Wednesday April 30th, 2014 Lesson 3

Please pray for the families and the children at Southbank International School in London. The school is facing a crisis regarding a former teacher who abused students. This reaches far beyond the school walls, beyond families, this is a story that is horrific to the whole world. Pray for peace, understanding, and God's loving hand to wrap around all of us who are struggling to comprehend.

Lord we lift this situation up to you. We cannot begin to understand this. We lay it at your feet. Please Lord protect the children of the world from evil.

Amen.

EVIDENCE OF THE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST

1 John 2:7-29

The book of First John provides believers with an “assurance of faith”.

Verses 7-11

I love how this section of scripture begins:

“Beloved, brethren, brothers, dear friends,”- this is a loving, endearing opening.  Like a letter from a father to a child.  He draws us in.  It’s like he is truly talking directly to me, to you.   

The author is going to talk to us about the most important thing of all: LOVE. How is it the greatest commandment, that it has been there from the beginning, yet there is something new.

Luke 10:27 says "Love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.  and love your neighbor as yourself."  

Much of Jesus’s ministry was focused on loving others.  He said it was the most important commandment.  We know that love is the most important thing!  Love is not just something it is everything.  Love is walking in the light.  And this goes right back to to the beginning...to the Old Testament, from Deuteronomy 6:5....  so in a way it’s an old commandment.  

But there are two unique aspects to this LOVE in this particular passage.

The first is loving our brothers, meaning the Christian community.  We are to LOVE our Christian community.   We need to be Jesus to them.  All of you are doing this by coming to Bible study, praying for each other, and helping each other.  At the time of writing, the author saw Christians imprisoned - and he is calling for them to be brave enough to even risk their lives by bringing food to them, thus revealing their faith and risking imprisonment themselves.  So he is calling us to really serve and aid our Christian friends - to the point of risking our lives.

The second thing is that Jesus says "to love others as I have loved you". He raises the bar! see the Gospel of John chapter 15 verse 12.  This "enemy-love" is a new kind of love that we have in Christ. And it is reflected in our actions.  Love is not just an emotion but is expressed in the way we live our life.

Verses 12-14:

This is set apart - like a poetic passage.  There is repetition in this passage, stressing its importance.  The author reminds us what we know and who we are in Christ,

giving his reasons for writing, addresses us as little children, fathers, children, dear friends - some say he is referring to stages of spiritual growth here.  

I love to personalize this passage  - My sins have been forgiven on account of his name

I know him who is from the beginning - I have overcome the evil one - I know the father, I am strong...etc.

Verses 15-17:

Love the Father, not the world.

Do not love the world or anything in the world.

- enjoy the beauties of creation, have joy in our lives, but do not become slaves to the possessions of the world, particularly:  cravings of sinful people, lust, boasting…

-once a Christian speaker I heard asked a great question I will never forget:  Think of all the things you have - all your possessions and all people, family etc….now is there any of that that could NOT be taken away from you.  Anything we can see with our eyes can be taken from us - any possession we have, people...everything in this world will pass away/decay somehow.  Only our faith - what is in our hearts and inside of us is what we can cling to.  

We cannot allow ourselves to become slaves to possessions.

This is a real counter-culture characteristic of Christians in the Western world where so much emphasis is placed on our possessions/wealth/STUFF.

Verses 18-25 

We are easily deceived.  

All of you know the truth.

Who is a liar?  However denies that Jesus is the Messiah.

Remain in the son and in the father - he promises Eternal Life!!

Staying in The Word is our greatest protection against deception, and we are in doing that by studying our bibles.  Cling to the truth in God’s Word, and seek holiness.  That will result in growth in Christ.

26-29  Conclusion of Ch 2 1John

Continue to be confident and unashamed in Christ

Be confident - be unashamed!!  We are all on a journey.  We are all at different points of spiritual maturity.  Do not compare yourself to others.  We all have different spiritual gifts too.  Each of us is growing in God, just like a child who is going through different stages of development - and each of us should be strong and confident, no matter where we are in that process -

if we are doing the things here in Chapter 2, we know we are growing:

--loving our Christian community, seeking truth

--spending time in the word and drawing closer to Christ

--being very careful not to get caught up in the things of the world

--developing discernment - which comes through knowing scripture - against those who may try to deceive you

Final thoughts:

Assurance of salvation in not just repeating a prayer or attending one church service.  It should be so much more than that - there should be evidence of new life - that we seek to walk in the light, study his word, acknowledge sin, keep his commands….

Salvation is not a drive through service.  It is a long walk of obedience in Christ….to borrow from the title of Eugene Peterson’s wonderful book on discipleship:  our walk is a A long obedience in the same direction

For next week: Lesson 4 which will cover 1John chapter 3

Wednesday April 2nd, 2014

Our new study: 1 John has begun!

We pray that you are being blessed by the new study format and the DAILY time spent in God's word.  

After today's class, we will have three weeks off due to the UK April school holiday breaks.  Please try to do a bit of your lesson each day.  Once you've completed the lesson, take the remaining days of the break to have time to just read a new part of the Bible, or the Psalms or just be in prayer.

Our next class will be on the 30th of April and we will cover Lesson 3 of 1John.

HAVE A WONDERFUL EASTER BREAK!!

Celebrate the cross!!

Today's lesson covered 1John 1-2:6

LOOKING DEEPER:
“That which was from the beginning” (v. 1): In this phrase John is saying that Jesus existed before the "beginning” (of creation; compare to John 1:1). Jesus existed before all creation and therefore was not created (see John 17:5; Ephesians 1:4; Colossians 1:15-19; Hebrews 1:2). “Word of life” refers to John 1, where Christ is seen as the perfect expression of His Father, fully divine. Unlike most biblical letters which open with a greeting, John opens with a statement against the Gnostic heresy, which denies the deity and humanity of Jesus (see following). John was deeply concerned.

“Which we have heard...seen...looked at...touched.” The perfect tense is used, which gives the feeling that while all of John's senses confirmed the humanity of Christ about 50 years earlier, the experiences of being with Christ are as real to him now as they were when they occurred.

Thus, verse 1 directly combats Gnosticism, which was just being formulated in John's day (it is also combated in Colossians, 1 and 2Timothy, Titus, 2Peter, and perhaps 1Corinthians). Soon to become the most dangerous heresy of the first two centuries, Gnosticism held as its central teaching that spiritual things are good while all things physical are evil. This dualism bred erroneous teachings, such as:

• It denied the Incarnation of the Word of God—the fact that God became flesh in Jesus. This discounts the humanity of our Savior—the fact that He was a human being like all of us.
  
• The human body itself is evil. Thus two extremes were encouraged: harsh treatment of one's body (Colossians 2:21-23), or loose, lawless living (1John 3:4).
  
• Salvation is an escape from the body. This is achieved by a "special knowledge" available to only a select few, as compared to faith in Christ available to everybody (John 3:16).
  “Eternal life” (v. 2): a theme reflecting a quality of life that is rich and full, beginning once we receive Christ's salvation and continuing for eternity (John 10:10).
  “Fellowship” (v. 3): a "joint participation," a "firsthand knowledge," a "sharing of lives." We have fellowship with one another when we share things in common. It is amazing to consider how close our fellowship with God can be—we share His very nature (2Peter 1:3-4). 
  

1John 1:5: John states that God is light. The word light is found in the Gospel of John more than in all of the other Gospels put together. It is no surprise that John again develops the theme in his epistle, 1John. But what does he mean by light?

In the Old Testament, God was often revealed in fire and brightness. He was cloaked with light and glory (Psalm 104:2), too bright for any human to behold (1Timothy 6:16). In the New Testament, Jesus is the bearer of light (Matthew 4:16), often called the "Light of the world" (John 8:12; 9:5; 12:35, 46). As a consequence, by the grace of God, Jesus' followers are now bearers of the light (Matthew 4:16; Ephesians 5:8-9).

In the physical world, light is required for life to grow. It is a prerequisite for life in the spiritual realm also (John 1:4). In the same way, light is necessary for sight (1John 2:11). Light, then, is the revelation of God's glory and truth, providing us daily guidance (spiritual sight) into righteousness and eternal salvation (spiritual life).

1John 1:6: Here John introduces a key concept—"walk." This verb in its Greek tense means literally "to order one's behavior after." It describes a continual, habitual action. It does not negate the possibility of occasional mistakes or sins. Rather, John uses the phrase “walk in the light” to describe the normal behavior of a Christian as one who does not habitually commit known sins. Thus he is not promoting the non-biblical idea of a sinless perfectionism, as explained in verses 8-10.

“If we claim to be without sin” (1:8-10): In the original language, it is clear that "sin" here refers to the "sin nature"—that tendency we have inherited from our parents, inherent in all humans, to violate God's laws. People who claim their sinful natures are completely eradicated are only deceiving themselves. Verse 10 carries the idea further: if we “claim we have not sinned [committed individual acts of sin as a result of our sinful nature]...his word has no place in our lives.” But if we confess (that is, agree with God's perspective about) our sins, God will not only forgive our sins, but will “purify us” from all unrighteousness. He completely sets us free! Note that the tense of the Greek word purify speaks of a single act of cleansing, signifying that the known sin in the life of a Christian is an abnormal event, not a habitual action.

1John 2:1: The word advocate (RSV) (“one who speaks to the Father in our defense,” NIV) literally means "one called to your side"; here it signifies "a counsel for defense." If we are trusting in Jesus' sacrifice to continually cleanse us from sin, known and unknown, He is continually standing as our defense lawyer in order that we might be pardoned. He has never lost a case (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25; 1Peter 3:18).