Only One Hope

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

ONLY ONE HOPE

1 John 3:4-6

4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he 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.

NIV

What are we to do here? John is asserting that every sin is breaking the Law of God and that is surely the case. There is no other way to interpret this meaning. It is also true that Jesus came to take away our sins. John is making the point that in Jesus there is no sin, therefore Jesus is the only one without sin and thus qualifies Him to be the sacrifice for our sins. However, this is very troubling that John also tells us that if we live in Christ we will not keep on sinning and that if we continue to sin we have neither seen Jesus or know Jesus. Our scholars of old comment on this passage as if they have indeed stopped sinning completely and are fully pure in their entire being, otherwise they would have to admit they do not live in Christ. There is also thought among some that this refers to habitual sin, to continue to sin willfully, knowingly and not caring about the law of God in that sense because the passions of self-gratification are too strong to overcome. The fact is all sin is in violation of the law. Sin is lawlessness. So how do we deal with the fact that we still live in the corruptible? How do we deal with committing sin, or have we been so purified that we are free of the commission of sin. Have we attained holiness to the fullest and no longer commit even the smallest of sin, which we would have to say all sin, no matter to what degree we classify sin, it is still sin. So then do we say that if we have one disobedient thought, word, or deed, we are not living in Christ and therefore are not saved? We could spend a whole day writing out the various ways in which we could be disobedient in thought, word, or deed. There are so many ways in which we would have to say we would be guilty of some sin, some violation of the law of God. How can that be? Do we fail at loving everyone equally? Do we fail at being patient? Do we have any envy, any jealously, any judgmental attitude, any doubt, any desire to store up wealth, any thoughts of want, which can be lust? Do we ever get upset, angry, or fail to forgive? The list could be enormous of the ways in which we can fail to be totally pure, holy, and blameless before God. That is if it all depended on us, if our salvation, our knowing Jesus was completely dependent on us being free of all sin. How can that ever be the truth? It is absolutely true that we do not make it our aim or goal to sin so that God’s grace can increase. Without a doubt, we want to keep from any willful act of sin, saying to ourselves, “well, after the sin, we will ask for forgiveness". Of course, we desire to keep from sin, but the fact still remains, in our corruptible state, we are going to fail at perfection. Our desire is to live for and in Jesus and have Him be the Lord of our life. It is our desire to live as free from sin as possible, to keep ourselves pure and holy. But that would mean everything depends on our ability to do so, our perfect control of self at all times in every situation. But then we would not be living in Christ, we would be living in self, and self is corruptible, in thought, word, and deeds, those of commission and of omission. Our only hope is to live in Christ, to trust in Him, to be in Him and have Him in us. In Christ, we are holy and blameless in the sight of God. We have no other to follow. This is what John is warning those he writes to, that they and we cannot follow some false teachings, or false doctrines such as the stoics, epicureans, or Judaizers, which all depend to some degree on the flesh, or acts of the self, which is then putting aside the act of Jesus. The truth is all our hope rests in the act of Jesus on that cross. He took away all our sins. He is our only one hope.

Expectation

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

EXPECTATION

1 John 3:1-3

3:1 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. 2 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. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

NIV

Well, it is now time to consider what we will be which has not yet been made known. Although we think that John did have a glimpse as he was on that mountain when Jesus was transfigured. He saw Jesus in all his divinity, glowing, shining in all his purity, well at least as much as he could and still be fully man, but it was a glimpse into the eternal and what we will be changed into when he appears. Paul tells us, in his letter to the Corinthians, about this change that will happen. It will be in a flash, in a twinkling of an eye. That is faster than a speeding bullet or more powerful than a locomotive. It is more than to leap over a building in a single bound, but it will be, look in the sky, it’s a bird, no it’s Jesus and all those who have changed. We are going to be raised from what is corruptible to being incorruptible. We are going to be changed from what is perishable to that which is imperishable. We are going to be changed from what is mortal to that which is immortal. What we also suspect is that we will also have a glow about us, as to how John saw Jesus along with Moses and Elijah. When Jesus appears and we are changed is our hope, but yet is also a fact. That is what is a bit strange that John says it is our hope. First, he says that we know, so that is then a fact if we know it because Jesus said so. Then John says it is our hope, which could indicate we are not sure, but we are hoping it is. However, we do not think that is exactly what John means. Looking into the Greek word translated as hope, it actually has the meaning of expectation. So then, everyone who has this expectation in him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure. In other words, we know it is true and so we live expecting it to happen. That is much different than hoping it will happen, for that implies we are not sure it will, but we hope it will. Because we know it will happen and we live in expectation of the day it will happen, we purify ourselves, just as he is pure. Again, the Greek gives us a clearer picture of what this means. Both purify and pure are a form of the same word, except as Jesus is pure, the Greek word means just that pure, perfect, a present state of what is. However, the form of that word as it applies to us, is in the active state, that is we are making ourselves pure. But, we are not actually making ourselves pure as that is not possible to be the pure as Jesus is, perfect, at least in the state we are currently in. However, when we are changed we will be pure, as Jesus is. So then, it is our expectation which is the reason we are purified or sanctified, made holy. It is not that we do it ourselves, but because we have the hope in Jesus, we are in that process of becoming like him. Anyone who does not hope in Jesus or does not expect him to appear has no clue about the process of being purified and makes no effort to live with expectation. But we know he is coming for us and we know he has been already changing us from what we once were into who we are now and that process is continually evolving until the day he appears. What a joy to live with this expectation.

Children of God/Lavished Love

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

CHILDREN OF GOD/LAVISHED LOVE 

1 John 3:1-3

3:1 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. 2 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. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

NIV

Just to consider if we did not have parents, or rather our parents were dead. At an early age in our life, we would have been called an orphan, a parentless child. In some cases, we might have an extended family member who could take us in, but in many cases, as an orphan, we would become a ward of the state. Still, those who have been raised in a home by parents have somewhat of an understanding of parental love. Here, John speaks of how great the love of the Father has lavished on us, simply by calling us his children. We remember we have been born of him, as John has put it. We may have started out having been born in the flesh through natural means, but we now have been born again of the Spirit, which is by supernatural means. Those are the words Jesus used in his talk with Nicodemus.

John 3:5-7

5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

NIV

John is very aware that those who have been born of the Spirit are now considered by God as his children and he wants to make sure we know that to the fullest. Although Paul speaks because of or in His love, He predetermined to adopt us as his sons, or children through Jesus Christ, the meaning is still the same. We are children of the Most High God through accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior, and thus having been born again in the spirit. As an earthy parent, we love our children no matter what. They can do everything right, but that is highly unlikely. Many times they may well disappoint us, or disobey, but that never disturbs our love for them. We have heard, and it is very disturbing, a mother yelling at her child, “If you don’t stop that, I won’t love you anymore”. This is a self-centered parent, unlike God who died on the cross because of His great love for us, so we could be called children of God. Even when we disobey, His love for us never is diminished. We can have complete confidence in His love for us. Those who are children of the world are in an entirely different family and have no idea of how our family operates, they do not know us, nor do they know our Father. This idea of what we will become is fascinating to consider, and we will leave that for our next adventure into this passage. So, for now, we will just relish in the fact that God loves us so much, that he has lavished his love on us, that we should be called children of God.

Confident and Unashamed

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

CONFIDENT AND UNASHAMED

 1 John 2:28-29

28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

NIV

This is John’s concluding statement in his letter. Although we know he wrote additional letters, at this point neither John nor the readers of his first letter had any thoughts about his writing further letters. So in his closing thoughts, he once again makes the point about remaining in Christ by telling them and us to continue in him. If we continue to remain in Christ, that is not get distracted by false teaching, but remain to the fact that we are saved by grace when Jesus appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. John recalls what Jesus said to Nicodemus about being born again, or as John puts it, born of him. Except John also indicates that because we know Jesus is righteous, that is he is our righteousness, we know that everyone who does what is right is born of him. What exactly does John mean about doing what is right? All too often we take the English words written as a meaning, even some of our scholars of old are guilty of that mistake in making their commentary on the word. In the Greek Interlinear, we find a more accurate meaning to what John is saying. It reads if we know he is righteous, or holy then whoever is justified is born of him. That is we are saved by grace, not because we do the right thing because we cannot do the right thing. The danger is in putting emphasis on our obedience, consecration, and our dedication to make us right with God. It is never that. We are made right with God because before all that, Christ died. John is reminding them there are those false doctrines promoted by false teachers, whether it was the stoics, the epicureans, or the Judaizers, they all had some ritual or rules to live by rather than salvation by faith. We are justified through faith in Jesus, which is what makes us right with God, or what is doing right which means we are born of him. Doing the right thing is believing in Jesus. That is truly the only thing we can do right in the fullest sense. Yes, there is an effect in our lives because we believe, but it is not this effect that makes us right before God. Even repentance does not make us right before God, only the sacrifice of Jesus does that. So then what we know is that we must remain in our faith in Jesus for our lives. If we get distracted by other doctrines, or on our acts of righteousness, our devotion, our obedience, or adherence to what we think are acts of good Christian living, we might just be ashamed of ourselves at his appearing. It is only in our believing in Jesus, in his act of righteousness on our behalf that we are saved and our being confident and unashamed at his appearing.    

anointed Living

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

ANOINTED LIVING

 1 John 2:26-27

26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27 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.

NIV

There was and will always be those who would lead us astray. It is the way of the human condition, of the sinful nature. It has to be of that sinful nature because those who would lead us astray are leading us away from the truth, away from Christ and anyone who does that is definitely sinful. However, as John points out we have received an anointing, which he has to be referring to the anointing of the Holy Spirit because he also says his anointing teaches us about all things. Now, there is somewhat of a quandary. We also have a local shepherd who, in some sense, teaches us regarding the word of God. However, if we examine the work of the local shepherd, as defined as one of the gifts to the church.

Eph 4:11-13

11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

NIV

Are all, the apostles, the prophets, evangelists, and the pastors and teachers needed to prepare God’s people for works of service? It would seem that is what Paul is saying, but then he might just be making reference to the pastors and teachers. Either case, their purpose is to prepare us for service, but the reason for the service is so the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach the unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature. So John is telling us that the Holy Spirit teaches us the truth about all things. Whatever we hear, from the word of any man, needs to be tested against that which the Holy Spirit, His anointing, has taught us about all things. Even though there are these pastors and teachers, they could be the ones who might be leading us astray. We cannot accept any words from man, without testing those words against the anointing that remains within us. Certainly for the most part the pastors and teachers should be called by God for a place in the body and for the express reason Paul talks about. They are to be preparers of the people of God. But it is the people of God who, through their works of service, built up the body. It is not the pastor who builds us up, but we do that ourselves, as he serves to prepare us for that service. Here again, the anointing of the Holy Spirit is needed to fully understand all things. He is real, he is not unreal or counterfeit. There are many who may come in the name of God, who are counterfeiter, appearing close to the real thing, but not the real thing. Even Satan may come as an anointing, appearing as an angel of light, but we have the real thing, we have the indwelling of the Spirit, the true anointing which has been given to us by Christ. Jesus said that he must go to he could send the comforter, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit who would lead us into all truth. Let us listen to His voice within, learn from Him, and live as an anointed one.

His Promise

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

HIS PROMISE

 

1 John 2:24-25

24 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. 25 And this is what he promised us — even eternal life.

NIV

Well, we sort of already spilled the beans with the preceding verses regarding remaining in Christ. Yet that is the central theme of our faith. Yes, coming to Jesus for our salvation is definitely the beginning of our journey. Whatever reason each believer decides to follow Jesus, they made that choice at some point in their lives. This beginning is the moment we become born again. Jesus made it clear in his conversation with Nicodemus that in order for us to see the kingdom of God we had to be born again. But that is the beginning of our new life in Christ and from that point, we have to remain in Christ. Is it possible after being born again to not remain in Christ? If so, what would that look like? In the first place, what does it mean to remain in Christ? Is it just saying we are a Christian? Is it attending church every Sunday? Is it doing some good work? Is it setting up some rules to follow that give us the appearance of being “good Christians”? What we know is that remaining in Christ means to draw all our nourishment from him as he is the vine and we are the branches. We know that remaining in Christ means we have no righteousness in ourselves for He is our righteousness. We know that remaining in Christ means any fruit we bear is a direct result of Jesus sending the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and it is He who bears the fruit in us. We know remaining in Christ means we do not listen to other voices. This is the main reason John is writing this letter. Other voices infiltrate the body of Christ. It does those other voices no good if they do not have a group to spread their lies in because they start with the same basics of the faith. But they twist it for their own benefit so to draw followers to themselves. Remaining in Christ means to remain in Christ, to listen to His voice, His word, His truth, and follow His way. That is one voice, not multiply voices. It is difficult for us to understand how some believers can attend a local church under the care of the Shepherd God has called, and then listen to others preaching over the airwaves, who they do not know. Unless we remain in Christ and have the Holy Spirit manifesting His discernment in our lives, we may hear confusing or even opposing thoughts regarding the truth. We have even heard some believer's voice praise for some of those silver-tongued preachers, because they verbalize or preach so well, or have a wonderful accent to listen to or a great smile. But what is their message based on? Is it remaining in Christ? Is it all about Jesus and our life in him? Is it about having eternal life in Christ? If we do not remain in Him, we have no eternal life. But if we do remain in him, we have eternal life. That is His promise.

Remaining In Christ

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

REMAINING IN CHRIST

1 John 2:20-23

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.   21 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. 22 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. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

NIV

Once again, John makes the point about false doctrines. The reason for this letter is not to establish a new doctrine, but to point out they and we know the truth. We know that Jesus is the Christ, He is God who came to earth in the form of man to be our Savior. We know that Jesus, being the Christ is the only one able to take away our sins. We cannot be convinced otherwise by any false doctrines. Anyone who looks to anything or anyone else is a liar and the truth is not in them. What we have to be careful of is in our daily living as a believer in Jesus as the Christ. We would never deny He is the Christ and that our salvation is in Him. But we must also trust him for our daily living. If we could be sinless now that we are saved, that would be wonderful, but the fact is we are not sinless. Sure, we try our very best to remain as pure as possible and we do not go out of our way looking for a way to sin, but sin still finds us. Impatience has a way to sneak in from time to time. But perhaps the most difficult thing is to rid ourselves of self-reliance. When we start thinking we can keep ourselves pure, truly pure, faultless, then we are in deep trouble. When we allow spiritual pride to have its way with us, are we forgetting about the Christ? We can do nothing apart from Jesus. Nothing means not a single thing. We have to rely on Jesus for every aspect of our lives. If we exclude him from one single aspect of our lives, is that a form of denial, therefore, self-reliance? We hear some of these silver-tongued liars that use the media to spread their non-truths, using the word, God, but never do we hear them talk about Jesus. Their messages sound good, and they attract large crowds, who may be in the process of being deceived. We cannot pay attention to them because we know the truth, we know Jesus is the Christ and we look to Him for our life, both our eternal life and our daily life. This is the strength of the local church and a local shepherd who guards the flock given to him by God. During the days of the apostles, they served as shepherds, of guardians of the young churches. But that mantle has been passed on to the local shepherd of today. This shepherd now writes, so to speak, so no lies come from the truth because the people in his flock know the truth and he continues to guide toward the truth. Jesus said that he is the truth, the way, and the life and that no man comes to the Father except through Him. So we live in Christ, we remain in the truth and we need to live by that truth, always trusting, always looking to Jesus.

Antichrists

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

ANTICHRISTS

1 John 2:18-19

18 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. 19 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.

NIV

It is interesting how they did think their time was the last hour. But how long is the last hour? The Greek word translated as an hour can mean exactly that, one-twelfth of a twelve-hour day. But its first meaning is a certain definite time, a season. Within the context of how John is using this, he could mean an actual hour or a certain time, so it could read, Dear Children, this is the definite time, this is the season we have expected as you have heard that the antichrist is coming. John says that even during his lifetime many antichrists have come. We can be sure that John was not referring to the Antichrist, the one who will raise up during the tribulation and declare himself to be god, which John speaks about in the revelation that was given to him. However, anyone who opposes Christ is an antichrist. There were many who fit that description in the time of John and there are even more of them who fit the term, antichrist, today. John is making another point regarding the origin of these antichrists. He is saying that they once were a part of the community of faith, and then left it, or got caught up in false doctrine and went astray and even worse, starting declaring their false doctrine as truth. John is making sure we know those kinds of people were never actual believers in Jesus Christ, to begin with. How do we relate to this truth? We know there are many who are outright opposed to Jesus Christ today. So many, we would have a difficult time trying to categories them by groups. Certainly those massive non-Christian religions who claim to worship God, but refuse to acknowledge Jesus as God, are plan to us, such as Islam. However, those false teachers spewing their deceitful doctrines of self-help, and feel good messages were never part of the community of faith, to begin with as John puts it. How can someone who takes from others to live abundantly beyond imagination be a part of the body of Christ? Surely the shepherd or servant is deserving of his wages, but the definition of antichrist makes it clear these types set themselves up as demi-gods, declaring themselves high and lifted up. We have to make sure humility remains intact in our character, as we remain in Christ. Again, if we remain in Christ we will bear much fruit, but apart from him, working in our own abilities we can do nothing. When we look to ourselves, our skills, our abilities, our knowledge, it might be said that we have set ourselves high and lifted up and are not remaining in Christ, and therefore if that is the case, could we be seen as an antichrist. When we think more highly of ourselves then we should, is that not saying we are seeing ourselves as good enough and that we are better than others, and if so, then we are not remaining in Christ, and then would we be a type of antichrist? Questions we have to consider in regard to how we think and behave in relation to the body of Christ. We are just one part of the body, and Christ is the head. We have to remain in the body, doing that which our part has been determined by Christ. But we must remain in Christ, being the body, remaining in the vine, being the branch so that we can bear much fruit, fruit that benefits the rest of the body and the vine, Jesus.   

 

No Grey Area

 

DEVOTION

THR 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

NO GREY AREA

1 John 2:15-17

15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 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. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

NIV

This love of the world is defined here by John. He tells us that the world consists of the cravings of the sinful man, the lust of the eyes, and the boasting of what we have and what we have done. The problem with this definition is that it is still a bit vague, leaving us to interpret just what those cravings and lust of the eyes mean. Regarding boasting about what we have and have done is pretty clear. It seems it is quite a natural part of life to be boastful. We have to boast about ourselves if we ever intend to secure the right position in life. That is what resumes are all about, boasting of our educational achievements and our record of successes and abilities in our chosen profession. The problem is this boasting has infiltrated the community of faith. However, the greatest of this boasting has been, and is still in progress, in those false teachers, or preachers. When they have built large edifices for themselves on the backs of the believer, fleecing the flock so they can live largely, it is boasting, but also fulfilling their sinful cravings and lust of their eyes. These people are to be kept far away from us, or we are to steer far clear of them. Yet, these three traits are also aimed at us as well.  Again, there is no grey area here whatsoever. We simply cannot pursue our cravings, which we have to admit exist. If we had no cravings for that which is sinful, we would not be human beings, we would be God. Even Lucifer, the most beautiful angel God ever created, had sinful desires, except he acted on them and it cost him dearly, but he still insists on fulfilling his cravings and wants to tempt us to do the same. Here is where we just have to say, No! We do not love those cravings, we abhor them, and cannot stand it if we give in at times. This also applies to the lust of the eyes. Usually, it is thought this has some sexual overtones, but the lust of the eyes can be for material possessions. Always seeing that expensive car or home, or wanting the best clothes. Looking at them with a longing for them, wishing we could have them, thinking what it would be like to own that thing or have enough money to buy whatever we want when we want it. All that is the lust of the eyes. Even the whole issue of money fits into this category, of the lust of the eyes. The lust for money, this storing it up so we can have more and more, and then it is never enough. We know that we have been told we cannot serve God and money, so we have to submit to God, love him above all else, even our desire for wealth. We also have to be careful about boasting about our accomplishments, if, in fact, we have any. But it can also apply to our service to the Lord. The community of faith has developed way too many titles within itself which could cause a believer to feel just a little boastful about having some title. OF course, it may be needed to have these positions defined by name, so we know who is who. But we need to be careful not to feel boastful because we have a task, an area of service to our Lord, which has a title. What is seems to come down to is what we spend most of our time thinking about. If we love the Lord, then it would be natural to think we would spend most of our time thinking about Him, about His word, about fulfilling our calling. How our life in Christ is the central theme of our lives such dominate our thinking. That would mean we have the love of God in us, and we would be doing his will. This comes to the idea of making choices in life. Where we live, work and church should all be from the will of God, rather than from our will, or desire. Even our skillsets should be from the will of God, as He directs the path of our lives. We should want what He wants for our lives, not what we want. Our wants can be driving by our cravings, or lust of our eyes, or for the reason to boast. It always comes to having the love of the Father in us, rather than our love for the world. There can be no grey area.

Being Children

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

BEING CHILDREN

 1 John 2:12-14

12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. 13 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. 14 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.

NIV

It does seem strange that John uses this format in his letter. He says that he writes to the children, the fathers, and the young men twice instead of telling each two things at the same time. This format John uses is referred to as tautology and is used to make the point stronger. What is not sure and has our scholars at odds is the meaning of children, young men, and fathers. Some would suggest this refers to the physical age of the people he is writing to, while others would suggest he is speaking about their spiritual age. We cannot be sure which the right concept to follow is, but what we do notice is what he says to each. To the children, he tells them their sins have been forgiven on account of his name, who John must mean the name of Jesus and that because they have known the Father. To the young men he tells them the reason he writes to them is that they have overcome the evil one, and that they are strong and the word of God lives in them and that they have overcome the evil one. To the fathers, he says the same thing twice which is they have known him from the beginning. Is this the whole church in general? That is the church is comprised of people who are at different places in their walk with the Lord. This is just difficult to understand the exact implication of what John is saying to the church. Why would he write to little children? Would not the truth of God as he explains it be way beyond their age level of comprehension? This has to be to the church which is comprised of people at different levels of their spiritual journey. The first thing a new believer, a dear child would be concerned about would be knowing their sins were forgiven and understanding Jesus is the Son of the God, the Father. There comprehension of all the truth of God, the nuisances of the Word of God have not been known to them yet. They are still simply reveling in the fact they have been freed from the penalty of sin. The burden of death has been lifted from their shoulders. That is enough to go on at first. There is a time coming when they will begin to learn more about Jesus, about life as a believer, and all the schemes of the devil they must take their stand against. What these dear children have, is the joy of the Lord, the feeling of relief, and a spring in their spiritual step. Perhaps the young men and the fathers need a little more of what the dear children have. Have we lost the spring in our spiritual step? Have we become entrenched in our ways, and settled for more of a hum-drum walk? Maybe we need to look at what is said to the young men and fathers before we decide completely. But for now, it might be good to consider if we have lost a bit of that excitement about salvation, that spring in our step, that enthusiasm about having our sins forgiven and having been given eternal life. Maybe we need to say, yippee, hallelujah, praise God, and jump for joy!  

Love or Hate

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

LOVE OR HATE

1 John 2:9-11

9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11 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.

NIV

There is absolutely no wiggle room here at all. The Greek word translated as hate means even a little more than hate as it can be used as detest, or to love less. Now, if we want to see it as love less, that would imply partiality in our love, or that we love some of our brothers more than others. That is what those little cliques are all about. Special buddies, or a group of ladies that hang out together and won’t let others in. Partiality in our love would mean we are still walking in the darkness. Although John is making a special notation about hating our brother, which the Greek word is used both as someone from the same parents, or fellow believers as we are in the same family of God, Jesus said that we are to even love our enemies. In other words, we are to love each other equally as God loves the world or all his creation. Again, our love should be equally demonstrated to all our fellow believers. Of course, there is a very special bond of love that exists in marriage, a love like no other. This bond of love was established by God, so it is just fine to love our spouse more than any other person. There also may well be a special bond of love within a family, between a mother and father for their children and that bond of siblings. John is not forgetting about that, or speaking against those special bonds of love, but rather speaking about the family of God, every believer. How can we detest a fellow believer? That would seem against everything we are supposed to be as a follower of Christ. Can we love someone, but really not like them very much? That seems ridiculous to even say. We think it applies more to loving less, then pure unadulterated hatred. Maybe even being indifferent toward some believers can be interpreted as hate. If we do not love them, then we hate them. It appears to be that kind of black and white issue, lacking any grey areas at all. Love or hate, pick one, then we apply that toward other believers. The problem is we cannot ever pick hate, or detest, or show partiality in our love. If we do, we are not walking in the light, we are in the darkness and have become blind to the truth of God. How can that be? How can someone who claims to be a Christian walk in the darkness? Yet, it appears it is possible, for we have witnessed such behavior in the community of faith. Can being judgmental or critical serve as being non-loving and thus would qualify as hate? Can gossip serve as a form of non-love, thus hatred? We know these little cliques serve as partiality and can serve as loving less those outside the group and thus hate. Again, there does not seem to be any wiggle room at all. We must love all believers equal, as God does if we are walking in the light. If we don’t then we are walking in the darkness, and are blinded to the truth.  

Shining the Light

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

SHINING THE LIGHT

 1 John 2:7-8

7 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. 8 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.

NIV

This gives us somewhat of a slight dilemma as to which John is referring to. Is he referring back to what he just said that whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus walked, or is John referring to what is he about to say regarding claiming to walk in the light but hating our brother? Yet, this could be about neither and John is inserting still another truth for us to ponder. First, we should consider what this old command he is talking about. Then, what is this new command that we have heard since the beginning? What we do know is that from the very beginning of time, or at least at creation, God’s desire was for man to love him with all his heart, his soul, his mind, and strength. God wanted to have pure fellowship with his creation, man. God desired that man love each other, to live in paradise and peace within his creation. This may well be the old command that we have heard from the beginning. This is the same message, or command that is a new command in the sense that the truth of that command is seen in Jesus and in working in us. Jesus made it clear the two greatest commands were to love the Lord with all our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Nothing new that was not already in place when he created us. However, this darkness that is passing and the true light is already shining makes it sound that we forgot about the old command, stepped out of the light and into the darkness. Well, that is exactly what Adam did when he disobeyed God. Just thinking that Adam and Eve had to witness one of their sons kill another of their sons, is darkness. That could not get much darker. This is why we might think John is referring to what he says next about claiming to be in the light but hating a brother. The darkness is in the world and we all have been called out of that darkness into the light of Jesus. John also makes it appear as though this passing of darkness and the true light is already shining is a process, in the sense, it takes time for all the darkness within us to pass. The fact is that if we are walking in the light that is already shining, there can be no darkness within. It has passed. Just because we continue to struggle with sin in some of the areas of our lives does not mean we are still walking in the darkness. In the darkness, there is no way to see our way, we are forever lost, in darkness, blind as it were, unable to see anything, even unable to see our sin. But, because the light is shining in our hearts and minds, we have sight, we can see the path of righteousness, we can see the finish line, we can see where we are walking and going, and we can also see our faults, and want the light to shine on them. So this new command is still the old command, and we still desire to love the Lord with our whole being, however, we still struggle with truly loving our neighbor as much as we should. Certainly, we do not hate them. Serving in the military is the reality of being willing to lay down our lives for our neighbor if called to do so. We understand that having served, yet it also carries this meaning that loving our neighbor means to not be selfish with our resources, mostly our time, or self. That seems to be generally lacking in our current culture of personal goals, ambitions, and desires, even within the community of faith. How do we get past that? How do we set aside our self, for our neighbor? How can we spend our time encouraging, strengthening, and exhorting our neighbor to walk in the light? It sure seems this is what John is doing in this letter, and maybe we can do that as well, in the sense of either through our words, spoken or written. Maybe we can let the light shine more through us.

Walk the talk

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

WALK THE TALK

1 John 2:3-6

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

This almost makes it sound like we would be better to say we do not know him, but the fact is, we do know Jesus, we have accepted him as our Lord and Savior and have attempted to walk in the path of righteousness since that day. We have made an effort to obey his commands, but we are not sure just exactly how successful we have been over the years. Is John saying that because we fail from time to time, or that we just are not truly walking completely one hundred percent perfectly in obeying his word, that we are a lair? How can we obey perfectly, as we are in this frail human form? We try to obey, we want to obey, but we just mess it up at times. Does that count? We have to believe John is making a distinction between a believer and false teacher, or incorrect doctrine, or following after the traditions of men, rather than the word of God. There were certainly many false teachers in that day as there are today. How many claim to know Jesus, or claim to be religious, but in reality continue to live the same way they always did. We do know that our life has changed dramatically over the years, and that we are not walking in the path we once did, but that we are walking in the way God has directed us. However, what strikes at the core of our being is this statement that if we claim to live in him we must walk as Jesus did. How exactly do we do that? Can we teach the truth? Can we heal people? Can we raise someone from the grave? Can we walk on water? Can we calm a storm? Maybe there is a different meaning about walking as Jesus did. Maybe it is not that complicated. To obey his word could mean that we came to the saving knowledge of Jesus and accepted him as our Lord and Savior, or were converted and then to walk as Jesus did would mean to continue to grow in grace, continue in the state of salvation, growing in our knowledge of Jesus. But still, that would have to imply that we walk as Jesus did, being a benefit to the kingdom of God and to our fellow man. In essence, being a benefactor to others. That main walk of Jesus was to the cross. Although he gave us many examples of loving God with our heart, our soul, our mind, and strength and loving our neighbor, he also gave us the example of laying down our life for a friend. This is that putting others before ourselves thing. This is not thinking more highly of ourselves then we should. This is being humble before God and men. There is so much in this walking as Jesus did that has to do with our relationship with others, our attitude about others, our behavior, and about living a life of forgiveness toward others. Even on the cross, Jesus taught us, he gave us that example when he asked the Father to forgive them as they do not know what they are doing. Even in his hour of suffering, he forgave. So walking as Jesus did, has to include always forgiving others, always loving others. Of course, there are some people we do not agree with, and we are not to partner with the ungodly in any way. There are some people we can be completely opposed to their words, their behaviors, their lies, and deceitful way of conducting their lives. Yet, we are still to have love toward them rather than hatred. That is difficult. There are some really evil people doing some really evil things. What it comes down to is that Jesus did not approve of evil people, but he still loved them and went to the cross for them. We simply cannot hate anyone, but we can hate evil deeds. It seems what we have to do is walk the talk, not just talk the walk.

Our Defense

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

OUR DEFENSE

1 John 2:1-2

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

John had just said that if we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. John continues wanting us to understand that just because God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness His intent is not that we should sin so God will forgive us. Paul makes that clear as well when he made that statement, should we continue to sin so God’s grace can abound? God forbid! John wants us to understand that the truth sets us free, but not in the sense that we are free to continue to sin. We are not to set our sights on sin because we know the truth. John continues, but if anyone does sin. So then it is reasonable to think we are still going to sin, but it is more of a mistake, rather than an on purpose sin. Our goal in life is not to sin, but to live free of sin, still, we also know as being human we would be misinformed if we were told we can live completely free of all sin, all the time. That would make us perfect human beings in no need of a Savior. That is simply ludicrous. Of course, again, we do not make it our goal to see how much we can sin, or even to sin in the slightest little bit. But the truth is, we are going to make mistakes in our daily life which are considered sins. We may think something we shouldn’t or say something we shouldn’t, act in a manner that is not correct for a believer. We may become impatient, annoyed, crabby, moody, anxious, restless, fretful, uptight, or a whole host of emotions of feelings that show our distrust in the Lord, which is sin. However, John makes it clear that even though we do make the mistake, sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense. This one, is Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. Two truths speak out to us. First, we are not righteous. Second, Jesus is the only Righteous One. Jesus is our righteousness. He stands before the Father and speaks for us. He stands between the Father and us, being the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Jesus is always there interceding for us, so that when we do make those mistakes, which are sin, we are not condemned to death, perish. But it is not just for us who are saved. Jesus is the atonement for every sinner in the world, even if they are unaware of it. Yet they can be aware, and when the Spirit makes them aware, which is one of his functions, they have to accept Jesus as the atonement for their sin. We are so ever grateful to the work of the Spirit in our lives, and that we responded and heard the voice of God in our spirit, repenting and believing in Jesus, trusting in his atonement for our sin. We are also ever grateful that he is forever our defense.

The Claim

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

THE CLAIM

1 John 1:8-10

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.

NIV

It is thought there were those who did not think they were guilty of sin, and therefore in no need of a Savior. It is also thought by some scholars these poor souls were spreading their heretical teachings among the church. What John writes here echoes the words of Paul to the Romans or visa-versa, depending on the dates given to each. Paul wrote under the inspiration of the Spirit that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. John makes the same point that if we say we are without sin we deceive ourselves. However, what both are pointing to is that all mankind is guilty of sin, we all have the original sin within us as descendants of Adam, but that we also have this personal sin within. We all are in need of a Savior to take away our sins. Jesus had paid the penalty for all our sins. The position which arises among some Christians is that once we have had our sin forgiven, that original and personal sin, having been born again and given a new nature, we then have no more sin. However, how is that possible? How can we never ever sin, even after having been given a new nature? Are these words of John referring only to the sin which is before salvation, or to the sin which is always present in our lives? Both the original sin and our past sin need a Savior, but our present and future sin also need a Savior. When John says that if we claim we have not sinned, he has to be referring our past sin which we were in need of repentance of and seeking forgiveness from God for. Yet, that also applies to our present and future sin as well. Just because we were forgiven for all our sin, does not mean we are free to go on sinning as we please. Yet, we cannot deny the fact we still commit sin, but perhaps that difference is that before salvation, we sinned willingly and wantonly, but after salvation, it is not our desire to sin, we hate sin, but being in the flesh, not being perfect, we cannot help but fail at perfection and commit sin. Sure. it may not be as nasty or evil with intent, but sin is still sin, and all sin is against God and therefore in need of a Savior. We would be in a terrible position if we did not accept Jesus as our Savior. That is the truth which resides within us, we know sin and we know Jesus. Without Jesus, we would die in our sin, but we have Jesus and therefor all our sin has been forgiven. He has forgiven us and purified us from all unrighteousness. We should be careful about what we claim.

In The Light

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

IN THE LIGHT

1 John 1:5-7

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 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.

NIV

John is making sure we know that what he is telling is it directly from Jesus. He is not giving his opinion or interpretation of the truth, but simply is referring us to the words of Jesus. There is absolutely no grey area at all in God, not wiggle room about the fact that God is light and there is no darkness, no grey area whatsoever, in him. This is why we too such have a black and white attitude about the truth. We should believe it all as the certified truth or disbelief it all as made up lies. We cannot believe one aspect of God and not believe in another aspect of God, and that correlates directly to his word. We either believe the whole of the Bible, or we don’t. We cannot cherry-pick just portions, or say that some parts are a grey area. God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. So then if we claim to believe, to be in fellowship with God, with pure light and walk in darkness, John is saying that we lie and we do not live by the truth. This is that grey area. Either we believe or we don’t, either we live by the truth or we don’t, we cannot live partially in the light, accepting only parts of the truth to live by. What this looks like may be seen in denominationalism. Some believe in the truth while others believe that part of the scripture has faded away, or was only for past times and is no longer relevant to today. How can we make that determination and not be in a grey area, being based on opinion rather than truth, or our opinion of the truth? So then we must walk in the light, all the way in the light. Walking in the light, having the whole truth to live by, we are in fellowship with God and with one another. When we walk in the light that also means our sins are seen, they are exposed to the light and in being seen, by God, being seen that our sin has been washed in the blood of Jesus, we are purified from all our sin. If we, however, want to remain in the darkness, or even in that grey zone, we may not be purified, we are not in fellowship with the truth or with one another. So we must walk in the light, the full light of Jesus. We would never return to the darkness, that is walking in pure sin, living to sin, without concern about God. We will continue to live in His light and remain in Christ, having been cleansed, purified, and living by the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help us, God.

Word of Life

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

WORD OF LIFE

1 John 1:1-4

1:1 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. 2 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. 3 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. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.

NIV

To begin with, we need to ensure this is John the beloved apostle of Jesus. Some scholars of old have debated this and think it might be John the elder, which would put the date far past the life of John the author of the gospel. But by the style and his own testimony, we believe and agree with many scholars this is John the beloved. He starts off given his testimony that he has heard and seen and touched Jesus. He calls Jesus the Word of life. This is by far a very profound name he gives to Jesus. There is no other word that has life than the Word, Jesus. We cannot find life in any other way whatsoever. Sure, we make every effort to live a life that pleases the Lord, but however we live, how many good deeds we do, however holy we think we act, or think, or whatever things we do not do, makes absolutely no difference when it comes to having life. It is not that we should go about living any way we want, freely sinning in any way that suits our fancy. We should make every effort to live a life worthy of the Lord. Still, God has declared the work of the Lord, or what pleases Him is to believe in the one he sent, Jesus. When we believe in Jesus, when we trust Jesus with our whole heart then we please the Lord. Again, that isn’t to say God is not pleased by our “good life”, but our “good life” is not that good, for we have yet to produce a life completely free of all sin. So then, if we still have some sin, however small amount or small type sin that may still be within us, it is still sin and God is not pleased with sin. So, what pleases God cannot be based on our life, but rather on believing in Jesus, the Word of life. John goes on to tell us that life appeared, Jesus came to earth, the Word of life became here and lived among us and the Word of life is eternal life that was with the Father and has appeared on earth in the form of a man. How else can we have eternal life other than in Jesus? What purpose does our life have if we are not going to have eternal life? How futile life would be without eternal life, without Jesus. Just to be born, to live for self, to live to satisfy every craving, every desire, to work for our own passions, goals, ambitions, accumulations of material things, and to then die and leaving everything behind to perish seems to be the most futile way of life imaginable. If we do not have eternal life, what use is life at all? Without eternal life, life itself is meaningless, useless, and without purpose, it has no joy. This is why John is writing this letter to the church universal. He did not address it to any one particular church, so it is written to us and we can take it personally. In believing in Jesus we can have fellowship with him and with all other believers. We have a common bond in life eternal because we have a common bond in the Word of life. John says the reason he writes this letter is to make our joy complete. He is including all who believe in the Word of life. All who believe will have complete joy. Some believe he meant that his joy would be complete, but it makes clearer sense in the word, our, to see that as to imply all who have fellowship in Jesus. Because we believe in Jesus, first of all, we will have joy, and secondly, our joy will be complete. That is our joy will not lack anything. We do not have to walk around life, our head hanging, our continence in despair, with a doom and gloom appearance, for that would be a life without any joy at all. In fact, we should actually walk around with a bounce in our step, with a smile of confidence, having a heart filled with joy to the fullest, for we live in Christ and him in us and we have the Word of life, giving us eternal life. Therefore our joy is absolutely complete in the Word of life.

Growing

 

DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER OF PETER

GROWING

2 Peter 3:17-18

17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

NIV

Peter's closing remarks include the fact that we already know everything he has said, and that we are ever aware of the false teachers, the phony preachers who pervert the gospel, the bible, for their own benefits. Although it may appear they are winning in temporal benefits, they are bringing destruction upon themselves. Again, Peter warns us that we should not get carried away by these lawless men and fall from our secure position. It is so easy to get caught up in the words these lawless, deceitful, silver-tongued purveyors of lies. They sound good, but with the help of the Spirit, we see right through them and shut up our ears and hearts to their persuasive deceptions. Just as Jesus has told us, we remain in Him, and in being the branches remaining in the vine we are secure in our position and thus we continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior. Here is where we use that definition of grace that is other than an act of graciousness, such as the act of God's graciousness toward us. That is not something we are able to grow in, as we accept it and it is done. How can we grow in accepting his grace? So then, we would have to think this growing is in the definition of grace as his divine influence upon our hearts and how that is reflected in our lives. This we can grow in. We can always grow more or increase in His divine influence upon our hearts. This is the process of putting self aside and letting God have his way. We can understand that when we first became a believer, we still had much our self in control of our thoughts and behaviors, but as we grew in our relationship with Him, His influence became greater and greater in our attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors. However, we are still in need of growing in His grace, His influence upon our heart. Otherwise, if we said we had no more need to grow in His grace, we would be deceiving ourselves and calling God a liar. We also have to grow in the knowledge of Jesus. This is the Greek word gnosis, which simply means knowledge, to know, the act of knowing. There was a sect of Christianity in the past, and may still exist today, which worshipped knowledge more the knowledge of Christ. But we are not like that, knowledge alone holds little worth in eternal matters, so we must grow in the knowledge of Jesus, our Lord, and Savior. What does that mean? How do we gain more knowledge about Jesus? We study the scriptures, we explore His word and learn more about how he lived as an example to us and what he said about how we are to live. It is not that we read the bible once and we got it, we need to continue to read and to examine and explore, always finding more in-depth truths to adjust our thinking to be more and more like Jesus. So we conclude, as Peter did, as we continue growing in his grace and knowledge of Him.  

Spotless and Blameless

 

DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER OF PETER

SPOTLESS AND BLAMELESS

2 Peter 3:14-16

14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

NIV

This ‘so then’ refers back to the fact the heaven and earth will be destroyed by fire and that we are looking forward to a new heaven and new earth the home of righteousness.

2 Peter 3:13

13 But in keeping with his promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

NIV

Although we consider this looking forward, it still gives us reason to ponder just what this new heaven and earth will look like. All the clues, although it looks more like a revelation, are given to us in the last portion of that revelation that was given to John. So often we hear people call it revelations in referring to that last book of the Bible. Yet it was a singular revelation given to John. Nevertheless, we have this revelation that tells us what this new earth will look like in some fashion, at least a vivid description of the new city of Jerusalem, and that gives us the clues as to the environment and size of this new earth. But, the point being, this world is not our home, we are just passing through, our treasures are laid up beyond the blue, the angels beckon us from heavens open door, and we can’t feel at home in this world anymore. So then since we are looking forward to this, we are told to make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with him. Hold on, is that up to us? How can we make every effort to be spotless, blameless, and at peace with Him? That seems it is all on us. In seeking through the Greek, we can see a slightly clearer meaning here. This making every effort can also be used to be diligent or to make haste to use the influence of grace in our lives. It is by grace we have salvation, and it is by grace we are influenced to live. Only through the power of Christ and being in Him are we spotless and blameless. Jesus is the one who will keep us blameless until the day of God. Still, we cannot live in any manner we want, as we are to be diligent to live by grace, that is make every effort to live under the influence of the Spirit. This is not living under the influence of man devised ordinances, or rules and regulations, but as the Spirit leads us and He leads us into all truth. Peter has been warning about those false teachers, those who want the traditions of man, the laws, as a means to righteousness. The only way we can truly be spotless is being found in Jesus. In our flesh, our human condition we will always have some stain, some sin to cause a stain, but through the blood of Jesus, we have been cleansed and are spotless. When it comes to blameless, we cannot claim that either, for we will always have something to be blamed for, as we cannot ever be free of blame for that which stains our heart. But through the blood of Jesus, he presents us to himself blameless.

Eph 5:27-28

27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

NIV

And who else can bring peace between God and us other than himself through the blood of Jesus? We have to remember apart from him we can do nothing, we cannot make ourselves spotless, blameless, or at peace with God. Only as we remain in Christ are we able to be such things. This is what Peter is saying. Do not pay attention to those who teach something else, stay connected to God, stay in Christ, run the race, keep on keeping on, don’t get distracted by those who teach works, or what being a “good Christian” is by the number of good deeds, and the most number of don’ts we refrain from, for all that is then a judgment based on works, and not by grace. No, we must remain in Christ, being led by the Spirit and not by men. Then we can be assured that Jesus will present us spotless and blameless, and we are at peace with God.

Looking Forward

 

DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER OF PETER

LOOKING FORWARD

2 Peter 3:11-13

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

NIV

So because the heavens will disappear with the roar and all the elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth will be laid bare, or all our works burned up, there is a way in which we are to live. There is a kind of people we ought to be. That seems pretty simple, we ought to live holy and godly lives. Yet the Greek has a slightly different way of saying it. The Greek says that considering everything will be destroyed that way what kind of people we should be in holy conduct and godliness, however, the word translated as in can also be on, by, with, at, and among, depending on its placement to another word. So it could also be as the NIV states. The point is still the same as we should be living a reverend walk, or a walk that is connected to God which possesses a certain distinction and claim to reverence, as places sacred to God and should not be profaned. However, as people, and not a place, we are still to walk connected and in service of God, set apart for God, to be, as it were exclusively his. That is only the definition of holy. Then we have to add godly. This is living with reverence or piety toward God, so it is not about looking holy and godly, or living by some legalistic, ritualistic manner, abiding by all the rules and regulations, or lists to check off of the things we do not do and things we do. This is about living being connected to God, in His service, rather than in service to ourselves, adding Christianity to our way of life. The reason we should live completely connected to God, holy and godly living, looking forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That is something we need to ponder on more. How do we speed the coming of the day of God? Is by our living a holy and godly life speed the coming of the day of God? Then we have to pay closer attention to just what those definitions of holy and godly are. We also should be set on it coming, rather than thinking about things we want to accomplish in life. Our life is supposed to be in service to Him, being set apart exclusively for Him. We have to spend more time thinking about what that means. We have to explore this more, but for now, let us remind ourselves, we belong to God, and we should be living in such a manner, looking forward to his coming for us.

Intense Heat

 

DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER OF PETER

INTENSE HEAT

2 Peter 3:8-10

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.  

NIV

Having considered that which we are not to forget and that we are to walk and talk with the Lord, and that he is eternal with no beginning and no end and time has no constraints on Him and that he desires that no one perish, we should deal with the rest of what Peter has told us as he was inspired by the Spirit. The End is going to happen. There is going to be a day when there are going to be people who perish, just as in the days of Noah. It is unfortunate, even though the Lord desires that none should perish, some will. What we can be certain of is that he does not condemn them to perish, but they do because of their unbelief and therefore their sin. We can also be certain that Jesus is coming back and he will show up when we least expect him, like a thief in the night, as Peter puts it. If we knew the very moment that a thief would break into our home, then we would not worry about it until just before he made his attempt. Why would we stand guard against this entry all the time, if we knew when he would break in? That is the point Peter is making, we do not know when a thief would show up and we certainly do not know when Jesus is going to show up. The next words of Peter which we will explore later talks about that if Jesus is going to show up when we least expect him, what type of people ought we to be. But for now, we should consider just what this Day of the Lord is going to look like. When we think about the heavens, they encompass all that we cannot see with the naked eye. Looking through telescopes and even with all the various space telescopes added since the Hubble space telescope, man has been able to see billions upon billions of suns, planets, and various other clusters of objects. The Heavens are so vast, we can be sure, we have not seen it all. God’s creation of the heavens is far greater than we can imagine. Yet all of that is going to disappear with a roar. All elements, which include every element known to man, plus those men still have no knowledge of, such as the elements of some distant sun or planet, will be destroyed by fire. To think how intense that fire is going to be, to destroy elements such as gold, silver, iron, krypton, all the elements of the periodic table burned up until they are nothing, gone forever, never to be seen, is an awesome thought. It should give us pause, to think everything we may hold dear in this material world will all be destroyed by fire. Some make such an exerted effort to save the trees, or the environment, or whatever else various movements, or organizations had determined to be their cause. We are not saying that is bad, we should tend the garden until he returns. We should be concerned about the place God created for us to live in, yet at the same time, we are so small, having such a little effect in comparison to the power of God who sustains all things by his will and by his will destroy it all with fire. Everything will be laid bare. It is interesting the Greek uses the verbiage, “therein works shall be burned up. That is everything we have ever done, any of our deeds, our accomplishments, all our hard work, will be burned up. Therefore we are sure, we will only stand before our Lord based on grace, not of works, lest any of us boast, for all works will be laid bare, or burned up in the intense heat. So let us live by grace, knowing what is to come.

Walking and Talking

 

DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER OF PETER

WALKING AND TALKING

2 Peter 3:8-10

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.  

NIV

Do not forget, that is, always keep this one thing in your mind, always be aware, do not live as if it was not true, but that is a certain thing. Time as we understand it has no meaning to the Lord. He made time for us. He does not live in time or space. With the Lord, it is forever the present. We simply cannot fathom exactly how that works because we do live in time, we are linear with a beginning and an end. We age, but that was not God’s original plan. He told Adam that if he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil he would surely die. Had Adam freely eaten from the tree of life, he would have been an eternal being as God had designed him to be. Sin would have never entered the world of mankind and all our lives would have taken a very different path. There would have been no flood, there would have been no famines and Israel would never have been in slavery in Egypt and in need of a savior. There would have been no wars, no need for judges, kings, or a temple in Jerusalem. And most of all there would have been no need for Jesus to have to suffer as he did on that cross to take all our sins upon himself and freeing us from that penalty of sin. Yet, we still have to know that God already knew all that would happen before he even formed the foundation of the earth because he is not limited to time and he is always in the present. Thus all this has already happened in the sight of God. He knows everything that has ever happened and what all will ever happen because he has already seen it happen beforehand. This also means what we consider to be the end has already transpired and we are in eternity with him as eternal beings, just as he designed us to be. It is already done, it is a done deal, finished, just as Jesus said when he was on the cross. It is finished. However, there are still people who need to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and so God has not persisted in bringing time as we know it to an end. He is holding back from eliminating time because he is patient and desires that not a single one of His creation perish. So that frees us from all anxiety, all impatience, and all frustrations because we know our Lord and He is surely going to accomplish His plan in His way and in the time, which he created us for, He has determined. The end will come when it comes, and so in the meantime, we are to occupy. We are to be about doing that which we have been designed to do, living in His paradise, in His creation, tending His garden, that is His kingdom, and walking and talking with Him in the cool of the day. He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own. This certainly gives us the picture that our lives should not be about living for self, doing everything we can to gain as much as the world as we can. No, we are to occupy as though we are already living in the new creation, the kingdom of God, being about doing what He has called us to do, walking and talking with Him.

No Scoffers Please

 

DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER OF PETER

NO SCOFFERS PLEASE

2 Peter 3:3-7

3 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

NIV

Isn’t it true! There are still scoffers today. There must have been scoffers throughout the time of history, always thinking life is just life and that you only go around once and you need to grab all the gusto you can. That would seem to be the philosophy of the world, but it appears Peter is talking about scoffers in the community of faith because they are scoffing at the timing of the coming of the Lord. He is making the point that there are believers who have deliberately forgotten about long ago when God formed the earth out of the water and by water. That would mean there are believers who have bought into evolution as the method of creation, rather than by the word of God. If they are deliberately forgetting creation was by God speaking everything into existence, then they deliberately choose another method. We like the way the Greek puts it as it says they are willingly ignorant that it was by God’s word everything existed. Peter has reminded them and us that God did speak the heaven and earth into existence and the earth was formed from water and it is by that same water he flooded the earth because of the wickedness his creation had turned to. They had become so wicked that God was saddened he even created mankind, but praise His Holy Name, there was one man who He found righteous, and through Noah mankind was saved. What a wonderful picture of Jesus. Noah was a foreshadow of Christ. It is not much different today, the world has gone crazy in its wickedness. There are people engaged in every form of wickedness, just as in the days of Noah. However, Peter tells us God will never flood the earth again wiping out all mankind, except for one man and his family. However, the earth is reserved for fire, as well as this current heaven. This means, according to the revelation given to John, that a whole new creation will take place. Although we live in a new creation already, in a spiritual sense, we will one day live in the new city of Jerusalem with Christ on a new earth and a new heaven. Fire will consume this present earth. Everything will be destroyed by fire, just as it was by water in the days of Noah. It is also the same as in the days of Noah that mankind was saved by one righteous man, we who are in Christ will be saved because we are in the one true righteous man who is also fully God. Mankind can be saved through the cross of Jesus, as it was in the ark of Noah. Both the ark and the cross were constructed of wood, fashioned by the hand of God, formed by the hand of man. Both served to be a safe haven for those who are in them in the time of destruction and judgment. We do notice that Peter makes sure we know that it is the wicked, the ungodly are judged and destroyed. We are in no need of worry, for we know we are in Christ and he is in us. We are saved and safe, so we keep on keeping on, our faith is strong and we wait for the day we will see our Lord appear in the sky, calling us home, whenever that will be. Until then we will just have to endure those scoffers, but not join them.