Moving Toward Spiritual Discernment-6

MOVING TOWARD SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT--VI—

1John 3:10--4:21

Attention:

Painting any part of a house requires either a very steady hand or a massive amount of preparatory work. We had our house in Wesley Chapel, FL(New River Township) spray painted/It took the crew an entire day to prep our house. The painters strategically taped paper in order to keep some parts of the doors, gutters, soffits, vents, casings, & all the windows & screens from receiving paint spray.

The painters were very DISCERNING & were expected to be.

God’s people must see the importance, the seriousness, & the security of their Moving Toward Spiritual Discernment.

One of the outcomes of the Church gathering together, is for the purpose of being encouraged & strengthened in it’s Movement Toward Spiritual Discernment.

Spiritual discernment is fulfilled thru the scrutiny of godly love.

The apostle John sheds light on this need for Spiritual Discernment in the Church.

Spiritual Discernment is a necessity in the Church.

•How is Spiritual Discernment in the Church achieved/accomplished?

--OR--

•What must be recognized in moving ourselves, the church, & others toward spiritual discernment?

At least 15 things we must recognize when moving toward spiritual discernment.

In the past months & weeks we’ve found that:

Moving(yourself & the Church) toward spiritual discernment recognizes...

1. OPPOSING SIDES(3:10)

•Children of God & Children of the Devil.

2. The FOUNDATIONAL MESSAGE(3:11)

•Love One Another.

3. IMPASSIONED BELIEF(3:12-13)

•The world hates you.

4-5(A-B). DECISIVE MOVEMENT(3:14-15)

•Passed from death to life.

Today, we’ll continue in our discovery that...

6—Moving(yourself, the Church, & others) toward spiritual discernment recognizes...

FREEING EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE(3:16a)

Explanation:(3:16a)

3:16a—“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us....”

Remember in verse :14 where we said that “because we love the brethren” is a FURTHER EVIDENCE that God’s people have crossed over “from death to life?” “Love” for one’s brethren is FURTHER EVIDENCE, RATHER Than The MEANS, by which they have passed from eternal “death” into eternal “life”(14:14a). The MEANS of a person’s passing into life, is by their personal faith that is placed upon/in Christ Jesus.

“By this we know love”...

“By this”—

That is, by what John reveals after the “because.”

“By”—en—Preposition—1) In, by, with etc.. Strong—“In, “At”, (Up-)On, By, etc.; a primary preposition denoting(fixed)position(in place, time or state), & by implication--Instrumentality(medially or constructively), i.e. A relation of rest(intermediate between eiv[into, unto, to, towards, for, among] & ek/ex[out of, from, by, away from]).

“This”—toutw—Demonstrative Pronoun Dative Sing. Neuter—1) To this one. Strong—To(in, with or by) this(person or thing).?Dative case singular masculine or neuter of—outov/outoi/auth/autai—1) This, these, etc..

“We know love”—

*When you think about it—“By this we know love”—points out that an ‘experiential knowledge’ of God’s “love” along with it’s resulting ‘godly’ “love”, is vital both to Christian experience as well as to overall human experience.

•We can & should “know” “love.”

“Know”(See 3:19, 20, 24; 4:2, 7, 8, 13)—ginwskw—Perfect Active Indicative 1st Plural—1) To learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive, feel—1a) To become known; 2) To know, understand, perceive, have knowledge of—2a) To understand, 2b) To know; 3) Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man & a woman; 4) To become acquainted with, to know. Ginwskw denotes a knowledge grounded on personal experience. Strong—a prolonged form of a primary verb; To "know"(absolutely) in a great variety of applications & with many implications.

“Love”(See 3:17; 4:8, 9, 10)—agaph—Noun Fem.—1) Brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence; 2) Love feasts. Strong—Love, i.e. Affection or benevolence; specially(plural)--A love-feast. R.H. Mounce—Agaph is selfless love, which cannot be turned in on itself. J. MacArthur—‘...one of the rarest words in Greek literature, but one of the most common in the New Testament.’

“Because He laid down His life for us....”

“Because”—That is, ‘Since’--God caused something to happen or undertook some action, OR--‘Due to the fact that’, something happened or some action was undertaken.

“Because”—oti—Conjunction—1) That, because, since. Strong—neuter of ostiv[Which some, i.e. Any that; also(definitive)--Which same] as conjunction; demonstrative--That(sometimes redundant); causative--Because.

“He laid down His life for us....”

God’s people “know love” “because” Christ Jesus forever ‘set’/‘fixed’/‘established’, “His” own “life” “for” the sake of those who would receive/accept that reality/truth.

“Laid Down”(see below)—tiyhmi—1Aorist Active Indicative 3rd Sing.—1) To set, put, place—1a) To place or lay, 1b) To put down, lay down—1b1) To bend down, 1b2) To lay off or aside, to wear or carry no longer, 1b3) To lay by, lay aside money, 1c) To set on(serve) something to eat or drink, 1d) To set forth, something to be explained by discourse; 2) To make—2a) To make(or set) for one's self or for one's use; 3) To set, fix establish—3a) To set forth, 3b) To establish, ordain. Strong—To place(in the widest application, literally & figuratively; properly, in a passive or horizontal posture, & thus different from isthmi, which properly denotes an upright & active position, while keimai is properly reflexive & utterly prostrate); a prolonged form of a primary yew(which is used only as alternate in certain tenses).