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...