Living a Balanced Life

(An In-Depth Study of First John)

Week 11

Commentary

Being of the Truth

1 John 3:19-24

 Outline

Assurance; both powerful and freeing.

Today, the 17^th of March (first declared in the early 17th century), remembers Saint Patrick as the one who led the fifth-century Christian mission to Ireland. Unlike Britain, the Emerald Isle lay beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire. The Irish were considered uncivilized barbarians, and many thought their illiteracy and volatile emotions put them outside the reach of the gospel. At age sixteen, Patrick was taken captive by an Irish raiding party and spent the next six years on Irish soil as a slave. He learned their language, their culture, and most importantly, developed a heart for them.

Patrick escaped his captors and returned to England in his early twenties. In those years God had touched Patrick’s heart. He stepped foot once again on British soil, now a Christian. He studied for vocational ministry, and led a parish in Britain for nearly twenty years. At age 48 (past the life expectancy for a man in his century), when most retire; Patrick began his most accomplished ministry. Patrick and a team of dedicated missionaries took the Gospel to the ‘pagan’ Irish. The rest of the story is what movies are made of…

Whether God plans for us to evangelize a nation or a neighbor, no one can accomplish such a task without love in action. Last week we ended with the Apostle John’s encouragement, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” This week John continues this thought with the result statement, “By this we shall know that we are of the truth.” It is by loving one another in deed and in truth that we can reassure our hearts before God.

There are two themes which reoccur regularly throughout this letter; assurance before God and love for one another. Assurance that God is for us and that we are in a right relationship to him and genuine visible practical love for our brothers and sisters in Christ go hand-in-hand in the life of a true believer. John wants his readers to understand the amazing power that confidence before God has toward freedom to live a life of radical love. The only way we can exercise Christian love, the kind of love that lays down its life for another, is if we are first confident that the almighty God loves us. That he is for us and not against us. This confidence is the most valuable thing, the most freeing thing that anyone could ever possess. It was in this confidence and love that Patrick took the Gospel into the darkness in Ireland. Instead of coasting out life, he gave nearly thirty years transforming an entire nation. Patrick is a prime example of John’s precepts in chapter three.

Confidence Gains Strength (Vs 19-20)

19a:                 “In this [the love and obedience we exhibit; vv. 11–18] we will know that we are of                               the truth.”

19b–20:           “We will reassure our hearts in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us,                                     because (1) God is greater than our hearts, and (2) God knows all things.”

 

Motivation for Prayer (Vs 21-22)

Take on the nature of the Father

Love what God loves, Hate what God hates

Union between Faith and Love (Vs 23)

Cannot believe without loving

Cannot love without believing

Abiding in God, and God in us (vs 24)

Not human effort

By the Spirit

LIFE APPLICATION

Confidence in God frees us to love.

Loving each other is reassuring evidence that we are in the truth.

Living a Balanced Life

(An In-Depth Study of First John)

Week 10

Commentary

Loving the Brothers and Sisters

1 John 3:11-18

 Outline

To genuinely love someone is to forget about self. The thought that connects this week’s text and the preceding paragraph that we studied last week comes in 1 John 3:10. “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”  The first clause of that verse sums up the previous paragraph (3:4–10) in which John argued that a lifestyle of righteousness, or of not sinning, is the essential evidence of being a child of God, indwelt by the very seed of God (v. 9), increasingly sharing the nature of him in whom there is no sin (v. 5). On the other hand, a lifestyle of habitual, persistent, unrepentant sin is clear evidence of being not a child of God but a child of the devil, sharing the nature of him who has been sinning from the beginning (v. 8).

Verse 11 begins with the conjunction “for” and shows that in John’s mind verse 11 is the foundation of the idea in verse 10. Verse 10 makes the shift from the idea of practicing righteous in general to loving your brother specifically. The reason he can make that shift is that the command to love one another was what his readers had heard from the beginning. The moral imperative for Christians to love one another was at the heart of the apostolic gospel. And it still is. From the very beginning, from the very first time they heard the gospel, John’s readers knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what God would expect. God expects it only because God empowers it. What God empowers John’s readers to do is both simple and profound; love your brother.

Doctrine is of the essence of the gospel—doctrine about the character of God; about human sin; about the mediator, Jesus Christ, who is the God-man; about his life, death, and resurrection to forgive the sins of his people and give them eternal life; about the need for a personal response of faith to appropriate the work of Christ into one’s own life. But it is equally true that the essence of the gospel includes the moral imperatives of repentance and of a new life of love lived under the lordship of Christ and empowered by his Spirit. Any gospel you believe, any gospel you proclaim that does not include both doctrine and ethics (truth and love) is only half a gospel, totally out of balance, radically distorted, hopelessly deficient. Both doctrine and ethics are at the heart of the gospel because they are so inextricably linked. Therefore, righteous living void of love is hollow religion. This section of text calls for balance in a way that is not optional in relation to salvation.

Message Heard from the Beginning (vs 11) 

Simple message – “love one another”

Profound in its essence – no Gospel without it; vs 3:10

Old Commandment – Love vs 2:7-10

Walking in the Light, free to love

Lifestyle of Love (vs 14) 

Proves we move from death to life

14a – love the “brethren”

14b- love for all

A lifestyle of love is a matter of life or death

Either Love or Murder (vs 15)

Matter of love or hate, life-giver or murderer (no one sits the fence)

John learned from Jesus (Matthew 5:21-22)

Example of Cain (vs 12-13)

Original account – Genesis 4 Cain murders Able

Able sacrificed in faith – Hebrews 4:11

Darkness wants to murder Light (1 John 3:19-20)

Example of Christ (vs 16)

We know love because we have seen love

• Great Sacrifice
• Meets our deepest needs
• Had the greatest possible motive

LIFE APPLICATION

Allowing the worlds goods to be a vehicle of love not a source of pride

Allowing our eyes to “see” needs

Being righteous without love is a good definition of Religion. So, Religion is Rules without Relationship. Here is the illustration of Religion vs Gospel:

RELIGION: I obey-therefore I’m accepted.

THE GOSPEL: I’m accepted-therefore I obey.

*******

RELIGION: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.

THE GOSPEL: Motivation is based on grateful joy.

*******

RELIGION: I obey God in order to get things from God.

THE GOSPEL: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.

*******

RELIGION: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life

THE GOSPEL: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.

*******

RELIGION: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.

THE GOSPEL: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism.

*******

RELIGION: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other.

THE GOSPEL: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.

Living a Balanced Life

(An In-Depth Study of First John)

Week 8

Commentary

The Abiding Word

1 John 2:18-29

 Outline

As we come to the end of chapter two one thing is abundantly clear; John loves God and John loves the children of God. In John’s day, just like today, truth for a majority was relative. To those who left the church and sound doctrine, truth changed with popular culture. They saw themselves as “progressives”. They understood truth as the latest teaching designed by the human heart. John assures his readers that the truth never changes. Whether the 1^st century or the 21^st century, “that which was from the beginning”, the message delivered by Christ to the Apostles and then to the church, has not changed. Nothing new has been added. The message is the Gospel. Inside this truth is found a deep and abiding love for God which overflows toward others. John reaffirms the core of Christianity, saying that either we exhibit the sound doctrine, obedience, and love that characterize all Christians, or else we are not true Christians.

In John’s mind, the truth does not originate from inside a person. If a person is found with the truth in them, John makes it clear that God is at work. John makes this point with the use of two words that are not common to most casual conversations; “abiding” and “anointed”. Truth is revealed by an anointing of the Spirit of God and an abiding in the Word of God. It’s no wonder John strongly encourages us to “abide in Him”. (1 John 2:28) This being the case, John would agree that a professing Christian that is never abiding in the Word of God and never praying is living a life that is prone to following lies (antichrist).

However, in this section of Scripture, filled with warnings about the spirit of antichrist found in this last hour, rests some of John’s most encouraging and assuring words to all those who are truly born again. John is confident that the truth is in you by the power of the Holy Spirit. (vs 20) He is confident that the truth that you heard from the beginning is such a part of your life that you will abide in the Son and the Father. (vs 24) In other words, both a theological depth and an intimate personal experience with the truth (God) is found in the life of every believer. This keeps life balanced. This establishes and maintains our system of values. Despite the power of the spirit of antichrist in the world, John knows believers will persevere. He remembers Jesus’ teaching… “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Understanding the Times

Verse 18 is chiastic in structure:

A. This is the last hour

B. Antichrist is coming

B′. Many antichrists have come

A′. This is the last hour

The first part of v. 19 (like v. 18) is chiastic:

A. They went out from us

B. They did not really belong to us

B′. If they had belonged to us

A′. They would have remained with us.

Result: We live in a last hour of great deception.

The WORD and the SPIRIT

Anointed: Truth is a gift (vs 20; 27)

Abiding: Truth never changes (vs 24a)

Persevering: Truth always keeps (19, 24b, 2 John 9)

LIFE APPLICATION

Lifestyle of the anointed is to abide

Abiding gives rise to:

• Growth in understanding
• Power to practice the truth
• Ever increasing confidence

Living a Balanced Life

(An In-Depth Study of First John)

Week 7

Commentary

Seek First the Kingdom

1 John 2:15-17

 Outline

It has been said that the human heart is an idol factory. It should be abundantly obvious that God, our creator, designed us to worship. For, worship we do. The problem, ever since the rebellion in the garden, is we worship idols and not the only one worthy of worship. John is not unaware of the allure of created things. He knows that everything the world offers is not only temporary, but if worshipped (or loved) always leads the worshipper away from God.

Therefore, our text for this session contains one bold commandment; “Do not love the world or the things in the world.” John learned at the feet of Jesus. No doubt he remembers the time that Jesus gave similar warnings…“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24) John, like Jesus, is saying that no one can love both the world and God at the same time. John is stating that our allegiance must not be divided. Our affection must be focused and specific.

John’s view of love for God comes from the understanding that the highest form of love is founded on loyalty and commitment. For John, and for us, to form allegiance with the world is to declare opposition to God. Once again we come face-to-face with a life balance issue. John is not requiring us to rid ourselves of material possessions. He is simply and boldly requiring us to rid ourselves of misguided affections. He is requiring that the way we live our life reflect the way Jesus lived his. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

The question we ask ourselves would be…is my desire for home, family, and career first and foremost a desire for God? Do I desire dinner because I desire God? Do I want a job because in it I will discover God and love God? Do I long for a spouse because I am hungry for God and hope to see him and love him in my husband/wife? Do I desire the child and the healthy body and the good night’s rest and the morning sun and the great book and the evening with friends for God’s sake? Do I have an eye for God in everything I desire? (See Colossians 3:17; 1 Corinthians 10:31.)

Main Point (vs 15) 

Do not love the world or the things in the world.

Four reasons why:

• If you love the world, you don’t love God
• Everything of the world is not of God
• The world is passing away
• The one who does the will of God abides forever

What is the world’s?

• The desires of the flesh
• The desires of the eyes
• The pride of life

John’s Idea of Eternal Life 

Faith (believe) and Love for God

• Inseparable
• “Trust in Christ” and “Love for God” to John are the same
• No love for God, no saving faith

Example – Repentance 

Big difference between ‘self-righteous repentance’ and ‘gospel-centered repentance’

Self-righteous: repentance only out of fear of God’s anger and punishment; repentance for ‘being bad’ or ‘doing wrong things’

Gospel-centered: repentance out of love for God and his commands, knowing He loves us always as a Father loves his child; repentance not merely from bad actions, but from the very desire to seek the flesh/world/sin instead of God; from a desire to have a living and active relationship with God

LIFE APPLICATION

Boast only in the Lord

God is in ALL of life, Desire God!