Today we turn to the Apostle John’s first general letter to the church. In all, John wrote or dictated five books: The Gospel of John; 1, 2, and 3 John, and Revelation. The reason I said wrote or dictated is the Book of Revelation has the worst Greek writing in the entire New Testament, while the Gospel of John has some of the best. How could the same person have written both? If we think about it for a moment, it isn’t hard to see what might have happened. When John wrote the Book of Revelation, he was in exile on the island of Patmos. He didn’t have a “scribe” someone to whom he could dictate what he experienced. He had to write it himself. He was a Hebraic Jew by background, born and raised in Israel. He wouldn’t likely have been too good at writing Greek. It would have been a second or third language for him. In the Book of Revelation, we find a number of “Hebraisms,” which means the writing is in Greek, but the words or phrases themselves are rooted in Hebrew words and phrases. Why bring this up when we’re about to read 1 John? Because John authored a significant portion of the New Testament, and I wanted to point that out. 1 John is by far the longest of the “Johanine” letters. The other two are only one chapter each. In 1 John, John lays out his theology of Jesus, and reminds us he and the other apostles wrote from lives of personal experience: They had heard Jesus’ words personally. They had seen Jesus perform miracles and they had touched Him personally. That included seeing and touching the risen Jesus! What an amazing opportunity they experienced, and because of that experience, John was able to speak clearly about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and the significance of each for our lives. John’s experience allowed him to verify Jesus was fully God and fully man, which was often doubted in the early Church, and false teachers seemed to present ideas that elevated either Jesus’ humanity or His divinity but denied the reality of His being both fully God and fully human.
In 1 John 1, John sets forth his basic premise: We have seen, heard and touched Jesus in our lives. Therefore, we know He is God’s son, and the light of the world. All who walk in that light will know the light of life. John also reminds us whoever claims he has no sin is self-deceived or a liar, but when we confess our sins to God, He is just and faithful to forgive those sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What a powerful and important truth: We don’t serve a God who rejects us if we aren’t perfect. He knows we aren’t perfect, which is why Jesus died for us. When we admit these imperfections, our sins, and everything about us that is broken, God is eager to forgive us and help us be made whole.
In 1 John 2, John reminds us we are called to live holy lives, but when we sin, and repent, we have an advocate–Jesus–who will forgive and restore us. John makes it clear if we continue to live habitually sinful lives, we are deceived if we think we belong to Jesus. John reminds us of Jesus’ new commandment to love one another. For John that is the litmus test of our faith. If we say we love God, but don’t love each other our claims are false. John writes at some length about the “antichrists” who were already in the world and the antichrist who was to come. John rightly points out anyone who is working against the ways and will of Jesus is an “antichrist,” which means being opposite or opposed to Christ. John reminds us we are children of God. What an amazing position and relationship! Regardless of who we are or who our biological parents may be or have been, we are children of the living God through the shed blood of Jesus!
1 John 3 is a powerful chapter that starts with the reminder that we are called children of God through Jesus and that is what we are! John reminds us we won’t continue to live lives of sin when Jesus is in charge of our lives. In 1 John 3:16 we read these powerful words: 16By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.1 John 3:16 (ESV) Most of us know John 3:16 (from the Gospel of John): For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. But 1 John 3:16 reminds us of Jesus laying down His life for us and then calls us to lay down our lives for one another! It’s easy to rest on John 3:16, but a genuine faith is going to move forward in laying down our lives for each other.
1 John 4 starts with a reminder we aren’t to believe every “spirit,” but we must test the spirits to make sure they are from God. The test is simple: Any spirit who says Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. Any spirit that doesn’t make that confession is from the antichrist. John goes on to write a great deal about God and His love. John reminds us God doesn’t merely exhibit love: God is love. As we would expect, John also goes on to say our own love of God is shown in our love for one another. Anyone can say, “I love God,” but as John reminds us if we don’t love our brothers and sisters whom we have seen, we most certainly don’t love God whom we have not seen.
1 John 5 closes with a strong reminder that when we love God and believe in Him, we will obey His commandments. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, one of my mentors, Pastor Dale Milligan, often said, “To love God is to trust God enough to obey Him.” Talk is free when it comes to loving God, but when we live out that love in obedience, in the power of the Holy Spirit, others know we are Jesus’ followers. John goes so far as to say we will overcome the world when we live in loving obedience to Jesus. John concludes the letter by writing he has written to keep his readers in the truth, to remind them God hears their prayers and responds to them as they live in His truth and love. He writes to call them again to holy lives and to remember no one who knows God continues to live sinful lives. He closes with the simple admonition: keep yourselves from idols. While that might not seem to apply to us, we must remember not all idols are statues made of wood, metal or stone. Even the good things in our lives can become idols when we value them more than we value our relationship with God.
As we return to Luke 18, Jesus tells His disciples the Parable of the Persistent Widow, which He told them to remind them of how important it is for us to persist in prayer. After that, Jesus told the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, which reminds us how important it is to remember we’re all sinners, and the humble prayer of confession and repentance is the most important prayer we can offer. Next, families bring their children to Jesus for Him to bless them. The disciples don’t see the value in this until Jesus rebukes them and invests time with the children. That tells us we must value and invest time in children as well. Jesus then has a conversation with a rich, young ruler who wants to know how to gain eternal life. Jesus tells the man to have riches in heaven, he must give up his worldly wealth. The man was unwilling, because he had great wealth. How sad that the man gave up the opportunity to be with Jesus as one of His followers, because he couldn’t let go of material wealth! After this, Jesus tells the disciples a third time of His impending crucifixion. We’re told they didn’t get it at all. Finally, the chapter closes with Jesus healing a blind man. Luke tells us Jesus focused on the man’s faith as being responsible for the healing. As we think about the matters in our lives, whether physical or spiritual that need healing, we must exercise our own faith as our part in the healing process.