Tag: real

Real Triumph

adbLeave a comment

(1 John 5:1-6)

“Jesus Crushed” might have been what the headlines would have read on Good Friday as the story started to spread. To those present, whose eyes had watched the most unjust death sentence ever carried out in all of history, it would have felt like an appropriate description. To those whose ears were filled with his final agonizing cries as God’s Son died, “Jesus Crushed” would have felt like an appropriate breaking news headline for what they witnessed firsthand. It certainly appeared that way.

But Easter Sunday exposed the headline as fake news – or entirely incomplete, anyway. The headline had to be extended to accurately reflect the truth: “Jesus Crushed… the Serpent’s Head!”

Jesus wasn’t defeated on Good Friday; rather, he was delivering the death blow to his enemy. Jesus was unraveling all of Satan’s plans to leave mankind culpable and condemned by sin. Jesus hadn’t been overcome by the plans his enemy had carried out. Instead, by those very plans he had overcome the enemy and won the ultimate victory, guaranteeing forgiveness and eternal salvation. No, Jesus hadn’t been crushed; he had carried out the crushing blow. He had overcome. 

That understanding provides some context to John’s words in our verses. “Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is theSon of God” (v.4-5). The victory, the triumph is real, and it belongs to those who belong to Jesus by faith.

The certainty of our connection to Christ and his victory on our behalf is one of the beautiful blessings of baptism, spelled out for us in Romans 3, where Paul wrote, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4). Just as surely as he died and rose, so in baptism we have died and risen with him. He has overcome; so, therefore, have we!

But what are we talking about? Really, what does it mean for us as believers to have the assurance of this victory, this triumph? What does it mean that we who are born of God “overcome the world?”

Admittedly, it does sound like a pretty pumped up pep talk to know that we’ve overcome the world, but that elation will fade pretty quickly if it doesn’t translate into understanding for us. Otherwise, it would be like flipping through channels to stumble upon some infomercial that grabs our attention because of the guy’s energy level and excitement. While we pause because we are drawn to that energy and excitement, if after a few moments we still can’t figure out what product he’s peddling, then we’ll just resume flipping through the channels. So for this confidence that we “overcome the world” to resonate with us, we really have to understand what John is telling us. 

Let’s not overthink it. Take that word “overcome” and flip it around. We know what it’s like to be overcome by something. Someone trying to explain their out-of-character behavior might chalk it up to being overcome with emotion. Parents watch their child’s team play a great game, only to see the other team overcome them in the end and steal the victory. 

Perhaps another common word speaks to us a little more clearly: overwhelmed. When we talk about being burdened or overcome we are saying that we’re overwhelmed. It’s too much. We have too much on our plate. We can’t keep our head above water. We aren’t getting done everything that needs to get done, or at least aren’t getting it done as well as it needs to get done. We’re failing. We’re suffocating. We’re overwhelmed and overcome. Sometimes it may even just be a feeling or emotion we’re experiencing and aren’t sure why. One way or another, we’ve all experienced that overwhelm to some degree! So how do we get the upper hand when we’re feeling overwhelmed, overcome? We tell ourselves the truth.

A pastor friend shared an insightful encouragement that he had recently come across that he found helpful to pass on to others: “Talk to yourself more than you listen to yourself.”

Think about it. Nobody talks to you on any given day more than you talk to yourself. The conversations, the dialogue – it’s going on non-stop in your head. It’s the thoughts you have about another person who enters the room. It’s the way you react when you read something online. It’s the memory that is narrated in your head when a nostalgic aroma arises.

Every experience we have throughout the day involves some back and forth inside our minds. That’s fine – so long as we realize we’re in control of what we tell ourselves. We determine the narrative. And we can tell ourselves either the lies that the devil would have us repeat or we can tell ourselves the truth that God reveals to us in his Word.  

So hear again the truth that God reveals to us in his Word for any who for any reason whatsoever are feeling overwhelmed and overcome in this world: “Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is theSon of God” (v.4-5). Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? Then the world doesn’t overcome you; rather, you overcome the world. In and through Jesus, we have victory. We will triumph. 

Let’s also understand what this does not mean. It isn’t a guarantee that he’ll get the girl or that she’ll get the guy. This is not a blank-check promise that you’ll land the job of your dreams or get accepted into your first choice for college. This is not the promise of some divine forcefield that will shield you from every financial woe or sickness. 

No, it’s actually better than all of that. John’s promise that we overcome is directly connected to some of the most powerful, peace-possessing words our Savior ever spoke. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

I absolutely love these words of Jesus! He tells us like it is. He doesn’t pretend to hide the ugliness of our broken world with some flowery greeting-card language, but gives it to us straight. Yes, ours is a dysfunctional and distraught world… and Jesus has overcome it. This world’s troubles are not permanent. The best is yet to come, and it is ours because he has overcome. Take heart! Have peace!

Occasionally at a sporting event, you may hear the players or fans cheering a familiar chant at some point in the game. They’ll repeat the words, “We believe that we will win. We believe that we will win.” Each refrain gets louder and more intense, as the players do their best to rally and win. Such a chant can inject the confidence needed to pull out the victory. 

As Christians we can chant something similar. But we need to change it slightly because we already know the outcome. “We believe that we have won! We believe that we have won!”

We have. We know where we’re going. We know the worst of this world is temporary. We know we overcome. We know it. How can we be so sure?

John provides proof to eliminate any doubts that may exist. He points to the evidence in verse six. “This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” Even though there are a number of ways these words could be interpreted, any way we take them, John’s purpose is the same – he’s pointing to proof that Jesus was and is who he claimed to be. The Messiah. Our Savior. Our Redeemer. 

One interpretation takes John’s words to refer to his own eyewitness testimony of Jesus’ crucifixion. To make sure Jesus was dead, when his side was pierced, John’s Gospel points out that not just blood, but blood AND water flowed from the wound. Jesus had really died.

A second interpretation takes the water to be a reference to the start of Jesus’ public ministry at his baptism and the blood to refer to the completion of his ministry by his sacrifice on the cross.

A third interpretation takes the water, blood, and Spirit to picture the means of grace. The water refers to baptism and the blood to Holy Communion. Together with the powerful promises of the Word, the Holy Spirit uses those means to testify and proclaim the truth of the gospel, by which he creates and strengthens faith.

Whichever interpretation one takes, they all serve the same purpose of the author here: to provide proof that we can know beyond mere speculation or feelings or emotions that because of Jesus’ completed work as our Savior, we overcome. We have the assurance of real triumph. Live in that triumph as you remember your baptism. Celebrate that triumph through the Supper. 

In light of our triumph, our victory, consider some of the differences between the behavior of the losing side versus the winning side. Losers are dejected. Losers make excuses. Losers blame the refs. Losers give up. Losers complain about it not being fair.

We aren’t losers. In Christ we are triumphant. We win because he wins. Winners are joy-filled. Winners celebrate each other. Winners keep working hard. Winners give credit where it’s due. Winners love God by carrying out his commands. Live like it! Love others like it. That’s how we celebrate that Jesus crushed the serpent’s head and has overcome. That’s how we celebrate real triumph!

Real Love

adbLeave a comment

(1 John 4:7-11, 19-21)

Who is it for you? An organization or a cause? A political candidate or political party? When you know the topic is love, you already know there isn’t going to be some profound revelation or new discovery regarding what the Bible has to say about love. It’s simple. Love God. Love others. Why? Because God loves you. There’s no way around it, and that will be the same message about love that you will hear from the Bible as long as you keep on reading it, listening to it, and studying it.

But it would be quite naive of us to think that just because we know what the Bible tells us about loving others that we would somehow arrive at a point when we wouldn’t need to hear it again. By that line of reasoning, a parent should only have to tell a child to go to bed at bedtime once and it should never be an issue again, right? At most, none of us should ever get more than one speeding ticket, if that, because once the officer informs us that we’re breaking the law when we exceed the speed limit, it shouldn’t happen again once we have that information. If doing what we’re supposed to do was merely a matter of information, then life would be a piece of cake!

Ah, if only it were that simple. But loving others isn’t merely a matter of transferring information; it’s a matter of transformation. If we are to carry out the kind of love God calls us to, a pretty monumental change has to take place. Where? In us.

We actually do know how to love. That isn’t the problem. We’re actually really good at it naturally. The problem just happens to be where our love is directed. I love me. And you love you. And everything in our own little personal bubbles essentially revolves around that. So if I am instead going to redirect that love toward others, as God would have me do, well, that’s unnatural. So something has to change. Something supernatural.

That’s really the message we need to keep hearing, and John repeats it for us. “God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (v.8-11). It isn’t likely new news to anyone reading this that God is love. We’ve all heard it before. We’ve seen it on wall art or displayed on the back of the car in front of us or any number or places. But for those three words to hit home, we have to personally apply them. That God who is love doesn’t just love everyone; he loves me.

Me who knows what it’s like to feel unappreciated and unloved… by my own parents. Or my children. By my supposedly close friend. By my own family. By my coworkers or classmates. By my teacher. By my coach. By my spouse. By my boss. We all have our own list, which may change for us in different seasons of life, but we all know too well, whether it’s reality or our perception, what it’s like to feel unloved. 

And these words from John remind us that that feeling is never actually reliable, because the “God-is-love” God is the God who loves me. And you. And always will.

What makes this love difficult for us to embrace and accept is that deep down inside, we know how undeserving we are of it. We have a pretty good of how many daily reasons we give for God not to love us – through our thoughts, works, and actions. Verse twenty hits just one of them, and there are so many more. John warned, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen” (v.20). I might think “hate” to be too strong a word to describe me, but John expands it to include any failure of loving our brother or sister, or anyone for that matter. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it makes us out to be liars to claim to love God while loathing someone else. 

And you’ll notice there are no disclaimers or allowances or exceptions. God doesn’t say we’re off the hook if it’s someone who is really hard to love. Or someone who posted something nasty online about you or someone you care about. Or someone who stole from you. Or even if it’s someone who has really hurt us or traumatized us or messed with our heads and hearts.

There are no love loopholes. We are called to embody Jesus’ perfect love to all people. And we don’t. And our guilty consciences tell us what we deserve when we don’t. 

The awareness of this guilt is evident to me as a pastor. One of the most common fears people share with me is wondering where they really stand before God because of a person or relationship they can’t bring themselves to love. Or, they agonize over how much of a struggle it is. So yes, our own consciences convict us of not loving others perfectly or completely.

And if we have somehow managed to fleece or foil our own conscience into thinking that we have no problem loving others, God’s Word makes clear what the consequence is for anything less than 100% complete and total love for others. Just one chapter earlier in this very letter John wrote, “Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him” (1 John 3:15). There’s no way around it – we know what even our lukewarm love deserves!

Yet… still God loves us!

How can we know? That’s the part of John’s description we must never tire of hearing. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (v.10). God’s Son was not sent into this world only for those who love well, not for those whose love has never faltered, and not even for those who are pretty convinced their love for God meets his expectations. If those were the type of people God had sent his Son into the world for, he would have come up empty-handed. No such person has ever existed. No, Jesus came into this world to render the payment necessary for the pervasive lack of love. 

Jesus offered up himself as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, including but not limited to our lack of love. Jesus has restored our relationship with God that had been totaled by our sin and he has shown us what sacrificial love in action looks like. His love for others – for you and me and all people – was not deterred by selfishness or self-love. He loved – and loves – perfectly.

He loved you by never faltering in the face of temptation. He loved you by loving his enemies perfectly in your place. He loved you not just with words and speech about loving his neighbors, but by showing them in so often meeting their physical needs and healing their hurts. He loved you all the way to the cross and out of the empty tomb. The Resurrection reality is that in Jesus Christ we not only see what real love looks like; we also see that real love is ours. That real love is for us. 

So, we can now love others, too.

Why does it matter so much that we pour ourselves into loving others? So that others may come to know the source of that love. “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” (v.7).

Yes, God is love. You know that. I know that. Others may have heard the phrase, but they don’t know what we’ve just been talking about. They don’t know that kind of radical love. In his Gospel and all of his letters in the Bible, John more than any other writer stresses how important it is for us as Christians to love – so that the source of love can be made known. So that others, through our love, would come to know the One from whom it all emanates: God their Savior. 

Without knowing that kind of love, the world’s understanding and definition of love is really quite pitiful.  Somebody suggests a fun activity together and we’d love to. We love this place or that place to eat. We’re in love with this store or that style. We love your outfit. We love it when that happens. We love that book/movie/song/etc. We love so many things so much that we’ve diluted love altogether to essentially strip it of any real meaning. 

So let’s show a better love. A real love. Let’s love the erratic driver with a prayer for him. Let’s love the protestor who cares enough about a cause to do something instead of just spewing snarky words from behind a screen or behind closed doors. Let’s love the walker or hiker with the never-ending stories by taking the time just to listen to them on occasion. Let’s love the neighbor whose language and customs and culture are so different from ours. Let’s, even after a drama-filled, mentally and emotionally exhausting day ourselves, love our children with the gift of time together. Let’s love our spouse with more yeses and fewer excuses. Let’s love our coworker by letting them receive the praise for the project. Let’s love the addict by trying to better understand what his world is like. Let’s love by offering the ride even when it is utterly inconvenient. Let’s love by opening our home more often for meals with others. 

When we love in these ways and so many others, we take the world’s diluted love and saturate it, making it something special. When we love in these ways we demonstrate another kind of love that only finds its source in Jesus. And our prayer – and God’s intent – is that through our love others would eventually be channeled to the source of that excellent love that we find only in Christ. 

Then, like dominoes, Christ’s love begins to flow through their lives as well. Secured with the gifts of peace, joy, forgiveness, and the assurance of eternal life, they are free to love others, too. And the cycle continues, always seeing love draw others to Christ like a magnet, to show them a radical love that lasts into eternity. Not like the best kind of love the world could ever offer, but far better: real love. 

Real Assurance

adbLeave a comment

(1 John 3:18-24)

We are no strangers to pharmaceutical companies promoting the latest ground-breaking medication or treatment for everything under the sun in commercials filled with active people living their best lives filled with joyful smiles. Of course the commercials all end with the same disclaimer, listing every possible side-effect from those that are inconvenient up to and including some that may even be life-threatening. 

But perhaps what is more commonly overlooked is that oftentimes in the commercial, the intended results of the medication or treatment cannot make the reliable claim that it will work in all the people all of the time. Instead, the results are couched in language that indicates possibility without making promises. “Some participants experienced positive results.” “A certain percentage of those treated noticed a difference.” “Patients may respond well to the treatment.” Whatever the language, rarely is there a guarantee that something is effective all of the time. In fact, it isn’t just pharmaceutical companies; we’ve gotten used to products across the board the really do nothing more than offer the possibility of improvement in one way or another.

While that may be the new norm for a culture who is used to being marketed to nonstop, there’s one area that we cannot ever find peace in merely the possibility of or high percentages. We cannot rest easy unless nothing but a full guarantee is provided. Only REAL assurance will do. To what am I referring? Our status before God. 

John grabs our attention as those interested in this assurance with a phrase from our verses. He addresses how we can “set our hearts at rest in his presence” (v.19). That’s what we want! That’s what we’re after! The peace of mind of not having to worry if we should be stressed in his presence, but can be confident of rest in his presence. We don’t want guesses. Not wishful thinking. Not possibility. Just real assurance. And it’s found only in Christ.

Outside of Christianity, optimism and possibility are the best offers anyone will find. Like the pharmaceutical companies, the best other religions can offer is possibility if you’ve lived a good enough life or tried hard enough. Maybe a higher being or god will be satisfied enough. But only Christianity says that’s not good enough. You can be assured of being at peace with God. You can be confident that your soul has every reason to be at rest in his presence – because of Jesus Christ.

Now that we’re paying attention to John, we’re listening to what he says next to find out how our hearts can be at rest in his presence. He writes, “If our hearts condemn us” (v.20). Doesn’t that apply to us all? We all have or even right now are dealing with heart that condemns us.

And there are different reasons for that. If your heart condemns you, in many cases there is probably a reason why! You’ve probably done or thought or said something deserving of such condemnation! When we did something wrong, when we broke a rule, our conscience accuses us. We know we weren’t entirely truthful with our spouse, and so our heart condemns us. That’s what the conscience does.

But it’s not just always because we’ve done something wrong. Sometimes our hearts go over the top in tearing us down. They convict us with feelings of guilt. Feelings of shame. Feelings of inadequacy. Feelings of insecurity. They’re all there, sometimes justifiably; other times not. But while your heart doesn’t care why those feelings or emotions are there, it definitely will make sure that you’re aware of them. That’s what John meant by the phrase, “If our hearts condemn us” (v.20).

We show that we recognize when our hearts accuse and condemn us because we try to address it. I could try to pretend what I did wasn’t that bad – but my own heart won’t be fooled. I could try to rationalize my wrong to someone else, but I still know why I really did it. I could try to shift the blame entirely onto someone else, but it would still linger because that never entirely lets me off the hook. I can try to imagine that God doesn’t really exist or that there’s no such thing as sin or wrong doing, but there’s too much in the world that seems to indicate otherwise. If so many billions have been convinced that there is a God, can I really be so confident that they’re all wrong and I am in the very small minority who is right? No, there is nothing we can do to get to that place of having a heart that is free of self-condemnation. 

John had an answer for when our hearts condemn us, as he continued, “If our hearts condemn us we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything” (v.20). God knows everything. Wait, God knows everything??? How is that a comfort for when my heart condemns me? You mean I cannot hide from God what I think I can hide from my parent, my teacher, my spouse, my friend, anything that God doesn’t already know about? How terrifying! How is that a comfort that God knows everything?

Because God knows something else that is even more important that all the sin that we could never hide from him. He knows the solution to that sin because he himself is the solution to that sin. It was John who quoted Jesus in his Gospel with saying that very thing! “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned…” (John 3:16-18). Whoever believes is not condemned. Believing in Jesus = no condemnation! I don’t know about you, but that’s the kind of confident assurance I want before God! Jesus didn’t come into this world to condemn me but to rescue me.  

That’s why John emphasized the need for faith in Jesus in the verses from 1 John. He wants us to realize how and why we can actually be in a place of confidence before God where our hearts don’t actually condemn us. There is only one path that ends up in that place, and John highlights it in verse 23. “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ.” Believe in Jesus Christ, and you are no longer condemned. That’s his command. So if we think God is most concerned with how we live or how we behave, we’re missing what matters most: what we believe and who we believe in for our assurance. Believing in the Son means we have assurance that we do not stand condemned before God.

Imagine if you had that level of confidence in approaching your boss about a concern or a request. Imagine having that level of confidence about a tough conversation you need to have with your spouse. Imagine having that level of confidence with the officer approaching your driver’s side window who just pulled you over.

With God, you don’t have to imagine, you just believe, and it’s the reality! You know exactly where you stand before a holy and righteous God thorugh faith in Christ Jesus. And where you stand is “not condemned.”

Not condemned.

Living in this kind of real assurance of eternal life is also one of the most freeing things a person could ever experience. And what does it change us to do? “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (v.18). Real assurance means we can be real with others. There’s enough that’s fake in this world. There are enough pretenders. Yes, sometimes it’s us, too. We scroll past them on social media. We see them on the news. We get emails from them. We don’t need more artificial intelligence, but more real assurance. When we find that real assurance in Christ, we can then be real with others. Often times that means we can go beyond words, as John encourages us, and make a real difference with actions and truth.

To better appreciate what this means, let’s start by acknowledging how exceptional we are at manipulating words. For example, in an effort to soften the blow or avoid conflict or more pressure from someone else, even though we are virtually 100% committed to not following through or attending, we tell others we’ll try or see if we can make it work or get back to you. Be honest – those are empty words. They mean nothing and carry no weight, and we really only throw them around pretending we’ve let ourselves off the hook. We use verbal sleight of hand to avoid the words that would more accurately reflect what we actually mean.

Instead of all of that, we can be honest about what we really mean by speaking the truth. We can spend more time in action instead of a lot of mental time hiding our intentions or wishes with verbal camouflage. And where we struggle in any of these areas, let us take advantage of the added blessing that comes with the real assurance we have in Christ: the privilege of prayer.

“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask…” (v.21-22). Because we have complete assurance of where we stand before God, we also have direct access to God, with the added promise that he will hear and answer our prayers. When we ask of God what God wants for us and others, he’ll grant it.

And guess what? God just made it clear what he wants for us and others: to love with actions and truth instead of words or speech. If that’s what God wants and our prayers are tied to making that happen, then count on God coming through. In other words, if you genuinely want to grow in loving others with real action and in truth instead of being fake or pretend, you need only to ask. The God who assures you that he hasn’t condemned you also assures you that he will complete your requests. Unlike the website that times out or the app that cannot complete the requested action, God hears – and answers – your prayers. Really.

That’s the blessing of real assurance. If you want it, stop paying attention to your heart. Don’t listen to it. Don’t follow it. Don’t let it guide you. God is greater than your heart, and he says what your heart can never know on its own: in Jesus Christ, you are not condemned. Believe it, it’s true. Then, go live in that truth by putting your faith and love into real action.