September 19, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like the gospel of John, the book of 1 John is filled with sharp contrasts: light and darkness, truth and falsehood, love and hate. In John\u2019s mind, things are fairly black and white with little if any grey area. In refreshingly simple terms, John writes his first epistle in order to give the people of God a better understanding of how they can know that they are saved, how they can tell the difference between true and false believers. He calls the church to be in a state of continual growth in faith, in obedience, and in love; let\u2019s heed that call together as a church as we read this letter!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the closing chapter to his first epistle, John revisits many of the themes he has addressed in the earlier chapters. He reiterates that the only trustworthy expression of love for God is to obey His commandments, and he goes further in saying that obeying God\u2019s commandments is a demonstration of Christian love towards one another as well. John tells us here that we participate in Christ\u2019s own victory and triumph over the world through our faith in Him, and that is very good news for us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John ends his letter in a way that almost seems random: he commands his audience to keep themselves from idols. What does this have to do with the rest of what he is trying to say in the letter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While John writes the letter in order to affirm the faith of his readers as well as to give them tests to discern the marks of a true believer versus a false believer, throughout the letter the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ rings out loudly. To John, Jesus is at the forefront of everything for the true believer, and all those who claim faith yet deny this fact either in word or in deed are of the devil!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus has to be foremost in all our affections, all our attention, all our worship. We keep ourselves from idols because God will not suffer any competition for the worship, allegiance, and devotion of our hearts. We must be fully surrendered to Him and Him alone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n