Believers: Cleansed Of Sin - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 1 John 1:6-7,

“If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 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.”

Here the apostle John makes an observation… “those who walk in the light” have fellowship with others who walk in the light, and the blood of Jesus Christ – the sacrifice of his life – has been credited to them as they face their divine Judge.

In making this observation, he is not giving a command to his readers to walk in the light. He is observing that those who do so demonstrate something about themselves. As Paul would put it, they are now a “new creation”. 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Those who do not walk in the light, but continue to “walk in the darkness” demonstrate by their lives they are being dishonest, not living by the truth. As the last apostle on the scene and close to the end of his life, John is providing what will be a series of observations we can make ourselves after his death that demonstrate “who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are”, 1 John 3:10. He is looking to spare the church of false teachers that have already infiltrated the ranks of believers.

A couple of observations I draw from this passage are that those of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith have “fellowship with one another” and that we also have a clean slate with God, “the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

In thinking of this second point, this morning, it draws my attention to the tremendous expression of God’s love for us in sending his Son to offer his life for us – that we might have eternal life.

Our grasping this great love is something that transforms us. Paul points to this truth in his prayer for believers, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17b-19.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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God Changes Us From Within! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 1 John 1:6-7,

“If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 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.”

I will be the first to admit that I struggle with sin at times in my life. I believe we all do as believers. The reason for it is that we still have active sin natures, even as redeemed children of God. The apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 5:17, “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.”

As believers, God has given us the Holy Spirit who dwells within each of us and he is in conflict with the sinful nature which also continues to reside within us. At our deaths we leave the sinful nature behind but the Holy Spirit remains with us. When resurrection day comes, Paul says in Romans 8:10-11, “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”

But this is not the whole of it. There is an aspect of our salvation that seems to get very little press in sermons, radio talk shows and the commentaries we often read. If we go back to 1 John 1:6-7, and read carefully, we notice that John is not (yet) exhorting us to not sin, to not “walk in the darkness”. He will exhort us to not do so later in the letter, 1 John 2:1. His point here is to look at our lives to see how we have been living and that tells us something. If we have been and are walking in darkness we don’t have the fellowship, if we have been and are walking in the light we have the fellowship and are purified from all sin. Very simply put, our lifestyle demonstrates whether we are a child of God or not.

John’s point is the same Jesus made in his sermon on the mount. Matthew 7:15-20, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”

The aspect of our salvation, that at times we hear little of, is that we become a changed people. A changed life tells the story. So, if we go to Paul’s comments in Galatians 5:16 we read, “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” And if we go back and look at the previous verse in Romans 8:9 we read, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” He even goes on to say in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” John himself tells us in 1 John 3:6, “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.”

Here is what gets little press from my perception, and should be shouted from the mountain tops: when we embrace Jesus Christ in faith the Holy Spirit comes to reside in us permanently, and as a result we become changed people. It isn’t that there is now no conflict within us or that we may not occasionally sin, but the lifestyle has changed, the priorities change, we no longer live to satisfy our sinful cravings. When we slip and stumble and disappoint God and ourselves, we find ourselves before God, confessing and grieving over the sin.

The reason I feel it should be shouted from the mountain tops is that it is God who does this within us! He has given us his Spirit! He enables us to live lives that are pleasing to him! He is worthy of our praise and our worship as it is he who does wonderful things within our lives!

I have every obligation to recognize the wonderful things he does within me and thank him and worship him for them!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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No Darkness In God! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 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.”

What if God had a shadowy side? What if God had faults, inconsistencies, imperfections in his nature? What if God were moody or gloomy?

What would the quality of eternal life be to serve a god like that?

The “antichrists”, the false teachers that John wrote against in this letter we call 1 John, brought their false Gnostic teachings from the dualism prevalent in Greek religion. This Greek religion promoted gods who were anything but morally upright or transcendent in character.

Xenophanes (c. 570-488 B.C.) commented, “Both Homer and Hesiod have attributed to the gods all things that are shameful and a reproach among mankind: theft, adultery, and mutual deception.”

When John proclaims God is light – no darkness whatsoever, it reverberates within me a penetrating excitement to know that our God, the only God, is perfect and perfectly consistent in all of his character and nature!

As Paul wrote Timothy, “… God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever, Amen.” 1 Timothy 6:15-16.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

Jesus Christ Brings Joy! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 1 John 1:4,

“We write this to make our joy complete.”

As John writes and invites his readers to the fellowship that he and his people share with one another and God, he says he does so “to make our joy complete.” The NIV provides a footnote to this verse to say that some manuscripts have it “to make your joy complete.” Either way we find joy here! As John invites his readers to fellowship with Jesus Christ, joy abounds!

Joy is not an everyday word. I don’t know that it is something that I hear very frequently in the “lingua franca” of our day outside of the church context. Maybe around Christmas when even unbelievers enjoy carols that focus on the birth of Jesus Christ.

Merriam-Webster online defines the word “joy” as “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires: delight. A state of happiness, bliss.” I can’t think of a better word than “joy” to describe the emotion Jesus Christ brings to our hearts as we come into fellowship with him! Talk about “possessing what one desires: delight”!

In my mind there are two things about our wonderful Savior that bring us joy. The first is that he is who he is. Our Lord is one who is perfect and pristine in all of his majestic splendor. As one who is without fault in his character and nature he inspires respect, reverence, love, devotion and loyalty. As we experience these in our lives, when we gaze upon the beauty of our Lord, it speaks not nearly so much about our spiritual life as it does the fact that we took a good look at the many splendored qualities that make up the character and nature of our Lord.

It is he who inspires these things within us. He is the Son of God who is filled with love, kindness and compassion. He has expressed these in so many ways as he dwelt among us, and of course, certainly these were the utmost expression of his sacrificial death on our behalf as he hung on that cross.

Secondly, in my mind, it is what Jesus Christ has done that brings us joy as well. Having set aside the prerogatives of being God, the Son of God left his exalted place at the side of our heavenly Father and took on humanity. Philippians 2:6-8. Having done so, he procured satisfaction of God’s own justice for the sin in our lives! He now speaks to the Father on our behalf, I John 2:1 and has secured a guaranteed place for each one of us who have embraced him in faith in his kingdom. Ephesians 1:13-14.

As such we have an eternity of life ahead of us that is described in Revelation 21:3b-4 as, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” As Paul quotes Isaiah 64:4, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” 1 Corinthians 2:9.

As Jude puts it in his doxology, “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

Fellowship with Jesus Christ brings true joy into our lives!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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God Wants All Mankind! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 1 John 1:3,

“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.”

What comes across loud and clear to me in this verse is invitation. John says what he proclaims of Jesus Christ, he does so that “you also may have fellowship with us.” Our God is a god of invitation. He invites all to his tent. He has open arms and seeks us all to come to him.

“For God so loved the world”, the whole world, not just certain ones. His call is to us all. God could have determined that only the best, only the brightest, only the strongest or only the most attractive would be permitted into his family… but not our God. If anything he almost seems to reach out to those that the world itself deems unworthy. In 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 we read, “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”

“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” Acts 17:30. Not just some… but all. The personification of Wisdom in Proverbs echoes this disposition of God to invite all in, “Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her maids, and she calls from the highest point of the city. ‘Let all who are simple come in here!’ she says to those who lack judgment. ‘Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.’”

The apostle Paul’s burning desire was that all would heed the invitation or call of God. When standing on trial before King Agrippa and governor Festus he said, “I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.” Acts 26:29.

Far from “cherry-picking” favorites to enter his tent as some would have us believe, our God’s desire is that we all come to him. “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:3-4. He even holds out his arms to those who reject him as if he were pleading with them, “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, 'Here am I, here am I.' All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations…” Isaiah 65:1-2.

Our God is a loving God who wants us all. What he has decided is that all who enter his tent will do so only by embracing him in faith, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…” John 1:12. As Jesus himself said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6.

How can you not love a God such as this?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.