Month: March 2015

Practical Prayer.

/ kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. – 1 John 5:16-17 ESV

1 John 5:13-21

John has just finished encouraging his readers “that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us” (1 John 5:14 ESV). Now he provides a practical example of that kind of prayer. It is a scenario that each and every one of us has experienced at one time or another in our lives as believers. We have all found ourselves at one time or another in the unpleasant position of having seen a fellow brother or sister in Christ committing a sin of some kind. It could be that we caught them in a lie or we discovered a moral indiscretion. John’s seems to be referring to a sin that is visible, not hidden. And his point is that the sin that is seen is one being committed by a believer. When that happens, we are to pray. We are to take the matter to God. This does not necessarily mean that we are not to confront the one we have witnessed committing the sin. James makes it clear that we have an obligation to help turn a brother from his son. “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20 ESV). We are to do all that we can to help bring back a sinner from his wandering. But John’s counsel is to begin with prayer. We are to take the matter to God. This is wise advice, because, ultimately, repentance is the work of the Spirit of God. We can confront, but God must convict. We can expose the sin, but only God can expose and expunge the sin from the heart of the sinner. So we must begin with prayer. We must pray for wisdom, so that what we say is communicated in love and in truth. We must pray for the Spirit to prepare the heart of the one who has sinned, so that they might be receptive to our words. We must ask God to bring about conviction and a heart of repentance. John indicates that our prayer will give the one for whom we pray life. Ultimately, it is God who gives life. We must always understand that our words accomplish nothing. It is God alone who can bring back a sinner from his sin. But God may use us in the process. We must remember that God has placed us in the body of Christ for a reason. We are to care for and love one another. At times that takes the form of admonishment and requires loving confrontation, but it must always be done wisely and under the direction of the Holy Spirit.

In this passage John speaks of two kinds of sin. He encourages us to pray for a brother or sister in Christ who has committed a sin that does not lead to death. But he also refers to a sin that does lead to death. What is he talking about? What is this sin that leads to death? I think the key to understanding this passage is to remember the context. This entire letter began with the encouragement to remember that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. John has spent the entire letter giving proof as to the deity of Jesus and providing evidence of His claim to be the Savior of the world. For John, the rejection of Jesus as Savior is the sin that leads to death. That is why he makes it clear that our prayer is to be for a fellow believer. And our prayer is to be for any and all sins a believer in Jesus Christ might commit. But it does not include the sin of rejecting Christ as Savior, because the one for whom we are praying is a believer. For anyone who refuses to accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God and their sin-substitute, the consequences are deadly. To deny Jesus as Savior is to remain dead in your trespasses and sins and under God’s sentence of eternal separation from Him. “The distinction between the two sins must be found in the fact that sin ‘unto death’ is the Christ-rejecting behavior evidenced by those who also deny their own sinfulness, their need for atonement, and Christ’s ability to provide that atonement. Their sin is deadly because in the context of their current fundamental attitude towards Christ they have no hope of atonement’” (Tim Ward, ‘Sin “Not unto Death” and Sin “Unto Death” in 1 John 5:16’, Churchman 109 (1995), 236). This is not to say that we should refuse to pray for the lost. That is not John’s point. His emphasis in this passage is to call believers to take sin seriously and pray for one another. He is providing a clear example of what it means to love one another. We love one another the most when we desire for one another God’s best. Sin should be unacceptable to us – whether in our own life or in the life of a fellow believer. We should love one another enough to risk offense for the sake of our brother’s spiritual condition. Love for our brother should outweigh fear of rejection. Their holiness should mean far more to us than their temporary happiness. Paul would have us remember, “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death” (2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT). So don’t be afraid to speak up. But before you do, make sure you lift up the matter to God.

Whatever We Ask?

/ kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. – 1 John 5:14-15 ESV

1 John 5:13-21

Prayer is often a confusing and frustrating experience for the average Christian. It can also be one of the most misunderstood and misused disciplines in the life of the believer. The fact that we should pray is clear to most of us. That most of us attempt to pray is probably a safe assumption. But the experience of most believers when it comes to the subject and practice of prayer is one of inconsistency and impotency. Our prayer lives tend to be sporadic and powerless. Answers to prayer are rare and usually unexpected. So when we read a passage like the one above, we can either scratch our heads and wonder why what they promise doesn’t seem to be true in our own lives, or we can get overly excited and conclude that we have been neglecting a veritable no-limits gift card to get whatever we want.

But John would have us approach prayer excitedly, expectantly, but also wisely. So he includes some important conditions when it comes to prayer. This is not the first time that John has addressed the topic. Back in chapter three he gave us the comforting news that “we have confidence before God;  and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him” (1 John 3:22 ESV). There are those intriguing words again – whatever we ask. It would seem that John is offering us some kind of carte blanche when it comes to prayer. He appears to be representing God as some kind of a cosmic genie in a bottle, ready and willing to grant our every wish. But John would have us tap the break and slow down our runaway excitement. He gives us a few caveats or conditions. We must keep His commandments and live in such a way that our lives please Him. This is not John’s attempt to offer some kind of works-righteousness as a means to get things from God. He is simply presenting a picture of what it means to live in relationship, in intimate communion with God. As we abide in Him; relying on His strength, depending upon His wisdom, and resting in His sovereign will for our lives, we will tend to have a better idea of what it is that He would desire for our lives. Which is why John adds yet another condition for prayer in verses 14-15 in chapter 5: “if we ask anything according to his will.” For many of us, prayer has become little more than an exercise in expressing our will. We come to God telling Him what we want. We bring Him our list of requests and petitions. We inform Him what it is that we need Him to do and we even give Him our preferred timetable for delivery of our request. But even Jesus knew better than to demand of His Father anything that would be outside of His will. In the garden, faced with the looming prospect of His own death, He made an impassioned plea to His Father, but added an important disclosure. “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42 ESV). Ultimately, Jesus wanted the will of His Father. He fully trusted His Father and placed His life in His hands. Coming to God in prayer is an incredible privilege, but it is also a right of every child of God. As John puts it, “we have confidence before God.” We can come into His presence. We can bring our requests before Him. And when we ask, we can know that He hears us. Not only that, “we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (1 John 5:15 ESV).

But we have all had the unpleasant experience of having our prayers go unanswered. We have asked of God and then stood back and watched as nothing remotely like what requested has come about. But these moments of seeming contradiction speak more of our lack of knowledge of God and our misunderstanding of prayer. It helps me to think of my prayers like the requests of a small child to a loving parent. Children can be inordinately self-absorbed. They can also lack discernment. As a result, they can sometimes make requests that are unwise and potentially unhealthy. A loving parent would never give in to every request made by their child. In some cases, they might answer the request, but in a slightly different manner or on what appears to be a much slower timetable. But in their wisdom, they do for their child what they believe to be best for them. That is how God deals with us. He wants us to bring our requests. But He also wants us to trust His will. He wants us to understand that He knows best what will bring us good while bringing Him glory. God’s will is not our happiness, but our holiness. He is not here to grant our every wish. He exists to redeem, restore, renew, and rescue us from the damaging influences of a sin-filled world. We have to always remember that we are always susceptible to what John called the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life. Those things can weasel their way into our prayers. We can come before God desiring and asking for things that are outside of His will for us. And He is not obligated to give us everything we desire. Paul reminds us that God’s will is “good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2 ESV). He also encourages us to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God” (Romans 12:2 ESV). It is essential that we understand that effective prayer goes hand-in-hand with our ongoing spiritual transformation. The more we come to know God and understand what His will is for us, the more clearly we will pray within His will. And in those times when we still do not know His will, we will be content to leave the outcome to Him. We will want His will to be done. And we will trust Him to know what is best for us, because He loves us.

Jesus = Life.

/ kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. – 1 John 5:13 ESV

1 John 5:13-21

Near the end of the Gospel that bears his name, John gave his purpose for having taken the time to write it – “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31 ESV). John’s intention was that those who read his account of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, would come to believe that He was the Son of God, the long-awaited Messiah, and the Savior of the world. From the opening lines of his Gospel, John had made it clear that Jesus had been more than just another man. He was not merely a prophet sent by God. He was not simply a good teacher who taught about God. He was God in human form. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2 ESV). Notice that John refers to Jesus as the Word of God. John goes from speaking of Jesus as “the Word” to referring to Him as “he.” John went on to say, “In him was life and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4 ESV). John uses that same terminology to refer to Jesus in his letter – “the life was made manifest and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us” (1 John 1:2 ESV).

John wrote his Gospel so that those who read about Jesus might believe in Him. He wrote his letter to believers, so that they might remain confident in their belief – all the way to the end. John wanted his believing audience to remember that their faith in Jesus was based on the promise of eternal life. And eternal life was only possible if Jesus was exactly who He claimed to be and who God the Father testified Him to be. “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concering his Son. And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:10-11 ESV). To a certain extent, verse 13 of chapter five is a summation of John’s entire letter. While he has covered a lot of topics in these five short chapters, the underlying theme has been all about eternal life. But we must remember that eternal life is not just a destination. It isn’t some future residence or celestial city featuring a mansion with our name on the front door. John has already made it clear that Jesus is eternal life. “This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us” (1 John 1:2 NLT). Jesus isn’t just our ticket to eternal life, He is that life. Listen to what He said of Himself. “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25 ESV). “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6 ESV). John confirms the claims of Jesus when he writes, “He is the only true God, and he is eternal life” (1 John 5:20 NLT). When Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10 ESV), He wasn’t just referring to heaven. He was talking about an ongoing, abiding relationship with Him. Jesus is the abundant life we are looking for, not some kind of golden ticket to guarantee our entry into heaven. To have Jesus is to have life.

When Jesus walked this earth, He had a frank conversation with the religious leaders of His day. These men were experts when it came to the Scriptures. They thought knowledge of and adherence to God’s Word was the key to having a right relationship with God. But Jesus told them, “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!” (John 5:39 NLT). Eternal life is found in Christ. The Scriptures point to Christ. God testifies to the claims of Christ. In fact, “God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:11 ESV). John goes on to say, “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12 ESV). All the life we will ever need we get in Jesus. In Him we have life abundantly and life eternally. The life Jesus offers isn’t something reserved for us somewhere out in the future. Paul tells us, “though we were dead because of our sins, he [God] gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead” (Ephesians 2:5 NLT). “You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ” (Colossians 2:13 NLT). We have life more abundantly, right now. We have eternal life, right now. And as Paul reminds us, even the lives we live in these earthly bodies, we live by trusting in the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20).

Life.

/ kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. – 1 John 5:11-12 ESV

1 John 5:6-12

Jesus came in order that we might have life. He boldly claimed, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 ESV). On another occasion He stated, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10 ESV). Paul wrote, “just as Jesus Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4 ESV). John picks up on this theme by stressing that God gave us eternal life through His Son. It is the same message he conveyed in his gospel. It was what he had heard Jesus talk about so often during His time on this earth. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV). But this life is not just a future expectation. It is a present reality for the one who has believed and continues to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. This life in Christ is far more than a guaranteed pass into eternity. It is our key to living abundantly, joyfully, confidently and powerfully right here, right now.

The life John speaks of is inseparable from Jesus Christ. It is directly tied to belief in Him as the Son of God and in God’s testimony regarding Him as the Savior of the world. John makes the point, that to have the Son is to have life. To possess Jesus is to have taken possession of the abundant life He offers. Life and Jesus are synonymous. To reject Jesus as Savior is to reject life, not just eternal life to come, but abundant life here and now. It is to remain in death, condemned because of the penalty of sin. The apostle Paul would have us remember, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV). But the good news is that God showed mercy, and “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-6 ESV). By believing in Jesus, we receive new life. John the Baptist said, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36 ESV). Those who refuse Jesus as Savior find themselves still under God’s wrath. Not only do they face a future, eternal separation from God, but they are in the unenviable position of being under His wrath and incapable of enjoying His peace and presence at this very moment. If they don’t know Jesus as Savior, they don’t know God. They are without life. In essence, they are the living dead. But God has offered life through His Son. And those who accept the gift of His Son’s substitutionary death in their place, receive that life. They move from death to life. “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14 ESV). Jesus promised us, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24 ESV). Believing in Jesus as the Son of God and our Savior from sin and death, brings life. Yes, eternal life, but not just at some future point in time. We receive new life immediately. No more separation. No more condemnation. No more judgment. No more fear. No more death. Jesus described eternal life this way: “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3 ESV). Knowing Jesus as Savior provides us with an intimate knowledge of God Himself. It creates a relationship with God and His Son – that is the essence of eternal life. We have been restored to a right relationship with God. We have been reconciled. And that relationship is as true today as it will be in the future. We are His children right now as much as we will be in heaven. We are as right with God as we will ever be. We have life. What an incredible reality. So let us live life to the full. Right here. Right now.

The Blood.

/ kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

This is he who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. – 1 John 5:6 ESV

1 John 5:6-12

It is fascinating to me that so many Christians today want to reject any image of God as judgmental or wrathful. They cannot stand the idea of God being somehow associated with the events found in the Old Testament. So what they do is re-imagine the Bible, seeing it not as the divine Word of God, but as the writings of men. They portray it as the self-revelation of men, not the self-revelation of God. It is nothing more than men, in their unenlightened state, attempting to portray God. Surrounded by pagan imagery of gods who were characterized by wrath and vengeance, and who rewarded good behavior and punished “sin,” they mistakenly placed these same characteristics on God. But as their relationship with Him progressed, so did their understanding. So by the time Jesus came along, He was able to give them an enlightened view of God as loving, kind, gracious and merciful.

But here’s the rub. That same God who Jesus introduced to the Jews of His day was the same God who required His own Son to die a cruel death on a Roman cross. Jesus had to sacrifice His life in order to pay for the sins of man. That had always been the way God worked. The Old Testament was a foreshadowing of the coming of Christ. In fact, the author of Hebrews spends a great deal of time talking about the Old Testament sacrificial system – a bloody, primitive-like and ritualistic collection of gruesome animal butcherings – and ties them to the death of Jesus. In referring to the sacrificial system, the author writes,    “For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22 NLT). This was a God-ordained system of sacrifice that was intended to provide remission from or forgiveness for the sins of the people. To us it sounds barbaric and cruel. But there was a divine purpose behind God’s plan. “That is why even the first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal. For after Moses had read each of God’s commandments to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, and sprinkled both the book of God’s law and all the people, using hyssop branches and scarlet wool. Then he said, ‘This blood confirms the covenant God has made with you.’ And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the Tabernacle and on everything used for worship. In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood” (Hebrews 9:18-22 NLT). Every year, thousands of innocent animals had to be sacrificed in order for the sins of the people to be atoned for. Their sins, including sins of omission and commission, inadvertent and premeditated, known and unknown, had to be paid for, or their was no forgiveness. God had a sacrifice or offering for every imaginable sin. Why? Because He is loving and gracious. He wanted His people to have a relationship with Him. But He knew that they were incapable of living sinless lives. He knew they could not remain faithful. So He instituted a system by which they could have their sins paid for and forgiven. But this was a temporary solution. It was a type of something far greater to come. “That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals” (Hebrews 9:23 NLT). For God to restore men to a right relationship with Himself, a greater sacrifice was required. A more precious, permanent and costly offering was going to be necessary.

Again, the author of Hebrews provides us with insight into these seemingly confusing and difficult to understand things. “The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1-4 NLT). The sacrificial system was perpetual because the sins of the people were ongoing. The whole system was designed to show them their sins and remind them of their need for God. The blood of the bulls and goats was a temporary, impermanent fix to their problem. Something greater was needed. “For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice” (Hebrews 9:24-26 NLT).

Jesus died so that we might live. He gave His life so that we might have eternal life. His blood was shed for the permanent forgiveness of mankind’s sins. But in order for that sacrifice to be effective, it must be received. Men must acknowledge their sin and their need for a Savior. They must believe that Jesus is the Son of God, sent by His Father to pay for the sins of the world. Peter makes it quite clear: “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:18-21 NLT). What kind of God would sacrifice His own Son to pay for sins He didn’t commit? A loving, gracious, merciful, kind God. The God of Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, and every other Old Testament character. The God of the Bible. The God of creation. The God of the universe who is out to redeem His creation from the ravages of sin and death, and who chose to do it through the loving sacrifice of His own Son.

Present-tense Belief.

/ kdmiller55 / 1 Comment

Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. – 1 John 5:10 ESV

1 John 5:6-12

The problem with many of us as Christians is that we live in the past. We can recall the place, date and time when we accepted Jesus as our Savior. We can give our “testimony” as if it happened yesterday. But sadly, for more than a few believers, it makes little difference in the way they live their lives today. It is interesting that, as John attempts to assure us of the truth of Jesus’ role as the Son of God, he uses present-tense language when talking about our belief. He writes, “whoever believes” – present tense. When he speaks of “whoever does not believe God,” he also uses the present tense again, along with the active voice. John’s emphasis seems to be on a progressive, ongoing and active belief that is taking place in the present, not just the past. Having had a past belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God is all well and good, but that belief should be continuous, having an impact on our lives in the here-and-now. Saving faith is present-tense faith. It doesn’t live in the past, as some distant memory, but is an ever-present, always growing reality in the life of the believer. Peter tells us, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” (1 Peter 2:2 ESV). Paul told the believers in Ephesus they were to move from immaturity to maturity,  “growing in every way more and more like Christ” (Ephesians 4:15 NLT). Neither Peter or Paul were suggesting that we can become any more saved than we already are, but we can continue to increase in our faith and grow in confidence that what we believed in at a given point in time was really true and continues to be true.

The real question we need to consider is what is the nature of our belief today? Has our faith increased? Are we still placing our trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord? I am not suggesting that you can lose your salvation. And neither was John. But our belief in Jesus Christ should be active and ongoing. The idea that I prayed a prayer, walked the aisle, gave my life to Christ or got “born again” is all well and good, but is my faith alive and well? Is my belief present tense? Is it active and growing? I have often wondered what our testimony really should be. Many of us have been trained to see our testimony as a past event. In other words, we think of it in terms of a point in time where we “accepted” Jesus. For me, that event took place nearly 53 years ago. I was seven years old and walked down the aisle of the church during what our denomination called the “invitation.” It was at that moment I “gave my life to Jesus.” That became my testimony. When someone asked me to share my testimony, it was to that point in time I would refer. But the older I get the more I realize that my testimony is a living thing. It is ongoing and alive. When a lost person wants to know what Jesus means to me, they are looking for present tense implications, not some past experience to which they can’t relate. They want to know what Jesus is doing in my life right now. My testimony should be an evolving, ever-growing thing, as I continue to live out my life in faith and trust in God and His Son.

It is faith that is active and alive that gives us assurance. John writes, “ I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13 ESV). Once again, John uses the present tense. My ongoing belief in Jesus provides me with an ongoing assurance of eternal life. I have eternal life right now. It is not just a future promise, but a present reality. The writer of Hebrews reminds us, “So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised” (Hebrews 10:35-36 NLT). The apostle Paul encourages us to keep on keeping on. He wants us to have an active, ongoing, present-tense faith. “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT). Keep on believing. Keep on trusting. Live in the present tense. Let your testimony be a living, vibrant, ever-changing witness to the goodness of God, the reality of your salvation, and the life-transforming power of the Spirit of God in your life.

Internal Evidence.

/ kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. – 1 John 5:10 ESV

1 John 5:6-12

John has mentioned three witnesses that testify to the truth of Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah, the Son of God. “For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree” (1 John 5:7-8 ESV). Then he adds the testimony of God Himself. “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son” (1 John 5:9 ESV). Even God the Father has testified on the behalf of Jesus, declaring Him as His Son and claiming to have sent Him to “to bring good news” and “to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed” (Isaiah 61:1 NLT). But John had more evidence to add to his argument. So far, his proof has all be external in nature – the baptism of Jesus, His crucifixion, the coming of the Spirit, and the verbal acknowledgement of God. Now he brings us the testimony within – the very indwelling presence of the Spirit of God that every believer receives upon acceptance of Jesus as their Savior. The apostle Paul tells us, “but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:15-16 ESV). When brought before the Jewish council, Peter said, “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him” (Acts 5:30-32 ESV).

The Holy Spirit is living proof of Jesus’ messiahship. The very presence of the Spirit within the life of the believer should unequivocally convince us of any of His other claims. Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would come. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17 ESV). He had told them that the Holy Spirit would testify to them regarding Him. “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (John 15:26 ESV). And that’s exactly what the Spirit does. He bears witness, testifies and gives evidence of Christ’s life-changing, heart-transforming power in the life of the believer. “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT).

We have the very Spirit of God within us, empowering, equipping and testifying. His presence should make a profound difference in the way we live our lives. Paul explains it quite succinctly. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:22-24 ESV). As we see that fruit produced in our lives, we can know that Jesus’ death and resurrection are what made it possible. Had Jesus not died, rose again, and ascended back into heaven, the Holy Spirit would not have come. His presence here is proof that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, and that someday He is going to return to this earth to finish what He began. He will restore this world back to its original God-ordained glory. He will destroy sin and death once and for all. He will remove all pain, sorrow, tears, heartache and any other evidence of the fall – forever.

The evidence is overwhelming in favor of Jesus. He is the Son of God. He is the Savior of the world. He is the long-awaited Messiah whom the prophets of old had long-ago predicted. And over the last 2,000 plus years, His claims have been proven true by the miraculous spread of the Good News of Jesus Christ around the world. Millions have come to faith in Christ, of all walks of life and every conceivable people group. And the Kingdom continues to expand. The Holy Spirit is hard at work, guiding, motivating, sending, and equipping God’s people to do His Work. But at the end of the day it all boils down to a fairly simply formula: “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12 ESV).

God’s Testimony.

/ kdmiller55 / 1 Comment

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. – 1 John 5:11 ESV

1 John 5:6-12

Jesus is still on trial. Yes, He endured the trial before Pilate. He went through the mockery of a trial before the Jewish religious leadership and the high priest. He even had to submit to the inquiries of Herod, the puppet king of Jews, placed there by the Roman government. And after those trials were over, He was pronounced innocent and then sentenced to death. He died for claiming to be the Jewish Messiah. He was executed for claiming to be the Son of God and the Savior of the world. The plaque that was placed above His head on the cross declared His crime: King of the Jews. And He died.

But Jesus remains on trial today. There are millions upon millions who remain unconvinced and even unaware of His claim to be the Son of God and the Christ, the Messiah. There are those who have heard His claims and who even boast of believing in Him, but who reject His as having been divine or sinless. They simply view Him as having been a good man, a capable teacher, a moralist whose beliefs and actions are well worth emulating. But they reject any idea that suggests He was somehow God in human flesh. The same was true in John’s day. The local church to whom he wrote his letter had recently experienced a split, as a portion of their fellowship had departed over the issue of Jesus’ deity. They had refused to believe that Jesus was God in human flesh. They had rejected the idea that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. They had been teaching that sin was not a reality and, therefore, there was no need for a Savior from sin. In their self-righteousness, they believed they already had right relationships with God and were in no need of someone to die a sinless death in their place. But in rejecting Jesus, they were actually putting Him on trial again. Whether they know it or not, by their actions and beliefs, they are asking Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” (Luke 23:3 ESV). They are demanding, “If you are the Christ, tell us!” (Luke 22:67 ESV). “Are you the Son of God, then?” (Luke 22:70 ESV). The very same things Jesus had heard while standing before the religious council or the Jews. Some, like Herod, simply treat Jesus with contempt and scorn, mocking Him for claiming to be the Son of God.

But John would remind us that there is one witness whose testimony stands the test of time. There is one who unequivocally and unapologetically testifies to the veracity of Jesus’ role as the Son of God and the Savior of the world. John writes, “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son” (1 John 5:10 ESV). At Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan by John, God verbally confirmed the Sonship of Jesus. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17 ESV). On the mountain top, when Jesus had been transfigured before Peter, James and John, they heard God speak similar words. “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him” (Matthew 17:5 ESV). All throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, God had spoken of the coming of His Son as Savior. Isaiah wrote, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations” (Isaiah 42:1 ESV). God had told Abraham that all the nations of the world would be blessed through him – through his offspring. And Paul clarifies that, “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16 ESV). God had made it clear that Jesus would be His Son and that, as His Son, Jesus would bring hope and healing to a lost and dying world. Even Jesus, while visiting His hometown of Nazareth, stood in the synagogue and read the following words from the book of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come” (Luke 4:18-19 NLT). Then He simply stated, “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” (Luke 4:21 NLT). God testified. Jesus confirmed it. He was and is the Son of God. And “this is the testimony of God that he has born concerning his Son” (1 John 5:9 ESV). “That God gave us eternal life and this life is in His Son” (1 John 5:11 ESV). Case closed.

 

Spiritual Siblings.

/ kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God, and everyone who loves the father loves the child fathered by him. By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and obey his commandments. – 1 John 5:1-2 NET

1 John 5:1-7

John has made it painfully and perfectly clear that, as believers, we are to love one another. He brings it up again here in chapter five. But as we learned in 1 John 4:7-21, we don’t get to determine the definition or standard of that love. We are to love one another with a godly love – a love that cares deeply about our spiritual well-being. It is not that we are to ignore or overlook one another’s physical, financial, or emotional needs, but I love you the most when I desire for you God’s best. God sent His Son to die on the cross so that we might have new life, eternal life. He sacrificed His own Son so that we might be redeemed, not just get slightly improved. God’s love for us desired His best for us. And it always does.

So I am to love my spiritual siblings with that kind of love. Which means I am to care deeply about their spiritual well being. So I am no longer free to simply address surface issues and ignore the heart issues that lie hidden underneath. I am not free to watch my brothers and sisters wallow in spiritual mediocrity and complacency. As their brother in Christ, I have a God-given obligation to love them as I have been loved. And I should be willing to sacrifice everything to see that they grow in Christ-likeness, mature in their faith, and increase in their knowledge of God. Paul told the believers in Galatia: “Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives” (Galatians 4:19 NLT). He encouraged the believers in Ephesus, “speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” (Ephesians 4:15-16 NLT). As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to help one another grow. Christianity is not a solo-sport, it is a group effort. We are to grow together. The pastors and teachers are “to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church … until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13 NLT). The pastor’s job is to equip the people to do God’s work, which is to build up the church – the body of Christ. And we are not supposed to stop that work until we are all mature in the Lord and fully like Him. And as far as I can tell from Scripture, that will not take place until God calls us home or the Lord returns for His Church. So we have work to do. We have job security. Our task of loving one another will not end until we are all like Christ. And even then, our love will not cease. But rather than being geared toward mutual transformation, it will become much more focused on mutual adoration – love for one another and for God. Paul tells us, “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT). Love is eternal, because God is eternal. God is love.

On this earth, our love for one another is put to the test because sin can make each of us unlovely and unlovable. But we are to love as we have been loved by God. Our goal is not reciprocal love, where we demand something in return. It is to be selfless and sacrificial, desiring God’s best for the other person. My love for my brothers and sisters in Christ is to be based on God’s love for them, His desire for them. I should want for them what He would want for them. God’s will is their holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:3). That should be my will for them as well. John tells us the proof of our love for God is that we keep His commandments. And Jesus said that the two greatest commandments were to love God and others as ourselves. And John says, “his commandments do not weigh us down” (1 John 5:3 NET). We don’t find them burdensome or hard to bear. In fact, we should enjoy loving one another, because we see fruit, we witness spiritual transformation, we watch as God transforms those we love into the likeness of His Son. We love one another most when we desire for one another God’s BEST.

Can I Get A Witness?

/ kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. – 1 John 5:7-8 ESV

1 John 5:6-12

Jesus is the Son of God. That has been John’s assertion throughout his letter. He was countering the claims of those who had left the congregation there in Ephesus. Those people had cast doubt on the validity of Jesus’ incarnation and divinity. They had denied that He was the Christ, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world. But John would have nothing to do with their false assertions. Over and over again, he wrote that Jesus was the Son of God. He even asked the somewhat rhetorical question, “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5 ESV). Then John backed up this bold statement with facts. He provided “witnesses” to the reality of Jesus’ deity and humanity. “And the Spirit is the one who testifies because the Spirit is the truth” (1 John 5:6 ESV). Eight different times, John uses words that have to do with testifying and testimony. He uses the Greek words, martyreō and martyria. The first one is a verb and means, “to be a witness, to bear witness, i.e. to affirm that one has seen or heard.” The second one is a noun and refers to the testimony itself. John wanted his readers to know that the claims of Jesus had been backed up by expert testimony and it was not the testimony of men. First of all, the Spirit testified. But John added that the water and the blood were expert witnesses as well. “For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree” (1 John 5:7 ESV). The very fact that the Spirit of God indwells the people of God is proof that Jesus was who He claimed to be. He had promised the when He left, He would send the Holy Spirit. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever; even the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-17 ESV). “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:38-39 ESV). John made it clear that the Spirit’s presence in the life of the believer was proof that Jesus had come as the Son of God, died a substitutionary death on behalf of sinners, and rose again. His resurrection and ascension set the stage for the Spirit’s coming. “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us his Spirit” (1 John 4:13 ESV).
But what about the water and the blood? What is John referring to with these two seemingly obscure words? It seems that there were some in the early church who believed that Jesus, the man, was the literal Son of God. They taught that when Jesus was born, he was born as a man. But at His baptism in the wilderness by John, the Spirit of the Christ came on Him. He was still just a man, but had the anointing of God on His life. They further taught that when Jesus hung on the cross, the Spirit of the Christ left Him. So when Jesus died, He did so only as a man and not as the Son of God. John rejected this teaching – vehemently and decisively. In fact, he used the occasions of Jesus baptism and death as witnesses for the deity of Christ. “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:16-17 ESV). Jesus did not become God’s Son at that point. He had been His Son from before the foundation of the world. But it was at His baptism that God used the beginning of His earthly ministry to confirm His deity and role as the long-awaited Christ. It is interesting to note that Jesus did not NEED the baptism of repentance, because He was sinless. But He was identifying Himself with sinful man. Just as Jesus did not DESERVE to die on a Roman cross, because He was sinless and without guilt. He was identifying Himself with the sins of mankind, and He “bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24 ESV). Jesus began His ministry at the Jordan and completed it on the cross when He claimed, “It is finished!” (John 19:30 ESV). The shedding of His blood culminated and completed His mission. His death was the crowning glory of His saving work for mankind. When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, it is a remembrance or commemoration of His broken body and shed blood. At the exact moment Jesus died on the cross, we are told, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split” (Matthew 27:51 ESV). There were other supernatural events that accompanied His death. But the tearing of the curtain that acted as a barrier into the Holy of Holies of the Temple was a stark visual illustration that Jesus’ death had made access to God available to all. But John would have us remember, that it is belief in Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior of the world that makes access into God’s presence possible. “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12 ESV). God has done something remarkable and great. He has provided salvation for sinful man through His sinless Son. And the Spirit, the water, and the blood testify to the reality of that incredible truth.