02/01/2025 – Prologue – These 29 verses are about truth; when John wrote them and as we read them today. The truth(s) John teaches should be applied in our religious and worldly lives. Clearly it is a choice each person must choose to make. That may seem to be a strong statement, but we have a mighty God. Please read these notes carefully, and take time to visualize the images that John is attempting to draw for us.
[1 John 3:1-10] – Born of God – Imagine being born blind. Imagine the challenges of learning to speak. Then imagine one day: be it a miracle or advancement in medicine or surgery we are able to see. We are able to come eye to eye with the people we love. Imagine, as an adult, seeing someone you have come to love, but have never seen. Now, imagine coming face to face with Jesus: seeing His smile and His facial expressions. [v. 2] If we love Jesus, we should long to see Him because that is the promise of [v. 2] What John says in this letter revolves about this promise: no promise – no point to the letter. This makes us think of the resurrection and the whole new world in which the second coming will take place. Candidly, this is a challenge. Let us begin with the present world - God’s good creation. The new world will be like the current world, but more so, w/o the corruption, decay, death, injustice, illness, sorrow, shame and w/o tears! Are you curious - try to imagine what you will look like? Imagine – beautiful, w/o sickness and death, celebratory, using and not abusing (ecologically), all w/o lust. We will be like the risen Jesus. The apostles looked in wonder – the same, yet different. They wanted to ask, “Who are you?” [John 21:12] He bore the marks of nails and spear, yet would live forever. Did He belong in two worlds? Yes, when He was incarnated in the womb of Mary, He acquired a second nature – a human nature. With all that we may imagine and conjecture; what will we experience when we gaze upon the face that God created to love us? Perhaps it will be just as in this earthly life: two people in a long, harmonious marriage grow to look alike. Why have this discussion? To remind us of the glory to come and the glory of the present world. The world to which God sent His beloved son, out of love, to make us God’s children. [v. 1] If that is the beginning, what is the ending?
These verses are building toward the last two chapters. But there is a caveat – If we have hope ahead of us, should we attempt to be pure as He is pure? A challenge? Yes, a worthy challenge. If we prepare to meet a new member of the opposite sex, or a new employer, or a dignitary from a foreign country, do we not try to be on our best behavior? Thus, how should we prepare to meet Jesus? [v. 4-10] What does this quote mean? “Everyone who abides in Him does not go on sinning.” [v. 6 ] John uses the verb abiding which means belonging to Him and this implies life sharing. John also knows that Christians sin from time to time and there is a remedy [v. 2:1] So – What John is talking about is the habit we have for our lives; do we go on sinning, as a regular mode in our daily lives. We must do our best to avoid all sin, all of the time, but we will falter and fail. We must establish a lifestyle that no longer allows sin to set the tone. The reality is that at the end of this worldly journey we will have some acts that bring satisfaction, some we will not be proud of and some acts we may not even remember. This is critical – then and now there are some who say, sinning is OK. Do not be deceived! If that is our choice it indicates we are not inclined to change our lifestyle. If so, ask the question, Whose side are you on? It is not God’s [v. 1-2] Is that where you want to be? Do not be a habitual sinner. And the greatest sin is the failure to love and among other things, that is directional!
[1 John 3:11- 4:6] – The Challenge of Love – At times it may be difficult to accept that: the forces with us are greater than the forces against us. This is repeated in scripture, but it requires faith. It is easy to be like Peter walking on water and engage doubt. John [v. 4] says, “the one who is within you is greater than the one who is within the world.” John has warned us about loving ‘the world’. But what is more powerful: is the reality of God’s presence within us which gives us the strength to overcome.
Do not be confused, let us determine the nature of the battle and why we need to have
encouragement. John is writing to some who are confused, others are in danger of being blown totally off course. How do we balance the different ideas, claims, and would-be teachers. John addresses the false prophets: warning of the difficulty in telling them from legitimate prophets. At first, their claims seem reasonable, they seem to be devout, they claim to possess the word of God and who are we to doubt? First, we must know what we know: not everyone who presents himself as a prophet is a prophet. How can we know? How can we test the spirits? We must listen carefully, sift the evidence and weigh what we hear. These folks are not apt to be absurd, but gradually the fatal flaw will be exposed. Eventually, they will reveal they do not think that Jesus the Messiah came in the flesh. [v. 2] In the 1st C. there were many: religious and political. Many who rejected that Jesus came in the flesh had their roots in Gnosticism. Many sought ‘secret’ knowledge, referring to it as esoteric knowledge (requiring or exhibiting knowledge that is restricted to a small group.) A good test is if you hear any reference to the fact that the knowledge being revealed is limited in some way. That is a signal to pause and investigate.
This may be a challenge, because it uses bits of the genuine Christian message. But soon the message drifts toward the question of how possibly Jesus could have come to earth in the flesh. He could not have compromised His spiritual nature by having anything to do with the flesh – sordid, dirty, physical, requiring all the needs of daily living and then – to die. They will admit only to His spirituality. Some major religions on earth deny Jesus could possibly have been an ordinary fleshy human. But John makes clear - this is the central point of Christianity: “The word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Take that away and Christianity crashes and burns! This argument is Anti-messiah! They demand we scorn the incarnation of the Word. We can agree that this point is central to differing belief systems, but it is not negotiable! [v. 5-6] We may have to cling to the basic state-ment: that as far as we can tell, we define God in relation to Jesus who came from this God and became flesh in our midst. If we take that away we no longer know God. This allows us to claim that those people who know God listen to us, those who are not from God do not listen to us. On first blush that statement can appear arrogant, but John does not mean it that way. His message is: hold to the true God – reject the claims of idols. And we know the true God through Jesus. John wants us to be reassured over and over – repetitious. If the true God is the source of our life, then we have already won the victory. The one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. At times it may not feel like that – it is then we must rely on faith. Faith that the living God did take on the flesh, our flesh, in Jesus. When that truth kicks in the spirit of truth - is working. AMEN
Love, hank
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