The Commandments

From 1-3 John - Life in Fellowship

1 John 3:23-24

This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

The Commandments

It would be easy to mistakenly interpret the keeping of the "commandments" in the previous verses to be referring to some legal system, whether that of the Law of Moses, or some other legalistic system that modern man would contrive.  However, John safeguards the reader against such wrong understanding by laying out the clear commandments of The Lord, just as it is preserved in John 13:34.

Command #1: Believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ

This is the same exhortation we would give someone asking how to be saved. Trusting in The Lord Jesus Christ and His work on our behalf is not just the chief characteristic of the Gospel of Grace, it is also the chief characteristic of the believer who is walking with Jesus Christ every moment of every day. Our faith in Jesus Christ is exactly what The Lord has for us with each passing moment. Trusting Him, and Him alone, for our salvation, sanctification, keeping and ultimate gathering unto Himself.

Command #2: Love one another

This is the thing we are finally freed to do based on our trust in Jesus Christ. With His limitless supply of love available to us we begin to long for objects whom we can lavish that love upon, just as He lavished it upon us. When this is not our experience in our daily experience we can be sure that we have looked away from trusting in Christ as the source of that love. We have allowed ourselves to take our eyes off Jesus, and just like Peter when he walked on water, we begin to sink. The answer? Return our gaze to The Lord!

False Teachers

From Titus - Life in the Church

Titus 1:10-13

¹⁰For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, ¹¹who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.  ¹²One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons."  ¹³This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, 

False Teachers

Paul has greeted Titus (Titus 1:1-4), and has given the requirements for elders (Titus 1:5-9) and now he is starting a new topic.  This section tells us, in great part, WHY the office of elder is so important, and WHY the Bible has standards for the character and equipment/gifting of the elders.  This section is about false teachers.  We must remember that in verse 9 Paul told us that elders need to be “holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.”  This is to say that elders must be steeped in the Word, and well trained in solid doctrine so that they can see the heresies of the world, of the culture and of other so-called “Christian Teachers.” 

            The elder needs to be in conflict with the cultural compromises made towards popular psychology (a man-centered view of life, giving lies about “self-esteem” and “emotional conditions”) , the church growth movements (popular movements that try to make it seem like the focus of Churches should be to get more people in the door, rather than equip those who are already there), and the “prosperity gospel” (the belief that following God and being a Christian will result in material gain, or any sort of financial stability.)  The elder needs to have an eye out to dispel these lies, and fight for the truth of the Word of God.  Boldly teaching, not afraid that some will leave, not afraid of losing his job because he didn’t keep people happy, but boldly teaching Word of God.  ESPECIALLY when it is uncomfortable!

Obedience Resulting in Righteousness

From Romans - Finding the Faith

Romans 6:16

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

Obedience Resulting in Righteousness

The other option that is available to the believer is simply unavailable to the non-believer and that is that we can now abide in the new nature and produce, by His power and His life, real actual righteousness.  The reality is that we can now live by the power of Christ’s life within us and everything we do will be reward-able, every action, every word and every breath will be the work of Christ within us, and thus be the very thing that He wants to see in us.  Far from a “to do list” that we can succeed or fail at.  This is a joyous reality that should, logically, characterize every moment of the believer’s life.

5 Things that Happen when you Trust Jesus

Not a Man

From 1-3 John - Life in Fellowship

1 John 2:27

As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.

Not a Man

This is of vital importance to the believer: we do not follow any one man!  This is likely part of the reason that the Bible is so clear on the issue of a plurality of elders and teachers within any given church body.  The believer is to be taking and testing every word of teaching that comes from his or her church leadership.  The believer is not to mindlessly follow everything that any one person says or writes, but to be constantly holding everything up to the Bible by the Spirit of God.  This is not to be argumentative or divisive, but to keep the believer moving on towards “the unity of the faith” (Ephesians 4:13).  This can happen very often when we are hearing people teach the word of God, the Holy Spirit coaches us and says, “No, that is not correct.”  This is a vital ministry of the Holy Spirit and we must be faithful to His ministry in our lives.