God’s Love and Ours
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
My Understanding: 1 John 5:11-13 says, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” This is the purpose of 1 John. He wrote this letter to assure the true followers of Jesus Christ that they could know that they have eternal life. Yet, he also wrote this to make it clear, lest there should be any misunderstanding, what it truly means to believe in the Son of God, and what it really means to have (possess) the Son of God, and thus to have this solid promise of eternal life.
In 1 John 4:13 we read, “We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” In 1 John 4:15-16 we read, “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.” “1 John 2:3 says, “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.” 1 John 2:5-6 says, “This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” 1 John 3:10 says, “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” 1 John 3:14 says, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers.” 1 John 3:18-19a says, “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth…” 1 John 5:2 says, “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.” And, 1 John 5:18 says, “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.”
Since the book of 1 John is primarily concerned with instructing us in how we can know that we are truly in Christ Jesus, and that he is in us, it is critical that we examine the primary elements in the book that let us know what is required of us by God, in order for us to be found in him (in Christ), so that we can know that we have eternal life. The reason this is critical is we may have not been taught these Biblical truths, and we may be relying upon a false hope based upon certain selected passages of scripture, while ignoring other critical scriptures which give us the full picture (the whole gospel). We don’t want to put our trust in a false hope and then one day come before God and him say to us, “I never knew you! Depart from me!” because no one told us the truth about what it means to truly be in Christ and to have him really in us, so that we can know we have eternal life. So, this is how we know that we have certainly come to know Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives:
We Obey Christ’s Commands – “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 Jn. 2:3-4). “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us” (1 Jn. 3:23).
1. We believe in the name of the Son, Jesus Christ – A person’s name represents his character. Often times in the Bible a child was given a name based upon who he was to become in life. If I give my name to something, I am giving it my approval and support. If I sign my name to something, I am saying that I am in agreement with the paper on which I signed my name, so basically my name means my word, as well as my name means my character, i.e. who I am, what I stand for, and what I believe. So, to believe on the name of Jesus means to put our faith and trust in all that he was and is, in all that he did and does, and in all that he taught and still teaches us through his Spirit within us and through his written word. And, to truly believe means that our actions and lifestyles should match our profession of faith.
2. We love each other – Everyone who loves is born of God. So, what is the “love” he is talking about? Love comes from God, because God is love. 1 John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” So, love is giving of ourselves to the legitimate needs of others, and love is laying down our lives for our brothers in a similar manner in which Jesus Christ laid his life down for us. Jesus cared about people’s physical, emotional and spiritual needs, and one was not exclusive of the other. In other words, when he ministered to their emotional and physical needs, he also ministered to their spiritual needs. And, the way in which he did that was by telling them the truth about their lives, about sin, about judgment, and about what it means to truly follow him.
We Walk in the Light
To walk means “to conduct your life in a particular way” (Encarta), i.e. this involves the step-by-step process of daily living and personal conduct (actions; behavior). It involves how we choose to live our lives each day, i.e. in the things we do, say, and think during each and every day. The light is the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth of his Word. So, we should conduct our lives in thought, word and action on a moment-by-moment basis by the truth of God’s word, his gospel, and by the witness of his Spirit within us. To walk in darkness means our thoughts, words and deeds on a daily basis are centered more in the flesh of man, our sinful and selfish desires, and in following the pattern of this world. If we walk in the darkness yet claim we have fellowship with God, we lie and do not live by the truth. But, if we walk in the light, as Jesus is in the light, “we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin.”
We Confess (Repent) of Sin
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to purify us from all unrighteousness.” “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” To continue in something means: to keep on going; “to keep up an activity or state already begun;” (Encarta) to last; endure; remain; persist; and/or to prolong some type of activity. The opposite of this is to repent, i.e. to turn from our sins and to turn to walk in faithful obedience to Jesus Christ. Repentance and obedience to Christ are included in what it means to truly believe in Jesus Christ, as we are to love God in actions and in truth, and not just in words. We can’t come to know Christ if we do not repent of our sins and if we do not obey Christ’s commands. And, John is not the only writer of the New Testament who said this. James said it, Paul said it, Peter said it, and Jesus said it. Most all of the writers said this. If we truly live in Christ, we cannot continue to sin as a normal course of our daily lives. This does not mean we will be sinless or that we will not sin, but it does mean that sin will no longer be what drives us, what rules us, and what is regularly and consistently involved in the things we do, think and say day-to-day.
We Walk as Jesus Walked
“This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” Obviously we cannot walk exactly as Jesus walked because he was fully God and fully man and completely without sin, although he was tempted to sin just as we are tempted. Yet, we can follow his example of obedience to God, in not giving in to temptation to sin, in resisting the devil, in loving others, in caring for others’ needs, in helping to heal people physically or emotionally, and in sharing with them the truths of God’s word and the (whole) gospel of Jesus Christ, so that others can come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, too.
We listen to (and remain in) the Word
“They” (the antichrists) “are from the world, and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us” (to the Word). To listen to something involves more than just engaging our ears to physically hear something. To listen involves heeding what we hear, i.e. following (obeying) what we hear. So, instead of listening to the viewpoint of the world and doing what the world says, we should be listening to God and to his word, and do what it says if we are to truly be in Christ Jesus. “See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. IF it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.” Remaining involves “continuing in a particular state without changing” (Encarta); enduring; persisting; and keeping on. And, the way in which the word remains in us is not just through reading it, studying it or memorizing it, though those are helpful. The way it truly remains in us is when it goes from our heads to our hearts, and when we apply what it says (its truths) to how we live our daily lives, and to how we conduct ourselves in thought, word and deed.
We Do Not Love the World
“If anyone loves the world” – “the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does” – “the love of the Father is not in him. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” To really love something means to give our lives to it. It has to do with heart devotion, our emotions, our interests, what drives us, and what we give ourselves to in thought, word and deed. We should not give our thoughts, words and deeds (actions) over to sinful cravings, to the lust of our eyes or to pride in our worldly possessions. Instead, it is the one who does the will of God (who obeys Christ and his commands and who turns from sin) who will live forever. So, we need to examine our hearts to see what or who has our hearts, and to see, based upon the teachings of 1 John, if we are truly in Christ, so that we can surely know without a doubt that we have eternal life.
Your Heart / An Original Work / October 24, 2011
Tenderly He speaks, softly so.
Gently He calls - His will to know.
Won’t you invite Him in your heart?
Humbly accept Him now.
Bow before Him with contrite heart.
May you obey His will.
Seek Him with all your heart and soul,
And your heart, His Spirit fill.
Jesus died to free you from sin,
Giving you new life to begin,
Walking with Him ev’ry hour,
Obeying His commands.
Won’t you trust Him to be your Lord?
His grace you can’t afford.
Freely He gives you peace within,
When you turn from all your sin.
Live for Him ev’ry passing day.
Meet with Him; read His word and pray.
Serve Him in the way He leads you,
Doing all that He says.
Do unto others as you would
Have them do unto you.
Love them with Jesus love within you.
Your hearts to God be true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc7tEOtSOLM
No comments:
Post a Comment