1John 5:4 - The Visible Superiority of Baby Sheep?

”...because everyone having been begotten out of God is conquering the world.  And this is the conquest which conquers the world, our faith.”

-Nike.  It means victory.  Absolute conquest.  It is the victory which utterly vanquishes the world.  It presupposes achievement in physical or spiritual combat.  We’re talking about visible superiority.  Ironic, because in this instance that which gains us this visible superiority is actually unseen, and in fact it is surrender.  Total victory is found in total surrender.  Which is strangely appropriate for those who are sent out into the world by the Lord as sheep among wolves (Matthew 10.16).  Think about that.  Sheep are defenseless.  Utterly defenseless.  They don’t have the means to even defend themselves, much less launch any kind of assault on any would-be predator.  There is no “victory” for sheep.  The best sheep can normally hope for is survival, and hopefully green pastures and still waters.  Jesus even called the ones He sends out, “lambs” (Luke 10.3).  Baby sheep.  They (we) don’t stand a chance - on our own.  Not a mascot you want for your team.  The probability of defeat is at least 99.9%.  Yep, wolves win pretty much every time.  Unless...there is a Good Shepherd.  And so we ARE talking about victory, which means we must consider this One Who IS the Good Shepherd, the (would-be) Shepherd of our souls..  Victory over the world is found in surrender to the God Who made it.

-But you gotta be remade by the Maker.  Reborn.  Born again - that’s what Jesus talked about.  Begotten not by your earthly mom and dad but by your heavenly Father.  Faith, or trust - believing in Jesus - is what spawns this rebirth.  And it is a surrender - the surrender of the will.  The ultimate trust-fall.

-And how does being born of God help one conquer the world?  How in the world does that turn a lamb into a world conqueror?  In this world, Jesus said, we will have tribulation.  Brokenness is guaranteed, the common lot of man.  Death, disease, depravity, temptation, loss - these are attendant trials on the turbulent seas of life.  But there is also the age-old struggle for universal supremacy which, while it is truly no contest, continues to be desperately waged by "the world", by those who would oppose God (and thus also oppose any who would choose His side in the battle).  Opposition is guaranteed to those who thus align themselves with the Lord (John 16.33).  Yet so is victory.  Coming to Christ does indeed raise the level of tribulation in a person’s life (or should), but it also puts you on the winning side.  When we surrender and place our faith/trust in Jesus, when we put our life in His (nail-scarred) hands, God puts us in Him.  We are reborn - His life becomes our life.  And His victory becomes our victory, this One Who conquered the world.  Death is swallowed up in victory (1Corinthians 15.54)!  In this world, we will still experience brokenness in its myriad forms, but if we have taken our stand in Jesus, in the end we will be standing next to Him, in triumphal procession, marching on to victory!

1John 5:3 - Happy dad, happy chld

”For this is the love of God, in order that His commands we may be keeping, and His commands are not heavy.”

-When you truly love someone, you want to please them.  You want to do what they want.  Paul says this very thing when he is cautioning the Corinthians about getting married (1Corinthians 7.33).  And there is nothing wrong with this.  You care deeply for this person.  They are important to you.  You want to make them happy.  You care about the things they care about.  What matters to them matters to you.  You want to know the things which are in their heart, and you want to please them.  This is how it is with our relationship with God.  The more we come to love Him, the more we want to please Him, make Him happy.  If there is something He wants, it will give the one who loves Him great pleasure to be able to provide that somehow.

-In fact, this love gives wings to our obedience.  When you love someone, it is no heavy, dreary burden to do what they ask of you.  That’s what John is saying here.  Doing what the beloved wants is not at all a drudgery.  Rather, it is a delight.  You find joy in doing things that they want.  Making them happy makes you happy, doesn’t it?

-What makes God happy?  What does He want, want us to do?  There are hundreds of explicit commands found in Scripture - many of course were specific to the Levitical priesthood, which of course Jesus completely fulfilled.  Nevertheless, the would-be ardent God-lover will find many, many things which God wants us to do in the pages of Scripture, aka His law.  Of course, in Christ we come to God’s law now not as law-breakers needing to earn right standing thru perfect law-keeping.  Rather we come as completely loved-and-accepted children who want to make their Dad happy.  Happy dad, happy child.  Isn’t that how it is?  If you love your dad, you take great pleasure in doing the things that he wants.  That’s what David said:  “I delight to do what You want, O my God; Your law is within my heart.” (Psalm 40.8)(cf Psalm 1.2, 119.16, 119.35, 119.47).  This was the heart of Christ as well: “My food is to do the will of Him Who sent Me” (John 4.34).  In other words, Jesus found sustenance and satisfaction in doing that which pleased His Father, in doing what He asked of Him.  Truly, to obey is better than sacrifice.  Meaning, it is better to pursue doing what God wants, what is good and right, as opposed to going thru the motions of religious ritual with your heart far removed and given to another.  This is the way of the people who truly love the Lord - they seek Him day by day and delight to know and be absorbed in His ways (Isaiah 58.2).

-Let it not go without saying that the Word of God is surely an acquired taste (Jeremiah 15.6).  It does feel heavy and hard to understand to those whose spiritual senses have not been trained by it, to those who have not learned to feast on its truth, to mine its treasures.  But it surely is a veritable smorgasbord for the soul.  Consider what the Psalmist declares about God’s law in Psalm 19.7-10: Perfect.  Pure.  Rejoicing the heart.  More desirable than gold.  Sweeter than honey.  Remember this is our Old Testament to which he is referring, the one we tend to avoid.  A burden is something you assiduously avoid.  Something you want to get out from under.  Something you will conveniently and consistently pass up and pass by.  Is this not how many of us who profess to love the Lord approach His Word in general, not only the Old Testament?  Sometimes some of us barely approach it at all, in fact.  A hurried glance before we rush off to work or as we fall off to sleep at night.  If we even take any time at all.  Just a sip.  A little dab'll do ya.  So busy.  So distracted.  Nonplussed.  Bored.  Bothered.  Bothersome.  God’s commands are (or so they seem to some) bothersome, and we don’t want to be bothered.  So we don’t bother.  We hop on the bypass of life and pass on by the unimaginable soul feast the Lord has laid out for us in His Word.  Friends, things should not be this way.  Life is heavy and burdensome.  It is the Word of God, His law, which thrills our soul and puts wind in our sails.  And those who truly love Him delight to learn and do what He wants.  Come, join the feast...!

1John 5:2 - The Two-dimensional Both-And for the Both-All

”In this we are knowing that we are loving the children of God, when God we may be loving and His commands we should be doing.”

-Love God.  Do His commands.  Simple recipe.  But John here has just flipped the equation on its head.  He had been saying that we can know we are loving God when we are loving His children, the ones He loves, and keeping His commands, specifically the old/new command to love one another.  Now we come full circle.  This knife cuts both ways.  True believers, genuine Christ-followers whom God begets and in whom He has placed His Spirit will not only love His children, they will love Him and obey Him.  It’s a both-and.  We’re talking about a life and a heart which are both for Him and for His people, lives which genuinely and increasingly reflect Who He is, which manifest the majesty of the Kingdom of God wherever they go.  Love.  Joy.  Peace.  Patience.  Kindness.  Goodness.  Faithfulness.  Self-control.  You know the list.  The One and the Same Spirit Who gives life and bears the fruit of love in our lives will also bear qualities like goodness and faithfulness, obedience.  That’s not to say that there won’t be missteps along the way.  Sometimes we do stumble and fall, a season of struggle.  Perhaps we have a weakness, more prone to give in to temptation in a certain area of our life.  But in general, you will see a true Christ-follower engaging in both the vertical AND the horizontal - love for the body AND love for God and obeying Him.

-You can imagine that someone perhaps comes in through the side door of the church.  They like being with His people - some of them at least.  There is joy.  There is love, and genuine caring.  There is good clean living, and generous sharing.  This is attractive.  This is family.  Maybe they have never experienced that.  This is something they’ve been longing for.  And so they’re hanging out with God’s people, loving being with them and even loving them in return, but maybe, just maybe they haven’t surrendered their heart to Jesus.  They’re unwilling at a certain level to do business with God, to acknowledge their sinfulness and imperfections, and to begin loving and obeying Him.  Yes, the unbelieving world can perhaps at times rise to the level of natural kindness and affection, of party attachments and fraternal loyalties, but there is something different here.  We are talking about an other-wordly, full-bodied love which comes from the God Who IS love, and which expresses itself both horizontally AND vertically.  Fully-orbed two-dimensional love.  It comes from the One Who is both first in His own affections but Who also loves His children infinitely, everlastingly, and unconditionally.  This love wants what is good and right and best for the beloved.  This love serves and sacrifices and gives itself away.  This love endures and bears all things.  It hangs in there and holds itself towards the beloved(s) - both/all of them, whether that One in heaven above or those here below.  Both beloveds, both directions are important, both indispensible, since they both flow from the same fount.  They spring forth from the same tree - there can be no version of one without the other.  Love God, love His people, all wrapped up in the robe of righteousness, of being right in God’s eyes (thru Christ) and of living into that each and every day, by His grace.  Thank you, Lord...

1John 5:1 - The Ultimate Paternity Test

”Everyone trusting that Jesus is the Christ, out of God has been begotten, and everyone loving the [One] having begat is loving the [one] having been begotten out of Him.”

-John restates the previous verse here, but now he emphasizes paternity.  IF you are trusting in Jesus Christ, if you have put your faith in Him for the forgiveness of your sins and for eternal life, then you have been born of God.  God is your Father.  He has given you a spiritual birth.  You are a new creation, made not in China or the USA but made in heaven.  This is true of every last man, woman, and child who are trusting in Jesus - they are a true child of God.  The verb tenses here are significant.  All of this begetting is in the past (perfect tense), and loving is in the present.  In other words, if the new birth is in the past, then there is the ongoing result of love in the present.  Such that everyone who loves the Father, will (or should) be loving the rest of His children.  ‘Cuz they are family!  It's the ultimate paternity test!  The entrance exam, if you will, is what do you say about Jesus, who is He?  But then these mid-term tests are all about love.  We’re talking about an open-Book open-answer oral exam.  How are you and I doing at loving the rest of the (student) body?  However, this in fact is not a school.  Some building where you attend a class once a week, or 5 days a week or even more.  Pursuit of head knowledge and the chance to hang out with friends for a bit (who we may or may not throw off depending on the circumstances).  And where I kind of only attend ‘cuz I pretty much have to.  Isn’t this how so many of us approach church?  To us it is a lot like school.  What John is stressing throughout this letter and again in this verse is that we are a family, and it’s all about the Head of the family.  God is our Father, and we are His children - IF we believe in Jesus.  And again, this makes us family.  Brothers and sisters who have Jesus in common.  Jesus unites us.  He trumps (or should) any and all other worldy factors which might otherwise conspire to pull us or keep us apart, at arms length, close enough perhaps for a polite handshake in passing but too far away for a hug or for any extended deep meaningful sharing and serving.  And here again, we need to be truly careful about projecting our own experience of family on to what the family of God is supposed to look like, how it can or should function.  Only child, child of divorce, abuse or neglect, physically or emotionally absent dad (or mom) - our parents weren’t perfect, our family wasn’t perfect - and some less than others.  But we come to the family of God with all kinds of preconceived notions about how a family functions, and we need to take our cues not from nature or nurture but rather from our heavenly Father Himself.  And from our Brother.  They have shown us and told us what family and what love looks like.  We would do well to pay careful attention...  And may we not forget, family is forever.  Love is forever.

-See, take a minute and consider what your first response is to that statement.  Love is forever.  Do you think of hearts and rings and holding hands, of romantic dinners and walks on the beach, of promises made - and not kept?  Of love gone bad, love lost, a love which did not last?  The tragic reality of our broken world, populated with imperfect people, is that we see (and experience) way too many examples of love which doesn’t quite live up to its billing.  Love which is anything but.  But THIS is God’s love we’re talking about.  This is no all-purpose flower which can refer to how I feel about felines and mocha frappuccinos and philharmonics and fidget spinners.  The Greeks had a special word for this love, in fact.  Perhaps that is one reason why the Lord in His sovereignty had the Scriptures completed in the Greek language?  It’s interesting to think about at least.  Not surprisingly, John is using that word repeatedly in this letter about God’s love, as do all the New Testament writers.  Agapé.  It is different.  It is everlasting.  It gives, and keeps on giving - generous, selfless, sacrificing.  Unfailing.  It comes down from heaven above.  Heavenly...  And forever.  This is the love we all know is possible, we all long for in our heart of hearts.  We are hardwired for it, in fact.  We were made for this, it is heavenly, and it is heavenly sourced.  Made in Heaven.  You gotta get it from there.  It starts by believing in the One Who came from there to show us what love looks like, what it could and should look like.  And this is the love which He pours out in our hearts to give to one another.  Surely we can do better, by His grace.  We must...

1John 4:21 - The Grandaddy Tour Bus Of Love

"And this [is] the command we are having from Him, in order that the [one] loving God may be loving also his brother."

-And so here we have the better way, the way less traveled, the way up and in to glory, the way to rise above the Sunday-go-to-meeting mentality and rampant superficiality which plagues so much of the body of Christ today in the west.  This command, this new command given to us by Christ Himself - this is the way forward.  Love one another.

-There are actually two ways to look at this verse, depending on how you want to consider the purpose clause, “in order that”.  The first interpretation is that John is simply restating for us the content of the command, to which he has been aluding or referring this entire letter (1John 2.7-10, 3.11-12, 3.23, 4.7-8).  Overkill?  No way.  There is no way to overstate the spiritual and strategic importance of this command.  It is the Great Transcontinental Railroad of the body of Christ, the Overland Route, it is the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System - the means by which the Gospel, this Message of God’s love and forgiveness thru faith in Christ - travels and traverses the mountains and valleys of brokenness and unbelief and arrives at its intended destination : a lost soul whom God so loves.  To be sure, there are other routes, other means which God can and does use to bring people into contact with the Good News and into a faith relationship with Himself.  But this is the superhighway.  If nothing else, this is the way Jesus gave us.  In all our disicple-making and men-fishing, this was the one way He mentioned by which He guaranteed success.  Love one another.

-The second interpretation of this verse is that John here is speaking to the intent of the command, the outcome or purpose or result.  This would be consistent with the tense of the verb (present subjunctive) - God gave us this command, in order that we may be loving.  In order that the one who loves God may be loving their brother also.  And again, this is because the love which believers demonstrate towards one another is precisely how we show love towards God.  This imagery is thoroughly biblical, that what we do to our fellow man we do to the Lord (Proverbs 19.17; Hebrews 6.10; Matthew 25.40, 25.45).  It is both proof of our love, and a demonstration of it.  It substantiates and confirms that we really do know and love the Lord, and it is one way, a very tangible way we express love to Him.

-Faith, this adventure of loving the Lord with all our heart was never intended to be strictly a solo gig, merely a vertical transaction between me and God.  Yes, there is a deeply personal and intimate aspect of our faith, and a place in the depth of our soul where we commune with Him just the two of us.  But there is a vital horizontal component.  Faith was always meant to journey in community, as a family.  That’s why the Lord set out to make a family, a family who was learning to love and trust Him and who would not only grow into a tribe and then a nation of families who would do the same but would extend this way of faith and love to families everywhere.  So we’re not talking about a spiritual moped made for one, or even a motorcycle (altho it is certainly possible - but not recommended - to squeeze an entire family on one).  No, we’re talking about the granddaddy tour bus of all tour buses, journeying together in love.  And so before He went to the cross, and through the inspiration of His Spirit upon those who afterwards wrote the New Testament, He gave us this imperative.  And He is saying it to us again through John - it is absolutely imperative that we as those who claim to love God be loving one another.  Let’s double down and do this, brothers and sisters...!

1John 4:20 - Moving to Missouri?

"If someone should say that, ‘I love God’ and his brother he may be hating, a liar he is.  For the [one] not loving his brother whom he has seen, the God Whom he has not seen he is not able to be loving."

-Love is not just a word, it is a verb.  It is not a profession or a platitude.  It is demonstrated, or it is not love.  Love does not consist in words.  John is saying, real love is from Missouri, the show-me state.  Words are powerful, yes.  They convey a certain message, yes, but love is much much more than mere words.  And when it comes to love, actions do speak louder than words.  Words are cheap.  When you really love someone, you show them.  You demonstrate it.

-But here’s the rub - very difficult it is to demonstrate one’s love for God.  Because you’re talking about Him Who is unseen.  There is no direct way to demonstrate my love for the Lord.  And so in this instance we find that there is a divinely-appointed surrogate.  A substitute, one who takes the place of the Lord in this wondrous waltz of heavenly love.  And that is my brother.  Or my sister.  Gender makes no difference.  Or age.  Or skin color, or education, or intelligence.  This person, these people are God’s divinely appointed stand-ins for me to show my love for Him.  We love the Lord by loving one another.  It starts and ends here.  Because, as John states in no uncertain terms, any profession of love for God which does not love my brother is simply false.

-And hatred?  Hate is way out.  Here there is a zero-tolerance policy.  Hate in my heart towards a brother or sister in the Lord is incompatible with a heart which has embraced God’s love.  Diametrically opposed.  What does hate look like in the body of Christ?  Certainly hating my brother would include things like unforgiveness, bitterness, ill will, intense dislike.  But we could go a step further and ask whether hating my brother could simply look like lack of love, not going out of my way to lay my life down for him or her.  Anything which I allow to fester and lurk in my heart which keeps my brother or sister at arm’s length, at a distance such that I don’t have to deal with them.  It is the brother or sister whom I go out of my way not to love but to avoid.  And meanwhile the body of Christ languishes in disunity, hamstrung like a wounded racehorse.  Is not a chain no stronger than its weakest link?  Who are we kidding?  Jesus said go, be reconciled with your brother.  And no doubt in those early home-based churches there was no avoiding an estranged brother.  Forced to sit face-to-face, the tension and distance would have been obvious to all.  Not so in Christendom, in our modern mega-church.  Surely the body of Christ, His beautiful bride, lies broken and disjointed and infected, covered with the festering sores of hate and disunity, countless separations and church-splits and disputes layered on top of a go-to-meeting and get-my-fire-insurance mentality which lets me zip in and zip out and live my life in such a way that we barely even have to look at each other, much less transact any serious spiritual business.  I pretty much never have to do much more than give my brother a polite handshake and some mild pleasantries once or maybe twice a week.  I certainly don’t have to do the kind of life with him which would actually give me the opportunity to really demonstrate sacrificial love for him and force me to make any needed peace with him.  Brothers and sisters, surely things ought not be this way.  Surely there is a better way.  Surely we can do better.  We must.  We need to relocate to Missouri...

1John 4:19 - You first...

"We ourselves are loving, because He Himself first loved us."

-First place.  Who doesn’t love to be first?  To go first?  If it’s about serving me-myself-and-I, taking care of number one, we don’t need any help with that.  Nobody needs to tell me to put myself first - it comes naturally, doesn’t it?  We’re wired this way from the womb.  Serving the threefold self.  But this is different.  This is the other kind of going first - putting others first.  Going first in loving and serving them, in meeting their needs.  That’s what God did.  He first loved us.  He went first.  He couldn’t help Himself, in fact, because that’s Who He is.  And He’s always loved us, from before He made us and before the dawn of time - everlasting love (Jeremiah 31.1).  Before He formed us, He knew us and loved us and had wonderful glorious plans for us, for us to experience His breathtaking goodness and love.  But this is also as much a function of Who He wasn’t.  He went first because He wasn’t first.  First place in our hearts - that’s His place.  That’s what He deserves - and wants.  "You will have no other gods before Me."  First Commandment.  Love the Lord with all your heat.  And that’s what we needed, for Him to go first, because all of us, we didn't put Him first.  We have all put other things in His place.  Idolatry in its simplest form.  Devoting oneself to that which is no deity.  Vanity.  Emptiness.  Life lived without God in first place is second rate, worse than that actually - it is a one-way ticket to death.  And because He was not first, He went first.  And He loved us.  From the first.  He went first, saying, "you first..."

-He Himself.  John is emphasizing this.  This isn’t some Johnny-come-lately we’re talking about here.  No fly-by-night penny-ante operator.  We’re talking about almighty God, He Who created the universe and everything which is in it.  God, this One we kicked out, is the One Who loved us, made the first move, loved us first.  So loved us, He did.  The unlovely, the unloveable, He did - and because He did, now can we.  We can love.  And isn’t that the way of things - the unlovely, unloveable is transformed by someone actually loving them?  Yes, and now we love, we live and breathe and walk in love.  His love!  We experience God’s boundless endless love for us, and it courses through our lives and hearts and flows out to a lost and dying world.  A healing salve for the nations, mending broken hearts and broken lives and so much more.  God loves you.  He so loves you, warts and all.  Me too.  He has always loved us.  Now let’s get up and get going and be the people of love He has loved us to be.  We can't technically go first anymore since the Lord already did that, but let's you and me be second at going first and saying to one another and others, "you first!"

1John 4:18 - The Quintessential Fear Eradicator

"Fear is not in love but rather the perfect love out is throwing the fear, because the fear punishment is having, but the [one] fearing has not been perfected in the love."

-No fear.  Not afraid.  Is this possible?  To be free of fear?  Fear-less?  Fear is the unpleasant emotion associated with the anticipation of some pain or loss.  We’re talking danger - could be real, could be imagined.  So many things to be afraid of, some of them dangerous, some not at all.  Google is full of suggestions.  Fear of abandonment.  Bees.  Clowns.  Death.  Everything.  Flying.  God.  Holes.  Intimacy.  Judgment.  Ketchup.  Long words.  Missing out.  Needles.  Open spaces.  Poison.  Quiet.  Rejection.  Spiders.  Tiny holes.  Unknown.  Vomiting.  Water.  Xrays.  Your home.  Zombies.  Curious fears: fear of yellow; zippers; zebras; xylophones; work; vegetables; vowels; unicorns; knees; hair; feet; fear; eyes; cotton balls.  Legitimate fears: roaches; rats; snakes; the dark; wasps; public speaking; heights; elevators and escalators; commitment; cats.  Surely the big four are:  Failure.  Punishment.  Rejection.  Death.  And to be sure, judgment - THE Judgment - involves all four.  Now that is definitely something to be afraid of...!

-But John is talking about being in this place where there is no fear, no fear of punishment in that fateful Day of Judgment.  Which brings up the question of fear removal.  What is that which dissipates and eradicates fear?  Love.  Love throws out fear.  Throws it right out.  In the garbage.  Love is the quintessential fear eradicator.  You don’t need to be afraid of something or someone who loves you.  Not if they are perfect and good and love you perfectly.  Like God.  And when love - His love - is perfected in us and is flowing through us, we have further confirmation that He is in us, at work and abiding in us, and that we have truly passed out of death into life, out of condemnation and into the light of His glory and grace, this beautiful place where we are fully accepted and fully pleasing to Him.  No fear.  Not anymore...

-Yes, to face the wrath and punishment of almighty God would be a terrifying thing (Hebrews 10.31), but when we come to this place where we see His love and it is perfected in us, then we know we no longer need to fear His punishment.  And to that point, John says the one who is still struggling with fear of punishment, the one who is more focused on the “unsafe” side of our God has not yet come to fully understand and embrace His “good” side.  As Mr. Beaver of Narnia reminds us, of course He’s not safe - but He is good!  That’s what John is trying to tell us - God is love, and He is GOOD!  Get caught up in that, in the love which He has displayed and lavishly slathered on us through His Son, and get caught up in the dogged pursuit of seeing this love manifested in our relationships with one another, with our fellow believers.  It will take time, and some sacrifice, but we - the “we” who could be - are worth it.  He is worth it.  And if and when we ever get there, it will be a beautiful thing...

1John 4:17 - The Heavenly Seed

"In this has been perfected the love with us, in order that boldness we may be having in the day of judgment, that just as that One is, also we ourselves are in this world."

-Like Him.  He made us in His image, right?  And He, this God Who is love, wants us to be more like Him.  That also happens to be the gold standard, the prerequisite for gaining entrance into heaven.  So John is painting this picture of a wondrous dance of faith, of God living and abiding in us, transforming us, His love abiding in us and us abiding in His love, His love flowing out from us to and throughout our assembly.  And when we have this, he says, this abiding love in our hearts and lives, he says love has been perfected with us.  Completed action in the past, with continuing results in the present.  We may not be perfect yet, and we won’t be this side of heaven, but the heavenly seed has taken root and begun to sprout, budding out with life and love all over the place.  This germination has already taken place at some point in this life.  And if that hasn’t happened by the end of this life, then it’s too late.

-Because we want to have boldness, confidence in the day of judgment.  John doesn’t mention this anywhere else in this letter.  A day is indeed coming, a great and fateful day, when all who have ever lived will stand (or rather kneel) before the great throne of heaven, the dead will be raised and the books will be opened and all will be called to account for how they have lived.  A fateful day of reckoning.  And as we stand and kneel before the King of heaven, we will be called to account for whether or not we have received Him as such, and for whether or not we have taken our stand in these twin truths, that Jesus is the Son of God, and that God is love.  Our hearts and minds and lives will need to have taken up residence in these truths, residing and abiding in them if we would stand confindently before God’s throne on that day.  It may be relatively easy to not think about such a day in the here and now, that day semeingly so far off in the distant future.  We can kick the can down the road and tell ourselves that we’ll get around to doing business with God at a more convenient time, just not now.  But what are we waiting for?  Today matters.  Today counts for eternity.  And let us make no mistake, there will be two postures on that day when we come face to face with the God with Whom we have to do.  Some will have this boldness, great confidence that they are fully forgiven, faultless before the throne.  The heavenly seed of God’s love was deposited into their life in this life.  And others, far too many, will not.  They will avert their eyes, look down in discomfort, filled with shame and guilt as they become aware of the full weight and gravity of the situation, of their transgressions and how far short they actually do fall from the manifold perfections of this glorious God.  For in that day, we will all see Him as He truly is - except that for far too many they will only just then be realizing the truth of the matter.  But today matters.  It counts for eternity.  Eternity can begin today.  Today is the day when I or you or anyone can come home to Him in our hearts, receive His offer of love, have this seed of love planted in our hearts and begin this journey of faith, of walking with Him and of becoming more like Him, the God Who is love.

1John 4:16 - INvaded - Is It IN You?

"And we ourselves have known and have trusted the love which God is having in us.  God love is, and the [one] abiding in the love in God is abiding and God in him is abiding."

-God is love.  And if He is in us, if He is living and abiding in us, then His love is IN us.  Which means it should naturally come oozing out of us, out of every spiritual pore and fiber of our being.  It is not simply that He loves us - which is everlastingly and transformationally true on so many levels.  It is not merely this love which comes to us as some outside benevolence.  No, this Love comes to us and INto our space, INvades our entire person.  All up in our kitchen and the whole entire house.  It comes into our heart and mind and soul and settles right down - not for a long winter’s nap, but for an extreme home makeover.  God’s love - the God Who IS love, all love, all the time - takes over.  His love overtakes us and overwhelms us (or should) in such a way that we will never be the same.  It has us in its grip.  It compels us to be and live differently (cf 2Corinthians 5.14-15)!  We come to not only know in the deepest depth of our soul that God, our almighty Creator, our heavenly Father truly loves us, but we increasingly become ONE WHO LOVES.  (More) Like Him.  A love machine, if you will.  Not a huggin’ kissin’ fiend, but rather one in whom and from whom the unconditional everlasting love of God courses and flows, flowing out like a river of life-giving soul-quenching water in the desert.  

-Isn’t that what our souls are truly thirsting after, love?  Our hearts are love-sick, are they not?  Desperate for love.  We would do anything for love - or just about.  Jefferson Airplane captured it perfectly - “Don't you want somebody to love, Don't you need somebody to love, Wouldn't you love somebody to love, You better find somebody to love.”  It was a counterculture message at the time, that time of free love when people were jumping in and out of relationships like they were so much kleenex.  Good for a single use or two, and then on to the next.  On to the next.  But our heart-of-hearts is designed for more than a one-night-stand (or two), is it not?  We are wired for that true love which will never leave or forsake us, are we not (Hebrews 13.9)?  We each long for that love which bears all things and believes all things and endures all things, love which never fails, do we not (1Corinthians 13.7-8)?  I would suggest that any who say otherwise are actually running from love, running from some kind of pain in their past, or running from what love might cost them - but sadly they are running from the one thing which will truly thrill and satisfy their soul.  Yes, love is costly.  It cost God His Son.  It is hard work.  But naught will suffice for the want of it.  Love IN us - this is life, THE life, the life God has for us, offers us in His Son.  Not love somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight, or somewhere in the stratosphere.  We’re talking real love, right here, in me, flowing out to you and back again.  And if we ever get this thing going, it’ll be beautiful, it will be a sight to behold, breathtakingly good and glorious.  Which is precisely the point...  God is love, and He LOVES US!  Do I really know this?  Is it in me?  Is He in me?

1John 4:15 - Whoever...

”Whoever should be confessing that Jesus is the Son of God, God in him is abiding and he in God.”

-Whoever.  Whoever.  In other words, the doors are wide open, to any and to all who would come in.  In fact, Scripture uses this word over and over.  Whoever will believe.  Whoever will call on the Name of the Lord (cf Joel 2.32, Romans 10.13) - and this is not strictly a New Testament concept!  But so it doesn’t matter who you are, or what you’ve done.  It doesn’t depend on the size of your bank account or on the color of your skin or your family or country of origin, or which language you speak (God speaks them all!).  Whoever.  Entrance is granted to anyone who is willing to meet the condition, which in this case is simply to confess that Jesus is the Son of God.

-Confess means to agree with, to say the same thing as what someone else is saying.  Here that someone is God Himself, Who has clearly stated that Jesus is His beloved Son, in Whom He is well pleased, and as such He is to be obeyed as well as revered.  Jesus then is the gate.  All who would gain entrance to those streets of gold must enter through Him.  What do you say about Jesus?  “Who do you say that I am?”, He asks (Matthew 16.15).  That’s the million dollar question, the question of the ages.  This is what separates the wheat from the chaff.  It has launched a thousand ships (of missionaries) and has set brother against brother.  It matters not what the media or the masses say about Jesus - what about you?  Who do you say that Jesus is?

-For the one who is agreeing with God about what He says about His Son - anyone, whoever they are - John says that God is abiding in them, and they in God.  If you want to know if God is really in a person’s life, just ask them who Jesus is.  If you want to know where you yourself stand, put the same question to yourself.  It’s that simple, really - cut and dry.  You can know for certain that God is living and remaining in you, when you are confessing that Jesus is His Son.  Whoever believes in Him will not perish, but rather will be saved unto eternal life, to live forever with God in heaven.  This is a football.

1John 4:14 - Save The Humans

”And we ourselves have seen and are witnessing that the Father has sent the Son [as] Savior of the world.”

-Some say, save the whales.  Or save the bees.  Or save the children.  Or even save the planet.  Some are thinking about quality of life, taking better care of something, saving it from misuse.  Others are on to more of this idea of an extinction level of catastrophe.  So many causes.  So many things to which, for which one could give their LIFE.  But how ‘bout this one?  Save the world.  Not the physical world, per se, but its inhabitants, the 7-plus billion of them.  That’s what Jesus talked about (John 3.17, 12.47), saving humanity one soul at a time (Luke 19.10, 9.56, 8.12; Mark 8.35).  Save the humans.  That’s what He gave His life for.  This is that one ultimate cause which compelled Him to step down out of heaven’s glory, take on fragile human flesh, and enter in to the brokenness of humanity.  He came to save the world, to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19.10).  Me.  Us.  The humans.  He is our Savior.  Curiously, He never once called Himself Savior.  No matter.  There is salvation in no other Name (Acts 4.12).  And curiously, this is the only time John mentions this concept in the entire letter.

-And the stakes could be no higher.  The fact of there being such a thing as salvation, of there being a need to be saved implies some kind of danger.  But here we’re not just talking about missing out on a better quality of life, or even of failing to add a few extra years here and there.  The real danger here is that one would lose their very soul.  So great a peril - so many don’t even know or care to acknowledge the fact that they even have a soul to begin with, this part of them which was made to live on forever after their physical body ceases to function.  Materialism, existentialism - all that appears “real”, what you can see and feel and touch - this all that matters to them.  But are we not so much more than an animated collection of chemicals?  Do we not have the capacity for love and for dreams and all kinds of good and evil, the thoughts and intentions of the heart?  There are myriads of realities which we can neither feel nor see.  For his part, John did see the real Son of God, this One Who revealed the unseen God, Who brought to light the truth that there is a God, that He so loves me and so desires a relationship with me, and He sent His Son to save me from an eternity of being separated from Him.  Sin - my sin, our sin - had made this separation between us and God, and that separation becomes permanent if something isn’t done to rectify the situation.  Forever separated from God, from the One Source of love and light - that is the real danger.  There are no pleasant descriptions of this anywhere in Scripture.  There is no worse fate than this, and it was this danger which compelled God’s Son to climb down out of heaven and up onto that cross.  He is Savior, the One and Only.  Thanks be to God...

1John 4:13 - On Repetition and Redundancy and Repetition. And Pudding.

"In this we are knowing that in Him we are abiding and He in us, that out of His Spirit He has given to us."

-Some commentators skip right over this verse altogether.  It’s only been 13 verses, and already John is reminding us of the truth which he just shared in 1Jn 3.24.  The wording is almost identical.  Here it is slightly modified, however, in that he now uses the perfect tense.  Here it is not, He GAVE us His Spirit.  Here John says, He HAS GIVEN us His Spirit.  The difference is subtle, but significant.  It means not only did God give us His Spirit, sometime in the past, but that there are - or should be - continuing results in the present.  It wasn’t simply this sealing, this divine down payment on eternity.  No, it is this power, this gifting and enabling to be able to love one another and serve and build up one another here in the present, every day, week in and week out, to completely override our own weakness and indifference.  And the difference God’s Spirit makes should be by no means subtle.  This is dry bones come to life.  This is Lazarus raised from the dead and freed from those ratty old grave clothes.  This is the new creation!  Christ lives in me!  The Holy Spirit, this divine Helper, is sent to help us do these greater works, the first and foremost of which is this new-old command to love one another.  And again, this is the proof of the pudding.  This proves to the world - and to us - that God is truly in us, that He lives in us and is abiding in us, that we really do have a personal relationship with Him.

-Some people hate redundancy.  And for good reason.  So do I.  You hate to pay for the same ground twice.  Redundant = unnecessary (or so it would seem).  And this feels redundant.  Great truth, for sure, but it still feels unnecessary for John to repeat himself, especially so soon after he just said this.  It feels superfluous.  BUT... John clearly does not feel it is unnecessary to repeat himself here.  He feels he must in fact do so.  It is the power of repetition.  Repeating something can become annoying at times.  The overplayed song or commercial.  My eldest child, whom I love dearly, is rather fond of finding an otherwise innocuous sound and repeating it incessantly until it becomes truly annoying.  I have no idea where he gets this of course...  :)  But repetition does two things: it signifies a point of emphasis, and it facilitates retention.  No doubt this is in John’s mind (and God’s), as he wants these believers to be able to know for sure that God has accepted them and saved them.  He wants to emphasize this truth, and drive it home into their (and our) thick heads.  So he is repeating himself, variations on a theme.  Look for this holy divine Presence, His power in your life.  Look for these glimpses of the Lord of heaven come down to earth and loving His children - through you.  Look for these evidences of sharing and giving and lives-downlaying in your assembly.  They should be there, right out there in plain sight for all to see.  This is how we know...

1John 4:12 - God's avatars?

"God no one ever has seen.  If one another we may be loving, God in us is abiding and His love in us is having been perfected."

-No, no one has seen God face-to-face, ever (and in fact, no mere mortal in their fallen state can see Him and live - Exodus 33.20).  The magnificent exception of course is Jesus (John 6.46).  Plus if you see/saw Jesus in the flesh you have basically seen the Father.  He said so Himself (John 14.9).  Moses famously did get a glimpse of the divine backside (Exodus 33.21-23), and he was privileged to have unparalleled access to the Lord, direct “face-to-face” conversations with some form of God (Numbers 12.8, Exodus 34.10, Deuteronomy 34.10).  But clearly this had to have been more face-to-back, or face-to-form.  But even ol’ Mo didn’t get a full frontal view of the Lord.  And for the rest of us, before or after Moses - no one.  Not one of us.

-But do you see what John is saying here?  There is this awesome avatar arrangement which could provide the souls around us who were designed for glory the chance to glimpse the embodiment of the glorious God.  And this unprecedented opportunity to manifest the divine essence falls to the people of God, in whom His Spirit dwells.  We can give those around us a glimpse of His perfect love made perfect in us.  If and when we as His beloved children are able to come together and be loving one another, it gives the world the chance to see God, to catch a glimpse of the divine, of what He is like.  Because, again, He is love.  We are not more like Him than when we are loving one another.  This is the way we as God’s people realize the perfection and completion of His love.  This is the way the world knows that God is among us, that He lives among us and in us.  And this is what the world needs now, what it needs from the Church.  Love sweet love, God’s agape love, to manifest itself from every pore and fiber of our being in our relationships with one another.  The New Testament church crushed this out of the park.  It was said of these early believers, “Behold, how they love one another.” They spent time together and ate their meals together and shared their stuff with one another and served together.  They had so much fun and joy with one another, it was almost too much.  The haters said they were drunk.  They did their darnedest to try and break up the party.  But many of those on the outside who got this glimpse of God in their midst by how the first Christians loved one another wanted in.  They wanted some of that.

-How about the ones today, standing on the outside looking askance at Christ, waxing cynical and disillusioned as they observe church-split after church-split on top of corruption and depravity?  Christians hating one another and leaving one another and criticizing one another and divorcing one another and living in unforgiveness towards one another?  Not only do those outside not see sacrificial unconditional love, they get a heaping helping of entirely the opposite.  Don’t you think they would want some of that perfect-God-love also, if only they ever got a glimpse?  Shall we not give it to them, let ‘em have it...?  Well, we need to start by giving it to one another.  Giving love to one another.  Giving to one another, a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over.  We need to bring our A game.  With all our doing, we need to do this.  By God’s grace and power, we can.  We must.  We will.

1John 4:11 - The Holy Ghost Boot Scoot Boogie

"Beloved, if thus God loved us, we ourselves also are obligated to be loving one another."

-Beloved.  Yes, we are beloved - by John, to be sure, as he has said repeatedly, but more importantly by our heavenly Father.  He loved us thus, by sending His Son to be the all-sufficient sacrifice and pay the just penalty for our sins.  Thus did God love us.

-And thus we have an obligation.  A debt which we owe, and which we must pay.  We HAD a debt, a different one, a much bigger one than this.  Huge.  Unimaginably huge.  Unpayable.  And God stepped up, Jesus stepped down, and paid it.  Our Creditor paid our bill, basically.  He picked up the check.  So now we owe Him in a different way, but we still owe Him big time.  This happens to be the same debt we looked at in 1John 3.16.  This debt we pay in installments.  Now we pay Him back every day by paying it forward to others.  This debt we pay back not because we are guilty, but rather because now we are no longer guilty.  And so we do unto others what God did for us.  We love them.  We love our neighbors, we love our enemies.  And especially we love the ones who have also received this love, who are following Jesus next to us, running right beside us - we love them well.  Sacrificially.  Every day, we go out of our way.  And we love them to the end (John 13.1).  Just like Jesus.  We lay down outlives for them.  Whatever that looks like.  Cuz they are family.

-But no one-way transaction, this.  This is reciprocating love.  A shared imperative.  Yes, it is a plural command - all of you be doing this together.  Be loving one another, John says (but remember, Jesus said it first!).  This is community, ongoing and growing common unity.  Life lived together, time spent (or rather invested) together, life-on-life.  This is sharing, giving AND receiving, meeting one another’s needs - a little bit of messiness and a whole lotta joy (koinonia!).  Indeed, this tango takes two.  Or more.  But certainly more than one.  This is not just you out there on the floor shakin your thing all by your lonesome.  This is a group dance.  A conga line.  Or a line dance.  That’s right - we’re talking a Holy Ghost Boot Scoot Boogie.  This thing simply does not work with just one person.  There is no unrequited love here (which as we all know is the WORST kind of love).  No, you know what this is - it is synergy.  Solo love is a wonderful thing, no doubt, but when two or more begin to get some traction on actually loving one another, then watch out.  Step back and watch God get busy.  The resulting whole will be so much greater than the sum of their individual parts.  Be loving ONE ANOTHER, John says, all y’all.  Yes, brothers and sisters, MY brothers and sisters, all of us, WE are a WE and unto this we are co-obligated.  It’s a shared debt, and we pay it back together.

-There are more than 100 of these "one anothers" in the New Testament, and every last one of them is just a variation on a theme, on this one basic step, which is, be loving one another.  The greatest of these, to be sure.  This is where you live, right here.  This is home.  There is no start the fire, no q-tips, no make the pizza.  Don’t need no pizza, they got food there.  All I’m saying is that this is not rocket science.  This is not complicated.  All the best strategies and buildings and programs will fail to rise above the level at which we fulfill this one, most basic command.  Let’s make sure with all our doing that we are doing this...

1John 4:10 - Operation Propitiation (say what?)

"In this is the love, not that we ourselves have loved God, but rather because He Himself loved us and He sent His Son a propitiation about our sins."

-God is love.  Everything about Him is love, and all love comes from Him.  Now we have an example, and John says, IN this is love.  So this example is not the be-all end-all only way to love - but it is the consummate archetype.  This act of love shows us love - and shows us how to love.

-But let us be perfectly clear about the situation here.  We do have (or had, for those who are IN Christ) a sin problem.  And things are bad - in fact, they couldn’t get much worse.  Our sins not only separated us from God (Isaiah 59.2, Romans 3.23), they incurred His wrath.  They made the God-Who-is-love angry.  He hates sin, our sin, my sin.  To be sure, He doesn’t hate me, or you, but He does really hate our sin.  He can’t even look at it.  And the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6.23).  Death is the awful consequence of our heinous sin (Romans 5.12).  But in the midst of that tragic news is the silver lining, in that sin can be - wait for it - propitiated.

-So yes, the God-Who-is-love sent His Son - His only begotten Son (we just touched on this) to be the propitiation for our sins.  The propitiation.  What is that, anyways?  That wins the award for churchiest word ever.  It is something which propitiates a god or spirit.  Well, that’s not helpful.  Propitiate means to win or regain the favor of a god by doing something which pleases them.  Maybe we are more familiar with the word, propitious.  Something which is favorable.  In this case, there is a God, and we have lost favor with Him, fallen completely out of favor, in fact, by living into a mindset and lifestyle which favored me over Him.  Me first, me-myself-and-I.  Me and other things (anything other) in His rightful place.  Because this God, He made me.  He fashioned me and all we earthly sojourners out of so much dust, breathed into us the miraculous breath of life, burdening us with glorious purpose and blessing us with the best of Himself.  To which we kicked Him off the throne of our lives and basically stuck Him on a bus to Altoona.  Nothing wrong with Altoona.  But we took over - that is sin - and this sin had to be paid for.  The good news is that it CAN be paid for!  Although there’s a catch - it can only be paid for by the shedding of blood.  The blood sacrifice of a innocent (sinless) person is the only way to fully expiate (pay for and remove) the guilt of someone’s sin - and that is because life is in the blood.  We don’t think much about blood sacrifice anymore in the west.  Seems so primitive and barbaric.  Our culture doesn’t spend much time trying to appease an angry god or spirit.  But don’t you think much of that is because of the truth of what God did in sending His Son to be the final all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins, and that all that is needed now is to trust in that, to believe in Him?  Is it not fair to say that this truth has indeed so effectively permeated and transformed our culture that this is one huge reason why we have moved beyond the more instinctive appeasement approach?  Go to other parts of the world, other cultures, and observe the appeasement mindset still in full flower, how desperate are the peoples of the world to appease divine anger against their sins.

-But the point is - we were off the ranch, and God brought us back.  He loved us.  We were so far out of favor, and it was our fault, but God rebuilt the bridge.  He restored us to favor with Him, undertook the whole operation by Himself.  We basically brought nothing to the table.  He loved us first - more on this in verse 19 (1John 4.19).  God sent His Son, He sent His only Son - John says it three times in this paragraph alone - to be the all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins.  THE Propitiation.  To shed His perfect blood and fully turn away God’s wrath from us so that we could come home to Him in our hearts.  And in doing so He set us totally free from being enslaved to appeasement, He has set us free from the law of sin and death, no more condemnation or guilt anymore because God sent His Son (Romans 8.1-2).  Surely words are inadequate to express the depth of gratitude which we must have towards our Father in heaven, Who so loved us... Thank. You. Lord.

1John 4:9 - Love Shows Up

"In this was revealed the love of God in us, that His only Son God has sent unto the world in order that we should live through Him."

-God is love - and so He loved.  God so loved, and God thus did.  He did something which demonstrated His love.  Because love is a verb.  Love acts, love does, love shows up, it shows itself.  Yes, love is a show-off - it shows up and shows off, but not in the traditional meaning of that word.  It is not at all about self.  Rather it is totally focused on the beloved.  And love does not consist in empty words and sentiment.  It does not subsist on the vagaries of fickle feelings.  It is fueled in a heart of compassion at the ready.  It makes itself known, it reveals itself to the beloved.  It moves to meet the need of the one so loved, whatever the cost, even at great cost to the one loving.  

And this is what God did, in this God showed His love to us - He sent His Son, His one and only Son, into the world.  This Son He gave - for us.  He sacrificed His Son, for us.  In order that, so that we who were His enemies, we who were dead and dying should have life eternal.  That’s the reason, the purpose for which Christ was sent (1John 4.14).  I have two sons - I would be loathe to give up either one of them to save the life of another.  I mean, if you love your son, there’s no way.  How much more difficult would it be if we’re talking about your only son?  What if it was to save the world, to save the lives of billions?  Would you do it then?  I can’t even say that I could do that.  My own son, the apple of my eye, handing him over to my enemies for them to torture and execute him?  What great, amazing love the Father revealed in us, so that through the horrific death of His only Son we should have life through the same.  This love - and the life that it imparts - changes everything.  It changes my destiny forever.  And it changes my perspective and my life in the present - because it compels me to no longer live for myself.  Both out of gratitude and in following in the footsteps of this exemplary sacrifice, I give up my own life, my wants, my dreams, my plans, even my family, for the sake of knowing and following Him, for the sake of making Him famous (2Corinthians 5.14-15).  I become a love distributor!

-Yes, God revealed His love to us AND in us.  Not only do we see it and know it and experience it as we learn about it and begin to believe it and trust in it and then experience it poured out in our hearts (Romans 5.5), but it then spills out to those around, to those we know, to our family and our neighbors, to our city and to the nations.  God’s love becomes visible in and through us as we begin to love with the love with which He first loved us.  That is John’s point in this letter, that this love, God’s true agapé love multiplies, it replicates, by its very nature.  It is not something which I can receive and keep to myself, much less continue to contradict with actions of hatred or opposition, particularly towards God’s people.  If that is where I think I am, love coming in, got my fire insurance, yeah Jesus loves me this I know - but no love going out, then I am seriously deluded.

-Yep, love shows up.  In the kitchen, at the hospital, next door - with words and deeds which meet real needs.  And it's coming back...  (Lord, help me to love like that...)

1John 4:8 - THE Verb

"The [one] not loving did not know God, since God is love."

-No love, no God.  And the converse is also true - no God, no love.  Because God is love.  Yes, let’s say it again - God is love.  God.  Is.  Love.  This famous phrase appears only twice in all of Scripture, for the first time right here, and then in the very next paragraph.  It is one of the most profound yet simple statements in all of literature.  Yes, God is love.  He is the most loving Being in the universe, to the n-th degree and beyond.  Always and forever, love.  From everlasting to everlasting, love.  You can’t even wrap your mind around it, it is so immense, so wide and long and high and deep as to be incomprehensible.  Altho we can - and by all means (including prayer) certainly should endeavor to do so (as in Paul - Ephesians 3.17-19).  But right now, right here, God is love, and God so loves.  Inexhaustible uncontainable immeasurable love, overflowing, overwhelming unconditional love, giving, sacrificing, pursuing-that-which-is-good-for-the-other love.  It’s-not-about-me love.  Others-first others-more-important love.  This love is not about me, about how I feel.  It’s not about my happiness as the be all and end all.  This is love which finds its greatest satisfaction in giving itself away for the sake of another.  This is God, and He IS love.  Love incarnate.  Love with skin on - and He so wants to so love others with His love THROUGH US.  Love is not just what He is like, it is what He DOES.  Because love is NOT a feeling - it is a verb.  THE Verb.  It acts, it gives, it flows out and touches, works for the good of the world and those around us.

-Everything about God is characterized by love.  All love, all the time.  And so we must ask, where is the love?  What about the love?  Particularly, God's love in me directed towards His children, my brother and sister in Christ?  How am I doing at loving them?  How are we doing at loving one another?  Because our Daddy, this is what He is like.  He is all about this.  The consummate "Love Machine".  And He has designed it such that love is the be-all end-all goal of following Christ - love for Him, and for others, especially for His people.  And His children are to be little love machines running all over showing His love to peoples everywhere.  So much so that the person who is not loving, who is not “doing” the love thing very likely “did not” (come to) know God (not yet at least).  There is not a time in their life when they put their faith in His Son.  As best we can tell, they are not “out of” God, He has not worked in them a rebirth of love.  Now, it IS possible they may be having a bad day, or going through a rough season - it happens to everyone, right?  But when you look at their life, and how they live over a period of time, if you do not see love, this giving sacrificing doing love which comes only from God, then it is safe to assume that this person has not yet come to know the God Who is love.  And yes, unbelievers are certainly capable of rising to great acts of sacrifice and generosity - but we’re talking a consistent lifestyle of this selfless love, something which is quite impossible to sustain apart from a heavenly reboot and daily divine enabling.  God help us indeed...

1John 4:7 - Love Distributors: Lovely, loving, beloved people of love

"Beloved, may we be loving one another, since the love out of God is, and everyone loving out of God has been begotten and is knowing God."

-Beloved, he says.  This works on several levels.  You are loved by God, by the God Who so loves.  He made you, and saved you, and has blessed you.  You are so loved.  But you are His new creation, His handiwork, a work of love, and you are part of this community of love.  You have been brought into this forever family of everlastingly loved people who should be, ought to be expressing this divine love to one another.  In here, you are loved, and you should get love.  May it be so, John says.  May we be loving one another like the beloved people of love that we are.  And what’s more, the reason I am saying this is that I love you too, John says.  I care, and I care too much in fact to not urge you all on towards love, towards the greatest of these and the ultimate goal of all our instruction (1Corinthians 13.13, 1Timothy 1.5).  All our lessons and sermonizing and efforts and strategies and programs and mission statements ought to wind up here.

-Because God makes love.  He begets love.  That’s exactly what John says here.  Love is from God.  He loves - it’s what He do.  He exudes it from every fiber of His infinite being.  It comes out of Him like an artesian well, spilling over into all the world, all the universe.  And it is what we ought also do...

-So then - know love, know God.  That’s what he’s saying.  If you would know love, go straight to the Source.  The Divine Love Maker Himself.  A veritable Love Factory.  But you should also be able to go to His love distributors, to those He has begoten, those He has made, or rather remade in His image, in whom He has worked a spiritual rebirth and in whom He has caused His Spirit of love to dwell.  You should be able to go to them, and see and get love.  May we, as His love distributors, become extra good at this, at loving one another.  Employees of the month - every day, every week.  How are we doing at loving one another?  This is where it starts, and where it should end up.

1John 4:6 - The Ultimate True/False Question

“We out of God are, the [one] knowing God is hearing us, [he] who is not out of God is not hearing us.  Out of this we are knowing the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

-Here we have the ultimate true/false question.  And you had to like those odds in high school when you for sure didn’t know the right answer.  Only two choices, and you had a 50/50 chance.  Much better than a mulitple choice question - esp those ones with the D) All of the above, and E) None of the above.  Those were killers.  But no multiple choice here.  No 50 shades of grey, either.  No, not even one.  What we have is truth and error.  True and false.  Right and wrong.  Black and white.  No grey area to be seen here.  John stakes out the boundaries in no uncertain terms.  True or false: Jesus is the Way.  And note John’s confidence - we are out of God, which means we on the side of truth.  If you know God, you therefore know and listen to the truth.  I.E., you listen to us and what we’re saying about this One Whom we saw and heard and touched (John 19.35, 1John 1.1).  It does come off as sounding somewhat circular - you are listening to truth, ‘cuz what we are saying is true - but John and his companions were actually eyewitnesses.  We SAW Him, with our own two eyes, he says.  We saw all that He did, for three years.  We TOUCHED Him - and He touched us, and healed us.  And we HEARD Him.  We heard what He taught.  And we heard God Himself speak from heaven, at least three times (Matthew 3.17, 17.5; John 12.28)!  What’s more, we have signs and wonders to back up what we have been saying (Acts 5.12, Hebrews 2.3-4)!  What we are saying about Jesus is true, this is the spirit of truth which is from God Himself.  Thus we and all those who believe in Jesus are on the side of truth and can be said to be “out of God”.  It’s not at all about me and what I might bring to the table - it’s all about Jesus.  Do I believe in Him?  Am I following Him?  But this extends to both teachers and hearers (follower/believers).  True follower/believers (ones who truly believe in Jesus) listen to true teacher/believers (who also truly follow/believe in Jesus), whereas false followers do not.

-”Error” is a wandering.  That is the picture in the Greek.  This person has strayed from the path.  They are lost.  They have been led astray somehow, possibly from childhood even, and very likely have been or will be leading others astray.  And everyone gets lost at some point.  Maybe you were taking a test, or doing some homework, and got lost.  You didn’t know how to proceed.  Maybe you were going somewhere, and you took a wrong turn.  It helps to have clear directions.  Or a map.  Used to be, you had your "map people" - or used to before GPS.  Going someplace new?  You needed a map.  Map people would have dozens of maps (I did!).  Now you’ve got your GPS people - can’t go out of the house without their GPS.  The thing about being lost is getting UN-lost, getting found.  Getting back on the path, back on track.  It can begin with making sure you’re not following someone who is lost themselves (and pity the one who copies a test answer from someone else who got it wrong!)!  But we’re not talking about making a wrong turn in Albuquerque.  This isn’t some bonus question on a pop quiz, some simple sophomoric mistake likely to be graded on a curve.  No, we’re not talking about some roadtrip or grade school hijinks, here - this is a matter of life and death, and this error, this fateful, fatal wandering will cost you your very soul.  Surely one would want better than 50/50 odds.  That’s pretty much hanging your eternal destiny on a coin flip.  Spiritual russian roulette - who in their right mind would play that?  Except with 50/50 odds you've got THREE bullets in the gun.  Surely one can do better.   And this is John’s point.  We CAN know, for sure.  No guesswork here.  No hint or shade of grey.

-This is also why we see Jesus’ half-brother James being so keen to stress the importance of turning people from their erroneous wandering ways (James 5.20).  Helping them to get on the right track, helping them move from lost to found.  There is an art to doing this, of course (cf Galatians 6.1, 2Timothy 2.25) - cautious gentleness.  And unlike that grade school test, in this instance, we ARE actually looking for red marks - the crimson blood of Jesus which in truth covers up and takes away all our mistakes, all our wanderings and spiritual error.  He is the Way, and the Truth.  Do you and I believe this?  Are we listening?

1John 4:5 - Heaping helping of insipid platitudes and a little side of Jesus...?

-”They out of the world are, because of this out of the world they are speaking and the world is hearing them.”

-Ah, these pesky antichrists.  All these ones who oppose those who are out of God (in Christ) - these are out of the world.  They belong to the world, to this world system, to that which has been aligned against God and His purposes from the very beginning.  And increasingly so.  That’s what Paul wrote to Timothy, that “things” will be going from bad to worse (2Timothy 3.13), deceived deceivers, imposters, posers.  Remember John is talking about false prophets - ones who purport to actually have a message from God.  And whatever message they are communicating does not acknowledge Jesus as Messiah.  It does not make Him famous.  It does not flatter Him or reinforce the truth about Him in any way.  At best, these worldly teachers are a distraction, but know for sure that no matter how much Scripture they may employ, the source for their material is the world.  Worldly wisdom and values - fallen, flawed, fallacious.  And ultimately opposed to the truth about Jesus.  But the citizens of the world, those who subscribe to the world system, its ways and values, they listen to these false prophets.  They accumulate for themselves teachers who tickle their ears and spout off all kinds of pithy, profound, feel good drivel.  They may even offer lip service to Jesus.  Jesus is alright with me.  Sure, I believe in Jesus.  Jesus and (all) the (other) prophets and teachers.  The flavor of the month, I’ll take a little of that, a little dab’ll do ya.  Would you like some Jesus with your combo meal?  Sure, I’ll take a little side of Jesus with that - but not too much!  Building their castle on so much shifting sand.  They seem wise and compassionate, they sound progressive, educated, they are entertaining and they make people feel better about themselves.  But Jesus Messiah is left out of the picture.  He is relegated to a minor role at best.  Whatever ado they are making, it is not much ado about Jesus.  Jesus Messiah doesn’t sell tickets, He doesn’t grow ratings, and frankly He is a fork.  He is a pain in the spiritual you-know-what.  He believes in absolute truth (He IS Absolute Truth).  He forces you to be honest about your sin and guilt before God and to deal with it, and the world doesn’t want to hear that.  It’s uncomfortable (can’t have that!).  It’s judgmental, narrow-minded, bigoted, antiquated, victorian.  It’s intolerant - and the world won’t tolerate intolerance.  So they listen to the ones - almost anyone - who will tolerate them and let them continue to wallow in their waywardness (2Timothy 4.3).  Heaping helpings of insipid platitudes, and nary a hint of sound doctrine.  But ours is no popularity contest.  Ours is an Audience of One.  #AO1

1John 4:4 - Our Spiritual MVP

”You all out of God are, little children, and have conquered them, because greater is the [One] in you than the [one] in the world.”

-Nike.  Niké in the Greek.  It means victory.  Just win, baby.  And that’s what we did.  Through Jesus.  Our Rescuer.  Our Deliverer.  Our glorious incomparable spiritual MVP.  He is the One Who has carried us - our whole team - to victory.  Victory over sin and death - and over all those pesky antichrists, every last one of them, over any and all those who oppose.  “We shall overcome” is a popular refrain, but whoever wrote that isn’t telling the whole story.  In Christ, we already have.  We HAVE overcome - because Jesus has overcome the world (John 16.33).  It’s not future tense, something which remains to be seen - it’s perfect tense - a completed action in the past, with continuing results in the present.  This victory was won at the cross and the empty tomb.  And the results stand until this day.  John has already told us twice that we HAVE overcome the evil one (1John 2.13-14).  In that passage it was young (brave and strong) men who had conquered the evil one, but here it is the little children.  Even the little children are more than conquerors in our all-conquering Christ (Romans 8.37)!  All of the assembled forces of darkness, they were summarily trounced by the King of kings, along with all the naysayers and skeptics, all our would-be foes and any and all who consider us fools for following Jesus to begin with.  And there is the wonderful irony.  The very opposition we take on when we take up our stand in Christ has already been defeated - by Christ!  They may disrespect us, they may avoid us, they may try to silence us and persecute us and even try to kill us, but we’ve already won.  In Christ.  We’ve won the battle.    And it was a rout.  They were all thoroughly vanquished.  Sure, there are skirmishes to be fought, and it may be tough sledding at times, but we’ve already triumphed!  We’re on our victory lap, we in the ticker-tape parade to end all ticker tape parades, even as we speak (2Corinthians 2.14)!  AND there is no shame at all in jumping on this bandwagon!  Because as soon as we get on God’s side, the moment we trust in Him, that puts God on our side, and if God is on our side, ain’t nobody gonna be able to handle that.  You know that’s right.  (Romans 8.31).

-But the way to be on this winning side, the way to be “out of God”, as John puts it, is to be IN Christ.  Believing IN Him.  Not just knowing facts about Him.  The devil knows facts about Jesus.  And he’s convinced that they’re true.  But there’s no way he’s going to humble himself and turn from self to trust in Jesus’ death on the cross as the all-sufficient payment for His sin.  He’s not going to fully follow and devote himself to Christ.  But this is what we must do, if we want this victory.  If we want to be on the winning side.  Please, if you haven’t already, put your trust IN Jesus and what He did on the cross for you today.  Make sure you have done that.  And then follow Him.  He’s a great follow...!  The Best!

1John 4:3 - Those Who Oppose...

”...And every spirit which is not confessing Jesus is not out of God.  And this is the [spirit] of antichrist, which you heard that it is coming, and now in the world it is already.” 

-Confessing Jesus.  Confessing Jesus.  This then is the litmus test of every would-be teacher and messenger and message which purports to represent truth pertaining to God.  Do they confess Jesus, do they “say-the-same” things about Him, do they agree with what God says about Him in Scripture and with what Jesus said about Himself?  Because if they do not, they are not from God.  Pure and simple.  Laser focus - what do they say about Jesus?

-And this is the starting point for helping determine where anyone is in their personal faith journey.  It may not be the actual starting point for any discussions we may have with them.  There may need to be a little (or quite a bit of) “pre-evangelism” which takes place prior to that.  Conversations about the existence of God, the trustworthiness of Scripture, the nature of creation, etc.  Compassionate questions about their own spiritual journey.  Maybe they’ve been wounded or burned and they need to be convinced that we care - before they care to hear that of which we are convinced.  But sooner or later, it’ll all come down to Jesus.  What does one know - and believe - about Him?  We need to be pointing our neighbors and the nations to Him.

-But there always will be those who oppose.  John has already mentioned antichrist, that which is against or opposes Christ.  Even in John’s day, there was a general awareness that one day there would come this person or figure who would be the embodiment of evil, of all that which has forever stood in opposition to God and His purposes, and who would take a final stand against God and His people.  But John restates that this “spirit” was already active in the world when he wrote.  And to be sure, there were those who opposing Jesus from the very beginning, bruising Him on His heel at every step (cf Genesis 3.15).  Folks in his hometown disrespecting Him, Pharisees and religious leaders arguing and conspiring against Him, His own followers (one of them at least) plotting against Him and betraying Him.  And the evil one himself - powerless to stop Him or even stand before Him, yet tempting Him and resisting Him nonetheless.  This spirit was already in the world, and is front and center in our world today - massive resistance at many points to even naming the Name of Jesus.  Many (too many) have exacerbated the situation and sadly have sullied that beautiful Name by misusing and misrepresenting it.  But the battle has been joined even apart from that, a desperate rebellion, countless spiritual rebels not going down without a fight, led by one who was a rebel from the beginning.  And as God’s appointed Rescuer, Jesus becomes the lightning rod.  He is the whipping boy (quite literally, in fact).  People blanch when you even mention the name, Jesus.  They choke on that Name. They curse with it - and some simply curse it.  Ultimately it speaks instantly to whatever rebellion lurks in the shadows of an unbended unmended heart.  The more they embrace and cling to their rebellion, the more they must oppose the One Who would rescue them - from themselves.

1John 4:2 - Heavenly-sourced...

”In this you all are knowing the Spirit of God: every spirit which is confessing Jesus Christ in flesh having come, out of God is...”

-The very first thing to look for when testing a spirit is, what do they say about Jesus?  If we are going to own our own Pied Piper prevention, this is where we start.  Rule #1 for good fruit inspectors - what do this person say about Jesus Christ?  John says we can know for sure, and it all begins - and ends - with Jesus.  His is the Name above all names, the greatest Name in history, sweet honey on the lips to some, bitter gall and guilt to others.  His is the Name which launched a thousand ships - of missionaries carrying His Name (along with their own coffins) to the ends of the earth, which inspires feats of great love and sacrifice and which (sadly) tears families and nations asunder (very sad reality, but Jesus Himself predicted the same - cf Matthew 10.34-36, 24.9).  He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end - of history AND of Truth.  And so we can know whether someone is teaching true truth which is authentic and carries the heavenly seal of approval by this.  Teaching which is heavenly-sourced begins and ends with the basic premise that Jesus is heaven-sent.  He came from God, and became a flesh-and-blood man, the God-man.  Infinite almighty God became a finite man and took on frail flesh.  The Incarnation, we call it.  Unreasonable, inconceivable, and otherwise scientifically impossible, yes.  But this is Christianity 101.  This is where we start, this is what you look for.

Anyone who is teaching with the power and help of the Holy Spirit will reinforce this most basic tenet of the Christian faith, because the Holy Spirit came and still does come in order to glorify Christ.  “He will guide you into all truth... and He will glorify Me” - that’s exactly what Jesus said (John 16.13-14).  All the other religions, non-Christian religions, and all the sects and cults which have spun off of the Christian faith - they whiff on this right here (now there may be a few which get this right but then whiff on something else, but that is another discussion).

But so, this is our ready position (tennis players).  Got Jesus?  Alright, now we can proceed.  Look for this, first and foremost.  If someone is teaching, purporting to be teaching truth, specifically Christian truth, inspect this.  What do they say about Jesus?  Who is Jesus?  And corollarily (is that even a word?), make it your goal to be absolutely sure yourself of the truth about Jesus.  Maybe it would help you to write out what you know about Jesus, what you are convinced is true about Him (no, it would definitely help).  Your own personal Jesus statement.  Look up and write down the verses of Scripture which give you this assurance.  Savior.  Promised Messiah.  Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world.  God’s Son.  God Himself.  The God Who loves you.  Born of a virgin.  In Bethlehem of Judea.  Grew up in Nazareth.  He was a real live Person Who lived and died to rescue and bring to heaven you and me and anyone who believes IN Him.  But don’t just take my word for it, don’t write what I just wrote - do it for yourself.  And know for sure what you believe about Jesus.  Test the spirits yourself - you can do this!

1John 4:1 - Pied Pipers, Cynics, and Amateur Alethiologists

”Beloved, not every spirit you all be trusting, but rather you all be proving by testing the spirits, if out of God it is, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

-They say that trust is earned, but so is distrust.  Trust is actually the default setting on the human heart - kids believe what you tell them.  Jesus taught us to trust like little children.  And kids do that - until you or I or someone else prove untrustworthy and begin to give them reasons to distrust.  As we grow up we learn that we can’t in fact trust everybody.  People let us down.  People make mistakes.  People are mistaken.  Some of us wind up so disappointed and disillusioned and wounded and jaded that we find it next to impossible to trust anyone.  We still want to trust, however, especially in matters of faith.  We’re hardwired to trust.  Our souls retain an earnest longing for a shepherd who will watch over us and guide us and feed us, someone we can trust.  We come to a setting like the church where we assume (desperately hope even) that we should be able to find truth and a trustworthy shepherd.  Sadly, too often this is not the case.

-False prophets.  False teachers.  Liars.  You can’t trust what they say - makes it hard to know who you CAN trust.  Even in John’s day, there were many of them, apparently.  They had gone out into all the world,  Trying to deceive and lead people away from the truth.  In our day it has been typified by the so-called televangelists.  The preachers of prosperity who so often seem more interested in helping your money find a way into their own pockets than in helping you to find heaven and a heaping helping of soul-satisfying truth.  A generation ago when there were only a handful of stations on television it was a lot easier to stumble across them.  Their voice has perhaps been diluted somewhat with the rise of the new digital media and so many more entertainment mediums to choose from, but in their heydey they helped to produce an entire generation of cynics.  Such false teachers are enough to turn your stomach, turn you off, and turn even the most hopeful believer into a cynic.  Or a skeptic.  Makes it hard to know who to believe, who to trust, or if you can even trust anyone at all.  But John is not here endorsing cynicism.  Life in a broken world can cetainly do that, turn anyone into a cynic.  Where you question everything and everyone and are unwilling to trust at any level.  You’ve been burned, or you’ve seen too much, heard one too many charlatans.

-But John is not saying that we should never trust, that we should trust no spirit whatsoever not ever - just not all of them.  Because anyone can be mistaken, at any time.  Even the wisest, most-learned of teachers.  And, John affirms, it is possible to know which spirits are in fact from God.  He wants us to take some responsibility for our diet, for our intake of truth.  So he tells us to be testing the spirits.  You and I and anyone really can prove whether or not what someone is teaching is true or false.  Weigh what someone is saying against the counsel of Scrpiture.  And be a fruit inspector - look at the fruit of their lives as well as the fruit in the lives of those who are following their teaching.  John is suggesting that we all become amateur alethiologists.  Alethiology is the study of truth, and he is putting the onus of knowing and being able to test truth on his readers.  On us.  Truth sleuths!  It is easier perhaps to leave it up to someone else, to not bother to go through the trouble of testing anyone.  Of course this invariably gives rise to the Pied Piper syndrome and could lead to the shipwreck of your faith.  Or one could simply choose to not believe, not trust anyone.  The possible outcomes here are just as ruinous, if not moreso.  But as there is strength in numbers, we can do this, with the help of the One Jesus sent to help us, Who came to guide us into all truth.  Pied Piper prevention.  This is possible - we’ve got this.