Knowing & Loving God

[dave c]

HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #131ax Re-Written 09MAY09

Save Me Today—Part Fifty: Knowing & Loving God

by rev dave c

1John 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did (NIV).

Throughout Chapters 13 and 14 in the Gospel of John, Jesus tells us that “if we love Him, we will obey His commands”—His commands being to “love God with our whole person” (Mk 12:30), “love our neighbor as ourselves” (Mk 12:31), and to “love each other as He loved us” (Jn 13:34&35). When I willfully fail to obey these commands, I am demonstrating my lack of love for Jesus. Now, in the Second Chapter of First John we read, “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” Without obedience to the commandments of Christ, it is not possible to love God...or even to know Him. In the face of Thomas asking the Lord which way the disciples should go upon His leaving this life, Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him" (Jn 14:6&7; NIV).

Disobedience is sin. If I do not love God with my whole person, if I do not love my neighbor as myself, and if I do not love you as Jesus loves me—if I am not walking as Jesus did—then I am being disobedient to His commands and my sin is testimony that I neither know, nor love Him. John tells us later in his First Epistle, 3:4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that [Jesus] appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother (NIV).

“Whew!” These verses are a hard teaching—both in striving to understand what John is saying, and in working to live up to their admonitions. Right off the bat, First John 3:4-10 seems to be in direct contradiction to the verses from the first two chapters where we were told: 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world (NIV).

Regarding John’s discussion of sin in his First Letter, the late William Barclay shared this insight: “In the Greek there is a subtle difference in tenses which makes a very wide difference in meaning. In 1 John 2: 1 it is John’s injunction that you may not sin. In that verse sin is in the aorist tense which indicates a particular and definite act. So what John is saying is quite clearly that Christians must not commit individual acts of sin; but if they do lapse into sin, they have in Christ an advocate to plead their cause and a sacrifice to atone. On the other hand, in our present passage [1John 3:4-10] in both cases sin is in the present tense and indicate habitual action. [IP] What John is saying may be put down in four stages. (a) The ideal is that in the new age sin is gone for ever. (b) Christians must try to make that true and with the help of Christ struggle to avoid individual acts of sin. (c) In fact all men have these lapses and when they do, they must humbly confess them to God, who will always forgive the penitent heart. (d) In spite of that, no Christian can possibly be a deliberate and consistent sinner; no Christian can live a life in which sin is dominant in all his actions. [IP] John is not setting before us a terrifying perfectionism; but he is demanding a life which is ever on the watch against sin, a life in which sin is not the normal accepted way but the abnormal moment of defeat. John is not saying that the man who abides in God cannot sin; but he is saying that the man who abides in God cannot continue to be a deliberate sinner.” [William Barclay, The Letters Of John And Jude (Revised Edition); Westminster John Knox Press; Louisville, Kentucky; 1976; p.81]

No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God (1Jn 3:9; NIV). To borrow verses from Matthew 19:25-26; When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Amen.