1 John 4:7-10 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 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. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
 
GOD is love. His love is exceptional; it is unique; it is eternal; it is the evidence of his plan to save you to heaven. Let’s see some evidence of God’s exceptional love in the Bible:
    Exodus 34:5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with Moses and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”
    A few months before this Exodus event, God had brought his people from Egypt. Why? It is because he is abounding in love. In his exceptional love, he then came from heaven in his holiness to stand before sinful mankind. His exceptional love for Israel declares his compassion, grace and patience. His exceptional love proclaims his abounding love and forgiveness to welcome his people into his presence. God teaches also his exceptional love is in his justice against sin. His loving will is we live in his right law, so we can live in his love.  
    With exceptional love, the Father continued his plan through Israel’s many sins. He fulfilled his loving promise to send his only Son to die and pay for your sin.
    Meditate on this a moment. When you more deeply understand God’s exceptional love for you, do you love God more deeply? Is there more room in your heat to love the Lord because you know God has so personally demonstrated his love for you?
    God shows his exceptional love to you though the entire Bible to even sacrifice his Son for you. What must you sacrifice to have exceptional love to love God and to love one another?
 
Life Thought: Exceptional love requires sacrifice.   

 

1 John 4:4-6 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
 
AS John repeats the word “love” many times and the phrase “we know” 16 times in this letter, he also refers to the church nine times as “dear children”. You can summarize 1 John to say, “John teaches we are God’s dear children when we know God’s love.”
    How would you know this? Again, true knowledge of God comes from your real experiences with God. John says your experiences in life obeying God’s commands demonstrate you have overcome them. “Them” refers to the false teachers he warns against. He is praising and affirming his dear children in their faith to stand against the liars and to stand for the Truth.
    As a pastor he praises his dear children because he knows the Spirit is alive in them. Their actions and words tell John the Living Spirit empowers them to oppose the world’s spirits of deceit.
    The church are dear children to God because they are from God.  They know God because they have seen his love transform their lives. Others who join them will be those who also know God’s love. God’s dear children are hearing, doing and discerning the truth. They live in this true expression of God’s kingdom on earth. Their Christian life is not from their own strength but from the Holy Spirit’s teaching.
    As we join with others in God’s church, let us always be mindful of the Holy Spirit within us. Many of us are eager for our churches to grow and become children of God in every sense. The way this happens is not from human plans and strategies but from the Spirit’s sufficiency. To move a church more closely to God requires God’s character in the church. A church must worship, fellowship, teach and evangelize in God’s power. Dear children, follow the loving Savior’s example. This is possible because the Spirit has come to dwell within you as you confess Jesus.  
    Be God’s dear child. Always know you have his eternal power within you.
 
Life Thought: The Spirit of God births you to be a child of God.
 

1 John 3:24-4:3 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. 1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
 
IN our previous three lessons, we have understood how we know life, love and truth in our Lord God. You could quickly summarize how you surely know these when you say, “I know the Holy Spirit.” After all, it is the Holy Spirit who ignites our minds to live and love the truth. Jesus affirmed this: John 16:13-14 “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.”
    When John wrote Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, he was likely speaking against a false teaching called Gnosticism. Ironically, this is the Greek term for knowledge. Formal Greek teaching could not grasp Jesus as fully man and fully God. Yes, this is not easy for any of us to understand; yet, in the Spirit’s power, we know this is the truth to believe. The Greeks, though, said Jesus was never human, only a spirit. John urged the church to hold to the truth just as we must today. Such a lie destroys the gospel.
    Today false teachers are the opposite of the Greeks. Spirit-less teachers are quick to say, “Jesus was a man.” But they deny, “Jesus is God.” They dismiss God’s Spirit power to come to earth in human form and fully exist as God. Again, if this were true, we would have no gospel.
    Many false teachers, though, speak in biblical terms to claim authority. People may say, “I have a message for you from God.” Or “I believe the Bible teaches this.” And you are eager to listen. But are they speaking truth? Can you equate their teaching to Scripture’s teaching? How do you know the message is truly from God?
    There have been times people have spoken to me, “a word from our Lord”. I waited to see if they were true. Several times these have come true. Thus, I can know the Spirit is in them. Other times people have spoken with authority, but they do not live in the truth. Their habits demonstrate the Spirit is not in them. You will always know the Spirit when you wait for the Spirit to reveal the truth.
    Jesus calls you to know life, to know love and to know truth. You will know when you know the Spirit is in you. Open your heart and habits to receive and live his way.
 
Life Thought: Always desire to know the Lord’s Word and to live in his loving truth.
   

1 John 3:19-23 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20 whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
 
OUR third “we know” lesson is we know that we belong to the truth.
    How do you react to that? My first thought is, “Does this seem prideful? What about people who say, ‘My way or not at all. You cannot change my mind. You Christians are arrogant to think there is only one truth.’” How does a surrendering, humble, loving heart make such a definite statement?
    John says a true disciple of Christ can say this with absolute authority and knowledge. When you speak it as a confession and you understand it as God’s blessing, you will be humble in spirit. You will speak with a mind surrendered to the Living Word, who teaches you of life eternal. What great assurance this is! To know that we belong to the truth is a faith statement that deeply anchors your relationship with the Holy Trinity. As we see it in the context of 1 John, the apostle is separating Jesus from the world. He is the Word from the beginning. Who else would be true but Jesus? What else would be true but God’s words, plans and actions from the beginning of time?
    Nothing is true outside of God. That’s why the unfaithful, restless world cries out, “What is true?” Our nature causes mankind to seek truth from within ourselves and God-opposing ideas. This is another element of the original sin. Satan turned Adam and Eve to seek truth from their desires, not from God.
    John is the one who recorded Jesus’ words, John 14:6b “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  That’s bottom line. It is precise. There is no other boundary. The truth is in Jesus.
    John also wrote 26 times in his gospel of Jesus declaring, “I tell you the truth.” The one who died in truth and rose again in truth to God’s prophecies proclaimed the true way to life everlasting.
    We know, then, we belong to the truth when we do these four things: 1) seek his truth 2) strive to live his truth 3) acknowledge our sins 4) defend his truth. We know we belong to the truth when it is our heart’s precious possession. We know we belong to the truth because our lives become a real experience of life working for the good, living toward purpose and meaning. You know truth when you know his commands, and you obey them.
    This isn’t complicated. Why do people strive so against the truth toward a self-directed, wandering life. A truth-centered life is joy. Try it, and you will know.
 
Life Thought: To know you belong to the Truth is God’s will for you.

1 John 3:16-18 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. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
 
THIS second “we know” lesson is more directly on godly love: This is how we know what love is. Wow! Are you excited to learn? John tells you.
    Here it is: Jesus Christ lay down his life for us – that’s you. This is very direct, isn’t it? Certainly this is not new to anyone. Even unchurched people will hear, “In love, Jesus lay down his life for you.” Yes, you might be asking, “What’s new?” Perhaps what can be new is the way you know Jesus.
    We are first taught, Jesus is your friend. He was born in a manger. He walked the earth and lived just as you. Yes, he did live fully as man on earth. But let’s remember he is fully the Son of God.
    Jesus is one of Three Persons of the Trinity. He is the holy God displaying his glory in many ways throughout Scripture. Here he does so directly: Mark 9:2-7 There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them…7 Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” Jesus is fully man. He is fully God. You can identify him as a man. He died a human death. He is raised in God’s power. You must worship him as God.
    Now read again John’s love definition: Jesus Christ lay down his life for us. The Son, who lives in heaven’s glory, lay down his life for us. This is God’s love to obey his own law and promises to die a sacrificial death on a cruel cross for you. His love is his surrender to the work of salvation. His love is his submission to his enemies for your victory over the Enemy. His love is “not my will but yours” (Luke 22:42 – Jesus in Gethsemane).
    Jesus’ love is not material possessions. His love is true freedom, peace, joy and hope. Jesus’ love is loving your enemies and forgiving those who sin against you. This is the laying-down-love Jesus has done for you. It is the love God requires of you.
    It’s true, dear friends, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. You will know you love God and love others when you love as Jesus.    
 
Life Thought: Love in truth leads to true living

1 John 3:13-14 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.
 
THIS is the first of four lessons on “we know”, a phrase John writes 16 times in 1 John. Remember, “to know” is to determine the truth, especially through experiences. How, then,  do we know that we have passed from death to life? In other words, how do you determine through your experiences you are saved to life eternal?
    First, you must know that confessing Jesus in true faith will change you. Jesus’ love is not an emotion. A God-formed love in your heart is a foundation to your new life. To say, “I love my church.” because you feel good about the people there one day is not an indication you are saved.
    As John writes, we have passed from death to life, the word “passed” refers to a continual character of your heart. Alive in Jesus, saved in his love, you do not act in love one day and then in vengeance or unforgiveness the next. OurYour life is formed in God’s eternal love, strong against the world’s temporary opposition because weemotional claims to relationships.
    We also know God’s love brings us into life because the opposite is true. To live in our own emotions is to be a murderer. This is strong language. But consider: Your sin nature says, “Do not love others. Love yourself above all!” To act this way will turn you and others from Jesus.
    Death is defined as moving away from God’s life. Cain (see our last lesson) rejected God’s love. He loved himself. His self-absorbed life led others to death.
    Yes, saved to life, you will still act in an unloving manner – even when you try hard not to do so. But if you are attentive to love God and love others, you will repent of the broken moment. You will see God’s love as a life restoring agent, healing division and unforgiveness. You will purposefully seek to know the way of love, striving to be as Jesus. You will know life eternal.
 
Life Thought: Passing into life is a remarkable journey. Continue on to love others.  
 
Next email is January 27.

1 John 3:4-10 Everyone who sins is breaking God's law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. 5 And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. 6 Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is. 7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as Jesus is righteous. 8 He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 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.
 
IS John teaching that anyone who sins is not in Christ? If so, he is contradicting his teaching to the church in 1 John 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Is this evidence for those who say that the Bible contradicts itself?
    A key to learning here is understanding the English language translated from the Greek language. The phrases who keeps on sinning (verse 6), continue to sin and go on sinning (verse 9), are about having a mindset to sin. One’s thoughts and actions are set continually against God’s laws, opposing Jesus, who came to take away our sins. And he could do so because there is no sin in him.
    John repeats and emphasizes his gospel record of John the Baptist identifying Jesus as “The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29b) We may think, “Why does John keep saying this?” But remember the mighty opposition to Jesus, the apostles and the church. False teachers and persecutors strongly opposed the gospel truth. Some said there is no sin. Some said no one man can take away our sins. The devil’s disciples were constantly at work to take God’s people to Hell.
    The continual preaching is necessary and urgent. John was exhorting the church to attain and maintain a heart, mind and soul for God’s truth. Yes, we all do commit sin. But we must not have a mindset to sin as a way of life. Our minds are to be set on the things of God.
    Is there some sin you do not confess? Do you not want to give away your unrighteous acts or thoughts to the one who takes them away? Then perhaps you must check your faith. What do you believe? Is your sin more precious than your Savior?
 
Life Thought: Jesus has given himself to take away your sin to a place it no longer keeps you from the Holy God.