October 2, 2014
LET'S START FROM THE VERY END. A VERY GOOD PLACE TO START.
1 John 5:9–21
Lauren Snedden
Central Truth
Of all the challenges and wisdom John gives for using our faith, this is his closing statement for 1 John: Love and worship Jesus more than you love and worship anything or anyone else.
Key Verse | 1 John 5:21
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21)
1 John 5:9–21
9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
That You May Know
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God 1 5:16 Greek he will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Dive Deeper | 1 John 5:9–21
This question flies around a lot at work: "If you could have your clients take away one thing from the meeting, what would it be?" I feel like that applies here. John is just firing off nuggets of wisdom left and right: how we can have eternal life, assurance of that eternal life, confidence in approaching God, assurance that He hears our prayers, challenges to pray for our brothers and sisters in sin, and reminders that we don't continue to sin when we're born of God. Wow! It's like a big checklist of righteousness.
And then at the very end, almost as if to say, "The one thing I want you to take away from this meeting is: little children, guard yourselves from idols."
At first, this statement seemed a little random to me. But I realized as I read it again and again -- isn't that the root of all righteousness? Loving Jesus first, in everything, all the time? Guarding myself from idols is hard for me to do on my own. Without the Holy Spirit in me and without a group of Jesus-followers around me every week, I would easily continue to place the love of people's opinions of me in front of striving toward His standards. I would happily hold onto my love of controlling outcomes before my submitting to God's plan for my life.
John rightly warns us in such a loving way to guard ourselves from these things. Don't let idols get in your way of truly experiencing God. When our love for Jesus is greater than our love for anything this world has to offer, we begin to know the true essence of life. The end.
Discussion Questions
1. Who or what do you put first in your life? This is probably evident by how you're spending your time and resources.
2. Who or what would the people closest to you say you put first in your life? Go ahead -- ask them!
3. Do you think adjusting your view of the world from a temporary, earthly one to an eternal one would help minimize idols in your life?
4. Be reminded that nothing can separate believers from Jesus' love. Paul says, "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)