This week's Bible Study - June 28, 2009
Confidently Victorious
 Background Scripture:
1 John 5:12-21
Quote of the Week:
Other people's opinion of you does not have to become your reality.
-- Les Brown
What does it mean to have confidence? There are some extremes in the area of confidence. If you have no confidence, you won't step out for much at all. If you have too much confidence, you can become smug in your life and begin to think yourself above failure. Confidence does impact the way we live our life.
Some people find their confidence in their own abilities. An athlete may possess the skill to do well in a sport, so they usually have confidence. However, even the best athletes falter. I have played basketball for most of my life, and I am usually a pretty good free throw shooter. Thousands upon thousands of shots have paid off. But, when I am in a close game, free throws are harder. Even in the professional ranks, the best basketball players in the world have been known to miss key shots. Similarly, if we are looking for confidence in our own selves, we'll find that it only takes us so far. On a daily basis, we may seem confident, but something will come along that will show us we are fallible.
How do you know if you have life? If you watch television, you see all sorts of advertisers that talk about the good life. You need their product - whether it is a beverage, a line of clothes, a car or something else. None of these things bring life. They might make you feel good for a bit, but life based on these things is rather shallow. The Bible is clear that those who have the Son have the life, and if they do not have the Son, they do not have the life. Note that it says 'the' life, but not life in general. There are many people living - with some type of life, but 'the' life is what we've been called to live.
The words written by John were written so that people would believe in the name of the Son of God, so that they may know that they have eternal life. That's what it is all about - eternal life. Some people think that is life that starts after this life, but it is a quality of life that can be lived today. Don't mistake this to think that if you believe in the Son of God, your life all of a sudden becomes golden. Many believers experience many problems - sometimes based on their own mistakes, but others are in situations that they never thought they'd experience.
In the past week, I talked with a friend from Belarus who is now living in the States. She had experienced some form of persecution in her homeland, because of her activity with the church, losing a scholarship that she was looking forward to. However, even though she may have thought God had forgotten her, God has provided for her in many miraculous ways, partly due to her persecution she faced.
If we were looking for a problem free life, we're missing the point of the gospel. When we believe, we know that we have eternal life, regardless of the circumstances we face. Those who put a priority on this life will be dissatisfied. Where is your hope? Do you know that you have eternal life? If you believe on the name of Jesus, you can know that even now.
There are some benefits of the eternal life that we experience now and the relationship we have with our Lord. We have confidence when we go before him. There are so many times in our life that we lack confidence when we face others that are in authority or others that make us feel very uncomfortable. Have you ever had to ask a teacher, boss or some other authority figure for something, feeling very unsure of yourself in asking? You may not know if they will listen to you, or if they will ignore you, or if they may even yell at you. You may have past experience with them, so your whole demeanor changes as you approach them.
John tells us that we have confidence such that we can ask anything according to God's will and he hears us. God is not your boss, teacher or someone else whom you should fear. When we are coming to God, on the basis of our belief in his Son, we have confidence. We should not cower as we bring our requests before our God. We must ask according to God's will. I believe that many of us have been guilty of presuming the answer upon God, asking according to our own will, and have been disappointed in God when the answer did not turn out as we asked. Some people have been so disappointed that they quit asking. Don't presume upon God, and ask for his will in your life.
We know that God hears us in whatever we ask. Even when we are asking the wrong things, God hears us. He knows our hearts and he knows our hurts. We have a relationship with God who will continue to listen, even when we ask in our own will. We have a relationship with God who will forgive us time and time again as we fail him. When we come before God, and are willing to accept his will, we know that we have the requests we have asked from Him. It may not be our answer, but we can know that God will act in some way, according to his purpose.
There are many things that we can ask from the Lord, and they are not all about us. It is easy to get caught up in our own situation, our needs and our problems. We don't have a problem asking God to intervene in some way in our life, but that confidence we have should extend to others. How often are we praying for our Christian brothers and sisters? Sure, if someone is experiencing a terminal illness, or has suffered from a tragic accident, it is easy for many people to fall to their knees and pray for their situation. It is amazing how a tragic situation can bring a revival of sorts to a church.
We all know others who are engaged in some sort of sin. We must be careful that we are not falling into a sin of judgment on those people, but rather to help build them back up. If we see sin in another's life, we should pray for them, that God would forgive them and give them life. Sin carries with it consequences, but in Christ, we find forgiveness and eternal life.
This passage does speak of a sin leading to death. In another Bible Study I had earlier this week, we were studying Matthew 7:6, where Jesus tells his followers to not give what is sacred to dogs. There are people that are just antagonistic to anything of God. This isn't the friend or neighbor or co-worker that doesn't yet have faith, but the one who is openly anti God. In several places in scripture, we are told to turn and leave these people. Perhaps you can still pray that God will get their attention, but realize that as long as they are openly antagonistic to God, our involvement should be very limited.
Any and all unrighteousness is sin. When anyone is honest, we all know that we have sinned in our lives, from the earliest days (nobody had to teach us how to lie) to wherever we are in life now. Unrighteousness can take many forms and many are quick to point out the sin in other's lives. Have you noticed how sin in another's life always seems bigger than in ours? In Matthew 7, Jesus talked about the person with a plank in their own eye trying to remove a speck from a brother's eye. Only when we realize that our sins are planks and not specs will we be able to do anything about it. There are also many other sins that we know we each deal with - it may be with attitude, our inability to forgive complete, gossip, an unhealthy desire for even something good that changes how we live our lives. These and other sins are dealt with through the blood of Jesus Christ, when a person is willing to give them over. Although these sins can impact our lives and cause us to face consequences, we know that we are secure in Christ.
Although we know that we all deal with sin, we must be willing to examine our lives and to ensure that we are not accepting sin as the standard and that we are not content to walk in it. There are things that we can do to get past these areas in our lives, but if you find yourself desiring to just live as you want to live, you need to question your relationship with our Lord. The closer we draw to Christ, the more that we realize that sin is in our lives.
It is very difficult to just will to stop a sinful behavior. Sin generally has some short-lived benefit, or so we think, so to just say that you won't do that anymore is not likely to really cause you to stop. As believers, we do have weapons. Two of the primary ones are prayer and Bible Study. As you spend more time in prayer, trying to align your will with God's, you will find that your thoughts are more on the things of God, and less on things of yourself. And, as you read the Word of God, you will start to see yourself in the words. The Bible is like a mirror into our souls. The more we read it, the more we see what God wants us to be. If you can do these things, you will find that the Holy Spirit is more vibrant and alive in your life, and while you will still occasionally sin, you will find it easier to do the right thing, as you are closer to God.
John wrote a lot about those who walk in any way they want to walk, and how they are in the power of the evil one. However, concerning those he was writing to, he ensured them that they were of God, while the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. What a word of confidence. I want to instill some of that confidence to you who are believers today. The world may be going in many ways that are far apart from God. And, you may deal with sin in your life, but we know that we are of God. When the Holy Spirit stirs in you, you know that you are where God wants you to be. You will never be perfect, because if you were, you would nullify the need for Christ.
We know we are of God, and we know that the Son of God has come. We are not waiting for the coming of the Messiah - he has already come and we are sure of that fact. Through Christ, we have understanding so that we may know him who is true. Many people hear the facts and listen to what the Bible says. They may agree with it, but it doesn't impact them. In James, it says that even the demons believe and shudder. It is more than believing facts; it is that we are in Him who is true. We have a relationship with the Lord of Creation. We don't simply know about him - but we are in him. He is the true God and eternal life.
We know all of these things, yet many struggle with the confidence. I believe that you will continue to struggle, as long as you try and put yourself in the role as 'lord' of your own life. You may even be a believer, but you lack that confidence, because you still hold out parts of your life, not wanting to hand it over to God. This will cause you to struggle with confidence when you look to yourself. The other thing that throws us off is reflected in the last verse - little children, guard yourself from idols. We may not think that we have idols as you may see or hear about idols in different parts of the worlds. We may not have Buddha statues in our homes, and we may not burn incense to other idols, but in a sense, there are those who are looking to someone, something other than Christ, for their confidence. If you are looking elsewhere, you in essence have an idol and you will never be confident.
Closing
In some ways, the Christian life is very hard. But, as I think about it, it becomes much, much harder when we try and live it the way we want to live it, as opposed to how God has clearly told us to live it. Our ways often run counter to God's, and we may think of things in one way, but God clearly shows it in another way. If we were able to truly give ourselves to God, we would at least be able to have that confidence - in him, not ourselves. It wouldn't mean that we wouldn't struggle with sin, or have to deal with issues in life, but it would mean that our backbone and confidence would be based upon what the Lord Jesus Christ has already done for us, and not so much what we are doing for him. In essence, that confidence allows us to do more, but it does not replace the source.
As you live your life, strive to remain close to God in all you do. Try it for a few weeks and see how your life changes. If we truly believe that God is who we say he is, and that we have an eternity waiting for us, through the work of Jesus Christ, why do we hang on to what we think 'right now'? Align your life with the life that God has intended and then watch what he will begin to do in your life.
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