Is Light
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
In my last post I pointed out that John is writing here to show us how we can have fellowship with God. As we move now into verse 5 he shows us the very first thing that we must know - God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. John goes on to say that if we say we have fellowship with Him, and we are still walking in darkness, then we are a liar and we are not practicing the truth. So the questions we have to ask here are these, what does in mean that God is light? What does it mean to walk in darkness? And how can we walk in the light? We'll look at the first question today, and take up the second and third questions in my next post.
God is light
So what does it mean that God is light? John is using light here as a metaphor, which we can see by his contrasting statement "in Him there is no darkness at all." As we look at this it must first be pointed out that what John is telling us is not what God is like, but rather what He is; John writes that God is light. Light is not all that God is, but this is where we must start in our understanding of who He is.
William MacDonald writes:
The Bible also tells us that:William MacDonald writes:
By this He meant that God is absolutely holy, absolutely righteous, and absolutely pure. God cannot look with favor on any form of sin. Nothing is hidden with Him, but “all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:13).
- God is merciful - Deuteronomy 4:31
- God is faithful - Deuteronomy 7:9
- God is God of god's and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God - Deuteronomy 10:17
- God is our refuge - Psalm 46:1
- God is holy - Psalm 77:13
- God is righteous - Daniel 9:14
- God is love - 1 John 4:16
In his commentary on 1 John, Dr J Vernon McGee writes, "when John says that God is light, he is revealing many facets about the person of God. Although it doesn’t cover the whole spectrum of the attributes of God, it says a great deal about Him." He then goes on to show us the characteristics of light and how they relate to what we are talking about here; he writes that one of the characteristics of light:
is that it is self-revealing. Light can be seen, but it diffuses itself. It illuminates the darkness. It is revealing. It lets me see my hands—I’ve been handling books, and I see that one of my hands has dirt on it, and I’m going to have to take it out and wash it. If it hadn’t been for the light, I would not have seen the soil. Light reveals flaws and impurity.
As we draw closer and closer to God we too see the dirt that is on us; the light of His holiness reveals the dirt of sin in our lives. But unlike us, in God there is no darkness at all. That means that because God is light, whatever He does is light. When he judges there is no dark side to his judgments; He judges in holiness. When He gets angry there is no darkness to His anger; His anger is righteous and pure. Everything about Him is summed up in this phrase - God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
So what does this mean for us?
As I mentioned above, the first thing it means is that the closer we get to God the more we will see our own sinfulness. As painful as this might be it is actually a good thing, because without the knowledge of our own sinfulness we will not see our need for the Savior.
Secondly it means that we can trust God totally and without question. Since there is no darkness in Him at all we know that whatever he says is right and true, and that He is completely trustworthy.
And finally, we know from observing light in nature that without it you cannot have life, so what this means for us is that as we draw closer to God, who is light, we are moving closer to the very source of our life.
Secondly it means that we can trust God totally and without question. Since there is no darkness in Him at all we know that whatever he says is right and true, and that He is completely trustworthy.
And finally, we know from observing light in nature that without it you cannot have life, so what this means for us is that as we draw closer to God, who is light, we are moving closer to the very source of our life.
Next time we will look at what it means to walk in darkness and see how we can walk in the light as He is in the light, but until then take some time to praise God for showing you that He is light and what that means. Remember, we can put our trust and faith in Him today without worry because He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
An Introduction to 1st John
As I have been praying about where to go with the teaching here I thought that I was being directed to Paul's letter to the Romans (and we may still end up there), but as I continued to pray about this I really feel like I need to take some time to just follow daily where the Holy Spirit is leading me, and right now I feel like I am being led to the epistle of1st John. So for the next few weeks (unless I am directed otherwise) we will be studying this short epistle.
Martin Luther wrote:
“It is not Christ walking on the sea, but His ordinary walk, that we are called on here to imitate.”
This is what we have in the book of 1st John; a picture of how we as followers of Jesus Christ are to walk day-by-day; how our lives as His follower is supposed to look. As we move through 1 John we will see that in this letter the apostle John has contrasted for us the themes of light vs. darkness, love vs. hate, and truth vs. error. We will see that these are very practical and that as we look at each one of theses we will see what it means to walk as he walked. We will also encounter several tests along the way that are given so each of us can determine if our faith is genuine. The apostle Paul wrote:
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you fail to meet the test!That is exactly what we are going to do here; we are going to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith and know that Christ is in fact in us. So with that said let's look now at the first 4 verses of 1 John chapter 1 and get a brief introduction to this wonderful epistle.
John begins in verse one by reminding us that he was an eyewitness to the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He tells us that he has heard, seen, and touched the Lord Jesus himself; what he s writing to us here is a first hand, eyewitness account of the teachings of Jesus. This is not something he heard second hand; he got this straight from Jesus.The phrase word of life at the end of the verse is a reference back to his Gospel where John wrote:That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
In these verses, as well as in the beginning of 1st John, we see that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, and that He is in fact God Himself.
John continues this thought in verse 2 where he emphasizes again the eternality of Christ.Notice he writes here the life was manifest, this means that the life of Christ did not begin with His birth in Bethlehem, only His incarnation began there. His life has never had a beginning as He is eternal, and when He came to earth it was to make Himself, and His Father, known to us. But this was not His beginning.
John then tells us in verse three that he is now writing to proclaim to us the life of Christ to which He was a witness, and that the reason he is doing this is two-fold: first, that we may have fellowship with one another, and that we can have fellowship with God the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Then in verse four he adds yet one more reason for writing: that our joy may be complete.
This begs the question then, from where is it that we get our joy, and what is it that makes our joy complete? We get our joy from our relationship with God and from the fellowship that we have with one another through the Gospel. But John emphasizes here that our fellowship is not just with each other, but also with the very God of the universe.
I think this is going to be an exciting journey and I am looking forward to working though this short letter together. Please take some time to read through the entire letter of 1 John (several times if you can). Also please share with me what the Holy Spirit is teaching you over the next few weeks as I share with you what He is teaching me. And remember, it is only through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we can have fellowship with God the Father, and this relationship is what then allows us to have fellowship with one another.
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