1John
3:1 ¶ Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:
therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it
doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear,
we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself, even as he is pure.
Christians
must not be confused that they are rejected of men because Christ was rejected
of men.
John 17:25
O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known
thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
John
15:20 Remember the word that I said unto
you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they
will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours
also. 21 But all these things will they
do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
John
16:2 They shall put you out of the
synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he
doeth God service. 3 And these things
will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
The world
can’t comprehend what we believe unless God the Father intercedes, in a manner
of speaking, to enlighten them. The very mind of God, the Holy Ghost, is
involved in this transaction.
John
1:11 He came unto his own, and his own
received him not. 12 But as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name: 13 Which were
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of God.
Our
eventual destiny is to be like Christ. We will not only have a glorified body.
Romans
8:21 Because the creature itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of
the children of God. 22 For we know that
the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which
have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Not only
will we be changed but with our own eyes we will see Him.
Job
19:25 For I know that my redeemer
liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26 And though after my skin worms destroy this
body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: 27
Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not
another; though my reins (that’s internal organs) be consumed within me.
The pure,
the righteous, God’s people by virtue of what Christ did, not what they have
done, have this blessed hope.
Titus
2:11 ¶ For the grace of God that
bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the
glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem
us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of
good works.
Matthew
5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for
they shall see God.
1John
3:4 ¶ Whosoever committeth sin
transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take
away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6
Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. 7 Little
children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous,
even as he is righteous. 8 He that
committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For
this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of
the devil. 9 Whosoever is born of God
doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because
he is born of God. 10 In this the
children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth
not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
Here, sin
is defined as breaking God’s standard of righteousness, the Law given to Moses
which is our Creator’s standard of righteousness, transgressing it. But Christ
came to take away our sin and was sinless Himself. If you are in Christ you are
not held accountable for your sin but those who abide in their sin, whose lives
are defined by their sin have not known Christ and are not known by Him. It
would be inconceivable for a murderer to get saved and then to continue
murdering or someone who worshipped a heathen god to continue in that worship
were they to be saved.
We are
righteous when we do righteousness because our Savior is righteous. But the one
who ignores Christ’s calling away from sin is of Satan himself. Christ came to
destroy the works of Satan. Because the very mind of Christ indwells us we are
not held accountable in eternity for our sin, which has been forgiven. But
there are traits that show that a person is not truly saved and that includes
not only refusing to do right but holding one’s brothers and sisters in Christ
in contempt.
Paul made
it clear that if you are saved you can’t lose your salvation because, if you
did, you could never get saved again because that would involve recrucifying
Christ, an absurdity.
Hebrews
6:4 For it is impossible for those who
were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made
partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have
tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again
unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and
put him to an open shame.
Notice
also how Paul admonished the believers in Corinth.
1Corinthians
6:9 ¶ Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of
God. 11 And such were some of you: but
ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Let’s not
take our salvation lightly.
1John
3:11 ¶ For this is the message that ye
heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked
one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works
were evil, and his brother’s righteous. 13
Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
John
reinforces what he reported in his gospel about what Jesus said regarding this.
John
13:34 A new commandment I give unto you,
That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye
are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
John
15:12 This is my commandment, That ye
love one another, as I have loved you.13
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends… 17
These things I command you, that ye love one another.
This is in
sharp contrast to Cain’s lack of love for his own flesh and blood brother. Cain
was doing the work of Satan as the first-century Judean Jews who persecuted
these early Jewish Christians did.
John
16:2 They shall put you out of the
synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he
doeth God service.
Why did
they do that? Because their own works were evil and because...
John
8:44 Ye are of your father the devil,
and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh
a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
The
disciples of Christ should not be amazed that the world hates them.
John
15:18 ¶ If the world hate you, ye know
that it hated me before it hated you. 19
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye
are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hateth you. 20 Remember the word
that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have
persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they
will keep yours also. 21 But all these
things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that
sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken
unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. 23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
Think of
this. The Jews had interpreted the Bible knowing that God was manifest in the
Father, in the Word of God, and in the Skekinah, His glory, which some
commentators interpret as the Holy Ghost in the Old Testament. So, there is the
Trinity, a word coined by the early church father, Tertullian, who lived from
165AD to 220AD, to describe the threefold nature of the Godhead. The living
Word of God had been right in front of them; teaching in depth and wisdom and
authority, raising the dead, controlling natural events, casting out demons,
and then defying all understood reality of life by rising from the dead Himself
after letting them execute Him at the hands of the Romans. You might say, well
why didn’t He do something like part the Red Sea? Remember, though, that didn’t
make the Israelites obey God or even love Him. And these things Jesus did were
personal, individual miracles that would impact their lives right then. And
still the religious leadership valued their political positions more than the
truth, more than salvation, so they killed Him.
John
1:11 He came unto his own, and his own
received him not.
1John
3:14 ¶ We know that we have passed from
death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his
brother abideth in death. 15 Whosoever
hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal
life abiding in him. 16 Hereby perceive
we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought
to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth
his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from
him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 18
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in
deed and in truth. 19 And hereby we know
that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
John
speaks of one evidence that we have passed from death to life, and I might add,
everlasting life, our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is a
fundamental doctrine of Christ-centered Christianity. Hatred is a type of
murder, showing contempt for another’s very life. Christ showed us the
importance of that love by dying for us and John says we should be willing to
die for each other.
Friendship
and love in Imperial Rome were all about the usefulness of a person to you. Friendships
could enhance your social standing, provide support in times of need, and reveal
the complex interdependence between public and private life. As they are today,
friendship and love are complicated social arrangements. However, the love that
Christ calls for is not like human love, predicated on tolerance and
conditional on the actions of the beloved. Christ died for all of humanity,
even for those who did not know Him as well as for those who hated Him. His
love is inclusionary not exclusionary. It doesn’t require an object who is our
same skin color, social rank, gender, or ethnicity.
Galatians
3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are
all one in Christ Jesus.
It doesn’t
even require an object who is kind to us. It is a standard we Christians rarely
grasp.
Matthew 5:44
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and
persecute you; 45 That ye may be the
children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on
the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
If there is anything that should cause you to
abandon your faith and walk away from Christ this would be it. To love the
unloveable, even the malicious, is unimaginable to us. Again…
Matthew 5:45
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he
maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the
just and on the unjust.
John reinforces a statement made by James in
his letter.
James 2:14 ¶
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and
have not works? can faith save him? 15
If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And
one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled;
notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body;
what doth it profit? 17 Even so faith,
if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith
without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
John, like James, demands that we prove who
we belong to by our selfless love for our brothers and sisters in Christ rather
than the mercenary exploitation and power dynamics that characterize so much of
what passes for love in the world. It’s not just talk and it is a height I have
never attained in my own life. There are people and types of people who set my
teeth on edge and whom I detest for their behavior and words, some even in
churches I’ve attended who are deserving of my prayers much moreso than my
contempt and that because of what Christ, the Word of God, the Son of God, did
for me.
This isn’t about tolerating or approving of
someone’s sin. This is about, in spite of their sin, not denying the things
which they need to live and it is about praying for them to be convicted and
changed. It is possible for our protection and for the protection of innocent
others that they be removed from our midst but never mistreated and always
prayed for sincerely. Our love for our brothers and sisters is not suicidal
empathy and we must be clear on that. It is not about inviting someone into our
home who has sworn to kill us. But it is about a genuine love for our brothers
and sisters in Christ, in all of our imperfections.
But would you give your life for a brother or
sister in Christ who can do nothing for you in return, who is weaker than you,
perhaps powerless to reward your sacrifice? There are many questions we have to
contemplate in our walk with Christ.
1John
3:20 ¶ For if our heart condemn us, God
is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then
have we confidence toward God. 22 And
whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do
those things that are pleasing in his sight.
We may not
be able to accept ourselves, and dwell heavily on our unworthiness before God
but God is greater than our self-loathing, our fears, and our self-anger. What
He knows is greater than all we could have done in the past. On the other hand,
if we are willing to accept His forgiveness then our trust in Him is real and
evident in a way that the Christian who is filled with self-contempt cannot
understand. Either of those people just mentioned wants to do right by God, by
His standards and stated expectations, and our prayers are answered because we
are His, if what we ask is according to His will.
Matthew
7:7 ¶ Ask, and it shall be given you;
seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he
that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son
ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10
Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
If what we
ask is according to His will. Understand that God sees all events from the
perspective of them having already happened. If it is His will that some
believer die to go on to be with Him for eternity or that some unbeliever has
had all the time they will have and God knows their heart will never let them
come to Him then that’s what is going to happen. We cannot change God’s eternal
decrees. What the fervent prayer of a righteous person who seeks to please God
does is to change them, making them more accepting of God’s will in
every circumstance, even as they themselves do what is right and work toward a
good outcome. We should pray in all things that God’s will be done. This is a
hard thing to accept and another reason for faith to sometimes fail. No one is
willing to bury their child or face a shortened life due to a dread disease. No
one wants failure and loss, pain and suffering. But if we are His there is
something from Him in our most dire or tragic circumstances and in our pain and
through our tears we can and should see it. The world cannot understand this.
Most of us can’t either. But He knows all things.
1John
3:23 ¶ And this is his commandment, That
we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as
he gave us commandment. 24 And he that
keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know
that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
Here are
fundamentals of the Christian faith, what it means to be a Christian. We
believe on the name of Christ and we love our brothers and sisters in Christ. Keeping
the commandments of Christ, the Word of God, show that we have His Spirit, His
very mind, inside of us.
We believe
Jesus was who He said He was.
John 3:36
He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the
wrath of God abideth on him.
John
14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way,
the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my
Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the
Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus
saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known
me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then,
Shew us the Father?
When we
believe in Him the Spirit, the very mind of God, indwells us.
John
14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him,
If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we
will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Romans
8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in
the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
And there
are outward proofs, evidence that we have that very mind of God indwelling us.
Galatians
5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no
law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
John
13:34 A new commandment I give unto you,
That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35
By this shall all men know that ye are
my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Matthew
22:35 Then one of them, which was a
lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the
law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind. 38 This is the first and great
commandment. 39 And the second is like
unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and
the prophets.
