He Works to Not Lose You

He Works to Not Lose You

John 6:39  “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.”

When Jesus was here physically, He had the same limitations that we have.  He could not work with everyone as He did the with the 12.  To the 12 He said, ‘Come and follow Me’.  For 3 years He worked to not lose them.  With the woman caught in adultery He said, ‘Go and sin no more’.  For her she had one shot.  This was her chance at being drawn to and finding God.  

But today He is not bound by physical limitations.  When any are drawn, He works to not lose them.  If in our chance we are drawn, no longer does He have to say to some, ‘Go and sin no more’; instead, now to all He is able to say, ‘Come and follow Me’. 

Now He is able to focus on each of us as He did with each of His disciples—as He did with Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  His only limitation now is us.  To each of us He says, ‘Come and follow Me’.  He grants us the opportunity to be with Him as Mary was—with Him as John was—and yet how many live like they just met Him once and heard Him say, ‘Go and sin no more’? 

He works to not lose you.

Be Still and Know

 

In Brennan Manning’s new book, The Furious Longing of God, he quotes part of Psalm 46:10; “Be still, and know that I am God”. 

 

Does that not speak volumes?  I’ll not mess it up by adding to it.

In the Absence of Life

John 5

 

It was the only hope they had—waiting by the pool for the water to stir—waiting for the healing these stirrings could bring.  If the leaders of the day had been properly focused, there wouldn’t have been any waiting by the pool.  In fact, by the time John writes this, they had already quit waiting by it.  John says, “Here a great number of disabled people used to lie”. A new leader had come to town; the waiting was over.

 

It seems today, in many cases, we have gone back to waiting.  We wait in our churches for the water to stir—waiting for the healing these stirrings can bring.  The man in this story had waited for 38 years.  How many today have done the same thing? 

 

How many of today’s leaders are guilty of the same thing the leaders in this story were guilty of.  John writes in 5:39-40, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

 

Is it possible, even today, to study and know the Scriptures and yet miss the life of which they speak?  Are we somehow coming to the Scriptures, yet not coming to Christ?  Do those who wait continue to do so because there is none to help them? 

 

In the absence of life, a great number of disabled people are waiting.

 

Imitate What is Good

3 John

 

There are a lot of things working on us to keep us from being faithful, or if nothing else, to steal our joy when we are.  At night in my leisure, I might have a thought of reading a certain book.  As soon as I have the thought, I think of other books I have that I could read.  Then I think instead of reading I could be writing.  Sometimes I get bogged down trying to decide and end up doing nothing.

 

In light of all the competing voices we hear, I like the voice of John here.  He cuts through it all and simply says, “do not imitate what is evil, but what is good”.  Gaius had found a way to be helpful and was faithful at it.  Diotrephes had found a way to hinder and was faithful at it.  The bottom line here is that we imitate what is good.  If we’re doing that, we should leave ourselves alone – pat ourselves on the back a little.

 

In case that last line caused you to stiffen up a little, consider that this entire letter was not too much more than John’s attempt to pat Gaius on the back.  We all need encouragement.  It helps us fight through all the competing and discouraging thoughts that are working against us.  I think we could learn from John here the importance of encouraging others when we have the opportunity.  And until we receive such encouragement, as long as we are imitating what is good, a little pat on our own backs is better than beating ourselves up.

Watch Out

2 John

 

From the one who urges us over and over to ‘love one another’, John does not bat an eye at warning us of the ‘many deceivers’ that ‘have gone out into the world’.  In one breath he urges us to ‘love’ some while in the next he says, ‘watch out’ for others.   

John doesn’t have as much trouble drawing the line as we do today. 

 

Here’s what John actually said, “Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.  Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for.”  And then, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him.  Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.”

 

We have got to become more aware that the ‘many deceivers’ are not just preachers and teachers that teach that Christ did not come in the flesh.  A TV show, song or book that portrays and promotes a life style that is opposed to what Jesus came in the flesh to proclaim, is deceptive.  A steady diet of it desensitizes us to His truth.  John urges us in his warning to not welcome him/it into our houses.  He knows the effect it will have. 

 

I am not saying that we should throw out our TV’s, music and reading material (though John might if he were here) but I am saying we need to fill our minds through the week with His truth to sharpen our senses.  The effect would likely be that we would become more careful with what we let in.  I urge you as John did, “watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for.”

 

 

Dimmers

1 John 5

 

According to my wife, you can’t have too many dimmers both in and outside a home.  Whether for your own enjoyment, entertaining, or trying to display a home for sale, the right lighting makes a big difference.  There was a time, early in the life of electricity, when people went from lighting lanterns to simply flipping a switch.  Back then, the simple on-off switch was enough.  But much like the rest of our lives, over time, simple is tweaked and added to until we have more options than we know what to do with. 

 

I’ve noticed in John’s first letter, the simple on-off perspective from which he writes.  He is writing to a group of people ‘who believe that Jesus is the Christ’ (on) to warn them of a group ‘who denies that Jesus is the Christ’ (off).  Those who believe, as John points out, are ‘born of God’; they have ‘overcome the world’; they are on; there is no in between.  5:12 is a good example of his simple perspective.  “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

 

There was a time, early in the life of Christianity, and at least with this group of people to whom John is writing that when people went from not having Christ to having Him, it was enough.  But over time the simple has been tweaked and added to until, again, we have more options than we know what to do with.  We still believe that Jesus is the Christ, but we believe a lot of things.  Instead of one belief being all the way on, we put all beliefs on dimmers so they can all be on a little. 

 

Yet, I believe John would still say to us today, “He who has the Son has life”.  Though your belief may be on a dimmer, you still have life.  Though it may not be as full as it could be, you have life.  And in light of all that was working against those who believed in his day, and as we too have things working against us, he would still say to us what he said to them in 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life”.

 

Aware of so many forces that try to convince us that we do not have this life, John does all he can to assure us that we do.  The fact is we’re all on dimmers.  Whether we are dialed up and our lite is bright or dialed back until there is just a flicker, there is still lite.  And while there is still lite, John encourages us to turn our dimmers up.

Made Perfect In Love

1 John 4:7-21

 

“Dear friends, let us love one another.”

 

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

 

“There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

 

If we had to single out one aspect of John’s writings it would almost have to be about ‘love’.  Being convinced of the love God had for him –referring to himself as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’ – in his writings, he does his best to convince us that God loves us.  He was struck by the fact that love was “not that we loved God, but that he loved us”. 

 

Beginning with John 3:16, he penned the most familiar words in the entire Bible, “For God so loved the world”.  Similarly and ironically in 1 John 3:16, “This is how we know what love is”.  And then he turns to us.  In 1 John 4:11, “Since God so loved us” – from his perspective of how this love has impacted his life – he now appeals to us; “We also ought to love one another”.

 

What do we crave more than anything?  I referred to this in ‘Better Now in the Turns’.  More than anything, at least it is true of myself, we crave affirmation or love.  When that is what we are most focused on, there is fear that we will not get it.  In a sense it is like punishment when we don’t receive it. 

 

But turn it around.  When we are more focused on loving – giving the affirmation and love – meeting the need for others that we have for ourselves – fear is driven out.  It changes everything.  Do you want God to love you?  Try loving God.  Do you want people to love you?  Try loving people.  When we get our focus off ourselves and on others, somehow then we will be ‘made perfect in love’.

Test the Spirits

1 John 4:1-6

 

As many times as I have read this passage over the years, I never had the thought in regard to it that I had recently.  I had always thought of it strictly in the context of presenters of the Gospel (preachers, teachers, writers, singers).  But a few days ago I saw something more. 

 

Specifically it says, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God . . .”, and then, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God.  Every spirit that acknowledges Jesus has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.  This is the spirit of the antichrist . . .”

 

For some reason this time when I read it, television shows came to mind.  Is there not a spirit about them?  This passage tells us that we should ‘test the spirits to see whether they are from God’.  It’s almost like if there is not a disclaimer before each show, book or song, like, ‘We acknowledge that Jesus is from God’, or ‘We do not acknowledge that Jesus is from God’, then we assume we are clear to watch, read, or listen to it.

 

My wife and I were in the mood for a no-brainer movie one night and thought Bride Wars might be decent.  About half way through the movie, something struck me.  As if perfectly normal, the movie casts these two ‘to-be-brides’ in live-in situations with their boyfriends.  If you think a little outside the box, can you not see the spirit without the disclaimer?

 

John’s words, written 2000 years ago are as good for today as they were then.  We must ‘test the spirits’.  His words and others were written for our benefit; but before they can be of benefit to us, we must first be familiar with them.  Before we can recognize the spirit that is anti Christ, we must first become familiar with the Spirit that is Christ.

 

I used a Garmin for the first time on a trip recently.  Never having used one, I could not understand how they could actually be helpful.  I could not get over how accurate it was.  It is the same way with our Bibles.  It is amazingly accurate.  I challenge you to give it a try so you can be better equipped to ‘test the spirits’.

Websites

Two websites were reccommended to me that I want to pass along.

www.braveheartedgospel.com is a website of blogs and a collection of very good sermons.

www.tangle.com is a collection of of Christian Youtube type stuff.

Worth checking out.

Better Now In the Turns

1 John 3:11-24

 

In the sport of Nascar, small adjustments can create big changes in a car’s ability to handle turns; and in Nascar, there are a lot of turns.  By tweaking the air pressure of just one tire by as little as ½ pound, it can be worth a whole pound of cure. 

 

Similarly in our walk with God, He is always making, or trying to make, small adjustments to improve our ability to handle turns.  Our turns, whether opportunities or obstacles, are turns in life, and in life there are a lot of turns.  To help me in mine, the Lord just made a slight adjustment in me.    

 

I recently shared an idea with a friend that seemed to fall flat.  All day long I felt like I didn’t fit – like I had nothing to contribute.  The next morning I received an affirming email from him, and conversely my mind was reeling with thoughts that fit and contributed perfectly. 

 

The Lord used that to help me see something; the value – the power – of affirming others.  It is so easy to get so wrapped up in wanting to be the recipient of affirmation that we miss opportunities of being the giver of it.   

 

1 John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers”.  If we focus on just the physical act of dying, we can miss the dying He did along the way, while He was still alive.  What an incredible opportunity we have if we can learn to lay down, in our lives, the cravings of our lives that we might truly help and encourage our brothers.   

 

Like in the Nascar illustration; it wasn’t that the car was bad, it just wasn’t as good as it could be.  I hadn’t altogether missed this point, I just wasn’t as good at it as I could be.  His tweaking has helped my focus.  As a result, I am just a little better now in the turns.