We are going to look at a passage in 1 John when John the Apostle gives a challenge regarding the kind of lives those he was writing to were living. This challenge helps us 2,000 years later to understand what the Christian life is supposed to be about.
Would you describe your spiritual life as an abiding life?
Is your Christianity something you do at specified moments such as Sunday mornings or is it something you live out each day?
Christianity more than any faith in the world seems to have become a religion of convenience. It is the most casual faith going.
You don’t have to ask to much before you have asked too much of most Christians today.
If all religions did lead to heaven and I was looking for the easiest with the least demands it would have to be what many now call the church.
The problem is that all religions don’t lead to heaven and I am afraid that even what we now see in the lives of most in the church doesn’t lead there either.
Churches don’t seem to ask much anymore: if you just come once a week you are considered a star player in most churches today. I wonder if God has changed this much? John would say He hasn’t.
Occasionally I watch a Korean church on TV. It is broadcast in Korean although the subtitles are provided. I don’t watch it to hear it but to watch it. In other words I don’t watch it for the pastor but for the congregation. I am amazed at the difference between congregations in Korean churches and those we commonly see in American churches.
Their congregations are segregated with men in one area and women in the other. They also seem very focused and intent as if something amazing is unfolding that they do not want to miss.
I could not dream of seeing a yawn on any face.
They have their bibles, notebooks and pens and are actively writing. Even the backs of the pews fold down to provide desks for them to have workspaces during church.
How radically different are things in American churches where apathy, disinterest and the need for entertainment are common.
(5) And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.(God hasn’t changed?)
(6) the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. The question is not that God has changed but have we?
There are those who say some things because they think those things are true about themselves but John says that is not the proof about who you are
This is THE MESSAGE: Jesus showed us Who God is, that He is light and not darkness, and IF we truly belong to Him then we will reflect that light and repel darkness from our own lives. Our life, and not just our words, speaks the truth about who we are spiritually.
John is saying that this is an important truth to understand: this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you
1) This is something Jesus made sure His apostles understood
2) This is something John and the other Apostles wanted to ANNOUNCE to the world. This is who God is’
THINGS WE SEE IN THESE TWO VERSES:
I am afraid that the common god of 2012 is a god who does not judge or condemn and only wants people to be happy regardless of their lifestyle. It is no wonder that many want to praise a god like that who only wants to make their life easier.
1. John helps us to understand who God is: God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all
a. God is light: Through God we see as we need to see.
If you want to know the difference God can make in a life then take a midnight drive without your car lights. You will be more dangerous to yourself and others than someone who was driving completely drunk.
We were not physically made for darkness. Creatures like bats, moles or even cats have capabilities for the darkness but not humans. Darkness means trouble for us. It highly increases the probability we will harm ourselves or others. It limits the life we can live. We are not physically made for darkness and neither are we spiritually made for it.
1) In God’s light we see ourselves as we really are: Sinners in need of a savior. Depraved, full of flaws, falling far short of God’s glory. Living in the dark and reflecting darkness from our lives.
2) In God’s light we see the world as it really is: darkness, reprobate, absent of the truths that define all that God is. 'Professing to be wise but acting as fools'.
3) In God’s light we see Jesus as He truly is: walk in the same manner as He walked. The way Jesus lived was pleasing to God. His life defined what is acceptable and desired to God.
Many don’t understand fully the implications of what it means to truly surrender your life to God. When you stood at an altar to get married did you understand fully what you were getting into?
(that is why so many bail along the way/divorce – why many divorce God or walk away) ‘
Did you know what you were getting into when you were in the delivery room? Who this was? How much this would cost you in money, time, worries and heartaches(also joy and love)
2. John helps us to understand who we are: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
John calls upon each of us to stop listening to our own voice and start looking at our own lives. It is much easier to talk the Christian life than it is to walk it.
The word ‘ought’ means that something should be in us, not because we choose to put it there, but because it is now part of who we are. It is not ours by choice but it is ours by nature.
The main word in this passage is not about saying anything but about doing. Abide: Abiding means constantly walking in a certain direction as we live our lives.
Christianity is supposed to be a walking religion. For many it has become a sitting religion. We come and sit and listen and leave and come back again to sit and listen again.
Years ago while playing sports we had a term for those who only sat: benchwarmers or guardians of the Gatorade.
John would say sitting in for sissies and the Christian life is about walking, making progress in the directions God has called us to. For some like Paul it is even about running. It is about running God’s race and finishing the course He has set for our lives.
ABIDE: Carries the idea of ‘continuing’. Jesus describes His followers as branches that ABIDED in the Vine. They stayed where He was and walked where He went.
I don’t know everything that the disciples got by spending three years with Jesus but one thing I know they got was exercise.
They kept constantly on the move in order to keep up with Him. Some of the last words He spoke to them basically said, ‘Now that you have gone and gone you now need to GO and GO!’ Go…all the world…Go…make disciples…Go teach and obey and teach to obey.
I was listening to a couple who gave up a medical practice and a teaching position at a university to become missionaries in Africa. The husband had previous stopped teaching to become an inner city pastor. He was speaking to the head of protestant churches in an area of Africa and was told, ‘Don’t send us any Americans to do evangelism…our people are much better”.
Why aren’t Americans good evangelists? Our Christianity is something we add to our lives instead of something that we are.
Knowing the 4 spiritual laws will never compensate for 1 unspiritual life.
One thing we don’t do very well is to abide in their faith:
The average American spends 10 minutes a day with God but 4 hours a day with TV.
What if you limited your TV time to the same amount of time you prayed, read your Bible or other edifying books or listened to sermons or a spiritual program? Make them equal.
We say we watch TV when we got nothing else to do. YOU NEVER HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO DO! (maybe we have nothing else we want to do).
One thing we see in the Bible about Satan is that he seems to always need permission to do his work. He needed God’s permission to attack Job’s life. He asked permission to sift Peter’s life. I think he needs our permission to work in our lives, in the life of our church, our community and in our culture. We consistently open doors for him and let him freely operate in our midst.
We also learn from the Bible about the Holy Spirit.
We are told He is similar to wind. When He came upon them at Pentecost it was described as a ‘mighty rushing wind’.
You don’t see wind but you can see the results of it blowing.
Wind can do good things and bad. The Holy Spirit is like wind and our faith is like the sails that catch the wind. I believe that wind blows hard on Sundays through sermons, Sunday School lessons and fellowship between believers. I believe it could blow all week long through God’s Word and prayer or other forms of ministry.
Did you lift your sails of faith and catch any of those winds? Did you just watch it blow or maybe just watchas it caught the sails in others lives. That may be why you are in the doldrums or have drifted off course into the currents of the world.
If you haven’t prepared yourself to hear from God today then your sails are down.
Too many are opening doors for the devil and not raising sails for the Spirit.
3. God wants us discover what is possible for our lives: walk in the same manner as He walked
There is more possible to this life than most are living.
Just walk like Jesus did. It sounds much easier than it is. . We even make bumper stickers to remind us to do just that.
Walking in the same manner of Jesus is more than just learning some rules and principles. I know most all the rules of golf but that does not mean I am a good golfer. In fact when I golf I often use a fore letter word. F O R E. That is short for ‘I just hit a horrible shot right at you so DUCK!’ Learning all the rules of golfing helped but I am a long way from being a good golfer.
You can know all the rules of being a Christian but that does not make you a good one.
I am not a good golfer because:
1) I don’t practice a lot 2) I don’t play a lot
3) Golf is a hard game – and so is living the Christian life.
4) I need help at it – that is where ABIDING comes in.
About 15 years ago I actually won a golf tournament. No, it wasn’t miniature golf. In fact it was a bunch of pastors and other church staff and you know some of those people play a lot of golf. It was the associational golf tournament for the Kansas City Baptist Association.
It was a two person scramble so I had a partner and just so you know Arnold Palmer wasn’t in the ministry. I played with a good golfer but not a great one. It was just one of those days that everything went right.
When I hit a bad shot he hit a good one and vice versa.
Even some crazy things happened like when I was close enough to the green to throw the ball on I hit a shot that was so horrible it was headed to another fairway. Suddenly the ball hit a large tree and bounced right back to our green stopping just 3 feet from the hole. That other pastor and I both agreed that God must have made the difference that day for us to win. The same is true in the Christian life. God wants to be in every part of our daily lives.
God wants us to experience a life that is beyond explanation. Too often we settle for a walk down an aisle or the assurance that we won’t experience eternal punishment when we leave this life. There is so much more.
In 1492 Columbus discovered America(Bahamas) and returned to testify to what he had found but Columbus really knew nothing about America. I am sure he told Queen Isabella and others how beautiful the Bahamas were but Columbus hadn’t really discovered America.
He had discovered that America was here but he knew nothing of the grand canyon, the great lakes, Niagara Falls, the mighty Mississippi, the rocky mountains or East Texas. He died with only a shallow sense of what there was so much more to know of. This reflects the relationship many have with God. They discover that there is a Christian life that can be lived but for the most part they watch others live it. They never travel any further along in their faith to discover the natural wonders that are ours in Christ.
If we are going to impact our world like believers of former generations have impacted their then we cannot do it will a watered down, sitting still, do nothing, want everything so called Christianity.
John said true Christianity is living where Jesus is and never leaving that spot. ABIDE in Him as we walk in the same manner as He walked when He was here. He should still be doing the same types of things.
He does today what He did then but the only difference is that He does it through our lives. We are not called to go and pray that He will go with us but we are to determine where He is and go there and be with Him.
What would Jesus do if He were at Holly Brook today? What would matter to Him? Who would He minister to?
A well-publicized Christian event was recently held in Israel and there were more believers from China there than from America. Believers in America are getting harder and harder to distinguish from non-believers.
The Spirit of the World is alive and well in the church.
You often know a Muslim when you see one. I recently finished a book about radical Muslims and I was amazed at their attitude toward the Qur’an.(their holy book about the size of our NT)
When they are going to read it they kiss it three times before opening and then after closing it they kiss it three more times and touch it to their forehead. It is always to be kept on the highest shelf in the house.
It is never to be on the floor, never under other books, the last thing packed in a suitcase, never carried below the waistline and never left open or unattended.
I talked to someone this week who was from a Muslim background. They said that their mother believed that if you read the Qur’an a thousand times that you would earn your place in heaven.
He said that she constantly read it even though she did not even understand the Arabic language it was written in.
Christians in comparison: toss Bibles around, put them anywhere and under anything, and treat the Bible like it is nothing special. Getting most Christians to read their Bibles it is like asking them to listen to preaching after 12 o’clock while sitting on the front pew of the church.
Why should the world think any more highly of the Bible than most Christians seem to?
(When I bought my first Bible I brought it to church in the box for the first 6 months I owned it.) I have read it dozens of times and the New Testament over a hundred times. I have studied and memorized large portions of it because it is what it is and is from Who it is from.
2 KINGS 22: Jewish society was in shambles. Josiah became king at age 8 and at age 26 decided to repair the padlocked temple. While looking for money in their to pay for repairs the High Priest found something that Israel had been doing without for decades.
It was found in a wall. It was the Word of God. It was brought to King Josiah and read to him.
22:11-13 When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Shaphan the scribe saying, "Go, inquire of the LORD for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the LORD that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us."
I am afraid that in our day God’s Word is now hidden in the church. Christianity is now like smoking in that it is only allowed in ‘designated areas only’.
If we truly Abide with Him and go where He is and walk as He walked we will find ourselves in places we don’t expect.
I often run at the track at Harmony high school. I hate January because that is when the New Years resolutions come out for about a month or so. This year the mini vans pulled up about the same time I ran every day. Kids with bikes and trikes and anything that rolled came all over the track. Moms walking and talking multiple lanes away. I knew that this too shall pass but in the meantime I went offroad. I began to run all over the campus and I especially like the long hill by the grade school. NOBODY got in my way there. It was left all to me. When you get serious about God you will find that there won’t be a lot of congestion on that road. It will not be for the crowds who are too busy talking and playing.
We will be walking with Him more often outside the church than in it. A lost world needs to hear the Word of God and even more so to see the Word of God lived out in the lives of His people. For that to happen we have to learn to ABIDE in Him.
