Month: March 2015

New Birth = New Life.

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Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. – I John  5:1 ESV

1 John 5:1-5

His status as a child of God was extremely important to John, and he wanted his readers to understand and appreciate just how significant their position as God’s children was as well. He did not want them to take it for granted. He also did not want them to assume that this was a condition for which they were responsible. Their spiritual rebirth, like his, was a work of God – from start to finish. They had been “born of God.” The Greek word John used is gennaō and it can mean “to be born or begotten,” but it can also be used in a metaphorical sense, “in a Jewish sense, of one who brings others over to his way of life, to convert someone.” Of course, Jesus most certainly had the first meaning in mind when He used the very same word in His conversation with the Pharisee, Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 ESV). But Jesus also made it clear to Nicodemus that this new birth was a spiritual, not a human event. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5-6 ESV). All men and women experience a natural birth. They are born of water. They are born of the flesh. But Jesus said that unless you are born of water AND the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. There is a second birth required and that birth is spiritual in nature and completely the work of God.

But it is interesting to think about that second definition for the word, gennaō. It refers to one who brings others over to his way of life, converting and changing them. With the new birth, we become children of God. We are given new natures and a new way of living. No longer simply flesh-based, we are spiritual creatures with the very Spirit of God living within us. Paul puts it this way: “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). In his letter to the believers in Rome, Paul puts it even more bluntly. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29 ESV). To the believers in Ephesus he wrote, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:4-6 ESV). God has chosen us. He has, through the death of His own Son, provided a means by which we could be brought over to His way of life, converting and changing us. It is NOT our faith that changes us. It is Jesus. He is the one who has provided us with new life. Paul put it so well when he wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 ESV). It is our faith IN Jesus that provides us with new life. Paul describes how that happened. “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4 ESV). He goes on to say, “we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:6 ESV). “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV).

Those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ have been been born of God. But even that capacity to believe has been given to us by God. In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul wrote, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been save” (Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV). God made us alive (syzōopoieō) together with Christ. We were dead in our sins, incapable of doing anything good or right, but God “quickened” us, putting the capacity within us to open our spiritually blinded eyes and see the truth of His gracious gift of new life in Christ. God regenerated us. Yes, we chose Christ. We placed our faith in Him. But even that choice had to be made possible by the grace and mercy of God. We who are children of God have truly been born of God. He chose to adopt us, not the other way around. He has made us His sons and daughters. And as a result of that new birth, we have been given new life. And the life we now live in the flesh, we live by faith in the Son of God. Same old bodies. Same old world. But new life, new nature, new power, new hope, new relationship with God, new future.

Faith.

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Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. – 1 John 5:1 ESV

1 John 5:1-5

Faith is an interesting subject. For many of us it is an all-too-familiar word that has lost much of its meaning. We use it easily in conversation, but would be hard-pressed to explain exactly what it is, if asked. We tend to use the word, faith, interchangeably with the words, belief and trust. We see faith referred to throughout the Scriptures. Paul writes, “The righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17 ESV). The disciples asked of Jesus, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5 ESV). Paul told the Corinthian believers, “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7 ESV). Jesus told us to “have faith in God” (Mark 11:22 ESV). And John has told us that faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4). As followers of Christ, we are sometimes referred to as people of faith. But there are people of other faiths. Faith is not exclusive or unique to Christianity. People live by faith each and every day. Some put their faith in the political process. The majority of us place faith in the banking system to keep our money secure. The Greek word for faith most often used in the New Testament is pistis, and it means, “conviction of the truth of anything, belief.” It refers to belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence). There are those who place their confidence or trust in themselves. Others are convicted that their particular concept of the truth is the right one, whether they believe in many gods or no god at all. Even atheists have faith that God does not exist. Faith is not what sets us apart as Christians. It is the object of our faith. Our faith is in Christ. Our belief, our conviction of the truth is solely based on Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. That is what sets us apart. Paul wrote, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:8-9 ESV). It was the same message Paul and Silas had given the Philippian jailer. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31 ESV). Standing before the Jewish high priest and religious leaders, Peter declared, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12 ESV). Jesus is the object of our faith. Jesus is the source of our salvation. It is in Him we place our trust, hope, belief, and confidence. And when we do, we are born of God. We experience a spiritual transformation that is the work of God. Our faith does not change us, God does. It is not the depth or quality of our faith that brings about our spiritual rebirth. It is the object of our faith.

A big factor when it comes to placing our faith in Christ is that it requires that we turn from trusting in something else. When Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 ESV), He was declaring that there was no other way by which men could be made right with God. No other religious system, belief, claim, or teaching was going to work. No matter how much faith you placed in it or how hard you believed about it. Part of what it means to repent is to “to change one’s mind for better.” It is not just to turn away from your sins, but it is to change your thinking about everything you have known to be true. It is to have a change of mind regarding your own righteousness. It is to turn from whatever it is you have been trusting in and placing your confidence, hope and belief in Jesus Christ alone. When we place our trust in Christ, we are changed. God accepts us as His own and gives us a new nature. He places His Spirit within us. And He loves us as His own children. But our faith is not to stop there. Our belief and trust in Jesus is to last a lifetime, better yet, an eternity. It is our ongoing faith in Jesus that overcomes the world. We will constantly be tempted to place our trust in other things. Circumstances will compel us to turn away from Jesus and start placing our faith in something or someone else. But the Christian life is to be lived by faith in Christ alone. Paul warned the Galatian believers, “How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?” (Galatians 3:3 NLT). We are saved by faith. We are sanctified by faith. It is a spiritual endeavor, accomplished by the power of God. I must constantly remind myself that my faith must remain focused on Jesus as the Son of God and my source of salvation. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. But only if that faith is place in Jesus Christ. Any other faith in any other thing will prove disappointing in the end.

Nike.

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Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? – 1 John 5:5 ESV

When John speaks of overcoming the world, he uses the Greek word, nikaō, which means {to carry off the victory or to come off victorious.’ It comes from the root word, nikē, which simply means “victory.” Of course, we know it as the name of a certain sporting goods manufacturer. John had a certain affinity for the word, using it five different times in his letter and 17 times in the Book of the Revelation. While exiled on the island of Patmos, John received a vision from Jesus Christ Himself, providing him with divine insight into the end times. John was instructed to write about what he heard and saw. Near the end of his book, he recorded these words from Jesus, “‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ And he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.  The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son’” (Revelation 21:5-7 ESV). Jesus used the same Greek word to refer to those who will come off victorious in the end. But the victory will not be due to anyone’s efforts other than those of Jesus. He is the one who will declare, “It is done!” On the cross, He cried out, ”It is finished!” He work of sacrifice was completed. He had done what His Father had set out for Him to do. He had given His life as a payment for the sins of mankind. But He rose again, because there was still more for Him to do. At this very moment He sits at the right hand of the Father, mediating on our behalf. He is our personal representative before God the Father. It is His very resurrected life that allows us to come into the Father’s presence and enjoy intimate communion with Him. We enjoy the love of the Father because of the love of the Son. In fact, Jesus loves us so much, that He is actively involved in the everyday affairs of our lives. He didn’t just save us, He is out to transform us into His likeness. His goal for us is our ever-increasing holiness. In the Book of the Revelation, John recorded these words of Jesus to the church at Laodicea: “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:19-22 ESV). This was a church that Jesus described as “lukewarm.” They were neither hot or cold in their love for Him. They were contentedly complacent. In fact, Jesus went on to describe their attitude in less-than-flattering terms, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17 ESV). They were blind to their own spiritual reality. Rather than see their need, they mistakenly assumed they were spiritually healthy and whole. But Jesus begged them to zealously repent. He described Himself as standing at the door of their fellowship, knocking and pleading to allow Him into their midst. He was offering to have fellowship with them.

It would seem that the key to our victory, our nikē, is an ongoing, uninterrupted fellowship with Jesus. Our relationship with Him did not end at the cross. He is not only our Savior, He is our Lord and King. He is our brother. He is our mediator and intercessor. It is He, along with the indwelling Holy Spirit, who makes it possible for us to live victorious. We can overcome the world, from its daily temptations to give in to “the desires of the flesh, and the desires of the eyes and pride of life” (1 John 2:16 ESV) to its ongoing hatred for us (1 John 3:13). It is our faith in Jesus as Savior and our soon-and-coming King that gives us the victory we seek. It is our faith in Jesus as the Christ and the Son of God. There is no other means by which we can be saved and there is no other way we can experience victory over this world. Human effort will fail. While Nike’s slogan, Just Do It, may sound reasonable and motivational, it will not work in the spiritual arena. Our faith must not be in ourselves and our own ability to pull off some degree of spiritual stamina. Our faith must reside in and remain in Jesus Christ. It is NOT our faith that makes the difference, but the object on which our faith rests: Jesus. We read these encouraging words from Jesus, spoken to the church at Laodicea. “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see” (Revelation 3:18 ESV). He was speaking to believers. He was inviting them to come to Him for all that they needed. He was offering Himself as the source for all their spiritual deficiencies. Jesus stands ready to help us. He wants to make us victorious. But we keep our faith solidly placed on Him and nothing and no one else.

Unfinished Business.

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For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. – 1 John 5:3 ESV

1 John 5:1-5

When John wrote this passage, he more than likely had the words of Jesus Himself ringing in his ears. He had heard Jesus make similar statements on numerous occasions. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15 ESV). “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me” (John 14:21 ESV). “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23 ESV). And when John added the line, “and his commandments are not burdensome,” he was probably thinking of Jesus’ promise, “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30 ESV). But he was likely speaking from experience as well. He had lived a long life and had probably spent more than five decades as a faithful follower of Jesus. He had watched the beginning of the church in those early days in Jerusalem. He had ministered as one of the apostles, spreading the good news of Jesus Christ and helping spread the message of salvation through Jesus alone throughout the known world. He had been exiled to Patmos and was now well up in years, still fulfilling his pastoral duties to the faithful in Ephesus. He had been through a lot over the years, but knew that the commandments of God were not burdensome or too heavy to bear. Living in obedience to God was not overwhelming or impossible to pull off. For the one who believes in Jesus Christ, obedience comes supernaturally. It is made possible by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had told John and the other disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 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 14:15-17 ESV). The Holy Spirit is made available to all who place their faith in Jesus as their sin substitute and Savior. He is, as Paul so aptly put it, the “down payment” or guarantee that we are in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:22). He gives us the strength we need to obey willingly. But as John has stressed repeatedly throughout his letter, the key is that we abide. We must remain dependent upon God and fully aware of our daily need for Christ’s ongoing redemptive work in our lives. His work, while fully sufficient for our salvation, is ongoing and unfinished when it comes to our sanctification. God is still in the process of transforming His children into the likeness of His Son. Paul wrote, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6 ESV). Paul went on to tell the Philippian believers, “Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:12-13 NLT).

Our love for God shows up through our obedience to Him. And the amazing thing is that He has provided us with the desire and the power to do so. Obedience to Him not only reveals our love for Him, but it plays a part in His ongoing transformation of us. It also produces joy in us. Jesus said, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:10-12 ESV). The love of God goes full circle. He has loved us by sending His Son. His Son has loved us by giving His life. We love God by obeying His commands, and one of those commands is that we love one another. As we love one another, we are effectively expressing our love back to God. The world would have us live selfishly, with the focus on our own wills. The world would have us love, but only if we receive love in return. The world would encourage us to live myopic, me-centered lives where the goal is our own self-satisfaction. But John says, “everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world” (1 John 5:4 ESV). As we live in faith, trusting in Jesus for our salvation as well as our sanctification, relying on the Holy Spirit for the desire and the power to do what pleases God, we overcome the world. We live in victory right here, right now. No, not perfectly or completely. For God is not done yet. We will fail and we fall. We will give in to temptations. We will occasionally turn the spotlight back on ourselves. We will even disobey and distrust God. But He is still at work. The words of Paul provide us with comfort and encouragement. “I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation — the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ — for this will bring much glory and praise to God” ( Philippians 1:9-11 NLT). God has unfinished business. But “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.”

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Born From Above.

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For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this its the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. – 1 John 5: 4 ESV

1 John 5:1-5

As he has done so many times before in his letter, John uses a comparison or contrast to make a point. He has used light and darkness, truth and falsehood, sin and righteousness, as well as love and hate. Now he brings up a slightly more subtle comparison. And yet, it is the key to understanding who we are, what it is we are up against, and how we are to come out victorious in the end. It is not exactly a new topic, because he covered it before. But this time he ties it to something highly significant: our victory. On one side of the comparison or contrast is John’s term: “born of God.” This term is a differentiator for John. He is not referring to creation. All men and all things were made by God. But not all are “born of God.” That distinction is made possible only by belief in Jesus as the Christ. So for John, all mankind falls into one of two categories. They are either born of God or of this world. Or as he put it in even starker terms earlier in his letter: “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil” ( 1 John 3:10 ESV). There is a clear line of demarcation that separates one group from the other. It is the new birth. We often refer to it as being “born again.” It is interesting to note that when Jesus was secretly pursued by Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council, that Jesus said to him, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above,  he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 NET). The Greek word Jesus used was anōthen and it has a double meaning. The one we traditionally see rendered in this verse is “anew or again.” But the other meaning is “from above, from a higher place; of things which come from heaven or God.” It seems likely the Jesus was referring to being born of God or from above, and that Nicodemus, based on his response, heard Jesus to say he had to be born again. It would seems that Jesus is teaching us that our new birth is a work of heaven. It is not of this world. It is a supernatural, divine undertaking that is based solely on faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

Belief in Jesus as Savior and as the only means by which men can be made right with God results in a divine act of procreation. When one places his faith in Jesus, he is born from above. This is an incredible transaction that takes place at the very throne of God in heaven. Which is why Jesus said to a very confused Nicodemus, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12 ESV). Jesus had tried to explain to Nicodemus what this heavenly birth meant. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6 ESV). Faith in Jesus as our sin substitute and Savior results in a new birth and a new identity. We become children of God who have been born from above by God. And then John gives us the encouraging news, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world” (1 John 5:4 ESV). But what does that mean? We have been born from above, but we have been left below. We remain in this world, suffering with the same temptations, the same results of the fall, including sickness, disease and eventually death. So how have we overcome? What has our faith in Jesus given us victory over? The apostle Paul gives us the answer in words that are far to eloquent to attempt to paraphrase them.

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?  Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?  Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:31-39 NLT

Our faith in Jesus results in our new birth. Our new birth makes us children of God. Our new status as His children makes us victorious. We win in the end. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Our own sins can’t condemn us or remove us from our rightful place as His sons and daughters, because Christ has paid for our sins once and for all time. We are overcomers. We are victors. We are more than conquerors. We have been born from above.

Do We Really Love?

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By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. –1 John 5:2 ESV

1 John 5:1-5

Repeatedly throughout his letter, John has strongly encouraged us to love one another. But he has only given us one example of a practical application of this command. We find it in verse 17 pf chapter 3. “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” Then John clarifies his question with a statement. “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18 ESV). Seems pretty clear, doesn’t it. Our love is to show up in legitimate action. But no where else in this letter does John give us a list of acceptable actions that would prove we are loving correctly – as Jesus has loved us. He doesn’t provide us with five steps to follow or ten iron-clad examples of godly love. Because if he had, we would turn those things into measuring rods of righteousness. Take John’s example from chapter three. We might see a brother in need and write a check to help him get back on his feet. Or we might give him a handout of cash to help him bide his time. And in doing so, we might feel as if we had loved him. But notice that John says the problem to begin with is that the brother with the worldly goods “closes his heart” against the one in need. He sees the problem but doesn’t allow his heart to engage. Writing a check can be a heartless activity. Giving someone cash can be as well. The King James Version paints a much more vivid picture of what is going on in this illustration. It reads, “and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him.” The Greek word John uses means “to shut up compassion so that it is like a thing inaccessible to one, to be devoid of pity towards one.” The word translated “heart” in the ESV is translated “bowels” in the KJV. It is the Greek word, splagchnon. Check out what Strong’s Concordance has to say about it:  “the bowels were regarded as the seat of the more violent passions, such as anger and love; but by the Hebrews as the seat of the tenderer affections, esp. kindness, benevolence, compassion; hence our heart (tender mercies, affections, etc.).” This all ties back into Paul’s great love chapter in 1 Corinthians. We can do a lot of great things, but if they are done without godly love, without mercy, compassion, kindness and a legitimate love for the one being helped, they are all worthless in the end.

John says we must not love in word and talk, but in deed and in truth. The word, talk, can also be translated, “tongue.” It is as if John is saying, “don’t just act like you love someone by speaking words that come from nowhere other than your tongue.” Instead, we are to love in deed, in actions, but backed up by truth. Truth refers to “what is true in things appertaining to God and the duties of man, moral and religious truth.” It is to love as God has commanded us to love. Which brings us back to our passage for today. John tells us, “By this we know that we love the children of God” (1 John 5:2 ESV). Again, it’s significant that John does not supply us with a list of acceptable deeds or actions to follow. But what he does give us is a way of knowing that we are truly loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is when we love God and keep His commandments. Then he qualifies it further by saying that to love God is to keep His commandments. I think this helps us understand what John meant earlier by deeds done in truth. It is doing what God would have us do, as made known to us in His Word. We show our love for God when we live our lives in obedience to His Word. And John lets us know that when we do, we will find God’s commandments not burdensome. They won’t feel heavy and oppressive to us. In fact, they will be a joy to obey because of the benefits and blessings they bring to us and to others through us.

When we remove the truth, God’s Word, from the equation, we will tend to love one another according to the world’s standards. We may end up showing compassion or mercy to a brother or sister in need, but to love them in truth is to love them as we have been loved by God. It is to care about them as children of God. It is to care as much for their spiritual well-being as we care about their physical needs. Worldly love tends to focus on the externals. But godly love focuses on the heart. So many of the issues we end up dealing with in our attempt to “love one another” are symptoms. And it isn’t that we should ignore the symptoms, but we must look to the root cause of the problem. We must learn to look at the heart. This is where it can get messy. When we begin to learn to look past the surface issues and into the heart, we will find we are loving as God has commanded us to love. Paul writes, “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important” (Galatians 6:1-2 NLT). Godly love is costly love. It requires sacrifice. It involves the heart. It is obsessed with the spiritual health of the other. It meets needs, but never on just a surface level. It digs deep. It obeys well.

Proof Positive.

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Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. – 1 John 5:1 ESV

1 John 5:1-5

How does one really know they have a right relationship with God? Or to put it another way, how do you know that you’re really saved? For John, there was only one answer to both questions: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. It is our faith in the message that Jesus is the Christ that determines our right relationship with God. To believe that Jesus us the Christ is accept His claim to be the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, sent by God as a substitute sacrifice for the sins of the world. John does not say that we have to fully understand every aspect of how God did what He did. We do not have to fully comprehend how Jesus was fully God and fully man. But we have to believe that Jesus was who He claimed to be, who the apostles taught Him to be, and who the Holy Spirit confirms Him to be. That word “believe” means “to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in.” When one places his or her confidence in Jesus as their Savior, they become a child of God. It is their belief in Jesus as the Christ that determines their right standing with God, not their obedience, social status, or right moral behavior.

John brings this matter up because there had been those who had left the local fellowship in Ephesus who did not believe that Jesus was the Christ. They refused to accept the divinity of Jesus. They believed in Jesus, as a man, but could not be persuaded that He was the Son of God, the Savior of the world. So John was making it perfectly clear for those who remained behind how to know who was truly born of God. For John, it all boiled down to a right relationship with God. And as far as he was concerned, there was only one way for anyone to be made right with God. It was through belief in the one whom God had sent to pay for the sins of the world: His Son Jesus Christ.

But John gives yet another way of knowing that one is saved – when we love God and other believers in Christ. Our love for one another is an additional proof of our right standing with God. Our ability to love them comes from God because love is of God. Our capacity to keep God’s commandment to love one another is provided for us from God. Without Him, it would be impossible. The very fact that we love one another is evidence of God’s work in us. No, we do not do it perfectly or constantly, but that we do it at all is proof of our relationship with Him. John goes on to tell us that loving God and keeping His commandments is “not burdensome” to us. I am reminded of the words of Jesus. “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light” (Matthew 11:28-30 NLT). Following Jesus is not easy, but He promises that walking alongside Him will be restful and not wearisome. Our life with Him will be bearable and even enjoyable. We will still have to walk through this life, dealing with pain and sorrow, temptations and trials, but we will have a power source available to us that will allow us to “overcome the world.” And it is all based on our faith or belief in Jesus Christ. “And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith” (1 John 5:4 ESV). Our faith in Christ. Our belief in Him as our Savior. You see, our faith must have an object. It must have a source. John sums it all up with these words: “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 4:5 ESV). The key to our overcoming, to being victorious, is our continued faith in Christ, which takes us back to John’s admonition to abide in Him. What makes our burden light and the yoke easy to bear is that we remain side-by-side in the yoke with Christ. We maintain our faith and belief in Him. As soon as we place our faith in us or in someone or something else, we find ourselves overwhelmed instead of living as overcomers. Belief in Jesus Christ is the proof of our salvation, but also the power behind our victory over the trials and troubles of this life. As the chorus of an old hymn so aptly puts it:

Faith is the victory!
Faith is the victory!
Oh, glorious victory,
That overcomes the world.

Love Like God Loves.

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Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. – 1 John 4:7 ESV

1 John 4:7-21

Throughout these 15 verses, John repeatedly reminds us to love one another. But he has not left it up to us to define what that love should look like. He has gone out of his way to make sure we know that the standard for the kind of love we are to show one another is a high one. It is the love of God. And that love was not simply an emotion or a response to something lovable in us. It was the outflow of His very nature, and an expression of His character. As John says, God didn’t love us because we loved Him first. It was the other way around. He loved us when we were at our worst. He loved us when we were in rebellion against Him, existing as His enemies, and stubbornly content with our lot in life. Paul puts it this way: “you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions” (Colossians 1:21 NLT). Yet, in spite of our unlovely condition, God loved us. “Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault” (Colossians 1:22 NLT). God loved the unlovely and unlovable. And that love was costly. It required the death of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. But that priceless payment was necessary in order that we might be restored to a right relationship with God. He paid the price we could not afford to settle a debt we owed. Now that’s love. And it is that kind of love John has in mind when he says, “Love one another.” It was the kind of love Jesus had in mind when He told His disciples, “just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” ( John 13:34 ESV).

God loved us in order to restore us. Jesus loved us enough to die for us, so that we might live as sons and daughters of God. Their love was focused on our holiness, not our happiness. Their love was focused on our eternal well-being, not our temporary satisfaction. Jesus died to deliver us from this world of sin and death. His prayer in the garden on the night of His betrayal says it all. “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:14-17 ESV). His love was focused on our sanctification, our ongoing transformation in His own likeness. Ultimately, God’s love and that of His Son is all about our future glorification. And our love for one another should have that same focus. Do I love my brother or sister in Christ enough to speak truth into their life? Do I love them enough to give up my own rights in order to see that they grow in Christ-likeness? Do I love them enough to want God’s best for them? Do I love them enough to sacrifice my time, my resources, my comfort and my self-centered conveniences in order to see that they live lives that are pleasing to God?

The reason Jesus said the world would know we were His disciples because of our love for one another was due to the nature of that love. It would not be the kind of love with which the world was familiar. And let’s face it, the world does love. Those who live in this world without Christ love their kids, express love towards one another, give their money to worthy causes, feed the hungry, help the needy, do service projects, sacrifice their time, and show love in a thousand different ways. But the love we are commanded to show is different. It is what sets us apart. It is what gives proof that we are His disciples. When John says, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11 ESV). In the same way. With the same focus. The reason we love is so that those we love might be restored to God. Any temporal aspect of our love should have an eternal focus. Meeting physical needs should always have a spiritual focus. Feeding the hungry, while failing to give them the bread of life, will provide temporary relief, but leave them with a much more serious problem. That’s why Paul wrote, “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3 ESV). The greatest love we have to give away is the love we have received. A love that was focused on our greatest need. The love of this world is temporal in nature. It seeks to solve immediate needs with temporary fixes. We attempt to fix broken relationships with flowers. We try to remedy sadness with some form of temporary gladness. We give the hungry a meal or a job. We give the poor a handout. But the kind of love the world needs is far more lasting and long-term in nature. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35 NLT). He said this in response to those who had demanded, “give us that bread every day” (John 6:34 NLT). They had been part of the crowd that He had fed the day before. They wanted more bread. They wanted their physical needs met. But Jesus was offering them more. His love was focused on something far greater. Their salvation from sin. Their restoration to a right relationship with God. And that should be the focus of our love. I love others most when I desire for them God’s best.

Love Is Of God.

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So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. – 1 John 4:16 ESV

1 John 4:7-21

Love is a feeling. Love makes the world go round. All you need is love. Love is a many splendid thing. There are as many sayings about love as there are definitions as to what it is. But John wants us to understand that love is of God. In fact, God is love. Everything about love emanates from God. And because man was made in the image of God, all men have the capacity to love. It is a part of God’s common grace bestowed upon all mankind. But only those who truly understand the love of God as expressed in the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, can even begin to grasp the true nature of what love really is. Left to our own devices, we will tend to redefine love in our own terms, focusing on ourselves and seeing love as something designed to fulfill us or bring us satisfaction. Which is why we tend to fall in and out of love. We have turned loved into little more than a feeling that can come and go based on whether we have the motivation to love the other person or the persuasion that they are loving us in the way we demand. Like everything else God has so graciously given us, we can somehow find a way to make it all about us. But true love is about God. Yes, God so loved the world that He gave His Son. Yes, God loved us while we were yet sinners. But what we have to remember is that God’s love had nothing to do with our loveliness or lovableness. We did not deserve His love. We had not earned His love. Yes, we were the recipients of His love, but for no reason whatsoever on our part. And until we understand the significance of that reality, we will never understand the love of God.

John ties loving others and knowing God together. He writes, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7 ESV). Our capacity to love others the way God commands is directly tied to our knowledge of God. And what is it we are to know about God? His love. As believers in Jesus Christ, we have a unique perspective on the love of God because we have experienced it firsthand. At one point in our lives we were told about the love of God manifested or shown through the arrival of His Son here on this earth. Jesus was God in human flesh, sent by His Father to bring salvation to man by His death on the cross. “God sent his only Son into the world” (1 John 4:9 ESV), “to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10 ESV), and “to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14 ESV). And John sums it all up with the words, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us” (1 John 4:16 ESV). We have come to know and believe in Jesus. It is through our acceptance of God’s love as expressed through Jesus that we truly come to know who God is and what love is. Even as an old man, John was blown away by this kind of love. “What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are.” (1 John 3:1 MSG).

I love how the apostle Paul puts difficult concepts into language most of us can understand. Speaking of God’s amazing love, he writes, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation” (Romans 5:6-9 NLT). You and I might be willing to sacrifice our lives for someone especially good. We might take a bullet for our spouse or one of our children, but we’d probably have to think long and hard about anyone else. Yet God loved us enough when we were at our worst to send His own Son to die in our place. Jesus took the bullet for us. D. A. Carson has this to say about the love of God: “Do you wish to see God’s love? Look at the cross. Do you wish to see God’s wrath? Look at the cross.” The love of God shines brightest when seen against the dark backdrop of the cross. The cross was and is a symbol of man’s sin, guilt and just condemnation. It represents what we so justly deserved as usurpers of God’s authority and rebels against His will. And yet, it is at the cross that we truly come to know God. We see His justice, wrath, righteousness, patience, mercy, grace, and love on display through the life of His Son. Because of His love, we are His children. Because of His love, we are forgiven. Because of His love, we abide in Him and in His love – constantly. Because of His love, we have His Spirit within us. Because of His love, we have our future determined for us. Because of His love, we can love others. But only as long as we remember how He has loved us. If we don’t love, we don’t know Him. That doesn’t necessarily mean we aren’t saved. It can simply mean we don’t recognize and appreciate the unbelievable nature of the love with which He has loved us. To know God is to know God’s love for us. Whenever we forget, all we need to do is look at the cross.

God Loved.

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Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. – 1 John 4:11 ESV

1 John 4:7-21

How did God love us? John makes three very clear statements in answer to that question. The first is in verse 9: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” God’s love of us was made known through His sending His only Son into the world. And John has already made it quite clear earlier in his letter that Jesus becoming human (incarnation) is a non-negotiable aspect of the gospel. In the very next verse, John gives us the reason “we might live through him.” “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Jesus was sent by God to be means for satisfying His own just and righteous judgment against sin. Jesus alone, as God in human flesh, could satisfy (propitiate) the Father’s wrath against sin. This is the part that so many get uncomfortable with the biblical view of God. They can’t accept that God can be loving and wrathful at the same time. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan Friar, seems to speak on behalf of those who refuse to accept a God who is loving and yet required to punish sin because of His holiness. “Most people I know would never torture another human being under any conditions. Yet people believe in a god who not only tortures, but tortures for all eternity. That is bitter vengeance by anyone’s definition. Why would anyone want to be alone with such a testy and temperamental god? Why would anyone go on the great mystical journey into divine intimacy with such an unsafe lover? Why would anyone trust such a god to know how to love those who really need it? I personally know many people who are much more generous and imaginative than this god is. We have ended up being ourselves more loving, or at least trying to be, than the god we profess to believe! Such a religion is in deep trouble—at its core (Richard Rohr, My Problem With Religion, http://www.tikkun.org).” It seems to me that Richard Rohr is attempting to judge God based on human terms. He wants to establish the definition of love and, based on that definition, hold God to his standard. For Richard and others like him, love is the absence of wrath or judgment. But it is interesting that John gives us a different definition of love. In his third statement regarding the love of God, he says: “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14 ESV). Out of love, God sent His own Son to give us life, to be the propitiation for our sins, and to be the Savior of the world. As John wrote in his gospel, “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).

And what is fascinating is that God’s love required His own Son to die. In order for Jesus to give us life, satisfy His Father’s judgment against sin, and fulfill His role as the Savior of the world, He had to die. He had to bear the sins of man and the judgment of God – in our place. Peter writes, “He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed” (1 Peter 2:24 NLT). Paul tells us the same thing: “Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said” (1 Corinthians 15:3 NLT). Paul had in mind the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah. “But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed” (Isaiah 53:5 NLT). And all of this was done out of love. “He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God” (Romans 4:25 NLT). God sent His Son to die so that we might be made right with Him. It was the only way. You see, God is love, but God is also holy. His love does not and cannot trump His holiness. His love is a holy love. His judgment as a holy God required that the penalty for man’s rebellion against Him be paid for. His love provided His own Son as the solution. Our problem is that we only want a god who loves. But that would not be the God of the Bible. God did not love man the way that man desired. Even when Jesus came, His entire life’s mission was focused on His coming death. That was why He came. And yet, everyone around Him wanted to Him to do more miracles, heal more people, provide them with more bread, turn water into wine, overturn the Roman government, make their lives better and easier. But Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45 NLT). This famous statement of Jesus came right after James and John had asked Jesus, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left” (Mark 10:37 NLT). They wanted Jesus to show His love for them by making them powerful and prominent. They wanted Jesus to “bless” them on their terms. But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?” (Mark 10:38 NLT). Jesus was going to show His love for them by dying for them. He had come to fulfill His Father’s desires, not theirs. But in doing the will of His Father, Jesus was loving them in ways they could never have imagined. He was going to do for them far greater things than they could have ever have desired. He was going to love them to death – His own.