Jacob

Intro
Abraham’s son was Isaac and Isaac had the twin boys Jacob and Esau. This week we look at the life of Jacob, who later had his name changed to Israel.

I will not, like last week, list some of things in the life of the man that we will miss out. But we miss out a great deal!

Genesis 25:21-34
Genesis 27:1-10, 25-41

Jacob cheats his brother out of both his birthright and his father’s blessing. Jacob marries the sisters Leah and Rachel, and has a number of children by both of them. These children will, in time, each become a tribe. Together these tribes will make up the nation of Israel, the Jewish people.

Jacob prospers and eventually meets Esau again where they are reconciled.

1) God’s Choice
Why did God choose Jacob over Esau?

Rebecca’s scheme and Jacob’s deceit.
Jacob was flawed but perhaps God saw someone with the capacity for change. Perhaps he had a teach-ability that Esau lacked. I can not decide. The one thing I am sure of is that we see evidence in the life of Jacob that he had faith and wanted to walk with God. We see no indication that Esau had any relationship with God or wanted one.

If you had know them both when they were young which would you have liked best?

Jacob experienced God. Throughout the Bible knowing God or walking with God is the measure of a life’s achievement. Jacob got there in the end, however flawed he may have been as a person. Some of his flaws even persisted to the end, see him as a parent with his favouritism of Joseph.

What does God see in you?

2) God’s Grace
Dream and promise.

Genesis 32:22-32

He had previously had a dream of ‘Jacob’s ladder’ which showed that God wanted to be known by Jacob. Now he finds himself wrestling with an angel. Jacob’s life had always been a struggle with various people. Now he is to be shown that it was God he must struggle with as it was God who held his destiny, with all it possibilities.

Jacob’s name was changed to Israel.
Jacob = “he grasps the heel” or “he deceives”.
Israel = “he struggles with God”.

3) Reconciliation
False reconciliation: Jacob (32:7-8, 11, 13-21). Jacob seemed to be motivated by fear. There appears to be a final change of heart in verses 10-11 where previous bribes are not offered as bribes but as gifts for reconciliation.

True reconciliation: Esau (33:1-9). Esau seems to be motivated by a genuine desire for reconciliation. He is eager, verse 4, he ran to meet Jacob and embraced him. Compare with parable of prodigal son?

How do we seek reconciliation. Reconciliation is a major theme of taking the Lord’s Supper together with other believers.

Conclusion
With whom do you need reconciliation?
Read Ephesians 2:11-22 for how, centuries later, reconciliation was accomplished between Jews and Gentiles.
What did it mean when Noah was described as a man who walked with God? We saw some answers to that question in the life of Abraham, but in what way have your conclusions been altered as you look at the life of Jacob?

Abraham

Genesis 12. See also Hebrews 11:8-12 and Acts 7:1-8

Intro

Between this Sunday and the next there is a large amount of material we are going to miss out as we continue on our e100 path. Much can be preached about Abram (or Abraham as he was later called) as he is a hugely important figure in the bible, both New Testament as well as Old Testament.

We will miss out:

• Lot getting himself into trouble and being rescued by Abraham.
• The visit of the angels who told Abraham that Sarah would get pregnant and bear a son.
• The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
• The incident of incest between the drunken Lot and his daughters producing the two boys Moab from whom the Moabites were descended and Ben-Ammi from whom the Ammonites were descended.
• Abraham meeting Melchizedek, he who had neither father nor mother but was ancient of days.
• Abraham not believing God’s promise of descendants, and because Sarah was barren Abraham getting Sarah’s maid Hagar pregnant resulting in the child Ishmael.
• The inauguration of the right of circumcision for Abraham and all his male descendants as a sign of their membership of the faith community.
• Twice Abraham causing trouble by saying that Sarah was his sister which resulted in others nearly taking her as their wife.
• God testing Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac – which he did not have to do in the end.

God took an one man who had no hope of having children and made him father of nations. He is said to be a ‘type’ of Jesus and is the first who is recorded as being justified by faith and not by his works.

Abraham is important to Jews, Christians and Muslims. The Jewish people trace their beginnings to him, as do various of the middle-eastern peoples. The lineage of Jesus Christ goes back to him and he is identified as a hero of faith in Hebrews 11:8-12.

Abram lived with his family in Ur of the Chaldeans, what we call Iraq. His name at first was Abram (Exalted Father) but was later changed to Abraham (father of a multitude). He married his half-sister Sarai (Princess). Being a half sister, we conclude that Terah had more than one wife.

Ur was a great city. It was rich, had libraries, art and culture. Abram came from a place advanced in art and architecture. He would have been familiar with buildings made of brick decorated with brilliantly coloured glazed tiles, zinc, gold, painted frescoes and bas-reliefs.

Abrams society had understanding of astronomy. Eclipses of the sun and moon were foretold and detailed records were kept of the movements of the stars and planets. The stars were numbered and named. We still use their ancient names.

In mathematics today, we use their 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 360 degrees in a circle. 360 is 60 x 6, as they had a mathematics system based on 6 rather than 10 as we do now. When we buy eggs by the dozen we are doing something that goes back to their numbering system.

Abram was leaving much and accepting a huge change of life-style to live with primitive people. He left Ur with his father, Sarah and Lot his nephew, and moved to Canaan.

They live in Haran for a while on their way to Canaan (Gen 11:31). Haran was centrally located along a trade route and was known for its worship of Sin, god of the moon.

1) God speaks (to one who hears)

Abram (later called Abraham) was seventy-five years old, when he was called by God. We have no idea the process of maturing that had taken place in his life by the time we pick up his story.

The people of Ur and Haran were moon worshippers. With that background, how did he come to know the true God?

See:

Genesis 12:1 The LORD had said to Abram…

Genesis 12:7-8 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, To your offspring I will give this land. So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there he went on towards the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

Years later his grandson Jacob dug a well there.

Listening: Are we slow to recognise God’s activity in the lives of others who do not yet follow him? Example of Muslims who decide to follow Jesus. Who is God speaking to in our day? Who is hearing God? Am I listening and hearing?

2) God plans (for one who will obey)

Acts 7 Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin

1 Then the high priest asked him, Are these charges true? 2 To this he replied: Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ 4 So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 God spoke to him in this way: ‘Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and ill-treated for four hundred years. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterwards they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’ 8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

Abram did not have to leave as far as we know. He was called to have the faith to leave his home. Obedience is a choice, a decision!

Genesis 12:1 The LORD had said to Abram, Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

Hebrews 11: 8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went.

Decision, obedience!

3) God blesses (for one who will receive, believe)

Abraham was blessed (12:2-3) in order to be a blessing. The blessing of Abraham was intended to flow to the whole world, all people (12:3). But Abraham had to believe and receive.

Faith

Abram did not deserve the blessing that God gave him and promised for his descendants.

We to do not deserve God’s rescue as it is not about good deeds we might do or by thinking we can be a good person (although God likes that sort of life, as mentioned in the Noah sermon). It is about trusting and following God.

This was the message God was teaching Abram, and we see him slowly learn it. At first he did not trust completely such in as the incident with Sarah and Hagar. In time though he became the hero of faith spoken of in Hebrews.

Hebrews 11:8-12

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age— and Sarah herself was barren— was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

Abraham understood something about faith from the beginning and we see it reach a point of maturity in Genesis 15:6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

See Romans 4:1-8

1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about— but not before God. 3 What does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. 4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7 Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.

Romans 5:9-10

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Ephesians 2:8-9

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no-one can boast.

Romans 10:9-13

9 That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame. 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile— the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Saving faith is the sort of faith we see in the life of Abraham.

Believing: For the believer is is meant to present and continuous.

Genesis 6

The Flood

Intro

Key thought: Genesis 6:5-6 The sadness and pain of God

At this time there seems to have been some people of unusual strength and size, yet to God they are called “Nephilim” = fallen. They may have been fine physical specimens but they were still fallen like the fallen Adam. No matter how grand we may want to appear, or how strong we feel, we need to remember what we are before God.

See verse 5. What a disappointment. Made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) with free will, yet choosing to use their free will to turn away from God.

A theme we see here, starting with Adam and continuing through the whole of the bible, is that of human beings attempting to live without the creator God. This is something that continues in our time. It is a temptation that faces us believers too.

1) Destruction

Sin saddens God because it breaks relationship with him. Sin saddens God and he must punish it.

The sin mentioned is violence (verses 11, 13).

The key thought may be the sadness and pain of God, but this is also about destruction. I do not have time to explore the theme of destruction and judgement here but it does raise many thoughts, and it shapes my view of what God is like.

2) Restoration and Covenant

Obedience pleases God even when we do not understand or when it is difficult.

What had God seen in Noah? What does it mean in 6:8-9 that Noah was “blameless” and “walked with God”? A similar thing was seen earlier in Genesis 5:24: Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

God chose Noah! God showed he was determined. Jesus the incarnate God shows us this determination. This is still the God who still feels pain because of his love for us.

Deliverance is more than spiritual, it is personal, social and environmental. It is this whole perspective that has inspired social entrepreneurs down the centuries. Personal rescue was not enough, they wanted to change their world.

The Adamic covenant was made with the pre-fallen man. Now this “Royal Grant” type of covenant is made with a fallen, though righteous, human being. This is part of the rescue plan that will continue and finally culminate with Jesus.

Genesis 9:12-17 And God said, This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. So God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.

God will never again curse the ground because of man. See 8:20-22. Verse 22 is the reply to fertility religion. The sign to Noah that he would not destroy again would be a rainbow, later the sign would be Jesus.

See Luke 2:11-12 Angels speaking to the shepherds: Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

3) Dependency

The Old Testament story is the story of God having relationship with human beings, first with individuals, then with a people (the descendants of a person called Israel), then in the New Testament with all those who receive Jesus. Down the centuries we see God preserving relationship. This account of the flood is followed by the rise of forgetfulness of God, and and increase of pride, illustrated by the building of a tower at Babel to reach to heaven.

Genesis 11:4 Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.

From the e100 website, sermon notes:

Ever since the Fall, humans had increasingly chosen to go their own way instead of God’s. The Tower of Babel became a defiant expression of pride, “We’re in charge here.” But it wasn’t true and that’s why God confused and scattered the people of Babel (11:7-9). And pride is not just a problem for “them.” It infects us all. In the end, the tower didn’t come crashing down. It was left standing as a monument to the futility of trying to live without God.

Conclusion

Noah was “blameless” and “walked with God”. I want to be like that.

It what way could that be expressed in your life this week?

Creation and the Fall

Introduction
Not about creation v evolution.  All have views.  Some different from others.  Good idea to read around the subject – but being an expert doesn’t save you.  In Matthew 23, Jesus said, “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Obey them”  Yet he goes on to say, “Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees …”  The were experts on the Bible, but missed the Messiah.  Also the experts in Herod’s Palace when the Wise Men came.  Relationship (with God) is more important than knowledge about him. [Better felt than telt]
In the beginning
Bible starts with t statement.  Must believe it.  Part of the Apostles’ Creed.  One thing is clear,  God was doing something good.  “God saw all he had made and it was very good.” (31)
But it also says “God created man in his own image, male and female he created them.” (27).  Not physical image (as male and female).  We are made like God – eternal with free will.  Different from animals. He wants us to love him – free choice.  Incredible.  Would a ruler prefer to be feared or loved?

The Fall

What was Adam’s (and Eve’s) sin.  3 stages.
Questioned God
“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” (1) Temptation to eat would be easily rejected.  Roman Christians justification for sin was, it shows how wonderful God’s grace is.  “I am a loving parent because I forgive my children for anything, stealing from me, answering back etc!”  Paul answers, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means.” (Rom 6: 1-2)
Challenging God
“You will not surely die.” (4).  If God is love, he won’t … He will!  “You will be like God” – they already were!  God’s wisdom is ignored at our peril.  Why did God say, “You shall not …”  Not because he is a killjoy.  Don’t touch, it’s hot.  Father knows best – it leads to happiness.
Disobeying God
“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.” (6) “She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it.”
This was the end of a process.  Eve (and Adam) could have walked away at any time.  1 Cor 10:13: “But when you are tempted, he [God] will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
Wet paint.  Very hot water.  Don’t walk as near as you can to a cliff’s edge and then wonder why you fell over.

Consequences of Sin

Broken relationships.
Relationship with God
Need to restore as quickly as possible.  No need to wait for confessions. 1 Jn 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  Get unconfessed sin sorted as soon as possible.  Have nothing on the list!
Relationship with Others
May never be restored or may take a long time.  Some great reconciliations in the Bible – Jacob and Esau,  Joseph and his brothers.  But not Cain and Abel.  Praise God for restored relationships in families and marriages after sin but it doesn’t always happen.

Solution to Sin

No obvious solution, but there are a couple of hints in there.
Curse of the snake
“I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heal.”  Mary’s child [Jesus] destroyed the works of Satan on the Cross.
Animal skin
God provides them with animal skins to ‘cover’ their sin.  Where did the skins come from?  Did an animal need to die?  Heb 9:22, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”  The only way for us to know forgiveness is through the blood of Jesus, which was shed for our sins.
John 1 tells us that the Son of God was there in the beginning (John 1:1-3).  The plan was already in place.

Sometimes people drift and their enthusiasm for God begins to decrease. How do we encourage these people? Paul faced this challenge when writing to the church in Colosse.

Paul praised the Colossians for their good start in following Christ, giving them positive feedback rather than scolding them for drifting. New believers need encouragement rather than criticism. Paul repeatedly tells them that he has been praying for them.

However, when the believers were in danger of going off track, forgetting the supremacy of Christ and the power of the gospel, Paul reminded them that the heart of the gospel is Jesus. Verse 15-20 present incredible truths about Jesus, and then in verse 21-23, Paul hits them again with the gospel. Paul’s gentle approach, which repeats things they’ve already heard in order to cement it, helps the new believers to re-focus. Sometimes we can criticise new believers and think that they must not have ‘got’ it. But if we gentle walk alongside them we have help them to re-focus on Jesus. However, its important that we remember that God knows the person’s heart and he is working in their life.

- Do you know someone who is drifitng? How can you encourage them in their faith this week?

- Do you feel like a drifter? How can you try to re-focus on God this week?

* 1 Timothy 3

This chapter is an encouragement to Timothy, to support him and help keep him on the right track. Paul shares his wisdom with Timothy to help enhance his ministry. The growth in the early church meant that there were churches popping up everywhere. However, in order for the churches to thrive and grow in number, they needed to be properly led. Success can often breed problems as people can desire leadership more than God. Paul needed to find a new generation of leaders who could keep the churches growing and plant more of them.

So, Paul wrote a job description detailing the requirements of a leader. The standard was set very high, and for us today, whether you’re currently a leader or not, are good goals to aim for. The list covers personal traits, attitude to family and also reputation. A good leader needs to be authentic and have integrity… not just talk the talk! In fact, you don’t need to be amazing at talking at the front to be a leader!

Today we can get caught up thinking that church is all about the leader, and to get into this mindset completely loses sight of the reason for church. A church belongs to God not to whoever leads it. Ultimately, a leader serves God by serving others. Humility is integral.

But church growth is hugely dependent on the quality of the leadership. It needs to be stable but also inovative, this is at every level; from the Sunday School teachers and home group leaders, to the Elders and Pastor.

Leadership is exciting and God may be calling you in to it. Begin developing those qualities now… you don’t know how or when God is going to use you!

- What could you do to develop your leadership abilities?

- How could you begin to lead in church?

The ‘how’ and ‘what’ of peace

Is there, was there, a challenge in that first Christmas vision? You would not think so judging by the sterilised image of Christmas in the media at this time of the year. The Christmas message is often presented to us in such a way as to avoid disturbing the peace of ignorance. There was a challenge and a surprise to the first readers of Luke’s gospel and, before that, to the first witnesses of the birth and its announcement.

Power

In Luke’s gospel note the titles given to Jesus and to Caesar. Jesus was declared to be Son of God, Saviour of the World, and Christ.

Luke 1:32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David…
Luke 2:11 Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Between those titles appearing in Luke’s gospel we see the name of Caesar Augustus.

Luke 2:1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.

Before Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, was ever conceived, Caesar the Augustus had already been declared by the priests of Roman as ‘Son of God,’ ‘Saviour of the World’ and ‘Imperator,’ and ‘Autocrator.’ The peace of Rome, the ‘Pax Romana’ was already supposed to be embodied in Caesar himself. This had been reinforced in the public mind by the building and consecration of a magnificent Ara Pacis Augustae, the Altar of the Augustan Peace at Rome.

So Luke presents two people with identical titles, and identical claims, to be bringing ‘Peace on Earth’.

If Augustus had already done it what need was there for another? Would the angels declaring it not realise it had already been accomplished by Augustus?

Peace

The peace of Augustus was fragile and would not last. It was based on subduing and defeating. It was achieved by war.

The Peace of Jesus:

• It would not be geographical but incorporate each individual.
• It would be accomplished by a different means. It would not be by war imposing peace, but would be by individual invitations to enter that peace.
• It would last the ages and even beyond this pre-resurrection life.
• It would be administered by the Ruler himself in every place where the ruler would be present.

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Some of the above material was lifted from: Huff Post, The Challenge of Christmas, by John Dominic Crossan, Dec 12, 2011

* Ephesians 6:10-20

Someone recently made a comment that really struck a chord with me. Their comment concerned the way in which our society moves straight from celebrating Halloween to getting ready for Christmas. Isn’t it funny that shops will dress up their display windows with Halloween symbols, and then more or less straight after 31st October, they’re covering the same space with Christmas decorations? How bizarre when the two occasions are completely contradictory. I think its incredibility weird that people would be perfectly happy to spend time thinking about evil things, dressing up as and decorating their homes and shops with witches, goblins and devils etc, and then that all comes down, and we’re instantly bombarded with Christmas trees, carols, nativity plays; a celebration chiefly about Jesus’ birth, Jesus who is the light of the world, who came to combat the darkness! How ironic.

But what’s so good about evil? Why do people want to celebrate something like that? Maybe they don’t really understand the reality of it. This passage in Ephesians looks at this, Paul was aware of the reality of evil, describing a way in which we can protect ourselves from the dark forces. The devil is real and he is scheming against us (6:11-12). Sometimes this will be in more obvious ways, but other times it’ll be more subtle like pride, greed & envy.

We can protect ourselves with God’s armour so that the devil can’t steal God’s good things from us or destroy His plans for us. Our protection can be found in truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, God’s word and prayer (6:14-18). They are weapons we can use in our spiritual battle. Paul encourages the people to “be strong…take your stand…stand your ground….stand firm…”. We should be ready for the attacks of the devil.

- Do you feel like you’re in a spiritual battle? What have you done to put on God’s armour?

* Philippians 4:2-9

Worry is something that plagues so many people. Whether its money worries, exam stress, worrying about the safety of children or concerns about people who are ill, we will all find ourselves worrying about our situations and maybe feeling we need to provide the solutions. Paul wrote theses amazing verses about God’s peace when he was jail. What an example! He says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (4: 6-7). These verses provide a solution: by prayer & petition, and with thanksgiving, tell God about it! Ever heard the phrase, “A problem shared is a problem halved”? I once read an extension of this… “A problem shared is a problem halved, so tell it to Jesus twice!”. What a good plan! So often we can carry around burdens and worries on own one, and miss out on receiving peace from God about it.

Paul says that God’s peace will guard our hearts and minds. What an awesome promise – that when we share our worries, God’s peace consequently guards us. Paul goes on to command that instead of thinking about things that cause you to be anxious, think about things that are noble and right, and admirable and praiseworthy. Choose to be positive and fill your mind with such things. We are also commanded to “Rejoice in the Lord always” (4:4). So no matter how you might feel initially, choose to rejoice and think about positive things, and pray about them. That’s Paul’s formula for peace!

- Is there anything you are worrying about today? How about following this formula to experience peace in this situation instead.

What a cracking passage! Paul hammers home so much truth in this chapter, and it contains so many verses that I have heard before, but I didn’t realise that they were all packed into the same space! I could fill pages with my musing about this chapter, but we’re only look at a few verses to save time and space. However, you might want to spend longer pondering the chapter as a whole.  Remember you can comment on the post if you have things to add or questions you want to ask!

In this passage, there is a section entitled, “More than Conquerors” which is full of truth that can encourage our faith. It includes 2 questions, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) and “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (8:35). These hypothetical questions enable Paul to spur on the believers, reinforcing the power of God and also his unfailing love for us. What is sometimes misunderstood is that these verses are not saying that God promises that only good things will happen to his followers. No, it is saying that God has an overall plan for good things for us and ultimately his power is on our side. He is for us and nothing can separate us from his love. God’s love for us strengthens us and means that no matter what we face (and sometimes it will be unpleasant) at least we can know that we can conquer it. As Paul says, “For I am convinced that neither death not life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, either height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (8:38-39). God’s power is stated so clearly in these verses.

This chapter also looks at the choice we have to make to follow him. Paul says, “For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (8: 13-14). Paul highlights in the importance of the Holy Spirit at work in us, and I guess that links to the other verses. If God’s spirit is living in us, then who can be against us or separate us from God?

- Is something other than the Spirit controlling your life?

- Do you sometimes worry that something can separate you from the love of Christ? Ponder on that.

* Galations 5:16-6:10

This passage looks also at the conflict between letting our sinful nature control and living by the spirit (5:17). Paul begins by stating as clearly as possible what kind of actions indicate a sinful nature: “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like”(5:19-21). In complete contrast, Paul goes on to indicate what the ‘Fruits of Spirits’ are, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,” (5:22). Paul urges “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.” (5:25-26). We can so easily discount those ‘sins’ and claim to be perfect, but in essence, I’m sure many of us are struggling with them.

Paul suggests two ways that we can ensure we are cultivating and growing fruits of the Spirit, and protecting ourselves. Firstly, other believers can be a support to us, but they might also need support themselves (6:1-5).  Paul also tells the people to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit. “So I say,  live by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” (5:16).

- What weeds to do you have in your life that are stopping you from growing more fruits of the Spirit?

- What fruits would you like cultivate?

-

Luke 2:1-15
Angels

This week we will see that:
1) Angels are real and represent God
2) Angels are not saved
3) Angels are witnesses of the incarnation

1) Angels are real and represent God
We are given little information on angels in the bible. Too much has been said using too little authoritative information.

Not all spiritual beings mentioned in the bible are called angels. Something appeared to Daniel in the form of a man made of crystal revealing the nature of these creatures. Though was not said to be an angel in this case (Daniel 10:13).

The crystal ‘man’ said: “But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia”.

We are not told what the king of Persia is or what Michael is. It is assumed he is some sort of spiritual being that has great power, status and authority.

Some of the powerful creatures mentioned in the bible are cherubim and seraphim

Cherubim
Genesis 3:24
After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Exodus 25:18-20
And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. The cherubim are to have their wings spread upwards, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking towards the cover.

Seraphim
ESB Isaiah 6:2
Above him stood the seraphim [seraphs in NIV] Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

Angels
Angels appear throughout the bible and show themselves to be involved in the affairs of humans. They feature in the Old and New Testament and they are spoken about by Jesus himself.

Genesis 19:1
[Sodom and Gomorrah about to be destroyed] The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. The account goes on to show they appeared like men.

Angels are mighty. Psalm 103:20 Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.

Angels seem to be part of a host of beings hidden from our sight. Psalm 148:2 Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts.

Matthew 4:11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Matthew 13:49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous

Angels are part of the story of mankind’s rescue. Matthew 24:31
And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

Matthew 16:27
For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

Do they have gender differences? Apparently not. See Matthew 22:30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.

Are all angels good? What of fallen angels? It is thought that angels have free will like humans and that some used their free will to rebel against God. If this did happen, we do not know when it happened.

2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgement…

Jude 1:6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home— these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgement on the great Day.

A word of caution, we are not told much detail so we must avoid rushing to conclusions that have little or no foundation.

Angels are not superior to God
Colossians 2:18
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.

Revelation 7:11
All the angels were standing round the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshipped God,…

2) Angels are not saved not blood-bought
Hebrews 1:14
Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

1 Peter 1:12
It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

3) Angels are witnesses of the incarnation
Though they are powerful, angels do not have the position you and I have. The rescue mission of God in coming to earth himself to save us seems to be unique to human beings. The cross was the rescue mission by God for humans.

Now it was not to be angels visiting humans but God abiding among them and now in the age of the risen Jesus he abides within us.

Hebrews 1:6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, Let all God’s angels worship him.

See Luke 2:8-15
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields near by, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests. 15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.

To the shepherds it was not one angel only, but many filling the sky. This time it was not only a case of angels coming to humans but now the angels are witnesses to the incarnation, the coming of God to live among humans.

We humans are special, more than we can comprehend.

The recording quality is very bad, don’t know why, sorry. It is worth persisting though as this is good teaching.

1 John 5:16-21

Sin and the believer

Intro

One way of looking at his section is to say first we have an assurance that prayer makes a difference in verse 14-15, then we have an example of what prayer can do.

Another way of looking at it is to say the writer was wanting to talk about praying for those in need and precedes it with an introduction that declared prayer is the solution in these cases.

The two ways of looking at it do not change the meaning but suggest different emphasis.

1) Can a believer sin?

This is the third time in this letter that the subject of believers and sin. Previously the emphasis was that true believers do not live in a lifestyle of sin yet now the writer admits that such a thing is possible. This is not a change of doctrine, this portion still carries the assurance that the common experience of the believer will be to live out a life displaying the transformation the new birth brought about.

The readers/hearers have already been instructed how they should deal with sin in 1 John 1:5-2:2. It must be admitted, confessed to God which brings about forgiveness by God in the basis of the cleansing blood of Jesus our advocate with God the Father.

Can a believer commit an unforgivable sin?

What is the sin that leads to death and will not be moved by prayer?

A clue we have here is the knowledge that there is only one sin that can not be forgiven, for which forgiveness can be offered – unbelief or no repentance.

See the earlier part of this letter: 1 John 1:8-2:2
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

1 John 2 :1-2
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence— Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

This letter was written when pseudo Christian teaching was damaging this group of churches. We think these people were a form of Gnostics. One of the features of this group was that they denied God had come in flesh, or that Jesus was God in flesh. In 2 John this claim and this teaching is of the antichrist.

See 2 John 7-8
Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.

Another feature of the Gnostics was that they thought they could show how spiritual they were by how well they could disregard the significance of what their body might do. In other words, some Gnostics indulged in gross sin claiming it did not matter as it was only their bodies that were involved and that it was not really sin at all. A seductive doctrine indeed.!

See also Revelation 2:4-7
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favour: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Revelation 12-16
To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. I know where you live– where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city– where Satan lives. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

John’s assurance of the availability of forgiveness at the beginning of this letter would have been directed at these people. It would have been a call back into truth for those believers who had been temporarily seduced by the teachings of the Gnostics.

Note, this sin leading to death is not talking about lost salvation. This is about spiritual death in this life, loss of fulfilment, lost opportunities to serve and therefore lost rewards.

2) Why a believer sins
Why do believers sin? Aside from the short reply that they give in to temptation, Christians are particularly vulnerable to temptation in certain situations:

(a) When they construct a morality based upon situation or personal preferences instead of upon scripture. Obeying the commands of Jesus a previous theme of this letter, is going to be difficult if they are not known or we do not have frequent reminders. Scripture.
(b) When they stop abiding or remaining in God as a continuous believing walk with Jesus. Prayer.
(c) When they lack Christian fellowship
Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Hebrews 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another— and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Galatians 6:2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Hebrews 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

A real consequence of not being connected in fellowship is that we are less likely to be treasured enough be our fellow believers when we fail, that they pray for us..

3) Supporting a believer who sins
First consider if it sin or not. We should not resort to gossip. You should also be slow to categorise someone as lost in sin when all they have done is offend you!

There is a procedure for restoring broken relationships. We include it in our membership notes under the title of “When things go wrong”, expecting it to be followed by our church members.

It is a myth accepted by many Christians and non-Christians alike, that a believer should be undiscerning and avoid making any judgements about what behaviour is or is not acceptable within the Christian Church. Such a view is not biblical. Sometimes a believer may need to be admonished/disciplined. In extreme cases some people we are even told to avoid.

1 Corinthians 5, esp. verse 12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who inside?

2 Corinthians 13:2-10 This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority – the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.

There is a process of seeking restoration
Matthew 18:15-18 “If your brother sins against you …”

Stage 1 “…go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.”
Stage 2 “…take with you one or two more …”
Stage 3 “…tell it to the church.”
Stage 4 “…let him be to you as an unbeliever and a tax collector.”
(see also 2 John 10,11)

If at any stage your brother/sister repents, responds to what you say, so that he thinks and acts differently, the process need go no further. “…if he hears you, you have gained your brother.”

We are dealing with eternal things when we go seeking restoration. We must go in tenderness and prayerfulness.
“…in a spirit of gentleness…” (Galatians 6:1)
“ first remove the plank from your own eye…” (Luke 6:41-45)
“…he who thinks he stands take care lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12)

But what if it is sin though, and not merely broken relationship of offence? If we are not dealing with broken relationship and a fellow believer is sinning, what do we do?

We can warn, if we have enough relationship – 2 Thessalonians 3:14-16
If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

But what does the text here in 1 John say that we should do? We should pray! Only if we are absolutely convinced they have got themselves in a state of absolute rebellion do we not pray about it. Even then we may be wrong, but as we have no faith for such praying it is therefore best left to others in those cases.

The letter ends by reminding the reader to focus, not on others, but on themselves. “Keep yourselves from idols.”

See John 21:19-22
19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, Follow me!
20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, Lord, who is going to betray you?)
21 When Peter saw him, he asked, Lord, what about him?
22 Jesus answered, If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.

So?

• Failure is not the end.
• Prayer makes a difference.
• The blood cleanses from ALL sin.
• No idol is worthy of our time our attention.

* Acts 16-20

Its interesting to note how at the beginning of this passage Paul was searching for God’s direction. In verses 6-8, Paul and his companions are trying out different options, trying to work out where to go to preach next. Sometimes we can find ourselves struggling to know what God’s will for us is. Which way should we go?

The starting point always has to be God. However, its often easier to set off and then invite Jesus to join us. It doesn’t really work like that. It’s much better to pray, fast, seek advice and wait for the Holy Spirit to guide us, than to set off on the wrong course, just because we’re too impatient (and maybe even too proud) to hold back and let God lead. However, that doesn’t mean that we hold completely still. See how Paul tries out a few places, he’s obviously misunderstood God’s will at first, but could acknowledge that God wasn’t allowing him into particular situations. Eventually God revealed to Paul that he wanted him to go to Macedonia. If we have taken time to earnestly seek God, then we will end up where he wants us in the end. God uses the detours anyway! I recently heard a theory about God’s will and I was encouraged by it. We can sometimes see God’s will as a line____x______x_____x__x___ where the things God has for us are laid out. Viewing his will this way means that you have to move along a very thin line to be in his will and do what he wants… that doesn’t sound too much like the freedom that I have in Christ! The other image is of a circle, in which there are lots of different options. Each option is in the will of God, but we have the freedom to choose which one. Consequently, this image shows that God’s will is big and there isn’t just one thing you can do, but multiple things you can do which will still be under his blessing and will.

Another thing to remember about God’s will is that even though it’s his will, it might not go completely smoothly. For example, Paul ended up in prison as a result of going to Macedonia. That doesn’t look too much like a successful trip, but God accomplishes things in all situations. Paul stayed focused on his ministry… and look at the effect it had on the jailer- he heard the gospel!

- How do you seek the will of God?

- How often do you feel defeated by your situation?

- How was God used a detour in your life to accomplish his agenda for you or for others?

* Acts 25- 28

So these chapters provide quite a story. Paul, who was arrested in Jerusalem (ch21) was passed from place to place, because although innocent, the Jews were shouting loudly for punishment and the Romans authorities didn’t know what to do with him. He ended up on a ship heading to Rome so he could appeal to Caesar. Events seemed out of control and then to make matters worse, the ship Paul was traveling on, got into some serious trouble. However, underneath all that, apparently God had a plan! Paul was heading to the most powerful city (courtesy of the Roman authorities), and it was there that God wanted him to preach the gospel. You may be facing some kind of disaster now…maybe you need God to open your eyes to his underlying agenda. “Lord, what are you saying to me or doing through me in this situation?”

But although everything seemed to going off course, and Paul didn’t know the exact plan, he stuck to his guns, and kept his focus on God. Paul didn’t care what others thought about him, what was most important to him was sharing the Good News with those who didn’t yet know it. I guess the challenge to us is, if we stopped worrying about what other people think about us, would we have a much more effective witness? I think so. The other thing that we see in Paul as all the chaos is happening around him, is the Holy Spirit was with him, intervening when necessary. When we are caught in situations where the only think we can do is rely on God to get us through, then we will begin to experience more of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Paul taught the gospel. That is what God wanted him to do, and he went around major cities spreading the word to Jews and Gentiles. He may have gone a round-about route, and at times, it may have felt like the end, but God never left Paul and Paul was a faithful servant until the end.

- What mission has God given you?

- Is there difficult situation in your life, that you need to give to God?

- How can you know that he is at work in it?

1 John 5:13

Intro

Note: I was asked a question about verse 7-8.
NIV 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

Some translations add a bit:
AV 7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 8And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

This extra bit about the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost does not appear in any translation until the 1500s. It is thought to be a margin note that was mistakenly coped into the text be a careless copier.

Verses 11-12 “I write these things…” marks a new section, the conclusion to this letter.

1) Know
“Know” appears 7 times with a mention of “confidence” added.
Verse 13 We know we have eternal life
Verse 14 “Confidence”. Approach, Heard, request granted
>Verse 15 We know he hears us. We know we have what we have asked for.
Verse 18 Does not continue in sin
Verse 19 Know we are children of God
Verse 20 Know Son of God has come. Know him who is true, we are in him (God) by being in his Son Jesus Christ.

This is a confident conclusion to this letter!

2) Believing

Compare verse 13 with John 20:31

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Those who heard these words will have been familiar with that other declaration. In both we see the emphasis on believing in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God for eternal life.

They would also have been reminded of an earlier part of this letter where belief is stated to be a cause of joy, 1 John 1:1-4

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched— this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.

This letter begins and ends with the theme of belief in Jesus Christ the Son of God. So what?!

This letter deals with many themes but it is completely filled with hope, confidence and wonder when speaking of the glories of God and the knowledge of God through Jesus Christ.

From the City of York council’s leaflet for York Interfaith Week 19-28 Nov 2011:

Christianity started out as a breakaway sect of Judaism nearly 2000 years ago. Jesus, the son of the Virgin Mary and her husband Joseph, but conceived through the Holy Spirit, was bothered by some of the practices of within his native Jewish faith and began preaching a different message of God and religion. During his travels he was joined by twelve disciples who followed him in his journeys and learned from him. He performed many miracles during this time and related many of his teachings in the form of parables. Among his best known sayings are to “love they neighbour” and “turn the other cheek.” At one point he revealed that he was the Son of God sent to Earth to save humanity from our sins. This he did by being crucified on the cross for his teachings. He then rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples and told them to go forth and spread his message. All Christians believe in heaven and that those who sincerely repent their sins before God will be saved and join him in heaven. Belief in hell and Satan varies among groups and individuals.

We believe because we know, and we know because we believe. See 1 John 2:13-14

I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

1 John 3:1-2

How great is the 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. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

1 John 3:14

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.

1 John 4:13

We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

The theme of knowing fills this letter, not surprising then that it features at its close. Perhaps this is another hint at the beliefs and claims of the false teachers. Perhaps they insisted that believers can not know they have eternal life.

Sin that leads to death. I know of only one such sin – unbelief, for it is by grace we are saved through faith.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no-one can boast.

See also Romans 8

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

3) Living forever

Eternal life . Here eternal life is mentioned in the present tense, “have.” Again we see the uniqueness of of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Only through faith in Jesus Christ can a person have eternal life.

See 1 John 3:23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.

1 John 5:5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

See also gospel of John 1:12 where the status of believers is declared as children of God.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…

Jesus is the Way and the only way. See John 14:6 Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.

This week know, believe and live, because you are going to be doing them all forever.

This passage looks at the ministry of Paul and Barnabas. At the beginning of chapter 13, the Holy Spirit calls them to go out and proclaim the gospel. Each of us is called to share the good news with others.

But it is the way that this is done which is often a talking point for Christians. How do we share the gospel with others without being accused of ‘shoving it down their throats’? If we are excited about what God has done and want to share that, is there any harm? What’s the difference between us talking about what we believe and atheists proclaiming their opinion? We chatted about this today at a Christian Union group… I guess as long as your message is one of hope and you share in a sensitive way, then it should be okay!

We can take a directional lead from Paul’s approach (13:16-43). He communicated the truth of the gospel but did so recognising that his audience were both Jews and Gentiles. The emphasis was also a positive one, rather than a negative one that gets so much press.

But Paul and Barnabas’ journey isn’t a complete success, it also throws up lots of trouble. The religious leaders were angry that the message being preached was stealing their limelight. And consequently, Paul and Barnabas were forced to move on to a new place, but there also, the Jews opposed them.

Two things we see in Paul’s witness are courage and accountability. We may face opposition (though hopefully rarely it’ll be an angry mob!), and that is because sometimes we will have to take risks, and have the courage to speak up and share. And since Paul had been sent out from a church, they were going to be checking up on how he was getting on. Paul’s aim was to build up the church not his reputation. What a challenge to us! How often do we back down to avoid making a scene?!

- What risk is God asking you to take in order to share the Good News with others?

* Acts 15

At the beginning of this passage there seems to be some disagreement again about who the gospel was for. Christian today can get caught up in this too, thinking that we get to choose who Jesus died for. We can also start to dictate who the church is for? The early church were too busy worrying about the race of a person, to realise that salvation was dependent on God’s grace. Church is a place for Christians to grow in their faith, but it needs to welcome all otherwise its stifling growth. Sometimes the church can get so accustomed to what it is, that it cannot change. It can support an elite and abandon those who long to be part of it.

Also relating to the church, we can learn masses about how church disagreements should be handled. When an issue occurred, those in dispute came together to listen to one another and remained sensitive to what the Holy Spirit was saying and doing. They then accepted the decision of the leader. I doubt that a similar situation would be dealt with so well in churches today. In fact, we see at the end of the passage, that sadly after such a great ministry together, a personal issue divides Barnabas and Paul and they part company. It seems a bit of a shocker that after helping to avoid a major split in the church, Paul and Barnabas would split themselves. Disagreements happen but when they do we need to wisdom of God to help restore the situation. Paul and Barnabas failed to do that in this. however, fortunately God used their failings to double the missionary effort!

- How is your church sometimes exclusive?

- What can you learn about openness in disagreements with other Christians?

Please note the recording is quite quiet.

1 John 5:6-12

Intro
The turn of the spiral here reminds us of 1:5-2:2.
There are repeated words and phrases in this section:
“Make God a liar” 1:10; 5:10
“Blood of Jesus” 1:7; 5:6,8
“This is the message” 1:5
“This is the one who came” 5:6

If there is any theme we can recognise here as applying particularly to our time it is the emphasis upon Jesus being unique and supreme over every other possible claimant to the title. This has huge relevance to modern followers of Christ when invited to be part of inter-faith dialogue. Inter-faith and multi-faith are two very different things. Inter-faith is often practised by people from various faiths as they talk together and seek good relationships while maintaining there distinctives and different beliefs (agreeing the disagree). Multi-faith is an idea pressed upon people of faith by those who have no faith. Politicians seem to be those who favour packing us all in the same enclosed and restrictive box. My suggestion is that once the different political parties have combined annual conferences and they have all joined together as one, then they can lecture people of faith about unity.

I will deal with this passage in two sections:
1) Verses 6-8 The witness of the Spirit, water and blood
2) Verses 9-12 The witness of God

1) Verses 6-8 The witness of the Spirit, water and blood
There is doubt regarding the exact meaning of some of these words.

Jesus the victorious one is the one “Who came through water and blood.” Notice the emphasis upon who is spoken about in verse 6, “Jesus Christ”.

Verse 6 “This is the one who came…” It appears that this is some sort of confessional statement. See:
John 1:34 “This is the Son of God.”
John 4:42 “This is the Saviour of the world.”
John 7:40 “This is the true Prophet.”
John 7:41 “This is the Christ.”

We are left in doubt that Christ is unique and supreme. This is a familiar theme in the gospel of John where Jesus is known as “the one who is coming”.

See John 1:15
John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’

John 1:27
He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

John 6:14
After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.

John 11:27
Yes, Lord, she told him, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.

John 12:13
They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!

This same term is used in the epistles of John in 2 John 7, 1 John 4:2 to declare that Jesus has come in the flesh – in other words the incarnation of the Almighty God.

Spirit, water and blood
The OT law required that three witnesses were required to approve of something. See Deuteronomy 17:6 and Deuteronomy 19:15

See also 1 Timothy 5:19
Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses.

Jesus came through water by his baptism. The whole community would have accepted that.

Water could have more meanings than that though. Water features in the fourth gospel many times and on each occasion it seems to have a different meaning.

Baptism
John 1:26
I baptise with water, John replied, but among you stands one you do not know.

John 1:31
I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptising with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.

John 1:33
I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptise with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.’

John 3:23
Now John also was baptising at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptised.

Water transformed into wine – the water of the old covenant changed to the wine of the new covenant. John 2:1-11

New birth, or birth from above.

John 3:5
Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, no-one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit unidentified as living water.

John 4:7-15
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, Will you give me a drink?
8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink? (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.
11 Sir, the woman said, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?
13 Jesus answered, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
15 The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.

Perhaps this witness then of the water, is the manifestation of the living water the Holy Spirit. This would fit with the previous mentions of the Spirit in this letter such as 1 John 4:13.

We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

Now the living water is their experience, as He rises up from within them.

See John 7:37-39.
37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.
39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Jesus came through blood. This would have been an area of disagreement with the false teachers who had left the community. Forgiveness through the blood of Jesus had already been mentioned in 1 John 1:7-9. This mention here would have included that prior meaning, but would have also have also reminded them of teaching found in John’s gospel 6:53-56.

Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.

Salvation through Jesus and the blood of Jesus are connected. These believers would have been breaking bread regularly as instructed by Jesus “As often as you do this do it in remembrance of me.” They would have had a clear understanding that the new covenant between man and God was through the shed blood of Jesus. This fulfilled the declaration of John the Baptist in John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

They would also have know about the incident of the spear thrust in the side of the dead Jesus on the cross when water and blood flowed out (John 19:34). This is an indication that Jesus was truly dead at the time. This shed blood, by declaring his death, is a witness to the resurrection.

John 19:33-35
But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.

All this brings the reader back to the truths of the incarnation of God and the completed work of the cross by Jesus the Messiah.

2) Verses 9-12 The witness (or testimony) of God
In addition to the testimony above, there is the testimony of God himself.

John 5:34,37
34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.
37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form…

When the listeners of this letter heard read 1 John 5:9 they will have remembered the above, and they will have remembered John the Baptist witnessing the events of Jesus’ baptism.

Is there yet more of the direct witness or testimony of God? Yes! I believe there is one thing this refers to that the first hearers would have had confidence in, the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

This resurrection is something every believer identifies with when they go through the waters of baptism and are buried with him, to then rise with him to walk in newness of life from then on for the rest of their lives.

See Romans 6:3-10.
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death?
4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—
7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.
10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

Conclusion
Verses 11-12 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

We HAVE this eternal life, and these witnesses affirm it.

1 John 5:5-12

Victory

Intro: what it is not

What is this victory? Victory over what?

What this victory is not:

• It is not “How to be a winner”
• It is not “How to be prosperous”
• It is not “How to be successful in life and in business”
• It is not “How to have influence or dominion over others and be the leader you were always meant to be”

Each of these are probably titles of Christian books, sermons or conferences. They are usually peddled by shallow people who cater to self-centred people, with self-centred appetites, while pretending it is the Christian faith. Much of what I have heard form those sorts of places is certainly not Christian. Is a comfort religion. It is an invention of the self-absorbed and prosperous (or those who want to be prosperous) to justify their sub-Christian values.

Reading about one of these preachers I read that he counsels patience, compassion, kindness, generosity and an overall positive attitude. This is familiar to any reader of self-help books. Avoided are the themes of sin, suffering and self-denial. This would be “Christianity lite.”

1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world— the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does— comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives for ever.

1) It is an inner victory

The victory here is about the inner person. Before this victory is seen outside of us, it takes place inwardly. The inner person is sustained by prayer devoted to Jesus, a spirit fed on the scriptures, God’s word, and upon the regular act of worship. This is a victory we win alone with God. It is not found in the crowd or won by singing our hearts our in a Christian gathering.

See 1 John 2:13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.

1 John 4:4 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.

1 John 5:4-5 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. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.

The act of love is a means by which we are victorious over the world. This verse links victory with the action of love.

Here in “everyone born of God” and in other contexts the verb is the prefect past tense. This means the birth being referred to has already taken place. for each believer it is an event in their history, something already done.

The reason the commands are not a burden is that whoever is born of God is victorious and overcomes the pressure from the world around.

See Romans 12:1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God— this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is— his good, pleasing and perfect will.

2) It is a continual victory

This victory is past, present and continuous into our future

“Is victorious” implies a present victory or state of being victorious in a constant struggle in an ongoing battle (love of the world, pride of life). Here the world is a threat to the believer. the desires and values of the world is under the control of the antichrist spirit. The values of the world try to make God’s commands, standards and values “burdensome”. They are not, and find this to be true is part of our victory.

When did this victory take place? “This is the victory … our faith” verse 4. It took place in the past when we believed on Jesus, and continues as we continue to believe on Jesus. This wording points us back to a moment of personal victory.

Did the victory begin then? Not really. Our victory goes beyond our moment of trust in Jesus and goes back to the Saviour himself.

Jesus established this victory as seen in John 16:33.

Jesus said “I have been victorious” to disciples about to face the opposition of the world to their values and standards. How did they fare eventually when trying to live out the values of the kingdom? Some of them gave their lives for the faith as martyrs. Many other disciples down the centuries have followed that example. Currently Pastor Yousef in Iran is one such of many.

How is this victory expressed or seen? Bearing in mind it is living our the values of the kingdom of God and of the ruler of that kingdom, Jesus. Victory would therefore obviously include resisting the temptations the world presents to us to choose the way of the world instead of the way of our Master.

It would include resisting the following temptations:

Theft. To steal is an imagined short-cut to material gain which is assumed to bring quality of life. this includes benefit fraud, copyright theft, petty pilfering from work, etc. An illegal immigrant is trying to steal state benefits that are the property of the citizens there, such as health or education. It is a form of theft.

Lying. This is usually used as a device to steal from someone favour, advancement, relationship, or some other selfish desire. Again it is thought to be a short-cut to achieving some thing believed to bring greater quality to a person’s life. It may be used to bring harm to another, but that is usually motivated by a grasping on the part of the liar.

Sexual temptation. This is particularly relevant to our church due to the high number of student and young adults. This temptation affects all ages but students tend to have a number of extra factors, novelty, opportunity, unusual levels of peer pressure and hormones like popping popcorn.

This temptation is again a delusion that it provides a short-cut to fulfilment of the whole person and the inner person. It is often believed to offer to add to the qualities of a person’s life. Outside of marriage, intercourse, the bible makes clear, is a stealing from another person what is not rightfully there to take. It may be said that he or she was willing, but in reply to that I would say that the other person’s vulnerability or damaged values is no excuse. This is again a reflection of the values of the world as opposed to the values of the King Jesus and his kingdom, as outlined here in the text.

Love of money.

3) It is our victory

Our victory is not only in what we do not do, but it is in what we choose to do.

I have been reading about the history of China in the twentieth century and the sacrifice of individual believers that the gospel might be known there. Some went there as missionaries knowing they risked their lives in doing so. Now the church in China is growing at an amazing rate, but it depended on the sacrifice of so many until very recently.

Over many years in the history of this country believers have travelled from here to many different lands carrying their belongings in their own coffin, never expecting they would live to return in any other way than in it.

This is a far cry from:

• How to be a winner
• How to be prosperous
• How to be successful in life and in business
• How to have influence or dominion over others and be the leader you were always meant to be

“This is the victory … our faith” verse 4. It took place when we believed on Jesus, and continues as we continue to believe on Jesus.

1 John 5:12 “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” What sort of life is that?

See John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Full life means…

Living in the power of the Spirit. Loving in the power of the Spirit. In other words. Living for others in the power of the Spirit.

* Acts 10:1-11:18

In this passage we read about a remarkable event: God declares that the gospel is for everyone! For us today, we may not understand the significance of this as we feel like we are constantly offering it to others, and (maybe) they are rejecting it. But this passage marks a turning point in the story of God’s people. For centuries, it had been all about God’s ‘chosen’ people, and their successes and failures. However, through a vision God reveals to Peter his plan to extend the gospel to all people, thus inviting all to have a relationship with him. The relationship between Jews and Gentiles is given lots of coverage in Acts, mainly because of the previous issues between them. The way in which Peter is challenged for his actions at the beginning of chapter 11 marks how radical this decision was: the Jews had always been separate from the Gentiles. To make salvation available to them was a major change.

However, God wanted to change things, and this passage also highlight his ability to intervene when necessary. Some people might think that after making the world, God just took a step back and let us get on with it. That’s not true at all. God gives us freedom of choice, but he does guide events according to his plan. I hope we can all look back on events in our lives and know that God was orchestrating them in some way.

The significance of Peter and Cornelius coming together is a fundamental one: the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ (which the disciples were preaching, and we do today) is for everyone, not just an elite group. One of the greatest things about Christianity today is how diverse it is, and how so many people are joined together by their belief in Jesus.

- Are there people in your life who seem outside of the gospel? What could you do to build a bridge between them and the Good news?

- Think back over the times in your life where you know that God had a plan… thank him for that.

* Acts 9:1-31

This passage tells the ultimate transformation story. It’s incredible to read how Saul’s life is completely changed by God after a special encounter with him, which is especially remarkable when we consider the way he was before (he was very against the disciples!). God completely transforms his life, and he began declaring the truth of Jesus rather than trying to kill those who believed in him.

Why? Because God said, “This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.” (9:15). God has a special encounter with Saul, because he has a special mission for him. When we read the scriptures we can wonder how God could use someone like Saul. But even Saul was not out of God’s reach, and he was going to use him in the most amazing way. You never know, he might have an extraordinary plan for you too.

Saul could have carried on persecuting Christians, but because he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus and Jesus spoke to him, his life was completely turned around. He found out that Jesus really existed… and from then on, everything changed! It’s the same for us; when we meet with Jesus and understand who he is and what he has done for us, the way we live will be transformed. For Saul this meant a name change, to Paul, and a priority switch: he dedicated the rest of his building the church.

Others also played their part in Saul’s transformed life. Ananias had the courage to obey God and accept Saul, whilst Barnabas showed wisdom in the way he helped Saul grow in his faith. As Christians we must love those who are new to faith. They aren’t going to get it instantly, and sometimes it is our judgemental attitudes which means that they fall away from faith. Imagine if we restricted someone who was going to go on to have a ministry like Paul’s?!

- Saul’s response to Jesus is “Lord, what do You desire me to do?”. Have you asked that recently?

- How has meeting with Jesus changed your life?

1 John 4:16-5:5

Intro
I have tried to gather things under heading to make it easier to deal with the many themes that appear in this section. This week the headings are Seeing, Believing and Knowing. In case you think you are getting a touch of deja vu, yes it is similar to the headings on 16th Oct when the headings were Knowing, Seeing and Trusting. Once again I need to point out that John does not simply repeat points but seems to go in a spiral, enlarging as he returns to a point. When he revisits a point he tends to amplify upon it either by adding information to it or by the context he places around it.

Verse 21
There are three relationships we have with God:

• With our brother and sister who is each his image.
• By the commandment which is his will.
• Through Love; seen in us as we live out that action and decision we call love.

1) Seeing
Verse 20
Loving is connected with seeing, as previously mentioned.

See 1 John 4:12
No-one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

John 1:18
No-one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.

Emphasis is now on seeing and not seeing. It is pondered in the question, how can we love God who is unseen if we are unable to love the believers who are seen? This point would have referred them back to 3:17 where their love is locked up and unexpressed by any action.

The false teachers may have claimed some union with God but is is not evidenced or authenticated in any concrete way. Some claim to see, but by their lives it is declared that they do not. We see it in our time when Christian leaders seen on religious television emphasis their so-called anointing or some special status, rather than their own moral qualities or the quality of their love. We know from the many scandals uncovered that some of these people did not bear closer inspection.

The love of God and my brother and sister can not be separated.

2) Believing
Verse 5:1
“Each one who believes…” this is an ongoing activity or action, it is relationship with the living God. Believing is identifying with confessing, which is identified with an active experience of Jesus (not mere confessing of a creed or catechism or point of doctrine).

Belief => confessing => action => relationship with the focal point of belief, “Jesus is the Christ”.

See 1 John 2:22
Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist— he denies the Father and the Son.

1 John 3:23
And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

1 John 4:1-6
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 recognise 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 recognise the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Jesus is the unique Son, the atoning sacrifice, the Saviour of the world. And we can have relationship with him.

3) Knowing
Verse 5:2
“In this we know…” Eighth time that this phrase appears in 1 John. Knowledge based upon experience. Remember, he who has an experience is never at the mercy of the one who merely has an argument.

Notice the argument that John presents here. Previously assured they love God if they love the believers, now it is turned around to say their love for the believers assures them of their love for God and keeping his commandments.

“And do his commandments…”
Previously it was “keeping his commands,” a major them in 1 John. Now it is stated in a unique way, appearing nowhere else in the New Testament. this now seems to be a combination of “keeping his commands” and “doing the will of God” (2:17). Knowing leads to doing.

This brings us back to: Belief => confessing => action => relationship with the focal point of our belief, “Jesus is the Christ”, and back again to the doing of it.

This is all pointless linguistic somersaults and empty theorising were it not for the miracle which fills the writings of the New Testament – the life changed by Jesus, filled with his Holy Spirit and set on a walk that last a lifetime until it finally takes us home where …

1 Corinthians 13:10-12
… but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Conclusion
Until Jesus Christ returns in glory, when I shall know fully, even as I am fully known, until then – I am determined to live the transformed life, look for love in God, in my fellow believers and in my own life too.

Stephen was doing great things for God amongst the people, speaking great truth and showing God’s power. The people opposed him but they could not stand up against the spirit that was with him. Because they could not confront him, the opposition chose to use deceptive means in order to attack Stephen, claiming that he had spoken words of blasphemy.

Rather than shutting up when he was under attack, Stephen chose to preach a lengthy sermon directed at the Jewish leader who were opposing him. Why? Because even though they wouldn’t listen, that is what God wanted him to do. In anger, they rejected the message. We might know people who reject God angrily, maybe its because they have some hidden issues with him that they haven’t yet resolved. Pray for them!

The leaders also didn’t want to listen as they loved their religion above their love for God. Church is good, as are its traditions, but if you become more passionate about that than you do about your relationship with God, there are problems! In fact, we’d probably all agree that Jesus didn’t come to start a religion; he came to start a relationship- with us

The consequence of Stephen speaking out was his death- the people hated his message so much that they killed him. Yet, God used this suffering to inspire the message to be spread further. In fact, it is here that we meet Saul, an avid supporter of those killing Stephen. But God’s transforming power converts him into the greatest evangelist of the early church- apostle Paul.

- Have you ever been persecuted for your faith?

- What do you think about the idea that Jesus is about relationship not religion?

* Acts 8:26-40

I find this story of Philip pretty encouraging. He isn’t a main character in Acts, in fact, this story is almost like a one-hit wonder, but as an ‘ordinary’ person it’s cool to know that I don’t have to be a celebrity character like Peter or Paul to make a difference.

Philip was called by the Holy Spirit to act on an opportunity available to him and share the Good News. If we are available to be used, and willing to go, then God can use us when the time is right.

We can also learn lots from Philip’s example of sharing the gospel. Rather than flying in with a speech, he asked questions. Before we can help people, we must know what they are struggling with. Philip then took time to explain what the bible said about Jesus.

Philip went into the unknown, but knew that God would use him. He didn’t know what was there but he was willing to go where God said and be patient until his mission was revealed to him.

We need to be willing to listen and and obey God no matter what.

- Is God nudging you to do something that doesn’t fully make sense?

- How do you feel about sharing your faith?

- How is God at work in the lives of your friends who don’t yet know Jesus? What part could you play in that?

1 John 4:11-18

Knowing, Seeing and Relying

Intro
1 John 4:11-18 The relationship between loving and “remaining”. This is not about security of our salvation but about securing the experience and confidence that we abide in him and he in us.

As I said last week
This one of three divisions within the larger section beginning in verse 7.. Each of these sections begin with an appeal to love based upon God’s love:
4:7-10 An appeal to love based on the great act of love, God sending the Son.
4:11-18 The relationship between loving and “remaining”. This is not about security of our salvation but about securing the experience of abiding in him and he in us.
4:19-5:5 The act of love is a means by which we are victorious over the world.

For the sixth and last time the Elder here uses the salutation, “Dear friends.”

1) Knowing
Verse 13 “We know” or “In this we know”.
This is the sixth time this statement of confident assurance is used.

2:3 that we have known him
3:16 love
3:19 that we are of the truth
3:24b that he remains in us
4:6b the spirit of truth and the spirit of deception
4:13 that we remain in him and he in us

A lack of certainty about spiritual truths is not a sign of humility. Some like to give the impression that to be a seeker after truth means that one should not be definite about things. That is wrong! It is not merely the error of false humility, it is the error of refusing to accept the clear assurances of scripture – such as this one. This section is telling to be sure, and to know we are sure.

Certainty is one of the reason this letter is written at all. See 1 John 5:13
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

“Know” is in the present tense. This carries the meaning that this knowing is a continuous experience. I did know, I do know, I shall continue to know!

I know I am in him and he is in me. This is mutual indwelling.

An aside: What or who dwells within me? Mitt Romney is a Mormon and is running for the Republican nomination so he can run for president in the coming elections. Many Christians in the US do not like the thought of voting for someone with a pseudo-Christian religion. He has issued a statement that he believes that Jesus is the son of God. What he has not made clear is that Mormonism teaches that the god he refers to is only the god of this one planet, that this god has a body of flesh and blood, that this god has more than one son and that Jesus is the result of this flesh and blood god raping the teenage Mary.

Let all be in no doubt what the scripture tells us about what or who indwells us, it is the creator of all things, that which was before the big bang (if that turns out to be how it all started), the God over and above all things, the Almighty. And the truth we are to know, and be sure of, is that it is this God lives in you and in me.

“Because he has given us of his spirit…” See also
Ephesians 1:13-14 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession— to the praise of his glory.

Last week I spoke of how John seems to proceed in a spiral in his declaration of some truths and last week we looked at the subject of love. This week we look at the turn of the spiral as it returns to the subject of the activity of the Spirit, God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit.

2:20, 27 the readers have an anointing by which they are taught all things by the Spirit and do not need anyone to teach them.
3:24 in a verse similar to 4:13 they are told they know God “By the Spirit he gave us”.
4:2 the Spirit is known by the authenticity of the message he brings, and the confession he inspires, that Jesus has come in the flesh.

Now, in this section, the emphasis is that this God who dwells in the believer is the same one that has given of his Spirit. The presence and activity of God’s Spirit among them is evidence of the fact that he remains in them and they in him.

See Acts 6:3-7
3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.
5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.
6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

There are some present day Christians who have little confidence in the present activity of the Holy Spirit or that he still comes upon believers in what is referred to in the New Testament as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. These people often claim that this wonderful experience died out during the age of the first apostles. They claim that the gifts of the Spirit and an experience of the Holy Spirit died out. I declare they are completely wrong.

The bible tells us that the gifts that the indwelling Spirit of God gives us will eventually be no more. In 1 Corinthians 13 it actually tells us at what time these gifts will cease. They will cease when Jesus finally returns to this earth.

1 Corinthians 13:8-12
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

As I said before, the presence and activity of God’s Spirit among them is evidence of the fact that he remains in them and they in him.

The believers are here assured that they can be certain of their relationship with God for they see, hear and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. So can we!

In this letter is there is no reference to any of the gifts of the Spirit that we find mentioned in 1 Corinthians. Rather John does not feel the need to use specific examples, yet still insists that the Holy Spirit’s presence and activity within a believer will be evident.

Some Pentecostals insist that speaking in tongues in THE evidence that a person has been filled with the Holy Spirit. I can not agree. But I do believe there will be evidence, manifested in the believer, that is convincing to that the believer, so that they can have the certain assurance that John was writing about here.

John here does not describe a limited activity to be expected of the Spirit. One writer I read described it as a refusal on John’s part to domesticate the Spirit.

The presence and activity of God’s Spirit among them is evidence of the fact that he remains in them and they in him. They are meant to see and know the evidence, in whatever form in takes.

2) Seeing
Verse 14 “…we have seen…”
Reappearance of the word to “see” will have called to mind a number of things in the minds of those who first heard this read. The readers will have just heard 4:12. Although it says that “No-one has ever seen God…” Yet they will also remember 1 John 1:1,
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched— this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

And John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Now the emphasis on seeing or beholding is about the insistence that it was the incarnation that was seen – God with us. [For more on this see my sermon notes of 25/09/2011 - Jesus, a man that was born, died, rose, ascended, pleads before the Father, returning again to judge the earth.]

By seeing the incarnation they have seen the Father. John 14:9
Jesus answered: Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

I wonder who he refers to when he says “we have seen”. Is he talking as one of the eye-witnesses as in John 1:14, or is he speaking for the believers in that community? In which case he is referring to the “seeing” and experiencing as the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and the love of the believers, mentioned in verse 12.

3) Relying
“Rely” – to be sure . “And so…” This is a continuation of a point.

1 John 4:16 The NIV has “rely” some have “trust”. Am I relying, trusting?

English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

New American Standard Bible (NASB)
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

King James Version (KJV)
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

New Century Version (NCV)
And so we know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love. God is love. Those who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

New Living Translation (NLT)
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

The statement is present tense again. It is an assurance of present, current relationship with God. This reassurance covers two dimensions of the love of God, it is among them in the person of Jesus, as Jesus lives among them, and it is among them as an experience of theirs as love is acted out by them and through them.

For the third and final time the reader is assured about the indwelling Christ. Three times! We are meant to be sure about this then!

This scripture speaks of the fulfilment of the high-priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17:26
I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.

Knowledge
Relying on what we know, what we know is the truth.
Knowledge leads and faith follows. Faith depends upon facts, trusts in Truth. Sometimes faith goes before knowledge.

See John 6:66-69.
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. You do not want to leave too, do you? Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.

Whichever order they arrive, faith and knowledge go together. Sound faith is intelligent and sound knowledge is believing.

1 Peter 3:15
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have…

1 John 4:7- 10

Intro
Steve Jobs died this week. Think of all he accomplished and ask yourself how your accomplishments compare to his.

I quoted from his Stanford University Commencement address which delivered on June 12, 2005. I predicted it will become popular to be read at funerals for years to come.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

See Matthew 25:40 to get things in perspective.
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Not many people can have the talent, or the opportunity to build a business like Apple. But anyone can build in the spiritual realm, stuff that will last forever. We can do this by the action we call love. In the bible, love is an action.

“Dear friends” verse 7. Yet another section begins, marked by a new salutation and appeal, similar to verse 1.

The transition to a new topic seems abrupt, as if John has put from his mind the previous unpleasant subject. However the connections between the parts of the letter are often subtle. It is subtle here too.

Two connections:
1 The power to love one another, and the power to confess the incarnation is by the power of the Holy Spirit. Verses 2,12,13. Faith and love partners together. Faith and trust lead to love.
2 The antichrist spirit is a selfish one. It makes one’s own intellect and interests the measure of all things. The antichrist spirit is therefore truly idolatrous.

For the third and last time in this letter the apostle introduces the subject of love between believers. Though it is the third time, it is certainly not a mere repetition. Two thirds of the vocabulary about love in this letter appears in this section. The previous section on love led to this. This is the climax of the theme.

Although we should be a loving people in a general sense, the context here is about loving within the Christian community. There is no attempt within this letter to explain the love which is found outside the believing community, the community that bears the name of Jesus. The world loves its own John 15:19.

Some say, “You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.” The reply to that is to ask the question – “Then who do you love?”

Three further divisions within this section. Each of these sections begin with an appeal to love based upon God’s love:
4:7-10 An appeal to love based on the great act of love, God sending the Son.
4:11-18 The relationship between loving and “remaining”. This is not about security of our salvation but about securing the experience of abiding in him and he in us.
4:19-5:5 The act of love is a means by which we are victorious over the world.

The brotherly love spiral in this letter:
Imagine a spiral with the line circling three times. The following is the the three times the line passes the same point of the circle.

____
2:7-11 It is a consequence of walking in the light.
____
3:10-18 A form of right living and a mark of a person’s true state of belonging to the Truth.
____
This third time. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit, contrasted with the spirit of the antichrist. This is something that is of God manifested through the believer. God in us.

1) The instruction
4:7-10
“Beloved, love one another”. This literal translation is so much better that the “Dear friends” of the NIV. In the Greek original it is made up of three words all beginning with the latter ‘a’. This would have been a device for emphasis and easy memorisation. I wonder if it ever became a slogan recited within the community. It would have lend itself to that use. This is the instruction, and what follows is the persuasion.

2) The persuasion is the initiative 4:10
God took the initiative and still continues to do so. God first reached to us. He was the innocent party yet he made the first move to put things right. We model our attempts at reconciliation on him – we must be prepared to make the first move.

3) The action 4:11
In this love, expressed by someone who is in the truth, I can get a glimpse of God.

How can we know if someone is truly born-again? By the way they live, particularly by their love. One can not know God without being a person that loves for God is love. We all become like the God we worship. We are shaped by the things we value most.

The phrase “God is love” is not telling us that God loves. It is telling us about what he is. Verse 9 is an expression of it.

Last week I was very much stressing the wonder that the Almighty God dwells within us. This week it is about the wonder that love divine dwells within us. This week I will try to observe myself, to look for evidence of this love expressed in me and by me.

Jesus’ disciples had seen (and done) a lot, but little did they know how much more was ahead. I’d imagine that after all that had happened, in following Jesus and seeing his miracles, to his death and resurrection, and then ascension into heaven, the disciples must have felt a little low about it being all over. However, there was something still to come; the ‘helper’ that Jesus had promised.

As the disciples met together to worship God (despite all Jesus not being there they continued to worship with one another), and wait on God since they maybe didn’t know what else to do, the Holy Spirit came in a very powerful way. Although since it was part of the trinity, it had been there from the beginning, at this time, at Pentecost it was poured out on all the believers and as Jesus had said, it became their source of power in his absence.

The Holy Spirit transforms. He has the power to completely change a person, and we see an amazing example of this in the transformation of Peter. Peter, through the power of the Holy Spirit, became a pioneering leader of the early church. As Peter addresses the crowd in Acts 2:14-39, we see how the Holy Spirit has given him a deeper understanding of scripture which allows him to explain to the crowd the insight that David had about Jesus. He also showed great courage and power in his speech. And how? Because he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

- How have you experienced the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in your life?

- Is there some transformation work that you need the Holy Spirit to do in you this week?

* Acts 3-4

Now Jesus had returned to his father, it was time for the disciples to get out there and spread the gospel on their own. However, they weren’t fighting for the limelight but instead they were putting into practice the humility that they saw in Jesus’ ministry. Again in this passage we see the Holy Spirit at work through Peter; he healed a lame man and then spoke another powerful message to the people. The people are obviously amazed by what has happened but Peter speaks boldly to them, “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?” (3:12) . Peter and John take no credit to declare that nothing of them could have healed this man. “It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see” (3:16).

In the same way the Holy Spirit empowers us today to share the Good News with others and as we have faith in Jesus’ name we will see amazing things happen. But when God begins to work through the disciples (and through us today) there is often opposition. But opposition doesn’t stifle the work of God, but in fact often brings believers together and makes the church grow through that. The church struggles when Christians don’t focus on Jesus and either do it for their own aims or in their own strength. When we seek to tell people about Jesus, we must be empowered by the Holy Spirit and we must do it for the kingdom and not for our own pride.

The early church had good priorities in terms of how they viewed possessions and money. It challenges our attitude today especially in such a consumerist society where possessions and wealth determine status. The way that they shared their possession also testifies of the unity between them and their desire to live in radical fellowship (4:32-37) was also a testimony to others.

- What can you learn from Peter in the passage and his humility?

- Do you need to ask God to free you from desires related to possessions and money?

- How could you live a more radical lifestyle?

* John 20, 21

The resurrection of Jesus is the most important aspects of the Christian faith. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then faith means nothing. That’s why it is so important to fully understand the significance of Jesus’ resurrection.

In these two chapters we meet four characters and we learn a lot from each of their relationships with Jesus.

Mary: Mary was the first one at Jesus’ tombs and she was incredibly distressed when she didn’t know where Jesus’ body was. She showed her deep love for Jesus openly. How do you show your love for Jesus?

John: Although he had been a faithful follower of Jesus, it was only once John had seen for himself the evidence that Jesus wasn’t in the tomb, that he truly believed for himself in Jesus’ power. Maybe you’ve been going to church for a while and think you know Jesus, but deep down you’re a little confused? Ask Jesus to reveal himself to you so you can fully believe.

Thomas: “Unless I see… I will not believe it.” (20:25). Thomas was honest about his problem with believing without himself seeing, but this also shows a rejection and a pride that can sometimes present us from understanding more about God. Is there anything preventing you from fully committing your life to Jesus and whole-heartedly following him?

Peter: Don’t know what you are or where you stand with Jesus? Peter was confused about his relationship with Jesus, especially after he had denied him. But through their conversation in John 21:15-19, Jesus restores Peter and gives him a new mission.

- How do you know that Jesus rose again? What is the most convincing evidence?

- Which of these characters do you connect with the most? Invite Jesus to bring you closer to him.

* Acts 1: 1-11

After Jesus rose again, he spent time with the disciples and gave them plenty of evidence that he was alive and about what had happened on the cross. It was time for him to go to heaven to be with his father again, but despite all that had happened and been achieved, the disciples still had their own ideas about what Jesus should be doing. They thought he was here to restore the political kingdom “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel?” (1:6).

Often it is difficult if we have our own ideas about something, to let them go and follow God’s direction. But if we are so determined to do it our way it is likely that we can’t experience what God has planned. In this final scene with Jesus, we see how instead of correcting the disciples again and trying to explain again what’s going on, he instead teaches them about what is ahead.

Power: Jesus had a mission for the disciples to embark on, but they wouldn’t be successful without the help of the Holy Spirit. We should also be eager to ask for it’s help as Jesus said we need it.

Witnessing: We need the power to help communicate the message. We must wait for the Holy Spirit to do its work, before we can get started. Being patient and following the lead of the Holy Spirit can sometimes be difficult but it is important that we follow his lead, rather than doing it our own way.

- How has the power of the Holy Spirit worked in your own life?

1 John 4:4

…the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world

Intro
From last week – The Spirits
John is indicated that behind people’s comments or teachings there can be a spiritual influence, and in some cases an actual spirit. In order to assess the truth of a teaching it helps to try and identify its root, where it is coming from. This is as relevant today as it was then.

The Test
(a) “Acknowledges” or “confesses”. This is more than agreement with something. See James 2:19; Mark 1:24. It is the belief or conviction that is being communicated.
(b) The doctrine. That Jesus has come in the flesh. This is the core doctrine of what is known as the ‘incarnation’. Jesus was the one who had existed from the beginning and was both true God and true man.

I recommended my sermon of 20 Feb 2011, available on yorkelim.com when I taught in some details about the Trinitarian nature of God.

This week
1 John 4:4 …the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

The battle for ownership of the souls of men and women is still raging. This battle is raging in spiritual realms far removed from us. It also rages in our own realm and involves us, draws us in. This is a warning about the seriousness of the battle, yet a reassurance that they could know they were secure.

1) the one who is in the world.
He Exists
This person is often mentioned by Jesus by the title of “prince of this world”

John 12:31 Now is the time for judgement on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.

John 14:30 I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me…

John 16:7-11 7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgement, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

This awareness of opposition was a characteristic of the young church and features in Paul’s letters as a feature of the Christian life.

See Ephesians 6:10-13
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Far fetched? In current British culture there is a reluctance to admit to such powers. Those who do admit to believing they exist are often sneered at as foolishly superstitious.

Two replies to the sneering:
1 What of their own superstitions that are widely accepted? The sportsman with his ‘lucky’ routine, Horoscopes, “Touch Wood”, etc.
2 No shyness or apology is needed from us. If there is a God, and there are powers beyond our sight, neither miracles nor spiritual opposition should surprise us. If an enemy seems far fetched to them we can tell them we believe in stuff even more far fetched than that. More far fetched and more glorious.

Such as:
John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

or
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.

or Colossians 3:1-4
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

No clear information is given in the scriptures about our enemy. There are mentions, using the prophetic literary genre, there is poetry and Jesus sometimes used metaphor.

2) he one who is in you is greater

This, judging by the context, is referring to that spirit of the Antichrist rather than an earthly power.

See also:
1 Peter 5:8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. – He is not a lion, he is a rat with a megaphone.

James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Verse 4 “…Have overcome them…” Their victory was already in the past. See 1 John 2:13-14.

This is a present victory with a past and continuing withstanding of the influence of the false teachers, with the assurance that they will continue to do so.

We need to go back to the context to be sure we are getting the details of the meaning here. This is about confidence in the Holy Spirit in the believers, in the face of false teaching and the spirit behind false teaching.

One Pentecostal distinctive is confidence in the Holy Spirit. Some may say that is obvious, as the Holy Spirit is of the Holy Trinity and it is like saying we have confidence in God – which is obvious.

Let me illustrate:
I was sitting among a group of Christians that represented different brands of Christianity. One of them was delighted to mention that a young man they knew had become a Christian. They were confident about the authenticity of his experience of Christ and already spoke of him as born-again.
There then followed a conversation about whether anyone knew of any Christians who could connect with him after he left the city. I listened to an obvious anxiety that he would somehow fall from faith.
My contribution to the conversation was to say that God could cope, that the Holy Spirit within him would be his guide, and that all he needed to do in his new location was to pray and ask for good fellowship or for God to take care of him if that good fellowship was not how God chose to answer the prayer. My hearers seemed surprised. I realised they did not think like me.

That is what I mean about confidence in the Holy Spirit.

1 John 2:19-20,27
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.

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.

3) in you
Jesus in the believer
1 John 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Chapter 4, where we find today’s scripture follows from this same theme of Christ abiding in a believer.

See 1 John 3:23-24
And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live 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.

See also:
1 John 2:27
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.

1 John 3:9
No-one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

The abiding Holy Spirit
John 7:37-39
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Acts 1:4,5,8
4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.
5 For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.
8 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.

Acts 2:38,39
Peter replied, Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off— for all whom the Lord our God will call.

Acts 8:14-17
When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptised into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Acts 9:17-19
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord— Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here— has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptised, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.

Acts 19:1-6
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They answered, No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. So Paul asked, Then what baptism did you receive? John’s baptism, they replied. Paul said, John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptised into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

Luke 11:9-13
So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Application
Those who have received the Holy Spirit should know what now lives within them. Many of the appeals to seek more, or come forward for prayer to receive more, are more about the needs of the preacher than those listening.

Know what you have!

• The Truth abides within you (also known as Jesus).
• The Spirit abides within you (the spirit of Jesus).
• He abides, doesn’t keep wandering off.
• He will be within you as you face the challenges and opportunities of this week.

* John 18

This passage tells the story of Jesus’ arrest and trial. From the beginning the leaders have no desire to be fair, but seem to have decided already that they want Jesus dead. Even Pilate tries simply to deal with it so there is the least amount of hassle involved. Sometimes people today can be the same, they think little about truth and instead just say that each person can think about truth differently. Do you think that’s possible? Or is there an absolute truth that is not debatable? If we do not hold on to the word of God it is very easy for us to drift from the truth and lose our ideas about what is true. That’s why it is so important to read the bible regularly.

One reason the religious leaders were so against Jesus and were determined to eliminate him from the picture was because they made them uncomfortable. It must have felt like everything they thought they knew was right and was the way to do things, e.g following the law, Jesus often dismissed. This was simply because Jesus was more concerned with the attitude of the heart than actions. However, in their hearts, these religious leaders were angry and frustrated that their ideas were being challenged. And so because hate was controlling them, they didn’t give Jesus a fair trial.

How are you feeling about Jesus and your relationship with him?

- Is Jesus a source of anger and frustration?

- Is he a hassle to be avoided?

- is he ‘the way, the truth and the life’?

Pilate had to make a big decision about what to do with Jesus… so do we!

* John 19

So this may be a story we have heard many times, especially around Easter time. The account given in John’s gospel is full of description but it is not sensationalised. It is hard for us to comprehend this type of murder and all the things that Jesus endured. But crucifixion was common in Jesus’ time so although it seems like a horrific thing to us, it was quite common for criminals to be killed in this way (although we don’t believe Jesus deserved it).

But what is very prominent in this account is how much the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus. As discussed in relation to the passage above, Jesus challenged how they were doing things. But no one at the time really asked them about why they were so angered by him. If they didn’t think he was who  he said he was, why were they so worried about him being around?! Maybe that’s something we can ask those we know who today are very against Jesus.

And then the poignant thing that Jesus says before he dies leaves much to discuss. Jesus said “It is finished”. Some may have interpreted this as the speech of the broken man, who had given in, and almost admitted that his killers had won. But instead of a defeated gasp, Jesus was declaring that the price had been paid in full, and that sin had been dealt with once and for all.

- What things in this passage stick out to you today?

- What is the significance of the cross in your life?

1 John 4:1-6

Intro – The Spirits
John is indicating here that behind people’s comments or teachings there can be a spiritual influence, and in some cases an actual spirit. In order to assess the truth of a teaching it helps to try and identify its root, where it is coming from. This is as relevant today as it was then. The reason is that the battle for ownership of the souls of men and women is still raging.

1) The Test
(a) “Acknowledges” or “confesses”. This is more than agreement with something. See James 2:19 Mark 1:24. It is the belief or conviction that is being communicated.
(b) The doctrine. That Jesus has come in the flesh. This is the core doctrine of what is known as the ‘incarnation’. Jesus was the one who had existed from the beginning and was both true God and true man. Jesus was not a spirit that appeared to be a man, but was a flesh and blood man.

An Error
Jesus was not a man upon whom the Son of God, or divine Christ, came upon at his baptism and then left at his death. This was taught by the Gnostics, and in particularly the Cerinthians.

This was a false teaching around Ephesus at that time. Cerinthain was a native of Ephesus. He beliefs seem to have been influenced by Gnosticism and similar to others such as the Ebionites. Cerinthain taught that the Christ descended into Jesus at his baptism and left him again before he faced the cross.

It is claimed by some that Cerinthain had what appeared to be admirable motives. He was a Jew who attempted to unite the doctrines of Christ with those of the Jews and Gnostics. He may have had sincere motives but was sincerely wrong! Truth, what is true, can not be changed to suit the hearers, it is either true or not.

2) The Truth

Incarnation comes from the Latin words ‘in caro’, meaning ‘in flesh’. It means that at some moment in time God took upon himself human flesh and human nature.

The Jesus we worship is three things that some theologians try in vain to separate.

Jesus is:

1. The Jesus of history.
2. The Christ of experience (which we have come to know and worship).
3. The Christ of the ancient creeds which describe him as true God as well as true man.

See John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Literally, the mention of ‘dwelling’ in NIV is that he ‘tabernacled’, meaning he ‘camped’, or lived in a tent of flesh.

1 John 1:1-3
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

1 John 5:20-21
We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true— even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

For more on the trinity I recommend that you look again at the notes of my sermon of 20 Feb 2011, available on yorkelim.com, when I taught in some details about the Trinitarian nature of God.

3) Why it matters
The incarnation is understood in relation to the Trinity in that Christ came from the Trinity to earth. The incarnation is also seen in relation to humanity in that the Son became forever man (or human). It is a man that was born, a man that died, a man that rose, a man that ascended, a man that pleads before the Father, and a man that is coming again in the clouds to judge the earth.

1 Timothy 2:5-6
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men— the testimony given in its proper time.

Acts 17:31
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.

Hebrews 2:5-9
It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified: What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honour and put everything under his feet.
In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him.
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

We know that the incarnation has a bearing on the resurrection as it was a real human body that was raised from the dead.

Luke 24:39
Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.

It was a human body that ascended to heaven where it is now at the right hand of God the Father (wherever that may be).

Ephesians 4:10
He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.

Luke 22:69
But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.

Colossians 3:1
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Ephesians 1:18-21
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Ephesians 2:6 [When referring to our transformation in Christ]
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

This point raised by John in his letter is not some picky point of personal belief, it mattered to them and it matters to us. It speaks of our experience and our future.

We are:

1. Baptised with him. Romans 6:3
2. Dead with him. Romans 6:8. Colossians 2:20.
3. Buried with him. Romans 6:4. Colossians 2:12.
4. Risen with him. Colossians 2:12; 3:1. Ephesians 2:6.
5. Seated with him. Ephesians 2:6.
6. Hidden with him. Colossians 3:3.

Being seated with Christ ensures our fellowship with God and our authority as believers. To be hid with him ensures our fellowship and our security.

Where are you sitting?

The remote, unknown and unknowable God is now intimately accessible at once to anyone who calls upon the name of the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Call upon him for salvation and your spirit is then sitting in heavenly places with Christ, even though you may be going through trials. Call upon him and you will live forever. Call upon him and you will be in his grip until the end of your days.

Colossians 3:1-4
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

I pray that this week you know what you have got, and where you are.

We see an incredible parallel between the new life that Lazarus receives from Jesus when he raises him from the dead, and the eternal life we receive from Jesus through his death on the cross. What power! The Pharisees, rather than celebrating the miracle that saw, a dead man restored to life again, instead were threatened by such a wonder to the extent that they plotted to kill him. These men, completely trapped in religion, were scared of the threat to their heritage and national identity. The way Jesus was attracting people to him meant that they feared soon they would be undermined and consequently the Romans would take them over. The problem was, these guys began to value other things more highly than God and their relationship with him.

Jesus wasn’t bothered about the politics or really what the Pharisees thought. He knew why he was on earth- for his people. And he showed great love and compassion for them. Mary and Martha couldn’t understand why he let Lazarus die- that didn’t seem a very compassionate thing to do, but actually, Jesus loved Mary, Martha and Lazarus very much (v3,5,36) so he must have had his reasons for doing this. Jesus said, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” (v14-15). Jesus wanted to teach his disciples and the other people around, a lesson about the power of God so that he might see their faith increase.

In responding to the love that Jesus showed, Martha, unlike the Pharisees, put Jesus at the centre of her life. She said, “I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who was to come into the world.” (v27). Although she may not have understood why Lazarus had to die, she knew that Jesus was in control of the situation.

- Is there anything that you prioritise more than Jesus?

- Are there things that God is doing that you don’t understand right now? What truth about God are you sure of?

* Luke 22:1-46

This next passage continues the story we have just read. The Pharisees, began to work on their plot to kill Jesus, and this is the beginning of how that story unfolds.

The famous story of the last supper, depicted by many through paintings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sacrament_of_the_Last_Supper), must have been a pretty awkward party, and not really the happy celebration that it is often made out to be. Jesus, knew what the disciples had been up to, or what they were about to do. It turned out that they weren’t the most faithful bunch. One had agreed to lead the Pharisees to Jesus so they could arrest him, whilst another would deny having anything to do with him later that evening. If you knew that, would you want to hang out with those ‘friends’?

But Jesus did. Despite that, he loved them. And he knew what he had to do. Jesus knew that it was time for the law to be fulfilled. Knowing what his purpose on earth was, he knew he had to teach the disciples some more things. All the predications made by the prophets and the symbolism of the sacrifices were about to be fulfilled, when he died on the cross.

So during, that final meal with his disciples, Jesus demonstrated how it should be remembered. His body would be broken because of their (and our) sin, just like he broke the bread as he sat at the table. And the wine is to remind us of his blood and that final sacrifice that was made so that we could be forgiven. This was the ‘new covenant’ between God and his people, the final agreement. It lasts forever!

- What do you think about when you take communion in church?

- What things do you ‘remember’ about Jesus?

1 John 3:21-24

From last week
Cain represents a supposed bloodless route to God. I say “supposed” because there is not other route. No other route leads to the one God, Lord of lords, King of kings. We know we are not of Cain because we (v14) have passed from death to life. And we know we have passed from death to life because we love our brethren.

We are not like Cain, we DO have a route to God – Jesus!

Love
Verses 19-20
Assurance when we feel condemnation. Our security does not come from the quality of our lives, but by grace through faith. Assurance of our security results from love with “actions and truth”.

This week – Intro
Doctrine
We do not know how much doctrine the believers in that community knew. So far in this letter alone we see that to believe in the name of Jesus includes a number of features. It means belief in, and confession of, the following (Adapted from The Pentecostal Commentary on 1 John, John Christopher Thomas):

1. Fellowship with the Father includes fellowship with the Son 1:3.
2. Cleansing from sin is accomplished through the shed blood of Jesus 1:7.
3. Jesus, qualified by his righteousness, acts as advocate for the believer 2:1.
4. His advocacy is based upon his atoning sacrifice 2:2.
5. Jesus is the role model for believers 2:6.
6. Forgiveness for sin comes through the name of Jesus 2:12.
7. Jesus Christ remains in the believer 2:14.
8. This Righteous One will be manifest at his appearing 2:28-29.
9. Jesus is the role model for believers 3:2-3
10. Jesus came to take away sin and is himself without sin 3:5-6
11. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil 3:7.

The above is not just a list of correct beliefs but they are also truths to be experienced.

ASK

1) Possibility – We can ask.
To ask is part of what it is to be a disciple and a child of God. It is normal for people who live in him and those he lives in (v24).

The practice of prayer fills both the old and new testaments.

Daniel risked his life over the privilege of prayer.
Daniel 6:4-23
At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally these men said, We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.
So the administrators and the satraps went as a group to the king and said: O King Darius, live for ever!
The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.
Now, O king, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered— in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed. So King Darius put the decree in writing.

Jesus had taught his followers to pray and to even pray for their enemies.
Matthew 5:44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…

Prayer must be authentic, directed to God and not for show.
Matthew 6:5 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

A believer is seen and heard by God.
Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Prayer is not about the number of words.
Matthew 6:7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

Jesus gave an example of prayer.
Matthew 6:9 This, then, is how you should pray:’Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…

Jesus is an example of prayer.
Matthew 14:23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone…

Prayer was a feature of the new church.
Acts 1:14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Acts 10:9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.

Acts 14:23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

I can ask. I can go directly to God without any other mediator other than Jesus, the Son of God.

Hebrews 4:14-16
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are— yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

1 Timothy 2:5-6
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men— the testimony given in its proper time.

2) Conditions – believe and love
“Because we obey his commands…” verse 22.

This takes the reader back to 2:3-17 where to context clearly indicates that to obey is commands is defined as loving each other. This is emphasised again in 3:11-18 where it includes the detail that love means laying down our lives for one another in service (v16). Now this command is seen as both believing and loving.

Believe. The command to believe tells us that to believe is a response based upon decision. Love and belief continue as themes in the remainder of this letter.

The grounds for this asking is that we believe and love.

3) Limitations
“…Receive from him anything we ask…” (verse 22). What exactly does “anything” include?

Matthew 21:22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.

I can see no scriptural limits placed upon what we can ask for in prayer.

To consider – pious sounding, but wrong:

• Those who say they do not pray for themselves. This violates teaching from Jesus and the apostles. It is not humble, it is faithless. It may even be a display of pride as they foolishly think others will be impressed.
• Those who say their need is not important enough to ask. This is a belief that a limited god must prioritise his workload. This again is faithlessness. It is almost blasphemous.
• Those who say their need is too insignificant to ask. This assumes he will only deal according to seriousness, prioritising according to seriousness. Again this is faithlessness. It also violates the teaching from Jesus about God responding to need of each individual without comparison to the needs of others.

1 John 3:11-24

Intro
In this section we will read of love and hate. We come to the centre, or mid-point, of the letter. Perhaps we could also say we are getting to the heart of the letter as John speaks of love.

The turn of the spiral this time is on the word ‘beginning’, verse 11.

See 1 John 1:1
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched— this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

1 John 2:7
Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard.

1 John 2:13
I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.

1 John 2:14
I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

1 John 2:24
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.

1) Cain

Cain represents the unbelieving world around us, while Abel represents the people of God and righteousness. See Genesis 4.

See Hebrews 11:4
By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

Cain represents man’s way rather than God’s way, man made religion rather than the way of the creator. Grain offering rather than the required offering which involved blood. “Without the shedding of blood…”

Cain represents a supposed bloodless route to God. I say “supposed” because there is not other route. No other route leads to the one God, Lord of lords, King of kings.

See Hebrews 9: 11-18, 22
11 When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.
12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance— now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
16 In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it,
17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.
18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.
22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

How can we compare other faiths compared to the Way of God, the only, and the most high, the way of the Lamb that was slain?

Isaiah 53:7
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

See John 1:29
The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Revelation 1:4-8
John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father — to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.

Revelation 5:6
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the centre of the throne…

2) “Have passed from death to life”
We know we are not of Cain because we (v14) have passed from death to life. And we know we have passed from death to life because we love our brethren.

“Have passed from death to life” is already accomplished. This is something we are meant to “know”. See John 5:24 I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

John 20:30-31
Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

The hearers of this letter would have known these words of Jesus. Members of this community are being reminded that to know they are part of the community of faith in Jesus is important when compared to the claims of the false teachers and their attempts to recruit.

3) Love and Hate
Verse 18, “With actions and truth.”

Here the teaching of this letter reaches the crescendo. After the beginning in 1:1 and a high point in 2:7 where love is hinted at but not fully explored, here it is like the clash of cymbals with a background roll of drums as music soars. This is a pivotal moment in the letter. This is about how to live, when we are with believers and when we are with unbelievers.

Verses 19-20
Assurance when we feel condemnation. Assurance of our security results from love with “actions and truth”. “Love…with actions and in truth… This then is how we know that we belong to the truth.” However, our security does not come from the quality of our lives, but by grace which we have received through faith. See Ephesians 2:8-9

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast.

Hate 3:13
In the Bible both hatred and love are seen primarily as moral qualities, attitudes expressed in actions rather than mere emotions.

We will experience opposition for no other reason than we belong to Jesus. Some of those still in spiritual darkness will delight to feel the presence of Jesus in us while others will be irritated and enraged by it.

NOTE:
Why should Christians often assume they are hated by unbelievers? I think we should cultivate the opposite expectation or we are doomed to poor relationships.

I heard a preacher say, “When you enter a room, expect that the people there will like you.” He went on to say that it will alter how we behave and how others treat us. We are more likely to get what we expect.

This week I want to expect the best. I want to make the correct decisions to love in truth and action. I want to be resting in the assurance that the price is paid for me, I am someone who has already passed from death into life.

Often those that are most concerned with religion, are those who are sceptical of genuine works of God. As we see in this passage, the pharisees cross questioned the man who was miraculously healed because they weren’t convinced by what Jesus had done. Unfortunately, the missed out of celebrating the miracle and allowing it to increase their faith, because they got caught up in their rules and theories about Jesus.

We can resist God’s work for many reasons. For example, it could be the fear of the unknown or a even fear that we might be led astray. But we can also resist the spirit if it isn’t what we were expecting or think should happen. We need to be open to God even if its different to past experience as God might want to reveal something new.

Even though the people weren’t sure what had happened or why, the blind man knew this, “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see.” (v25). The man shows an progression of faith. Firstly, he knew the facts of what happened and he could declare this, and then he decided what he thought about Jesus, saying that he was a prophet, and finally he made a decision to believe. What a great way to come to know Jesus!

It’s also great to see how Jesus responds when the blind man is honestly seeking him (v25-37). However, he isn’t as patient with those who use their doubts and the law as way of resisting Jesus and recognising his power.

• How did you get to where you are now? How did your faith progress?
• Do you have any honest questions that you need to ask Jesus in order to get to know him better?

Mark 5:1-20

Wow! This sounds like a bit of a crazy story and although we can be amazed by Jesus’ authority, it also highlights how Satan is not a joke. Often the devil is portrayed as comical and might light of in films and the media but Satan has a plan to destroy God’s creation and we all need to be aware of the threat of that attack.

The good news is that both we can know that Satan holds no power in relation to God (and he knows that too!). When Jesus came to earth he defeated Satan.

The people’s reaction to Jesus’ miraculous freeing of the demon-possessed man, is rather funny. Rather than being happy, they were afraid. They weren’t used to people being healed and set free. Even today Jesus wants to free us from addictions, even when that might unsettle us.

But Jesus also wants us to testify what he has done for us and share the Good News with those around us. He commands the healed man, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

A testimony of God’s goodness is one of the most powerful statement’s of the gospel there is.

• Is there anything that you’re addicted to that you need to be freed from?
• How could you open yourself up to God’s radical healing in your life?

1 John 2:28 – 3:10

Intro
From previous weeks:
1 John 2:24-27
By referring them back he was asking them to remember. It was a way of getting them to discover if they had had an experience. That is why we baptise after a confession of faith, and even that may not be enough.

John’s comments also calls us back to recognise to our first encounter with Christ. It is that that I want to introduce others to, yet often see it replaced by a message of psychotherapy, the me-first code to live by.

This week:
This part of the letter from 2:28 to 3:10 is a unit. It begins by referring to believers as being born of God “has been born of him” (2:29) and concludes with the same theme in v10 referring to them being a child of God.

“And now” (2:28) marks the movement from the previous section of the letter. Having spoken much about false teachers and countering them, he now leaves them behind and speaks of our relationship, as children, of our Father God.

In this section John continues writing in the context of an awareness of relationship with Jesus.

1) Love Lavished
Not referring to the work of the cross only, but further on in what that work brought about. “Children of God”. Something the false teachers, nor other faiths, could offer.

See John 1:12-13
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Their “right”:
was through the cross and not by their own merit Ephesians 2:8-9
Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast.

An event (“became”) as a result of of believing in his name. Note, child converts still must come to a moment, no matter how child-like, when the believe, are born again and become part of God’s family. This event does not take place at the moment of infant baptism.

No other name
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name…” There is no other name!

Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

2) Children
Fatherhood of God
See Matthew 6:9 “Our Father…”
Luke 23:34 “Father forgive them…”

(a) He created
Deuteronomy 32:6
Is this the way you repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?

Malachi 2:10
Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?

(b) He chose a people
Jeremiah 31:9
They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.

(c) He adopted the believers that live in the church age.
Matthew 3:9
And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

Speaking us of being adopted as children of Abraham,
Romans 4:11
And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.

Romans 4:16
Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring— not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

(d) He caused us to go through a new birth.
John 1:13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

John 3:3 In reply Jesus declared, I tell you the truth, no-one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.

John repeatedly presents the transformed life as evidence of living in the truth.

1 John 3 verses 3 to 6 are a point in the spiral which lines up with previous mentions of this point in the letter so far.

See 1:8-10
2:3-6
2:28
And perhaps 2:15-17
3:9-10

This time he goes further in the upward spiral and tells us where the transformed life leads, “But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him…” This is a glorious hope.

See also
1 Corinthians 13:12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

* Luke 9:1-36

This passage includes a very famous story about how Jesus provided for his followers. The Feeding of the Five Thousand is an incredible miracle through which Jesus can emphasise the point he had been teaching both his disciples and the crowds about: the kingdom of God.

At the beginning of this passage, Jesus sends out the twelve disciples to preach the kingdom of God. They went out preaching the gospel and healing the sick. Jesus also focused on this topic as he spoke to the crowd. “He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God…” (v11).

We don’t know how the 5,000 people there were fed, whether bread dropped from the sky, or it grew back as they tore off chunks of bread. We only know that “They all ate and were satisfied.” (v17). Through this miracle, Jesus managed to demonstrate what happens with the kingdom of God which he was constantly preaching about: like the bread and fish, it multiples when it is given away. This miracle also further emphasised that Jesus was the Son of God, which was further demonstrated on the mountain side experience witnessed by Peter, John and James (v28-36).

Jesus didn’t provide food as a way of attracting a crowd, but he noticed a need, and consequently provided for the hungry. Through this miracle, Jesus demonstrated the kingdom of God and also showed himself as the son of God. He introduced the idea of using people to tell others about the kingdom and about Jesus.

- How do you feel about sharing God’s Good News with others?

* Matthew 14:22-36

We can take lots of encouragement from the words spoken by Jesus in this passage, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Jesus speaks that into our situations and we can have confidence in him. Being a Christian doesn’t mean we are free from troubles or worries, but God is always in control and if we begin to sink, we can reach out to God and he will rescue us.

Peter began to sink into the water when he began to doubt, however, his ability to get out of the boat in the first place astounds me. In many situations, we can be too fearful to even step out onto the water. God has got our backing. Similarly, he doesn’t give us everything we want (often because that isn’t what we need and he has a plan!) but he will provide for our needs when we call to him.

Note what Jesus did after he sent the disciples and the crowds away? He went up on the mountainside on his own to spend time praying to God. I wonder how often we would do that when we have spare time? But Jesus knew that he needed that time out during the intensity of his ministry to be renewed and stay spiritually focused on his mission.

- Do you have any problems in your life at the moment? How could you seek God in the midst of the storm?

- Do you need to get out of the boat? Are you holding back from doing something you feel led to for fear of sinking? Remember what Jesus said to Peter, “Come”. Jesus is out there with you.

- Do you need to spend more time with your heavenly Father?

You can here Rob sharing his thought here:

* Luke 10: 25-37

The Parable of the Good Samaritan holds a message that remains relevant. Jesus used characters which were understood by those listening at the time, however, modern adaptations of this story to use people who a contemporary audience can relate to more easily. But whoever the characters, the lesson that Jesus wanted to get across was the command on us to show love to others, even if it is uncommon in our society.

The Samaritans were not liked or respect, but through this parable Jesus shows how the Samaritan was more understanding, and expressed God’s love in a better way than the others in the story. Jesus was demonstrating that being a Christian is not about knowledge or being perfect, but about understanding and showing God’s love and forgiveness to others. The neighbour in this story was the person who showed mercy and compassion for someone in need, and took action when he saw that someone was helpless. In order to be an effective witness for Jesus, we need show mercy, not simply have the right answers.

When the expert of the law first asks his question something quite interesting occurs. He isn’t quite satisfied by Jesus’ answer so he ask another question to justify himself. We can sometimes limit our relationship with God to a list of dos and don’ts, and it is when we define it like this that it is much harder to be passionate in our love for God and to serve him joyfully. Rather than giving the man a straightforward answer, Jesus launches into the parable and teaches a vital lesson through it.

- To help you understand this parable even more, how about re-doing it within a modern day setting, and maybe even imagining someone you don’t get along with, helping you in a time of need.

- Is there anyone you could show mercy to as a witness of Jesus Christ?

* Luke 15

This passage includes yet another famous parable used by Jesus to teach his followers and the Pharisees about God’s love. In this reading there are three stories of something lost being found, and each time Jesus relates this to lost people coming to know Jesus.

However, it is in the third story that we glimpse most clearly God’s heart for people; he longs for sinners to return to him. As humans we read the parable of the Lost/Prodigal Son, and think we know how the father should react. We think the son deserves a beating or at least a scolding before he is welcomed back. But the father’s reaction is somewhat different, and this represents God’s attitude; he much prefers repentance to punishment. Jesus quotes true repentance when he says “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” (15:21). What is your reaction when you recognise sin in your life?

But we can learn lots from the older brother too. He felt his father’s love should be reserved for those who had earned it and who hadn’t rejected the father in the past. But fortunately, that isn’t how God reacts, if he did, no one would be saved, but we too can have the attitude of the older brother and think up our own terms and conditions for salvation. But the church is not a place for ‘good’ people, but is a place in which we want to welcome in the ‘bad’ people.

- Which brother can you relate to more?

- Do you ever make the mistake of thinking you have to earn God’s love?

When Jesus spoke, it probably wasn’t at all like the sermons we are used to hearing today. He didn’t follow a plan, or start with a joke, but instead tried to communicate as much truth as he could in the short time he had on earth.

This passage is the second half of the Sermon on the Mount. It contains some truly inspiring teaching which although spoken so many years ago, continues to have relevance for us today. It would take forever to breakdown every bit of Jesus’ teaching, so we’ll begin by focusing on the very famous teaching on prayer that kicks off this reading. Jesus suggests a model by which we can base a prayer, and this remains appropriate for us today. It has two aims, to look at God and proclaim who he is and to look at our needs, whether that’s food, forgiveness or strength to avoid temptation. We worship our God, and then we address what we need. Often we can lose this balance and become too me-focused in our prayers and that is when they become less-effective.

For Jesus prayer was part of the routine. He didn’t need a formula to follow (although he knew that we did!), as the need to talk to his father was a totally natural part of his life. Jesus stresses through the rest of the sermon, that our Father should be on our mind whatever we’re up to, whether its fasting or giving. When our central focus is on God, there is little room to worry about other things (Matthew 6: 25-34).

- What would Jesus say if he preached a sermon today?

- Which bit of the Lord’s Prayer do you find toughest at the moment? Are your prayers balanced?

* Matthew 13

This passage looks mostly at the Kingdom of Heaven, what it will look like and who will get to enjoy it. Through parables, Jesus compares the Kingdom to a mustard seed, yeast and hidden treasure, using them to illustrate that something small can have a large impact. Our decision to follow Jesus might seem initially like a small step but the impact it has on our life, and on those around us, is in reality much bigger.

As Jesus traveled and preached, he brought freedom by sin and expanded his Kingdom on earth. Through his death on the cross he made a way for more people to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We are inhabitants of the kingdom, but this means we have the high task to hear and act according to God’s word.

- How has it effected your life since you have been in God’s Kingdom?

- What do you make of the parables about the end of time?

* Matthew 3:13-4:17

Jesus’ baptism is a bit of an iconic moment, but why did he need it? He was the Son of God, and without sin! However, although the baptism by John was technically unnecessary, Jesus needed to fulfill what he had come to earth to achieve; redemption of the people. Through the baptism, Jesus’ position was affirmed  “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (3:17).

And then Jesus went straight from this place of closeness to his father, to the desolation of the desert and where he was tempted by Satan. It is often after or during a time of spiritual growth that the devil chooses to attack us the most. Although out temptation may not be as drastic as that which Jesus experienced, when we are making spiritual progress, we can be susceptible to listen to the enemy’s lies. Satan will try to convince us of our weaknesses and failure. An awareness that this attack might happen, can help us to fight harder should temptation arise.

Jesus also teaches us to quote the Word of God as a method of combating Satan’s tempting. The bible is a weapon and it should be used by us to fight off the attacks of the enemy. However, it can also mislead us if it used in the wrong way. Satan quotes scripture, but he misuses it. Being part of a bible-believing church where you are exposed frequently to scripture, really equips us for such attacks. It’s also much easier to stay on track when you’re surrounded by a group of strong Christians.

- When do you feel closest to God?

- When are you most susceptible to temptation?

- What steps could you take to prepare yourself for temptation in the future?

* Matthew 5:1- 6:4

The Sermon on the Mount is one of Jesus’ most famous and greatest sermons. It is sometimes referred to as ‘the Beatitudes’ because of the opening verses which talk about what is means to be ‘blessed’. So, Jesus begins his greatest sermon by defining true happiness. Unsurprisingly there is a twist. All Jesus seems to talk about are the losers in society- the poor in spirit, those who were mourning, the persecuted etc. They aren’t exactly the most fun people to be around, yet Jesus said that hapiness comes from you going out of your way to include those who are troubled. Whilst Jesus was on earth, he lived as the most inspiring example of how to love those who were so often rejected by society. He calls us to do the same.

Jesus went on to touch on another sensitive subject, – influencing others. Jesus called his followers to be ‘salt’. That meant to be a flavour of the gospel. He also commanded them to be ‘light’, and therefore demonstrate the gospel through how they lived and represented God. A

Jesus didn’t stop there. He went on to talk about a great number of things, from murder and adultery, to divorce and revenge. With each topic he began, “You have heard that it was said…” referring to the law which had been dictated long ago. Jesus knew what caused the sin- ‘the heart’ and he knew that even if the people continued the follow the rules, they needed to have the right heart, so that they could experience reconciliation, faithfulness, forgiveness and love. Jesus valued these things higher than the law.

- What makes you happy?

- Which part of the sermon on the mount, poses the biggest challenge to you?

1 John 2:18-28

Intro
Verse 18 “Dear Children”
This is a new appeal to his listeners to draw near and heed this word. Yet another ‘gather close’. The new use of the word marks that this as a new section with new importance. So what are the important features here?

1) Their danger
‘Last Hour’ and ‘Antichrist’. The significance of their time and the importance of their opposition.

Danger in this ‘Last Hour’: As I mentioned last time, This is the last hour (or “it is the last time,”), verse 18.

It probably does not refer to any particular event. The destruction of Jerusalem had already taken place in AD70. John is referring to the nearness of the Lord’s coming as evidenced by the rise of Anti Christian teachers, a mark of the last time. The whole Christian age is the last time.

It was the purpose of the Spirit to keep the Church always expecting Christ to return at any moment. There is no other dispensation, or period, until Christ returns, only the “last days”, “last time” or “last hour”.

Compare “these last days” in Hebrews 1:2
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

We live in the last days. I said previously that many Christians around the world are demonstrating they believe this by the way they lay down their lives for Jesus.

In this last hour there is a danger – antichrist.

Antichrist :
These antichrist are people are opposed to the community of faith. Verse 19 begins and ends with mention of “They went out from us”. At one time they were part of the community of faith.

See 2 John 7
Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

That may have been a reference to the first time the deceivers went out from the community. Now it continues.

v 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us…

Evidence of authentic faith is seen in continuing in it. Does this language mean that they were never truly part of the community of faith, the church, because they have not continued?

Note:
a) The writer is concerned that current members might be susceptible to the deception. This would indicate that those who are ‘in’ could end up ‘out’.
b) One view is that John is using deliberate exaggeration, or hyperbole. See in 2:2 where he declares that the Paraclete is available for those who sin, yet in 3:9 he says that true believers do not sin. If this is true, that he is using exaggeration as a deliberate literary device, this leaves us to believe the antichrists may have once been authentic members of the church.
c) In John’s gospel there are various mentions of those who believe being at different points on their spiritual journey: 2:11 those that truly believe, 2:23-24 those who claim belief who Jesus does not believe, 6:64-66 disciples who do not believe, 19:38 those who believe but are secret disciples because of fear. It is in comparison to all those that Jesus declared in 8:31, “If you remain in my word you are truly my disciples.”

This would not have been lost on the readers of 1 John.

2) Their equipping

Anointing
Christ means anointed one. The word used here is very similar to the Greek word for Christ but is now referring to the anointing of the Holy Spirit on each one who is in Christ.

Truth
We have the Truth, we know his name. God is the constant, he is the Truth.

From my notes on 2 John 1:3

According to customary letter construction in 2 John 1:3 it would have been customary to begin with for good health, as in 3 John. Here he does not with for it but declares what they have. Well, some have it if they are in the truth.

This designation is similar to Paul’s ‘in Christ’ or ‘in the Lord’. Jesus is not just one who spoke the truth he is The Truth.

The declaration of verse 3 is dependant upon them being in the truth. There is a dividing line. A person is either in or not. That is referred to in verse 4, It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.

Many times in that short letter the word truth is used!

See also:
Romans 1:25
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator— who is for ever praised. Amen.

John 16:12-14
I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.

All this talk of the truth would have prepared his hearers for hearing about false teaching. False teaching is not seen merely as a difference of opinion, or a different view. To be in error means not hearing from the Holy Spirit and not being in loving fellowship.

Verse 20, there are two different translations of this verse:
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all truth.

Either way it is a reply to the false teachers claiming they have the truth.

Verse 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.

How should we respond to this text? This is not justification to schism, with one group claiming to be the only possessors of truth. Rather this is to remind us that the Holy Spirit is the one who carries truth and communicates it to us. We will only have full truth when we see our Lord face to face.

1 Corinthians 13:8-12
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

3) Their future
They will remain in him (v27). They will continue in him (v28).

The God who saves is the God who keeps. This has been demonstrated down the centuries and is the testimony of people in this church.

* Luke 2: 1-40

This is often a story that we only read at Christmas, so to read it in the summer seems rather strange. However, the message remains the same throughout the year. God sent his son into the world, not via royal means, but through a messy birth in a stable, with animals and shepherds. We can often get into the thinking that God is all glamour, and only uses prominent people to do his work. The story of Jesus’ birth reminds us that God chooses to use us regardless of our position. The shepherds who had been minding their own business in the fields with their sheep, were chosen to encounter God through awesome worship, and then be the first to welcome Jesus into the world. Although they might seem like the most unlikely of choices to be there for the birth of Jesus, afterwards God used them to spread the message about Jesus to others (2:17).

- Would you say that Jesus has transformed your life? Why and how?

- Do you sometimes feel that you’re not glamorous enough to serve God? Why is that?

* Luke 3

We’ve read about John the Baptist being born, and we’re aware that he was someone special. Now its time to catch up with him. John appears to be an interesting character. He lived in the desert, wore rough clothes and ate natural foods. But John had a special job, “to prepare the way for the Messiah” (3:4). And the Messiah happened to be John’s cousin- Jesus. John saw God at work in Jesus, and he wanted to see more of it. Are we encouraged when we see God at work in our family members? It is those who are closest to you, that you can have the biggest spiritual impact on.

John devoted his life to humbly pointing people to Jesus. You may not be a high-flying preacher or a gutsy prophet, but you can still have a big impact for God by letting your words and actions direct others towards Jesus.

- In what ways could you influence your family members for God’s priorities?

- How has your family influenced your faith?

Some notes from the sermon:

The God who risks: Part 2

Last time we looked at the biblical evidence that shows that God has not set the future in stone, and that it the future is not already written. That God could have created a universe where he foreknew or determined everything but the bible shows that God instead chose to create a universe that did not not have a predetermined or foreknown future, and that prophecy reveals God’s intention and is not “historiography before the event”. My intention was to show that you don’t have to believe in a fully determined or foreknown future to be a good Christian – the other views have had centuries of being proclaimed – but they are not the only evangelical view of God and His relationship to time, evil and suffering. It is important to have a robust framework that can deal with evil and suffering in our lives – I found that the classic answers of “God plans evil in order to bring about good or bring glory to himself” or “it’s a mystery” were highly unsatisfactory. What then do we do when evil or suffering comes about? Did God plan evil, or just foresee it and choose to do nothing about it? What we see the life of Jesus revealing is a God that is fighting against suffering and evil, treats sickness like an enemy. Perhaps we should instead ask “I wonder what this world would be like if God wasn’t fighting against evil?”

God doesn’t plan everything, but he does have a plan for everything that happens: Romans 8v28, in all things God is working…. Despite what happens, God can make it work for good – if we’ll let him.

Does the Open View of the future limit God? No, it is the future that is limited, not God: the future does not exist to be known. There is no expectation for God to know something that cannot be known. Therefore one can maintain an Open View of the Future and still confidently proclaim that God knows everything. To think then that so often God brings about things with miraculous timing and precision without foreknowing the future or controlling people’s decisions is mindblowing, and presents a much higher view of God than one that does so by foreknowing the future or controlling people in order to bring about what He wants.

The bible does mention predestination. It appears in the NIV 4 times (Ephesians 1 and Romans 8, and can be drawn from other Pauline writings). How can God predestine a small selection of society to salvation without controlling them or foreknowing their decisions? If a certain section of society were elected to salvation did God also leave (or more honestly, predestine) the rest to hell? Did they ever stand a genuine chance to avoid hell? If God is to judge justly people must have an opportunity to act righteously.

When Paul speaks of election in Eph 1 and Rom 8 he is speaking from his understanding of election: the national election of Israel. They were a people chosen to serve God – God would stand by them as they remained faithful to God. The key is that although the nation of Israel was elected, merely being born an Israelite was no guarantee of being part of the elect, instead one had to “keep the covenant” in order to be a “true Israelite”. Saul started out inside the elected nation and found himself on the outside, Ruth, conversely, started outside the national elect and took the invitation from God to come inside it. Paul is not speaking then of God selecting which individuals to save and which to condemn, but rather God has elected the whole of humanity – though to be clear we only become part of “the elect” when we repent and believe. What then was predestined? Eph 1 is clear: God chose us [who are] in Christ to be holy and blameless – it is difficult to make the sentence mean anything else frankly, and yet…

In fact, are we comfortable with the idea that God only selects a few people from society to save? This is something we need to be really clear about: God wants to save everyone! Yet many old theologians (and some now) would insist that God chooses who to save and who to condemn to an eternity in hell on what (from our perspective) is nothing more than luck – if God chose to save or condemn us before we were born then it really is just luck. Have we ever thought about what we in heaven will think of those in hell? Some theologians call Individual Predestination the doctrine of comfort because it is comforting for Christians to know God chose them before the world began, but it is not us Christians who need the comfort frankly – it would be better spent on those not predestined to heaven!

And if people are predestined to heaven and everyone else is left to (or predestined to) hell, what will we in heaven think of them? CH Spurgeon, a highly respected preacher and theologian just over 100 years ago said the righteous in heaven will be quite satisfied with the damnation of the lost. I used to think that if I could see the lost in hell, surely I must weep for them. Could I hear their horrid wailings, and see the dreadful contortions of their anguish, surely I must pity them. But there is no such sentiment as that known in heaven. The believer shall be there so satisfied with all God’s will, that he will quite forget the lost in the idea that God has done it for the best, that even their loss has been their own fault, and that he is infinitely just in it. If my parents could see me in hell they would not have a tear to shed for me, though they were in heaven, for they would say, “It is justice, thou great God; and thy justice must be magnified, as well as thy mercy;” and moreover, they would feel that God was so much above his creatures that they would be satisfied to see those creatures crushed if it might increase God’s glory.

If you’ve been part of evangelical churches for any length of time you will have come across this kind of teaching. This idea that believers will be happy in heaven because they’d be so satisfied in God, that they’d just forget about the people in hell, is cold, vacuous, heartless and is just not found in scripture. Anyone who can consider eternal conscious punishment without tears in their eyes does not understand what is being proposed. I don’t know how we could enjoy heaven if we knew people were experiencing eternal conscious punishment. How could I be happy in heaven if you’re not there? Classic theology would say that people are completely separated from God… so do we think God forgets them? Do you think a parent ever forgets about a child they lost? Going on the statistics for the UK for every believer there is at least another 10 who don’t believe. Which means every moment of bliss you enjoy is another 10 people experiencing conscious torment. Spurgeon may not weep – but I think we would. No, the idea of of individuals predestined to salvation does not work at all, scripturally, historically or even logically.

So, besides the elect become holy and blameless, what else was predestined? We need to be sure when we read scripture not to outrun it. Acts 2 & 4 speaks of God’s plan and foreknowledge of Christ’s death and that wicked people would crucify Him. But scripture does not say which wicked people, we can infer then that wicked people would be used to murder an innocent man – as they always are – there are plenty of them around, so God did not need to specify which ones would do it. I think too that when God decided to make free humans he was also simultaneously deciding to send his Son to die for us. If you have kids you’re going to have to clean up their mess – it goes with being a parent. Paying for sin goes with making free beings – that’s just part of the cost, and God knew that. So in Acts 2v23, and ch4 Paul is affirming that Christ’s death was not a mistake but was always part of God’s plan.

One of the benefits of the Open View of the future is that we have a reasonable answer to the question: why would God create people that he foreknew would definitely go to hell? But if the future is unknowable the we can confidently say that God did not know when they were born whether people would reject God and sin, or would repent of their sin and follow Him. Their future was simply not foreknown. God truly does desire all people to be saved – just as the bible says he does! 1 Timothy 2v3-4 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. And Peter in 2 Peter 3v9: The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. With the idea that God predestines just some individuals to be saved then one cannot take Paul and Peter’s words here seriously. With an open view of the future we can assume that they mean exactly what they say.

God is attempting to draw to himself every human on the planet. Once God fully reveals himself he would be irresistible, but for us in this world God has made himself absolutely resistible – we can say no to God – the divine hiddenness has seen to that. One reason that God has hidden himself is so that people are free to say no to him. If God revealed himself fully to people then “every knee will bow”. But he doesn’t because if you’re free to say no to God then saying “Yes” to God actually means something! Why is making a free decision so important? Jesus said in Matthew 22v37, that the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and with all your mind”, that and that the whole of the Old Testament hangs on that commandment along with “love your neighbour as yourself”. Now I do a bit of computer programming and it isn’t difficult for me to make my computer tell me it loves me: I can get it to print it on the screen, I can record an audio file saying “I love you!” but that isn’t Love! The computer is just doing what it was told to do. Similarly, love, by definition, has to be freely chosen otherwise it isn’t love, it is just doing what it was told to do. Love requires the possibility that it might be withheld – that the person reaching out (in this case God) might be rejected. Love cannot be coerced – you cannot force someone to love you, to truly love you, not even God can do it – because then it isn’t love. And God being hidden from us is part of that – if God were to reveal himself fully to us he would be irresistible to us – and we wouldn’t be able to freely choose him, and our love for him would be insincere. So God, in wanting a bride that he could love and would genuinely love him back, gave us free will to choose to live as we wanted so that we could choose to reject him or love him and our decision would be genuine, our love would be genuine. And that is why free will is so important, and that is why we see so much evil & suffering in the world, because people can choose to do good and they can choose to do evil and most of us seem to do both!

Seeking a hidden God is fraught with all kinds of difficulties and frustrations. Yet in John 20 Jesus said “blessed are you who have NOT seen yet have believed” – Jesus says there are people who haven’t seen God yet they repent & believe, maybe your relationship with God feels a lot like that. I was talking with someone last week who believes in God, loves God, was asking “why doesn’t God just zap me, or something”, just wants to see more of God in his life. Well Jesus is promising to honour/bless you for hanging in there when you don’t hear anything and you can’t see God, but you keep on believing and living as a follower of Christ.

God has withheld himself and is slowly revealing himself (not just to humanity as a whole, but to you individually too) like the delicious unwrapping of the present you’ve always wanted. As history unfolded we started out thinking God was a system or a force, then we thought there were many gods and they didn’t care for us much (as some of the early creation stories show). Then Genesis comes along and reveals an ethical monotheist – a good God who loves his creation – and ultimately, and briefly in the New Testament, is revealed in Jesus who starts building the church and sends the Holy Spirit to further reveal God. So God is slowly revealing himself to humanity like the unwrapping of the most desired present to those who will humbly repent and continually seek him, and as we pursue him we see a little bit more of him, and it is slow/frustrating but we keep on seeking, and so we see a little more of him because we don’t give up, and we receive more from him, and eventually, (if through “hope deferred the heart” has not “grown sick”), eventually the draw of sin & selfishness fades into 2D black and white next to our 3D technicolour God, eventually we get the present, we see God clearly, and we get God and he gets us! So keep on keeping on seeking God – God will not withhold himself forever, but rather he promises to be found and to fulfil your longing… eventually!

We only get to live on earth, with a hidden God once – once ever in eternity – and this is it, and we’re years into it already, who knows how long we have left. It’s only now while we’re here do we get to show God our love for him without him responding immediately in a visible and clear way. We must see that this period before we see God clearly (1 Cor 13) is intended as a blessing to us, that we can genuinely give to God while we’re here and cannot see Him in a way that profoundly blesses Him and in a way that we just can’t do in heaven because then we’ll know him fully and see Him clearly. It will be so much easier to do the right thing in heaven, to be holy and righteous, and to serve God, because he’ll be right there, we’ll be living in community with him, and it won’t really be worthy of reward then, but if you do it now before he is visible, when it is difficult, through the suffering, the sin, the evil and the tragedy, if you can bless God while he withholds himself, while we are the bride-to-be of Christ, if you prepare yourself to be a worthy bride for Christ, if you cling to him through the tough times, then you’re giving to God in a way that in future you’ll never be able to give to him, you’re blessing God in a way in the midst of difficult life on earth that you’ll never really be able to do again – how much more does it mean when you cannot see God?

Jesus said “blessed are you who have NOT seen, yet have believed”. Doing life with a hidden God is a blessing.

• May you come to see God’s desire to save the whole world … and may you weep at what God desires to save people from;
• May you be in awe of the God who so often brings things together just at the right time … who didn’t need to control or foreknow the future in order to bring it about;
• May you understand this time when God is hidden to be a profound opportunity to bless God in a way that means so much to him and will never be repeated.

* John 1:1-18

John emphasises the importance of Jesus’ arrival by comparing it to the creation of the world (“In the beginning…” (1:1- Genesis & John). Jesus was significant, and his entry was designed to bring about the new creation. John probably doesn’t tell the story as straightforward as we would, if we were writing a gospel as he talks about Jesus as “the Word”, which seems mysterious but in fact is rather profound. He is suggesting that Jesus was God himself – the living Word – so if you want to be more like God we should look to Jesus’ example.

Unfortunately, people didn’t understand who Jesus was. They couldn’t get their heads around the fact that although he looked like a human, he was “very nature God” (Philippans 2:6). Many still don’t get it today. He is accepted as a good man, or a moral teacher, or even someone who offers a unique leadership model to follow. But the fact is, unless you accept and follow him as God, you are rejecting him for who he is.

As John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”, the Good News is that God makes us his children. Unlike the stories we read in the Old Testament, our relationship with God shifts and is no longer dependent on sacrifices and keeping to a detailed set of laws. God wants us to receive and believe in Jesus, and through him discover the blessing of a relationship with God for eternity.

- How would you describe the Good News?

- Can you honestly say that you have received and believed in Jesus?

* Luke 1

How exciting… its all happening in Elizabeth & Mary’s family. Two miraculous pregnancies because God had chosen them to do something special. And both unlikely choices really. Elizabeth was too old, and Mary, too insignificant. Well… that’s what the world thinks, but not what God sees! It is through those who are faithful and humbly dependent on God, that great things happen. No matter what your life stage, God uses people with those qualities!

If we look at Zachariah, we see what happens to those who weren’t ready. God chose Zachariah, but when he questioned (“How can I be sure of this?”) he lost the ability to speak. To have faith, you don’t have to understand exactly what God is doing in your life as more often than not, you won’t. But faith is believing that God has the power to do anything, and you commit yourself to his way no matter what. Its important that as we press on with faith, we continue to know that we are never alone and that God is listening to us, and he knows our every need.

Gabriel’s role was to announce that God was ready to set his plan of salvation into motion. It’s something humans had been waiting for since the fall of Adam and Eve.

- Would you be ready to respond if God chose you today?

- What holds you back? How can you build up your faith?

Letters of John. Part 14

1 John 2:15-17

Intro

Toby covered the section of 1 John 2:15-16 so I will avoid repeating what Toby said. There is so much richness of revelations here that I do not need to repeat what Toby brought to us.

In this section we see that John speaks about having a right perspective on this life. He stresses that we should not love the world or anything in the world (15). and that ‘The world and its desires pass away’ (v17).

1) Do not love the world

Yes I know Jesus is quoted in John 3 as loving the world. We need to understand that in this letter John writes about having a right perspective on this life, in this world. Unlike in John chapter 3 he is not speaking of the world as containing people who should be loved, but ‘stuff’ that the world contains.

The key to understanding what John means here is to read the rest of the statement,

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

The point here is that we are being told about affections that can not fit alongside our loving God.  Jesus said a similar thing about the love of stuff – mammon:

Matthew 6:24
No-one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money [mammon].

The old translations use the word mammon here. Mammon is an old English word first used in the 15th century. Our English word comes from an Aramaic word ‘mamona’ meaning riches or property. More than just money then.

This section marks areas of incompatibility. John gives some details regarding what it is in the world that he speaks of. He uses three categories and seems to fit everything into one or other of those categories. Toby covered that a few weeks ago.

See how John concludes this passage in verse 17,

The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives for ever.

2) ‘The world and its desires pass away…’ Even the atheist ‘God-dodgers’ say that. That statement alone brings no comfort.

To leave it at that is to leave it as a statement of hopelessness and despair. Perhaps this is the sort of thing the false teachers were saying to justify that they could do what they liked and it was not sin. See 1 John 1:6,8,10.

Perhaps by this time they would have heard that Paul in his letter to the Corinthians had quoted Isaiah, “If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

Isaiah 22:12-13
The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! Let us eat and drink, you say, for tomorrow we die!

Understanding how temporary this life is can have a negative effect on behaviour, living without regard to the judgement to come, but it can also cause, even an atheist, to see that possessions or objects do not by themselves add value to the experience of life. At the end of life people often want a person near them, not an object.

To say ‘The world and its desires pass away…’ then, is perhaps not totally a statement of hopelessness and despair. The Elder is calling his hearers back to a right appraisal of all that is around them.

Still not a convincing call to sound morality though if we left it there. It still leaves room for exploitation of others in the search for the most fulfilling life. It leaves room for deceit and stealing.

3) ‘but the man [person] who does the will of God lives for ever.’

This is not about salvation. This is not an explanation about the means of salvation, we know we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone.

Ephesians 2:6-10
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no-one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Romans 1:16-17
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Galatians 2:16
know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no-one will be justified.

Philippians 3:9
…and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ— the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

This is not about salvation, it is about how we live . This statement fits into the context by declaring that those who live forever will live differently in this life. We will live forever. John was reminding his hearers that they are resurrection people and that fact should affect they way they live.

See Paul’s quote in the context of his great declaration on resurrection:

Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-22, 32-34, 50-58

See also 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

Last Hour

This is the last hour (or “it is the last time,”), verse 18

It probably does not refer to any particular event. The destruction of Jerusalem had already taken place in AD70.

John is referring to the nearness of the Lord’s coming as evidenced by the rise of Anti Christian teachers, a mark of the last time. The whole Christian age is the last time.

It was the purpose of the Spirit to keep the Church always expecting Christ to return at any moment. There is no other dispensation, or period, until Christ returns, only the “last days”, “last time” or “last hour”.

Compare “these last days” in Hebrews 1:2

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

Ephesus may be the place where this was written. The allusion to the beginnings of the Gnostic heresy fits with Asia Minor being the place. The Elder may have viewed his time as the last part of that particular apostolic age (those that had seen the Lord) when writing this Epistle.

1 Corinthians 15:4-8
…he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

John is again persuading his hearers to have a lose grip on the things of the world.

We live in the last days. Many Christians around the world are demonstrating they believe what I preach by the way they lay down their lives for Jesus.

Revelation 12:11
KJV
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

NIV
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

* Jonah 1-4

When I read the story of Jonah, I often wonder how Jonah thought he could successfully run from God. It’s no surprise really that God allows him to be swallowed by a whale for some good thinking time. In the four chapters in this book, we read Jonah’s journey and how God spoke to him as he used him.

Chapter 1: Running from God.

So, running from God seems a lame idea, since we’re clever enough to know that it just wouldn’t work. But think about it like this, we are often lame enough to think that we can sin and keep it a secret from God. Unfortunately, sin has that power; we end up doing things we know aren’t right and then struggling to convince ourselves its okay, or to keep it hidden.

Chapter 2: Prayer for salvation.

Coming face to face with a whale is bound to start making your re-think your priorities, and question your recent behavior. Therefore, its no surprise really that once in the stomach of a whale, Jonah would cry out to God. In situations like that (obviously not many of us are acquainted with a whale!), we realise that God is our only hope. This prayer teaches us lots of things, about priorities. Jonah says, ” Those who cling to worthless idols forfiet the grace that could be theirs.” (2:8). What a challenge to us! Are there any ‘worthless idols’ that you’re clinging to, that are getting in the way of your relationship with God? Maybe its time to reassess what’s important.

Chapter 3: Ninevah hears the gospel

This chapter shows yet again the mercy of God, in giving us a second chance even when we really don’t deserve it. The amazing thing is that because God gives us a second chance, failing doesn’t eliminate us from his service. He always has a job for us to do, if we are willing to repent and turn from our devious ways. We see the Ninevites turn from their wicked ways and take God’s threat seriously.

Chapter 4: Disappointment with God

Things that happen in life don’t always go as we planned, and this can cause us to question God. The strop that Jonah throws in this chapter, allows God to show his love and patience once more.  Jonah knew that God was rich in love, and that’s why he didn’t want to go to Nineveh, because he knew that he would forgive the Ninevites, and Jonah didn’t feel they deserved that.

He says, “I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” (4:2). Sometime we think we know what is best, but we have to trust that God is in control.

- Have you ever been disappointed with God? Why? What restored your trust in him?

* Malachi 1-4

Well done if you managed to read all that… its pretty tough reading! It unveils all the unfaithfulness of Israel in the years leading up to their exile. Even though God showed unfailing love for his people through the mercy he showed them, they spent a long time trying to do it one their own without God, and failed every time.

In this reading we see three examples of how they rejected God.

1. They became insincere in their worship, and simply ended up going through the motions simply out of religious routine. This offended God because it showed that the people no longer fully understood what they were doing and why.

2. Malachi reminds the men that they need to stay committed to their wives, prompting them to guard both their actions and their spirits.

3. Malachi also has lots to say to the people about their unfaithfulness in tithing and not giving God what he deserves – saying they were “robbing” God. The words on this matter are very strong, but God also promises abundant blessing if they obey the law in tithing money. “Test me in this, ” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgate of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” (3:10). That is a pretty cool promise. As we give to God, we will receive much in return. However, we should not give simply to receive. We should give freely of ourselves because we want to glorify God, not only with our finances but in everything.

- What things weaken your determination to remain faithful to God?

- Are there areas of your life where you so things out of routine but you’ve forgotten the purpose?

- What helps you love God with all your mind, soul & strength?

We end this study of the Old Testament on rather a depressed note with God’s people being told off for their disobedience. It reminds us that because of our sinful nature, we can’t fix the problem of sin on our own. Also, we know that the Good News is coming in the New Testament, so at least we can have that hope!

This is part 13 in my series on the Epistles of John. This one is about Children, Fathers and Young Men. Hope it does you good, Graham.

1 John 2:12-14

Intro

This section is laid out in many translations in the form of a poem. It is certainly different from what comes before and after. The verses seem to belong together having a common style. They address the different sections of the community using a common structure.

Could this have been from another source? There is as clear degree of continuity with what comes before and after. Previous themes are carried on here such as forgiveness of sins, knowing him ‘from the beginning’, ‘the word of God remains’ in you.

There is a warning coming in verses 15-17 and this section prepares the reader for it. In this section the false teachings seem to get little attention as the focus is now on proclaiming truth. The letter, having led up to this, now seems to have come to a summing up in the form of this poem.

There is a change of mood here after stern warnings. See the affectionate beginning to this part, “I write to you dear children.” The Elder is addressing the church in general. That is what is meant by ‘children’ in this context.

A father in the faith. See his continual use of the term “little children” (1 John 2:1, 12, 13, 18, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:21). It is generally believed to have been written in his old age, perhaps about A.D. 90.

This section is exclusive. It is addressed to the those within the community of faith. After speaking to them about false doctrine, authentic experience of Jesus as oppose to the fake, he now gathers them close as children around their father in faith. He gathers them close and assures them of the wonder of their experience, and the wonder of grace.

The Scripture:

children
12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
fathers
13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.
young men
I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
children
I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.
fathers
14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.
young men
I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Notice the structure of this poem, it is addressing three groups twice. Reading it as it written brings one impact. Another way to read it is to shuffle the verses into their categories.

children
12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.
fathers
13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.
14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.
young men
I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

1) children
12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.

Earlier in 2.14, the children have been reminded that their ‘sins have been forgiven on account of his name’. Now the children are told that they ‘have known the Father’. This is again challenging the false teachers by reminding the believers of what they have experienced in Christ. ‘A believer with an experience of Christ is not at the mercy of a person with only an argument.’

Their knowledge of the Father had a definite beginning, the effects of which they are still experiencing in the present.

In 1 John, knowledge of the Father implies that one has:

• Eternal life, which resides with the Father (1:2)
• Fellowship with the Father and Son, as the Elder has (1:3)
• Has experienced forgiveness of sin by the Father through Jesus (2:1-2).

Mention of having ‘known’ reminds the readers of the emphasis on previous assurances about how they can know that they have known him, by having a transformed life (2:3).

In that section, knowledge of God is very closely connected to keeping his commands, and keeping the commands closely connected to loving one’s brothers and sisters. Thus, in being assured that they have known the Father, the readers are assured that they are keeping his commands and love their brothers and sisters. Such knowledge stands in stark contrast to the false claims to know God described earlier in this section.

2) fathers
13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.
14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.

If they have known from the beginning, and still know, why say it? It assures the mature in faith. It also encourages the others to have confidence on the role models among them who have modelled consistent faith and stability. A weakness of young churches is that they can have too few older people. The healthy ballast of older people is of value to a congregation.

3) young men
I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

This is an assurance to those who have been exercising faith. It would not be surprising to hear the young men being addressed as strong, but notice that their strength is being mentioned in the context of knowing the word and being victorious over temptation.

Hear the contrast between the quality of the lives of the young men having the word of God dwelling within them and the false teachers (1:10) who deny this by their life-style.

Conclusion
We are back to the theme of knowing. We can all know that we know.

* Jeremiah 1:1-3:5

Despite his youth and inexperience, God chose Jeremiah for a mammoth task- to be a “prophet to the nations” (1:5). We can often think that God chooses to use those with the most talent to carry out his work, but then that would mean God relied on our abilities, rather than his own power. God has the power to do far more than we could ever imagine and lots of the time he chooses to do this through us, even if we doubt ourselves.

God’s personal interest in Jeremiah’s life has a message for us too. God, your creator, was thinking about you even before you were born and making plans for what he wanted to do with you. You, like Jeremiah, have a God-given purpose (1:5).

That doesn’t mean life is simple or straightforward. Remember the task that God called Jeremiah to – to tell his own people about the upcoming punishment that God had in store for them, as a result of their persistent idolatry. To communicate this message, the images of the bride (the image often used to descirbe the church and God’s people), turns into a prostitute. The idea that rather than being for one man, the bride become unfaithful and has given her self to others. This is what the Israelites had done. Instead of serving God alone, they had ‘prostituted’ themselves and worshipped other gods.

Sin isn’t just breaking the rules, it is also about the destructive effect that it has on our relationship with God, causing a division between us and our father. Fortunately, this isn’t the end of the matter. God, in his mercy, is willing to forgive his people and ‘re-marry’ them (Jeremiah 31: 31-34), making a new covenant which redeems their sinfulness. And as we know from reading the New Testament, God sent Jesus to complete his redemption plan.

• Medidate on chapter 1: 5. Are there any situations in your life where you are not sure how God can use you? Remember he has a purpose for you!

• What things in life draw you away from God? When do you feel most passionate about your relationship with God?

* Daniel 6

The context of the book of Daniel is found in the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah which talk about the punishment which the Israelites will receive as a result of their sinfulness. Israel’s idolatry has led to the nation’s defeat and consequent exile.

During this time, God used Daniel in a special way. Daniel was determined to continue to trust in God and gain a deeper relationship with him. Daniel found himself serving the King of Persia in a prominent government position. King Darius wasn’t a follower of God, and therefore at times this posed difficulties for Daniel. However, God places Christians in a secular context and they have the ability to have a spiritual impact within those environments.

But Daniel’s faithfulness to God, brought opposition from his colleauges, and many Christians working or studying in secular situations may also feel this opposition. Daniel’s reaction to the situation was to pray knowing that God was more important than his career. Even when faced with a den of lions, he prayed and knew that he could trust God.

• What is your initial reaction to opposition? Is it like Daniel?
• How does success and your career determine how you live out your faith?
• How could you follow Daniel’s example in taking more time for private prayer during your day?

Letters of John. Part 12

1 John 2:3-11

Liars, listeners, walkers and lovers

Intro

1 John 2:3-17 appears to be the next portion that looks like a section all of its own.

It continues themes from the previous section but also introduces some themes that figure prominently in the remainder of this letter: Knowing God, keeping his commandments, love of God, love of fellow believer, not loving the world, overcoming the evil one.

In this section, set out for us is the matter of loving God as evidence of knowing God. This begins the section (v5), features in the middle (v10) and concludes the section (v15). Setting the theme of a passage in this way will be seen again in 3:11-18 and 4:7-5:5. This portion, 1 John 2:3-17, can be divided into three sections, verses 3-11, 12-14 and 15-17. Today we look at the first, 3-11.

Verses 3-11 is structured around three claims: found in verses in 4, 6, 9. Who “says” or who “claims”. Each of these three claims is about authenticity of faith. Faith not partnered with action is not authentic faith.

1) Walking in Light – again

It could appear that 1 John goes in circles as he repeats himself. Rather it is an upward spiral, greater revelation is revealed as themes are re-examined and expanded.

Being in right relationship with other believers is described as walking in the light. Does this now add a new interpretation to the previous passage or is it introducing a new element of walking in the light? I think it is now adding to an earlier revelation.

See 2:4 compared with 1:6, and 2:9 compared with 1:7.

1:7 Walking in light = fellowship within the church. 2:9 Fellowship resulting from relationship with Jesus = walking in the light. Are walking in light and fellowship are dependent on each other? Not quite, that is why 1:7 comes first. Salvation comes before works.

To not be in the light, with God who is The Light, is to not be walking with God at all.

2) If we know Jesus we SHALL have a transformed life.

(a) The transformed life will be evidenced by obedience (compare 1:6).

John 14:15 If you love me, you will obey what I command.
John 15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command.

(b) The transformed life will be evidenced by characteristics of Christ. See fruit of Spirit, Galatians 5:22-26.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Note: It is the certainty of the transformed nature, bearing this fruit, that could be a cause of conceit.

(c) The transformed life will be evidenced by fraternal love.

1 John 2:3 The transformed person lives a transformed way.

See James 2:14-20

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, You have faith; I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that— and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?

3) Hard words – “Liar!”

See
1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
1:10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
2:4 The man who says, I know him, but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Claims:
1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
1:10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
2:4 The man who says, I know him, but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
2:6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
2:9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.

The Elders is quoting the false teachers, perhaps quoting verbatim.

So the Elder reminds the listener that he harks back to the Truth which was before the false teachers. See the prologue again, 1:1-4.

To be a lair is to be identified with the father of lies, the devil, see John 8:44

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

The truth is therefore not able to abide in that person, see:

John 1:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

John 14:6 Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.

Liars are contrasted with those who listen to the Spirit of Christ

The indwelling of the Spirit if Christ is hinted at in 2:5 (see also v8) where there is a shift from obeying commands in verse 4 to obeying his ‘word’. An active, dynamic hearing from the Spirit is here mentioned as a fact. To hear is normal, to obey is the free-will decision.

Conclusion

Be true.

Know the one who is called The Truth. Keep lying far from you.

Walk in the light – be reconciled if necessary.