1.
Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation
of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our
redeemer. Amen. As we’ve been doing these past few weeks in
which we’ve been celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus from the dead
we’ll continue to look at the Apostle John’s 1st letter to the
Christian church. In 1st John
5:1-8 we learn that we know we’re God’s children if we love God and obey his
commandments. But, love and commandments
aren’t necessarily words that people think of in the same thought. Love
has an almost universally pleasant connotation.
Commandments are often
perceived as being restrictive, authoritarian and high handed. But, in 1 John 5:1-8 we learn that to love
God IS to carry out his commandments. The key to understanding this relationship
between love and commandments is always who and why. It would be burdensome if we were to love in order to become children of God and
Christ’s disciples. But, we learn from
John’s Epistle that we’ve already been born of God. We’re already God’s beloved children because
Christ first loved us with the greatest love, to lay down his life for us
through his death on the cross. Then, because we’re already Jesus’ disciples, we willingly keep his commandments to
love one another. The message is
entitled, “God’s Commands Show Us How to
Love” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
Until a number of years ago, there
were no laws about child safety seats and automobile restraint systems. Tragically,
many young children weren’t safely belted in their seats, and they died in car
accidents. Today, laws prohibit children from riding in a car without a child
seat facing the right direction and properly installed. Even new mothers need
to have the seat installed before taking a child home from the hospital. Of all the expressions of human love, there’s
probably no more pure a love than that of a parent for a child. That makes sense since today we celebrate
Mother’s Day and the great sacrifice our mothers made for us when we were
growing up. But, unlike some of our moms
and dads who raised us, some parents didn’t always do what was best for their
children. Many parents needed a law to ensure that their love for their
children didn’t fall short of perfect love.
God knows the same is true of our love and devotion toward him and other
people. He knows our feelings aren’t enough. We needed laws in the form of
commands to aid us in loving him and other people fully.
3.
This is what John is talking about
in 1 John 5:1-8 where he writes, “1Everyone
who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who
loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2By this we
know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his
commandments. 3For this is the love of God, that we keep his
commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4For everyone
who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has
overcome the world—our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world
except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
4.
Here the Apostle John tells us that
real faith and real love are inseparable.
They’re like heads and tails on a coin—two faces of the same power. In 1 John 5:2 our thoughts are directed
toward what it means to love God. Loving
God automatically involves being willing to submit to Him. It means to put His thoughts into our head
and to let Him steer our behavior.
5.
John is saying that obedience is
possible for believers, who have been regenerated and renewed by the Holy
Spirit. The Word and the sacraments
really do have that much power. This may
come as a surprise to young Christians, who are still fresh in the thinking
process they went through in order to understand the concept of justification
by faith alone. In that context we’re
taught by Scripture to say, “no, we
can’t” in regard to human works. A
human being by birth can’t do what God requires. The Apostle Paul taught this repeatedly when
he said in Eph. 2:1, “you were dead in
your transgressions and sins.” Romans
3:10 says, “There is no one righteous,
not even one.” It takes a little
while before former unbelievers can become comfortable with confessing, “I a poor, miserable sinners” on Sunday
morning.
6.
But, what’s impossible for an
unbeliever isn’t only possible but essential in the life of a believer. In each Christian, God has forgiven the guilt
of past sin, changed our clothes from sinful rags to Christ’s righteous robes,
snapped the power of sin to control and given to us the Holy Spirit to change
our minds by the power of God’s Word.
The goal of saving us wasn’t only to save us from the punishment of hell
due to our sins, but to transform us into something positive. To be men and
women who think and act like God.
7.
Here’s another surprise: God’s commands now become joyful to
obey. The law of God is bad news to
people without faith in Jesus. But,
believers love to hear God’s will and do it.
His commands aren’t burdensome as the Apostle John writes. Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is
light. How many heads fit in a
yoke? Two right? So who is pulling alongside us? Jesus of course. He daily assures us of forgiveness for our
failures and gives us strength for each day.
Psalm 119:35 says, “Direct me in
the path of your commands, for there I find delight.” We come to see that all the commandments
of God really are good for us. Imagine
how much better our lives would be if everyone around us kept God’s commandments. Moms, imagine how much easier life would be
for you if your children followed God’s commands. Imagine how much more fun life would be if
you no longer had to experience disrespect for authority, violence, adultery,
stealing, bad mouthing and evil desires.
8.
The faith that connects us to Jesus
enables us to share in his triumphs. Here
John takes us back to Maundy Thursday. In
John 16:33 Jesus told his nervous disciples, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the
world.” Several hours later, as he
bled to death on the cross, he crushed the head of the serpent for us and gave
us his victory. Here in verses 4 and 5
John says that everyone born of God, and believes that Jesus is the Son of God
has overcome the world.
9.
So what does this “overcoming the
world” look like? It means rejoicing in
the life, hope and forgiveness we have through Jesus’ death on the cross for
our sins. It means staying loyal to Jesus
in spite of the Devil’s attacks. It
means resisting the devil knowing that he will have to flee because we’re in
Christ, as James 4:7 says. It also means
adopting God’s value system instead of attractive human philosophies and using
and enjoying things without becoming materialistic. It also means enduring pain and hardship
without despairing or becoming bitter.
Finally, it means that our bodies will rise from the dead to eternal
life on judgment day.
10.
Who is he that overcomes? It’s we who believe that Jesus is the Son of
God, who was sent to this earth to save us from our sins. Once again John contradicts the false
teachers of his day and the cults, both ancient and modern, that say that Jesus
was only the son of Mary and some other man.
Jesus’ true identity is central to everything in the gospel. May God enable each of us to live out His
commands with the NEW LIFE He has given to us through His Son Jesus Christ so
that we may be able to show love to Him and our neighbor. Amen.
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