Thoughts From 1John 4 - Part 1

  Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.  1John 4:1-6

          John, once again knowing he had an expiration date and being the last living disciple who heard the truth from Jesus' own lips, wanted to make sure that this 1st generation of believers wasn't led astray but would flourish and pass it on to the next generation. Already, John saw deceivers that threatened whether "when the son of man returns will He find faith on this Earth?" John is saying, use this test to see if a preacher can be trusted.

       First test - their view on Jesus. You can google "what do religions other than Christianity believe Jesus is?" and you will get anything but -  "the second part of the trinity come down from Heaven taking on human flesh and being all God and all man at the same time who died as a sinless sacrifice for the sin of mankind and bodily rose from the dead to give life to all who by faith believe." What you will get is a prophet, a rabbi, a revolutionary, etc. You might even get "a god" not "The God." If any teacher or religion has the wrong doctrine of Jesus, they are not just misinformed, they are actually evil and tools of the devil, that's why John calls them the "spirit of the antichrist." At some point, the antichrist will rise on the scene and will say things that sound right but his views on Jesus will absolutely be deceptively skewed.

      Second test - Do they speak from the viewpoint of the world? What's the viewpoint of the world? Living the abundant life down here not living like aliens belonging to another kingdom and storing up treasures there. There are so many false teachers who may even pass the first test but then teach that God wants you to be rich, healthy, powerful down here. You can see why Paul says that in the last days teachers would teach what people want to hear and deceive many. What kingdom are they preaching - the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of Earth. When Jesus sent out the disciples His message to them was simple. He told them to preach, "repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand." True preachers must preach this.

       Third test - What do they believe about the Bible? John asks, "Do they listen to us?" One of the criteria used for compiling the New Testament was, were these epistles or books written by people who had spent time with Jesus? John had, and wrote 5 out of 27 books of the New Testament and asks, do these teachers listen to what I say? Do these teachers say, "The Bible says this so let's do and believe what it says", or do they say, "That was just their opinion" or "That was cultural" or "We now know that isn't true today" or do they even go on to say, "that part of the Bible shouldn't have been included" or "here are other books that weren't included". James Tallarico, a politician from Texas who claims to be a believer quotes from "The Gospel of Thomas" and therefore justifies LGBTQ agenda.

        We need to be discerning and not be like sheep being led to slaughter. Be aware and be wary!

Thoughts From 1John 3 - Part 5

 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.  1John 3:19-24

           What part does conscience play in a Christian's life? You would think it should play a big part because we have the Holy Spirit. I've often compared the born again by the Spirit process to be a lot like Peter Parker being bit by the radioactive spider. (If i was reformed, I'd like it even better because he had no choice) The spider DNA infused through his body and when he awoke, he noticed he was different and had spider abilities that he could never lose. Those abilities needed to grow, and he increases in his abilities throughout the movie and comic books. One of those abilities is his spidey sense which warns him of danger, and I would equate that to our conscience. When we are veering off track our consciences should warn us. Should we aid the person in the previous verses or are they a scammer? The Holy Spirit should tell us and if we got scammed, we don't kick ourselves but have peace that we did what we were told. I kind of think that's what he means by, "If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and He knows everything."

         Can we trust our consciences 100% or as Jiminy Cricket would say, "Let your conscience be your guide"? I would have said yes to this in the past but Paul does shed some light on the conscience in 1Corinthians 4:3-5 where he says, 

"I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God."

       It appears that our consciences, because we still have the traitorous flesh or old me inside, can delude me. Thus, the need for continuing in the Word to renew our minds and continue to wash the old man out. I call it a mind enema where the water is the Bible.

Thoughts From 1John 3 - Part 4

  This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1John 3:16-18

           I'm always perplexed by these passages. Why do the apostles seem to always include a "one another" or in this case "a brother or sister" when it comes to acts of kindness? Why doesn't he just say, "If you see anyone in need, take pity and help them." You would think that's the point of the Good Samaritan parable that Christ gave to them. Does "brother and sister" here refer to the universal brotherhood and sisterhood on account of common creation? In Galatians 6:10, Paul says,

 " Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."

      I don't think the language of the epistle writers is to exclude but convict to include. Let me explain my point this way; when talking to people about divorce I came up with this thought and I think it is one of my few original thoughts. Couples search the whole world to find the one person they could love the rest of their lives and they marry them. If they end up hating that person, what chance do they have of loving their enemies? In the same way, John and others are saying that if you have no pity on a brother or sister in the Lord (we have a new family) and don't help them, how can you possibly hope to emulate the Good Samaritan?

      There are a number of caveats here that need to be delved into and to do so would require a book, but this does raise some questions of what does "in need" mean and are we just to "have pity." The second one is easier to answer because in context it says "actions" and self-sacrificial "laying down." Having pity implies meeting those needs. So what is a need? It's got to be food, shelter, and clothing. Are there more? What about medical or dental care or essential medications but they can't afford it? What about transportation to employment so they can meet their needs? What about electricity in their homes? And what if they have the money to meet those needs but choose to spend it on non-essentials? Are we then to meet the essential needs for them in mercy like God gives us what we don't deserve?

      I don't know - these are things I wrestle with and these are reasons we offer money management classes at church. But I do know that statistics tell us that if someone has a home and two cars they are among the 95% richest people in the world.

       So what are we to do here. My guess is John is not writing this passage to give us reasons to exclude but to include and err on the side of pity, mercy, grace, self-sacrificial giving to meet everyone's basic essential needs starting first with your family of believers then looking for ways to use God's money to show Christ to unbelievers.

Thoughts From 1John 3 - Part 3

 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. 1John 3:10-15

                John gives some insight here into the account of Cain and Abel. God required, after the original sin, a regular offering or sacrifice for the sin. This was to remind people that in order to have a right standing with God, sin must be atoned for. Although this was progressively spelled out that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin, and that couldn't just be a pint but it symbolized the giving of a life for the one who sins because the soul that sins shall die - we don't know how much Cain would have understood but we do know he knew what was required and by faith should have done it. Instead, since he was a farmer and was proud of his skills, he offered his bests plants as a sacrifice to God. We can't say that he didn't give his best or that he didn't give sacrificially - we don't know. What we do know is that he didn't give the offering that was proscribed. He thought he could get to God his own way and God said no.

          Verse 13 says that Cain wasn't mistaken or wrong but his actions were "evil". Why evil? I think we have to look back to the original sin in the garden. God, after giving man and woman paradise and most of all His presence and love, gives them one rule and says, "don't eat from the tree or you'll die." Instead of justly ending the creation (we would think after all that work maybe it can be spared but it was no work for God) He made a way to keep the relationship going until it could totally be fixed with the blood and death of His only Son and Cain says, "I want another way." Isn't this what we see today? Mankind saying, "Why is God so narrow minded?" "Why is there only one way?" "So, all those other religions are wrong, and billions are going to Hell because Jesus is the only way? That's not fair!" The answer to that is why is there even one way? God should have rightly ended things but He didn't and to complain about that is not just wrong - it's evil.

          And it's not just that - it's the underlying lie of all religions except Christianity. All religions except one say that the way to get to God is our best efforts. Cain gave his best efforts convinced God would be pleased and He wasn't. This is the lie that Satan wants us to believe and it isn't an honest mistake but evil from the evil one to believe it and stand before God waiting for the pat on the back and hearing, "Depart from me, I never knew you." God, in His mercy gave us a way back and it's by faith receiving the prescribed way of coming into His presence through the substitutionary blood and death of His righteous Son on the cross and that's the only way. The way of Cain is the evil path of deception and look where it leads - hatred, murder, getting cast from the presence of God and a lineage and harvest of darkness and hatred of God.

         Which side are you on? Are you trusting your best efforts to get you to God? That's the way of Cain and it leads to nowhere good. Or are you by faith trusting in Christ's death on the cross for your sins? That leads to love and life eternal. God gave you a choice. Choose Abel's way. It's not an easy life - Abel died a brutal death yet still lives in glory - but it is the right way.

Thoughts From 1John 3 - Part 2

 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.   1John 3:4-9

          I'm watching a western on HBO, and the lawman is eager to turn in his badge and move to a town where there is no law. He is tired of risking his life to enforce the law, so this seems to be an attractive place to go. A city without laws would be called "lawless." And as you would guess as John says, "Sin is lawlessness." The city is filled with gambling, alcoholism, murder, greed, stealing and all the one preacher in town does is funerals. That's when he has a captive audience to read scripture and hope it sinks in.

         People who don't like the Bible because it has too many rules are advocating sin and lawlessness. I'm sure they would say, "no, I follow the golden rule", or "I practice love not hate", but yet they are a law unto themselves. There is no one they answer to but themselves, (if they go too far, obviously the law of the land) Therefore, following the golden rule or not practicing hate will go only as far as it doesn't interfere with their wants and desires being met because in a world without the law, self is the king and this is what the Devil wants. The first commandment in the Satanic Bible is not, worship the devil or hate God, it is worship yourself. That is the sin we are born into and that is the 180-degree turn of repentance we must make.

       John says that if we continue to live a self-seeking life, that's proof that we haven't repented and aren't saved. When is the last time a situation came up and you said, "I really want to do this, but God's word says that, so I'll do what God wants me to do"? Vice-versa, when's the last time you said, "I know God's word says don't do this, but I really want to, so I'll just do it because I know he'll forgive me"? If the second scenario is occurring more than the first, it's possible that you've never really given your life to God and are saved. Hard words from John but ones where we need to search our soul because eternity is on the line.

Thoughts From 1John 3 - Part 1

  If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 1John 2:29-3:3

         It should be obvious by observing us for a little while that we are different. We are Children of God who think differently, act differently, react differently - we're just different in general. In fact one of my least favorite quotes ever is "preach the gospel always and if necessary, use words." This quote implies that we live lives so differently that people by observing us would come to Jesus. John is saying that the world does not know us or recognize us because they don't know God. Somehow through the opening of their ears to our words about God, our lives would make sense to them. What I'm saying is our words lead the way and our lives confirm the way. If we are living unrighteous, self-centered lives, we can share the truth, but it will immediately be rejected as false because our lives don't back it up.

        I know a number of people might disagree and quote 1Peter 2:12;

     " Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us "

          The hope is that our lives are so different that people would come up to us and like the Philippian jailor say, "What must I do to be saved?' Has that happened to you? I wish. The problem with both of these verses is that in both cases they imply prior knowledge from what you've said. You have preached about God, and your life backed it up so when crisis comes, they reach out.

          Satan, recognizing that a life well lived might point to Christ, has further obscured the view. I know Muslims that are more chaste than us. I know Mormons with better families. I know Jehovah witnesses that are nicer than Christians. I know homosexuals who are more thoughtful and gentler than believers. Bill Gates has probably given more money away to charities than 100 Christian philanthropists combined. People don't equate goodness with "religion" necessarily.

        Let's share Christ and back it up with our lives and through the power of the Holy Spirit, may we see some lives changed. And some day, when He appears we will finally lose this traitorous flesh and get a body that REALLY looks like Him. I can't wait!

Thoughts from 1John 2 - Part 7

  I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. 1John 2:26-28

     Salvation is the receiving of the Holy Spirit. To think you receive him after salvation, as a separate blessing is a misunderstanding of what it means to be born again. John talked about it in his gospel, Chapter 3, where he describes two births - one our natural birth and one our spiritual birth. God told Adam and Eve, the day they ate from the tree they would die. They didn't experience physical death that day, but they became spiritually dead and salvation is in effect reviving that dead spirit with His Spirit. Salvation is this regeneration when we believe by faith. This is the anointing John is talking about. He also referred to Him as the Comforter in John 16 who would lead them into all truth.

      Once the Holy Spirit brings us to life we start becoming more like Jesus in our thoughts, actions, words etc, which we have discussed before, but here John talks about another effect of being born again. John says we can read scripture and understand it without a teacher, pastor, priest, commentary needed. When I sit here and journal or blog, I just pray, "God, I want to understand Your word. Let Your Spirit in me lead me into truth. Teach me what I need to learn. Amen." That's a prayer God loves to answer. That doesn't mean that I am going to understand every nuance. That doesn't mean that I won't occasionally read things into it that the Bible isn't saying. It just means that God is going to make His word come alive and speak to me and tell me what I need to hear.

        This doesn't mean that we don't need pastors, teachers, commentaries, books and the like to keep us on track and stimulate our mind but to rely solely on podcasts, teaching videos, sermons and commentaries to learn from is not what God intends. In fact, John is saying that if you don't learn for yourself but rely on others, you could be led astray by false teachers. John, not knowing how long he will be with them is warning them to not believe everything they hear, but trust the Holy Spirit to guide them into the truth in their time alone with God. How did that work before the printing press and the general availability of the scriptures, I have no idea, but I can certainly apply it today.

       A popular YouTube video claims that those who engage with the Bible 4x a week (and I can't vouch for the veracity but I can believe it) are 59% less likely to view porn, 30% less likely to experience loneliness, 50% less likely to experience anxiety, 57% less likely to abuse alcohol, 32% reduction in anger issues, 228% more likely to share their faith, and 407% more likely to memorize scripture. Reading 1-3 times a week had minimal effect. God wants to meet with you today. Take advantage of that amazing offer!