FREEDOM BIBLE COMMENTARY

THE EPISTLES OF JOHN

(1 John, 2 John, 3 John)

0. THE ESSENCE OF BELIEF

Introduction

The Epistles of John shine with the essence of belief. In these brief chapters we see what knowing and trusting God really means. Not some vain philosophy, not an academic exercise, but a deep and personal and practical faith. Here is faith: assured trust, described by one who knows God intimately.

So who is this John—the one who doesn’t even need to sign his name? A man of God who is so well-known, and his authority as leader in the church unquestioned. One who has seen the gospel go to the known world, who has lived through these turbulent times of setting this world upside-down. This can be none other than the old apostle John himself—the disciple whom Jesus loved. Now, at the end, he needs to write down his last thoughts.

And such words! Brilliant, exciting, enthusiastic words on dramatic, spine-tingling themes. All written under inspiration by a man who is at least eighty, and more likely nearer ninety years old! Breathless words that fit the mind of a young visionary—but are the more meaningful and telling, knowing who wrote, when and why.

John follows the example of his Friend and Lord. Not for him the long theological words, the formal treatise. John is still a son of thunder in his conviction and his confidence. He uses powerful, simple words to tell his message. In fact he only uses a very small selection of words, and some turn away saying “This is not serious theology.” But like Jesus, John shares the truth about God in the best way—in words a child can understand, but with the most profound meaning.

My father wrote of his own conviction of the importance of these letters when he heard I was working on this book: “John’s Epistles are striking reminders to me of how easy it is to lose touch with ‘the simplicity which is toward Christ.’ We need John’s advice to be really living the Christian life day by day—‘If we say and do not... we lie,’ but if we walk in the light we have peace with God...”

As if he wants to be totally direct and plain, John writes out his summary of life’s meaning and purpose. This is his “one-line definition of the gospel.” He has written out his major work, the gospel of John. The epistles of John, especially the first, are the “condensed version”—and written to meet very clear needs. John meets error head-on, not in violence, but in love. And he speaks absolutely straight so there is no possibility of confusion. As Martin Luther said of 1 John, “I have never read a book written in simpler words than this one, and yet the words are inexpressible.”

Why so? Because John has seen it all. He experienced firsthand the presence of God in Christ; he lived as persecuted Christian and leader of the church; he is now the last disciple. So with breathless flow of thought he links ideas together, not as an exposition of a theme, but like an eye-witness on the TV news trying to convey what he knows to be true. These are the mature thoughts of Jesus’ beloved friend, who has pondered all the meanings of this good news Christ came to bring.

In all his writings John tries to explain the meaning, not just to record events. So we can do no better than to consider very carefully what John wants us to know. For at the heart this is John’s last will and testament, his declaration of what is truly essential in God’s glorious good news.

It’s as if someone had come to John for a last interview, asking “So John, what is the most important in these beliefs of yours? Give me the gospel in a nutshell!” And so John cuts out all that is not absolutely necessary, and gives us a wonderful and inspiring vision of God and His gracious gift of salvation.

Try the same challenge. If you were asked to sum up in just a few words what God means to you, how would you answer? Take time to think about this, as John obviously has done, and write out a brief answer. For we are all called to give a reason for the hope that is in us (see 1 Peter 3:15).

I faced a similar challenge a few years ago. I was driving a visitor the short distance to the railway station to catch a train. On the way she asked me “So tell me what and why you believe—in one sentence!”

I froze inside. How can you do that? I raced through all the many aspects of belief and thought and experience of God. How could anyone ask for all of that to be summed up in one sentence? Surely a foolish idea, and not worth attempting. But as I looked back into her expectant face, I knew I had to give my best reply.

What to say? Where to begin? And how best to say it? I started praying hard!

I chose to explain the kind of God I believed in and my relationship to Him. I told her that God was my closest Friend, One I knew to be totally trustworthy and true, One who had saved and healed me from my sinful self, and who had promised me an eternal home with Him. A pretty long sentence maybe, but at least I had got in what I believed to be important!

She nodded her head, as if satisfied with the answer. “Makes sense. At least you didn’t give me a lot of words I couldn’t understand.” She smiled, and went on: “And I can see it’s really personal, and that you really believe this God.”

As we arrived at the platform a shadow crossed her face. “I wish I could believe in a God like that,” she said as she left. I called out to her that she could believe and trust this God I loved. But quickening her stride, she shook her head, and passed the barrier.

I’ve never seen her again since that day. I just hope God managed to get through to her, and that she found the loving, saving, healing God we share. For only as others find Him can our joy be complete, as John so rightly says (see 1 John 1:4).

So without delay, read John’s vital message for us. And not just a few verses at a time. Read all the letters—they’re very short. Let the God whom John loved and admired speak to you in these timeless words.

1. THE WORD OF LIFE

11This is all about the Word of Life that was there from the beginning, that we have heard, that we have seen with our own eyes and stared at, and that our hands have touched. 2This Life was revealed, which we saw and give evidence about, and which we announce to you. This is the One who is Eternal Life, who was with the Father, and who was revealed to us. 3What we have seen and heard we’re now explaining to you as well, so that you may also share in this together with us—in fact this sharing community is together with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4We’re writing about this to you to make our happiness complete. 1 John 1:1-4 FBV.

Death and Life

When my wife’s mother was dying, we were called to her bedside. By this time she was unconscious, and all we could do was to hold her hands and speak words of love and comfort, not knowing whether she was aware or not.

As the end came, we spoke of what she had said. Her last words of love to us and the family, of some regret at not being able to share in her children’s lives any longer, but most of all, of her unshakeable confidence in the salvation of her loving Lord. In her last days she had read and re-read the Psalms, finding them particularly helpful as she battled the cancer that was taking over her body. Most of all I remember her repeating the words of Psalm 27:1:

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of     my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

Though death is always identified as the enemy in Scripture, and as Dylan Thomas said, we should “Rage against the dying of the light,” she died in peace and safety; secure in the arms of the God she knew and trusted as her very best Friend.

For when it comes right down to it, what do we live for? What is the point of all our fussing and fighting? What is our life, and where does it take us?

My mother-in-law had found the right answer, and like John, made sure her last words were full of meaning, practical and relevant. “Only God, only God,” she would say, half under her breath.

John’s last words

So what of John’s epistles, written close to the end of his life? His last words are truly significant. Having had a lifetime to think, he gives his answer why. Stunning words from the ageing apostle, the one who had the most opportunity to reflect on the meaning of Christ’s coming—life, death and resurrection.

From John’s gospel we learn of Jesus the eternal Word, the pre-existent God who is at the Father’s side and who has made Him known (see John 1:1-18). John records that “God loved the world like this—he gave his one and only Son,” (John 3:16 FBV). Why? Because “He who comes from heaven is over everyone. He confirms what he has seen and heard… He is sent by God and speaks God’s words… Whoever trusts in the Son has eternal life.” (John 3:32-36 FBV).

From John we hear of Jesus’ words “Whoever trusts in me isn’t trusting in me but in the one who sent me.” “Whoever sees me is seeing the one who sent me…” “If you had got to know me, you would have known my Father too. From now on, you know him and you have seen him.” (John 12:44, 45; 14:7 FBV).

From John we hear the amazing statements of the truth about God and how He wants to relate to us: “I don’t call you servants any longer because a servant doesn’t understand what the master is doing. Now I call you friends because everything my Father told me I have revealed to you.” “At that time you’ll ask in my name. I’m not telling you that I will plead with the Father for you, for the Father loves you himself—because you loved me and believed that I came from God.” (John 15:15; 16:26, 27 FBV).

How glad we should be for the inspired insights of John! Our image of the nature of God would be immeasurably poorer without the words he wrote down—words which even at the end of his life are vibrant with God’s living power!

Breathless excitement in God

Just read again the way he begins his first epistle. Verse one, just one long, breathless sentence.

We have heard
We have seen with our own eyes
We have stared at
Our hands have touched

Any mistake here about the message he is trying to get across? I hardly think so! The echoes here are of the beginning of John’s gospel, in which John describes the Word that was from the beginning. But in his gospel, John is trying to get across the eternal divinity of Christ. Here, John is making sure we don’t miss the physical reality of the person of Jesus Christ (something that some were denying, saying Christ did not actually come with a physical body).

“We were there!” he proclaims. We saw Jesus—with our own eyes. We heard him. We even touched him. He was real, no doubt about it. Over the last hundred years or so, some theologians have been debating the evidence for a real Christ. The “Quest for the Historical Jesus” ended up with some denying that there ever was a historical figure called Jesus Christ—a position even some within the Christian church take today. “An image of faith,” they may admit—but not to be taken literally.

Not so, counters John. Jesus was an absolutely real, physical person; one whom they had seen and handled, one whom they had lived together with and whom they had seen crucified and then resurrected. Without this, there is no basis for Christian belief.

I know Jesus

So beginning right where it is essential to begin, John stands up and shouts out his message—I know this Jesus! I am the material eye-witness. And what I’m telling you is absolutely true, vindicated by the evidence of his life and what has happened since. For faith must be based on such evidence, so that we are not led astray.

Yet this Jesus was no ordinary man, John continues. This Jesus, he is the Word of life. A wonderful shorthand term that John fills with meaning. The Word (remember what he said in the first chapter of his gospel) and the Life. Of course John is only reflecting the words of Jesus himself: “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25 FBV); “I came to bring them life, overflowing life.” (John 10:10 FBV etc).

This was God made manifest in Christ, says John. While truly Jesus was real, a complete and total human being in the flesh (and John is at pains to emphasize this, as we shall see later), yet this man is God.

John’s vital message is just this. Why did Jesus come? To reveal God—in all His fullness. All the former communications from God could be misunderstood. They were transmitted through fallen human beings. But this Being is God Himself, revealing in the clearest way possible who God is, what He is like, His intentions towards us, and the depth of His saving love.

The very God who spoke life into existence in Genesis 1 is this same Jesus we proclaim. That is John’s astounding theme.

“This Life was revealed,” John continues, “which we saw and give evidence about, and which we announce to you. This is the One who is Eternal Life, who was with the Father, and who was revealed to us.” (1 John 1:2 FBV).

The eternal life. This person is eternal life. A strange statement, but absolutely true. Jesus is not only the giver of eternal life, he is eternal life.

Reading the last page

Have you ever sneaked a look at the last page of a book to see how things were going to work out? Reading ahead helps you see what’s going to happen. You see the end before you get there.

We’ve read the end of the Book—the Book of History, the Book of Time, the Book of Life. We are privileged to know how it will all work out. With Jesus, we can be part of that End in a positive way, sharing together with Jesus in eternal life.

That’s the vital truth Mum had learned. That’s the thought that drew her onward, that led her towards the reality of an incredible future with this Word of Life. If you’re dying, what do you want to know? About the very opposite of what you are experiencing. The future becomes so much more important, because the present has so little to offer. The Word of Life is the transforming power of God that turns our feeble little lives here into a brilliant and fulfilled future life together with our God. That’s why we read of the future when “The dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” (Revelation 21:3 NIV).

But you only want that to happen if you know and trust this God who is the Word of Life. Who wants to spend eternity with a God who is tyrannical or hostile or cruel? Only as God is revealed in Jesus do we see that we have nothing to fear from the great Creator of the Universe, the Almighty Lord. Why? Because “this life became visible, we saw it,” (1 John 1:2 TEV)—and we recognise in Jesus the true character of God as He truly is.

Why did Jesus come?

To bring salvation? Yes.

To save us from our sins? Yes.

To rescue this world of evil? Yes.

Why Jesus came

But the highest reason (which involves all these other reasons) is that Jesus came to show us God in the clearest way so that we would truly want to love him and wish to be saved into his eternal kingdom. Only by love is love awakened, and that is what Jesus needed to do. Not to threaten or condemn, but to show us the outstretched arms of a God who was willing to be totally vulnerable, to die at our hands to show us his self-sacrificing love.

Jesus comes to reveal the Father. He comes to show in his life the nature, character and actions of God. He is the perfect representation of divinity, the closest we come to a “photograph of God.”

In the Old Testament we have many descriptions of the way in which God deals with humanity. But these are not enough. Even the holiest of prophets cannot reveal the completeness of God and his nature. So God has to come. God works not through claims of goodness and promises of love, but through a demonstration of all that He is.

Like a wife saying in response to her husband’s declarations of love: “Prove it!”

Jesus, the Word of Life, is God proving it.

And as John says, God became flesh and dwelt among us, so that we could, if we opened our eyes, recognise the truth about God. Even to the extent of being born in a barn, raised by a peasant family, working in a carpenter’s shop. Manhandled and beaten and abused—and eventually crucified. God is getting totally involved—and those like John who understood what they saw declare: “We speak of it and tell you about the eternal life which was with the Father and was made known to us.” (1 John 1:2 TEV).

Grabbing attention

So John grabs our attention, and makes sure we see the vital importance of understanding what he has to say. He is the man with the qualifications, and he is talking about matters that are truly life-and-death.

John is the disciple

a) Whom Jesus loved;

b) Who stood at the foot of the cross—the only one;

c) Who had the longest Christian experience;

d) had the greatest understanding of God as shown in his gospel;

e) was the most-respected leader (“the elder”);

and so on.

So just from the person of John alone we should be listening intently. And when he begins with such an explosive introduction, how can we just sit there and not care what he is going to share with us?

We need to sit up and take notice!

Why? Because our eternal destiny is at stake—along with those around us, too. Which is why John himself is so persuasive—he sees how important this divinely-inspired message really is.

So let’s go right back to the beginning, the very beginning, and put the message in context.

What had gone wrong—and how was God going to put things right? Only by seeing the vast sweep of God’s actions in history can we understand the meaning of why Christ came. The Eternal Life, the Word—is going to show what He is like, so there can be no doubt over God’s nature, purposes and motives. That’s why John speaks so much about what he saw and heard—for God can only work by providing the evidence. Claims are not enough, as the next passage of 1 John we shall study shows!

The Great Controversy perspective provides the means to understand. In this our world is the lesson book of the universe, and we are a spectacle to angels and to men (see I Corinthians 4:9). God stands accused by Satan (meaning “Accuser”) of being unfit to govern the universe. The challenge facing God is to demonstrate His true nature in opposition to the Devil’s charges that He is dictatorial, hostile, power-crazed, unjust, arbitrary, cruel, severe, unloving and so on. God wishes to demonstrate that He does not lay demands upon His created beings that He is unwilling to comply with Himself. So He comes as one of us:

to show the eternal validity of the law as an expression of God’s eternal goodness and     right,

to represent the true character of God, especially as a God of love,

to make known the truth of God to a fallen world,

to correctly represent the Father, answering the misrepresentations of Satan that God was     without mercy and patience, full of revenge,

to make clear that God was not an arbitrary judge, delighting in judging, condemning, and     punishing humanity,

to not only tell the gospel, but to be the gospel by representing God in character,

to reveal the goodness of God—in mercy, tenderness, compassion, long-suffering and self-    sacrificing love.

For ultimately, for all human speculation, all that we need to know—or even can know—of God is revealed in the life and character of Jesus Christ.

Eye-witness

So what is John an eye-witness of? And why is this important? John is last of the line of people who saw the earthly Jesus. So he wants to make his position very clear—because already some are confusing the issue and turning this physical, real Jesus into some “spiritualized” figure. That’s why John is so determined to reject such ideas—because he wants to convey the truth that he knew Jesus, not as some “figure of faith” but as a real and very close personal friend, in the flesh.

So he says, “What we have seen and heard we announce to you also, so that you will join with us in the fellowship that we have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:3 TEV).

Has anyone ever told you “You’ve got to believe this!”? That’s what John is saying here. John is totally convinced about who Jesus was, and he knows from personal experience. He writes because he has to convince those who have not had such a personal experience of the bodily Jesus. There’s nothing like a personal conviction, a direct personal appeal to make an impact.

John is telling his audience: some may have other ideas about Jesus, but believe me, I know! I was there! The experience of being with Jesus and seeing God as a result is what totally changed John’s life. This conviction, this belief, he is trying to transmit to the next generation.

We face the same challenge in the church, from generation to generation. We have to pass on not dry, dusty doctrines or cultural ideas or social behaviours, but a true vision of the risen Lord and Saviour. You cannot force it, you cannot manipulate it, but in some way the motivation to discover Jesus personally must be the objective of every member.
Without such a community of personal “friends of Jesus” there can be no satisfaction and happiness in the church. If all we are just people held together by a common cultural heritage, or similar upbringing, or shared activities—or even a common understanding of the “fundamentals” then we have failed as a church. We are only “church” as we can all identify with Jesus as the God we love and the Friend we want in our lives—now and forever.

Which is why John says, “We’re writing about this to you to make our happiness complete.” (1 John 1:4 FBV). What is true joy? Knowing that others share our understanding of God, and love Him as we do.

Think of what this must have meant for John. Perhaps he wondered whether as the other disciples—”friends of Jesus”—passed off the scene that the church would flounder and fail to keep to the truth about God he was so convinced of. He must have felt a tremendous sense of responsibility. He was surely praying that he “said it right!”

Then came the wonderful realisation that others knew and loved this same Jesus, even though they had never met him in the flesh! John’s joy was surely made complete as at the end he saw so many believers in so many parts of the world who knew Jesus as he did.

The Word of Life is the living voice of God. John’s testimony worked—and through the power of God we are changed into true friends of this loving Lord.

I asked Rebekah when she was just nine years old what she thought of God—what she knew about what He was like. She wrote out her answer. Here it is—another tribute to God that would surely have warmed John’s heart:

God is mighty, loving, caring, kind, gracious, beautiful, right, good, true, friendly, humble, a king, saviour, creator, wonderful, and very close to me. I love God for making me me.

Thank you, Rebekah. —Love Dad.

2. LIGHT AGAINST THE DARKNESS

15This is the message we’ve heard from him and that we announce to you: God is light, and there’s no darkness in him at all. 6If we say we share together with him and yet go on walking in darkness, then we’re lying, and not living in the truth. 7But if we are walking in the light, as he’s in the light, then we share fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus makes us clean from every sin.

8If we claim to be sinless we’re just fooling ourselves, and we don’t have the truth in us. 9But if we confess our sins, he is trustworthy and he is right, so that he is able to forgive us our sins and make us clean from all that isn’t right. 10If we claim we haven’t sinned, we make him a liar, and we don’t have his word within us. 1 John 1:5-10 FBV.

Lost in the dark

At 4.30 in the dark morning of Thursday 15th November 1928 the coastguards at Rye in Sussex, England received a message that the steamer Alice Riga was leaking and adrift off Dungeness. The alarm was sounded, and the volunteers raced to the lifeboat station and the Mary Stanford was launched.

An open lifeboat, powered only by oars, she was dragged down the beach into the huge waves and gale-force winds and launched into the darkness. Her seventeen-man crew struggled to row her out past the breakers and towards the drifting steamer.

Minutes later word came through the Alice Riga was safe, and the recall signal was sounded. But in the crashing seas none of the lifeboat crew heard the vital call to return. And in the oppressive darkness of that night, they could not see at all.

At midday the Mary Stanford was sighted floating upside down, and the bodies of the crewmen began to be washed ashore. All seventeen were lost, and the memorial on the lifeboat station records their names. Some are evidently from the same families—fathers and sons, or brothers perhaps—and one family lost three. What a tragedy to the waiting ones to realise that three of their menfolk had been lost at once...

And the tragedy is doubly tragic, for their heroic sacrifice had been in vain. They had been trying to save a ship that was safe, and had lost their own lives in the process.

The lonely lifeboat house on the pebble shore has not been used since that disastrous day. It stands a silent witness on the windswept coast to the courage of men who sought to save others, and yet were themselves shipwrecked.

A powerful reminder of Paul’s words, that in seeking to save others we should make a castaway of our own faith. If only they had heard the recall. If only the message had come sooner. If only they had not launched on such a dark and stormy night.

Lost in the darkness. A terrible and tragic fate, but one which mirrors the spiritual destiny of many today. For how many of our own lives are filled with “if onlys”? If only we had listened to God’s call to repent. If only we had responded to God’s offer of salvation. If only we had chosen to follow God’s way.

Playing games?

So many of us are truly “Lost in the dark.” Like frightened children, we are afraid of the dark, and yet refuse to come “out of darkness into his marvelous light,” (1 Peter 2:9 FBV). Like children too, we play games in which we blindfold ourselves so we deliberately prevent ourselves seeing.

For we play spiritual games too. As Phillips puts 1 John 1:6 “Consequently, if we were to say that we enjoyed fellowship with him and still went on living in darkness, we should be both telling and living a lie.”

By refusing to love the light we live the lie. For if we truly love God, we live in His light, as John so strongly declares:

“God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5 NIV). There is not shadow of dark in God, no blemish of evil, no seed of sin. Light defines God, it is His nature; it tells us who He is.

So what is the light that is God?

Light

Light. We see it, and by light is everything else seen. Light is energy. Light is seeing. Light is the eradicator of darkness. Light is freedom from fear. Light is understanding. Light is knowledge. Light is being free.

But, like time, try and define what light is, and you’re into major problems!

We can measure the speed of light. 186,000 miles per second—the theoretical maximum speed limit of the Universe! And, according to the Theory of Relativity, funny things happen when you approach that speed—like the mass becoming infinite. In other words, the faster you go, the more massive you become. Odd stuff, the physics of relativity.

We can measure the intensity of light, even low levels. An owl can hunt in light levels that look pitch dark to the human eye. We can use infra-red light to control our TV sets and ultra-violet light to get a suntan in winter.

We can measure the effect of light—no light, then just about everything dies. What would this world be like without light?

But when you ask what light is, then truly you have answers that are more intriguing than informative. “It’s an energy wave-form” says one physicist. “It occurs at different wavelengths, and in fact is just part of the electro-magnetic spectrum.” Fine. So it’s like some kind of energy wave.

But ask another physicist (or even the same one!) and you’re told, “Light is particulate. It is similar to the sub-atomic particles in the way it behaves. There’s even a name for this “particle” of light—a ‘photon’.”

Clear enough? Light is a wave and a particle. Yes, and both at the same time...

And that’s just the simple stuff...

Truly weird science, but intriguing enough to make you think, I hope. That God is defined as Light is perhaps even more meaningful as scientists explore and examine, and find more questions than answers.

And what of this vast Universe, measured in light-years, even in billions of them? What of the Creator God, and the very beginning when God said, “Let there be light, and there was light”?

God as light

For if God is defined as light, which means so much, He is also the Creator of light. God wraps Himself in a garment of light (see Psalm 104:2). He is the very essence of light—in all its meanings of seeing and understanding. The truth of God is a light to our path (see Psalm 119:105). Which is why David proclaims: “The Lord is my light” (Psalm 27:1).

But perhaps the most powerful image is from Jesus, who declares “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12, 9:5). John’s emphasis on Jesus as the light is one of the hallmarks of his theology—his understanding of God. Twenty-four times in his gospel, John refers to light. Especially in the first chapter, where the Word is described as the light of men, the light that shines in the darkness, the true light that gives light to every man that was coming into the world. What was this coming of the Light? What was it for? The light was to illuminate God in the midst of humanity: “while no-one has ever seen God, the one and only Son of God, who is close to the Father’s heart, has revealed to us what God is like.” (John 1:18 FBV).

And in John 3 the relationship of evil to that light is made plain—the light is hated, because darkness is preferred by those who wish to carry on in their separated wickedness. “But those who act according to the truth come to the light...” (John 3:21 FBV).

We belong to the light

That’s why Jesus makes this appeal: “You will have the light with you just a little while longer,” Jesus answered. “Walk while you have the light so that the darkness doesn’t catch up with you. Whoever walks around in the dark doesn’t know where they’re going. Trust in the light while you have it, so you can become children of light.” (John 12:35, 36 FBV). Our need is to become children of light, for that is what we now are. We belong to the light; we are children of the day (see also 1 Thessalonians 5:5). We belong to the God of light.

For when Jesus tells the people “46I’ve come as a light to the world, so whoever trusts in me won’t stay in the dark,” (John 12:46 FBV), Jesus is truly claiming to be God. The God of light, of revelation, of illumination. Jesus is the light of truth and salvation blazing in the darkness of sin and depravity. He came to lighten and illuminate the world with his saving power. Jesus is the light-bringer, the bright and morning star. And the best way that Jesus and the gospel writers can find to say what his nature is in terms of light — that divine light that is equivalent to complete purity, goodness and truth.

So God is light. Jesus is light. We are lightened by that light, we see where we’re going and who we are. That blinding light shines into our hearts and illuminates the darkness of sin, and shows us what is wrong with us. It also shows us the way we should walk, the lamp to our feet and light to our path. Like a lighthouse shining its beacon message of hope and warning, God shines out His light to all who will see.

But that is not enough. It’s not enough to say, “Look, there's a light” and do nothing. For we can look at the light and go the other way. Once we realise that God is light, and that Jesus is our light, we need to step out from the shadows. Only then as we enter into that light can the God of light do anything for us. God calls us out of the darkness into his wonderful light (see 1 Peter 2:9 NIV). We need to move! We can’t just stay where we are. Just like moths flying towards the light of a bright window, we need to fly towards God. God has let His light shine, calling us to Him. We need to respond, and come to Him. If we don’t, He can’t help us.

So what are we to do? Accept the light, and walk towards it. In fact we are to walk in the light: that is, we share and participate in the light as we live our lives in accordance with the light (see 1 John 1:7). Not only that, but the light must transform us. We can’t remain the same as we were — we need to let God’s light fill us and change us.

Think of yourself as photographic film. Before it’s exposed to light it has no image, no picture. When it’s loaded into a camera and the shutter pressed, it records what the light shows at that moment. The chemicals of the film are changed, and when it’s developed, it produces a perfect image of that light.

An excellent parable of what should be happening to us as we walk in the light! By beholding, we become changed. We look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We become like him. And so we become, as we saw before, sons and daughters of the light.

So how exactly? Listen: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible.” (Ephesians 5:81-4 NIV).

Now you are what? Light in the Lord. How should we live? As children of light. Where do we belong? To the Light, to the God of light. And having accepted this light, having become children of this marvellous light, having known the light of the world, what do we become?

Lights to illuminate the world, Jesus told us, his light-filled disciples: “You’re the world’s light,” “let your light shine.” (Matthew 5:14, 16 FBV).

Once we were darkness. Now we are light. We are part of God’s light, we reflect his light, we are children of the light. We hardly need reminding that day and night are opposites, so what communion has light with darkness? (see 2 Corinthians 6:14). How can we be light and darkness? No way! Listen again:

“But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.” (1 Thessalonians 5:4-6 NIV). Sons of the light, sons of the day. We don’t belong to the night or to darkness. WE BELONG TO THE LIGHT.

The blind writer Helen Keller described her experience:

“I can see, and that is why I can be so happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me     is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a man-made world.”

So we live as we should, following the way of the light. We can’t say we belong to the light and commit the deeds of darkness — if we do, we give up the light and wander back into the darkness of sin and death. Being in the light, children of the light, being changed into the nature of light means that we find ourselves more and more unable to tolerate darkness, and always striving onwards to the ever shining light. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6 NIV).

The God of the creation of light has made his light shine in our hearts so that we can know the light of his salvation in Jesus. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light — the Light of the world. This must be your experience and mine, for we belong to the God of light and walk in the light.

Lying claims

But for those who say they belong to the light, there must be evidence for others to see. John describes three lying claims, ones which are still valid today.

CLAIM 1. What I do doesn’t affect my spirituality (see 1 John 1:6). Here the idea that the body is sinful, but the spirit is pure. So what I actually do is not the important question, say such pseudo-Christians. But John will have nothing of such a lying claim. If we are truly children of light, he says, then we will have fellowship with each other, we will live good and honest Christian lives, not thinking we are part of some “spiritual elite.”

And what of those who claim to be such spiritual elitists and yet exhibit unchristian behaviour? I have always believed that once you resort to methods and actions that are not of God then you have lost the truth, however “right” you may be. Correct theology reveals itself more in the behaviour of the theologian than in some theological treatise. This is what John wants to make plain: right ideas mean right actions, or as one famous preacher put it in the opposite way: “You can’t think crooked and live straight.”

CLAIM 2. I don’t sin (see 1 John 1:8). “I’m not a sinner.” I well remember the reaction of my landlady when I was a student studying away from home in Birmingham, England. I’d put up a Christian poster in my window, something about God calling all sinners to repentance. My landlady was horrified, and asked me to take it down. In the zeal of youth I refused, saying we were all sinners in need of repentance.  “Me, a sinner?” she asked incredulously. “I’m not a sinner. I’ve not stolen things or murdered anybody. I’m sure I’m not a sinner!”

Such an attitude is commonplace today. People cannot see themselves as sinners in need of God’s transforming grace. They identify themselves as “quite good people, really” and do not see their need for healing from their sin-sick lives. But as Phillips puts it: “If we refuse to admit that we are sinners, then we live in a world of illusion and truth becomes a stranger to us.” (1 John 1:8). How well expressed—for so many of this world’s inhabitants are living in a world of illusion, and the truth is a stranger to them. To call on them to repent is meaningless for them.

Even some in the church have become blind to their sins, and can no longer see their need for God’s healing forgiveness. We need to be changed, to be purified (1 John 1:7, 9)—an action which the verb tense John uses indicates is an ongoing process, not something that happens once and is finished with.

CLAIM 3. I haven’t sinned. The doctrine of spiritual infallibility (see 1 John 1:10).  If we say we haven’t sinned, we have no need of a saviour. We turn God into a liar. We have no need of God’s forgiveness, and deny both our own characters and that of God.

The truth is that the closer we come to God, the more we see our own deficiencies and imperfections. We have nothing to boast about, except as Paul says, the cross of Christ. Claims of sinlessness mean nothing. All that really matters is our relationship to God, and how He sees us, not what we claim ourselves or others.  God identifies us as sinful beings and we must surely agree:

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23 KJV).
“There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10 KJV).
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” (Isaiah     64:6 KJV).

God’s concern to tell us about our sinfulness is not to be hostile or unforgiving, but so that He can do something about it. In so many ways God is the Divine Physician, who pleads with us to choose life, to come to Him and receive His healing salvation: “Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11 NIV).

We need to give up any pretence, to deny such lying claims, and come to the light of God’s revealing truth. Like a night rescue, God our Friend comes with his searchlight of truth, the light against the darkness, seeking all those who are crying in the night of evil and sin.

So are you still in the dark? Are you outside of that searchlight of truth, unwilling to stand in the brightness of its light? Are you still hesitating to come out of darkness into God’s wonderful light?

Remember the Mary Stanford and her lost crew. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” (Psalm 95:7, 8 NIV). Before you are shipwrecked in the storm of evil—even if you are trying to do good—listen to the Lord and come to Him. Come to the Jesus who says to the winds and the waves that threaten to overwhelm our fragile little boats, “Peace, be still” and who will guide us through, safe and sound, to the heavenly shore.

As we consider the light of God, let’s look forward to the day when all shall be totally revealed, when there shall no longer be any darkness. One day we shall all be there, pray God, worshipping the God of light as He sits on His throne in the centre of the eternal city:  “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives light, and the Lamb is its lamp”. (Revelation 21:23 NIV). All those of us who truly belong to the light will live eternally in the presence of the God of light. So remember who you are, and where you belong.

We belong to the light.

3. WALKING LIKE JESUS

2 1My dear children, I’m writing about this to you so you shouldn’t sin. But if anyone should sin, we have someone who defends us in the presence of the Father, Jesus Christ—who is truly right. 2It’s through him that our sins are forgiven—and not only our sins, but also those of the whole world. 3This is how we can be sure that we know him: if we do what he tells us. 4Whoever says, “I know him,” but doesn’t do what he says, is a liar, and doesn’t have the truth. 5But those who follow what Jesus has said have God’s love fully working in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6whoever claims to live in him should live as Jesus did.

7My friends, I’m not sending you some new commandment. It’s an old commandment you’ve had from the beginning—the old commandment that you’ve already heard.

8Then again, I am sending you a new commandment. It’s true in the case of Jesus and for you that the darkness is coming to an end and the true light is already shining. 9Anyone who says they’re in the light but hates their brother, still has the darkness inside them. 10Anyone who loves their brother lives in the light, and doesn’t tempt others to sin. 11Anyone who hates their brother is in darkness. They walk in darkness, and don’t know where they’re going, because the darkness has blinded them. 1 John 2:1-11FBV.

Theories and evidence

Ever heard of phlogiston? Not many people have, today. But go back a couple of hundred years and phlogiston was all the rage. So what exactly is (or was) phlogiston?

Phlogiston is something you can’t see or touch or feel. It’s a kind of invisible element that moves between substances when they burn. So when something burns it loses phlogiston to the air, or whatever it’s burning in. Clear? Oh, and it has negative weight!

In other words the more phlogiston something contains, the less it weighs. So as it burns, it loses the phlogiston with its negative weight, and becomes heavier. Clearer now?!

And has anybody ever identified this mysterious phlogiston? No. Has anybody proposed a chemical formula? No. Are we even sure it exists? No.

But the chemists of the eighteenth century believed in it. They thought they had the evidence. They observed what happened when things burned, and decided that this phlogiston theory made sense of what they were seeing.

Nowadays we can smile at such a foolish belief. But back then, this was good science. The chemists thought they had the proof they needed. And once one had claimed phlogiston as the magic substance, scientifically proven, then the others went along—for over a hundred years. The chemist (and church minister!) Joseph Priestly even managed to discover oxygen, but was so full of the theory of phlogiston that he called it “dephlogisticated air”!

So what of our spiritual “theories”? Do they make any more sense than the mythical phlogiston? What is the proof behind what we say we believe in? We may make many claims for our spiritual experience, but what are such claims worth?

John forces us back to the evidence—the evidence of true Christianity in action. What point is there in any great claim of personal piety if our actions prove we are liars? “Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but doesn’t do what he says, is a liar, and doesn’t have the truth.” (1 John 2:4 FBV). In this sense there can be no “theoretical Christianity.” On the contrary Christianity is essentially a very practical religion. Whatever you may claim, it’s what you do that counts, says John.

Who’s telling the truth?

So how to deal with claims, and counterclaims? How can you really know who’s telling the truth?

There’s an old story I was told when I was young of some schoolboys, one of whom had offended in some way. I forget what. But the schoolboy code of honour did not allow the others to “rat” (as the English expression for “telling tales” goes) on the guilty one. So they all maintained their silence.

So the school headmaster devised a test. He had a donkey brought to the school, and placed it in a tent. He told the boys it needed an ass to catch the ass who was guilty. Each one of them would have to go into the tent and pull the donkey’s tail, and the donkey would let him know who had been lying.

Each boy went in. Nothing much happened, except the donkey brayed a lot. But then the headmaster asked all the boys to show him their hands. Every pair of hands was black with soot, except for one. The headmaster had put soot on the donkey’s tail, and the guilty boy had not dared to touch it for fear of being found out in some way.

Lies and the truth; claim and counter-claims. We need good judgment to discern the difference. But in the end, maybe not until the very End, the truth will win out. Until then, we must not be blind, and without being judgmental we must examine those who make religious claims by the fruit they grow in their lives. For as John says, “This is how we know we are in him: whoever claims to live in him should live as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:5, 6 FBV).

So while many groups around us, both inside and outside the church, may say they know God, it is only as they reflect a Christ-like spirit in their lives that we can be sure they’re telling the truth.

The two sure-fire tests that John points to as examples of walking like Jesus are:

1. “This is how we can be sure that we know him: if we do what he tells us.” (1 John 2:3 FBV), and

2. “Anyone who loves their brother lives in the light, and doesn’t tempt others to sin.” (1 John 2:10 FBV).

In the same way that Jesus did not destroy the law, but rather fulfilled it in his life and teachings, so are we to live. Any Christian who says that we no longer need to keep God’s commands is not living like Christ. Of course, we do need to realise that God has commanded different actions at different times, as the early church recognised. We no longer need to practice circumcision as a religious rite, for example, or keep the ceremonial days or observe the Old Testament sacrificial system. But the basic commands as enshrined in the Ten Commandments remain valid, for they reflect God as He is. Not as legalistic observance, but as an expression of our love for God, in which we delight to do God’s will.

The other test of love for each other reminds us of Jesus’ own “command”:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love     one another.” “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 13:34; 14:15 NIV. See also John 15:12, 17).

Of course, love cannot be “commanded.” Love is a principle that flows from freedom and choice, and as we choose God and His way then we respond out of love. We love because he first loved us (see 1 John 4:19).

Commands?

And this is no new command, for the idea of love for one another goes right back through the Old Testament. Love for one’s neighbour, love for God—Jesus’ summary of the Ten Commandments is not new either. Yet as John thinks about this (1 John 2:7, 8) he realises that there is a new element. The newness is the arrival of Jesus himself. For though God has demonstrated His love through the ages, though He has always wished love to be the determining principle of behaviour, until Jesus came God has not been able to demonstrate this to the full.

Now this new “command” is seen in all its glory—in the life and especially the death of Jesus. “Then again, I am sending you a new commandment. It’s true in the case of Jesus and for you that the darkness is coming to an end and the true light is already shining.” (1 John 2:8 FBV).

Notice also the “and you” in that verse. God’s wonderful love is not only demonstrated in Jesus. This same love is revealed in us as we choose to love. We are God’s witnesses, we are His examples in this fallen world—we are a spectacle to angels and to humanity (see 1 Corinthians 4:9).

Walking like Jesus

So we must walk as Jesus walked. That’s why it is so important to spend time reading the gospels. We need to know how Jesus behaved, what his speech was like, how he treated people.

Not as a way of “copying” Jesus in terms of salvation—believing “if he can do it, so can we.” Jesus did not come to show us the recipe of salvation; he came to be our salvation. He simply shows us the kind of life led in full agreement with the will of God, full of grace and truth.

“I wonder what Jesus would have done in this situation?” is a frequently asked question by some. It has its merits in trying to recognise goodness and truth. Yet we must recognise that we are not Jesus. The temptations he faced were those designed for a divine being (we have, for example, no temptation to turn stones into bread. Nor does the Devil offer us kingship of the whole world—he knows most of us would settle for much less than that!). Jesus was unique, and we must see in him not only a good and righteous man living a correct life, but also God in human form. The divinity of Christ must not be reduced simply so we can make Jesus our “perfect example of a man” to follow.

In walking as Jesus did, showing we are true sons and daughters of God, we must have the same kind of attitudes and thoughts that Jesus expressed. That’s the kind of “walking like Jesus” John is speaking of. The principles of love, kindness, goodness, compassion, honesty, truthfulness and so on must mark our lives as they did Jesus. Most of all we need to remember that Jesus was revealing the true nature and character of God to us, and that we have the privilege and honor to reveal the same God to those around us. By having the love for each other as God intended, then everyone will know you are my disciples, said Jesus (see John 13:35).

Dealing with sin

But sadly, unlike Jesus, we still do sin. John writes with this recognition: “My dear children, I’m writing about this to you so you shouldn’t sin. But if anyone should sin, we have someone who defends us in the presence of the Father, Jesus Christ—who is truly right.” (1 John 2:1 FBV). 

Immediately we need to be careful here. When the text says that Jesus Christ “defends us in the presence of the Father” (FBV), or who “pleads our case before the Father,”(NLT), does that mean that the Father is the Accuser, or that He loves us less? In no way. In trying to speak well of the Son, sometimes we have spoken less than well of the Father. To suggest in some way that God is hostile towards us goes against Scripture, especially the words of Jesus who tells us that the Father loves us Himself in the same way as the Son (see John 16:27 etc).

Who is the Accuser? Satan—whose name means the Accuser. He  is the prosecutor, the one who makes the accusations against us. So when we think of how God deals with us, even in our sinfulness, let us be very careful not to split the Godhead and suggest that one has to plead with another in order to persuade forgiveness to be granted, (in fact Jesus very clearly denies this in John 16:26). It was because of the love of God that Jesus came and died to save us, not as a way of trying to make God love us as a result.

A recent billboard advertised the latest action movie: “Crime is a disease—meet the cure...” To adapt the slogan: “Sin is a disease—meet the cure, Jesus Christ!”

God provides the means to forgive our sins. He is the remedy for sin. Jesus makes us one (at-one-ment) with God once more. How much easier to understand than archaic words like ‘propitiation’! (For to include in the meaning of such a word the suggestion that in some way Jesus is “buying off” or “placating” the Father is to accept the Devil’s picture of God’s nature and to split the Trinity.)

Rather this is part of God’s open government. The Devil, not God, is the Accuser of the brethren. And it is Jesus who then speaks on our behalf beside God as Righteous Judge, and the ‘rightness’ of God’s decisions are then seen to be right by the whole universe.

As mentioned above, in John 16:26 Jesus says that he will not ask the Father on our behalf. Why not? Because the Father loves us as much as the Son, and is just as willing to save us! Through the wonderful plan of redemption, which involves all three members of the Godhead, we are reconciled and brought back to God, set right and kept right by Him. For “It’s through him that our sins are forgiven—and not only our sins, but also those of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2 FBV).

What an incredible God—who was willing to sacrifice so much to win us back to Himself! In dealing with sin, God demonstrates both the eternal validity of truth and right, as well as His loving, saving nature. In the cross of Christ, the whole character of God stands revealed in all its glory.

God and His evidence

God was not satisfied with making claims, and arguing with the Devil and his charges against the nature and government of God. Rather He wished to reject the Devil’s own claims by clear and unmistakable evidence.

In the same way, “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.” (1 John 2:9 NIV. My emphasis.) We can all make claims, say wonderful things, but the proof, the evidence is in our attitudes and actions.

So what are you going to do? Are you willing to examine your own life, and see how it matches up to such an investigation? What evidence are you displaying? What of you and your spiritual destiny? For whatever your claims, demonstration is all that God is interested in. “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:6 NIV. My emphasis.)

Trust—but what about the evidence

On our first visit from England to the US back in 1980 we decided we needed to buy a car in order to get around. We paid a visit to the local car auction and successfully bid for a Chevy station wagon. The auctioneer made the car look like the best buy since the US bought Alaska! (Oh, and don’t ask me the model, as far as I was concerned, it was just a car!) Not knowing much about American cars, I looked under the bonnet (sorry, hood) and checked that there was an engine present, and made sure there was a spare tyre (sorry, tire) in the boot (sorry, trunk). (And you’re telling me we speak the same language?!)

Anyway, we drove off, more than pleased with our purchase. It really did look good, and on the surface I couldn’t see anything wrong. I was willing to trust the claims of the auctioneer.

However, over the next few days we discovered a few idiosyncrasies. The air conditioning would occasionally start up for no apparent reason and start wailing like a banshee. The first time it happened I nearly drove off the road. But after a while it became almost an accepted example of car eccentricity, and it was fun to see how unsuspecting passengers reacted...

It did seem to be running a bit rough at times too, and I wasn’t sure that flames normally came out of the end of the muffler. But it still ran. On very smooth tires, which I suspected were a special American adaptation of Formula 1 slicks to help you drive faster. After having ploughed into a snow bank I discovered they were just worn out.

But the really scary aspect of my blind trust hit even me as we returned from picking someone up at the airport in Chicago. We drove the ninety miles back home, sailing along the freeway until we exited. As we slowed down the off-ramp I heard a strange jangling sound. I stopped and looked under the car. Nothing. I opened the windows and drove a few feet. It was as if someone were rattling stones in a can. Then I remembered an old prank from English weddings of putting gravel inside the hubcaps of the “Just Married” car.

I took off a hubcap. Instead of gravel, there were three nuts and bolts that held the wheel onto the axle. Totally sheared off. And there was only one still in place! And that was well worn through too. I shuddered, and checked the other front wheel. Same problem, with just two still in place.

We drove the few miles home at five miles an hour. Thankfully we made it safely. Then I checked with a mechanically-minded neighbour. He shook his head in amazement, and then told me I’d been driving the car all that time with the wrong-sized wheels on the front. Some kind soul had taken the right wheels and replaced them with the wrong ones—maybe just before taking it to the auction.

How important it is to know your vehicle! To trust the words of an auctioneer “Great car! Just serviced! Like new!” is foolishness. You need to know for yourself that you’re travelling safe. And the only way you can really know is to check it all out for yourself—and know what you’re looking for.

The same is true in spiritual terms. You have to examine all the evidence. You cannot trust mere claims. To believe just what anyone tells you is as foolish as me driving that Chevy death-trap. I learned fast. Read the owner’s manual. Check out the manufacturer’s advice. Don’t you owe it to yourself and your spiritual destiny to do the same?

You need to be sure. So how?

“This is how we can be sure that we are in union with God: whoever says that he remains in union with God should live just as Jesus Christ did.” (1 John 2:5, 6 TEV).

4. WHAT KNOWING GOD MEANS

212Dear friends, I’m writing to you children, because your sins have been forgiven through the name of Jesus. 13I’m writing to you fathers, because you know him who has existed from the beginning. I’m writing to you young people, because you have defeated the evil one. 14I write to you small children because you have known the Father. I write to you fathers, because you know him who has existed from the beginning. I write to you young people, because you are strong, and God’s word lives in you, and you have defeated the evil one.

15Don’t love the world, and don’t long for the things of this world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in them. 16For all that’s in the world—the desire to sin, the lustful look of the eyes, the arrogance of life—is not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its sinful desires are passing away, but whoever does God’s will lives forever. 1 John 2:12-17 FBV.

Making deals with God?

I happened to be visiting a church member in hospital when the lady in the next bed asked me to come over and speak to her privately. She told me she’d heard me speaking about God and wanted to ask me something.

She explained that she had experienced a massive stroke, and the doctors were gravely concerned for her, especially should she suffer a second stroke. They already had warned her that she would be permanently affected by the first stroke, and indeed she had great difficulty talking.

Her question was: If she should give all her money to God, would He cure her?

I smiled and told her that wasn’t the way God worked. I tried to share my understanding of who God is and what He is like. But she didn’t seem to take much in, as if she had already made her decision about what she was going to do. At the end she told me “I’m going to give all I have to God, and I know he will heal me. I have plenty of money—God will respect that. I’m going to go to church, and He’ll see I’m sincere. Pray for me.”

And I did pray. For this hospital patient was like so many others—trying to make deals with God. Whatever we value, in extreme situations we promise all to God. “Just get me out of this God and I’ll do anything you want. Just help me now.”

At least the prayer of the downed flier in the North Sea during World War II was honest:

“God, I haven’t bothered you for the past thirty years. If you get me out of this, I won’t bother you for the next thirty either...”

But even here there’s the idea of some kind of deal. As if we have anything to deal with. Does God really want your money or fame or talents if they’re just “bargaining chips”?

Or there’s the other extreme—from a church member with grey hair who told me: “It doesn’t matter if God likes me or I like God. That’s nothing to do with it. I’ve done what God required. I’ve kept my side of the bargain. So God has to let me into heaven, because I’ve done what I was told.”

How’s that for the assurance of salvation? He was absolutely convinced too—he saw it as just a question of contract: I do my part; God has to do His part!

And maybe we all have some of that mentality inside us! When something bad strikes, we are on our knees making all kinds of promises... We talk about paying double tithes and fasting and taking church office and so on. Or we recall all the sacrifices we have made “for God” which should gain us some merit with Him. All the times we wanted to sin but didn’t because we didn’t want to forfeit our reward. Surely we should get some credit for all the good things we’ve done, right? All those years of observing the Sabbath, of contributing our money, of serving the church, of healthy living, of avoiding bad places of entertainment, of keeping the commandments...

As if we had the choice we would have lived very differently! But seeing God as a divine policeman, we believe He surely would catch us, and then we would be in trouble! The Pharisees perfected this system. In believing that doing good and avoiding evil they gained credit with God, they eventually missed seeing God in Christ—because this was not the “God” they had their “contract” with. Tragedy of tragedies, they, (and we can do the same), crucified the Lord of glory for claiming to be God. Why? Because Jesus Christ rejected their ideas of making deals, and appealed for a direct and personal relationship of healing salvation.

There are no deals to be made with God.

But the lady patient made her deal. She made her promises anyway. And, miraculously it seemed, she recovered well.

Did she keep her bargain? Sadly not. She never went near a church, nor did she give anything to God. For now she was better, and the doctors were pleased and said she’d done well. Maybe God hadn’t had anything to do with it anyway, she reasoned.

For I saw her later, much later. And when I mentioned her promises, she just laughed and said that wasn’t it strange what you’re willing to promise when you’re sick and she was sure God understood. As a proverb from Ethiopia puts it, “One who recovers from sickness forgets about God.”

Sad both ways. For not even her sickness, not even her misunderstandings of God, had brought her closer to Him. At least if she had kept her promises she might have come to know the truth of God. Or on the other hand, she may have become just another confirmed bargainer with God.

Making deals are dangerous. For if they seem to work, you think you know how God operates. And if they fail, you blame God too.

Giving up on God?

The tragedy of today’s world is that so many have given up on God without really knowing who He is. Often when I ask atheists to tell me about the kind of God they don’t believe in, I agree! Due to the misrepresentations of the Devil, many have rejected a wrong picture of God that we would also reject. Without a knowledge of the true character of God there can be no loving response to God. The task for us, then, is to make God known as He truly is—full of goodness, mercy and truth. For the last message of mercy to this dying world is a revelation of God’s loving character.

One contemporary singer tells of her disillusionment with God. Though brought up in a Christian home, the odd religious language and customs seemed strange. But what really turned her against God was the preaching of “hellfire and brimstone.” She decided that if this was the kind of person God was, she didn’t have any use for Him. And, she supposed, He probably didn’t have any use for her. A tragic loss, because of a terrible misrepresentation of the real truth about God and His attitudes and actions.

Others too have rejected such a torturing, vindictive, hostile God:

“The idea that a good God would send people to a burning hell is utterly damnable to     me—the ravings of insanity, superstition gone to seed.” —Luther Burbank.

“I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly human can believe in     everlasting punishment... I must say that I think all this doctrine, that hellfire is a     punishment for sin, is a doctrine of cruelty.” —Bertrand Russell.

“[Hell] makes man an eternal victim and God an eternal fiend. It is the one infinite     horror.... Beyond this Christian dogma, savagery cannot go.” —Robert Ingersoll.

“An eternally burning hell preached from the pulpit, and kept before the people, does     injustice to the benevolent character of God. It presents Him as the veriest tyrant of the     universe. This widespread dogma has turned thousands to universalism, infidelity, and     atheism    —Ellen White.

One of those turned to such scepticism was the Robert Ingersoll quoted above. At the age of ten he heard a sermon on the horrors of hell, and said, “Father, if this is the kind of god the God in heaven is, I don’t want any part of Him.”

Hell comes from two lies. One was the lie told by the Devil in the garden: “You shall not surely die.” This is the basis for the belief in the immortal soul. The other lie is that God is vindictive, punitive, and cruel. Add the two lies together, and you have hell.

But remember that the author of hell is not God, but the Devil. Hell is one of his best strategies to turn people away from God. Just another part of his smear campaign which destroys the noble character of our loving God. As Francis Bacon wrote: “It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is unworthy of him.”

The tragedy is, of course, that once people give up on God, they are lost. “If people stop believing in God, they don’t then believe in nothing, they believe in anything” wrote G K Chesterton.

That’s why John commends the fathers, “because you know him who has existed from the beginning… I write to you young people, because you are strong, and God’s word lives in you (1 John 2: 13, 14 FBV). It’s absolutely essential that we each one realise what knowing God really means. Our concepts of God must be correct, for our spiritual relationship with God is shaped by them. Every aspect of belief is affected by the kind of person we believe God to be, and if we have false God-concepts, then our spiritual relationship will be seriously damaged.

God-concepts

So what of such false God-concepts? Look at some thoughts about God from famous writers, and see if they do not reflect many popular, but erroneous, ideas about God:

God is what man finds that is divine in himself. —Max Lerner.

Is man only a blunder of God, or God only a blunder of man? —Nietzsche.

If God has created us in his image, we have repaid him well. —Voltaire.

It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God—but to create him. —Arthur     C. Clarke.

I’ve steered clear of God. He was an incredible sadist. —John Collier.

You can add to the list yourself. Vague energy clouds; some distant Divine Watchmaker of the Universe; a cosmic Santa Claus; the Force of the Cosmos and so on—all have been identified with God.

But this is exactly what John is combating here. Each of his six-fold repetition of “I write to you” (1 John 2:12-14) represents a particular aspect of spiritual understanding, and “knowing God” is listed in three of the “commendations.”  How important then that we rightly understand and relate to this God who has done so much at tremendous cost to make sure He is known!

Forgiveness and victory

“But I don’t really feel it. I don’t know whether God has done what I asked. I don’t feel forgiven.”

Following on from having the right ideas about God and His nature are questions about how He operates. Many times in my ministry I have had to speak to people who wanted forgiveness but did not know whether they were forgiven.

Sometimes they thought they needed to do some special penance. In the human mind there is the idea that you need to prove their goodness or true contrition to God before He will listen to your cry for forgiveness. Some do not seem to be able to accept the graciousness of God, and though they read the texts about God’s willingness to forgive, somehow they just cannot believe.

If you have ever thought like this, read again what John is saying here: “your sins have been forgiven through the name of Jesus.” (1 John 2:12 FBV).  No doubts here; the promise is sure and certain. Because of the revelation of God in Christ you know that God can and will forgive you as you come in repentance and contrition. God does not need to be persuaded, nor placated with some offering, but is more willing to forgive than we are to ask. Remember what we have already read: “But if we confess our sins, he is trustworthy and he is right, so that he is able to forgive us our sins and make us clean from all that isn’t right.” (1 John 1:9 FBV).

When does it happen? The moment we ask! How can this happen? Because of the very nature of God Himself.

But don’t miss something here. God, though He can and does forgive, wants to do more. Notice the end of that text: “make us clean from all that isn’t right.” What God wants is not to be perpetually forgiving, but changing us so that we no longer choose to indulge our sinful desires. God wants to make us new (see 2 Corinthians 5:17); He wants to re-make us in His image; He wants to prepare us for an eternity together with Him. So though forgiveness is important, healing from our sinfulness is even more important. Because that is what brings victory!

The “overcoming of the evil one” (see 1 John 2:13) is just that. A rejection of the Devil’s lies, a forsaking of his way of living, a refusal of his temptations. This is accomplished not by our own strength, but by the transforming power of God at work in our lives, which turns us from rebellious enemies into trustworthy friends of God.

God’s desire is to have a people who are more than simply “acquitted.” To be pronounced legally not guilty, pardoned, forgiven is one thing. But, wonder of wonders, what God achieves is a people who will stand for the right though the heavens fall, who are so settled into the truth that they cannot be moved. They have been totally convinced of the rightness of God that they would not choose to live any other way.

Remember that when Jesus’ birth was announced, he was to be called Jesus not because we would forgive his people their sins but because he would save his people from their sins! (see Matthew 1:21).

Even if we should refuse his help, and eventually die, just like a doctor who goes to the funeral of a patient who refused his help, God may still be saying “I forgive you”—but we will be dead. Forgiveness can never be enough, it must lead us to that oneness with God that comes from the fact that “God’s word lives in you.” (1 John 2:14 FBV).

Loving the world or living forever?

John is totally explicit in his command: “Do not love the world or anything that belongs to the world.” With that direct order, he goes on to explain that what this world sees as valuable is nothing—it is temporary and will soon be gone: “Everything that belongs to the world—what the sinful self desires, what people see and want, and everything in this world that people are so proud of—none of this comes from the Father; it all comes from the world. The world and everything in it that people desire is passing away...” (1 John 2:15-17 TEV).

Really it’s not a question of liking or disliking certain “worldly” activities. Rather it’s a question of what is permanent and genuine, and what is temporary and counterfeit. The decision is about what you truly value, what you truly live for.

Surf’s up! We were down on the beach, enjoying our family vacation to the full. Camped along the sand were other sun-seekers, from most of the countries of Western Europe.

Next to us happened to be a German family. I don’t hold with national stereotypes, but they were organized! I mean they had everything you’d ever need. While we had a couple of towels and a beach ball, they had beach mat, high-tech beach umbrella, gigantic cooler, comfortable recliners, and every game you could dream of. It would have taken a truck to have delivered it all (probably a Mercedes...)

We stretched out in the warmth of the sun. Now this was the life! I idly watched the surfers out in the breakers doing their stuff. Fun, fun, fun as the Beach Boys would have said. The thrill of seeing them catch a wave and swoop shorewards in poetic motion...

Anyway, back to all us shore-bound hedonists (look it up!). A couple playing some excellent beach-ball with those wooden paddles. Some bronzed boys making some huge sand-project like an extensive archaeological dig. Girls paddling, sun-tan oil flying, buckets and spades and kites and bats and balls and... Everywhere people having fun.

Except for our German neighbours who were playing chess. Not that I have anything against such an intellectual exercise, it just seemed an odd kind of beach activity. But then it takes all sorts...

Then it happened. The forces of nature struck. The beach had an odd shape as I think back. The sand rose gently from the shore like normal. But then it dipped down before rising once more. And we all were sitting in the dip. So when that fateful breaker came crashing over the beach, it rushed upon us like a tidal wave. Chaos!

People ran everywhere. Umbrellas upside-down, floating on what was now a small lake. Towels soaked, bags water-logged, cameras desperately rescued. Picnics up-turned, books abandoned, and sun-tan oil bottles bobbing merrily up and down. And yes (since you ask), having retrieved our now rather wet possessions, it was vaguely amusing.

Except for our German neighbours who seemed to take a dim view of such a disturbance of their ordered life-style. As if the wave should have given advance warning of its intentions. In barely-disguised annoyance they collected up their things. And then they noticed the chessboard.

All the pieces had been washed off and were either floating or lying half-buried in the sand at the (new) tide-line. Frantically they set to work to find all the precious parts of the set. Kings and queens were found quite easily. And most of the other major pieces, I think. A knight was tracked down under the cooler. An errant bishop lodged in an abandoned swimsuit. A rook had taken flight with the beach umbrella. But the pawns were another matter. Scattered to the four corners of the earth, I don’t think they did find them all (and of course, we did help).

A parable of life? Yes—and in many ways. The unexpected nature of life itself—the more so when all seemed calm and tranquil, lazing in the sun. The mad activity of everybody affected, looking for all the world like an upset ant-hill. The belief that we have everything we need in all we possess. The foolishness of not paying attention to the rising tide (of evil—maybe!). The dramatic end to all the fun and games, and the rapid need to save the essentials.

But more than any of this, I saw the parable of the washed-out chessboard. Like a miniature world, the pieces act out their parts. Knight takes pawn; bishop takes knight, queen check-mates king. In all its small pettiness this game that we control reflects the way we seem to live—until the tidal wave of rolling history rushes in and washes us all away. And in the end-time rescue, what do we seek to save?

For we are not in the end the pawns but the game-players. We are the ones who exercise our choices. We plan and devise strategies and follow our ambitions. We move piece after piece, plotting and scheming. And in our intense involvement in the game we play we fail to notice the warning signs, and the onrushing waves.

Surf’s up. Time’s up. Are your priorities in “loving the world” or living eternally?

Where are you on life’s beach?

5. THIS LAST HOUR!

218Dear friends, this is the last hour—and as you’ve heard, the antichrist is coming. Many antichrists have already come—that’s how we know it’s the last hour. 19They left us, but they don’t identify with us, for if they did, they would have remained with us. That’s how they demonstrate that none of them belong to us.

20You have been anointed* with the Holy Spirit’s blessing, and you know all of this. 21I’m not writing because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and no lie comes from the truth. 22Who is the liar? Anyone who denies that Jesus is the Messiah.* That’s who the antichrist is—anyone who denies the Father and the Son. 23Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, whoever declares the Son has the Father too. 24As far as you’re concerned, make sure what you heard from the beginning lives in you. If what you heard from the beginning lives in you, you will also live in the Son and in the Father. 25Eternal life—that’s the promise he gave us!

26I’m writing this to warn you about those who would lead you astray. 27But you have received the anointing* from him which lives in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you, for the anointing teaches you about everything, and is trustworthy and not a lie. So as it taught you, live in him!

28Now, my dear friends, live in him, so that when he appears, we can be confident and not ashamed before him at his coming. 29If you know he is truly right, then you also know that everyone who lives right belongs to his family. 1 John 2:18-29 FBV.

The Spirit of Antichrist

At seven in the morning of January 26, 1984 Anthony Antone was executed. Convicted of murder, Antone went to the electric chair. Another death, another depressing statistic. But this particular execution was marked by Antone’s refusal to speak to a priest or have the services of a gospel minister. In fact he rejected Christianity altogether, calling such beliefs “childish.”

Antone went to his death without hope, and seemingly without any thought of any future. In this we see the results of the work of Antichrist, who has done so much to turn humanity away from God—to reject Him completely. To believe in God is a “crutch,” they say, just a way of getting through life because you can’t stand up for yourself. OK for kids, maybe, but not for adults.

But says John, “Any man who refuses to acknowledge the Father and the Son is an anti-christ.” (1 John 2:22 Phillips). Whoever is not with me is against me, said Jesus (see Matthew 12:30).

Sometimes in thinking of the end-time dramatic revelation of Antichrist we have missed the meaning of what being “antichristian” really is. The word carried two major thoughts. The first is of being against Christ—that is in opposition to him and all he stands for. The second is of being in place of Christ—that is as a substitute replacing Christ.

In the Devil’s campaign to deceive and destroy, these two facets of antichrist are very clear. Today’s society is both against the calls and claims of Christ, and also seeks to replace Christ and Christian philosophy with alternatives.

Against God through a society that looks for money and possessions.

Against God by direct attack through Satanism and witchcraft.

Against God more subtly by making humanity indifferent to religion and any thought of     a loving God.

Replacing God with “a good time,” sex, drugs, alcohol.

Replacing God with a fake “god” in false religions.

Replacing God with false ideas about God even within His church.

Lucifer: ever anti-God

This anti-God spirit has been present in God’s universe ever since the rebellion of Lucifer. Presenting himself as some kind of “freedom fighter” battling for the “rights” of the intelligent beings of the universe, Lucifer’s intentions have always been to malign and destroy God. Lucifer has always been anti- Christ; he is anti- everything God represents: freedom, choice, love.

He is behind the man of lawlessness:

“Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

“Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time.

“For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming.

“The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders...” 2 Thessalonians 2:3-9 NIV.

Note the particular qualities of opposition to God and exaltation over God (the same qualities Lucifer exhibited in the beginning, see Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28).

The term “antichrist” is not used by anyone else in Scripture except John and only occurs in 1 and 2 John. But there’s no mistaking the meaning:

“Many deceptive people have gone out into the world. These are the ones that don’t accept that Jesus Christ has come as a human being. Anyone like this is a deceiver and an antichrist. 2 John 7 FBV.

“This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ came as a human being is from God; while every spirit that doesn’t acknowledge Jesus, that spirit isn’t from God—and is the spirit of the antichrist which you heard was coming, and is already in the world right now.” 1 John 4:2, 3 FBV.

In this John parallels Paul’s writing of the “god of this world”:

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV.

The deceptive, lying, blinding work of the Arch-Deceiver is to clothe God in demonic disguise. He seeks to portray God as hostile, arrogant, uncaring, unloving, merciless, unforgiving... The end result? A world that neither sees God, nor cares. A mass of humanity that “cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Cor. 4:4 NIV, my emphasis.)

The image of God

Don’t miss that last point. For this is John’s great and ultimate thesis! “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, whoever declares the Son has the Father too.” (1 John 2:23 FBV).

In this John is simply repeating the wonderful words of Jesus that only he recorded:
“Whoever trusts in me isn’t trusting in me but in the one who sent me.” “Whoever sees me is seeing the one who sent me.” “If you had got to know me, you would have known my Father too. From now on, you know him and you have seen him.” “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. (John 12:44, 45; 14:7, 9 FBV).

This last hour

As the final, last, really last hour (see 1 John 2:18) approaches then the battle heats up. The fundamental causes of the conflict between Christ and Antichrist move towards the inevitable climax. The polarization of attitudes is there for all to see—even now.

The reasons for the Great Controversy at its beginning are the same at its end. How important then that we have eyes to see and ears to hear, and minds to understand. Religion—and I mean all aspects of religious belief—are moving towards authoritarianism. The rise of fundamentalism in many religions is a drive towards unquestioning “obedience”—a rigorous observance of the requirements the leaders demand. Added to this is the generally-conceded idea that religion does not need to make sense. Because religion deals with the supernatural, then reason is to be rejected, apparently.

Such a dangerous concoction needs to be avoided like the plague! Trouble is, with so many voices claiming to speak for God, how does anyone find out who’s telling the truth? Is it the voice that shouts loudest? The one that does the most miracles? The most attractive/appealing/seductive?

Few even take the time to think about such questions, or so it seems. With so many “along for the ride,” we need more than ever the gift of spiritual discernment. Not some vague feeling, or some warm conviction, but hard and visible evidence is required. For God is a God of evidence, and wishes us to make our decisions with the minds He has given us. The Antichrist and all the subordinate antichrists do not want such thought, but mindless obedience, like the thought-police of Orwell’s 1984.

Take a look at some of such representatives—those who have both opposed and replaced Christ. Cult leaders provide dramatic illustrations of the drive for mind control. In cult organizations, members are told not to think for themselves. The leadership does that for them, they just follow along, blindly and automatically. And we become cultic whenever we advise our membership to do the same. While it’s right and proper to respect spiritual leaders, we must never rely on human beings to teach us what we should or should not believe. Beliefs such as the priesthood of all believers, individual responsibility, personal salvation and so on should make us all aware that we must think and understand for ourselves. As Paul so clearly says, “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” (Romans 14:5 KJV). We are not to be dependent upon a human teacher, however brilliant and charismatic, for our understanding of God and His wonderful plan of salvation. For we are to be able to give a reason for the hope that is in us (see 1 Peter 3:15). As Matthew Henry remarked, “We should be able to defend our religion with meekness.” This means we need to know the truth personally and individually.

We have no need to follow Jim Jones or David Berg or David Koresh or any other self-declared spiritual leader. Rather we are to follow the Spirit of truth who will teach us all things (see John 14:17, 26). No lie can come from the truth, says John (see 1 John 2:21); and only by knowing what is true can we discern the lie.

Down through the ages there have been many false Christs, many self-proclaimed Messiahs who have proved to be false and their words lies. We need to make sure that whatever the claims, we test them by the evidence that God has provided in His Word. For as Jesus said, the Devil will attempt to deceive even the very elect at the end.

This is why it’s so important to follow John’s advice: “Obey the Spirit’s teaching.” Why? “For his Spirit teaches you about everything, and what he teaches is true, not false.” (1 John 2:27 TEV. See also 1 John 2:20, 21).

Knowing the truth as it really is: this is the key to true Christian fellowship. This is the way to avoid being side-tracked and led astray by the Devil’s distractions and false doctrines. How do we know the truth? It is as the Holy Spirit guides us (and we must follow) into all truth (see John 16:13).

We’re even counselled to test the Holy Spirit, to make sure of the Spirit that we are following. God is so committed to our freedom of thought and choice that He will not compel, and wishes us to make sure that we really are listening to the truth.

Con-men?

The idea of “just believe whatever you are told” is a very dangerous view, and leave us open to the suggestions of Satan himself. Just because you have some “warm feeling” that something is true doesn’t mean it is necessarily right.

In our neighborhood we have been warned to watch out for con-men trying to enter houses. One poses as an antique appraiser. Another pretends to be a representative from the local council. But they all have the same aim—to convince you to let them into your home.

One recent report is of two con-men who work together. They pose as officials from the gas company, looking for suspected gas leaks. They even have fake identity cards. Once inside, one keeps you talking while the other “checks your house for gas leaks.” Of course he is actually helping himself to your valuables!

Just because they seem plausible does not mean you should believe their message. Some neighbours have been foolish enough to believe such con-men, and have suffered as a result.

You always need to check out what you’re being told. So what of the truth? What are we to do in evaluating Biblical interpretation?

What does John tell us to keep alive in our hearts? “As far as you’re concerned, make sure what you heard from the beginning lives in you. If what you heard from the beginning lives in you, you will also live in the Son and in the Father. 25Eternal life—that’s the promise he gave us! (1 John 2:24, 25 FBV).

John is adamant here. No doubt, no indecision, no scepticism! No doubt he is remembering all those statements he recorded in his gospel when Jesus spoke of the gift of eternal life. The acid test of genuine Christianity is that it reflects the attitudes, beliefs and content of the gospel brought by Jesus. If any “new light” is given which contradicts Scripture, you can be sure that it is not light at all!

The Day He Comes

When John says, “Now, my dear friends, live in him, so that when he appears, we can be confident and not ashamed before him at his coming,”(1 John 2:28 FBV), John can only be thinking of Jesus’ own promise:

“After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, so that you will be where I am.” (John 14:3 TEV). The hope of the Christian is the same as the hope of God—to be together again, forever. To have the barrier of sin removed completely. To see Jesus face to face in all his glory. This is what the blessed hope accomplishes.

This is the focus of hope. This is the point to which our eyes are directed—looking up, for our redemption draws near. This same Jesus, who died to save and heal us, will return to take us home. This is the heart of our message.

Why then are we so feeble in proclaiming this truth? Why doesn’t it seem to affect us anymore? Have we heard it so often that it no longer makes any difference? Do we fail to take any notice—like day-dreaming in the classroom where the words go in one ear and out the other?!

Let me ask a personal question. What does the advent hope do for you?

Is it just a “comfortable doctrine” that assures you of future happiness? Or is it a message that makes you sit up and get moving, that makes you so happy that you want to tell others automatically?

Is it an idea that scares you, and you pray that it doesn’t happen? Or is it the joy of your heart, the day long awaited, that you pray will be soon?

Is it a belief that you hold in your mind that doesn’t affect the way you live. Or is it the motivating principle of your life, that affects everything you do?

We need to personalize the blessed hope! It must mean something to all of us. This is the challenge of the Advent hope—the message given to us by Jesus that keeps us on track. For really this hope is not about the future at all.

It’s about how we live here and now! The present is all the time we have.

We don’t live in the past; we don’t live in the future.
We don’t think in the past, we don’t think in the future.

Now is the only time we have. And this is where we make our decisions—and all our decisions must be made in the light of the second coming.

Now I don’t mean that you should say “The Lord is coming in three years, so I don’t have time to go to college, get married, have a family.” We are never to date the coming. What I am saying is that our hope needs to influence everything in our lives—that we are to be ready whenever. This is the message of Jesus—”Watch and pray,” be ready. The Advent hope is to make something out of us:

“Since everything is going to be destroyed like this, what kind of people should you be? You should be living holy lives, devoted to God, waiting expectantly for the coming of the day of God, doing what you can to have it happen soon.” (2 Peter 3:11-12 FBV). If we truly believe the Advent hope, what should we be like—not out of fear, but out of love and joy?

If we have this hope in us, what do we do? “Everyone who has this hope in them makes sure they are pure, just as he is pure.” (1 John 3:3 FBV). Taking our hope seriously means we live right. It means pleasing God. It means living close to Jesus daily. For we hope for the Advent, the coming of our friend and Lord.

It means not keeping such an incredible hope to ourselves, but telling and explaining it:

“Always be ready to explain to anyone who asks you about the reason for the hope that you have, gently and respectfully.” (1 Peter 3:15 FBV). The Advent hope is a fundamental part of the Christian gospel, and we need to say much more about it. Not fanatically, but calmly and sensibly, for the Advent is the natural conclusion to God’s salvation plan.

Most of all, we don’t need to be ashamed. We must be proud of this hope, and let it shine out of our lives and out of our words:

“Because we have this hope, we are very bold.” (2 Corinthians 3:12 TEV). We don’t need to be ashamed or scared of telling others about this marvellous hope. We need to be very courageous, and use great plainness of speech in telling this truth.

For we are not following cunningly devised fables or the doctrines of man, but the very word of God. He has given us this hope, he will bring it about. He that cannot lie has promised. My prayer for you is this:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13 NIV).

I pray that the God of hope gives you this undying hope, and that it may soon be realised!

6. CHILDREN OF GOD

3 1Look at the kind of love the Father has given to us, so we can be called God’s children—and that’s what we are! Because of this the world doesn’t recognize us, because it does not recognize him. 2My friends, now we are God’s children, but what we shall become hasn’t yet been revealed. However we do know that when he appears, we shall become like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope in them makes sure they are pure, just as he is pure. 4Those who are sinning are lawless, because sin is lawlessness. 5You know that Jesus came to take away sins, and there’s no sin in him. 6Whoever lives in him doesn’t go on sinning; whoever keeps on sinning hasn’t seen him and hasn’t known him.

7Dear friends, don’t let anyone deceive you: those who live right are right, just as Jesus is right. 8Whoever sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. That’s why the Son of God appeared—in order to destroy the devil’s works. 9All those who are born of God don’t go on sinning, for God’s nature lives in them. They can’t keep on sinning because they are born of God. 10This is how God’s children and the devil’s children are distinguished: anyone who doesn’t do what’s right is not of God, nor is anyone who doesn’t love their brother. 1 John 3:1-10 FBV.

The great flower-selling scam

One day when I was about five, a gypsy woman came to our house in England selling bunches of flowers. My mother took out her purse and gave her sixpence. For me that was a lot of money (nowadays equivalent to about four cents!) So I started thinking how I could get into this lucrative business.

I set to work. I found an old basket in the garage, and went out to the garden and picked all the best flowers I could find. Then I persuaded my younger sister that she should be the flower girl. (No way was I going to be a flower seller! Even at that early age I was rigid about gender roles...)

So off we went down the street. I told three-year-old Jane what she was to say: “Hello. I’ve come to give you some flowers.” And as soon as the lady of the house accepted, she was to be asked for payment. (Cunning salesmanship, I thought. Give ’em the flowers, and then ask for cash. I’d go far...) My role was to supervise by hiding behind gateposts.

At the first house the lady looked a little surprised, but paid up. So did the next. I could hear cash registers ringing in my head. This was going well—money for a few dumb flowers.

Third house, and disaster hit. The lady smiled politely at Jane, and asked if her mummy knew she was out selling flowers. No, said Jane in her sweet wide-eyed innocence, it was all her brother’s idea. The lady told Jane to wait there while she called our home.

My mother arrived like a whirling tornado. First she asked what I thought I was doing. I explained, hoping to get points for initiative. No dice. Mother was distinctly upset.

I was made to go back to all the houses, repay the money, and apologise. “After all,” said Mother, “If you’re giving then you don’t ask to get paid.” More than any of this though was her shock at how people would think of all of us. “That’s not the kind of family you belong to, my boy.”

Slowly it sunk into my thick skull that I had misrepresented our family. In my eagerness to make some quick money I was ready to exploit people (including my sister), and exchange my mother’s flowers for some cash in my pockets (which would no doubt have got spent on candy and other junk!)

Later that evening we had family talk-time. I was asked if I didn’t get pocket-money anyway. Didn’t I have everything I needed? And why had I used my sister and mother’s flowers and our neighbour’s generosity just to make myself money?

Part of God’s family

Through it all I saw why each member of a family is important—because we share not just a name, but a character and a reputation. So when it comes to being Children of God, then we too have to reflect the characteristics of God’s family.

For we may take the name “Christian”—but unless we really are who we say, then we are just imposters exploiting the situation? That’s why John is so clear:

“Consider the incredible love that the Father has shown us in allowing us to be called ‘the children of God’—and that is not just what we are called, but what we are.” (1 John 3:1 Phillips).

Not just what God calls us, but what He makes us! God’s “imputed righteousness” is not just a formal declaration. God is not just saying that we are when we are not. You can call something anything you want, but it does not change its reality. A rose by any other name and so on. In fact calling names—just putting labels on things—gets in the way. What God is interested in is changing us into His true children.

True children

Think of all the characteristics of children—those fascinating, attractive traits. Truly “Children are the most beautiful flowers of all” (Oscar Wilde). Maybe that’s particularly why God wants to identify us as His children. For children are (or should be!):

honest, truthful, direct, innocent, uncomplicated, ready to love without conditions,     transparent, easily pleased, not devious, and most of all, trusting.

I believe it is this quality that God appreciates most of all, for if we truly trust Him, then he can really help and heal us. Without that trust (call it faith if you like) God is unable to reveal His forgiveness, His transforming power, His salvation.

Many of these qualities are lost with adulthood. We learn to become suspicious, distrusting, deceptive even. But in the words of Carl Jung: “If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.” Or as the ancient writer Mencius put it: “The great man is he who does not lose his child’s-heart.”

We need to have our “child’s-heart” as we come to God. Not coming with a faith that is blind, but looking honestly and innocently as a child, who can see so clearly who can be trusted. Somehow we need to come back to that childlike way of seeing things that Wordsworth wrote so beautifully about:

“There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore—
Turn wheresoe’er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.”

How do you see? Do you see the chariots of fire, or are your eyes still blinded? (see 2 Kings 6:17). Only as we return to reality, the reality of a childlike trust of honest innocence, will we begin to see God as He is.

This truly is the gift of God: “But to those who actually did receive him—those who really put their trust in him—he gave the right to become God’s children.” (John 1:12 FBV).

For this is the whole purpose that God is working towards, which involves not just us but as a result the whole of creation itself:

“All of creation is patiently waiting with eager expectation for God to reveal his children... that creation itself should be freed from the slavery of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children...” (Romans 8:19, 21 FBV).

In contrast to this world, the children of God shine with the brilliance of God’s truth:

“So that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.” (Philippians 2:15 NIV).

How do we know whether we really are a child of God, and love one another? “This is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God and do what he tells us.” (1 John 5:2 FBV).

So much to think of. But the whole idea of being God’s actual children should thrill and excite us.

I remember speaking at my children’s school. I decided to ask them to act out the story of the widow of Nain (found in Luke 7:11-17). One group were the funeral party, with the widow at the front mourning the loss of her only son. They were crying and sad. And the kids played their parts well. On the other side of the room were Jesus, his disciples, and a crowd of happy people. When the two groups met, the silence that fell felt absolutely natural. Then with the raising of the young man, all the kids started rejoicing as if they had actually seen him come back from the dead!

That’s the kind of happy thrill that should come from meeting Jesus. Knowing that we are truly God’s children should make us as happy as those unselfconscious schoolchildren.

Like God!

Now that we are God’s children, we participate in all that He has planned. For “we shall become like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2 FBV). In that most amazing statement there is a profound miracle. As Peter puts it, we become “partakers of the divine nature”! (see 2 Peter 1:4). Paul too: “We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from God...”  (2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV).

What an incredible concept! But if we are really God’s children, then we shouldn’t be surprised at what our loving Heavenly Father has in store for us. It is the likeness to God that should thrill us about heaven, not the streets of gold nor the angel’s wings—not even living forever.

Significantly, God is just reverting to the way His universe really runs. We should not be surprised that God will destroy the false illusion that we call reality, and replace it with “real reality”! For “We don’t know what we shall become in the future. We only know that, if reality were to break through, we should reflect his likeness, for we should see him as he really is!” (1 John 3:2 Phillips. My emphasis).

Seeing God as he really is—that’s what John defines as the transforming event! We don’t have to wait until the end to begin, either. As we seek out God, discover what He is really like, when we see Him as He actually is—then we too are changed, and remade in His likeness. Even now. I see many good friends of God who are truly His children in this way—ones who operate from the same set of principles as God, who try to reflect His ways to those around them.

No more sin

Of course, as John continues to say, God’s children must reflect God’s family, as I learnt in my flower-selling scam. If you truly are a child of God, then sin is alien to you. God and sin can never go together; no more can the child of God willingly and happily sin. “All those who are born of God don’t go on sinning,” (1 John 3:9 FBV).

For those who misunderstand God’s promises of acceptance as licence to sin, John is absolutely specific. “Whoever sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.... Anyone who doesn’t do what’s right is not of God, nor is anyone who doesn’t love their brother.” (1 John 3:8, 10 FBV). All too many Christians have fallen into the trap of thinking that because God is forgiveness personified, then it doesn’t really matter what you do or how you live. Some have even argued that it makes God’s graciousness that much greater—the “felix culpa” (“happy sin”) that leads God to demonstrate His wonderful goodness.

Paul also writes very strongly to counter such a dangerous error: “Shall we sin to our heart’s content and see how far we can exploit the grace of God? What a ghastly thought!” (Romans 6:1, 2 Phillips).

Note that neither Paul nor John is speaking about the sins of accident and circumstance, but rather the premeditated and deliberate attitude that “exploits” the grace of God. Such presumption on the forgiving nature of God can only lead to a carelessness that denies the fatal nature of sin.

On the other hand sin is not to be seen as just from the viewpoint of breaking the rules. The fact that we may keep the legal requirements does not make us good. I often tell the story about my mother’s chocolate cakes to make the point. She used to make these wonderful cakes, and then set them out on the windowsill to cool. I was always given strict instructions not to touch. But I would examine the cake, see if maybe a crumb had fallen off, look at ways of cutting a piece without my mother knowing. But of course I could never work out how to do it without getting caught. So when mother told me I was a good boy for not touching the cake, I had to own up and explain that if I could’ve taken a piece, I would’ve!

God wants to take us to a higher level than mere technical obedience. He wants us to explain as my mother did that it was for my best, and didn’t I know we were going to have cake for tea anyway? God seeks our agreement that His way is inherently and intrinsically right and true. God wants us to say with Him that right really is right, not just because He tells us it is. In the words of Rabindranath Tagore “God seeks comrades and claims love, the Devil seeks slaves and claims obedience.”

Dealing with lawlessness

The spirit God is having to deal with is not just one of rule-breaking. It is the attitude to God and the law that lies behind all of this—a spirit that is anti-law in the same way that the devil is anti-christ. John makes it clear when he says “Sin is lawlessness.” (1 John 3:4 FBV). A whole way of living, not just an occasional breaking of the regulations. A complete rejection of God as the source of the way, the truth and the life. A determined decision to live a live in rebellion, seeking your own way, which as God so clearly states, leads to destruction.

The reason God has to remove sin is not so much because of “holy horror” on His part. Rather it is because He knows that sin kills, and if we cling to our sinfulness, then we will die. It’s as simple as that, and God does not want to lose any of His children. Ultimately He gives us all the freedom of choice, but not before making the decision as clear as He can. If even then we chose to reject His love, His healing, His salvation, then He will allow it. There is no “universal salvation” here—God is so committed to our freedom that He will never force us to come to Him. But as we reap what we have sown, God will not be rejoicing. Rather He will be weeping over the loss of His beloved yet rebellious children.

God wishes more than anything else to be the one who takes away our sinfulness. That is the reason why Jesus came: “5You know that Jesus came to take away sins, and there’s no sin in him.” (1 John 3:5 FBV). On the cross Jesus, who was made to be sin who knew no sin (see 2 Corinthians 5:21), becomes our healing, life-giving Saviour. Thrown as it were into the depths of the sea, we no longer have to live with the guilt and pain of our sinful actions (see Micah 7:19). We are created anew, and we live again with God. So why should we ever want to go back to a life of sin? For if sin remains a dominant feature of our lifestyle, then the words of John condemn us: “Whoever lives in him doesn’t go on sinning; whoever keeps on sinning hasn’t seen him and hasn’t known him.” (1 John 3:6 FBV). Not as a threat, but as an appeal to come to Jesus and receive his healing forgiveness and salvation before it is too late.

In my youth I used to naively think that all we needed to do was tell everybody about God as revealed in Jesus, and all would wish to come to repentance. Sadly through bitter experience I discovered that most simply did not want to know. As you try to share with them what God has done, some will laugh, others will mock, but most will just turn away.
Just as those around him did not recognise Jesus for what he really was, we should not be surprised if the world does not know us either. If they do not know God, the ways of a Christian seems absurd to them. “The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” (1 John 3:1 NIV). In this John echoes the words of Jesus he recorded in his gospel: “If you had a worldly character, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not like that, and I invited you to leave the world behind, that’s why the world hates you.” (John 15:19 FBV).

You cannot have it both ways! Either you choose God, or you reject Him. We all are very much aware of sin in our individual lives.  What we must avoid is the readiness to believe we can be saved in sin rather saved from sin. Sin must always be viewed as horrifying and destructive; a sign that God’s grace must be sought again. What John condemns is the ongoing readiness to live the life of sin.

The attitude of lawlessness, the very character of the anti-christ, is to be exterminated in the life of the true child of God. Not by human effort, note, for this is the work of God. “That’s why the Son of God appeared—in order to destroy the devil’s works.” (1 John 3:8 FBV).

The worth that we place upon ourselves may not be great. Indeed, as we look in at ourselves, we may be discouraged. But this is not the measure—it is as God values us. The value placed on fallen humanity is found in the supreme sacrifice God has made, a sacrifice of Himself for the most mediocre of rebels. While of ourselves we are truly nothing, and have nothing to boast of, that does not mean we are nothing to God. God values each of His unique children. To do what He has done shows us how much we are ‘worth’ to Him.

At the cross Satan is revealed in all his spiteful wickedness. His lies are exposed before the whole universe. His work of deception and misrepresentation is destroyed.

Our part now is to live as true children of God who follow and agree with our Heavenly Father’s ways.

7. LOVE ONE ANOTHER

311This is the message you’ve heard from the beginning: we should love one another. 12We shouldn’t be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one, and murdered his brother. Why did he murder him? Because what Cain did was evil, while his brother did what was right. 13Don’t be surprised, my friends, if this world hates you!

14We know we have gone from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn’t love is still dead. 15Anyone who hates their brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in them! 16This is how we know what love is, because Jesus laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17If one of you has some possessions, and you see your brother in need, and refuse to show compassion—how can God’s love live in you? 18Dear friends, let’s not love with just words, not just in what we say, but also in what we do and how we demonstrate the truth. 19This is how we can know that we belong to the truth, and how we’ll be reassured in our hearts before God 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21Dear friends, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we can have confidence before God, 22and whatever we ask we’ll receive from him, because we observe his commands and do what pleases him. 23This is what he commands: that we should trust in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded. 24Everyone who keeps his commands lives in him, and he lives in them. This is how we know that he lives in us: by the Spirit that he gave us. 1 John 3:11-24.

The wedding symbol

Everybody loves a wedding. Why is that? What is it about weddings that is so appealing? Is it the service, the bride in white, the reception?

Isn’t it because a wedding illustrates an ideal of love and hope and commitment? However doubtful the marriage may seem, whatever misgivings others may have, the promises made in the ceremony rise above all such concerns. Why? Because we want the marriage to be happy and successful, we want to believe in endless love and eternal commitment, even though the evidence of some marriages point the other way!

The wedding is the great love symbol. As we watch the exchange of vows, as bride and groom look into each other eyes, as they kiss, we smile. We want them to be in love for ever, to find total and complete happiness in each other. We want, because we want the same for ourselves. And while we may always fall short of the ideal, we stretch out for it in hope.

For the wedding as a symbol of love-commitment is also a symbol of the ideal relationship with God. The promises made between man and woman before God illustrate the promises we want to share with God. The close and intimate marriage relationship is used in Scripture to illustrate the closeness and intimacy we need to have with God (see, for example, 1 Corinthians 6:17; Revelation 21).

If you’re married, reflect on your own wedding. What are the memories? Some humorous perhaps, some anxious moments, but hopefully a memory of a wonderful, beautiful day—whatever has happened since. If you’re not married, what of all the weddings you’ve been to? What were they to you? Even if there have been tragedies, divorces—even if you yourself are divorced—this does not change the beauty of the wedding, the taste of heaven on earth.

For this is the heart of John’s message: “This is the message you’ve heard from the beginning: we should love one another.” (1 John 3:11 FBV).

There’s a story that tells of John in his old age. He was so infirm that he had to be carried everywhere. As he was brought into the church at Ephesus, all he did was to repeat “Little children, love one another.” When he was asked why he kept repeating just this one command, he said “Because it is enough.”

While this story may or may not be factually correct, its intent is true. True, that is, when understood in the context of true Christian love, rather than some kind of vague “warm feeling of attraction” which is the normal use of the world “love” today.

What’s love got to do with it?

“What’s love got to do with it?” as one member once asked me. For him, the God-human relationship was one based not on love but the fulfilling of requirements. Rather like the difference between the love relationship of a marriage, and the marriage certificate. One is relational, the other is legal. To stress the legal aspect does not make the marriage work. In fact, when it descends to legal requirements, the marriage is virtually over. When the lawyers move in, and everything is down to contracts, then where is love? After all, if I go to my wife, waving our marriage certificate in her face and demanding she fulfils her obligations, how is she likely to respond?

In the same way that a marriage cannot be forced to work by the observance of legal requirements, neither can our relationship to God be governed by the Law. For while the Law is real and important, Love is the fulfilling of the Law.

Unfortunately a lot of nonsense is talked about love. It’s a second-hand emotion. It means not having to say you’re sorry. Love is blind. And all of that nice-sounding slush that has very little to do with the God of Love.

How do we sort out the true from the false? Check out the following “definitions” of love...

Love is:

A sickness full of woes. —Samuel Daniel
Desperate madness. —John Ford.
Sentimental measles. —Charles Kingsley.
A kind of warfare. —Ovid.
A grave mental disease. —Plato.
A mutual misunderstanding. —Oscar Wilde.
The drug which makes sexuality palatable in popular mythology. —Germaine Greer.
Sex to the last. —John Dryden.
Yesterday’s illusion, today’s allusion, and tomorrow’s delusion. —Warren Goldberg.
A game in which both players always cheat. —Edgar W. Howe.


How much do you understand about love from that list? That love is madness, a sickness, a sexual drug? That love is an illusion, a kind of cheating game, or at best just a total misunderstanding? How degraded is the view of love that most believe in! But that’s the way so many live their lives, with love as some dream-like feeling.

The reality is so different! Note these definitions from a Christian perspective:

Love is service rather than sentiment. —John R W Stott.
Love does not say, “Give me”, but “Let me give you.” —Jill Briscoe.
Love must love even when it gets nothing out of it. —Roger Forster.
Love is practical or it is not love at all. —P W Howard.
Christian love is not the victim of our emotions but the servant of our will. —John R W     Stott.
Love is not blind. Lust is blind. If love is blind, God is blind. —Gordon Palmer.
Nobody will know what you mean by saying “God is Love” unless you act it as well. —    Lawrence Pearsall Jacks.

The Bible is not inclined to define love in words, but to demonstrate love in action. But here are a few Biblical thoughts on love which show this principle to be far higher than the debased ideas of this world:

“Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.” Psalm 36:5     NIV.

“But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his     righteousness with their children’s children.” Psalm 103:17 NIV.

“Love covers over all wrongs.” Proverbs 10:12 NIV.

“In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed.” Exodus 15:13 NIV.

“...showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my     commandments.” Exodus 20:6 NIV.

“Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” Psalm 63:3 NIV.

“Love does no harm to its neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.” Romans     13:10 NIV.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” 1     Corinthians 13:4 NIV.

John himself has much to say about this divine love in his epistles:

“But those who follow what Jesus has said have God’s love fully working in them” 1 John 2:5 FBV.

“This is how we know what love is, because Jesus laid down his life for us 1 John 3:16 FBV.

“If we love one another then God lives in us, and his love is fulfilled in us 1 John 4:12 FBV.

“This is how love is fulfilled in us so that we can be confident on judgment day, because we’re just like him in this world.” 1 John 4:17 FBV.

The God who is love

Through our ability to love we most clearly reflect the image of God. And because God is love, He made us—for love wishes to have someone to love, someone to relate to. God made us to love and be loved, and when that capacity is hurt or destroyed, then we are that much less like God. This is why your ability to love and be loved is under so much attack, for the Evil One knows that this is the best way to pervert and misrepresent the God who is love.

To love is to give yourself, and to trust that your love will be accepted and returned. That’s why Erich Fromm defined love as “An act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.” In other words, loving makes you vulnerable, trusting the other person with your very self. As Fromm also said, “To love means to commit oneself without guarantee, to give oneself completely in the hope that our love will produce love in the loved person.”

So how does John explain how we know what love is? He spells it out, for all those who might want to confuse the issue: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” (1 John 3:16 NIV). Just that—and as simple as that! And what is the consequence? “And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

For those who looked down on other Christians as second-class citizens of the Kingdom, this is the ultimate rebuke. Those “Gnostics” who thought they were a spiritual elite, who thought themselves so much better than the rest, are told that what really matters is the willingness to die for those they looked down on!

John is so definite here. Again and again he makes plain his conviction that we are to love in actions and in the truth, not just words (see 1 John 3:18). Love certainly is more than talk, as Jesus made so clear on the Cross.

The trouble with Cain

Which is why John uses the illustration of Cain, which is directly relevant: “We shouldn’t be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one, and murdered his brother. Why did he murder him? Because what Cain did was evil, while his brother did what was right. (1 John 3:12 FBV).

Remember the story? Cain was the farmer, and decided he would give a gift of his produce to God. But he knew that this was not what God had asked for, but like so many today, he thought he knew better than God. For his “offering” destroyed the symbolism that God wanted to make so clear—that sin results in death. The sacrifice of Jesus which was to be demonstrated in the sacrificial system could not be seen in Cain’s offerings of farm produce. You can even see in Cain’s actions a self-reliant attitude, self-righteous and a reliance on works of righteousness.

This is why it’s recorded that the Lord “rejected Cain and his offering. Cain became furious and scowled in anger. Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why that scowl on your face? If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling; but because you have done evil, sin is crouching at your door. It wants to rule you, but you must overcome it.’” (Genesis 4:5-7 TEV).

From the account it’s clear that Cain knew exactly what he was doing, and that his attitude to God was one of rebellion and defiance. That is why God had to spell out so graphically that the very essence of sin is to reject God, and go your own way. This rejection of God led so quickly to sin’s inherent results—violence and murder!

John adds to this clear depiction of evil the chilling statement that “Anyone who hates their brother is a murderer,” (1 John 3:15 FBV). In other words, if we refuse to follow God’s way, and love each other, then we are in the same league as Cain. That frightening proposition should give us all pause for thought.

Reconciliation

My friend Fred tells this story to illustrate what can happen when we adopt the “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18 KJV).

He was working on an old gentleman’s house. Fred thought that he was certainly over 90. As they were talking one day, the man said, “Don’t look round now. My brother is going past, and I don’t speak to him. In fact I haven’t spoken to him for forty years.”

Fred was astounded, and suggested that since both men were late in life (“You both have one foot in the grave,” as he rather directly put it!), it was time for them to make up. Perhaps he could speak to his brother, or write him a letter.

“Well,” said the man, “If my brother wishes to speak to me or write to me, I would accept that. But I’m not going to be the first to act.”

But Fred suggested he should think about beginning the process.

A couple of days later, Fred was sitting in a cafe when the old man appeared and told him he had taken Fred’s advice. “In fact I can’t stop; I’m off to see my brother right now.” Fred wished him well, and told him he’d be praying for them both.

Later Fred learned that the two old brothers had met, and had spoken for the first time in forty years. They could not even remember the reason why they had fallen out with each other so many years ago!

And within a couple of months they both died. How tragic that forty years had been wasted, forty years that could have been spent in brotherly love! But at least before death they had been reconciled.

How much more we need to share our ministry of reconciliation, for it is an active demonstration of the way in which “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19 KJV).

For God’s love is the answer to the separation of sin — “Who can separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:35 NIV.) Jesus is God making it possible to come back to him. Jesus is the connection, the link, the bridge, the ladder, the way.

How? Because Jesus himself is God. “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” “I and the Father are One.” (John 14:9; John 10:30 NIV) God provides the way—it is Himself. For “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 KJV).

Have you ever had a fight? Got angry with someone? A family quarrel? A long-standing feud? Like those two brothers mentioned above?

We all get mad with someone sometime—and the bitterness may be great. Yet once it is over and gone, and the flash of anger has disappeared, then the process of getting back together must begin. It may take a long, long time. But a tremendous sense of love returns with a true reconciliation—the relationship is restored.

So is it with us and God. We are the party in the wrong. We are the guilty, the sinful, the evil natured. Yet because of His immeasurable goodness and love, and because He knows we can’t help ourselves, God takes the initiative and makes it possible for us to be with Him again.

Who does it all? God—not ourselves, not anybody else, but God. Read how He does this in 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19; Hebrews 2:17 and Colossians 1:19-22.

But what does this reconciliation mean? Where do you go from being reconciled? Do people, after a dispute, and after reconciliation, just say “goodbye” and leave it at that? Reconciliation implies a future process—a using of the reconciliation. John makes clear we need to put our reconciliation into action: “If one of you has some possessions, and you see your brother in need, and refuse to show compassion—how can God’s love live in you?” (1 John 3:17 FBV). We must take direct action and make sure God’s love for us is reflected in our love for our fellow human beings.

From death to life!

“We know we have gone from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters*. Anyone who doesn’t love is still dead.” (1 John 3:14 FBV).

Strange, isn’t it? We can know something, yet refuse to allow that fact to affect our lives. We can agree that something is right, yet refuse to do it. We can accept that a certain course of action will help us, yet not follow it.

This often happens in the area of health. We’re sick—and our doctor tells us that unless we change our habits, our diet, our way of life—then we will get worse, and maybe die. Strange that so many people see the sense in what their doctors tell them, yet don’t do as they’re told. Why not?

Because they’re lazy?
Because they just can’t be bothered?
Because it’s too much trouble?

A hundred answers to such a question. Whatever the reason, they don’t respond to the appeal; they fail to take the good advice.

Foolish, you say. If they only did as they were advised, think how much better off they would be. Think of the tremendous benefits. Think what they’re missing. It’s silly not to do something about it when you can!

What about us and God? We have already seen that we’re sick—in fact we’re told that we’re already dead! We need help desperately. And we’ve already seen that help is there, that Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to approach God, the very source of life itself.

God gives us a free gift on a plate—without money and without price. You’d think that everyone would be grabbing for it. But no. God has to appeal to us to accept his wonderful present. Can you imagine offering someone something of tremendous value, and then having to beg them to accept it? But that’s what God has to do with us.

God pleads

“Turn!” calls God. “Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11 NIV). Why do you want to die? God asks us. Why do you want to die rather than accept all that I have to offer?

Jesus pleads with all of us when he says: “O Jerusalem Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37 NIV).

In a vivid picture of God’s heartfelt appeal, God cries out: “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” (2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV). He asks us “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you?” (Micah 6:3 NIV).

God weeps over His people and asks us why we would rather die than accept His gift, why we find Him a burden, why will we not respond.

For despite the good news of salvation offered through Jesus Christ, the fact is that so few want to respond to God’s offer. In our rejection of His love we see the tearstained face of God.

Coming to God

We need to come to God. “Come to me,” says Jesus. “If you are thirsty, come to me and drink.” “Come unto the marriage,”  “come to the supper” (see Isaiah 55:1; Matthew 22:4; Luke 14:17).

Come to God, my friend, and accept His way for your life. Come to God. “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say. ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” (Revelation 22:17 NIV).

And should we feel unworthy, and our conscience seems to condemn us, remember that as we love, then we truly do belong to God:

“This is how we can know that we belong to the truth, and how we’ll be reassured in our hearts before God whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:19, 20 FBV). What an amazing God!

8. SPIRIT-TESTING

4 1Dear friends, don’t trust every spirit, but test the spirits to find out if they’re from God, because there are many false prophets at large in the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ came as a human being is from God; 3while every spirit that doesn’t acknowledge Jesus, that spirit isn’t from God—and is the spirit of the antichrist which you heard was coming, and is already in the world right now.

4You belong to God, my friends, and you have defeated them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5They belong to the world, so they speak like those of the world, and the world listens to them. 6We belong to God and whoever knows God listens to us, while whoever doesn’t belong to God doesn’t listen to us. This is how we can recognize what is the spirit of truth and what is the spirit of deception. 1 John 4:1-6.

Spiritual sense

Evelyn Glennie is one of the world best-known percussionists. From xylophones to glockenspiels to snare drums to cymbals, she is a multi-talented virtuoso. She plays more than two hundred instruments, and is always experimenting with more. She has the most amazing musical ability. But there’s one thing more you should know about Evelyn Glennie.

She is totally deaf.

Watching a TV documentary about this brilliant musician, I wondered how she did it! How could you be so sharp and expressive, and yet not be able to hear what you were playing?

She explained how. Her music teacher at school had made her place her hands against the wall, and then asked which of the two drums struck made which sound. Sure enough, Evelyn could tell them apart, because the vibrations she felt on the wall made different patterns on her hands. She could literally feel the sounds.

Developing this ability, she can describe what each instrument “feels” like in the vibrations her body detects. Deep round vibrations that swell out from the low notes. Sharp and brief vibrations from high notes, and so on. And using language that sounds strange, she describes the “vibration shape” of each instrument.

If you or I had been Evelyn Glennie, what would we have done? Said that with such a disability, music was a pointless exercise? Probably. But developing and extending a sense that most of us would ignore, she has become an example of how much can be done in music, even if you are deaf.

So what of the spiritual? We may say we cannot see spiritually. But in the same way that actual physical senses can be developed, we can develop our spiritual sensitivity. Only by repeated practice can we grow, but grow we must.

Test the Spirits

For we are fools if we are spiritually gullible—just believing whatever we’re told. Just because someone claims to be speaking for God does not make it true. “Dear friends, don’t trust every spirit, but test the spirits to find out if they’re from God, because there are many false prophets at large in the world.” (1 John 4:1 FBV).

John is dealing with those who are promoting the idea that Jesus was not truly human. They taught that Jesus was an “emanation” of God, or some kind of ghost—a Being who only “seemed” to take on human form. But John knew that to deny the humanity of Jesus was to strike at the root of the gospel. Jesus came like one of us, to live among us and to die at our hands—to show us truly who God really is. Jesus also did not use his divinity for his own advantage, but depended upon his Heavenly Father as we must too. More than this, to deny Christ’s humanity is to deny that he was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin (see Hebrews 4:15)

In discussing the nature of Christ, such extremes need to be combated. Here John is attacking those who deny the humanity of Christ. In his gospel, especially in the first chapter, he is attacking those who deny the divinity of Christ. Both errors destroy the gospel message of Jesus, fully God and fully man, who reveals in human form the character of God.

The problem is not really with those who are on the outside, attacking the church. The real danger comes from those within, who claim that they have the Spirit of God.

John has just said that “because of the Spirit that God has given us we know that God lives in union with us.” (1 John 3:24 TEV). But this same claim is made by dissident groups inside the church! So now John tackles this problem, making it clear that those who disagree with the historic message of Jesus cannot have the Spirit of God. If they deny Jesus came “in the flesh” they are wrong. They are also wrong if they dispute the truth as already preached: “We belong to God and whoever knows God listens to us, while whoever doesn’t belong to God doesn’t listen to us. This is how we can recognize what is the spirit of truth and what is the spirit of deception.” (1 John 4:6 FBV).

This last claim by John can sound arrogant—”we are from God” and you’d better listen to us, because we’re telling the truth! But John is not simply making a claim. His evidence is in these epistles he is writing, in his gospel too, and most importantly in all the teaching he’s done as an eye-witness of Jesus.

False prophets

Many false prophets weave truth into their system of error. Some sound very pious, and act with great religious zeal. It may sound very convincing to some when they claim “I have just received this message from God Himself.” But John says, even if they sound believable, and seem to be righteous, “test the spirits”!

I remember a colleague from the time when I worked in industry who confided in me one day that he had special revelations. I invited Martin round to our house to explain, and he arrived together with a number of “disciples,” all young women. He began from a seemingly Christian viewpoint, but as we talked it became clear that he was mixing in Eastern mysticism too. He spoke of the “eye of faith” that was needed in discovering truth, and that only those who discovered this “eye of faith” (under his direction!) could achieve salvation. In many ways Martin paralleled those that John was dealing with. They spoke of “special knowledge” and “secret revelations.” As the evening wore on, the ideas deviated from the Bible more and more. I kept on calling their attention back to biblical truth, and “testing the spirits,” “by the law and the testimony,” “by their fruits” and so on.

The conversation began to become quite heated, and then suddenly one of the girls burst out with a curse against the Bible. They did not want to hear their leader contradicted by the Bible, and so would rather damn Scripture than give up their belief in their guru.

At that, the situation became totally clear to me. Anyone who curses Scripture cannot have the truth, and I told them so. They soon left, even though I wanted to share more of the truth I knew. But those who have rejected the Bible as the source of truth about God are hard to help. “Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.” (1 John 4:3 NIV).

Foolish?

We are truly foolish if we accept as genuine any claim without investigation. We do not do this in the material world. Why then should we ignore God’s gift of mental ability when it comes to examining the truth or otherwise of matters in the spiritual realm?

Sometimes the idea is presented that it is “rationalism” to wish to look at the evidence and test the validity of what is put forward as “divine truth.” It is suggested that we should be “convicted” by the “warm feeling” that the truth is supposed to bring. Again the trouble is that there any number of religious beliefs which people claim give them “warm feelings” that they can be sure and certain of.

God does not wish us to base our belief and trust in Him on what we may be feeling, even though we must not leave our emotional reaction out of our faith. He even encourages us to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8 KJV)—to experiment and examine for ourselves the truth that He wishes to convey to us.

We are told to test God’s will—in fact to test everything:

“2Don’t follow the ways of this world; rather be changed as your mind is spiritually renewed so you can demonstrate God’s will: good, pleasing, and entirely complete.” (Romans 12:2 FBV). 

“Test everything. Hold on to the good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21 NIV).

We are also instructed to test ourselves—not to rely on what we may or may not feel, but to examine the evidence of Christian belief in our own lives:

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5 NIV). 
“Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else...” (Galatians 6:4 NIV). 

Like the Scripture-searchers in Berea who checked out what Paul had to say by reference to the Old Testament to make sure what he was presenting was true (see Acts 17:10, 11), we need to know the Bible so well that we can determine when any statement is made whether it is in agreement with the Bible or not. We need to be Bible-based believers!

Science

The true principles of science apply just as much in the way we approach spiritual truth as any other kind of truth. During my Chemistry degree I learned much about the scientific method, and when it is properly applied, it leads to a deeper understanding of what is really true. First you examine the available evidence. You do not come with your biased mind, but eager to discover what is true. You may then come up with a theory that fits the facts before you—a hypothesis if you like. Then you devise some kind of test or experiment which will aid you in determining whether your theory is correct of not.

Take our experiments with nitrogen tri-iodide!

Now we budding chemists had read of this substance. We had even some idea about how it should be made, which I will not reveal here, for reasons which will become obvious.

Our examination of the written evidence led us to believe that this chemical compound would be very unstable, as it is made up of two very different elements which normally exist independently. So we had our theory. Now we needed to test it.

So we mixed up various chemical solutions and sure enough we produced a purplish precipitate which could be filtered off. While it was still wet, it was fine, but our theory was proved absolutely true when it dried off.

I still remember that exciting moment when we touched a small sample of this purple powder. With a crackling bang it disappeared, and where there was once powder there was a purple cloud!

We had proved our theory true. And we continued our “tests” of this purple substance by coating door-knobs and desktops with a wet paste of nitrogen tri-iodide. I leave it to your imagination what the result was when the chemistry lecturer opened the door and went over to his desk...

When it comes to the Bible we are to compare Scripture with Scripture, we are to use our minds guided by the Holy Spirit, and we are to make sure we know why we believe. We need to evaluate the evidence, and test the claims.

The End

For as the End approaches, miraculous signs and wonders will be presented as “evidence” by the Great Deceiver. If we have allowed our minds to be swayed by marvels and the supposedly supernatural, we will be deluded. Any one of us who makes such miracles and apparent manifestations of the “Spirit” a test of faith will discover that Satan’s ability to counterfeit will lead us to believe in this plausible “Angel of Light”. We are warned against believing the claims of human beings and the miracles of even supposed angels. Especially when it comes to even an angelic representation of “another gospel”—another “version” of the truth, we should be alert to the alarm signal:

“But if even we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned.” (Galatians 1:9 NIV).

On TV this last week the claims of various “gurus” were investigated. All kinds of ideas were being put forward by these modern-day false prophets, mainly to gain money and followers! Some were chanting in eastern languages. Others had special wheels of devotion. Some even had hi-tech gadgets to determine “areas of wealth” inside people houses, with advice as a result on where to sleep and where to keep your wallet (as close as possible to your person, I would suggest!). People walking about with rods like water-diviners showing where the “lines of power” lay. Even counsel on Mother Earth and her fertility gifts...

The real tragedy was how many apparently sensible and rational people were more than ready to swallow such nonsense. Paganism is alive and well, and is being re-born often in a Christian disguise. The counsel to “test the spirits” is more important than ever!

Not just in the non-Christian world. Attending a Christian Booksellers’ Convention in the UK, I asked one Christian publisher what people were buying these days. I hoped the answer would be that people were buying the Bible, and good Bible-based books with deep spiritual insights. But his answer really shocked me: “What Christians are looking for is the spectacular, miraculous, fascinating, spellbinding. Feelings and amazing experiences are the thing.” How terribly pitiful that this is now the “majority vote” among Christians...

What John is giving is not new advice. Remember how ancient Israel was counselled by God:

“If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods you have not known) ‘and let us worship them,’ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer.” (Deuteronomy 13:1-3 NIV).

The sad fact is that this is what so many people, even in the religious world, do actually want. They want the signs and wonders, and almost demand them. But remember the words of Jesus in response to such demands:

“Then some of the religious teachers and Pharisees said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.” “Evil people who don’t trust in God look for a miraculous sign. No sign will be given to them except the sign of the prophet Jonah,” Jesus told them. (Matthew 12:38, 39 FBV, see also 1 Corinthians 1:22).

The false religions of the modern world fool people by appealing to their desire for the bizarre and the extraordinary. They confuse and amaze and deceive all at once, and when you suggest that you might want to investigate, they respond: “Don’t ask questions! You must take it all on faith!”

But this is not Biblical faith. For how does God act? Like Jesus on road to Emmaus. Jesus did not overwhelm the two disciples by authority, or by amazing signs, but convinced them by appealing to the truth of Scripture (see Luke 24:13ff).

Remember the warnings:

“For false Christs will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time.” (Matthew 24:24, 25 NIV).
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10 NIV).

The important question is not the fireworks and the wonder, but is it true?

We overcome, not by our own strength and power, but by having God and His truth. “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 4:4 NIV).

In our lives we are to reveal that Jesus—fully divine, fully human—is the source and result of our beliefs. Only then will we be proving that we are of the right spirit, only then will we have authority to speak the truth, only then will Jesus truly “live in us.” In this way not only we but others will be able to recognize the spirit of God (see 1 John 4:6).

A Christian friend of mine was intrigued about the beliefs of spiritualists. So he went along to a service at a spiritualist church, where the subject advertised was “Are the Dead Alive?” Added to this was the claim that absolute proof would be demonstrated in the service. Remembering what the Bible says about the state of the dead, my friend became a little nervous, and wondered whether he should stay.

Then as they stood for the opening hymn, he noticed that the piano was playing by itself. That was enough for him! He left, and didn’t stop to find out whether this was just a hoax, or whether some “spirit” was playing.

Knowing what the Bible says about such subjects should be enough for us not to put ourselves in such situations. If we cannot recognise the spirit of falsehood, then we are wide open to deception.
Test the spirits!

9. HOW GOD IS LOVE

47Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God, and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. 8Those who don’t love don’t know God, for God is love. 9This is how God’s love was revealed in us: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we could live through him. 10This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the reconciliation for our sins.

11Friends, if God loves us like this, we should love one another too. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another then God lives in us, and his love is fulfilled in us. 13This is how we know that we live in him, and he lives in us, because he’s given us of his Spirit.

14For we have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son as the Savior of the world. 15God lives in anyone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, and they live in God. 16We have experienced and trusted the love that God has in us. God is love, and whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God lives in them. 17This is how love is fulfilled in us so that we can be confident on judgment day, because we’re just like him in this world. 18There’s no fear in love, for perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears is not made complete in love. 19We love because he loved us first. 20If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he’s a liar—for anyone who doesn’t love their brother who they can see, can’t love God who they can’t see. 21This is the command he gave to us: anyone who loves God loves their brother too. 1 John 4:7-21 FBV.

Does not compute

I picked up my portable computer, ready to get busy. I smiled to myself, because I felt like I was really getting organized. Using today’s hi-tech tools, I was at the cutting edge of what’s happening in our modern world. Now for some serious high-profile research in the library. Look at all these poor people still working with pen and paper, I thought to myself.

Then I noticed. I choked off a scream just before it hit my vocal cords. I’d forgotten the power cord and the battery was dead!  How could I have done that? How frustratingly foolish can you get? I stared at the useless piece of equipment sitting dead and lifeless in front of me. I looked around, wondering who might be watching me, and noticing my stupidity. I closed up the computer and put it back in its case, trying to look nonchalant and unconcerned.

Inside I was angry and upset. How could I have done that? Moronic imbecile, dim-witted half-brained amoeba (I can think of many insults for myself!) Bringing a computer without a power cord! As useful as a car with an empty fuel tank or a flashlight with no batteries. No power!

Symbolic, even so. Like this world, so full of wonderful inventions, but lacking spiritual power. Even like those who say they belong to God and claim His empowering Spirit—but eventually denying the power thereof (see 2 Timothy 3:5). Like me, who despite all my theological training and church experience, am dead and lifeless without the power of God.

So it was back to basics. Even without my technological wonders, and my computer wizardry, I could still work. I smiled back at one puzzled student as I put my computer down beside me. Laughing at my own foolishness, I picked up my pen...

The power of love

The power of God is His incredible love. God and love are found together in fourteen of the verses of 1 John! What is the message we should be receiving from this?

I believe that John’s message stems from his own personal experience of standing at the foot of the Cross, looking up into the eyes of his dying Saviour. Of all the disciples, he was the only one there. Only the brave women were there with him! A sad comment on the loyalty and love of all the rest...

But as John saw Jesus demonstrate the love of God in the agony of crucifixion, as Jesus took upon himself the results of sin, as he died the sinner’s death, John saw. He saw what love really means, how salvation is accomplished, how we are reconciled to God. John recognized that “This is how God’s love was revealed in us: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we could live through him.” (1 John 4:9 FBV).

At one

The atonement is the heart of the gospel. Unfortunately the very word “atonement” in modern English can perhaps convey something other than the original intention. When we “atone” for something today, we generally mean that we are trying to make amends, to placate anger or soothe hostility.

I arrive late for work. My boss is upset and annoyed. I “atone” for my violation of office rules by promising to stay an extra hour in the evening. Such ideas of “atoning”—paying off an offence—are a far cry from the original meaning which was exactly as the word says, of becoming, making or being at one.

Christ’s atonement then is the “one-ing” of us back to God, or in better grammatical English, making us one, bringing us back into harmony, restoring unity and creating a union. All reflect the idea of removing separation and bringing two together.

Traditional theories of the atonement are unsatisfactory in some ways because they do not capture the reality of what Christ has done. Most are concerned with legality (how a righteous God can legally forgive and pardon sinners). Note that they are theories, for the Bible does not give us a defined theory of the atonement. Rather, Scripture tells us it has happened!

The famous theories of the past generally relate to the way in which society was structured at the time. Anselm’s understanding of the atonement reflects feudal concepts in which God’s offended honour is dealt with. The Reformers’ ideas were framed against the backdrop of the demands of an imposed law, with a new interest in the old Roman legal system. For many of the early church fathers, atonement theory comes out of ideas of bartering as if in an ancient Middle Eastern marketplace, and so on.

But with a view of the Great Controversy we have a special insight into what the atonement means and how it was accomplished. The real question is what went wrong. If we can understand the problems that sin caused in God’s universe, then we can see in the atonement God’s wonderful solution.

Though God’s law and government were called into question by Satan, the real argument was over the relationship between God and His created children. Was God trustworthy and loving, as He said? Was God righteous and truthful, or a cruel tyrant? How could this be determined?

When Adam and Eve sinned, the sin was more than the breaking of certain rules but the breaking of their intimate relationship with their Creator and Father. In making the atonement then, Jesus is not just working through the legal obligations, but seeking to restore the loving, trusting relationship that sin destroyed. Remember that as the Bible makes clear, it is not something in God that needs changing—it is us that need to be changed! God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. Nowhere does Scripture suggest that God needed to be reconciled. The offence, the problem, is not in God, but in us rebellious sinners.

Nor is the sacrifice of Jesus the means by which God is appeased, and persuaded to love us once again. On the contrary, as John says, it was because of the love of God that Christ came to be our salvation: “This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the reconciliation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10 FBV).

Divine love needed to be spelled out. As he looked back, Paul saw what God meant:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV).

A wonderful description of the love that comes from God that so rarely finds an echo in the way we love. On the contrary, human love is all too often the exact opposite: impatient, unkind, envious, boasting, proud, rude, self-seeking, angry... This kind of “love” does keep a record of wrongs and takes a perverse delight in evil and hates the truth...

Our human nature would like in some way to take the credit for some part of our salvation. Some even suggest that it is some kind of partnership: we love God, and He loves us, and that’s the way we are saved. The idea that we come to God of ourselves and give Him our love so that He can then love and save us is the very opposite of the truth.

Let us not make ourselves out to be “quite good people just needing a little fixing up.” Let us instead put ourselves into the hands of our loving Divine Physician and allow Him to cure us of all our sin-diseases.

The meaning of “God is Love”

1 John 4:7-21 is surely the most powerful passage in the Epistle. Here is the clear and direct declaration that God is love, and what such a declaration means to the Christian.

Love as defined by John is not some vague feeling of attraction or physical infatuation. Divine love is power, involving intellectual and moral strength. Rather than some kind of occasional impulse, divine love is constant, a principle that is based on the character of God Himself. This living principle is ours only as we have a connection with God, a true relationship with Him. As Jesus summed up the law, the very essence of our beliefs is love to God and love to our fellow human beings.

To truly know God is to love Him. The Devil may “know” God, but does not wish to have that deep and intimate and loving relationship with Him. As John says, “Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7 TEV).

Those John is writing to believed that all that was needed was a special knowledge of God, some “secrets of salvation.” In coming to this conclusion they also saw themselves as the “special ones,” and so excluded other Christians. Consequently they had no place in their religious scheme for love for others outside their special group. This is absolutely wrong, says John. “Those who don’t love don’t know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:8 FBV). To interpret a little here, John is essentially saying, “You may claim a special knowledge of God. You think that by what you know you are going to be saved. But this knowledge of yours is not helping you at all. For if you really did have a true knowledge of God, you would recognise that God is love, and that you must show this same kind of love to others.”

But before we see our love for God as something that earns us salvation, John is quick to point out what love really is: “This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.” (1 John 4:10 TEV).

Our love for God is created through God’s love for us. It is the response to God’s salvation, not the cause. As we accept this divine love, this principle of power, then our characters are changed, our passions are controlled, our sins are forgiven and we are healed. We can never achieve this by trying to love one another. All the trying in the world will not work unless we have love for God and allow Him to work in us, to will and to do (see Philippians 2:13). In fact when we are connected to God through love, then love comes from us spontaneously.

That is why we can love one another as Christians—because we have a common relationship to God. We are all part of the same family, and love each other as God has loved us (see 1 John 4:11).

Sadly, sometimes even happy families fall out of love with each other. Anger and hostility and bitterness can come in and replace the sweet spirit of love and joy. I remember one family that seemed to share together in all things, and the children always expressed love for each other as they grew up. The parents showed their love for their children and were kind and considerate.

Until the day the parents died in a tragic car accident. In their wills, the parents made provision for each of the children, who were now grown to adulthood. But when the wills were read, the children began to become angry and argue over who should get what. And to this day they are still hurting, hostile to one another.

This can happen in the church too. All too often the spirit of love is forgotten, as members argue over who should play the organ or who should arrange the flowers or who should sit where! I remember one church that was totally divided because of arguments over car parking places!

Silly, trivial, futile arguments. Yet we seem to fall into them so easily. That being true, we should ask ourselves why this happens. Isn’t it because the Devil wishes to use every method to destroy the church? Picking on these irritating aspects of our characters he has great success!

So let me ask you, as I have asked church members involved in such feuds, what do you want to keep you out of heaven? Is your seat in church so important to you? Your car parking place? That you should play the organ that particular week?

That you should win the argument with Mrs Jones over who has the most appropriate hat? That you should score points off Mr Brown in Bible discussions? That you should spread gossip about one of the erring teenagers who has fallen into some sin?

Love does not do this. Remember that love does not keep an account of wrongs, nor is it proud and selfish. Rather, “if we love one another then God lives in us, and his love is fulfilled in us.” (1 John 4:12 FBV).

What an amazing statement! God’s love is made perfect in us. We are the arena in which God reveals His love in the highest way, where He is shown to be truly the God of love. And if God’s love is made perfect in us, then what should happen?

John answers the question for us: “Love is made perfect in us in order that we may have courage on the Judgment Day; and we will have it because our life in this world is the same as Christ’s.” (1 John 4:17 TEV).

Love and fear

Are you fearful of the Judgment? Does the thought of facing the End fill you with terror? While we are not to bring the Judgment forward, and anticipate it before it happens, we need to be sure. Not of ourselves, but of where we are with God. We have assurance, as John says, because our life mirrors that of Christ. Only as we become more like Christ can we face the future. And that means Christ-like love must be ours. Why?

Because “There’s no fear in love, for perfect love drives out fear.” (1 John 4:18 FBV). We often read that text to mean that if we had perfect love, then we would not be fearful. But in the context, John is speaking about God’s perfect love. God’s love, when received, is what makes it possible to live without fear.

A while ago I wrote a book about fear, and how God ends our fear through His perfect love for us. This book has been translated into Russian, and a number of people from that tortured country have expressed their appreciation. But the most moving testimony to the wonderful gift of love that ends fear came from the former Yugoslavia. There a girl in the war zone read the book, and found peace and comfort in the God that ends our fears. Only God’s perfect love, demonstrated at Calvary, can end our fears.

Especially our fears about God! Perhaps our greatest fears have been about God, and what He will do to us unless we submit to Him. The first person to be feared on earth was God. Remember that Adam and Eve, after they had broken their relationship of trust, hid from God. Adam even admitted he was afraid of God (see Genesis 3:10). But as John goes on to say, “Perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears is not made complete in love” (1 John 4:18 FBV).

How can you love someone you fear? They are incompatible attitudes. I well remember one young woman who had been brought up to truly fear God telling me, “I know that God will get me in the end, but I could never love such a tyrant.”

No. The truth is that if we are afraid of God we cannot love Him. Most of our fear comes from misunderstandings about the Judgment. If it is true that God deliberately tortures people for their evil at the End, then how can you love Him? We have much to say about the real truth of God’s judgment! We must not avoid the terrible fact of the end-time destruction of the wicked; the fire that consumes is totally real. But it is the glory of Him who is love that destroys, not a punitive, vengeful pagan deity. God allows all their free choice. We all reap what we have sown, and the inherent self-destruction that is sin will finally come to all who have not accepted God’s healing salvation. But fear of hell cannot be a reason to come to love God. Rather only through seeing God as He truly is and responding to Him can we have a fearless future. “We love because he loved us first.” (1 John 4:19 FBV).

Love on the inside

And we are liars if we do not so love.

A member of a family who lives in direct opposition to the rest of that family is not “in” that family. A wolf cannot live in a sheep pen and be called a lamb. Similarly we can only be “in Christ” if we become like him.

Which is why he must be “in” us. For we cannot change ourselves to be like him. We cannot make ourselves into his nature. Christ himself has to change us by being in us. Our beliefs are the inside. Christianity is an “interior” religion. Christ does not try to change us from the outside by fixing our outward ways, our behaviour, our actions. He knows that these can only be effectively changed from the inside. It’s what’s on the inside that counts. And if Jesus is not there on the inside, then all the outward appearances and show will not take us anywhere. We find God only as He is invited in to be the power that directs our lives. Only as we identify with God and His truth will His power work within us to change us into His image.

Love: power to change

Electricity is called “live.” When a current passes through a wire it is considered “live.” Electricity is power. When it is used as the source of energy it can give heat and light, and power all types of machinery and equipment. You turn the switch and the radio is “on,” it’s “alive.” It hisses, it crackles, it speaks—just as if it were a living thing. You fit a battery to a child’s toy and it moves across the floor.  Just as if it were some live animal. Power to become “alive.”

“Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27 NIV) is the power of the God of love to save. Christ living in you is God’s electricity to make you truly alive, living for Him. “For me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21 KJV) is the connection with the source of this divine energy. Disconnection is death. Turned off, unable to function, worse than useless.

For without the power of God we are all “cut off”, useless. A tangle of wires and diodes, transistors, micro-circuits, capacitors and all the rest, a junk of a being that has no way of working on our own. Without the power of Jesus living in us then we are nothing. With Jesus, we are new creatures, working with him and in him because he is the directing source of power. Through Jesus, “we... are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV).

This is what Jesus does for us and in us. He prepares us for an eternity with him. Our sinful, fallen nature is being transformed into that glorious nature, the nature of God himself. We are being changed; and when the time comes for us to enter into the full presence of God at the return of Jesus, then we shall be changed (see 1 Corinthians 15:52). But the process begins now, as we want to be like Jesus.

10. VICTORY!

5 1Whoever trusts that Jesus is the Messiah is born of God, and whoever loves the father loves his child too. 2This is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God and do what he tells us. 3This is love for God—that we follow his commands, and his commands are not hard to bear. 4For all those who are born of God conquer the world. The way of gaining victory and defeating the world is our trust in God. 5Who defeats the world? Whoever trusts that Jesus is the Son of God. 6This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ. Not only by water, but by water and blood. The Spirit gives evidence about this, because the Spirit is the truth. 7For there are three that give evidence: 8the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree as one.

9If we accept the evidence that people give, then the evidence that God gives is much more significant, for the evidence God provides is his testimony about his Son. 10Everyone who trusts in the Son of God has this evidence within them. Whoever doesn’t trust God makes God out to be a liar, because he has not trusted in the evidence God has given concerning his Son. 11This is the evidence: God has given eternal life to us, and this life is in his Son. 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever doesn’t have the Son of God doesn’t have life. 1 John 5:1-12 FBV.

Obstinate horses

We were staying at the famous Kantishna Roadhouse at the end of the road through Alaska’s Denali National Park. We’d had the privilege of driving all the way through since we had reservations at the Roadhouse. We’d been amazed by the scenic beauty of Polychrome pass, entranced by the Arctic foxes playing at their den, thrilled by the close approach of a Grizzly.

Now as we ate supper, reflecting on this glorious day, we were asked if we’d like to take a horse-and-cart ride out to Wonder Lake.

As the evening fell, we huddled up in blankets at the back of the wagon. For even though this was late August, snow had fallen in the afternoon, and the scene was more like Christmas than summer vacation!

The two-horse team trotted slowly up the hill out of the old mining settlement. Somehow they seemed reluctant to be out in the snow, and didn’t make good time. As we crested the hill, one of the horses decided that was enough. To make his point he just fell over sideways and lay on the ground!

This tipped the cart, and we all jumped out in a hurry. Marvin, our leader got down and began arguing with the reluctant horse.

“C’mon boy, let’s get movin’. Can’t stay layin’ down here. Up you get. I said GET UP. Don’t be so foolish. I want you up on your feet right now!”

But old horse wasn’t having any of it. He was having his rest, and wasn’t going to move for anybody. So then Marvin started in with his whip, but with no result. Some of the ladies began to get upset, and were sure he was tormenting a poor horse who was about to die. Marvin reassured them that this was just one of the horse’s tricks. But whatever Marvin did, he couldn’t get the horse up. In the end he gave up, and sent for the van from the Roadhouse to take us back.

Next morning, we were all worried for the poor horse. The staff laughed, and said the horse was fine, and that he’d won another famous victory over the tourists! One of the stable-hands had gone up, and with a few quiet words, had the horse back on his feet, ready to trot back home again.

That made me think of the way we are too. Of how we are so often defeated—even by ourselves. We want to go in the right direction, we want to head towards the kingdom, but too often we fall down on the job. Our reluctant selves let us down on the way, frustrating us and making us appear foolish. Our bad habits, our sinful desires, our imperfect strength. Are we obstinate horses?

So what should we do? Argue with ourselves, whip ourselves into shape? Is that how to win the victory? How much success did Marvin have with that kind of approach?

Winning the victory

How do we win the victory? Is it through force of arms or strength of will? Is it by whipping ourselves into shape? Is it by might and power? Or is it through God’s gentle Spirit who changes us from rebellious and reluctant horses dragging along duty’s way to children running up the hill, eager to see their Heavenly Father? Which way will be victorious?

John tells us that we achieve victory through our faith. That may sound like it really is something we do in our own strength. As if we were saying, “If I have enough of that magic ingredient—faith—then I can be victorious.”

But think again. What exactly is this faith? Is it a special substance we can possess? No: faith is simply trusting in God. Now without that trust, there can be no success, but surely the victory, the power and the strength come from God. Trust by its very definition means looking to someone else for help! Only as we look to God can we have the victory. In the words of William A Ward: “God want us to be victors, not victims; to grow, not grovel; to soar, not sink; to overcome, not to be overwhelmed.”

Now our trust is essential—for without it God cannot help us. But don’t be fooled into thinking you have to fight in your own strength. We need more faith—but that just means trusting God more! So the more we rely on God, the less we rely on ourselves, the more sure is the victory. “The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy.” (Corrie Ten Boom). And who is the enemy? Is it primarily the Devil, or is it the temptation to self-reliance?

John makes the essential requirement of trust very plain, “Who defeats the world? Whoever trusts that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:5 FBV). Obviously this means more than mental belief—that the statement is true. As is frequently observed, even the devils believe—and tremble. But theirs is not a saving, transforming belief. Trust (faith) is that belief in action, a definite reaching out in confidence to the only One who can save.

The basis of victory is then to be fully committed to the Victor! “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever doesn’t have the Son of God doesn’t have life.” (1 John 5:12 FBV). John’s repeated term is to “live in” or “abide”—this is the essence of the Christian life. If we do not “live in union” with God, then we cannot truly live.

In union with God

We live in union with God if we keep the message we have heard from the beginning (1 John 2:24), by living like Jesus (2:5, 6), by obeying the Spirit’s teaching (2:27). If we live in union with God, then in turn God lives in union with us (3:24, 4:16), and the word of God lives in us (2:14).

Such ideas remind us of what Jesus said in his prayer recorded in John 17:

“May they all be in unity, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, so that they too may be in union with us so that the world may believe you did send me. The glory that you gave me I have given to them, so that they may be one together, just as we are one.  I am in them, and you are in me, in order that they may be completely united—so the whole world might understand that you did send me, and love them, just as you love me… I have revealed your character to them and continue to make it known so that the love you have for me might be in them, and I may live in them.” (John 17:21-23, 26 FBV).

God wants to be so intimately one with us that the only way He can express it is to be “in” each other! We find our life, our hope, and our victory only as we are “in” God.

So what of this “in”? In harmony with, in agreement with, in total acceptance of God’s way of being absolutely right. Reconciled, harmonized, reunited—that’s what God is speaking of and what He’s trying to achieve.

Jesus the Overcomer

The essential point is that we are on the winning side. We are not fighting some lonely battle. We are on God’s side, and we can identify with all those who fight together with Him. Should we doubt the outcome, Jesus has already proclaimed his ultimate and all-encompassing victory: “Have confidence—I have defeated the world.” (John 16:33 FBV).

We should doubt ourselves and our own powers. The key is not in us, but in the One who has already overcome. Christ is the Victor!

Have you noticed the many books that claim to be able to give you help in mastering a particular subject? “Brain Surgery Made Easy” or “How to Build a Space Station” or “101 Simple Steps to Inter-galactic Travel” or something! Such self-help books appeal to our desire for a “Do-It-Yourself” approach. But when it comes to our spiritual lives, such ideas can be problematic.

I was reading a devotional book that tried to give helpful suggestions about “How to Fight Temptation.” I suppose they were ideas most of us might agree with. But the more I thought of how they were presented, the more difficulties I noticed.

First suggestion: “You must pray about it.” Good advice, but sometimes not so easy. For if you are really being tempted, you may not particularly feel like praying, or you may forget totally anyway. As a sure-fire recipe for self-control, prayer can even be seen as a means by which we win the battle, even believing that reciting a prayer is some magic charm against temptation. If prayer is just a method for control, then this too can be a kind of salvation by works too. For we end up thinking we won the battle ourselves...

Second idea: “Don’t think about your temptation.” Have you ever deliberately tried not to think about the thing you’re thinking about?! In fact the more you become concerned about a certain temptation, the more you end up thinking about it. Try this for a moment. Whatever you do, don’t think about anything red for two minutes. Well, did you? No, of course not. As soon as I mentioned the word red, you were seeing red! You can reshape your thoughts, but not by making your temptation the point of what you’re not thinking about.

Third recommendation: “Just do what you can, God will do the rest.” A kind of subsidised religious experience. Maybe you manage ten or twenty or thirty percent. Then God makes it up to one hundred percent. I even remember a theology lecturer drawing such a graph to illustrate the point. God waits for you to do what you can on your own, and then He kicks in with His contribution when we give up. Again this makes us reliant on ourselves to some degree, and I suppose the suggestion is that the more we can accomplish on our own, the better. But this is not Biblical!

Fourth suggestion: “You must try harder.” Yes, OK. We all know that. But what happens when you keep on trying and failing? Either you give up and walk away from it all, convinced you can never succeed—or you become short-sighted and don’t see your sins any more. As one pastor reminded me the other day, “The best thing about banging your head against a brick wall is when you stop!”

In all of these suggestions I see the danger of self-reliance. Yes we must want to change. Yes we must accept God’s healing salvation. Yes we must do all we can to make sure we choose good over evil. But eventually the question of ability, power and success is with God, not with us. Otherwise we are appealing to our own will-power and determination, not the indwelling, converting power of Christ.

Let us leave the “How to” ideas to the area of self-help. The message of Scripture is that we cannot help ourselves. Only God can save us from our sinful selves. Listen:

“In all of this we’re more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37 FBV). How are we conquerors? Not in our own strength but through him who loved us. That’s where the source of victory lies.

“You belong to God, my friends, and you have defeated them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4 FBV). How do we overcome? By what we are? By the spiritual power we have generated? No: because the one who is in you is greater.

“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57 NIV). How does victory come? Not by our ability and power, it is given. And by whom does it come? Through our Lord Jesus Christ.

For otherwise, what does it mean when we read “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20 NIV)?

Again and again this is the message of the Bible. So why do we want to turn our salvation into a “Do-It-Yourself” project? Our victory is due to our wanting to maintain contact with God, to ensure that our relationship with God is such so that He can truly win the battles.

For in all aspects of victory over temptation, go to God, and “2Don’t be defeated by evil, but conquer evil with good.” (Romans 12:21 FBV). We do not remove evil by concentrating on it. Rather, we crowd it out by concentrating on the good.

Remember God’s word to his people in olden times: “For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” (Deuteronomy 20:4 NIV).

In those (seemingly rare) times when Israel looked back and saw that they were not responsible for their successes, then they could give praise where it was due: “It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.” (Psalm 44:3 NIV).

The ultimate assurance is that “He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” (Revelation 21:7 NIV). And remember that we can only be overcomers if God is our God first!

Christ’s baptism began his specific ministry, and so he came “by water.” He also showed through this symbol the way God operates. Although Christ did not need to be baptized as a symbol of repentance from sin, he still went ahead “to fulfil all righteousness.” As a demonstration of God in human form, Jesus reveals his graciousness and his identification with us. Some among those John is writing to denied that God was present in Jesus on the Cross. They suggested that divinity came upon Jesus at his baptism, and then left before his death. So John writes:

“This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ. Not only by water, but by water and blood.(1 John 5:6 FBV).

Jesus, through his baptism shows us the way, and reveals God’s salvation to us.

But not only that. He did not just come to show us salvation. He came to be our salvation. Christ was not only an example, but Saviour! So to limit Christ to the events of his ministry after baptism “by water” and to exclude his death and resurrection is to miss the whole point. He also came “by blood”—and on the Cross we truly see Christ as God. To say that Christ was on the Cross as only the man Jesus is the heresy that John is so emphatically condemning. For if we do not see God in Christ on the Cross, then we cannot see the meaning of salvation, the truth about God, the evidence that sin kills, the lies of the Devil—and all the rest of the answers that the Cross provides in all the issues of the Great Controversy.

So what are the three witnesses that John describes (see 1 John 5:7, 8)?

The Spirit testifies of God in Christ: “But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26 NIV).

The water testifies of God in Christ: “...Jesus was baptised too.... And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’“ (Luke 3:21, 22 NIV).

The blood testifies of God in Christ: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things... by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:19 NIV).

As a consequence, “This is the evidence: God has given eternal life to us, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever doesn’t have the Son of God doesn’t have life. (1 John 5:11, 12 FBV). It really is as simple as that!

When the glass shatters

I think I’d been reading some story about pirates or something. Anyway, I convinced my younger sister that we should set sail, and use my mother’s vanity as our ship. A beautiful piece of furniture, with large drawers, and three mirrors where I remember Mum brushing her auburn hair with a long-handled brush. But that meant nothing to us. Its main advantage was that we could pull out the drawers, and sleep in them, pretending we were in bunk beds aboard our sailing schooner.

So we dragged out all my mother’s things and set them on her bed. Then we were off into our fantasy world, like Peter Pan and Wendy. We sailed the high seas, and the glass top looked just like the ocean, while the three mirrors helped us keep a watch for Spanish galleons laden with treasure.

After capturing several great prizes single-handed, we decided it was time to take a rest in our “bunks.” We settled down in the top two drawers. But as I climbed in, the combined weight of two children in the drawers toppled the unit and it crashed down on top of us. The glass surface smashed into tiny pieces on our heads, while all around tinkled the shards of broken mirror.

We were paralysed. Horror-struck, we just looked at what we’d done. Which was just as well, because if we’d moved we would have cut ourselves very badly.

In moments Mum and Dad were on the scene. “Just stay there. Don’t move!” Dad shouted, and ran off to fetch the vacuum cleaner. Very carefully they worked around us, cleaning up the sharp fragments of glass and mirror, saying nothing. Then Dad vacuumed both of us, all over. Clean and free from the danger of injury, he picked us out, and hugged us before taking us out to our own bedrooms.

After the routine questions “What on earth were you doing?” we were just admonished not to try that again. We didn’t, and I think Dad repaired the unit. But as I think back to that moment of truth, lying there covered in sharp spikes of glass, I think of us and God.

We dare not move, it seems. Evil and danger are all around. As we try to help, all we do is injure ourselves and others. We just need God to come in and rescue us from our dangerous situation, to remove the sharps of sin and to make us safe and secure. That eternal life that John speaks of begins now with what God does for us, and if we have the rescuing, healing Son, we have life!

11. TOTAL CONFIDENCE


5 13I’m writing about this so that you can be sure you have eternal life, those of you who trust in the name of the Son of God. 14We can have confidence in him that as long as we ask in accordance with his will, he will listen to us. 15If we know that he listens to our requests, we can be sure that we will receive what we’ve asked him for. 16If anyone sees their brother or sister committing a sin that is not a deathly sin, they should pray and God will grant life to this person who sins. (But not for a deathly sin. There’s a sin that is deathly. I’m not saying people should pray about that. 17Everything that is not right is sin, yet there’s sin that isn’t deathly).

18We recognize that whoever is born of God doesn’t keep on sinning. Those who are born of God are careful what they do, and the evil one doesn’t have a hold over them. 19We’re sure that we belong to God, and that the world is under the power of the evil one. 20We’re also sure that the Son of God has come, and has helped us to understand so we can recognize the one who is true—and we live in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this is eternal life. 21Dear friends, stay away from worshiping idols. 1 John 5:13-21 FBV.

Confidence?

Tired but happy, we boarded the little fishing boat for our trip home. We had been out bird-watching all day on the Shetland island of Hascosay. Now back on the larger island of Unst, we were taking our trip back “home” to our base on Yell.

The swell was moderate, but somehow comforting as we headed south. Lulled by the rocking of the boat, I fell asleep with dreams of the day to come.

I awoke with the boat still rocking, but without the comforting “putt-putt” of the diesel engine.

“What’s going on?” I asked anxiously.

“Dunno. Engine’s quit,” came the comforting reply.

I went over to take a look. Our skipper, first mate, deckhand and mechanic was there by himself, up to the elbows in engine oil.

“What seems to be the problem?” I enquired, rather medically.

“Busted.” Without looking up he got on with the job.

I felt like screaming. My confidence was totally shattered. Here we were, drifting aimlessly on the high seas, in some of the most treacherous waters off the Scottish coast. Shoals, reefs, jagged rocks—we’d seen them all. Now we were helpless, and at any moment I thought I’d hear the smashing of timber on rock and the cry, “Abandon ship!”

How could he take it so lightly?

“Um. Ever happened before?” My nervousness was showing, I was sure.

“Och, yes. This little lady is something temperamental, and that’s for sure.”

“Where are we?” I felt foolish asking, but if we were about to be shipwrecked, I for one wanted to know.

“Well we’d be ’bout three miles off Deadmen’s Rocks.”

Argh! Deadmen’s Rocks. We were all going to drown. I could feel the panic rising. Which way were we drifting? Towards those rocks, for certain.

“Shouldn’t we radio for help?”

He stopped and looked up at me. “And how would we do that without a radio?”

The reality of the situation overwhelmed me. Drifting, lost at sea, with no radio or radar. We were doomed!

I went and sat down, making out my last will and testament in my head.

Moments later the reluctant engine chugged into life again, and we were on our way. Suddenly the whole scene changed. Confidence returned like a rush of adrenalin.

No longer was the sea full of menacing death but alive with sparkling spray. No longer was the night brooding and oppressive, but open and full of shining stars. No longer anticipating my End, I was Re-born.

Our very lives are changed by our circumstances and our beliefs. With God, whatever the situation, we have eternal hope. Without Him, there is only the dark sea of everlasting death. It is God who transforms us, and changes who we are into what we can be—with God. God alone is our confidence.

And as we cruised home in a sheet of white spray, I was dreaming of sailing home to God.

Despair and confidence

So many in the world today are adrift on a vast ocean of despair... Lost alone, without any hope, without any confidence that life will even continue, let alone that it will be good...

But John’s words to his readers should inspire us too: “we can have confidence before God,” (1 John 3:21 FBV):

“Now, my dear friends, live in him, so that when he appears, we can be confident and not ashamed before him at his coming.” (1 John 2:28 FBV).

“We have experienced and trusted the love that God has in us. God is love, and whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God lives in them. This is how love is fulfilled in us so that we can be confident on judgment day, because we’re just like him in this world.” (1 John 5:16, 17 FBV).

John points to the reasons for being confident in God. We of course cannot expect to experience confidence in God if we refuse to follow Him and His righteous commands (which as we have seen before are not really commands—rather the outworking of true love and respect for God). If this is so then our prayers will follow such ideas, and will fall into line with the plans and purposes of God. We need to continue in Him, so that as we ask in accordance with His will, He will give us anything we ask!

The key to prayer

The key to understanding prayer is to see it as a communication with God as our Friend, and to talk to Him not just about your particular needs, but about all aspects of your life. It is in this sense that we are to “pray without ceasing”—maintaining that communication with God always.

Prayer is for us, and most of all so we can “receive God”—to put into practice in our daily lives all the principles and aims of God.

Too often we pray for what we want, not what God wants. And so while God does always hear, He does not always respond exactly as we expect. And this is also something to thank God for.

We must not neglect to pray, however. Even though we know God knows all our needs, even though He is aware of all our situations, even though we cannot tell Him anything He doesn’t already know—He wants us to express ourselves in our own way to Him. For prayer is truly not for God, but for us!

We often pray for safety and protection. Is this always guaranteed? I ask this question because some church friends of mine died recently in a car crash. Another member tried to make sense of this by saying, “They probably forgot to ask for travelling mercies before they left.” Is God this fickle? Does he allow things to happen just because of some such “mistake”?

We can refer to many promises God has made to take care of His children. But there is never the promise that this will be totally guaranteed. The religious leaders in Jesus’ time made this kind of mistake—seeing prosperity as a gift of God, while suffering and poverty were God’s punishment. I know of too many good Christians who have had painful deaths, or who have experienced family tragedies, or who have seen their lives wrecked to believe in a universal blanket of protection. What we can say is that if we should walk the rugged pathways then God is still there. And remember that we are safe in the Lord (see 1 John 5:18), and that this life is only temporary, imperfect. We look for a city whose builder and maker is God (see Hebrews 11:10).

Even when we are angry, we should still pray. God never rejects those who speak with Him, even though they may not always pray in the most appropriate way. Perhaps the best prayers are those that come from the honest heart—like the publican who prayed “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

Nor should prayer be prevented by the idea that we are too sinful to come to God. This is one of the Devil’s best weapons—to make us feel too unworthy to even speak to our loving Heavenly Father.

I have had too many members come to me as their pastor believing they have committed the unpardonable sin. However, the fact that they are so convicted of wrong and are so concerned shows that the Holy Spirit is still working on their hearts. The danger is not in a sin that God refuses to forgive but in the sin we choose not to ask forgiveness for. We need to pray together, and bear one another’s burdens (see Galatians 6:2)

That’s why John advises: “if anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life.” (1 John 5:16 NIV).

When God eventually gives up on those who refuse His offer of grace and mercy and allows them to go their own way, this is because they have become so inured to the pleadings of the Spirit that they have forever rejected them. Everyone comes to the time when probation closes—and God can declare for all eternity their chosen destiny. This is the “sin that leads to death” that John refers to (see 1 John 5:16).

The final death of the wicked is the result of their own choice. Sin inevitably ends in this disastrous result if we continually choose this route. If we finally and conclusively reject God, then there is nothing more He can do for us.

But John is quick to counter the idea that all sin leads relentlessly to death. Remembering that there is an “antidote” to sin, John writes that “there is a sin that does not lead to death.” (1 John 5:17 NIV). Following what he has already written, (see 1 John 2:1, 2; 3:5), it’s clear that this “kind of sin” is the sin that has been repented of and has been forgiven. We cannot use this text to excuse sin in our lives, assuming that this particular sin we have is one that does not lead to death!

The truth is that “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin...” (1 John 5:18 NIV). So, can we only be assured of salvation by making ourselves good?

Good?

I was visiting my nephews when they were young and saw something there that made me think. I was watching Alex’s hamster in his cage. Now I don’t particularly like animals in cages, but that’s not my main point. For though he had little freedom to run around, he did have one of those treadmills that spin round and round as the hamster runs inside it. And this is what the hamster was doing—racing along on his wheel.

And that was what brought me there in the first place. The wheel was squeaking, and I wondered what it was—squeak, squeak, squeak in the late evening. The hamster was racing along for all he was worth, taking the occasional break, and then back to work spinning the wheel faster and faster. He was trying so very hard—I’ve never seen an animal so determined!

Then I thought of us locked up in the cages of our lives, our sinful ways, this sad old earth, desperately making our wheels spin, trying so very hard. And we do try, don’t we? We try to do what God wants. We try to do as the church says. We try to be good.

We spin wheels and burn rubber and break our backs to show God how much we’re trying. “Lord, look. Look and see how hard I’m trying to be good. And I know that if I’m good, then you’ll be good to me. I’m really trying, Lord. Really. And I’ll do anything you ask. Because I want to be good. I want to be good.” And we think that if we can impress God by our goodness then He’ll accept us.

Is God like that? Will He only respond if we’re good to start with? Does He demand that we rush around full of good works before He loves us? Is He watching us like hamsters in cages, measuring how fast we go?

Do you have to be good first before you can go to God?

Although we say, “No”, we often think so. We tell our children: “If you’re good, you’ll go to heaven. “If you’re good God will help you. “If you’re good, God will love you.”

Which means that if we’re not good, then God doesn’t help us and He doesn’t love us and He won’t save us. Right? Dangerous reasoning!

How many times have I heard people say: “God can’t love me after what I’ve done.” or “I’m not worthy of God’s attention” or “How can I go to God when I’m like this?” So we put up barriers between us and God, and say to ourselves, I can only go to God when I’m good.

But we have it all wrong. What did Jesus say?

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31, 32 NIV). Jesus was interested in those who considered themselves sinners. Those who considered themselves righteous, he couldn’t call to repent. As he said, only sick people go to see the doctor. Healthy people have no need of a doctor.

And maybe Jesus meant more than that. Looking at the self-righteous Pharisees as he spoke, he saw the wickedness in their hearts, and shook his head. For until we realise that we are all bad, how can God help? Those who think themselves well, said Jesus, will never go to the doctor—even though they may be in desperate need.

How many times have you heard stories of people who thought they were perfectly fit and healthy, and then have suddenly died? They did not know their need. And often, if they had gone to the doctor, their illness could have been treated. Does that say something to you about how we should go to God? Our confidence cannot be in ourselves, but only in God.

Jesus also had something to say about goodness among people. A man came to Jesus and asked him, “Good master, what good thing shall I do to get eternal life?” Jesus replies: “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only One who is good.” (Matthew 19:16, 17 NIV).

This “rich young ruler” as we call him had already shown his misunderstanding through his question. He thought you had to be good first.

He already assumed that the message Jesus was giving was the same as common beliefs—that God can only work with good people. He was looking to make himself right with God first by being good.

So Jesus makes him think. The man had called Jesus “Good Master”. Obviously he saw Jesus in a special way. He saw Jesus’ evident goodness. But Jesus wants no compliments. He wants this young man to see that all are bad. Only if this man admits that Jesus is divine can he call him good, for, says Jesus, only God is good.

Quite a point: either you say that I’m God, or you’re mistaken. Either you say that no one is good, or you’re mistaken. Jesus throws a spanner in the works of every “good” man’s thinking. His message in the words that follow indicate Jesus’ basic premise: nobody’s good, you can’t get to God by being good first.

And in the end, when Jesus asked him to give up all his possessions, he still misunderstood. He thought Jesus wanted him to sell everything so that he might be considered good. Not at all. Jesus wanted him to sell everything so that there would be nothing in the way of God making him good.

He had to see himself as just the same as all the tax-gatherers and whores and thieves—all the low people of society. He was in the same situation before God; he had just the same need. But his money and position prevented him from going to God as he should—a sinner needing salvation.

He would only go as a good man making a bargain with God. I’m good, I give to the poor, I keep all the commandments, therefore you have to reward me!

And many of us do the same. We say “God, look at me. Look at all I do for you. I’m good. I’m rich and increased of goods, and have need of nothing” And God says, “Don’t you know that you’re poor and blind and naked.” For that is how we all stand before God — whether we think ourselves good or not. For despite all our good works, all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

So Jesus says to you, as he did to that young man, “You’re not good. Only one is good. Only God is good.” We cannot make ourselves good. So we can only go to God as we are. As the song says, “Just as I am, without one plea — I come”.

God does not look at our so-called goodness. He just accepts us as we are—as they said about Oliver Cromwell, “Warts and all!”

Don’t let the Evil One fool you. Nothing you have done can stop you going to God. You can never say “I’m not good enough.” For God doesn’t want your goodness. He wants to make you good!

For that is the Gospel—quite literally, the good news.

The good news that Jesus came and died for you.
The good news that he offers his love and salvation to you.
The good news that he can do something for you—he can make you good.

How often we deceive ourselves! We either look to our own good works and see them as justifying ourselves before God. Or we see our sinfulness so strongly that we feel we cannot come to God.

I knew a man who felt good. He was fully confident that God would have to bless him, because he had so much faith, he did so many good things. His confidence deceived some; they truly believed that here was someone who was fully right with God. But he had blinded himself to his own faults, and the good things that he did were only directed to impressing others, and impressing God.

And in the end ... well, who knows? God is the judge, not you or me, but one thing I am absolutely sure of. All that man’s good works were nothing in the presence of the goodness of God.

I knew another man who felt bad. He knew he had wandered so far away from God, he had done so many terrible things, that he said, “God can never forgive me. I’ve been bad for so long that I’m sure I’m too wicked to be able to go to God.” And he wondered whether he had committed the unpardonable sin. He came to church, but rarely entered, because as he said, “I’m too evil to go into God’s holy house”.

Both men were caught in the trap of believing they had to be good before God could accept them. And even though we may know differently, we too think that way at times. If we do good, we should not take the credit for ourselves. For it simply is the result of God’s working in us. “Whoever does good belongs to God.” 3 John 11 FBV).

The only safety is in being humble friends of God. John’s conclusion surely cannot be improved on:

“We’re sure that we belong to God, and that the world is under the power of the evil one. We’re also sure that the Son of God has come, and has helped us to understand so we can recognize the one who is true—and we live in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this is eternal life.” (1 John 5:19, 20 FBV).

May we be confident in Him!

12. DON’T LOSE OUT!

1From the elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not just me, but everyone who knows the truth, 2 because of the truth that lives in us and will be with us forever. 3Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

4I was so happy to find some of your children following the truth, just as the Father instructed us. 5Now I’m asking you, dear lady, (though not as a new instruction, but following what we’ve understood from the beginning), that we love one another. 6Love is this: we should live as God tells us to. That’s the command, just as you’ve heard from the beginning, that you should live in love.

7I write this because many deceptive people have gone out into the world. These are the ones that don’t accept that Jesus Christ has come as a human being. Anyone like this is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8Make sure you don’t lose what we’ve worked for, and that you get all you should receive.

9Those who go too far and don’t continue in Christ’s teachings don’t have God, while those who continue in the teaching have both the Father and the Son. 10If people come to you and don’t show evidence of this teaching, don’t take them in, don’t welcome them—11for if you welcome them you share in their evil work.

12I have so many things to say to you that I won’t write any more with paper and ink, because I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face. How happy that would make us! 13Greetings from the children of your chosen sister. 2 John FBV.

Children, our Father, and being Lost

I sit and watch my children play. Laughing, shouting, giggling they play in the garden, splashing in the paddling pool, whizzing down the slide, soaring high on the swing. Without a care in the world they live their little lives to the full, busy until bedtime.

So what of me, the one they call Daddy? As their father, I watch over them. Take care of the cuts and bruises that come as part of life, and yes, deal with the odd argument that flares up between them. Feed them, care for them, protect them—all this and more, for I look and see lives just beginning. Here are individuals who need to learn as they grow, for they will not always be children. Children have the opportunity to play, to experiment, to be childish even. We don’t expect total maturity in children. So my role is to give them the freedom they need, and yet also direct them in the way they should go, helping them to make the right decisions.

Father: the image God uses for the relationship between us and Him. We are His children, and as a loving Father He cares and watches over us. But He too knows we will not be immature forever. We too are growing, and need to learn for ourselves. While there is always that relationship of being someone’s child (and we are always God’s children—for all eternity), in this life we are growing and preparing for an adulthood in heaven.

Which is why to be called God’s children is so wonderful!

God leads us, teaches us to walk, and takes us in His arms. He is the one who we look up to, who shows us what is best, who wants to save and heal us from our sinsickness. He pleads with us to come to Him, and even if we should refuse and break His heart, He does not abandon us:

“When Israel was a child, I loved him and called him out of Egypt as my son. But the more I called to him, the more he turned away from me... I was the one who taught Israel to walk. I took my people up in my arms, but they did not acknowledge that I took care of them. I drew them to me with affection and love. I picked them up and held them to my cheek; I bent down to them and fed them.... How can I give you up, Israel? How can I abandon you?... My heart will not let me do it! My love for you is too strong. I will not punish you in my anger; I will not destroy Israel again. For I am God and not man. I, the Holy One, am with you. I will not come to you in anger.” (Hosea 11:1-9 TEV).

Powerful, moving, emotional words from our loving Father, who only wants what is for our good. Yet time and again we turn away as rebellious children, leaving Him behind us and rejecting all He wants to offer us.

Yet He still calls out to us, as a Father seeking His lost children.

Anyone who has “misplaced” a child knows the agony and heartache that immediately hits. My son Paul was on a shopping trip with us when he was small—just a toddler. In a clothing store we spent some time working out just what we could and could not afford! Turning round to leave, we found Paul had disappeared. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.

We started searching around, trying not to be too obvious at first. But then panic began to take over and we moved faster, calling out, “Paul, Paul!”

But nothing.

I ran to the door and looked down the street.

Nothing.

The sales assistants started looking. What did he look like? What was he wearing? Had he ever done this before? I began to feel like an unfit father. Ana was really upset by now, desperately anxious.

Trying to remain calm, I searched the whole floor area again. Of course, I was praying like mad. I went back to our original position, and tried to think. What would he have done? Where would he have gone? Because he was normally so obedient and never had run off before.

As I stood there, emotionally wrecked, a little face peeked out from one of the clothing rails, and said, “OK Daddy. Found me.”

Paul had decided we were playing hide-and-seek! He had no idea of all the pain and anguish he’d caused, or that we were about to call the police. He seemed rather overwhelmed with the hugs and kisses that he received, for he had only been playing a game!

Any spiritual lessons here? Many!

1. We don’t know the dangers that are around us, spiritually speaking.

2. We may not even know we’re lost.

3. For some, we’re just playing a game.

4. Our Father is just as anxious for us to respond to His call.

5. We pray about what we really care about.

6. Only when we realise our situation can God save us.

7. The whole of heaven is out looking, wanting to save the lost.

8. God overlooks our foolishness, and willingly welcomes us back.

And so on—think of others for yourself.

Family

The atmosphere and language of 2 John is family. Even the church John is writing to is identified as “the chosen lady and her children” (2 John 1 NIV). God is identified as Father, Jesus as Son. And John remarks, “How happy I was to find that some of your children live in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.” (2 John 4 TEV).

In this we’re reminded of that continuing theme of “children of God” that runs through John’s previous letter. And his concern in writing this brief letter is similar to that of 1 John. He wants to make sure that none of these precious children of God are lead astray by deceitful impostors who are truly the enemy of Christ (see 2 John 7). Most of all, he is concerned that no one loses out.

Losing out

My friend Dan always feels he’s losing out. Like most of us are sometimes, except worse! The kind of person who asks, “If life is a bowl of cherries, why am I always in the pits?”!

He never fails to have a story to back up his view that life has something against him. “Born to lose” he says sadly, as he recounts the latest incident that confirms his attitude.

“Missed the bus by five minutes.”

“Lost out again. The girl I wanted to take out is going with someone else. Least that’s what     she says.”

“They were picking people for the basketball team today. Didn’t get picked.”

“Missed passing by one mark. Can you believe my luck? Why is it I’m such a failure?”

Even in his hobbies. Going out birdwatching, chasing rare birds, he never seems to have any success. “I think I’m going to keep a list of all the birds I haven’t seen,” he says gloomily.

The last one was some rare diving bird. He arrived just in time to see the ripples of where it disappeared in a dive, never to be seen again. “How close can you get?” he mourns.

Now he’s heading up towards his finals. Of course, as I’ve pointed out to him, the fact that he’s at college proves that he must have passed some exams! But he says that must be just an accident, like everything else.

Because of his depressive conviction that everyone and everything is against him, he’s determined that he’s going to lose out again. He hasn’t revised for the exams (“What’s the point, when you know you’re going to fail?” he tells me).

Yet somewhere deep down inside, he can’t quite convince himself that all is lost. He keeps on trying, in a defeatist kind of way.

So I encourage him. “C’mon Dan, give it a try. Best shot, and all that. You can’t succeed without trying, you know.”

He looks at me glumly. “Yeah, I know. Like I always say, if you aim at nothing, you’re sure to hit... You really think my luck could change?”

“Nothing to do with luck. No one is fated to lose. Sometimes the situation may seem bad—remember Job—but don’t ever give up. And don’t give up on God.”

He smiles. And then he panics. “But I haven’t done any revision. I haven’t really been bothered to pay attention in my studies. What now?”

So I promise to help. It’s traumatic for both of us. Dan’s mood swings become ever more erratic. As the exam time approaches, Dan gets desperate. Desperate Dan, the dynamic man! But I persuade him to continue, since we’ve come so far.

Well, to tell the truth, I threaten him with major physical pain if he doesn’t at least try!

He does. We even live through the post-exam depression when he’s sure he’s a LIFE FAILURE.

I even have to go and find out the results. He passed!

Even when I’m telling him, he thinks it’s a joke!

At last I manage to convince him. He’s ecstatic. Finally, life seems real and wonderful and hopeful. He’s no longer losing out.

I make him promise never to forget this day. He promises.

“Life’s not such a lemon, after all,” he concludes. He even manages a grin as he half-trips down the steps. “You know, I think God deserves some of the credit. I did ask him to help, didn’t I?”

I suggest he might want to try that more often.

He could easily have thrown it all away. Like others I have known. Others who have had much more “luck” than Dan, who have had so many opportunities, so many benefits, yet threw it all away.

Throwing it all away

I think of Mark who chose to go to a state university rather than Bible college, and within months had completely lost his way. Not surprising when the lecturers were telling him the Bible was full of contradictions and was irrelevant for the modern world.

I think of John who had grown up in a Christian home, and yet threw it all away for what he saw as a successful career. One thing led to another, another great opportunity, until he had made a real fortune. But as quickly as he made it, he lost it, and last I heard he was living in a one-room apartment with a woman who was not his wife. Tragic. And even if he had kept all his money, I would still feel he had thrown it all away, since the richer he became, the less time he had for God or the church. In the end he just gave up coming, and when we called, he told us he was too busy...

I think of Amy who seemed to have it all—happiness, looks, intelligence. Again she grew up “in the truth”—knowing and loving the God of our salvation. But when she hit her teens, all her happiness evaporated as she experimented with sex and drugs and all the rest. Before she had even lived, she was dead. She took her own life, and threw it all away.

Throwing it all away. So easy to do, especially as that’s what the Devil wants. “Go on, God doesn’t care,” he tells us. “Give up, don’t bother trying. The best way to get rid of temptation is to give in to it,” he whispers in our ears.

But you and I know that only as we continue and don’t give up can we be truly happy in the arms of our loving Lord.

Jesus: both God and man

John reminds us that love means walking in obedience to God’s commands (see 2 John 6). This obedience is natural obedience that springs from agreement, admiration and respect for God, the One who is naturally right.

As John defines it, losing out is due to following the deceivers. Who are these particular deceivers? “These are the ones that don’t accept that Jesus Christ has come as a human being.” (2 John 7 FBV). Those of John’s time who believed that the body was evil, and that God could not have come in the flesh as Jesus claimed. He only “appeared” to come, or they suggested that divinity came upon an earthly Jesus at his baptism, and then left before the Cross. But how can we apply this today? Who are those that deny the humanity and divinity of Jesus today?

These are any beliefs and practices that deny the reality of Jesus Christ. Those who say he never really existed as a historical person. Those who disagree with his recorded message and mission. The debates and disputes over the nature of Christ can come right down to this—can we really accept both the divinity and the humanity in one nature—the unique Jesus?

Ask people today what they think of Jesus. You get many answers:

“He was a great teacher.”

“He was a good man.”

“He was a prophet of God.”

And so on. But all such answers are like those from the deceivers John mentions. They all reject the reality of Jesus Christ as Son of God come in human form. So let us avoid such speculation and rejection of God’s truth, and make sure we’re not led astray and throw away all we stand for. 

For as John continues, “Those who go too far and don’t continue in Christ’s teachings don’t have God, while those who continue in the teaching have both the Father and the Son.” (2 John 9 FBV). We must avoid the temptation to speculate and conjecture and theorize. We must not “run ahead” of God and His truth.

I remember going out with a church group for a hike through a forest. The kids ran on ahead, enjoying the summer’s day out in the countryside. But even though they thought they knew the way, by running on ahead they went astray. They took some wrong turn, and went off a different way. It took us much searching to bring them back, to follow the right way!

We all need to stay together, and most of all stay together with God! Otherwise, it’s not just one that loses out—in a sense we all lose out if anyone is lost. We are called to run the race, help each other, and to keep our eyes on the prize—the prize of being one with God, now and forever.

Running the race

For there is much that could be lost. I remember watching a marathon race. The front runner had given his all when he stumbled into the final lap around the stadium. The crowd cheered him on. He struggled to continue. But just yards from the finishing tape his legs crumpled, and he collapsed in sight of the prize. We all felt the tragedy.

Paul speaks about the need to strain towards the finishing tape.  “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14 NIV). And he too warns about being distracted so that you lose out: “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.” (Colossians 2:18 NIV).

Using the same imagery, Paul explains that we have to train and prepare and really run the race, and be sure of really running for the prize (see 1 Corinthians 9:24ff). For how foolish, having done so much, to lose out. Or to use another of Paul’s images, after having done so much for others, wouldn’t it be foolish to become a castaway? (see 1 Corinthians 9:27)?

We truly need to think of where we’re going, and why. To think about the reward is not to be selfish. Of course, if we’re too busy thinking about the streets of gold and all the jewels, then we surely have our priorities wrong. But the Christian’s reward is worth thinking about, in the same way as a prisoner held underground strains towards the light. See what Jesus and the New Testament says about the reward of those who love God:

The greatest reward

·    “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven...” (Matthew 5:12 NIV).

·    “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?” (Matthew 5:46 NIV) 

·    “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1 NIV).

·    “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.” (Matthew 16:27 NIV).

·    “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High,     because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” (Luke 6:35 NIV).

·    “What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it.” (1 Corinthians 9:18 NIV).

·    “Since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:24 NIV).

·    “He [Moses] regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.” (Hebrews 11:26 NIV).

·    “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.” (Revelation 22:12 NIV).

But for me, the greatest reward, and the best reason for not giving up or losing out or throwing it all away, is that I shall be forever with God my Friend. As John looks forward to his meeting his friends, so do I: “I have so many things to say to you that I won’t write any more with paper and ink, because I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face. How happy that would make us!” (2 John 12 FBV). Face to face with my loving Lord—what an incredible day that will be:

“Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” (Revelation 21:3 NIV).

May we all choose to be there!

13. IMITATING GOOD

1 From the elder to Gaius, my good friend whom I love in the truth. 2My friend, most of all I pray that you’re fine and in good health, and that your spiritual life goes well too.

3I was really happy when some brothers arrived and spoke about your commitment to the truth, and how you continue to live in the truth. 4Nothing gives me greater happiness than to hear of my dear friends living in the truth. 5My friend, you’re providing faithful service by looking after the brothers, even those you don’t know. 6They have spoken well about your love before the church. It’s good for you to send them on their journey in a way that God would appreciate, 7because it’s in his name that they’re traveling, accepting nothing from non-believers. 8These are the ones we should support, so we can be partners in the truth.

9I did write something about this to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves being first among them, doesn’t want to welcome us there. 10So if I do visit, I will call attention to what he’s been doing. He’s been making false charges against us using evil words. Not satisfied with doing that, he doesn’t welcome any other brothers. He won’t let anyone else welcome them either, and throws them out of the church.

11My friend, don’t copy what’s evil, copy what’s good. Whoever does good belongs to God; whoever does evil hasn’t seen God.

12Everyone speaks well of Demetrius—and the truth does too! We agree, and you know that what we’re saying is true. 13I have so much to tell you, but don’t want to do it in writing with pen and ink. 14For I hope to see you soon so we can talk face to face. Peace be with you! The friends here send their greetings. Please greet the friends there by name. 3 John FBV.

Chameleon

Ever seen a chameleon? Those lizard-like creatures that are famous for changing their body colour to match their surroundings?

How do they do that? They are such good imitators of their background that they can be really hard to spot. Apparently they have some special cells that contain different colour pigments that they force towards the surface. Don’t ask me exactly how they know—does a chameleon think to itself “green” and then tell its green cells to get moving?

But change it does. A chameleon can really imitate what it is next to. It does it for defence—so that predators can’t see it. It does it for attack—so that its prey can’t see it coming either.

In any case, it’s an interesting parallel. The chameleon imitates whatever is around, making sure it blends in. When we apply that principle to the spiritual dimension, this can be both good and evil. If we are simply adopting the ways and thoughts of our peers, then we are allowing others to control and direct the way we think and behave—very often to our harm. But if we choose not simply to “change color” without thought, but truly desire to “imitate good”, then our ‘likeness’ will be changed for the better.

So what kind of “chameleon” are you? What are you becoming like? Are you being changed by your surroundings and those around you, or are you choosing to be changed by God? Do you wish to reflect evil or good?

As John says, “Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.” (3 John 11 NIV). A very clear and simple test, which is more about actions than doctrines!

Why John?

Having read so much of John’s writings, I asked myself why he is so appealing, so admirable. My conclusion was that John was the disciple who most closely resembles Jesus. John followed Jesus’ way; even his thoughts seem to have become similar. If you compare John’s writings with the words of Jesus, you find that they parallel one another. In many ways, John allowed the truth to so completely change him that instead of being a “Son of Thunder” he was changed into a true brother of Jesus Christ.

This fact is worth our attention. By beholding we become changed (see 2 Corinthians 3:18). By seeing the wonderful transformation in John’s life we understand what God can do for us. It is not enough to say that we believe in Jesus, we have to show a Christ-like spirit in our personal lives. This is the basis of John’s appeal in this last brief letter.

The truth is that we become like those we respect, value and admire. In our world today, who are those we follow? Who are our role-models, the ones we pattern our lives on?

The media figures. The pop “idols” (even using the word tells us about “worship” straight away!) The movie “stars” (who shine with almost divine brightness in the eyes of their fans). The characters of the books we read. The political figures. The actors and actresses in our favourite TV programmes. And so on.

So who are you patterning your life after? And what principles are you adopting? What behaviour patterns? For we are being changed, for good or bad, every moment. As Paul pleads, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within...” (Romans 12:2 Phillips).

Paul goes even further:

“Therefore I urge you to imitate me.” “You became imitators of us and of the Lord.” “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” (1 Corinthians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; Hebrews 13:7 NIV).

Who to imitate

Even though it may seem rather vain to tell others to imitate yourself, this is the very way that we learn—from imitation. Copying the teacher is the heart of learning that leads to understanding. Only as we see how can we really say we know.

You can explain what to do with words. You can draw diagrams. You can build models and write textbooks and paint pictures. But until you can help the student actually do it, they can never truly learn.

You’re a car mechanic. You want to teach a class how to strip down an engine. What are you going to do? Refer them to the manual? Yes. Show them posters on the wall? Yes. But not until you take that engine apart yourself, and put the tools in the students’ hands and demonstrate the right way, will they really know. As Aesop said in his fable The Two Crabs, “Example is the best precept.”

So too with our communication of God’s truth. Only as we stop talking and painting pictures can we really begin. We have to live out the Christian life, and say, this is how!

I remember doing a pottery class. We studied all about clay. We learned about kneading it to get the air bubbles out. We looked at the potter’s wheel, and spun it round. We read the assigned books, we listened to the lecturer. But not until we all sat down, and the master potter placed his hands outside ours as we shaped the pot did we really learn and understand.

To learn the best we know we have to imitate the best. That’s why we look for really experienced teachers who know what they are talking about. We want to imitate what’s really good! In our academic life that’s so obvious we hardly consider it. In business too—everyone wants to follow the best consultant, the smartest guru.

So what about our spiritual life? Who are we to imitate? There’s nothing wrong in imitating the good lives of other Christians, as long as we realise that all of us can make mistakes. John’s advice is not to uncritically imitate others, but imitate what we have determined is good.

The imitation of God

Ultimately, this means following what comes from God. “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children” (Ephesians 5:1 NIV). Rather than base our lives in imitating others, the best imitation is of God, in terms of principles and attitudes. So what of God? How exactly is He good? And how do we speak well of Him?

We are not talking about flattering God. If we are trying to say very nice things about God, but we don’t mean what we say, we’d best be quiet! Nobody wants to hear that sort of thing, least of all God.

So we must mean what we say when we talk about God.

Then again it’s hard to say good things about someone you don’t know. The same with God. If I don’t know Him, I can’t say good about him. I can try, but my words will sound hollow and empty because they’re not based on personal experience.

If you feel it’s your duty to witness, or your pastor tells you that you should, or if it’s seen as something a Christian has to do-then I would ask you not to witness! Because you can’t say anything good about God to someone else if it seems you don’t really want to say it... If it’s a burden, if you hate it—then people will notice. To really be a witness, to truly imitate and share the good, you must want to say good things about God.

So where are we to begin when we start “speaking well of God”?

With that same “God come in the flesh” that John speaks so often about. For Jesus himself specifically identified the reason why he came:

“I was born, and I came to the world, to give evidence of the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to me.” (John 18:37 FBV)

The Devil has been “a liar from the very beginning”. Jesus came to demonstrate what the Devil said was a lie and what God said was the truth. There was no other way God could do it. The only way he could prove what he was really was to come himself, so everybody could see! Jesus’ primary purpose in coming to this world was to demonstrate the truth about God. And if we are trying to make this God known, we must first look to God in Jesus. “No one has seen God, but God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1:18 NIV).

How? How did Jesus make God known? Think for a moment.

·    How he came—as a baby. Not with great wealth, power or position. But as the child of some poor peasant in a far-off corner of the Roman Empire.

·    How he grew up—not with the benefit of an advanced education, not with a lot of personal possessions; working hard to earn his food—living just like the millions of other human beings.

·    How he began his ministry—by being baptised like us (even though he had no need to).

·    How he performed his first miracle—water into wine was a perfect demonstration of the generous attitude of God.

·    How he healed thousands upon thousands—miracles upon miracles to show that God     wants us to be well, physically and spiritually, that he does not cause pain and     suffering, disease and death. Above all, these gifts of healing, feeding, caring show the love of God in a dramatic way.

·    How he spoke—not with great oratory, not bouncing up and down in a rage, but firmly and lovingly showing people the truth and the way back to their loving Father. Wonderful words, like the parables—for example, the prodigal son     welcomed home by his weeping, loving Father. That’s God, said Jesus.

Jesus lived as God among us—Emmanuel. That’s why Jesus said; “If you really know me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:7 NIV).

If you know Jesus, you know God. Simple as that. But poor Philip couldn’t believe that, so he asked to see the Father! (see John 14:8).

How Jesus must have sighed as he explained to Philip: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father”! (John 14:9 NIV)

So what are we to do, then? Knowing this, how are we to speak well of God? What is to be our “imitation”? What is to be our main message? What really do we want to say?

Let me ask you now, what is the heart of our speaking for God? What is the centre of the gospel message to the world? If we truly do want to say good things, and know the God we love, what’s the most important thing we have to say?

·    Some say: “Third angel’s message”—maybe. But surely not the terrifying disaster picture presented there—we can’t scare people into loving God.

·    Some say: “The second coming”. Very important, but if you don’t know the Jesus that’s coming, how can you accept his return?

·    Some say: “The church. We must ourselves be caring people”. But if we’re only attracting attention to ourselves, what will people see?

No. The heart of the message is the good news of and about God. Let us look again at what we’re saying. We’re not trying to convince people about a system of creeds to which you say yes.  We’re not trying to make people healthy so that they will join our church organization. We’re not trying to so scare and frighten people that become part of the “God’s true church.”

That’s not God’s way. His way is to show what he’s really like. That must be our way too. In speaking of the goodness of God we must show to others what God is truly like.

Above all, “We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord God.”  (2 Cor 4:5 NIV, my emphasis). God, the Creator, has given us the light of his marvellous truth, so that we know him as demonstrated in the face of Jesus: “God...made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ”. (2 Corinthians 4:6 NIV). That’s our message—about God. And He reveals himself through you!

The three examples

In 3 John we are presented with three examples of believers in the church. What example we choose to follow is up to us. But we must be under no illusions as to the different kinds of lives, and the different results.

The specialness of 3 John comes from this close involvement in a particular church situation. We see actual people, and how they relate to one another. How actual individuals operate within the church. We wish we knew more, but from the brief notes we have, it’s clear that nothing much has changed over the years! Human nature still needs to be changed by the Spirit, and those who are Christians become more and more Christ-like.

So even though we have very few details, the three persons mentioned give us a summary of what John is dealing with and examples of what happens if...

Gaius. John’s commendation here is the Gaius has chosen to live under the controlling influence of the truth. In the end, the truth will win out! In other words, truth has a compelling quality of rightness that is inescapable. You cannot fake the truth; and truth speaks for itself.

Like 2 John, and in his other writings, John speaks much of the influence of the truth. Unless we are changed by what the truth means, then we live a lie. For Gaius, this means that he is faithful to his beliefs. All too often those who claim to be Christians demonstrate otherwise. The idea of “faithfulness” to the truth is most important—we need to stand firm and not allow ourselves to be moved from what we know to be true.

Gaius is also praised for his actions. “My dear friend, you are so faithful in the work you do for your fellow Christians, even when they are strangers” (3 John 5 TEV). Clear evidence of a positive, warm and loving attitude—one that is certainly worth copying. To be known for such Christian hospitality is a real blessing, and one that speaks more than words.

We have all been in the situation of being visitors to another church. How encouraging to be welcome and made to feel at home! I remember feeling very lost and alone when I travelled to France to work for six months in my teens. How wonderful to be greeted at the local church, made to feel very welcome, and invited to share lunch and the rest of the day with a lovely family.

Those kinds of memories live long in the mind, and remind us of the kind of church family we need to be. Such a loving attitude will be spoken of (3 John 6) as evidence of the truth behind what we believe.

Diotrephes. The opposite of Gaius is this man who has chosen to operate from anti-Christian principles. That may sound strong, but the truth is that anyone who misuses power and tells lies is following the ways of Satan. This is especially true within the church, where such activities should never happen.
So what exactly are the “charges” against Diotrephes? (See 3 John 9, 10).

1. He refuses to accept the authority of church leaders. He even rejects John, the senior statesman of the church at the time, the only one left alive who was with Jesus as an apostle. While we must not accept an authoritarian leadership, it is right and proper to accept the counsel of God-given leaders.

2. He misrepresents others, and tells lies. Again this is part of his power strategy, for in lying about John and his fellow-workers Diotrephes can maintain his     position in the church. But to do such things within the church is to follow the Devil who was a liar from the beginning (see John 8:44) and who has continually misrepresented the truth, and smeared the character of God. The seriousness of this offence is that others will look at Diotrephes as a local leader in the church, and believe that he truly represents Christianity. Most damaging of all is that the picture of God Diotrephes shows to the world is distorted and corrupted.

3. He uses his position of church power to prevent others from sharing the truth. In controlling who is allowed to speak to the church, or even to visit the members, Diotrephes is acting as a self-appointed censor of the truth. While even those who     are acting from right principles will wish to make sure all that is said and done in church is in harmony with what we believe, the truth does not need our defence in a dictatorial way. To use force is always contrary to God’s way of government.

4. Diotrephes' misuse of church power and the exercise of force are clearly demonstrated in that he tries to drive anyone who doesn’t agree with him out of     the church! To censure or disfellowship those who simply disagree with you is an     unacceptable method of church government. Sadly, church discipline may be used in a similar way today as a method of retaliation. But this is not its true purpose. Church discipline is there to win erring members back to the truth, not to drive them out of the church.

So John tries to help Gaius deal with this traumatic situation is his church. He encourages Gaius, shows where Diotrephes is wrong, and then calls on Gaius to imitate the good, not the bad.

Demetrius. John does not leave the situation as a showdown between Gaius and Diotrephes. He mentions Demetrius to Gaius, and speaks very well of him. It’s almost as if John is saying “Here’s a fellow friend in the church who can support you.” We all need friends in church, ones who can help us on our way. But we need to choose the good, and those whom “truth itself speaks well of” (3 John 12 TEV). John backs this up with a personal recommendation of Demetrius, as well as mentioning that “everyone speaks well of Demetrius.”

Wouldn’t it be good to know a little more about Demetrius? Surely some more details would be interesting! And yet even in these few words we have all we need to know. For what better epitaph for a Christian than: “Everyone speaks well of Demetrius—and the truth does too!” (3 John 12 FBV).

So John ends his letter. Maybe he pauses before he writes the last lines, considering his friends all round the churches, and those in this church in particular. Perhaps he smiles to himself with happy memories, and like 2 John, ends with the thought that he would like to write more, but he hopes to be able to see them all soon. And then, then he will be able to speak with them face to face (3 John 13).

Face to face—the way we want to speak with our friends. And one day, face to face with God our Friend too.

Taking his pen for the last time, he writes his final words. Peace to you. Greetings to the friends from the friends here. I’m sure that these words meant much to Gaius. To be in a church with such controversy, to know there are friends thinking of you is much comfort. But most of all Gaius must wish for what John sends—peace!

So for all of us. Despite the problems, despite all the troubles of life, God is still there, and we shall be with Him and His friends forever and live in His wonderful peace.

14. CONCLUSION: GOD—AND ME


“I’ve just broken up with my boyfriend.” “My wife’s left me.” I can’t seem to get through to my son.” “None of my family are really close.” “I’ve just lost my best friend.”

The tragedies of life. We all want to love and be loved, yet how seldom do we find a relationship that lasts. Troubled and stormy, our relationships are what we most want to last, but so often fail. Like a thunderstorm, full of lightning and thunder, awesome and frightening, we live in uncertainty, not knowing whether any of our relationships will last.

So what of us and God?

Let’s assume God is there. Assume He cares about you. Assume He wants a relationship with you. Then what?

Most people think that they have to do something in order to earn God’s favor, to please Him. I remember talking with a woman about her experience. She had tried so hard. Doing everything her church leaders told her she had to do. Making sure that her behaviour was faultless. As if she were trying to impress God, just as we try to impress those around us. The result? It made her life miserable, and she ended up hating God. Sad, tragically sad. Because even in human relationships, the ones that last, the ones that are meaningful, are not based on trying to impress. Only by being what you really are can you hope to have a deep and enduring relationship.

The same with God. He loves us just as we are. Not that He loves all the mess of sin that we have got into, but He still sees what we can be. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). He came here to this earth for that very purpose: to show us what He was really like, and to win us back to love Him and to trust Him. What God most wants is that love relationship based on mutual trust, and the Cross shows the ultimate trustworthiness of God. This is the essence of John’s repeated message. John describes the true nature of God as revealed by Jesus. John says, “I know. I was the closest to Jesus. In Jesus I saw God in the flesh.”

John records those powerful words of Jesus that must have made such an impression on him. “If I be lifted up...I will draw all to me” (John 12:32 KJV, my emphasis). The drawing power of God is His character that wants to love all of his unlovable, rebellious children. He offers friendship, and saving, healing love.

And what do we say? What do we do? Crucify him again! (see Hebrews 6:6). For we say we want a lasting relationship, but do we? Are we really serious? So often God is ignored and disregarded, even by those who profess to be His friends.

Relationship means spending time

Think about it! How do you form a lasting relationship with anyone? Can you call someone friend without spending time together, doing things together, sharing life together?

Same with God. You can’t call God friend if you don’t take time out together. He’s not interested in a long-distance relationship—he wants to be involved with you, be close beside you, the one you call first! So to have a lasting relationship with God, you have to put time into it.

A good friend came to me and told me that she’d ‘lost her faith’—speaking in the same way as if she’d left her handbag on the bus. Suddenly she’d woke up one morning and realized that she didn’t have a relationship with God any more. But in reality such a change doesn’t come overnight. It comes from years of neglect, of taking God for granted, of forgetting to have Him involved in your day-to-day life.

Calling God friend

Think of those people who did have a good and lasting relationship with God. (Some are mentioned in that famous “faith” chapter, Hebrews 11). They weren’t perfect, but they knew where to go when they went off course. They realized that their failures were due to their failure to take time with God and to trust Him completely. But despite their failures, they were still friends of God. That is the objective; that is what God wants. And it should be what we want: to be friends of the Friendly God.

Moses argued with God when the Israelites we threatened with destruction—for Moses knew the character of God, and was concerned for His reputation among the other peoples. “You can’t do it God. I know you. And I want everyone to think well of you, as I do, God my Friend” (see Numbers 14).

That’s why it was so serious when Moses failed—for he misrepresented God his Friend. Moses let God down when he struck the rock, saying “Must we bring water out of this rock?” Friends have responsibility; they must be concerned for the one they claim to represent. Friends want the relationship to last, and they want to extend the offer of friendship to others.

Abraham was called God’s friend. Why? He even dared argue with God over what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah. He was God’s friend because he understood what God really wanted: a true and honest relationship based on trust. And so he challenged God: “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25 KJV).

So too with Job: though he argued long and hard, though he had his doubts and his depressions, he remained totally convinced of the trustworthiness of his God: “I know that my Redeemer lives...” (Job 19:25). At the end, God was pleased to confirm his relationship: “Job has said of me what is right” (see Job 42:7, 8).

Various responses to God

Jesus told the story of the sower (see Matthew 13) who spread seed as a way of showing how people respond differently to God and his desire for a relationship with Him. Some hear and yet don’t allow God to change them. They just have no depth, and when the heat comes, they dry up. Others get choked out by the distractions of other relationships, other ways of living. Some don’t want any relationship at all, and get eaten up by the birds! A lasting relationship only comes from having deep roots in the soil of God’s friendship, growing in Him.

Relationships

That’s all God is interested in! He’s certainly not interested in bargaining with people or making some kind of transaction. Nor does he want people to believe their salvation depends on working for credit! Some people seem to think that they can make it to heaven without even liking God. Over and over again, when God comes to human beings, He wants a relationship based on love and acceptance.

There is no other meaning to the truth: “God is love” than that God wants a relationship based on loving, accepting trust that works both ways. That was the reason Jesus came: to show, to demonstrate, prove that God truly is love—and he even let us crucify him to answer the charges that he was selfish and unloving.

And what He wants most is you: to love you, care for you, save you, and heal you—and eventually to welcome you into his eternity of peace in His glorious presence. “Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3 NIV). God tells us we can come home again! He offers you His hand, nail-scarred. Will you go to God, take His hand, and hold onto Him as He leads you home?

Swimming like salmon

I was standing thigh deep in an ice-cold river in Alaska. What had started as a bear-watching trip had turned into amazement at a wonderful spectacle of nature. We’d travelled by boat up the coast of Baranov Island to land at Nakrasina, an inlet shrouded by larch trees and tall eye-high grass. (And I wondered to myself what would happen if we should encounter a bear coming the other way!)

As we arrived at the river mouth, the water was alive with salmon, threshing and splashing as they continued their strenuous journey back to the breeding grounds to spawn. Closer, at the water’s edge, we could see them clearly—great fish of red, pink and white, their scales flashing brightly in the afternoon sun.

As I waded out, protected by thigh-high boots, we met face to fishy face. So anxious were they to continue their journey that they hardly took any notice of this strange being in their path. Some just charged straight into me, and later that night I found a number of dark bruises on my legs.

A river of fish. And they just kept on coming. So many of them. I didn’t try to count—the numbers were just so overwhelming. But the river was truly full—everywhere you looked there were fins and tails, and the water boiled and foamed from the thousands of flexing, pulsating muscles. I looked this way and that, and felt dizzy from all the intense activity.

So I concentrated on just one fish as it swum along the side of the bank. Like all the rest it flipped and splashed, forcing its way through upstream. It finned through the rough water, rested in deep pools, and struggled over sand bars with a determination that made me think. I followed “my” fish upstream, round rocks and under logs, bumped and jostled by thousands of others of its own kind. But nothing would stop its relentless progress.

At one point the river spread out wide, and the water was very shallow. All the salmon were having difficulty crossing this stretch. My fish too—it struggled up, only to fall back to a small pool time and time again.

I thought it would never make it. But with a desperate lunge, it drove itself across the bar, and into another pool, where it gasped and gaped, but still swum on. I watched the fish as it moved on, ever onward, and out of sight around a bend in the river. And I smiled, and wished the very best for such a determined being.

A message for each of us—to swim together, to never give up whatever obstacles are placed in our way, and to always keep that motivation, that drive, that hope in our hearts of reaching the place where we want to be. Not to save ourselves, but to swim to God so that He may save us and so we may be with Him forever. Swim on, and may the God who calls us to Him be yours, now and throughout your life, eternally.

© Jonathan Gallagher 2010

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