Tag: 1 John

Morning Musings: 1 John 3:13

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“Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Make no mistake: If you are a follower of Jesus, the world hates you just like it hated Him.  Now, this doesn’t mean that everyone who isn’t one of His followers as well hates you.  You may (and should) have friends who are non-believers, some of whom may be very good friends.  But, for anyone who is committed to the ends of the world (the elevation of self and the desires of the flesh above all else), they will hate the ends of the kingdom toward which you are working (the elevation of God and the humiliation of self), a hatred which will eventually be worked out through you.

Persecution should never surprise us as followers of Jesus.  If we behave as He did, we will be treated as He was as well.  This should be a mark of pride, knowing that we are on the right track.

Morning Musings: 1 John 2:22

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“Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?  This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Although it is not so much a topic of conversation as it was a few years ago, there is a fair bit of interest in the idea and the person of the Antichrist.  In popular literature of varying sorts, the Antichrist is going to be the figure at the end of the world who unites the forces of evil against the forces of good, and who must be defeated to avoid the end of the world. Read the rest…

A Final Word on Reality

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In this final part of the teaching series, A Word on Reality, we at last wrap up John’s masterful letter.  In the end we find a strong reaffirmation of God’s testimony about Jesus and a final call to live comfortably within the borders of reality.  It is only there that we will find the life for which we most long.  Keep reading for more.

 

A Final Word on Reality

Well, we have finally reached the end of our journey through 1 John.  And what a journey it has been!  We have come a long way and have covered a lot of ground since the beginning of July.  Some of it has been very encouraging and some has been pretty hard-hitting.  What I have tried my best to do, though, throughout this series is to leave you with a clear outline of the boundaries of reality.  Surely not all of this life is black and white, but life according to the law of the kingdom is a simple thing.  It’s not easy, but it is simple: believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God and act in the light of that belief in every circumstance of your life.  Piece of cake, right?  Let’s be real here—that is, after all, what all of this has been about.  Reality is rarely a breeze, but it is always right.  And the call of not only this letter, but of our entire lives is to live in God’s reality, not the world’s fantasy.  Before finishing out the letter this morning, let’s look back over where we’ve been so everything is fresh. Read the rest…

Love Flows Out

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Yesterday morning in our journey through 1 John we finally got to the point of defining love.  What is love and what are the five implications for getting it right in our lives that John outlines?  Keep reading to find out.

 

Love Flows Out

Near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus looked at the crowd gathered around Him and said this: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Read the rest…

Test Every Spirit

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In this past Sunday’s installment of A Word on Reality, we paused with John to be reminded once again how we can know what’s true and what’s not.  In a world that is awash in different voices claiming to have the corner of the truth market, how do we figure out which voices are worth heeding and which are to be tossed out with the garbage?  Keep reading to find out…

 

Test Every Spirit

If I were to ask you what the fastest growing religious affiliation in this country is according to recent survey data, what would you guess it to be?  Let’s take a look at the broad categories starting with the group “religious, Christian.”  From 1990-2008 the number of adults identifying themselves as part of a mainline Christian denomination (most Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopals, Lutherans, and the like) in the U.S. shrank by about 10%, or a total loss of 3.5 million members.  The number of Baptists grew by about 6% or a little over two million people.  Folks identifying themselves as either Pentecostals or simply nondenominational of some sort grew by 40% and 25%, respectively.  And, just to round things out, the number of Catholics grew about 25%, although most of that was from immigration, not conversion.   Read the rest…