The principles of all genuine fellowship with God

[Cindy]

The principles of all genuine fellowship with God

Today we’ll pick up from where we left off before we got side tracked on the part about prayer.

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

Right at the very start here John shows us what true love looks like. He minds us that Jesus is the personification of love and of course our goal is to be like Him. Since we’ve had some time away from the original text, like me remind us here too that when John speaks of “brother”, he is referring to other true believers in Christ, not to our neighbors or even our families. I am not saying that we shouldn’t be this way with non believers too, I just want to make sure we remember the context that we’re reading this in. Jesus laid down His life for each of us who has accepted Him. Therefore we should be more then willing to do the same for any other believer.

John goes on to bring the point more down to earth since it’s unlikely that many will be asked to die for another believer. He reminds us that when we are aware of another believer who is in need, if we have what that person needs, we need to share it with him. John says, if we don’t do this, not out of “duty” but out of love and pity for the person, then we can’t possibly be in a close relationship with Christ. As believers the Lord shows us His heart and little by little changes our hearts to be more like His. The word translated “pity” is splanchna and means a deep seated emotional concern or sympathy. This is one area that I’ve noticed that the members of Fresh Hope really seem to excel in. I’ve lost count of how many people have been helped by members here both financially as well as emotionally by our members. It always makes me feel so honored to be part of the body of Christ that is working the way it’s supposed to be! John tells us here, that we should show our love for other believers with our actions as well as our words whenever we can, and this is something that our members don’t seem to have any problem with at all!

Note too that John isn’t telling us that we “must” give in order to be saved. He’s saying instead that those who do love their fellow believers and show it this way are obviously saved. This kind of love comes from the Lord, not from our old natures. Again, works do not save us, but are the “proofs” that we are saved.

If someone who wasn’t saved were to read these passages and attempt to love others in this way and really worked hard at it, they would be doing much good, but they still wouldn’t be saved. True believers don’t have to “work” at doing these things because these things are all fruit of the spirit that are born out of our love for what the Lord has done for us.

[Cindy]

The principles of all genuine fellowship with God

1 John 3:19-22 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

In the last part of this study we saw that Jesus Himself is the perfect expression and example of what true love is and how those of us who are saved are to follow His example by showing that kind of love toward our brothers and sisters in Christ. We also discussed the fact that it isn’t our deeds that save us but rather our deeds prove we are saved because they are born out of our love for Jesus. Another example of what John was saying Is found in James:

James 2:15-17 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.

In other words, no one who is really saved could continually see a brother or sister in Christ who was in great need and not do whatever they could to help them.

John also shows us that he realizes that none of us are perfect and that we all slip up and sin. We see that he even includes himself in this because he uses the term “we” instead of saying “you”.

We can know for sure that we belong to the truth means simply (and amazingly) that we can be sure that we are saved forever. He begins the sentence with “This then is how we know”. The words “this then” are referring to what he has been saying to us throughout this entire letter and really ties this all together nicely:

1 John 1:5-10 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.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 2:1-6 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 defense—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.We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

1 John 3:11This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 3:14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.

1 John 3:18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

John is saying then that this love we have for each other is one way we can know that we are truly saved. John knows however that there will be times when we won’t show this kind of love. He knows that we do still sometimes sin and includes himself in that. He has been telling us all along that our relationship with other believers affects our relationship with the Lord. With that in mind he says that when our hearts condemn us, when our conscience isn’t clear, we can trust the fact that we can go boldly into His presence and confess our sin and be totally forgiven for them. Even though our hearts may continue to beat us up over our sin, we can know for sure that the Lord has forgiven us because we are not supposed to be relying on our own character but rather on the character of the Lord who is greater then our hearts.

When we walk in love with each other, we grow in our understanding of God as well because we are abiding in Him when we do this; therefore we are experiencing His heart more and more. Because we are walking that closely with Him and each other, we will experience confidence in His presence. When we slip and our hearts begin to condemn us, we need to confess and get back into a right relationship with the Lord and each other so that our growth isn’t stunted.

Sometimes however our hearts accuse us wrongly. This is yet another reason why we need to remember that God knows everything, always. He knows the Truth, even when we don’t. Therefore we can go to Him, confess and know for certain that everything is OK between us. We don’t have to listen to our hearts then because once we have confessed if we feel it’s necessary, we know that the Lord has already taken care of it because God never makes a mistake and will never judge us wrongly.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Remember when John denied the Lord three times just before our Lord’s death on the cross? I’m sure that from the moment that rooster crowed the third time that John was miserable and that his heart condemned him. He knew what he had done and he knew it was a sin. I’d ask if you can imagine how he felt, but I’m sure you can just as I can. It’s a horrible horrible feeling when you know you have let your Lord and Savior down. I don’t think there is any worse feeling then that, and our hearts often grab onto that and beat us up with it over and over again even after we have confessed.

Luke 22:61-62 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Like us, John most likely lived with that awful condemnation from his heart until Jesus Himself relieved him of it after His resurrection. The point is that he didn’t need to live with that because his heart was falsely condemning him. John had already repented of his sin. We know this because the verse above says “he went outside and wept bitterly”. If that isn’t an example of godly sorrow which leads to repentance, then I don’t know what is! God knew that John had repented the very second he did so; in fact God knew he would repent before he had even sinned! So there was no reason for John’s heart to condemn him any longer, his heart, just like ours, was deceitful. This is why we should place our confidence in God and not in ourselves.

Finally John tells us that when we are living in right relationship with the Lord and with each other then we will also be praying according to His Will and not our own. Therefore He will give us anything we ask. What a wonderful promise to spur us onward toward always living (abiding) in a close personal relationship with the Lord!

[Cindy]

The principles of all genuine fellowship with God

1 John 3:21-24 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.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.

I wanted to include the last couple of sentences from yesterdays study so that the thought would flow more clearly for us today. It’s so much easier to read things in context. I’ve underlined the portion for today.

John had just told us that a confident and effective prayer life is founded on obedience to God. Now he sums those up by saying that God’s command is a combination of our faith in Jesus and the acting out of that faith in love toward each other. He also reminds us that these commands are not from him, but are rather from the Lord Himself.

John 14:12-15 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.“If you love me, you will obey what I command.

What John tells us here is also backed up by the other apostles:

1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

James 1:6-8 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

I would like to address one thing here that is often misunderstood. I know I too misunderstood what this was saying for a very long time. With the word of faith heresy that’s going around it makes it even easier for people to misunderstand this. John, Peter and James are saying that we must have faith when we pray. They are talking about faith in Jesus, and faith in who Jesus is, and even faith that your prayer will be answered, but NOT faith that you are going to get what you ask for. God is not a vending machine or a slot machine that if you put in the right combination of things that you will always get what you want. To me the perfect illustration of the correct way to pray in faith and even to live in faith is the example of when Peter walked on the water to Jesus. Do you remember the story?

Matthew 14:28-31“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”“Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

This is one of my favorite stories and it awes me every time I read it. Notice that the disciples are frightened at first when they see Jesus walking to them on the water. It’s night time and the seas were rough so it was hard for them to see. They aren’t sure who it is and their first thought is that it might be a ghost. Jesus calls to them and tells them it’s Him so they won’t be afraid. That’s when Peter replies, “if it is you Lord, then tell me to come to you on the water”.

Notice that Peter isn’t asking Jesus to “let him walk on the water” or to give him the “power to walk on water”. He says “if it is you”, tell me to do this. Peter was putting all his faith in Jesus, not in some miracle or in himself or in an answer to prayer or anything else; just in Jesus. Jesus goes along with him and tells him to come to Him, and Peter steps out on the water and begins to walk to Him!!!! Can you even imagine that???? How awesome that must have been! Remember now, the waves were rough, and it was dark. We’re not talking about daylight on a calm sea! (although that too would have been a miracle!) Suddenly, when he’s already within arms length of Jesus, what does Peter do? He takes his eyes off Jesus and instead begins to focus on the wind and the rough seas! As soon as he does that, doubt overcomes him and he begins to sink! So Peter calls out, Lord! Save me!, and of course Jesus immediately—did you notice that? He immediately reached out and saved him!

You’d think after his disciple accomplished the miracle of walking on water, even a little ways, that Jesus would congratulate him, but instead Jesus rebuked him and said, “why did you doubt?”

This is what Jesus and the disciples are talking about when they talk about having faith when you pray. Peter did not have or need to have faith that he could walk on the water. He had faith in Jesus that Jesus could cause anything to happen that He wanted, including making him walk on water and so he did. It was only when he took his eyes off Jesus, when he took his focus off Jesus and put it on his surroundings and what he was doing that he started to sink because doubt crept in.

So our faith is to be in God, that God will always do what is right and good; and that He will always answer our prayers; that Jesus is who He says He is and that He can do all that He says He can do and that He will do it. Do you see the difference?

John puts it pretty straight forward in the verses we’re studying when he says we obey His commands and His commands are to believe in Jesus and to love one another. Then when we are living right, in a close personal relationship with the Lord, being obedient to Him, we wouldn’t dream of asking Him for something that wasn’t His will. Therefore since we are praying according to His will, just as we are living according to His will, then He will give us what we ask for.

That’s what this entire letter has been about so far; explaining the difference between those who are really saved and who are living in a close relationship with the Lord and those who are simply pretending to and explaining how we can tell the difference between them. He explains both what the true Christian looks like as well as what someone who is just pretending looks like, and encourages us to continue to grow in Christ always becoming closer to the Lord. He uses this letter both to teach us how to discern the false teachers that had crept into the church and to reassure us that we are saved and can rest secure in our salvation, and to encourage us to continue to grow in Christ.

Finally in today's verses he reminds us yet again that those who are being obedient are abiding in God and that God is abiding in them and that we can be assured of this because of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. This is just like what Jesus told us:

John 15:5-8“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Notice that when Jesus talks about this He says too that He will give us whatever we ask when we are abiding in Him. He clarifies what that means with the next sentence, because if we are abiding in Him, then the things we ask for will be to the Father’s glory and we will be bearing much fruit for Him both through our lives and through what we ask for. It all ties together and cannot be separated.

[Cindy]

I have been working on the next part of this for the last couple of hours but I'm not satisfied with it so I don't think I'll post it until tomorrow. I keep feeling there is something else the Lord wants me to write today so I'm going to look instead to see what that is.