The Imperative of Love

1 John 3:10-15 

PART ONE: THE SINNER 

Here, John simplifies things for us. While we've discussed some signs of true and false believers, John gives a broader and simple tell tale way of knowing who is which.  

1. Children of God will practice righteousness and will dwell harmoniously with other believers.  
2. Children of the devil will not practice righteousness and they will constantly find themselves bickering with the believers.  

Do you find yourself constantly bickering with others in your church congregation? Perhaps you do not have the love of God within you. Do you find yourself constantly diving into sin? Perhaps you have not been clothed with the righteousness of God.  

Do you find it odd that so many churches are dividing? Do you find it curious that quarterly meetings can be filled with so much heat? Is it not confusing that of all the places on earth where gossip occurs, the church body is among the most prominent?  

How do you explain this to an unbeliever? How do you convince them that Christians have tapped into something beautiful and wonderful and different from the rest of the world when we all look the same? 

Do you explain it away with, "Well, we're just sinners like everyone, saved by the grace of God,"? 

No.  

In Galatians 5:13, Paul says, "For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."  

The freedom Christ's sacrifice gives a believer is not to choose whether or not he will be nice to another believer today. Christ freed us from the chains of sin. Backbiting and gossip in the church is not a sign that the church is full of Christians who still sin. It is a sign of a pure lack of true believers.  

Similarly, in Romans 6, Paul condemns those who claim the grace of God, yet live in sin. In verses 1-4, he says, "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." 

Simply put, someone who has actually been "saved" will no longer act like him who has not  been saved. There are no exceptions. God has made it clear how we ought to act, and how we ought to love. He has also made it exceptionally clear that the Spirit within us is more powerful than any temptation we will face (1 Cor. 10:13).  

No matter how juicy the potential gossip, the Spirit within us is capable of closing our mouths. No matter how much we disagree with the date of the church car wash, the Spirit within us can give us the spirit of love toward the individual who dared suggest a new date. Absolutely no temptation is too strong. Therefore, to give in to any temptation is to blatantly ignore the Spirit.  

This bickering, gossiping believer is a modern-age Cain. Now, Cain killed his brother, and maybe fake believers aren't killing their brothers. But let's look at the root cause of why Cain killed Abel.  

3:11-2: "For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous." 

What do sons of Cain have in common? They bicker and gossip and backbite out of a need to be better than someone else. It's pride, Satan's greatest tool. Listen to the words of Matthew Henry. 

"Sin, indulged, knows no bound. He (Cain) was vexed with the superiority of Abel's service, and envied him the favour and acceptance he had with God. And for these he martyred his brother. Ill-will will teach us to hate and revenge what we should admire and imitate." 

How many  church divisions have their roots in pride - in individuals fuming over things and people they should be admiring? We leave because the pastor insists on preaching something that tugs at our pride the wrong way. 

Don't get me wrong, there will be things in every single church service you attend that irk you slightly - or at least someone in that church. Anytime a group of people meet, there will be disagreements, controversy, various opinions and temptation for discord. This is normal. God made us unique. What is not normal, at least not to the believer, is when, in our pride, we believe that our unique opinion is superior to all others.  

This is no small sin. Because sin has taken its first hold of our foot, like a cord wrapped around our ankle. All we need do is take one or two more steps in that direction. We need only let this pride fester. We need only tell one or two people in the church  body how frustrated we are with so and so. We need only lie in bed thinking of what we would say to that individual if we didn't have such a godly filter.  

That is how Satan will trip you up, and the entire church body, if they are not careful, will not be far behind.  

PART TWO: THE BELIEVER 

John now switches gears, speaking to the believer. He tells the follower of Christ that the kind of hatred he's just spoken of should not surprise them. Hate toward believers not only spreads throughout the earth, but it infiltrates the church body.  

"Do not marvel," John says.  

The very fact that such hatred toward us exists gives us something to measure our faith by. We know we have passed from spiritual death to life, because we are not bound by hatred and pride. This is not an area where the believer should struggle. It is the linchpin of the evidence of our spiritual transformation. The imperative of love towards our brothers and sisters in Christ is that without it we have no assurance of salvation. But with it, we can view the hatred toward us much as Noah would have viewed the rainbow - as a promise.  

We ought to love fellow believers. We ought to refrain from gossip, choosing instead to encourage (Ephesians 4:29), not because it is our duty, but because it is our nature.  

It is not that we love them because they are the kind of person we naturally love. As stated earlier, the church body is full of unique people of various backgrounds, viewpoints and beliefs. But we are all under the love of God.  

Matthew Henry said, "(Love) is a mark of our transition into a stage of life. We may know it by the evidences of our faith in Christ, of which this love to our brethren is one. It includes a peculiar love to the Christian society. They are not so much loved for their own sakes as for the sake of God and Christ, who have loved them. This is the issue of faith in Christ, of our passage from death to life. The hatred of our brethren is a sign of our deadly state." 

Do you find yourself bent to hate before love? Examine this passage and pray that God would reveal the true state of your heart. 

We are not Dirty Dishes

I've never been a huge fan of doing the dishes. I think I was scarred as a child, particularly because of my brother Jonathan. When we were both in elementary school, it was our job to do the dishes together after every single meal. Or maybe it was once a day - or once a week. It felt like every day anyway.

 

Jonathan, being the nice brother he was, would always ask me if I preferred to "wash, or to do EVERYTHING ELSE." "Everything else" consisted of rinsing, drying and washing the counters and table.

Naturally, I stated that I would prefer to wash. How courteous of him to offer me the choice.

There were two problems with this. The first, was that I was a very imaginative boy. So, washing the dishes took forever. I would place the soap bubbles on my face and pretend I was an old bearded man. I would fill a cookie sheet with water, trying to balance it between that skinny part that separates the wash and rinse sinks (I once did that for 45 minutes.). My kryptonite was strainers. I would fill them with water, lift them high above the sink, and bask in the glory of the waterfall - over and over and over again.

Thus, by the time I had actually placed two dishes in the rinse sink, Jonathan had long ago finished "everything else." Therein lay the second problem. Jonathan knew I was an imaginative procrastinator. Sure, he would pop in every once in a while to rinse a few dishes, but mostly he was Scott free.

 

This is just like the two different ways of approaching sin. And nearly all of us approach it like I approached dishes - slowly, distracted, wanting to finish - but having too much fun to actually deal with the problem at hand. Oh, sure, we plan on washing it - eventually, but only after a little more fun. But before we realize it, we've been playing with a single dish for an hour. We've been flirting with a single sin for a decade.  

 

In 1 John 3, the apostle John begins to draw a line, which many Christians would rather prefer to pretend did not exist. We are, after all, so fond of the feel-good gospel, the one that tells us that Jesus loves us just the way we are.

 

Max Lucado once said, God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you there."

 

Now, some aren't too fond of Max Lucado, some stating that he is too liberal. Others have stated that this phrase diminishes God's love, saying that this somehow claims that God's love is conditional on us improving ourselves.

 

The apostle John could not make this point more clear. True believers will be transformed into the image of God. They will conquer sin. They will not be chained by addiction. The Holy Spirit within a believer will not allow them to remain the way they were. It will not allow them to be chained by their old self. It will not allow them to be indifferent to the Word of God. It will not allow them to dwell in continual sin. A man or woman who claims to be a believer, but is involved in these things, is either a liar, or incredibly confused and terribly lost.

 

 

1 John 3:4-9 says the following: "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God."

 

Let's take this one verse at a time.

 

"Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness."

 

This verse is paramount in understanding sin. John is writing to believers, and to believers only. To the unregenerate, blind, sin-plagued individual…sin is oxygen. He or she is born into sin, and it is a part of them. They are under the curse of Adam. They sin because they don't know another way. The unregenerate aren't all murderers, of course. Some of them are quite lovely, but they are still under Satan's authority.

 

The believer is completely different. His or her eyes have been opened. They have been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. They are no longer bound by the chains of temptation. Therefore, the sin of a believer is much different from the sin of an unbeliever.

 

Bible Commentator Matthew Henry said it much better than I can when he wrote, "The unregenerate person is morally unable for what is religiously good. The regenerate person is happily disabled to sin."

 

While the unbeliever holds a sin nature, the believer has the righteous nature of God in him or her. Sin goes against the nature. It's as unnatural as a right-handed pitcher throwing with his left hand. The believer cannot sin without consciously choosing to do so. The man who does not know Jesus, sins because he is unable to do otherwise. The man or woman who knows Jesus sins, despite Jesus. They stand in rebellion and declare that they will walk in darkness despite the work of the cross.

 

That is what John means when he says that sin is lawlessness. Warren Wiersbe points out in his commentary on 1 John, that John is not referring here to individual sins, but to sin as a whole. "Sins are the fruit," said Wiersbe "but sin is the root."

 

That is why, while a believer may commit a sin, he or she will not and cannot be plagued by continual sin. Sin is rebellion. This is why the level of sin does not matter. You may think the homosexual man lives in rebellion, because he is listening to his body's desires, despite what he knows to be true. But what about your and my small sins? What about intentionally going ten miles over the speed limit? Romans 13:1-2 says, "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves." Is not then speeding an act of defiance? Doing something you want to because you don't agree with the rule. How is this any different from homosexuality, theft or murder? The earthly consequences may vary tremendously, but the core of the issue is defiance, and that is what marks an unbeliever. Defiance of God has no place in a follower of the Way- in the believer.

 

1 John 3:5-6 says, "And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him."

 

John says (paraphrased), "You know this, already. Jesus came to take away your sin. He lives inside you, and He has no sin in him. Therefore, there should be no sin in you. If there is, obviously you aren't acquainted with Him."

 

Think of it this way, if you went to see the best comedian on earth, and you were trying to convince me of that you had been there. You don't have to tell me about the comedian. You don't have to tell me any of the jokes. I should be able to see your red cheeks. You should have a contagious smile that you couldn't get rid of if you wanted to. You should randomly chuckle every so often as you remember another punchline. A believer should be marked by his or her righteous life. You shouldn't have to convince people that despite your addiction, you've been saved by a righteous God who literally came to take away that sin. No wonder people are confused.

 

The next two verses say, "Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning."

 

Why does John find it necessary to warn believers about this deception? It is because the devil used this trick on Even in the Garden of Eden, and he uses it to this day.

 

"One little bite won't kill you," Satan says. "One little peak won't kill your marriage. One small lie can't make you a liar. God is love, isn't He? Why would your love for your same-sex partner bother a God of love? Making fun of celebrities on social media is just fun and games, not slander. Come on, relax, God's about love -not rules - remember? He will love you no matter what you do. So, go ahead, ask Him into your heart. I don't mind. Go to church even. I have plenty of pastors right where I want them. Start a Bible study, picket abortion clinics, vote republican, homeschool your children and tweet all about God's love. I'm on board. Just don't change. Give every dollar you make to charity, just don't give God yourself. Don't strive to be perfect as He is perfect. Call yourself a Christian. Lead other people to the Christian faith that lets you both be a Christian and keep your addictions. Go ahead. I shall delight in every soul you save, for they shall all be saved for me."

 

Jesus said in Matthew 5:48, "You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."

 

Did this mean, "do your best, and remember, nobody is actually perfect?" Absolutely not. It meant be perfect. Now, in this context, Jesus is talking about perfection in the way we love people. But He doesn't demand perfection in one area and not another. Provers 3:6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." You cannot be trusting in the Lord with all your heart and maintain addiction. If the Lord is directing you, He will not lead you into an immoral relationship. God is perfect. Therefore to abide in Him fully gives you the potential to mirror His perfection, and therefore, He demands it.

 

Think of it, in your very self, if you are a true follower of Christ, lies the Spirit of God Himself. This isn't some small thing. God dwells in you. His power dwells in you. His peace, hope, love and perfection dwell in you. So, listen to Him. He will not lead you down a dead end. He will lead you in the perfect way.

 

Actions have consequences. If I have never consumed caffeine, and I suddenly drink four Red Bulls, will there not be a noticeable difference in me? If I have been blind my entire life, but a groundbreaking new surgery allows me to see, will I choose to close my eyes when I cross the street?

 

Of course not. A man indwelled by a Holy God will have no desire to remain the way he was. She will have no desire to remain in sin. And should she be tempted, the Spirit will be so much stronger. Now, should she ignore that Spirit and sin, her conscious will plague her until she repents. If her conscious does not plague her or if she continues in this sin, she ought not have any assurance that she is destined for eternal bliss.

 

Hell is filled with "Christians." Only those who have been made alive by God through the work of Jesus Christ and the moving of the Holy Spirit will walk the streets of gold. And those who have truly been made alive will walk righteously on this earth prior to eternity.

 

This is where my title comes in about the dirty dishes. Most followers of Jesus Christ, Catholic and Protestant alike, deal with their sin like I dealt with the dishes. Not just slowly, but repetitively. Once  I finally finished the dishes, it would not be long before I found myself right back there, dishes piled high, and hours of procrastination at hand.

 

In the same way, once we finally deal with our sin, we find ourselves back dealing with it again. The never-ending chore of washing away our sins. Some do it at confessionals, some at alter calls and others in the quiet of their homes. It's all the same, really. We're all dealing with our own sin over and over, grateful that God is willing to forgive us.

 

The problem is that this goes against the entire reason Jesus came to earth.

 

Jesus did not come to give us the ability to ask forgiveness for our sins every time we slipped up. He didn't hand us a bottle of soap and say, "Now you can clean these dishes every time they get dirty."

 

Jesus did not come so we could more effectively wash the dishes. He came so we wouldn't ever have to do the dishes again. He came to make us forever clean.

 

For a child of God to sin indicates that he does not understand or appreciate what Jesus did for him on the cross.

 

I Don't Know Your Daddy

 "God's love for us is unique. First John 3:1 may be translated, 'Behold what peculiar, out-of-this-world kind of love the Father has bestowed on us.'" -Warren Wiersbe

 

Think of the person who love you the most. Mom? Dad? A friend? Spouse? Think of the degree to which they love you, despite your many flaws, despite how many times you have hurt them. But then again, they have not loved you perfectly either. They've yelled at you when you didn't deserve it. They've had bad thoughts toward you - selfish thoughts. They laughed inside that one time you stubbed your toe. They secretly wished that pretty girl had given them the "I love you" Valentines Card and you had been the one left with fourteen "You are a great friend" cards.

 

God's love is nothing like their love. Not even close. He has been more offended by me than I could possibly know. He is my Creator, Sustainer, Savior, Comfort, God and King. So often I treat Him as nothing more than  an after-thought. Yet, He loves me as though I were His soul mate. He pursues me as thought I were the best of prizes. He waits patiently for me as though I were worth the wait.

 

Let me be brutally honest. I am not worth dying for. Even in my proudest moments, I know that.

 

But. But but but but but but…

 

That doesn't matter. Because He loves me anyway. I'll never be able to explain it or understand it, but it doesn't matter. He chose me, and all that's left for me do to is be His. I think Matthew Henry encapsulates this idea perfectly. 

 

 "Strange, that the holy God is not ashamed to be called our Father, and to call us his sons!"

 

Strange. So strange in fact that when the people around us look at us and talk with us, they are left thinking, "Huh, what a weirdo."

 

And of course they think that, because they have no idea what it means to be a child of God. They have no idea what it is to experience His love. The second half of First John 3:1 says, "Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him."

 

I've lived in small towns most of my life. Last names are a big deal. That's how you are known. In the event that someone doesn't know who you are, there's a good chance they know your parents or children. "Oh, Knoop! You're dad is the pastor, right?" Or, "Oh, Knoop! You're son came in second to last in the cross country meet, right?" You get the idea.

 

If we are adopted sons of God, you could say that my last name has been changed from James Knoop to James Godson. But if I tell the people of Blooming Priaire, Minnesota that I am Mr. Godson's adopted son, they will give me a very quizzical look.

 

"Oh, He is just the greatest!" I will say. "You should definitely be adopted by Him. I was heading toward a terrible place before he adopted me."

 

A strange example, I know. But that is how a child of God looks to the average Joe - strange. Some people are simply annoyed by strange, others laugh at it, and some are afraid of it and will do whatever it takes to eradicate it. We should not be surprised or discouraged by any of these responses.

 

Matthew Henry said, "Let the followers of Christ be content with hard fare here, since they are in a land of strangers, among those who little know them, and their Lord was so treated before them."

 

If God counts us worthy to be called his children, then surely we should accept gladly any opportunity to love Him in return through our own persecution. Again, in any other context, this would be crazy talk. But we have been loved with a ridiculous love.

 

We can also persevere through such trials because of the out-of-this-world hope we have been given. Verse 2 says, "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

 

Take away three main points from this.

 

1. We are children of God. Once you are adopted by God, the papers have been signed. Satan loses custody. God receives custody, and He will never give it back.
2. God will be revealed. There is no "if" clause. It is certain. A date has been set.
3. We will be like Him. Our bodies and minds will be perfected. We have no idea how glorious that will be, because our limited minds could not fathom it even if we were told in detail.

 

Finally, verse 3 says, "And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

 

God has not yet revealed Himself. We have not seen Him. We are left on a cursed planet - strangers, aliens on a foreign planet. We are E.T., staring at the heavens, wishing so desperately to "phone home" - to be rescued.

 

But  it is not yet our time, and while we are still here, we must be about our Father's business. We must be about the King's business. Since we now have been called royalty, we must act like royalty. We must not conform to the ways of this world and turn our backs on the King. How do we expect the fallen kingdom to return to their King if we do not mention Him, if we do not live according to His decrees? What if He should return and find us living in such waste?

 

Matthew Henry said, "It is a contradiction to such hope to indulge sin and impurity."

 

In other words, it makes no sense that we would long for a pure and holy land, while submitting daily to everything that is impure and unholy.

 

Warren Wiersbe said, "The unbeliever sins against law; the believer sins against love."

 

Let the believer not live in such a way. Let us dwell on the Father's strange love for us. Let us bask in it. Let us proudly wear the name Godson. Let us long to see our adopted Father's face. Let us long for home while in such a strange land. Let that hope encourage you to walk purely.

 

The world is watching now, and the Father is returning soon. 

Abiding in Christ

Chapter 2 wraps up with one last exhortation from John.

 

"Abide in Him."

 

No religious song, act or service is more important than this. Abide in Christ. John recorded Jesus speaking to this very issue in John 15:5. Jesus said,"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

 

Nothing. You can perform no service to God that will be recognized apart from Jesus. We can give nothing of ourselves that is worth even the stinkiest of offerings. We must come to the throne with Jesus. And to do that we must daily abide in Him. If a branch falls from a beautiful tree, we do not admire the branch. My! What a lovely branch. So independent! Somehow I love this tree even more now.

 

No. Whatever glory the branch had in being a part of such a magnificent tree is gone. It's only glory now will be in the fire it sustains as it burns to ashes.

 

As I've mentioned before, we become so unnecessarily burdened by such statements as "abide in Him." Somehow we think this is a commandment that will inhibit our ability to enjoy life. I used to be able to sleep in. Now I have to read my Bible. That sort of thing. God's commandments are not joy-suckers. They are joy-givers. By abiding in Christ, not only will your physical life be in better order, but your walk with Him so much closer. And since every good and perfect gift comes from God, abiding in Him seems to be the most logical place to lodge.

 

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Not only does abiding in Him make the most sense now, but we will be grateful we did so in the future. 

Bring yourself back to childhood. It's a Saturday morning (chores day in the Knoop household). Mom says you have two hours to clean your room. Sure, you only need 10 minutes, but obviously you have to play with your Star Wars figures before you put them away. Even Mom knows that. Two hours passes and Mom comes into the room. Its even messier than before. It doesn't matter how much fun you had playing those last two hours. As you hear Mom descending the stairs, your eyes scan the filth, and suddenly you regret your decision to have fun for the entire two hours.

 

This is a poor comparison to meeting God on judgement day, of course, but the idea is tucked away in there. Will some Christians largely waste their time on earth? Probably. Will God still love them and let them in to Heaven? Probably. Will they wish with all their hearts that they had lived different? Yes.

 

Randy Alcorn, author of the book "Heaven," believes that until believers reign on the new earth, those of us who die and go to Heaven will be very aware of our time on earth. If this is the case, imagine sitting and chatting with Moses or Paul or John. Would it not be wonderful to discuss at great length how each of you abided in the Vine? Because I guarantee you Moses won't know much about the Vikings. Paul didn't really keep up with Netflix. And John may not have an opinion on whether or not Taylor Swift should have stayed country. John will ask, "So besides this Netflix, how exactly did you abide in Christ?" I’m not sure if ashamed is even a strong enough word.

 

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Regardless of your view on Heaven, the message stays the same. Verse 29 says that "if you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him." In other words, if you know that God is righteous, you ought to be practicing righteousness, because if you aren't, it's crystal clear that you aren't abiding in Him. And if you aren't abiding, you don't have His joy or strength. And without His joy and strength, you are completely useless to the kingdom.

 

This brings us back to my last post. The only reason we wouldn't be abiding in Christ is because we are being distracted by the world, by its lusts and by our pride. It's not worth it. No joy. No strength. No purpose. Nothing of value can be found apart from the sweetness of knowing God. 

How to Win the Invisible War

John warns his readers in 1 John 2:15. "Do not love the world or the things in the world." We Christians have been so oversaturated with "Not of this World" bumper stickers and t-shirts that we are numb to its message. We've been so oversaturated that that pastors and youth leaders have begun asking what it means to be "in the world."

 

That (in my opinion) is often  a waste of time. Most of us don't have a problem being in the world. Literally all you have to do to be "in the world" is to be alive. Sure, there are select groups of people who avoid the "secular" world at all costs. But that's not most of us. Most of us look for every biblical excuse to be in the world.

 

"Hey! Jesus hung out with prostitutes! It's my ministry to hang out with the worst kids in school!"

 

Or…

 

"Jesus' first miracle was making alcohol. Obviously, getting drunk every once in a while isn't a big deal to Him."

 

This world entices us, lures us, seduces us. That's why John warns against loving it.

 

He warns against the lust of the flesh. How many google searches (from Christians)  are looking for images of flesh? How many Christians starve for snacks before they starve for the Word? How many Christians would never think of being a missionary in a country that could hurt the flesh of them or their families?

 

He warns against the lust of the eyes. How many youth leaders' hotel bills include secret added tv programs? How many hours did I waste this week watching Netflix? How much money do Christians spend on clothes they do not need? How much time do Christians spend discussing who is hot and who is not?

 

He warns against the pride of life. How much time in front of the mirror? How many people do we trash talk to make ourselves feel better? How many of our prayers are for our own benefit, protection, possessions and success? When was the last time I prayed that the Lord would take something I love away from me, so I could learn to rely on Him more?

 

In Conclusion

 

I’m skipping over some great material here, but I want to focus on two questions.

 

#1 Who is our Enemy?

 

Ephesians 6:12 states that "we do not wrestle (battle) against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places."

 

Our battle was not with Hitler. Our battle is not with North Korea. Our battle is not with Obama or Hollywood or Oprah or Kobe Bryant or Roger Gooddell or Bugs Bunny. Our battle is against what we cannot see. We battle the spiritual realm. 

 

We battle anything that denies Christ as the supreme ruler of our souls. This is a difficult battle, because our bookstores contain antichrist ideas. "Christian" books will  tell you that your happiness can be controlled by you. This is an antichrist idea. Our churches encourage us to love our families more than Christ. They may not come out and say this, but the message is not hard to find. We are rarely encouraged to live lives for Christ that will stretch our families physically, emotionally or physically.

 

John warns against deception - against loving the world - because nearly everyone already loves it, Christian and un-believer alike.

 

You are not safe from the enemy at home. You are not safe at church. You are not safe anywhere, because no wall can contain the invisible enemy.

 

#2 How do we fight?

 

With no safe place to go, how on earth can we survive? How can we know what is true if there is not a 100% guarantee that our pastor is speaking the truth?

 

1 John 2:20 is one of the most incredible (yet virtually unknown) verses of the Bible. It says, "But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things."

 

Why do we so often fail in our faith? Why are we so controlled by pride and lust? Why do we love the world so much? It is because we do not realize that the Maker and Sustainer of every good thing resides in us. We have been anointed as saints - adopted as children of the Most High God. We do not interpret Scripture through our pastor or a good commentary, but through the Holy Spirit. He is the only one - the only one - who you can trust.

 

When you know you know God, and you daily abide in Him, then you will know the truth, you will not be deceived, and you will not be of this world. Learn from pastors and commentaries, but put your trust in Christ. That is how you win the invisible war.

 

How to Know you Know God

Knowledge: How We Know We Know 1 John 2:1-11

How do we know we know God? Perhaps a simpler version of that question is this: How can we be certain that we know God in the sort of way we know a best friend? After all, I don't think many of us lose sleep at night over whether or not we know the characteristics of God. God is love. God is merciful, gracious, kind, all-powerful, yada yada, yada. What we lose sleep over, is whether or not we know him in the kind of way that leads to "Well done good and faithful servant." After all, I don't know many Christians who are dying to hear Jesus say, "Well, it was a toss up, but you barely passed."

 

So how do we know we know God? Do we need to read our Bibles more? Pray more? Think more loving thoughts? Read more books? Listen to Christian music? Really try to fall in love with Jesus? (I love when Christians say they want to fall more in love with Jesus, as if it's such a difficult task to fall in love.) While some of these may act as a bandaid to a massive hole in our chest spewing blood of doubt, they won't really answer the question - not according to Scripture anyway.

 

1 John 2:3 begins this way: "Now by this we know that we know Him…"

 

 What!? It's that simple? One verse tells us exactly how to know him? Why on earth have I lived all these years with such self-doubt of my relationship with Jesus? Whatever it is, sign me up!

 

Here is that verse in its entirety. "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments."

 

Huh.

 

Not as attractive of an answers as you were looking for? You were kind of hoping for something more emotional, weren't you? Me too.

 

Well, what commandments then? The two biggies - loving God and loving neighbors?

 

When we look at 1 John 2 in context, John has been talking a lot about sin blocking our relationship from God. And contrary to popular thought, there are two kinds of sins - commission and omission. There are sins in which we commit a sinful act and sins in which we neglect to commit a godly act. John is now discussing the latter.

 

Verse 4 says, "He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in Him." No matter how hard we try to keep from doing  sinful things, we will never know God until we begin doing godly things.

 

Let me give an example. Think of someone you have fallen in love with. Or if you have not yet fallen in love, someone whom you have become very close with (a family member or friend). At what point did you realize that you were in love with them? Note, my question is not when you first found them physically attractive.

 

For me, the moment was in July of 2012. I was interning with Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs during the Waldo Canyon Fire. After the fires had been contained, the entire group of interns volunteered with Samaritan's Purse to help search among the ashes of people's homes for anything valuable. We were split into teams, and by divine providence I was placed with Meredith DeAnda - a young lady from Georgia who I'd had a crush on for several weeks. We were required to wear these  full body suits that resembled those suits worn by those people trying to capture E.T. We also wore masks and hats. Needless to say, all I could physically see of Meredith were her eyes.

 

We worked for hours in the 90-degree weather. I was insistent that we take a water break every 10 minutes so as to stay hydrated. But Meredith fought me on it every break, insisting that we had to spend as much time as possible looking for the owner's possessions among the ashes. When we discovered a photo album of wedding invitations and photos, Meredith could not contain her joy. That's when I knew I loved her - the sweaty girl in pigtails in the E.T. catcher outfit.

 

What's your story? They are all different, but many of them contain one similar element. We fell in love when we realized something that made the other person happy - what made them unique. They said or did something that made us stop in our tracks and think, "I love that about him," or "I love that about her." It may be something we never thought we'd love. Maybe it's something we used to hate. But once we saw it from their perspective - everything changed.

 

That's how John is saying you come to know God. In our American culture, "commandments" is a word that makes us cringe. Command. We don't like being told what to do. It inhibits our freedom. But that's where we are all wrong. God's commands aren't the kind of rules that are meant to make life more boring. God's commands are things He enjoys - things He loves. He loves to see widows taken care of. He loves to see orphans adopted. He loves to see hungry people given food, prisoners visited, the naked being clothed and the freezing given hot cocoa.

 

When I got married, it was expected of me to do things with and for my wife that she liked. It was required that I kiss her often, help in the kitchen, get a job and visit the in-laws. It was required of her to make meals (not because I'm chauvinistic - she's just a way better cook than I am), care for our children and support me. These are normal things husbands and wives do for each other. I love to eat, so Meredith makes food. Meredith loves to not be in debt, so I work. That's how a relationship works.

 

So why should it be any different with God? We love to be loved, forgiven of our sins and promised a home after death. God has provided those. God loves to see us use our time and money to help the less fortunate and to see the lost saved.

 

Yet, we assume that we can know God intimately without obeying those commandments. We claim that our American freedom gives us the right to enjoy all the pleasures of God without giving anything in return. Let's face it, when Meredith doesn't receive clean dishes and kisses - James doesn't receive other things.

 

Let me clarify something. God does not love us because we do things for Him. Romans 5:8 says that "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." His love has nothing to do with our obedience.

 

But…

 

Our intimate knowledge of God has everything to do with it.

 

You see, while I try to use human relationships to explain our relationship with God, the comparison is extremely flawed. Our relationships with each other include two individuals who each have something to offer the other.

 

We have nothing to offer God.

 

In John 17:3, Jesus prayed to the Father moments before his arrest. He said, "Father, the hour  has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

 

God chose us for eternal life long before we sought him. God chose us for eternal life while we spat in His face. God chose us for eternal life knowing that we would never offer anything valuable to Him in return. But God didn't just give us eternal life. He gave us the opportunity to know Him.

 

If Meredith and I hadn't worked out, I would have considered it a privilege just to know her -  a privilege to work with her, drive her home, visit her cubicle, etc. The privilege I feel to know her intimately is off the charts. But Meredith is a sinner.

 

God, Creator of the universe, Savior of the damned, Giver of life has given us an opportunity to know Him intimately and we complain because the way to knowing him includes commandments.

 

Listen to the words of Paul in Philippians 3.

 

"What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and county them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

 

A simple summary: Paul considered every earthly possession and relationship as poop compared to knowing God intimately. He considered pain and suffering, not as punishment, but as an opportunity to better know Christ, because Christ also suffered.

 

In 1 John 2:6, John says, "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked."

 

If you want to have an intimate relationship with Jesus. If you want to fall in love with Him without having to force yourself to do so. If you want to know you know Him - then turn your eyes on Jesus. Get to know Him by reading the Gospels. It's all there. The compassion. The grace. The mercy. The forgiveness. The calm spirit. And then obey Him. Do the things He loves. Help the people He wants helped.

 

Don't pray that you will fall in love with Jesus. God isn't into forcing people to love Him. Pray that you will understand who He is. Because once you understand, I guarantee the falling in love will happen all on its own. 

A Study in 1 John - The Basis of True Fellowship

Introduction: 1 John 1-4

The life, death and resurrection of Jesus is not merely legend. He was seen performing miracles. He was heard preaching the Good News. His lifeless body was handled. But he was also seen risen. He was heard by hundreds of individuals (1 Cor. 15:6). His resurrected body was handled by those who needed proof he was not a ghost - proof of the holes in his hands, feet and side. John begins his letter this way, because if it is true that Jesus is who He said He was - than to have fellowship (a relationship) with Him would mean everything. The amount of joy such an individual could know would be off the charts. Eternal joy due to eternal fellowship with an eternal Savior.  

 

Honesty: The Basis of True Fellowship: 1 John 1: 5-10

Honesty is key to any healthy relationship. It's when spouses aren't honest with each other that divorces happen. Communication is everything. So why would we expect anything different with our relationship with God?

 

 There is no darkness in God. None. This is not the case for the human race. We are a pride-scarred people who do not easily accept others who are clearly better than us. Have you ever been around someone who is just good at everything? They may not brag once about their achievements, but if they just so much as mention one of them, we tell all our friends that they are the most arrogant person we know. Why? Because then we might escalate ourselves to their level. Again, we serve a God in Whom there is no darkness. We must come into fellowship with Him acknowledging that such is not the case with us. When we offer ourselves to God, we offer Him our nothingness. 

We offer Him our filth, and ask Him to take it from us. We acknowledge that He is everything that is good and we are everything that is bad. We can only have fellowship with Him if we are aware how odd such a fellowship is, and we will only have fellowship with one another if we come together as a naked body of humiliation, clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Christ is faithful to forgive us of our crookedness. Now, in that promise - in that wonderful promise - let us walk with Him and others in His righteousness.