revmattil.org

1 John 3:11–20 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. 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. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

Love is a recurring theme in John’s writings. In the Gospel that bears his name, he calls himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” He was not trying to elevate himself above others, but was stating the reality in his life: he knew he was loved by Jesus, and he wants others to know that, too.

One of the consequences of following Jesus and knowing His love will be that the world will hate you. They don’t understand who Jesus is and what He has done for you, so they ridicule and criticize what they do not understand.

“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.”

Jesus set the standard. He showed us how to love, even though those He came to save hated and rejected Him. He just kept loving. A fallen woman at a well. A tax collector. A bunch of fishermen. A Roman centurion. A woman caught in adultery. Even those who would betray Him. In fact, in every encounter recorded for us in Scripture, we see Jesus acting out of love. Even when cleansing the Temple. His love wants only the best for us. He is the example of how to love.

So how do you lay down your life for others? That does not just mean dying for someone else. You lay down your life for others when you put their needs ahead of your own. When you share your material wealth with those in need. When your words and actions lead you to be the hands and feet and voice of Jesus to them.

Recently I was talking to a young lady and she was talking about her pastor and said, “I don’t see Jesus in him!” What a terrible, stinging indictment. That should not be. It caused me to do some soul-searching and ask myself how often that could have been said about me!  What about you? Could someone say that about you? Hopefully not.

The 4th-century theologian Jerome tells a story about the Apostle John. John was old and frail, unable to walk, so his disciples would carry him into the gathering of believers on the Lord’s Day. Every week these were his words to the congregation: “Little children, love one another.” This went on week after week, until at last, tired of hearing the same thing repeated, his disciples asked him, “Master, why do you always say this?”  “Because,” John replied, “it is the Lord’s command, and if this only is done, it is enough.”

“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

When we love others, we are letting them see Jesus.

1 John 2:28 – 3:10  And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 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. 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. 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.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!  This is the certainty and conviction of those who follow Jesus. We are children of God, claimed by Him, His name on us through Baptism, Jesus calling us brothers and sisters. This is the action God’s love has taken in our lives. This is our hope.

But there are some parts of this passage that can be confusing and easily misunderstood.

No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. … No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

There are those who maintain that those who come to faith in Jesus stop sinning. Nothing could be further from the truth. Read what the Apostle Paul says about himself in Romans 7. While we are admonished and encouraged to stop sinning, and we try to live that way with God’s help, we continue to fall short of the people God would have us be.

So what is John writing about here? It is a matter of who is in control of you. John is contrasting the Children of God with the children of the Devil. Those controlled by Satan continue to sin and make no effort to stop because they see no reason to live otherwise. But those who live by faith no longer want to sin. We still do it because of our weakness, but we don’t want to be controlled by our sinful desires. We want to do what is right. We want to live according to God’s Will. We want to keep His laws. We want Jesus to be in control of our lives.

Why? Because we know what He has already done for us. He kept the Law perfectly in our place. He paid for all our sin with that perfect life. He brings us into His family as dearly loved children who will live with Him forever. We strive to do what is right to thank our loving God for what He has already done for us.

We try not to sin, but when we do, we have the assurance that God will forgive us for Jesus sake. Just go back to what John shared at the beginning of chapter 2.

1 John 2:1–2 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. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 2:18–27 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—even eternal life. I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

“The last hour.” The end is near. Jesus is coming again. John wants believers to be prepared in faith because His return is a certainty. But he also warns that there are those in this world who will be against us and against Jesus, the “antichrists.” They will be with us until Jesus returns, trying to lead us away from believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of all people.

John then speaks of believers having an anointing. He means we have the Holy Spirit in us. He has been poured on us and into us to work faith in our hearts and to keep us faithful. We know the truth because the Spirit is at work through the Word of God in our lives. This is a fulfillment of what Jesus said to His disciples on the night he was betrayed:

John 14:16-17a And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.

As a side note, You may already know that the Hebrew word “Messiah” and the Greek word “Christ” both mean “The Anointed One.” Jesus was set aside for the special purpose of being the one who would rescue the world from sin and death, and He was anointed with the Holy Spirit. Luke recorded Jesus quoting from Isaiah 61, affirming that the Father gave Him this anointing:

Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

When you acknowledging Jesus as God’s Son and your Savior, when you place your confidence in “the Anointed One,” you get what He earned for you: eternal life.

1 John 2:15–17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

John says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world.” He is not talking about appreciating the wonder of creation and the beauty of the heavens, the majestic mountains, the vast oceans and all the fantastic things God has given us to enjoy. Those are good things. When John admonishes us not to love the world, this is first commandment stuff. John writes about loving the sinful world, where Satan is in control and working against Jesus and His kingdom. John is warning us not to make the world or anything in it the most important thing in your life, putting it in the position God should occupy.

Then he writes “the man who does the will of God lives forever.” And what does that mean? It is best to let Scripture answer that question.

John 6:29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

John 6:40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

The will of God, the “work” He requires is faith. It is not our actions or behavior that save us. It is trusting in God and what He did for us in Christ. Knowing that He lived without sin for us, paid the penalty our sins deserved with His death, and conquered death with His resurrection is what gives us confidence and the certainty of forgiveness, life and salvation.

There are many wonderful and beautiful things in this world. But they are fleeting. They will not last. We have had several reminders of that recently in our family. On Friday I officiated at a graveside service for my niece Lauren, my brother’s daughter, who died last month of a drug overdose. As we were driving to that service, we got word that another niece, Sydney, the daughter of Cheryl’s brother, who has been fighting cancer was hospitalized. She got to meet Jesus face to face on Saturday. They were both in their early thirties. They had both professed faith in Jesus. Our hope is based on God’s promise: “The man [or woman] who does the will of the God lives forever.”

Thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 John 2:7–14 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

John writes here, “I am not giving you a new command but an old one. Oh, but I do have a new command for you.” Confused? Let’s dig into this a bit.

God has always wanted us to love one another. That was His plan. The Ten Commandments were telling us how to love.

Deuteronomy 6:5 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

Leviticus 19:18 “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.”

Romans 13:10  “Love is the fulfillment of the law.”

When Jesus summarized the Law, He wasn’t saying anything new:

Matthew 22:37-39 “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

God’s Law was given to tell us how to love Him and our neighbor. But Jesus also said,

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

While the command sounds the same, there is a new element here. He is telling us to love the way He loves. John writes about this using his theme of light in the darkness. Those who live in the light, followers of Jesus, will not let the world define what love is and what love is not. They will emulate Jesus, striving to love others the way He did. We do this because we live in the forgiveness that He earned for us through His self-sacrifice on the cross.

The command has always been to love. The “new” part of the command is that Jesus showed us the right way to do it. He set the standard, and we try to love that way.

Love one another.

1 John 2:1–6 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. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 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. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

Don’t sin. A simple instruction. We tell it to our children. We tell it to our family and friends. We say it to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Don’t sin. We tell ourselves that same thing. It is good advice. We should follow it.

But we don’t. We can all go a while making a good effort to avoid sin, but eventually we give in to temptations. We fail to use the strength God provides for us to overcome temptation, and we do the very thing we are trying not to do.

God knows this about us. He is very familiar with mankind in its fallen state. That is why He sent Jesus to pay for the sins of all people. It is also why He gave and preserved His Word for us. That word reminds us “But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” The same one who accomplished forgiveness for all people is still pleading our case to the Father! And just to be sure you understand who Jesus is and what He did, John shared this:

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

The sacrifice of Jesus was enough, more than enough, to pay for the sins of everyone. It was full and complete payment, giving us peace and confidence to live our lives here in reverent fear. I say that, because knowing what Jesus did leads to a response on our part. John described it this way:

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. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

We must walk as Jesus did, live as Jesus did, love as Jesus did, help as Jesus did. That is why we are called His followers. We want to follow His example. None of us will do it perfectly. We will mess up over and over again. But we keep trying, remembering what Jesus already did for us. Our lives should be a continual response of thanks to God for all the blessings He has given us in Christ.

“Don’t sin.”  And when you do, repent, ask to be forgiven, and receive what Jesus earned for you. Then you start over again, telling yourself “Don’t sin.”  This is the grace in which we live for Jesus’ sake.

1 John 1:5–10 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

 Some of these words are familiar to many of you from the order of confession and absolution we use in one of our worship services. They appear this way in the hymnal:

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 John is driving home the point that forgiveness for sin is available, but it doesn’t come from us. It was Jesus’ doing. It is the blood of Jesus that purifies us from all sin. When He offered His perfect life on the cross, that was the only sacrifice necessary, the only thing that could pay for our sin and earn our forgiveness.

When we know and believe and understand this, we try to heed His call to walk in His light and be His light for the world to see. Walking in the light we will be in fellowship and communion with others who have been led to faith in Jesus. Walking in the light we will shine for others to see. Walking in the light is our calling as followers of Jesus.

We need to remember that those who are walking in the light with us are not perfect, and neither are we. But we are forgiven. It was not our doing, but God’s. He forgives and purifies and welcomes us into His presence. I live in that confidence, and hope that you do, too.

1 John 1:1–4 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.

The beginning of John’s first letter is similar to the start of the Gospel he wrote. He uses the same words and addresses the same topics: beginning, Word, life. In fact, He starts and ends this letter describing Jesus as being Life itself and the one who brings eternal life to us.

John also stresses that he and the other original followers of Jesus were eyewitnesses. Not only did they see Him, but they touched Him and they heard Him. That is why they testify to Him and proclaim Him to anyone who will listen. They want to let others in on this good thing we have. We are not trying to keep it to ourselves, but to share it with others.

John says this is all an effort to “Make our joy complete.” John’s joy in the Lord is already a reality, but he asserts that is cannot be complete unless his readers also came to hear and know and believe in Jesus as their Savrio, too.

You and I are joyful in the knowledge that we have forgiveness and life and salvation because of Jesus. Our joy becomes complete when we share it and others join us in that certainty and joy.

Lord, thank you for the joy I have in knowing and believing in Jesus as my Savior. Help me to share the joy with others that it may be theirs as well. Amen.

Yesterday morning was beautiful. About 11 a.m. it started getting cloudy. At noon, the sky was filled with gray clouds, but they were moving quickly. We had invited anyone from church who wanted to view the eclipse to our home. About 25 minutes after noon, there was a brief break in the clouds and using our special viewing glasses, we saw that lower right side of the sun was being blocked by the moon. The clouds kept moving quickly and at times we could see the progression of the eclipse without our glasses with the clouds acting as a filter. Then there would be a brief clearing and we could use our glasses to get a better look at the awesome sight. This continued as the eclipse progressed. We were able to see the moment the moon completely blocked the sun, then it went behind the clouds again. We marveled at how dark it was in the middle of the day All at one there was another break in the clouds and we saw the beautiful corona. The clouds continued as the eclipse was waning, but we still got to see it every now and again.

I hope you had a good viewing experience. It truly was an awesome display of the beauty of God’s creation. He set all that in place and is still in control of it all.

As we got glimpses of the eclipse, I continued to think about those who don’t know the true God, the one who revealed Himself in His Word and in the Word made flesh. They don’t know the love God has for them, that He sent His Son to rescue all people from their sins, that He wants only the best for us all, to draw us closer to Himself and have us with Him for eternity. He did everything necessary for that to happen. But many have only seen glimpses of who He is and still don’t know or understand what He has done for them.

When the eclipse hit its totality in our area, we were sitting in darkness. As the light began shining again, I was reminded of the Scriptures that speak of the light overcoming the darkness, and I share some of those with you to ponder on today.

John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

I agree with the psalmist wholeheartedly. I enjoy spending time outdoors admiring the Lord’s handiwork. And today we have the chance to witness an awesome display of God’s glory. We live in the path of the total eclipse. We have invited others to join us at our place for viewing this wonder of God’s creation.

Acts 2:19 I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The eclipse will certainly be a wonder. I just hope we get to see it. The weatherman has predicted mostly cloudy skies and scattered thunderstorms. The eclipse will occur whether we see it or not. The fact that it may be hidden from our sight by clouds does not mean it is not happening.

That made me think of the account of the Ascension, where it said “a cloud hid Him from their sight” (Acts 1:9). And that got me to thinking about those who don’t know about Jesus. His death and resurrection happened. It is a reality. Just because they don’t “see” it does not negate it. The clouds may be hiding Him, but what He did to save everyone from sin and death was real. Some just have not yet been led to faith. You and I can give the Holy Spirit opportunities to do that when we let the light of Jesus shine for them.

The eclipse also reminds me that there was a brief period when it looked like the darkness had overcome the Son of God. But the light emerged again from the tomb on Sunday morning. And that light is still shining today. Let it shine through you.