05 November, 2010

Thoughts on 1John 1


1John 1 “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life--and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us--what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete. This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”

The Amplified bible gives John’s first line as, “[We are writing] about the Word of Life [in] Him Who existed from the beginning.”  Everything in this letter John wrote is the testimony of Jesus. In John’s gospel, he writes,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men…And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory ~John 1:1-4, 14)
Jesus is the Word of life. And John is proclaiming this life to us. It is a letter based in personal experience; John is telling us before he says anything else, “trust me on this one, I saw Him. This is what He told me. This is how He wants us to live, and move, and have our being.” Matthew Henry writes of this passage,
The apostles declared what they had seen and heard, that believers might share their comforts and everlasting advantages. They had free access to God the Father. They had a happy experience of the truth in their souls, and showed its excellence in their lives.
As we read throughout 1John, remember that these men had seen Jesus. They are telling us this stuff works. This is how we come to know and fellowship with God the Father: through the “Word made flesh.”

Knowledge of Jesus is the way to fellowship with the Father. Jesus said of Himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). John is continuing Jesus’ mission to bring all people to fellowship and life through their knowledge of Him. We are to be partakers and partners in this fellowship, and our fellowship is to be, first and foremost, with the Lord. In verse 3 of the Amplified bible, we see that this fellowship with the Father and His Son is “a distinguishing mark of Christians.” What distinguishes us from the world around us is our fellowship with God. Look around at our churches today and you will probably find a large quantity of lukewarm Christians. These are the folks who are “Sunday Christians.” They come to church every Sunday, sing some songs, try to stay awake during the sermon, and then before they even finish the drive home they are cussing up and storm and talking about how bad life is. They do not give God much of a thought for the next six days until they return to church the following Sunday. What will distinguish us from the madness and stress of the world’s system is our fellowship with God and Jesus. How much time do you spend with Him each day?

Notice the second purpose John states for writing: “And we are now writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be full [and your joy may be made complete]” (v. 4, Amplified). There are too many unhappy Christians today. It is becoming more difficult to distinguish a believer from a non believer. John did not simply write this letter to get some stuff off of his chest, but so that we would be educated in how to live this Christian life more fully. A full, mature life in Jesus results in joy! If you are living a life with a depletion of joy, then you have picked up the write book. Read it; meditate it; and apply it. Simply knowing something won’t amount to anything if you do not apply the knowledge you have. James writes, “But prove yourself doers of the Word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves” (Jas 1:22). It is a delusion to think that simply knowing a large stack of bible verses will get you very far. Jesus made that point very clear, “If you continue in my Word, then you are truly disciples of mine; and you will know the Truth, and the Truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32). Diligently apply these principles found in 1John, and your joy will be made complete.

John’s first “report” of Him is: God is Light. God is true and holy, not a light bulb. He instructs us in Leviticus to “be holy, because I am holy” (Lev 11:44, NIV). There is not one unholy element of God. So, with John pointing us towards fellowship with Him, we will walk in the same manner as Jesus, because of our fellowship with Him. Our sinful nature cannot abide in God’s goodness and glory. Those who claim to be Christians, yet continue to live an unholy lifestyle, are branded as liars. Verse six in the Amplified says, “[So] if we say we are partakers together and enjoy fellowship with Him when we live and move and are walking in darkness, we are [both] speaking falsely and do not live and practice the Truth [with the Gospel presents].” Throughout the book of 1John, we will see examples of how to pinpoint the “pretenders” in the faith. Simply put: look at their lifestyle. In this instance, John tells us it is impossible to walk in fellowship with God while continuing in our former ways of living and acting before we came to the knowledge of Christ. He then proceeds here to give us two tangible results we have of “really” walking in the Light of God, as written in the Amplified bible:
1.       “We have [unbroken] fellowship with one another”
2.       “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt [keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].”
Why do churches have so much in-fighting? According to John, our fellowship together should be true and unbroken – yet this is not often the case. Jesus prayed to the Father that we would be one. However, a brief scope of Christianity today shows that prayer is a far cry from being answered. Denominations are splitting the body of Christ into tiny pieces. We concern ourselves far too often with “being right,” than with being a loving family. Churches exclude others based upon whether a person has performed a religious exercise (baptism, communion, etc). Other times, those unhappy Christians we’ve already discussed wreak havoc on the congregation. I’ll admit, I have the same issue. Religion drives me up a wall. You want to see me upset; start talking about religion. But, here in Scripture we are given an excellent place to start fixing the problem: ourselves. If there are issues amongst our congregations, we must first take an inward look. Your relationship with Jesus will have a direct correlation on your relationship with others. Jesus said “abide in my love” (John 15:9). We will find many times in this book that love is the central key to all that God has in store for us. 1Corinthians 8:1b says, “Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.” Our quarrels about life, doctrine, the music, the lighting, and every other large or small issue that we find so prevalent in our congregations will be brought to a halt if we a conscious effort to walk in the Love of God. We can only do that by unbroken fellowship with Him.

Secondly, our deep fellowship with God - walking in the Light, as He is in the Light - removes sin and guilt. Not only does it remove our past sins, but it keeps us from it. Notice the words again in the Amplified bible: “keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations.” That is all-encompassing.  Simply put: as long as we walk in Christ, we can’t sin. The deeper I grow in the things of God, the more difficult it is for me to sin. Sin cannot abide in the Presence of God; God preserves us from sin when we live and move in His Presence. Do I still screw up? YES! But I am no longer a “sinner.” That word is not allowed in our house any longer.  When we screw up, it is because we have stepped out of walking in the Presence of God.  You cannot abide in God and be a sinner – the two natures conflict. You also cannot walk in God and be guilty. Look at Romans 8:1,
                “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the things of the flesh, but after the spirit” (KJV).
Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the spirit” (Amplified).
A life that is based upon Jesus and His commandments is a life that is free from guilt and shame. If you find yourself unable to deal with the burden of a past transgression, get in the Word. Meditate on these principles. Find time to sit with Jesus, and let Him “give you a hug.” You cannot spend time in His Presence and still feel the weight of your sin. Psalm 16:11 says, In Your Presence is fullness of joy; in your right hand there are pleasures forever.” It is time that we stop placing such a heavy emphasis on our sinful nature, and begin to focus on what God has done for us. It is time that we become people of His Presence. That is where our lives are truly changed.

That being said, does this mean we simply discount the sinful nature of humanity? Of course not. That would be foolish. We are given a wonderful balance here. We are not perfect yet. If we claim not to have any sin, we are merely deceiving ourselves. The Amplified bible says, in verse 8, “If we say we have no sin [refusing to admit that we are sinners], we delude and lead ourselves astray, and the Truth [which the Gospel presents] is not in us [does not dwell in our hearts].” It is foolish not to admit our sin. But it is also of no value to continuously admit our sin. Do not glorify the sinful nature. Jesus came to not only save us from the consequences of sin, but from sin itself. We cannot claim that we have no sin, or else Jesus died for nothing. However, the Truth of the Gospel is that, because of Jesus, we are not sinners anymore. God is continuously removing sin from our lives. That nature is no longer the dominate force of our lives. Notice the tense that John uses in verse 9 of the Amplified: it is past tense. We have sinned. “The Divine message” seen in verse 10 (again, go read this passage in the Amplified, it will really help you) is: I have sinned, but Jesus freed me from that sin, and He keeps me from returning to that sinful nature! Our mindsets must change in order for this to become a living reality. That’s why we read in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is.” Renewing is a continuous action. Our minds are to be daily transformed into the mind of Christ by fellowshipping with Him in His Word. Do not dwell on sin; dwell on Jesus. We hear all the time: “I’m a sinner saved by grace.” The mistake I see is that we place all the emphasis on the “I’m a sinner.” We need to focus on the “saved by grace.” That is the Truth of the Gospel in a nutshell. The Scripture says we are the righteousness of God. That needs to become our focal point. Do not deny sin, do not even deny that there are moments of failure; However, allow the Word to change your perspective on sin, through daily fellowship in the Presence of God.

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