THE POWER OF FELLOWSHIP
“But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.”
1 John 4:4-6 NLT
Fellowship is another of John’s recurring themes in this letter. Why does John consider fellowship to be so important?
So far, we have learned that fellowship with the Father, the Son, and one another is based on knowing and living by the truth.
“We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”
1 John 1:3 NLT
John reassures his readers that they have the Holy Spirit who resides in them and teaches them the truth. All who have the Holy Spirit have fellowship with one another, and this fellowship enables them to experience the truth that binds them together. This fellowship creates a strong bond that protects believers from falling into error.
So, John writes, if people from outside the church refuse to listen to us, the reason is that they are not part of the fellowship of believers. If they were part of us, they would participate with us in our belief in and defence of the truth.
Fellowship, then, is another of the ways in which we can discern whether people we associate with are part of the fellowship or are of the world.
Since the Holy Spirit in us bears witness to our own hearts and to one another that we belong to God, He binds us together in fellowship. Our hearts quickly recognise a brother or sister in Christ even before we know them. We are bound together by the knowledge of the truth that underpins our faith. Therefore, we can trust that unseen bond that witnesses to our fellowship in the gospel.
On the other hand, since the world’s philosophies and way of life are the hallmark of those who subscribe to them, they will not accept the truth we speak. They do not belong to God, concludes John. They belong to this world which is in the devil’s control.
Fellowship is one way that creates a clear distinction between God’s children and the children of Satan.
Monthly Archives: October 2023
FALSE PROPHETS APLENTY
FALSE PROPHETS APLENTY
“Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.”
1 John 4:1-3 NLT
Hardly a generation had gone by since the New Covenant came into bring before false prophets were on the increase. Not all who claimed to be believers were true believers. Some twisted the truth about Jesus out of shape even as Peter wrote in his second letter.
“And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.”
2 Peter 3:15-16 NLT
Others tried to marry Greek philosophy with the Gospel, producing a Christianised form of Gnosticism which denied the reality of Jesus’ humanity.
“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.”
Colossians 2:8-9 NLT
John returns to his condemnation of this heresy repeatedly. That people were peddling this false message must have irked him greatly.
The test to check the validity of the prophet was simple. If he confessed that Jesus was a real human being, the Holy Spirit was in him.
If he did not acknowledge the truth about Jesus’ humanity, he functioned through the spirit of antichrist.
Once again, John makes it clear, as he has already done in earlier parts of his letter, that the antichrist spirit specifically denies the humanity of Jesus.
This heresy is still very much around today in the form of “Christian” cults. Perhaps the most universal cult, enslaving many millions of people, is the one that propagates and holds to the doctrine of the immaculate conception of Mary. Since this belief is an official tenet of this religious system, and since it has pronounced Mary sinless by implication, also by implication, Jesus was not born like us but like Mary. He is, therefore, according to this doctrine, disqualified from being our substitute.
And this, declares John, is the spirit of antichrist. This system, collectively, is part of the antichrist present everywhere on earth.
How do we counter this false doctrine? Our most effective strategy is to cling tenaciously to the truth. In the following study we shall find out what John’s strategy is for overcoming the work of the devil.
NEW COVENANT COMMANDMENTS
NEW COVENANT COMMANDMENTS
“And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.
1 John 3:23-24 NLT
Just imagine if we, as God’s children, were still obligated to obey all 613 commandments required in the Old Covenant! Why did God make life so complicated for His people?
When the Israelites left Egypt, they were like an unruly mob of undisciplined toddlers. They had lived in Egypt, under the influence of Egyptian paganism, for many generations. They had no strong spiritual leaders to guide them. They lived by their wits and mostly followed the way of life of their Egyptian overlords. A few still followed the faith of their ancestors, like Moses’ parents, for example, but the majority were lost in the wilderness of their own sinful natures.
So, God had to start at the beginning with them, treating them as parents would treat their very young ones. They had to learn who God was and how to honour and respect Him. They had to learn what offended Him and what to do about it. They had to learn to respect one another and to live together in harmony.
Just as parents guide little children with rules that protect them, so God set up a covenant with His people with rules which taught them what to in every situation. Tedious and detailed as they were, these rules were imperative to keep His unruly people in check and to protect them from their own self-destructive ways.
History reveals that God’s instructions did nothing to control His people. In fact, the opposite happened. They became more rebellious as the generations passed. Of course, this was part of God’s plan, to show them how impossible it was to be righteous in His sight by obeying laws.
God intended this process of learning and failing to prepare them to receive His marvellous solution. Through the Apostle John, He distilled His rules down to two simple instructions: believe in Jesus and love one another. By this time, Jesus had died on the cross and risen again. He had ascended to the Father and poured out the Holy Spirit on the church.
“Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith.”
Galatians 3:23-24 NLT
The New Covenant which God established with Jesus through His obedience to death, brings us into union with Jesus through our belief in Him so that we share in everything He is and does in this covenant with the Father.
So, John says, Jesus fulfilled the entire Old Covenant with all its standards and instructions. God restored the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to every believer to be Jesus’ personal representative in us. Now we no longer need rules, regulations, and rituals to live in obedience to the Father. We have a personal guide and the power to obey God’s will living inside us.
The entire package of salvation is given to us through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Command number one in the New Covenant is, therefore, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (and everything He accomplished is yours).
The fruit of that faith is a changed life.
“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT
Command number two is to love one another. Where this was once impossible in the Old Covenant which provided no power to obey, now we have God’s nature given to us and the Holy Spirit in us who provides the power to obey.
“And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”
Romans 5:5 NLT
God made our participation in the New Covenant simple and attainable if we keep in mind these two requirements. Let’s not complicate what He simplified by adding extras not written in His Word.
Our continued fellowship with God and one another is the fruit of our obedience to these two commands.
WHAT DOES YOUR HEART SAY?
WHAT DOES YOUR HEART SAY?
“This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. “
1 John 3:19-20 NIV
This somewhat obscure translation becomes a little clearer when we read it in a more modern version.
“Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. “
1 John 3:19-20 NLT
Let’s get this straight. John is not saying that our good works, helping our fellow believers in need, for example, qualify us for salvation. This way of thinking nullifies Jesus’ work on the cross. We are saved by grace through faith alone, and nothing can ever change that.
However, John is saying, as James confirmed in his letter,
“So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.”
James 2:17 NLT,
that faith in Jesus that does not bear fruit in loving service to others, is suspect.
How can we be confident in God’s presence that we have done enough to prove the reality of our faith? I think this question often troubles the believer. What if we are disqualified when it is too late to do anything about it?
Jesus told a story about ten virgins, five wise and five foolish. The wise ones took extra oil for their lamps in case they had a long wait for the bridegroom. The foolish virgins made no such provision. Matthew 25:1-13
What was the point of the story? Many interpretations have been suggested, but often miss the point because they ignore the context. Jesus gave His disciples an extended answer to their question regarding His return, including parables that emphasise His main point… “Keep watch, be ready, don’t be caught off guard.”
To understand this parable, we must first see it in its Old Testament setting. The Word of God is often described as a lamp or a light. Obedience to God’s Word is like a lamp that lights our way as we journey towards the Father.
“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”
Psalms 119:105 NLT
The implication, in Jesus’ story, is that a lamp needs oil in order to shine. No oil means that the lamp goes out. The five wise virgins (bridesmaids) kept their lamps burning by continuing obedience to God’s Word. They were ready when the bridegroom arrived.
The foolish virgins gave up on their obedience to God’s Word, and they were, consequently, caught off guard when the groom arrived.
Jesus concludes His story with these words…
“But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’ “So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return.”
Matthew 25:12-13 NLT
To know Jesus implies obedience to His commands, as Josiah did in the Old Covenant story,
“But a beautiful cedar palace does not make a great king! Your father, Josiah, also had plenty to eat and drink. But he was just and right in all his dealings. That is why God blessed him. He gave justice and help to the poor and needy, and everything went well for him. Isn’t that what it means to know me?” says the Lord.”
Jeremiah 22:15-16 NLT
While the Old Covenant has 613 commandments, the New Covenant sums them up in two.
“And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.”
1 John 3:23 NLT
And so, says John, if we continue to obey His commands, we will have a good conscience, knowing that God knows better than we do, and that He does not forget our good deeds.
“For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do.”
Hebrews 6:10 NLT
We must never allow guilt feelings to control our thinking. Guilt is not God’s way to motivate us. Guilt is Satan’s weapon against us, his way to drive in a wedge between us and God.
“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.”
Romans 8:1-2 NLT
The issue is not about salvation. The issue is about the fruit of salvation. The Holy Spirit in us produces the fruit as we follow His leading. So, when we are led by the Spirit, He will guide us to act towards others in a way that confirms our obedience to Jesus as Lord. Faithfulness to our calling and duties prepares us for the Bridegroom’s return, whenever He comes. When we keep our lamps burning at all times, we will have a clear conscience before God and we will not be caught off guard at any time of day or night.
REAL LOVE GIVES
REAL LOVE GIVES
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
1 John 3:16-18 NIV
The world bandies the word “love” around like it knows what real love is. Ungodly people jump in and out of bed with a multiplicity of partners in the name of love. Even same-sex relationships are condoned in the name of love. How can this be?
Our holy God’s nature, character, and dealings with all human beings are all bound up and flow from His love, but, at the same time, His love forbids the behaviour that He knows will destroy us. Real love sets boundaries. It gives and protects.
What is the difference between love and lust? What the world calls “love”, God calls lust. Love sees the need and acts regardless of the cost to itself. Lust sees an opportunity and takes action to satisfy selfish, personal needs.
This is not to say that ungodly people are incapable of showing real love. Many charitable organisations, making no claim to be believers, still do great work to help the poor and take care of the needy. However, real love is the expression of a heart changed by grace, that feels the pain of those who suffer and acts, regardless of the cost.
So, there is a practical way for God’s children to recognise real love in another believer as well as to distinguish between godly and godless people. John says that the ultimate expression of love is the love Jesus showed us by laying down His life for us. Not many are called to make such a drastic sacrifice. Laying down our lives does not necessarily mean paying the highest price. It does mean that we serve each other by taking care of one another’s needs, at every level.
John uses a very simple example. How can we say we love God when we allow a brother or sister to go naked and hungry if we have the means to help them?
Only God’s love, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, can free us to love and care for others as Jesus did. He is the motivation and power of real love.