Whose Side is God on?
When reading the Bible, one of the most important things to do is start by asking a few questions. Why was the author writing this? To whom is the author writing? What was going on at this time? What prompted the author to pick up a pen?
The Bible wasn’t written to us; it was written for us. Throughout generations, across cultures and times, there is incredible consistency. We tend to think the world around us is progressing. There’s more information at our fingertips and more advancement, so it’s easy to think we’ve become more enlightened. But then, and always, human nature rears its ugly head.
In First John, John was writing a letter to THE church, all of the local outposts, not a specific congregation. And by way of history rhyming, and human nature not changing, he’s writing to us.
What John is Addressing
We have our own version of this in our time.
In every age, there’s a dominant cultural philosophy that needs to be pushed back against by the people of God.
The catch is that most of us can point to what we think this is, and it’s not us; it’s other people, but it’s part of all of us. Jesus spoke to this in the Gospels, where He said, You have a fine way of seeing aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! (Mark 7:9)
1 John 1
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.
John starts right out saying this isn’t a new teaching, but an old one. John was one of Jesus’ disciples; he walked with Him, had seen Him perform miracles, and heal the sick. But most importantly, he saw Him die on the cross and be raised to life.
1 John 1
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
He repeats the message that Jesus gave us. John is going to set up many contrasts throughout this letter, contrasting the way of the world and the way of Jesus. We need to do the same and recognize just how much the world around us can subtly shape us.
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
But there’s something good, not bad, that happens if we walk in the light, even if being seen as we really are is something we don’t want to do.
1 John 1
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
The light shows us for what we are – sinners, broken, in need of a savior. Remember that John is writing to church people. He’s not contrasting Christians and non-Christians; instead, he’s contrasting the church people who have fallen for this new teaching rather than staying anchored to Jesus.
Christians have this odd thing we do when we don’t want to be confronted over and over again with our sinfulness, even when Jesus has offered salvation. We try to shift the spotlight. It’s one of the best ways to hide from our own sin or shortcomings and shift the spotlight to what “those people over there are doing.” But we remain broken, sinners in need of a savior.
This is precisely the reason you hear stories of Christian leaders who confront “sin” or “the world” who are outed for some scandal later in life.
1 John 1
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
We all know that we’re not perfect, we’re flawed, fallen, and maybe even sinful. But we often act like the majority of the sin is “over there, not here.” John (and Jesus) is saying that the moment you begin that journey, you begin to make God out to be a liar, and the truth does not live in you.
You can tell the true followers of Jesus by their high view of God, awareness of their own sin, and humble embrace of Jesus.
God is perfect, you are broken, Jesus came to build the bridge.
What if our hope came not from your own good works, a higher plane of knowledge, a more sophisticated faith, or your ability to distract by pointing the spotlight in another direction, but a confidence? What if it was something certain, something strong? A humble confidence that, even as we stand in the light of God’s perfection, and our sinfulness is fully in view, Jesus came to build a bridge?
John goes on a few verses after this, reminding us that even if (and when) we do sin, Jesus stands beside us, as an advocate. We can have confidence.
The truth about God + the truth about you + the transformation that Jesus brings = a radical change in how you live and how you love.
How we live and love shows the transformation Jesus has brought, and what we believe is true about us and about God. How would the people around you answer those questions and solve that equation?
The Bible wasn’t written to us; it was written for us. Throughout generations, across cultures and times, there is incredible consistency. We tend to think the world around us is progressing. There’s more information at our fingertips and more advancement, so it’s easy to think we’ve become more enlightened. But then, and always, human nature rears its ugly head.
In First John, John was writing a letter to THE church, all of the local outposts, not a specific congregation. And by way of history rhyming, and human nature not changing, he’s writing to us.
What John is Addressing
- Gnosticism – This was seen as a more enlightened, progressive moral and religious understanding and path.
- God’s Existence – God existed but couldn’t be known. Jesus wasn’t the son of God, but merely human with a divine spirit. He was a good, moral teacher who did some cool things, but he wasn’t God.
- Jesus Couldn’t Save – He wasn’t God, and by extension, we didn’t need saving. We could save ourselves by keeping the law and doing good works.
- Materialism and Pleasure – This age was coming where life would be all about materialism and pleasure, throwing off all moral restraints.
We have our own version of this in our time.
In every age, there’s a dominant cultural philosophy that needs to be pushed back against by the people of God.
The catch is that most of us can point to what we think this is, and it’s not us; it’s other people, but it’s part of all of us. Jesus spoke to this in the Gospels, where He said, You have a fine way of seeing aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! (Mark 7:9)
1 John 1
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.
John starts right out saying this isn’t a new teaching, but an old one. John was one of Jesus’ disciples; he walked with Him, had seen Him perform miracles, and heal the sick. But most importantly, he saw Him die on the cross and be raised to life.
1 John 1
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
He repeats the message that Jesus gave us. John is going to set up many contrasts throughout this letter, contrasting the way of the world and the way of Jesus. We need to do the same and recognize just how much the world around us can subtly shape us.
- God is Perfect – God is pure, He is light. Light shows things for what they truly are, what is real, what is true. It’s not possible to claim to know Jesus and refuse to acknowledge the reality of who God is, not what we make Him out to be.
- We are broken – We don’t like to hear this because this requires us to embrace the truth that we really are broken. Learning about the truth might ruin some of our favorite restaurants or foods. It’s a lot nicer thinking our favorite ice cream sundae is 0 calories instead of the 600+ it might be. We’d rather go about our lives without knowing, but we can’t live that way and follow Jesus. We have to embrace the light.
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
But there’s something good, not bad, that happens if we walk in the light, even if being seen as we really are is something we don’t want to do.
1 John 1
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
The light shows us for what we are – sinners, broken, in need of a savior. Remember that John is writing to church people. He’s not contrasting Christians and non-Christians; instead, he’s contrasting the church people who have fallen for this new teaching rather than staying anchored to Jesus.
Christians have this odd thing we do when we don’t want to be confronted over and over again with our sinfulness, even when Jesus has offered salvation. We try to shift the spotlight. It’s one of the best ways to hide from our own sin or shortcomings and shift the spotlight to what “those people over there are doing.” But we remain broken, sinners in need of a savior.
This is precisely the reason you hear stories of Christian leaders who confront “sin” or “the world” who are outed for some scandal later in life.
1 John 1
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
- Jesus built the bridge – Jesus came to build the bridge between the truth of a perfect God and the reality of a broken people (you and I). But we have to live in some truth when it comes to this bridge, and that’s how Jesus is the son of God, righteous, died for our sins, and the sins of the world.
We all know that we’re not perfect, we’re flawed, fallen, and maybe even sinful. But we often act like the majority of the sin is “over there, not here.” John (and Jesus) is saying that the moment you begin that journey, you begin to make God out to be a liar, and the truth does not live in you.
You can tell the true followers of Jesus by their high view of God, awareness of their own sin, and humble embrace of Jesus.
God is perfect, you are broken, Jesus came to build the bridge.
What if our hope came not from your own good works, a higher plane of knowledge, a more sophisticated faith, or your ability to distract by pointing the spotlight in another direction, but a confidence? What if it was something certain, something strong? A humble confidence that, even as we stand in the light of God’s perfection, and our sinfulness is fully in view, Jesus came to build a bridge?
John goes on a few verses after this, reminding us that even if (and when) we do sin, Jesus stands beside us, as an advocate. We can have confidence.
The truth about God + the truth about you + the transformation that Jesus brings = a radical change in how you live and how you love.
How we live and love shows the transformation Jesus has brought, and what we believe is true about us and about God. How would the people around you answer those questions and solve that equation?
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