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Read 1 John 5:1-17
We are now at the end of John’s letter to the church. In our last chapter John gives his final farewell to the church. He summarizes the point of this entire lettering and tonight we will be looking at the beginning of this summary.
All series we have been talking about “HOW to live a righteous life” but now John is shifting his tone. He goes from the practical, the “HOW” and is now shifting his focus onto something else, something greater, something more important.
To live righteously does not mean to simply perform all the right tasks. Yes, obedience to God’s commands is important but God does not want our performance-based obedience; He wants our hearts to be sold out to Him, He wants our FULL devotion, our FULL worship. When there is FULL worship then obedience to His commands will come second nature.
The Point: God saves repentant hearts from sin; so follow God, love Him, worship Him, obey His commands with a joyful obedience. Righteousness will become a fruit out of joyful obedience to God.
1. God has overcome everything in the physical world and in the spiritual world—this gives the church victory in Jesus, it gives the church unspeakable joy.
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world—our faith.”
--1 John 5:1-4
What an encouraging reminder from John! Remember the context, John is writing to churches who have been affected by the false gospel of gnosticism—Jesus is no longer divine, He’s not fully human and fully God at the same time. It is splitting the church and taking people away from Christ.
What is John doing here? He is reminding Christians of the confidence which can only be found in the one true good news of the one true God of the Universe. Don’t believe the non-sense because the Christ you worship died on the cross for your sins and came back to life three days later—HE DEFEATED DEATH!
“We live in a society that has given into despair, that’s lost hope. Scores of people wonder, What is the point of Life? But the resurrection is what gives us hope. According to Jesus, it gives us purpose. Your whole life can be poured out in a God-serving way. That’s what resurrection does for us. If you knew with certainty that you would live forever, what would you do differently? What risks would you take?
--Jeremiah Johnstone, “Body of Proof: The Seven Best Reasons to Believe in the Resurrection.”
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.”
--Romans 8:18-19
Following God will give us unspeakable joy. Following God’s commandments will give us unspeakable joy. When we are in a healthy church community, when we ask for prayer, confess our sins we are living in God’s designed plan for our life here on this sinful earth. The God we worship is ALIVE. Jesus did not stay dead! That is the ultimately victory which cannot come from the world, any other false religion or ourselves.
“And His commandments are not burdensome. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.”
--1 John 5:3
“Burdensome”βαρεῖαι – this is a metaphor that means “Heavy, heavy to weigh, weighty.”
The scripture is reminding here that following God’s commands is not “weighty” or “it does not weigh us down” in a metaphorically sense. Following God’s commands is freeing, it teaches us who God is and allows us to walk alongside of God. When we follow God’s commands we know we are following the one who is still alive, the one who walked out of the grave and that gives us supreme confidence in everything as we life our life on earth.
Remember, God doesn’t want our performance rather He wants our hearts, souls, bodies and minds. Are we obeying with a joyful heart? Are we kind to God’s church and fellow believers?
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments.”
--1 John 5:2
The result of joyful obedience is a deepening in the community around us; true relationships will come out of following God’s commands and loving God.
“One of the tests of maturing love is our personal attitude toward God and the bible, because in the Bible we find God’s will for our lives revealed. An unsaved man considers the Bible an impossible book…An immature Christian considers the demands of the Bible to be burdensome…but a Christian who experiences God’s perfecting love finds himself enjoying the Word of God and truly loving it. He does not read the Bible as a textbook but as a love letter.”
--The Bible Exposition Commentary
2. Our only source for joy is God Himself, Father, Son, Holy Spirit—He is a living example of holiness which is where we get everything from.
“This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood…Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself.”
--1 John 5:6-10
Where does our “Joyful Obedience” come from? Well, it comes when we become a Christian, it comes from the Holy Spirit Himself. The Spirit of Truth begins to transform our lives and give us amazing fruits which can only come from God Himself—these fruits help us develop a righteous life and give us a testimony that MUST be shared with others. This testimony is God’s Glory shining through the church bearing witness to His reality.
“But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe.”
--John 19:33-35
“How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water…”
--Isaiah 1:21-22
Our disobedience of God’s commands, our sins, dilutes our best wine with water. This is our natural state. Jesus’ natural state was complete perfection, holiness, 100% God and 100% man at the same time. This is why blood and water came out separately from Christ’s side because His wine, His blood is perfect—it is what we need to be victorious, and God has given His blood on the doorpost of the cross—the ultimate Passover so our sins can be forgiven.
This is the testimony that lives in our lives when we live in daily repentance with Jesus; when we live in relationship with Jesus. We can only get the fruits of God by spending time with God, growing in relationship AND in knowledge of His commandments.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”
--Galatians 5:22-25
3. Our confidence in God will allow us to share the good news of Jesus. It will change how we look at everything in this life including our times of correction from our sin.
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him…All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death”--1 John 5:13-15, 17
John is giving a gentle reminder of how powerful God’s grace is towards His Church. Christians will not live perfect lives, there is sin that does not lead to death (the penalty of sin is death and eternal separation from God). All sin is wrong but those in the church are going to sin! This is why we need to find confidence in God and now ourselves.
When a brother or sister in Christ sins we must pray for them, walk alongside of them, God has built us to be in community. In the correction process there comes a point where prayer will not longer be prioritized rather they must come home to God and repent.
“Apparently, a believer can sin to the point where God believes it is just best to bring them home, probably because they have in some way compromised their testimony so significantly that they should just come on home to God.”
--Enduring Word Commentary
“If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life…”
Vs. 16
This “asking” is prayer. This is why we need to be reminded that there is only so much we can do. God is in control, God is sovereign, we find confidence in trusting in the Lord because He has given us eternal life through His resurrection.
If we are far from God, if we are foolish and turning our backs on God then how can we be a shining testimony for God? How can we follow God’s commands if we never read them, pray for them, and pray for God’s will in our life? We will gain a wavering confidence when we live this way.
“Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act. He will bring froth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.”
--Psalm 37:3-6
The Point: God saves repentant hearts from sin; so follow God, love Him, worship Him, obey His commands with a joyful obedience. Righteousness will become a fruit out of joyful obedience to God.
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