Studies Through 1John - Lesson 9

                    Studies Through 1John - Lesson 9

                      1 John 2:26 - 3:10
 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.
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.
⁴ 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. ¹⁰ 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.

          In this passage John tells us that there are 2 types of people in the world Children of God and Children of the devil. Now that isn't to say that there are Christians and then there are people sacrificing goats in their back yard, having séances, and playing with Ouija boards. The children of the devil aren't that obvious. Satan doesn't care if you worship him or not, he just doesn't want you worshipping Jesus because that is how you stay in his kingdom.If you are living for yourself, you are in Satan's kingdom. You see, Satan's sin was wanting to be his own boss and king rather than submitting to the authority of God. Jesus says "Thy will be done" and Satan says "My will be done". The problem isn't that a lot of people who know they aren't Christians, actually are - no, the problem is that a lot of people who think they are children of God actually are children of the devil. Once again, John is going to help us know which family we belong to.
       The first sign that we are  in God's kingdom is wonder and amazement. John is writing to the people and he suddenly breaks out in praise. He exclaims, behold, how great, God has lavished His love on us, we're children of God - we really are!! Do the simple truths of the gospel ever jump out at you and come alive and bring you to praise, worship, wonder, amazement? That is a sign you are a child of God, that doesn't happen to children of the devil. Do you ever run into people that are Christians and suddenly it feels like you are best friends. I have had instances where I heard people were Christians and I went up to them and I said, "Hey, I heard you are a Christian - so am I" and they look around and mutter under their breath and change the subject. Hey, true believers should be so filled with gratitude to God for their salvation that they should instantly have a bond like I do when I meet an English speaker on a mission trip. They shouldn't say "of course I'm a Christian" but rather , "Yes, can you believe it? Me!"
      The next sign is a longing for Heaven. A longing for that beatific vision. A hope for finally getting rid of this body of sin. That selfishness and pride that causes every fight you have with your spouse. John says, since we know that He is coming back, we should get ready like a bride primping herself for her groom. Like the groom wanting to look good for the bride we should be purifying ourselves so when he comes back we won't be ashamed. This is kind of the point in the parable of Matt.22 where the man comes to the wedding feast without changing his clothes. He promptly gets thrown out because obviously he had no respect for the wedding family. The tares in the church not only have an underwhelmed form of Christianity but also one that has it's eyes set on this world rather than the next.
      This adds to our list we are compiling through 1John of internal evidences that you are a child of God. As a review they are
    1. An inner confidence
    2. Conviction of sin
    3. Conviction of righteousness
    4. Bible starting to make sense
    5. Putting Jesus ahead of yourself
    6. Craving God
    7. Desiring fellowship
    8. Desiring worship
    9. Discerning real and counterfeit
   10. Doctrinally believing the truth about Jesus
 * 11. Wonder and amazement
 * 12. Longing for Heaven

      This passage also has an external distinguishing mark between the two families - children of God don't continue to sin. It isn't that they have reached a state of sinless perfection like the Nazarenes believe but we don't continue in a pattern or lifestyle, or a sinful habit or practice. When confronted with the sin we repent with Godly sorrow and do all we can to remove it from our life and never do it again. Like Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, "Go and sin no more". This should be our goal - our marching orders. It was interesting when I was on a mission trip to Jamaica, I would ask my patients, "Are you a Christian?" and many would answer , "No". I'd ask "Do you believe you're a sinner?" They would say ,"Yes". "Do you believe Jesus is God's son and died for your sins?" They would say,"Yes". " Have you asked Jesus to forgive your sins and come into your heart?" Once again they would reply, "Yes". "Then why don't you consider yourself a Christian!?" With downcast faces they would say, "Because I'm living with my boyfriend" They got what we don't get here in the Bible belt. I could ask the same questions to 10 patients a day in my practice and get all the same answers except one - they would say "Yes" to being a Christian. John says that is incompatible with being a Christian and gives the trinity argument.
         First, continuing in Sin is incompatible with saying you have bowed your knee to God the Father's authority in your life. Verse 4 says sin is "lawlessness". We see lawlessness in our country currently in the areas of rioting against unjust death of African-Americans. In the cities where this occurs people are practicing lawlessness to send a message - "We are rejecting and rebelling against the authorities over us because they are unjust". People that practice lawlessness are rejecting the Father's authority over their life and saying I know better which is exactly what Satan did. When our church teens go to college, so many of them leave the faith. Why? Because the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life resonates so strong in them that they rebel against the law of God (usually under the guise that you can't trust the Bible because science has disproved it) because like Adam and Eve they believe the devil's lie that God is withholding something from them and they would be happier following their own way than God's way. If you are truly saved you won't rebel against the Father's laws because you have entrusted your life and future to Him.
        Second, continuing in sin is incompatible with saying that you are a follower of Christ. Verses 5-8 say that Jesus died to take away our sins and destroy the work of the devil. To continue to sin and say we follow Jesus doesn't make sense. Paul goes into great detail about this in Romans 6 where people were actually saying, "if God's grace is demonstrated when we sin, maybe we should keep sinning to show His greatness." Sounds like the kind of excuses humans would make up in order to sin. Why would you identify with Jesus who hates sin if you want to treasure sin in your life? It makes no sense.
       Lastly John says in verses 9 and 10 that we are born of God and His seed is in us. This is talking about the Holy Spirit in us. If the life of God is inside of us, we will start becoming like Him. An apple tree produces apples not bananas. A Jesus tree will produce the fruit of the Spirit not sin. To continue to sin is contrary to the Holy Spirit living inside you.
       So in summary, yes, Christians unfortunately still sin even though we don't have to. However, when we become aware of sin in our lives, a pattern of sin, or a lifestyle of sin, we are grieved and make every effort to remove that sin from our lives. This could be as simple as removing the source of temptation or telling a friend about the sin to hold you accountable. It could be as complicated as entering rehab, leaving a career, or moving to another location. Whatever is necessary needs to be done ASAP rather than continuing to hurt the one who died for that sin!

Studies Through 1John - Lesson 10

                        Studies Through 1John - Lesson 10

                            1 John 3:11-24
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.
¹⁶ 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.
¹⁹ 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.
         Starting at verses 19,20 we once again see John's reason for writing this book - to assure believers of their salvation. He is saying if your hearts or conscience, or voices of doubt are telling you, "You aren't saved", "You aren't a child of God", "You are a child of the Devil", etc. John gives you something to answer "your heart". Before we get to that answer, let's explore the reasons our heart might condemn us.
       The first reason, and I get most of these courtesy of John MacArthur, is strong preaching from the pulpit. If a pastor is really preaching the truth of the Bible, it has to bring up not necessarily doubts in our minds but reasons to examine ourselves. Have I really repented? Is Jesus truly Lord of my life? Am I continuing in sin? Do I love? Am I living for myself or Jesus? Have I surrendered everything to Christ? If He told me to forsake everything and follow Him, would I? In soft preaching churches that teach psychology, practical Christianity, grace, etc all the time (I'm not saying those don't need to be preached) people are taught to feel better about themselves and their humanity rather than to ask the tough questions previously mentioned in order to examine ourselves. A preacher of God's word has to make his congregation uncomfortable and prick their consciences otherwise he isn't doing his job.
       The second reason someone might question his salvation is because they can't accept forgiveness. For some reason they think that their sins are too bad, God could never forgive them. I believe this is one of the reasons God chose S(P)aul to be his chosen servant to spread the gospel to the world because if anyone was too bad to be saved it was him. He says in 1 Timothy;

   " I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. ¹³ Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. ¹⁴ The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
¹⁵ Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. ¹⁶ But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life."

       Reason three is bad theology and let me camp out here a little and talk about assurance of salvation. If someone has been taught that they can lose their salvation, it is not surprising that they would question whether they are saved. The question is, Can a Christian lose their salvation? (I got most of this from GotQuestions.org) First off it is critical to define Christian. I believe that the passages used as defense for losing ones salvation refer to people who were never Christians. They may have been raised in a Christian home, went forward, raised and continue in church and know all about God but never received Him and been born again by the Holy Spirit. There are all kinds of testimonies like that including John and Charles Wesley who were missionaries when they got saved. But a true Christian cannot lose their salvation for the following reasons;

    1) We are new creations - 2Cor. 5:17. A Christian is not just an improved person but a new creature. To lose your salvation you would have to be recreated to the old creature which is impossible.

    2) We are redeemed. - 1Peter 1:18-19. This refers to a price being paid - being bought back. The price paid was to the justice of God. Our sin was a cosmic debt that had to be paid to God and it was paid through Christ's blood and death. As we learned in chapter 2, Christ is our advocate and goes before the Father and says, "You can't punish them for that sin because I already took the punishment". Is He going to say, "Nevermind, I untook it"? No. He paid our debt, He isn't going to unpay it

    3) We are justified - Romans 5:1. To be justified is a legal act saying that your sins no longer count against you. Can you be unjustified. "I've buried your sins and iniquities and thrown them into the deepest sea. Oh wait, let me go look for those. I changed my mind." No, God remembers our sins no more.

    4) We receive eternal life the moment we are saved. John 5:24 If we could lose our salvation, eternal life could be granted to us only after we die and that is not what the Bible teaches. We are already seated in the Heavenlies.

    5) We receive the Holy Spirit at conversion and are sealed. Eph. 1:13,14. The Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. Now God, who never breaks His promises, changes His mind, or breaks a guarantee will keep us secure

   6) Can we be saved by grace and lost by works? Eph. 2:8,9  If salvation is by grace through faith alone not by works, then if we could lose it by works then we would have to be able to gain it back by works. This is actually heretical and a different gospel

   7) The picture of salvation is adoption - Rom. 8:15 We become children of God. We get His name! We are brought into His family. Is He going to kick His children out? Is He going to unadopt? That is incompatible with who He is

   8) The picture of salvation is marriage - Eph. 5:25-32 If God is going to divorce us, then why would He tell us not to divorce. The permanence of marriage is a picture of our permanence with Christ as His bride

     This is such an essential doctrine to our Christian life. My praise and worship is directly related to it. To praise and worship a God who may or may not get me to Heaven would be tainted praise at best and probably fake praise trying to earn brownie points. My service is directly related to it. I would serve Him with more passion if I knew that He was for sure taking me to Heaven. Now my service is to earn His approval with fear that I've never done enough or blown it with a bad attitude. My love for Him would be with all my heart, soul, strength if I knew His love for me was permanent. My commitment to forsake all and follow Him might be easier if I knew that I wasn't going to fall off the narrow path at the end and waste my life. John talks about this starting in verse 21. "If our hearts don't condemn us", i.e. if we are secure in our salvation, we can love in freedom, we can go to Him in prayer and worship in confidence and we can obey Him in order to make Him happy not to earn His acceptance - we are already accepted!

          The fourth reason people doubt their salvation is that they don't know the exact date or time. Now I think it is important to know that there was a moment in time when you crossed from death into life. A moment when you left one Kingdom for another. You can't just say, "Well, I've always been a Christian" because we know from the Bible that isn't true. We have had some revival preachers that make a living by having people get resaved because they don't have the time and date written in their Bible. The point isn't so much when but were you and are you currently showing proof that it took.

        The fifth reason people doubt their salvation is the pull of sin and the flesh is strong in their life. If that is proof that you aren't saved then none of us including the Apostle Paul aren't as seen in Romans 7. This actually is proof that you are saved. Paul knew that he loved the Law of God and hated sin yet still sinned. Prior to Christ's work in our hearts we hated the Law of God and loved sin. The very fact that we are wrestling with this is a sign of salvation.

       The sixth reason is that they have a false view of trials. They think, "How can I be a child of God when I keep going through all these tough times? Doesn't He love me? What they fail to understand is that trials often, if not caused by our own poor choices, are God's way of taking us from an immature status to the next level - from infancy to toddler to adolescent to teenager to young adult and so on. James 1:2-4 says -

  " Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

  and Hebrews 12:6-11

        My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
    and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
⁶ because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

⁷ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? ⁸ If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. ⁹ Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! ¹⁰ They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

 

   So that leads us to the second half of the lesson - how do you answer your heart when it is sending you insecure messages for any of those six reasons? What you answer according to this portion of 1John is "I know I am saved because I have true love and compassion for the poor."

   God says through the prophet Isaiah both in Chapter 1:10-17 and 58:1-7 that the people of Israel should stop doing all their religious rituals because without a heart for the poor, they are just pretending. James says, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in 2:15-17 that if we say we have faith but don't help the poor our faith is dead which I would interpret bogus. Finally the well known passage about the sheep and goats in Matt. 25:31-46 Jesus says that the truly saved, sheep, will take care of the poor. John adds his amen to these three mentioned passages.

    Of all things, why is taking care of the poor so pathognomonic of being a Christian? Well lets look at it through the Bible starting with God's response to the poor. God is not biased towards the rich or poor (Deut. 10:17) but He is also not neutral and will get involved in the plight of the poor. He will cast down the rich if they become wealthy at the expense of the poor (Ex.22:22-24 ;Jer. 5:27-29) as seen in His punishment of the Northern Kingdom (Amos 2:6,7 ;6:4-7; 7:11,17), the Southern Kingdom (Isa. 3:13-15,25 ; 10:1-4; Micah 2:2,3), and Nebuchudnezzer (Dan. 7:24-27). He will cast down the rich if they neglect the poor (Prov.21:23) as seen in the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-25), Sodom and Gomorrah (Ezek.16:49,50),  the aforementioned goats (Matt. 25:31-46), and the Pharisees (Luke 11:41,42). He will cast down the rich if they show contempt for the poor. (Prov. 17:5; Psalm 94:6-10)

      We see that God sticks up for the poor when they are mistreated. Why? It is part of His character - it is who He is. When He reveals Himself to Moses he reveals Himself as a God who has pity on those being mistreated. (Ex. 3:6-8 ; 6:6-8; Deut. 10:14-18) When He reveals himself through the incarnation He revealed Himself to people as one who came to set the oppressed free (Luke 4:16-21) Not only is that in His character but He identified with them by coming as a poor person and chose poor people as His special instruments. (Acts 4:13; James 2:5; 1Cor. 1:26-29)

     Since we are commanded to be like our leader, He commands us to have the same heart for the poor that He does. We are to make sure that they have equal justice in court (Ex.23:6-9 ; Ps. 72:1-4 ; Prov. 31:8,9), protection (Isa. 1:16,17 ; Ps. 82:3,4), and needs met (James 1:27 ; Luke 14:12-14; Heb. 13:2,3 ; Matt 14:16 ; the Good Samaritan Luke 10:30-37; Duet. 15:10,11: Prov. 14:20,21 & 22:9 ; Ps. 41:1-3). If we don't defend the poor when they are oppressed, don't identify with them or meet their needs, and if our heart does not go out to them, then according to John our hearts do have good reason to condemn us because they aren't beating in tune with God's.
       So, not only do we truly care for the poor because we take after our Father, but secondly it shows that we understand grace. Tim Keller says in his book Generous Justice, When we come across a poor person "and see their tattered clothing and think: 'all my righteousness is as filthy rags but in Christ I can be clothed in robes of righteousness'. When you come across those who are economically poor you can't say to them, 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps!', because you certainly did not do that spiritually. And you can't say, 'I won't help you because you got yourself into this mess,' since God came to Earth, moved into your spiritually poor neighborhood, and helped you even though your spiritual problems were your own fault. In other words, when we who understand the grace of the gospel see a poor person, we realize we are looking into a mirror.... You might say,'My money is my own'. Christ could have said 'My life and my blood are my own.' You might say,'The poor are undeserving.' Jesus could have said, 'They are wicked rebels..shall I lay down my life for these? I will give it to the good angels'. But no,  He left the 99 and came after the lost. He gave His life for the undeserving. You might say,'The poor may abuse it. Christ knew that thousands would trample His blood under their feet, that most would despise it... yet He gave His life anyway". If we truly understand grace we will care for the poor.
        Thirdly, this is true, unadulterated love. If love is defined as the commitment of my will to your needs and best interests regardless of the cost, then the opposite of love is selfishness or self centeredness. There is nothing selfish or self centered about taking care of the poor because there is nothing to be gained.Since only God can produce this kind of love, to love the poor is proof that God is inside of us. Jesus talks about this concept in Luke 14:12-14 and that's why James calls it true religion in 1:27;

      Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
  "  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world"

      Building on the concept of God inside us, the Holy Spirit produces fruit in and through us and gives us gifts. The fourth reason that taking care of the poor is a true sign of salvation is the fruit of the spirit of Kindness (Charity) being produced in us and fifth is the gifts of the Spirit of mercy, helps, service. The fact that we weren't previously like this in our younger years but are increasingly developing a heart for the poor is because of the Holy Spirit working inside of us.
       True compassion for the poor is how we answer our hearts when they condemn us.

Studies Through 1John - Lesson 8

                        Studies Through 1John - Lesson 8

                                                     1John 2:18-27
    Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. ²¹ I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. ²² Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. ²³ No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
²⁴ As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is what he promised us—eternal life.
²⁶ 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.


         In this passage we get a good glimpse of John's purpose for writing this letter. It appears that a false teacher came in and taught church members a false view of Jesus and a number of them believed and not only left the body but disassociated with them. John is comforting and encouraging the believers that this was not unexpected as Jesus and the apostles have predicted that false teachers would come to try to deceive them because Satan, though defeated was not going to just give up. The church had heard about the antichrist from Daniel 7,8,11 and also from Paul's letters written approximately 35-40 years earlier and certainly circulating to these churches. Now John is introducing them to a new use of that term meaning everyone that either is opposed to Christ or introduces a false, distorted Christ.
         Today we have the spirit of the antichrist all around us. First of all people are very opposed to Jesus in general. You can thank God all you want in public and even pray to Him but when you mention the name of Jesus it is a lightening rod. Suddenly people know which God you are thanking and which God you are praying to and it is the God that says bow your knee to me alone and that is intolerable to the world. No wonder so many Christian music artists don't mention the name Jesus because their music could not garner the secular acceptance that many of these artists desire either for noble or ignoble purposes. Most animosity to Jesus is just verbal and hate but some is actually violent and deadly as seen in other parts of the world. We even saw this in the early years of Saul of Tarsus who went from city to city trying to get people to blaspheme - say Jesus is God - so he could arrest them and kill them. Nothing is new in Satan's schemes.
        Not only do people despise the name of Jesus but they desire to portray a different Jesus that is no Jesus at all. I remember a young man I mentored who in retrospect was never really "with us" although during his radical Jesus years you never would have guessed it. He went to a liberal "Christian" college because he got the presidential scholarship granting him 4 years free ride, and when I saw him again I asked him, "Do you still feel Jesus is the only way to Heaven?" His answer confounded me - he said, "Depends what you mean by Jesus." I know to him that was profound but to me it made no sense. Now as I reread 1John it does; this is the spirit of the antichrist. Jesus now can be a mythlological character, a spirit being, a prophet, a teacher, a good man, a huckster, an angel, a benevolent god who could never punish anyone, one of many gods, brother of Lucifer, Michael the archangel or any host of false Christs. It DOES matter which Jesus you believe in because only one is the Way. The below video may not be in the best taste but it is a comedic clip that illustrates the point well. Watch at your own discretion

            

        The other reason for John writing 1st John is to give them assurance of salvation. In review we had talked about internal evidence and external evidences and we can add to the list in this passage

    Internal evidences
     1. Inner confidence
     2. Conviction of sin
     3. conviction of righteousness
     4. Bible starting to make sense
     5. Putting Jesus ahead of yourself
     6. Craving God
     7. Desiring fellowship
     8. Desiring worship
  * 9. Discerning real and counterfeit doctrines
  *10. Doctrinally believing the truth about Jesus

    External evidences
    1. Love
    2. Growth
  *3. Enduring till the end

What Kind of a Missionary Are You?

                      What Kind of a Missionary Are You?

    You notice I didn't ask "Are you a missionary?", that goes without saying. As a follower of Christ we have the Great Commission which says:

      "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matt. 28:19,20

      And we have the Acts 1:8 version of it which goes:

     "  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

    Our  Biblical prototype for the type of missionary we are is seen in this passage in Mark 5:1-20:

 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. ² When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. ³ This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. ⁴ For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. ⁵ Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
⁶ When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. ⁷ He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” ⁸ For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
⁹ Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” ¹⁰ And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
¹¹ A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. ¹² The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” ¹³ He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
¹⁴ Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. ¹⁵ When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. ¹⁶ Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. ¹⁷ Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
¹⁸ As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. ¹⁹ Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” ²⁰ So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

      I believe this is the only passage where someone asked to follow Jesus and he was turned down! I also believe that this man is the first recorded missionary in the Bible - and where was he sent? He was sent to his own people who knew him, knew what he was, knew his transformation, spoke the same language, and related to the culture.
      All of us are this type of missionary - we have been saved and transformed and we wish we could go to be with Jesus in Heaven but He says to us "No, be my witnesses here." Now that is not to negate the fact that some go to foreign unfamiliar lands if God calls them, but most of us stay.
      We see what type of a missionary we are once we are born again, but the question I was asking is "What kind of a missionary are you?" What I am getting at is are you a good one or a bad one or somewhere in between? Let me get at it this way - I'm sure you all have at some point in your life received a letter from a missionary you are supporting telling of how God is working in their called location or mission field. Pretend that you are a missionary from First Bapist of Paris, France. The congregation has sent you to Duluth, Minnesota (or substitute your home town) to a relatively unreached area to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and are investing in you $50,000 a year. Now it is time to write them a yearly support letter to convince them to keep supporting you. What would you write? What on Earth are you doing for/in the Lord? What difference are you making or have you made in the past year and what are your plans for next year?
      You see, most of us don't go through life intentionally like this or ask the question, "Why am I doing the things I am doing?" We take our kids to school, band or dance rehearsals, sporting events practices and games, go to work or serve at the school, go shopping, go to the gym, etc. all the while without asking, "How am I or how could I be using these things to advance the kingdom or as a missionary?" Instead of saying, "I spend 5 hours of the week taking my daughter to dance practice" our missionary support letter could say, "I am networking with a group of 10 parents of children who dance and I get to spend 5 hours a week with them, none of whom know Jesus, and am getting to know them and their needs. I am daily praying for them and one of them is having some medical problems and I have been able to take her to the doctor several times. We are getting close and she has let me pray for her and she has even agreed to go to a luncheon at our church.Please pray with me for her salvation." You see, suddenly a mundane event like standing for 2 hours watching your kid at soccer practice becomes a mission field. It all comes from living life intentionally with a missionary mindset and might I also add two other things.
       A missionary mindset is not only intentional but urgent. Why does the Bible speak of us being in the "Last Days" even though it was written 2000 years ago? Because God wants us not to get lazy or procrastinate because we don't know how long people have nor do we know how long the Lord will tarry. I remember a short term mission trip to Mexico and there were throngs of patients pushing in line to see me. The career missionary , not urgent because she would be there her whole life, yelled at them all and lined them up and said "If the doctor doesn't see you this time, the next time doctors come they will see you." She made sure we took an hour lunch break and quit right at 4. This drove me crazy because I was only there for 10 days and I wanted to see everyone I could because I wasn't there to rest, I could do that at home. 2 Tim. 2:4 says

    "No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs..."

      which to me means that you are here as a short timer, live urgently. In the example we are using, you have 1 year to make a difference or they will be calling you back to France and send someone else, so each day we need to try to make a difference.

      Lastly, a missionary mindset is that of an alien. 2 Cor. 5 speaks of us as ambassadors which means once we are saved, we are citizens of a foreign country, Heaven, and representing it here on Earth. Most of us in our example are so concerned about trying to make everyone in our town, USA think that we fit in rather than standing out, being different and representing our real home. It would be crazy for a missionary to start building a home and setting down permanent roots when he knows that his term is 5 years. He would use whatever budget he has, not to make himself comfortable but rather to spread the gospel. This is the meaning behind that bizarre parable in Luke 16 of the unjust steward where Jesus uses a scoundrel to portray a principle that money is not an end in itself but rather a tool to be used.
  
      So in conclusion, what kind of a missionary are you? What kind of letter would you write? Would the church back home support you for another year after reading your letter? What would you tell them are your plans for next year?  If you are like most of us, it would be a pretty weak letter but tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life - start now. I challenge you to get out a piece of paper and write a support letter. Be intentional. Be urgent. Be an alien!  

Studies Through 1 John- Lesson 7

            Studies Through 1 John- Lesson 7

                         Satan's Ploys

                                               1John: 2:15-17

     ¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

   How do we reconcile vs. 15 telling us not to love the world and if we do we don't have the love of God in us with "For God so loved the world" or God created the world in 6 days and it was good? Obviously it is understood by the different meaning of the word world. (Fortunately it doesn't have as many meanings as the word set) In the first case it refers to the population or people of the world and we are certainly to love them. The second case is the creation and we are definitely to love this and care for it. The meaning of the word world in verses 15 - 17 is Satan's system for opposing the work of Christ on the Earth. Therefore worldliness is being drawn into that system to the extent that you lose your enjoyment of the Father's love and you lose the desire to do the Father's will.

   Before we go into detail describing what these three ploys are, it is important to notice that Satan is using things inside of us - the flesh, the eyes, and our pride so it is probably more an internal problem than an external. Satan knows what is inside of us and from the beginning with Adam and Eve to the temptation of Jesus to our daily temptations Satan uses the same schemes he used 4000 years ago. James describes this in chapter 1 verses 14,15

  "  but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

      I like to picture this as resonance. I learned about this phenomenon in physics class. Check out the videos below;

 

 

Picture Satan holding a tuning fork vibrating the lust of the flesh up to our chest. Inside our hearts the lust of the flesh starts vibrating and it starts us in motion. Jesus talks about this in Matt. 15:16-20 when He says,

 

 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. ¹⁷ “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? ¹⁸ But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. ²⁰ These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

 

There is something inside of us that irrationally is drawn to these devices of Satan as illustrated by the unexplainable need to go after squirrels in this clip from Up.

 

 

Lust of the Flesh

 

What is the lust of the flesh? First of all let's look at lust - what is this? It is basically an over-desire or a hyper desire usually for an acceptable thing that becomes a passion or something that directs our life rather than what should be which is Jesus Christ. The flesh refers to our lower or baser appetites such as sex, food, thirst, rest, comfort. These appetites are good until they start running our lives. The craving for sex drives us to immorality. The hyper desire for food drives us to gluttony. The over-desire for rest drives us to lethargy and so on. How does this show itself in our world? Have you ever seen a Hardees commercial?! Enough said. How is it demonstrated in the Bible? Probably the poster boy is Samson (Judges 13-16) driven by sex, food, fighting, his body - he reeked havoc on anyone who came in contact with him

 

Lust of the Eyes

 

Did you know the eyes have an appetite? Have you ever heard "feast your eyes on this"? The eyes are more refined than the flesh. They focus on sophisticated and intellectual pleasures. They plunge us into dissatisfaction and covetousness. The modern day examples would be car commercials where suddenly our car is a piece of junk. HGTV, I'm convinced is primarily geared toward this. People walk through houses and say, "Gross, wallpaper" or "Iiiishh, carpet" or, "No gas stove - deal breaker!" All this time we are watching and saying, "Oh no, we have carpeting, wall paper, electric stove and horror of horrors - dark cabinets". The Biblical example of this is Achan (Joshua 7). After being told by God to destroy everything in Jericho, Achan saw a Babylonian garment and 200 Shekels of silver and took them. Why? It can only be explained by the lust of the eyes. After all, he couldn't wear it -"Hey Achan, where did you get that awesome Babylonian garment?" "Umm, I made it?" Or where was he going to spend that money? They just destroyed all the Wal-Marts. It was just stupid but don't we all relate? Why? Because it is inside us all to varying degrees.

 

Pride of Life

 

The pride of life seeks to elevate ourselves over everyone else. I like what Warren Wiersbe says about it in his book "Be Real" a commentary on 1 John which I have gotten many of "my" thoughts from. "The Greek word for pride was used to describe a braggart who was trying to impress people with his importance. Why is it that so many folks buy houses, cars, appliances, or wardrobes that they really can't afford. Why do they succumb to the travel now pay later advertising and get themselves into hopeless debt taking vacations far beyond their means? Largely because they want to impress people with their pride of life. They want folks to realize how affluent or successful they are." Nebuchudnezzer is the prototype of this. One day he looked out on "his" kingdom and stated how wonderful he was and God caused him to crawl around on all fours like a wild animal until he admitted that God was the one in control not him.

 

These three temptations are nothing new; Satan has used them from the onset. In the garden, when he tempted Eve with the fruit in Genesis 3:6;

 

 "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it."

 

You see the lust of the flesh - "good for food", it met the bodily needs.

You see the lust of the eyes - "pleasing to the eyes". It brought dissatisfaction with all the other fruits that they were eating day after day.

You see pride of life - "desirable for gaining wisdom" I can be as wise as God.

 

Also we see it in the temptation of Jesus in Luke 4:3 - 12

 

³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’
⁵ The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶ And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷ If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
⁸ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’
⁹ The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you carefully;
¹¹ they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’

¹² Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.

 

          You see the lust of the flesh - feed yourself

          You see the lust of the eyes - look at all these kingdoms you could have

          You see the pride of life - jump off and show everyone how amazing you are

 

      Lastly, how do we fight against these? With the Word of God. Jesus quoted three passages in Deuteronomy to fight off temptation in these areas. How would one stop the tuning fork in the second video from resonating with the one beaker? Fill it up with water! Change your frequency. Abide in the Word of God and fill yourself up with Him and His truths and the devil's schemes wont have quite the attraction to us.

                            

Teaching Your Kids to Defend the Resurrection

                    Teaching Your Kids to Defend the Resurrection

       Our kids at some point will be released into the wild of College and secular thinking that denies the transcendence and innerency of the Bible, the Deity of Christ, the miracles of the Bible, Creation, the flood, and the resurrection and unless our children are able to defend why they believe what they believe, they will quickly lose their faith. "My parents say it is true" or "The Bible says it" will rapidly be laughed out of existence. To aid you in teaching your kids how to defend the Resurrection, that Jesus bodily rose from the dead, here are 6 easy points that you and your children can use.

   A. Apostles

         All the apostles except John died horrific deaths for proclaiming Jesus rose from the dead. You can make up a story about Jesus rising from the dead but you aren't going to die for it. Charles Colson talks about after Watergate scandal broke, they planned to all keep quiet and deny but within 18 hours everyone was squealing on the others plea bargaining to stay out of jail. Could 12 disciples really keep a conspiracy like that quiet for the rest of their lives and through torture and death. No! These cowards who all fled when Jesus was arrested soon boldly proclaimed the gospel unto death. The reason - they met the resurrected Lord.


  B. Bible

        Now I know I said how do you use the Bible as proof when people increasingly don't believe the Bible to be true. All I can say is that we have manuscripts of portions of the apostles letters that are dated to the lifetime of the people who would have around at the time of this supposed resurrection. What if I wrote a book that Elvis didn't really die because I saw him in Pigeon Forge. I would probably be ridiculed severely because the coroner, pall bearers, his wife, his children would say, "That's not true - we saw his body. We saw him put in the ground and he isn't alive." Now if it was written 100 years from now when all the eyewitnesses are dead, I might have better success. You see, as these letters were circulated about the resurrection, if they weren't true this claim wouldn't have gotten off the ground. People would have said, "No he didn't, here is his tomb and he is still in it.
       One other factor is often used to discredit the resurrection but actually supports it. The four accounts in the gospels all have variances which shows they didn't collaborate to make up a lie. Testimonies that are somewhat different in minor details but are in agreement on the main event are more acceptable in a court of law than testimonies that look like they have been rehearsed, copied, or memorized.

  C. Calendar

       Did you know that B.C. means before Christ and A.D. means in the year of our Lord in Latin. The calendar used by most if not all of the world was rearranged on the basis of Jesus Christ. There have been a lot of famous people to die in history and a lot of people to get killed unjustly or for a noble cause. But only one shaped history so much that he affected time. What was different about him? How about the fact that he rose from the dead. No one else has ever done that. Every great and famous person that ever lived, died and stayed dead.

   D. Dead Body

        Every murder or crime show has a dilemma, what do the perpetrators do with the body? We have a body dilemma in the killing of Jesus, too. Where did His body go? The myth circulating was that the disciples stole the body. How? There were armed guards stationed at the tomb with the royal stamp saying if you break this seal you die or if you soldiers fail your duty you die. As we have seen , the disciples were cowering in fear when Jesus was taken and there is no way they could have moved this huge stone without the guards hearing it. Also they wouldn't start a legend when all that was in it for them was poverty, hiding, and death. What about the Romans? If they took the body they would have just produced it to squelch this new religion which was a nuisance to them. There is no logical explanation for where the body went

    E. Empty Tomb

        All great people of history have grave sites that you can go visit. Jesus has an empty tomb but the surprising thing is that they aren't positively sure this is the right place. Why? Because the point was he was only there for a few days. The grave wasn't the focus because he wasn't there. He was and is alive.

    F. Females

      When you look at the Easter story, women are prominent. They are the witnesses of the empty tomb, they are the first to see Jesus, and they go tell the disciples who don't believe them. Why is this significant? Back in these days women were considered second - class citizens. Their witness was not acceptable in court, yet these are the witnesses of the resurrection. If you were making up this, you would have men be the witnesses not women. The only plausible reason for including women is that this is how it actually happened. The only reason that the authors, the founding fathers of the church would have the women as the heroes and themselves as having no faith is that this is what really happened.

    G. Galilee 

      The resurrection account started in Galilee and spread out from there. If a fictitious rumor about something paranormal was to begin, certainly it wouldn't originate in the location where it could most easily be proven false. The world today has become very small with technology. For example, if a false account of a massive earthquake in California was reported by the New York Times, within seconds Californians could post that this wasn't true. In Bible times this wasn't true. People could fabricate stories in faraway places without the fear of scrutiny. The fact that this "rumor" began at the very locale where it could be proven to be untrue is highly significant and testifies to its veracity.