Good morning and welcome to Friday. Last night the weather turned cool on us and tonight it’s supposed to dip back down into the 30’s. We took advantage of the chill last night and started us a nice toasty fire. I love a fireplace. The sounds, the smell, the purity of the warmth. There’s many types of ways you can get warm, but the warmth of a fire feels so natural and so comforting. Marge and I sat by the fire and read and talked and studied God’s Word for Sunday’s lesson. No TV, no distractions, just a warm fire and some soft, classic jazz. It’s nights like these that I enjoy more than any other. Stillness, simplicity and togetherness.
Today we’ll be finishing off the book of 1 John and what a great study it has been. To be so short, the book of 1 John is just packed full of amazing messages in love, salvation, assurance, affirmation and commandments for us to live a full and joyful life. If you take careful notice, you’ll see that the book is divided up into three distinct sections that define and describe God. Chapter one describes God as light. The 5MC that day was written on the light of God. I love the beautiful definition of God as light. Chapters 2,3,4 are about God as love. I think this is pretty clear as in chapters 3 and 4 alone the word love is used 36 times! The last 2 days I have written on this love, “Love 9 Times” for chapter 3 and yesterday, “Love 27 times.” Most people will say that God is love and that is true, but you really should explore these chapters to see just exactly what that means. God’s love goes much deeper than most will ever comprehend. And our chapter today, chapter 5, describes God as life. Life indeed. Because God sent His Son Jesus here to die for our sins, we have life, eternal life. But He came to do more than that. Through God’s Holy Spirit we can have more than just a humdrum, boring life here on this planet. We can have life and have it to the full. Abundant, joy-filled, peaceful lives, filled with the goodness of God. If that type of life has escaped you and you’d like to know more about how and where to find this type of life, read on.
Let’s look at our focus verse for the day and then explore the depths of where it leads.
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:3-5
This is one fantastic passage. Let’s break it down piece by piece to make sure we don’t miss anything. “for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” First off, this has nothing to do with the 10 commandments. The 10 commandments are one of the most misunderstood elements of God’s Word and I think we can probably thank Charlton Heston for that. I was talking to a guy the other day and invited him to church. As we talked, you could see he was formulating thoughts on how to describe the fact that he had sin in his life and didn’t know what to do with it. In fact, isn’t that so true with the world today? We all know that we do bad, you can feel it when you do it. But what do you do with that feeling? Most just push it aside, keep living in sin and as a result true life just slips away, replaced by perpetual bondage to sin. Well anyway, the guy says “I try to live good and I try to keep the 10 commandments.” I shouldn’t be surprised by what people say about church and God but for some reason this response took me aback. Moses brought the 10 commandments down from Mt Sinai almost 3300 years ago. He was leading the Israelites towards the Promised Land and they were so out of control that God realized he needed to give them some type of direction, some rules for living. They were broad, basic and unattainable. Yes unattainable. In fact, that was the point God was wanting to get across. We can have all the rules, regulations and commandments we want but they’ll do no good because we can’t keep them. Every human has a sin nature due to that one historic defiant act by Adam and Eve in the garden. Since then no man or woman has been able to do right in God’s eyes. We are born knowing how to do bad. I just got done with VBS at church and let me tell you, since I don’t have kids it always shocks me when I see how bad little kids can be. I just want to stop them and say “who taught you that?” But I know the answer. No one taught them, they inherited it. We all did.
So it says that “the love of God is keeping His commandments”, what commandments is God speaking of? When Jesus ascended back into Heaven He left us a helper. A helper they did not have in the Old Testament. That helper is the Holy Spirit of God. When you call upon the name of Jesus Christ to save you, a miracle happens in that moment. The Holy Spirit of God moves into your heart and God is now a part of you. We are at that moment, inspired by the genuine spirit of God. As a result, He calls us to live life on a higher plane. God cannot stand sin and He causes us to recoil from it. If we engage in it, His Holy Spirit will convict us. So, the 10 commandments are no longer our mark. We are called to go higher. We are infused with the Spirit of God and He is moving our lives to a different place. One that is focused on righteousness before Him. Folks, we are living with God and for God, we’re moving towards a life that glorifies Him before the entire world.
So where and what are these commandments? I’m glad you asked. If you follow the 5MC daily, you might recall our study of 1 Thessalonians 5 which was titled “The 22 commandments.” In fact, I had forgotten but I wrote it on Christmas morning. How appropriate looking back to write about God’s laws of love on the day we celebrate the arrival of His precious Son! Do this. Go to The5MC.com. Click on the "more..." tab on the right side. Scroll down to the 1 Thessalonians tab. Find the post for chapter 5 titled “The 22 Commandments.” Read it. This was always a goal for me with the 5MC, to be able to use it as a reference and here it’s finally coming to fruition. There’s no need for me to rehash the whole thing over again when I’ve already written at length on it once. How awesome is this! You know when God told me to start a website for the 5MC, I resisted strongly. Building and paying for a website is a real hassle. But I relented and He didn’t. I look back now and say thank you God. Thank you that you saw the need for it before I did. You see, just posting on Facebook, you can’t organize and archive via categories. If you’re really going to build a study tool of God’s Word, you need these things. So anyhoo, read the study on the 22 commandments and you’ll be enlightened as to what it means to keep God’s commandments today, as they’re mentioned right here in 1 John 5.
The next verse is so powerful. “and His commandments are not burdensome.” Some translations use heavy or grievous. When we talk about laws, rules or regulations, what is most people’s automatic reaction? Ahhhh, more rules! Everybody is always telling me what to do. How fast to drive, how much tax to pay, how I should treat other people, what I can and can’t do. Rules, rules, rules. I don’t want to do them. Don’t tell me what to do! You see a major result of our sin nature is rebellion. Rebellion towards God, rebellion towards society, rebellion towards our parents and rebellion towards each other. I remember a great line from the movie “A Rebel without a Cause” with Marlon Brando. Somebody asks him, “what are you rebelling against young man?” and he matter of factly replies, “whattya got?” Ha, isn’t that so true of people then and today? Whatever cause, movement or law you can think of, some group is out there protesting it in rebellion.
But guess what? God’s commandments aren’t like that. Have you ever loved someone so deeply that you would do whatever they asked and do it with a smile? With true love obedience comes easy. The love that we have for God in sending His Son Jesus to save us, will surpass anything that we have ever known. To love, serve and obey Jesus is easy for us. Keeping His commandments are easy, they are not burdensome, heavy or cumbersome. We follow his rules for living out of love because we know that His way is the best way. His ways, will keep us from harm. It’s just like when you grew up, your parents had rules for keeping you safe and ensuring that you could grow up to be a productive, happy person. (but of course, I usually fought most of the stuff my parents told me to do...sorry mom and dad!) Out of our true love for God, we will keep His commandments with joy in our hearts. “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matt 11:30.
Our next few verses talk of overcoming the world. “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
So what’s the big deal with overcoming the world? We live in this world, shouldn’t we just go with the flow and kinda just accept the way it works? Not even close. You see, we’re told very clearly just a few verses later in 1 John 5:19, “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” If the devil is running this world then our job is to live within it without becoming enslaved to it. We’re told over in James 4:4, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” Strong words indeed about how we are to live in this world.
So how do we live here in this crazy world that’s being ran by that snake, satan, and not get bit? Our faith. Our faith in Jesus Christ. By that faith in Jesus, everyone who has been born of God will overcome the world. You see God is not oblivious to what He has called us to do. We are to be lights for Him in a sinful, arrogant, evil, self-seeking world. A world that hated Him and has been in constant rebellion towards him since the garden of Eden. A world that hated Him so much that it beat Him, tortured Him and hung Him on a cross to die. Here’s a tough question for you. If Jesus came back today do you think the world would treat Him any differently? I think the answer is easy. Many things can change but one thing will never change, the human heart. It will always be in rebellion of God and His law.
“Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” Folks, you’ve got one shot. This is a rough, tough world and satan wants nothing more than to make you just another casualty. Another foot soldier. This world is full of satan’s foot soldiers and they don’t even know it. The power of sin will enslave you before you even know what’s happening. But you’ve got one shot at freedom. Jesus Christ. Who can expect to overcome the world except those that believe in the Son of God? If you call upon the name of Jesus, you will be saved. (Rom 10:13) As you admit your sin and your need for a Savior, amazing things will happen. You WILL be saved at that moment. A miracle moment. In that moment you will be saved from the penalty of your sins. You will at that moment secure a place in Heaven for eternity. In that instant the Holy Spirit will move into your heart to guide you. In that miracle moment you will be united with God the Father, your creator. In that moment He prepares you to live for Him, battle this world, and shine like a light for Him. In that flash, He empowers you to tell others about Jesus so that they too can experience this miracle moment.
If you are reading this and you have never experienced this miracle moment you can. It’s simple, it's free and it’s a promise from God. Simply admit that on your own you have made a mess of things. By doing things your way, sin has crept in and taken over. You can’t stop it and more importantly you realize that it offends God. You hate that horrible feeling that you live with. You can feel the darkness of your sin around you. This sinful life cannot one day stand in the presence of a perfect Holy God. You need someone to help you. You need someone to intervene for you, someone to talk to God for you. That is precisely why God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ. As He hung on that cross, his precious blood covered the sins of an entire people. It covered your sin, it covered mine. Whoever calls upon His saving name will be redeemed. So much has been done for you so that you can experience this miracle moment.
I pray today that you have Jesus. That you have secured your home in Heaven. That you have the Holy Spirit and you are prepared to do battle with this world. Only through the power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit can we overcome this sinful world. Only through our love of Jesus can we keep His commandments and live a life full of joy, freedom and peace amongst a world that is living in hate, anger and turmoil. The gift of life in Jesus doesn’t start when we get to Heaven, it starts today as we live in Him and through Him.
Thank you Heavenly Father that you sent your Son. Because of Him I can live today and I can live with you forever. You are a good Father and your love for me is amazing. I praise you and I love you.
Amen.
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