This week we are
looking at a section of letter that has been preserved and recorded for us in
the New Testament of the Bible, called the book of John. Yesterday, in 1 John
3:4-6, we saw John reveal the reality that, at the end of the day, acts of
omission and commission against God and others is ultimately about a lawless
rebellion against God. And because of
that reality, everyone who engages in a lifestyle that is committed to
selfishly rebelling against God and others is revealing the reality of a
lawless rebellion against God.
However,
John drove home the reality that the person who
has truly recognized Jesus for who He
truly is; the person who has identified themselves as having a genuine and
authentic relationship with God will not engage in a lifestyle that is committed to selfishly
rebelling against God and others. Today, as John continues this section of his
letter, we see Him warn the members of the church at Ephesus of a timeless
danger that they were facing. Let’s discover that timeless danger together,
beginning in 1 John 3:7-8:
Little children, make sure no
one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He
is righteous; 8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the
devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose,
to destroy the works of the devil.
As we talked about earlier in this series, when John
uses the phrase “little children” this was a term of endearment that John used
to describe the members of the church at Ephesus. You see, John cared deeply
for the members of the church and desired their spiritual good and growth. And
because of that reality, John warned the members of the church at Ephesus to
make sure no one deceives you. In other words, John was warning the members of
the church at Ephesus, and followers of Jesus throughout history, to make sure
that no one misled them in a way that caused them to go astray in their
relationship with Jesus.
And to make sure that no one misled them in a way that
caused them to go astray in their relationship with Jesus, John explained that the
one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. When
John states that He is righteous he is proclaiming that Jesus is right in
character and is always right and just in His actions. John’s point here is
that if we know that Jesus is totally just, fair, and right in character and
actions, then the person engages in a lifestyle that is committed to doing
what is just and right reveals the reality that they have a genuine and authentic
relationship and connection with Jesus.
By contrast, in verse 8, John states that the one who
practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. Now Jesus and the other
authors of the letters that make up the Bible teach us that the Devil is the
leader of a group of supernatural beings who known as demons. We also know that the Devil and demons have
superhuman, but limited knowledge and power. The Devil and demons are angels
that were created by the Lord before the creation of the universe, who rebelled
against God sometime before the fall of humans that is recorded for us in the
very first letter in the Bible in Genesis 3.
And the Devil and the
demons that follow the Devil are driven by a desire to destroy the Kingdom of
God and the people of God. John’s point here is that the
person who engages in a lifestyle that is committed to selfishly
rebelling against God and others reveals the reality that they are
demonstrating a connection with the lifestyle of lawless rebellion of the
Devil. When John states that the devil has sinned from the beginning, he is
reminding the readers of his letter throughout history that the Devil has acted out of a selfish love and
rebellion against God since the beginning of time.
And because the devil
has, from the beginning of time, been committed to destroy the Kingdom of God
and the people of God, John states that Jesus, as God in a bod, took on flesh and entered
into humanity in order to destroy the works of the devil. John’s point here is
that Jesus took on flesh and entered into humanity in order to abolish and
bring to an end that which was brought into being by the work of the Devil to
attempt to destroy the Kingdom of God and the people of God. Jesus took on
flesh and entered into humanity in order to abolish and bring to an end the
enslavement to a lifestyle that is committed to selfishly
rebelling against God and others that came about as a result of the devil and
his desire to destroy the kingdom of God and the people of God.
You see, John wanted to make sure that the reader of
his letter would not be misled in a way that caused them to go astray in their
relationship with Jesus to instead embrace the idea that they could remain in
genuine and authentic relationship and connection with Jesus while engaging in a lifestyle
that is committed to selfishly rebelling against God and others. We see John
hammer this point home in what he says next in verse 9-10:
No one who is born of God
practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is
born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the
devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God,
nor the one who does not love his brother.
As we discovered earlier in this series, when John
uses the phrase born of God, here
is revealing for us the reality that when we respond to Jesus making Himself known to us by placing our confident
trust in Him and recognizing and acknowledging who He is by accepting Him as
being large and in charge of our lives, we become a part of the family of God. As we talked about earlier in this series, becoming
a part of the family of God as a child of God is solely the result of God’s
transformational activity in our lives. It is only through God’s
transformational activity in our lives that flows from His desire to bring us
into an eternal relationship with Him that results in us becoming a child of
God as a part of the family of God.
By contrast, when John
refers to the children of the devil, he is referring to one who demonstrates
the characteristics of the devil, who engages in a lifestyle that is committed to
selfishly rebelling against God in an attempt to destroy the kingdom of God and
the people of God. John here is reminding the readers of his letter throughout
history that, as a general rule, children tend to take on the characteristics
and character of their parents. And intuitively we know this to be true. That
is why we can cringe or bow our chest in pride when our children say or do
something the reflects us, right? And we experience this when we say something
that sounds just like our parents.
And because of that
reality that children tend to take on the characteristics and character of
their parents, John states that no one who is
born of God engages in a lifestyle that is committed to selfishly
rebelling against God and others. John then explains that the reason that is
the case is due to the fact that His seed abides in him. But what does that
mean? The phrase His seed refers to the very nature and character of God that is present in
a follower of Jesus.
John’s
point here is that the very nature and character of God remains present in the
life of a person who has a genuine and authentic relationship and connection
with Jesus. And because of that reality, John explains that a person who has a
genuine and authentic relationship and connection with Jesus cannot sin because
they are a part of
the family of God as a child of God as a result of God’s transformational
activity in their lives. John’s point is that a person who has a
genuine and authentic relationship and connection with Jesus as a part of the
family of God cannot engage in a lifestyle that is committed to selfishly rebel
against God, because they have been brought into the family of God.
But how does what John
is writing here relate to what John wrote in 1 John 1:8-9? Because in
1 John 1:8-9, states that “If we say that we have no sin, we
are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” John seems to state that we deceive ourselves when
we proclaim that we are not guilty of selfishly rebelling against God. However, here John states that a person who
has a genuine and authentic relationship and connection with Jesus as a part of
the family of God cannot engage in a lifestyle that is committed to selfishly
rebel against God, because they have been brought into the family of God.
So
which one is it? Is John contradicting himself here? Friday, we will discover
the answer to this question…
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