This week's Bible Study - June 14, 2009
Purposefully Connected and
Knowing that You Know God
 Background Scripture:
1 John 1:1-2:11,15-17
Quote of the Week:
“When a dove begins to associate with crows its feathers remain white but its heart grows black”
-- German proverb
We find ourselves associating with many different things today. If you happen to have a facebook account, you have seen many groups that you can become a fan of, or you can affiliate with. There are groups of like minded people, fans of teams, musicians and other semi-famous people. People tend to want to associate with people who have similar goals and values, and people tend to want to be a part of something beyond themselves.
As believers, our allegiance should be less with a sports team or a musician or people who went to a certain high school and more to the one in whom we believe. As you find this relationship, you will find that you instantly have millions of brothers and sisters around the world. It has amazed me when I have traveled in different countries around the world that I can find other believers, from other cultures, and have a oneness with them that I cannot experience with someone who simply shared another experience with me. These other believers are people I would often have little else in common with, other than the relationship with Jesus Christ.
What difference do you think it would make in your life if you could have physically seen Christ? In 1 John 1, we hear from one who had heard, seen, looked at and touched - using physical senses - regarding the Word of Life, Christ. We do experience his touch, as believers, but it would add another dimension to have physically sensed him. If you've traveled, you know the difference in seeing a beautiful place, as opposed to seeing pictures. A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate to make a trip to China with a group. One of the things that we were able to experience was the Great Wall. I had seen pictures in books and had watched shows on TV, but to actually see it with my own eyes and to walk on it was quite an experience.
As great as the Great Wall is, it pales in comparison to Christ. I heard that the Wall was begun on the order of 2000 years before the time of Christ. That seems like a long time ago, but what we hear of Christ is that he was from the beginning - the very onset of existence. The manifestation of the life of Christ truly did occur. No honest scholar will debate whether Jesus Christ existed as a person or not. They may refuse to believe in his deity, but they cannot truthfully debate his existence.
This life of Christ is what the writer was proclaiming. In our lives, we proclaim a lot of things. We see no problem in talking about our kids, relationships we have, sports teams we follow, the cars we buy or the house we live in. We may talk about the recreational activities we do, the vacations we go on and many other things, but as believers, we are to proclaim this same eternal life. Why should we proclaim the life of Christ? Well, it doesn't necessarily bring with it a better physical quality of life (although living according to Biblical standards will definitely improve the quality of your life). The true benefit of Christ in the life of a believer is to have fellowship with other believers and with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. This fellowship with others is deeper than liking the same food or being fans of the same college football team. When fellowship with others is lacking in the life of a believer, they will begin to find that their faith has serious deficiencies.
These things were written, so that the writer's joy may be complete. These things were proclaimed to bring joy to the one proclaiming. Have you ever had the opportunity to share your faith with anyone else? Regardless of whether they accepted or whether you just planted a seed, there is unspeakable joy that comes. When you share, you really can know that God is at work in your life. This joy does not necessarily equate to happiness in circumstances, but it is an internal state. Many people miss out on the joy of salvation because they refuse to share their faith with others.
The message that was heard from Christ is that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. Occasionally, you may come across a believer that may seem to be full of light, but in all people, there is darkness to one degree or another. Be careful about following a person instead of God. God is light - light is not a person or a church. Some people want to proclaim 'secret revelations' from God. God has clearly proclaimed his revelations through his Word and ultimately through Christ.
Darkness presents a need and light provides the relief. If you've ever been on a cave tour, you probably know how complete total darkness is. In that situation, a single match can make a world of difference. The source of your light is very important. If you lose power to your house and you find your flashlight, you may think you have relief. But, if that flashlight has no batteries, it is useless in the dark. A tool to produce light without power is useless. A person who tries to be the light of Christ based upon their own actions certainly cannot sustain light.
When a church is a collection of light and when there is true fellowship, there is warmth that draws people towards it. The light and warmth does not come from the people, but from the light of Christ. Just as moths are drawn to a campfire because of the light, people are drawn to others who exhibit this light or warmth.
When we say that we are in Christ, yet we walk in darkness apart from him, we are not practicing the truth. This does not imply that we will not fall from time to time. Each of us is far from perfect and we will stumble. But, we should not be content to walk in the darkness - accepting our sin and just living in it. Some people tend to accept Christianity, but then go with an "anything goes" mentality. Just as the Gnostics said that the body is bad, these people just accept it and throw caution to the wind.
When we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another and are cleansed of our sin. If we get the point of denying that we have sin, we are deceiving ourselves. Saying that we have not sinned is basically saying that we are good enough on our own to approach God based on merit. This invalidates the need for Christ. If a person seems to clean their act, does that clear everything? If you rob a bank once, you are a bank robber (even if you don't do it again). If you murder once, you are a murderer. If you sin once, you are a sinner. (And you have obviously sinned more than once - and you will undoubtedly sin again).
When we sin, we read that if we confess our sin, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is not only a great verse to memorize - it is indeed a great truth to live. Note what is implied in this verse. Forgiveness can restore a relationship, but it does not necessarily forego the penalty. Do not read this to say that you can do whatever you want to do, confess it and ask for forgiveness without suffering the consequences.
This is written as if to children. The relationship of many teachers to students is much like with adults to children. Especially when teaching is from the Bible, we all (teachers and students) should heed the advice from God's word, as children. In the American society, we go through so many different occurrences of teachers and guides - from school to church to athletics to employment situations. In many cases, people become jaded and do not accept the teaching. In my trip to China, I saw a difference in the teaching culture. The teacher was always right and respected. This can lead to problems, when the teacher may not be teaching truth. However, when we are being taught by God's word, we need to accept the teaching and adhere to it.
The words of Scripture are written with a purpose. They are written so that we may not sin. If that was the end of the book, we'd be in a world of hurt. If the presence of Christ in our lives meant that we no longer sinned, none of us could truly claim that perfection. However, as the passage goes on - if we sin (when we sin), we have an advocate, Jesus Christ. He is able to handle not only the sins of you and your friends, or just your church, or just your country - but also the entire world.
How do you know that you know someone? We can drop names of people that we say we know, but it really is only when in their presence that they can validate our claims. With Christ, it is written how we know that we know him. The measuring stick is how we keep his commandments. Given that, how do you measure up? I know at times, we seem to think we'd do better with a checklist, but generally we want to create our own checklist. (Our checklists are generally much easier or at least achievable, but on the other hand, you will see throughout history that the checklists that humans have created have been much more difficult to adhere to than what God has prescribed).
Even if you just start with the 10 Commandments, you will find that it is difficult to adhere perfectly. Some of them are pretty easy, most of the time, but when Jesus spoke that if you think something, it is as if you did it - how easy are the 10 Commandments? We could make a list of things that we could do and try to walk to that, but you don't get to set the scale.
If we say that we know Christ and that we are his, but we do not keep his commandments, we are liars. Again, this truth is about how we walk, with a consistent acceptance of our walk. We will all stumble, but if we accept the stumbling and our walk becomes a constant stumble, we have missed the point. The measuring stick is your walk. Are you walking in the same manner that you are talking? Are you walking as Christ walked?
As I first read through this passage years ago, it seemed confusing and contradictory. "I am not writing a new commandment, but an old commandment. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment … ". On the outset, it may seem confusing, but really it is very straightforward. What was being written was nothing new. Adherence to the commandments and walking in the way of the Lord had always been the idea set forth in Scripture.
However, Jesus came and put a new twist on things. The commandments didn't change, but Jesus shined a light on a pathway that was never known in the past. The commandments got harder (thinking, as well as doing), but the way that was provided was through faith in the Lord. Having faith in the Lord does not excuse all behavior, but it gives us a freedom of sorts. We are no longer under the merit plan, trying to do things to earn favor with God. Our favor with God comes through Christ, and because of that, it should tangibly impact the way we live.
One of the things that can help us gauge how much we are in the light is based upon our relationships with others. As mentioned previously, I recently returned from a mission trip to China. One of the things that several of the college age guys that went brought home was the need to truly love others. They talked of how they had previously disregarded others, and talked others down because they were different. The trip opened their eyes to God's love for all people. The way we treat people and the relationships we have says a lot about how much we are in the light. Do you have hate for a brother? Can you do this and hold on to it and still be in the light? What about others you meet in your day - your co-workers, friends, neighbors and so forth? If we harbor hate against these people, you cannot still be in the light. To hang on to the hate over accepting the light of Christ is to stay in the darkness and not in the light.
This passage talks about our relationship with the world. It says that we are not to love the world or the things in the world. This is really talking more about worldliness, rather than people in the world. We follow the lead of Jesus Christ who loved the world so much that he died for the world. The reason our team went to China and why others go to other places is because we love the people of the world and we want to share the love of Christ with them, along with the eternal hope that comes through faith in Christ. However, if we become tied to worldliness or the ways of the world, we will find that we are at odds with the love of the Father.
The things of the world, including the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, are not from the Father, but from the world. Lust is the beginning stage of sin - it is the thoughts that can easily crowd our minds and when we focus on them, it can become nearly overwhelming. You can't really deal with lust and let it stay in your mind before it becomes a problem. And, unfortunately, you can't fully knock it out either. As an old saying goes, you can't keep a bird from flying overhead, but you can keep it from building a nest in your hair.
We can easily see that our world has a problem with the lust of the flesh. The lust of the flesh - including pornography and all types of sexual sins are rampant in the world and have infiltrated the church. You can't drive down the road without seeing suggestive billboards. You can't go to many movies without having some form of sexual innuendo or other act that is sexually inappropriate. Even in prime time television, sexually suggestive situations are all over the place. Even strong believers can get caught up in this and begin to take a lax stand on these issues, not realizing the impact of this lust and how it destroys relationships and the impact it has on people. This lust of the flesh and the acting on it is not from the Father, but from the world. While the lust can be short lived and almost accidental, the intentional acts of fulfilling this lust can have a devastating impact on current and future relationships, as well as many other potential medical issues. Why do we fall so easily?
We also see a problem with the lust of the eyes. We see it and we want it. This is what stirs in our lives when we allow a desire for something to drive us. Commercials are really good at this - they try and make us think that we need something. We go shopping and see something - I heard on the radio that what they really want to do is to get us to touch it. Once we touch it, the odds of us buying it are higher. You can take a look at the debt problem in our country and the number of people in financial crisis. Some of those problems are not due to this desire, but many of them are based upon the lust of the eyes that have driven people to want things. Are you guilty of harboring some desire for some 'thing'? If this becomes the driving desire, you're lining up with the world.
The other point was the boastful pride of life. This is when it all comes down to 'me'. What's best for me? What's in it for me? It is easy to get caught up in looking out for yourself. When we are thinking of ourselves and promoting ourselves above others, we are guilty of a boastful pride of life. This impacts all of our decisions, in just doing what is 'best for us'. When we place ourselves in control of our lives and base all of our decisions on what seems best for us, we're lining up with the world.
Closing
There are a couple of primary points out of this lesson. The first has to do with how your life is aligned. The fact that you are reading this lesson says that you at least have a mental desire to align with Christ. However, it can be easy to have that desire in your head and a different desire that is acted out in your life. We will all stumble, but what is the consistent answer that is displayed in your life? The most important alignment and association of your life, as a believer, needs to be with Christ. If anything else is vying for that attention, you need to be very concerned.
Romans 12:2 says "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." In this passage in 1 John 2, we saw several things that are indicators of being conformed to the world. Are you allowing lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes or the boastful pride of life to be your driver in life? We will all battle against these things, but if, upon serious examination of your own life, you find that you are giving into these things of the world, you will easily begin to doubt that you are in Christ. Don't allow the things of the world to crowd out your relationship with Christ.
Our lives are pretty short in the grand scheme of things. When we allow ourselves to be pulled in all the directions of the world, we'll find that we are wasting precious time. The things of the world are passing away, along with the associated lusts. For those of us who battle against the lusts of the world, it is comforting that they will one day go away, but are we wasting our time giving into these now? The things of the Lord will live forever. Which should we strive for?
|