Seeking the Life in Christ: October 2021

Friday, October 29, 2021

Passion For Unity

Meditations on Galatians

October 29, 2021

Passion For Unity

For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles.

Galatians 2:8

Read: Galatians 2: 6-10

Through the Apostle Paul, God has given us the incredible Gospel of Grace: the Good News that God accepts us, unconditionally, just as we are, not as we should be, because none of us are as we should be. (Brennan Manning) Through Paul, God has also given us a passion for unity in the Body of Christ. In this letter to the Galatians, Paul sought to reestablish the church on the solid foundation of grace. He was also seeking to maintain unity between himself and the church of the other Apostles in Jerusalem.

To discredit the Judaizers, Paul asserts that the church in Jerusalem did not add to or take away from his Gospel of Grace. In commissioning Paul to be an evangelist to the Gentiles, the church simply asked Paul to keep on helping the poor, which Paul had always been eager to do. There are times when we are compelled to speak the truth in love, even when such a confrontation may threaten unity, because to remain silent may have a more harmful effect on the church. (We’ll see an example of this in the next passage.) For today, let’s take some time to ponder how we can embrace Paul’s passion for unity within the church.

I believe God calls us to be a part of a local church because He wants us to use the gifts He has given us to help the church fulfill the mission He has for her. We will experience times of conflict within the church, as well as times when we don’t feel we’re being fed. There will be times of great productivity and times when it seems we’re just not contributing to the cause of Christ. In these times, claim the words of Paul,

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns” (Philippians 1:6).

My Takeaway: We all will face issues in our local church. If we hold tight to Paul’s passion for unity within the Body of Christ, I am confident our gracious Heavenly Father will give us the wisdom to respond to the issues in a way that glorifies Jesus and edifies our fellow believers.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life. The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Christianoi

Meditations on Galatians

October 28, 2021

Christianoi

But we refused to give in to them for a single moment. We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you.

Galatians 2:5

Read: Galatians 2:1-5

We live in a hyphenated culture. Seldom is someone referred to by just one defining characteristic. People are referred to as African-Americans or Asian-Americans or Italian-Americans. We also divide ourselves into sub-groups based on schools and universities, states, and regions. For instance, I may be a legal resident of North Carolina, but I proudly live in Western North Carolina!

As seriously as some people take these divisions, they pale in comparison to how the Jews in the first century marked their identity through male circumcision. This national, religious, and cultural identity ran so deep that the Jews who had accepted Jesus as their Messiah expected all the male followers of Jesus to be circumcised. This was a huge point of contention between the Apostle Paul and those leaders in the Christian movement who tried to require Gentile believers to comply with male circumcision and the Law of Moses. (These leaders were known as Judaizers.)

At one time, the followers of Jesus were known as Christianoi, People of Christ. Over the centuries, we have become Roman Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Pentecostals, and Anglicans, etc. This puts us in a dilemma. On one hand, the way churches are organized creates a temptation to think we are right and others, not in our church, are wrong. This creates disunity in the Body of Christ. On the other hand, our churches in their present form are all we have. How can we respond to this dilemma?

The most important thing is to keep our eyes on Jesus. Although Paul loved his heritage as a Jew, he made it very clear that the only thing that truly mattered to him was Jesus. (See Philippians 3) He was even more emphatic in what he told the Galatians. Not only was his old life gone, but his old identity was also dead. He had a new identity as a follower of Christ. (Galatians 2:20)

My Takeaway: The Jews set themselves apart from others through their mono-theistic faith in the Creator God, their male circumcision, and their dietary laws. Today, Christianoi, the People of Christ, are set apart by their belief in justification by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Go!

Meditations on Galatians

October 27, 2021

Go!

All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!”

Galatians 1:23

Read: Galatians 1:18-24

After proclaiming the Gospel in Galatia, Paul had moved on to continue his work. After he left, other Christians who took exception to Paul not requiring Gentile converts to keep the Law of Moses had moved in. The issue of Paul’s credentials, his authority to lead the church, had been called into question. However, by that time, Paul had been completely accepted by the church leaders in Jerusalem, and he had been commissioned as an evangelist to the Gentiles. His authority was undeniable, yet he never relied on that ecclesiastical authority in making his case to the Galatians. As the adage goes, the proof of the pudding is in the tasting. Paul reported that the Christians in Jerusalem knew that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!” And they praised God because of me” (Galatians 1:23-24).

Paul isn’t teaching us that clergy credentials don’t matter. He is teaching us that while they certainly have their purpose and place, there is something else that is more important. Is there fruit? Is the person’s ministry making disciples for Jesus Christ? Can you see evidence that they are building for the Kingdom of God?

My Takeaway: Methodist Circuit Riders were dispatched by John Wesley to America and charged to have no other business than to save souls and to spread scriptural holiness across the land. These mighty men and women of God bore much fruit for the Kingdom of God. I pray such zeal for making fully-devoted disciples of Jesus will return to our churches.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Jesus Laid Hold of Me

Meditations on Galatians

October 26, 2021

Jesus Laid Hold of Me

I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.

Galatians 1:12

Read: Galatians 1: 10-17

Paul asserts he received his message through a “direct revelation from Jesus Christ.” This isn’t just a personal biographical statement. Paul is affirming what Jesus taught Peter in Matthew 16. Jesus had asked his disciples “who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then told Peter he didn’t get that answer out of books or from teachers. God in Heaven revealed to Peter that Jesus was the Messiah. (Matthew 16:13-18)

In his letter to the Romans, Paul makes clear that this divine revelation was not limited to just Peter and Paul. This is how Paul expressed this truth in Romans 8: 16:

“For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.”

John Wesley’s Aldersgate experience, where he felt his heart strangely warmed and received the assurance his sins had been forgiven, is another example of divine revelation.

My Takeaway: God wants all his children to experience His divine revelations as He reveals the truth of Jesus Christ to us.

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” (Philippians 2:13)

We can always be sure of God’s leading through His Holy Spirit because His leading is ALWAYS in perfect alignment with Holy Scripture.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Monday, October 25, 2021

The Good News

Meditations on Galatians

October 25, 2021

The Good News

This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.

Galatians 1:1

Read: Galatians 1: 1-9

A few years ago, a president of a leading seminary made the news when she stated that the literal resurrection of Jesus was not a crucial element of the Christian faith. Her statement was not at all surprising in our current age when many Christian leaders are seeking to be culturally relevant by accommodating Christian doctrine to cultural beliefs. Our reading of Galatians will provide us with an opportunity to check our bearings and make sure we are aligning our faith with Jesus, and Jesus alone.

Paul was writing to a church that had gotten sidetracked from the foundation in Christ he had first laid for them. To help them recover their bearings, Paul repeatedly used two terms: Good News, or Gospel, and apostle. It will be helpful to get a clear understanding of what Paul meant by these terms.

The Good News is the announcement that God has won victory over sin and death through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah. The good news about the Good News is that all people, everywhere, may partake in God’s victory over sin and death through their faith that Jesus is the Risen Son of God. When people accept Jesus as God’s Messiah, they are adopted into God’s own family.

The word apostle means a person who is appointed to proclaim the Good News. At the time of Paul, the title apostle was reserved for those people who had personally been with Jesus when He was on earth. Some people accused Paul of not being an apostle because Paul was not one of Jesus’ followers before Jesus was crucified. Others suggested Paul was only a ‘junior’ apostle, because he was sent by the real apostles like Peter and John. Paul makes the point in chapter one that he is qualified to be an apostle because Jesus himself appointed him to proclaim the Good News.

My Takeaway: Like Paul, Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) modeled Christocentric spirituality.

“Write what you will, I shall not relish it unless it tells of Jesus. Talk or argue about what you will, I shall not listen if you exclude the name of Jesus. Jesus to me is honey in the mouth, music in the ear, a song in the heart.”

– Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon XV on the Song of Songs

(Song of Solomon)

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Friday, October 22, 2021

In Hoc Anno Domini

October 22, 2021

In Hoc Anno Domini

Next week, I will begin a series of meditations on the Book of Galatians. The following editorial, In Hoc Anno Domini (In the Year of our Lord) was written in 1949 by the late Vermont Royster and has been published in the Wall Street Journal annually since. I am publishing it here today because there is such similarly in our world today to the world of Tiberius Caesar Royster describes. And, also because of the closing line in the editorial.

In Hoc Anno Domini

“When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus, the whole of the known world lay in bondage. There was one state, and it was Rome. There was one master for it all, and he was Tiberius Caesar.

Everywhere there was civil order, for the arm of the Roman law was long. Everywhere there was stability, in government and in society, for the centurions saw that it was so.

But everywhere there was something else, too. There was oppression—for those who were not the friends of Tiberius Caesar. There was the tax gatherer to take the grain from the fields and the flax from the spindle to feed the legions or to fill the hungry treasury from which divine Caesar gave largess to the people. There was the impressor to find recruits for the circuses. There were executioners to quiet those whom the Emperor proscribed. What was a man for but to serve Caesar?

There was the persecution of men who dared think differently, who heard strange voices or read strange manuscripts. There was enslavement of men whose tribes came not from Rome, disdain for those who did not have the familiar visage. And most of all, there was everywhere a contempt for human life. What, to the strong, was one man more or less in a crowded world?

Then, of a sudden, there was a light in the world, and a man from Galilee saying, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's.

And the voice from Galilee, which would defy Caesar, offered a new Kingdom in which each man could walk upright and bow to none but his God. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And he sent this gospel of the Kingdom of Man into the uttermost ends of the earth.

So the light came into the world and the men who lived in darkness were afraid, and they tried to lower a curtain so that man would still believe salvation lay with the leaders.

But it came to pass for a while in diverse places that the truth did set man free, although the men of darkness were offended and they tried to put out the light. The voice said, Haste ye. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

Along the road to Damascus the light shone brightly. But afterward Paul of Tarsus, too, was sore afraid. He feared that other Caesars, other prophets, might one day persuade men that man was nothing save a servant unto them, that men might yield up their birthright from God for pottage and walk no more in freedom.

Then might it come to pass that darkness would settle again over the lands and there would be a burning of books and men would think only of what they should eat and what they should wear, and would give heed only to new Caesars and to false prophets. Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter's star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness.

And so Paul, the apostle of the Son of Man, spoke to his brethren, the Galatians, the words he would have us remember afterward in each of the years of his Lord:

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1 KJV)”

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Thursday, October 21, 2021

Now All Glory To God

Meditations on the Epistles of John & Jude

October 21, 2021

Now All Glory To God

All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time,

and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.

Jude 1:25b

(By the way, Jude’s name was Judah, and it is believed he was Jesus’ brother. His name was shortened to Jude by the Bible translators to help distinguish him from the other Judah’s in the Bible.)

Parts of John’s letters, and Jude’s little letter both reveal serious issues in the first century churches. As I read these letters, I was saddened to think of the church of Jesus Christ being in such disarray. In her first generation, there were church splits and disputes. Some of the disputes were quite simple; it was then, and is now, always about control. The nature of our fallen flesh makes it inevitable that there will be disputes. The caution being thrown up by both John and Jude is for us to not accept that this is the norm for the church. Christ calls us to rise above the norm of our humanity and to accept God’s call for the church to strive for holiness.

Both John and Jude also point to more serious controversies. These other controversies related to the core beliefs of the Christian church. Both writers are stressing how important it is for every Christian to have a solid foundation for their faith. This foundation is built upon an understanding of the nature of Jesus, His mission, His resurrection, and His ascension. Simply put, a Christian has been born into the family of God, and this is made possible by the forgiveness of our sins and the infilling of God’s Holy Spirit. It is Jesus who came in the flesh, who was crucified and raised to life again, who makes it possible for us to call upon the name of God and be saved.

My Takeaway: Even during church disputes, Jude is overwhelmed by the grace of God who has called us into a loving intimate relationship through our faith in Christ Jesus. He crowns his little letter with one of the most magnificent benedictions in the entire Bible:

Now all glory to God,

who is able to keep you from falling away

and will bring you with great joy

into his glorious presence

without a single fault.

All glory to him who alone is God,

our Savior

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All glory, majesty, power, and authority

are his before all time, and in the present,

and beyond all time!

Amen.

Jude 1:24-25

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

The Truth

Meditations on the Epistles of John & Jude

October 20, 2021

The Truth

This letter is from John, the elder.

I am writing to Gaius, my dear friend, whom I love in the truth.

3 John 1:1

In the opening passage of Third John, 3 John 1: 1-8, The Apostle used the word, truth, four times:

“whom I love in the truth” (1:1),

“you are living according to the truth” (1:3),

“to hear that my children are following the truth” (1:4), and

“as they teach the truth” (1:8).

The context suggests to me that John assumes he and the recipients of his letter are in complete agreement on ‘the truth.’ Certainly, John remembered Jesus saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), so whatever he believed the ‘truth’ to be, it was grounded in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. But what do you think John has in mind, specifically, when he commends the church to love in the truth, live according to the truth, follow the truth and teach the truth?

Truth is a person: Jesus Christ. To love, live, follow and teach the truth is to hold tight to the ground of our faith, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Because Christ is in us, the acrostic WWJD is more than a catchy phrase; it is an absolute reality. When we take the time to pause and pray, in any circumstance, even the simplest of circumstances, we can seek the wisdom and direction of Jesus as we ask, “Jesus, what will you have me say or do at this time?” “Jesus, how do you will that I respond to this opportunity?”

My Takeaway: When I so chose to respond to my environment, truth is not just a fact or quality; truth is the living, dynamic, powerful presence of Jesus, transforming my own life and transforming the world around me. Is Jesus your truth?

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

I Would Forget Everything Except Jesus Christ

Meditations on the Epistles of John & Jude

October 19, 2021

I Would Forget Everything Except Jesus Christ

I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist.

2 John 1:7

I have noticed in the last several years more and more discussion, writings and books about the question of whether Jesus was a very wise teacher, but just a human being, or is he God. Many of these are taking inspiration from the Apostle John: “Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve” (2 John 1:8a). John was concerned for the church because many deceivers had gone out into the world and denied that Jesus Christ came in a real body. (2 John 1:7) That was John’s way of confronting false teachers who he saw as a very real threat to the church. The Apostle Paul dealt with this same subject in most of his letters.

The church in the USA has undergone a dramatic shift in the last several years. Gone, or at least gone for the most part, is our two-thousand-year heritage of church architecture which featured a narthex, altars, chancels, paraments, sacraments and robes. In their place are preachers in un-tucked shirts, platforms, and auditoriums without crosses, but with coffee cafes. Let me be clear, I preached many sermons in a Guayabera shirt, and if the new ways are proclaiming, “Whoever has the Son has life; There is salvation in no one else!” -- I am OK with their style. My concern is that we do not lose sight of the essential tenants of faith in Jesus Christ. Regrettably, some popular preachers are leaning more to motivational talks about don’t worry, be happy than joining the Apostle Paul in Gospel messages begining with, “For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

My Takeaway: It is not liturgy that saves us, so I am OK with non-liturgical forms of worship. It is Jesus who saves, and I am not OK with forms of worship that are not centered on the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Monday, October 18, 2021

Living Face to Face

Meditations on the Epistles of John & Jude

October 18, 2021

Living Face to Face

Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ—the Son of the Father—will continue to be with us who live in truth and love.

2 John 1:3

Truth and love are the continuing themes in John’s letters. It is evident that John fully embraced Jesus’ assertion that he is our way, our truth and our life. (John 14:6) John uses the word, truth, five times in the first four verses of chapter one, making it clear that John was very concerned that we never move away from the truth of Jesus in his life, death, resurrection and ascension. John used the word, love, three times in verses four and five as he again stressed God’s command for us to love one another.

In the middle of John’s teaching about truth and love, John includes verse three (quoted above), a promise from God. At first, this promise may appear to be a bit of a conundrum. Brennan Manning summed up God’s grace as “God loves us unconditionally, just as we are; not as we should be. Because no one is as they should be.” (All is Grace) Manning said God loves us unconditionally, yet John seems to condition God’s love, mercy and grace on our living in God’s truth and love. Is this a conflict? I think not.

The scriptures are clear that “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8). I’d suggest that is the very definition of unconditional love. However, how do we get to experience God’s great love?

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved” (Romans 10:9-10).

We experience God’s love by giving our hearts to God and choosing to live in His truth and love.

My Takeaway: John is not teaching that God’s grace, mercy and peace are awarded to us because we get right with God by living in truth and love. Rather, when we turn our hearts to God, we realize we are—face-to-face! There is nothing between us and God, and our faces shine with the brightness of his face. And as we seek to live in truth and love, we are transfigured as our lives gradually become brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like Him. (See 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, The Message)

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Friday, October 15, 2021

Life Uninterrupted By Death

Meditations on the Epistles of John & Jude

October 15, 2021

Life Uninterrupted By Death

I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,

so that you may know you have eternal life.

1 John 5:13

At the conclusion of John’s Gospel, he states the purpose of the book:

“that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name” (John 20:31).

As he concludes his first letter, he includes a similar statement:

“I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.” (I John 5:13).

Eternal life is life uninterrupted by death. Those who are in Christ are living eternally now. How can that be? At the end of the letter, John answers that question:

“And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life” (I John 5:20).

God wants us to spiritually sense, or experience, that we are living eternally. That experience comes through fellowship with Jesus. We can know God and have fellowship with God because of what Jesus accomplished to give us new life. This fellowship with God the Father and His Son, Jesus, can come through our meditation on the Word of God.

The 23^rd Psalm is a good place to begin experiencing fellowship with God because it is written in the first person. As you read the Psalm, take your time. Read one verse at a time and allow the words to sink deep within you. Don’t think of David writing those words; imagine you are writing them. When you say them out loud, you are not just reading scripture; these are your words of affirmation, devotion and trust. Make David’s psalm your psalm.

My Takeaway: God wants you to know you have eternal life. Jesus is eternal life. Jesus wants you to have fellowship with Him. Today! Enjoy!

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Thursday, October 14, 2021

Embrace the Truth

Meditations on the Epistles of John & Jude

October 14, 2021

Embrace the Truth

And this is what God has testified:

He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

Whoever has the Son has life;

whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.

1 John 5:11-12

John makes a very interesting argument in the first half of chapter five (1 John 5:1-12). First, he continues with his theme that those who belong to God are the children of God, and God’s children are called to love one another. Secondly, he asserts that the love for our brothers and sisters in the church is a witness for God against the evil in our world. John is emphatic about the power of this love:

“For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:4-5).

John then turns to the proof we have that Jesus is, in fact, the Son of God. John states that we have “three witnesses — the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree” (I John 5:7-8). (The water is Jesus’ baptism, and the blood is his crucifixion – thus all his messianic mission. The Spirit is the inward conviction God gives us that Jesus is His Christ. See Matthew 16:16-17.)

Simply put, John teaches that those who believe the three witnesses are the children of God and have been granted eternal life by God. Those who deny the witnesses are in effect calling God a liar and are not granted eternal life.

In John’s Gospel, he quotes Jesus as saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). In the Book of Acts, Saint Luke quotes the Apostle Peter speaking about Jesus: “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). In addition to the three witnesses of God for Jesus (the Spirit, the water, and the blood), we also have the witness testimony of Jesus, and John and Peter.

My Takeaway: I pray all our churches will embrace the truth of this testimony and proclaim to the world, “Whoever has the Son has life; There is salvation in no one else!”

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

We Are The Children Of God

Meditations on the Epistles of John & Jude

October 13, 2021

We Are The Children Of God

And he has given us this command:

Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.

1 John 4:21

In the concluding verses of chapter four, John is using his repetitive style because he wants the church to not just mentally assent to the command to love one another, but to truly live out this command in their daily lives. The Apostle James emphasized this teaching as well: “I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” (James 2:14-20) So also the Apostle Paul, “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus . . .” (Philippians 2:4-5 NRSV)

Could it be any clearer? “But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. We love each other because he loved us first” (1 John 4:8, 19).

Over the centuries, the church has legislated love and purity: do this, don’t do that; say this, and don’t say that. These rules missed John’s point entirely. When you are in a relationship where you love, and you are loved, you do not need rules to tell you to be faithful. Your life is shaped by love, and your fidelity is a natural fruit of your love. Your love not only shapes your life in your loving relationship, but it also shapes your life entirely. Your love overflows into all the people you encounter.

John is showing us that God meets our every need to be loved, accepted and to be valued. When we open ourselves to this love of God, His love overflows out of our lives and into the lives of others.

My Takeaway: God’s love for us was not just empty words. Christ died for us. Our love for others should not be just empty words. We are the children of God.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Following the Lead of the Holy Spirit

Meditations on the Epistles of John & Jude

October 12, 2021

Following the Lead of the Holy Spirit

If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?

1 John 3:17

John is teaching the church that because God loves His children, His children love others. Because of the love of God,

“Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16).

(We know John didn’t divide his letter into chapters and verses and number them. Even so, the similarity between John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16 is quite stunning!)

Verse 17, quoted above, makes it clear that we are called to work out Jesus’ command in our everyday life, not just in extraordinary times. In the passage, 1 John 3:11 – 4:6, John shows how the Holy Spirit enables us to respond to the needs of our brothers and sisters. I witnessed this a few years ago when friends, upon the prompting of the Spirit, called members of our church who they knew may be in danger of an approaching wildfire. My friends drove to the house in danger and moved many of the valuables back to their own home, out of harm’s way. A simple act, yes. But also, evidence of how the Spirit moves within us to fulfill Jesus’ command to love one another.

My Takeaway: This passage also contains a promise we never, ever want to lose sight of: “the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world” (1 John 4:4b). Of all the voices vying for our attention, we can rest assured that God will enable us to hear His voice! Hallelujah and Amen!

Sē’lah

<>< <>< <>< <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Friday, October 29, 2021

Passion For Unity

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Christianoi

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Go!

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Jesus Laid Hold of Me

Monday, October 25, 2021

The Good News

Friday, October 22, 2021

In Hoc Anno Domini

Thursday, October 21, 2021

Now All Glory To God

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

The Truth

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

I Would Forget Everything Except Jesus Christ

Monday, October 18, 2021

Living Face to Face

Friday, October 15, 2021

Life Uninterrupted By Death

Thursday, October 14, 2021

Embrace the Truth

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

We Are The Children Of God

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Following the Lead of the Holy Spirit

Seeking the Life in Christ

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