The Revealer of Our Devotion (1 John 2:2)

The Revealer of Our Devotion (1 John 2:2)

prédication 1 Jean 2 : Patrice Berger, 2021_03_16, église AB Lausanne

titre : The Revealer of Our Devotion (1 John 2:2)

Résumé : The Revealer of Our Commitment to Christ Living by the Word of God Demonstrates Our Commitment to Christ The life of a believer is simple and consistent. If you claim to follow Christ, then you are following what He says in the Bible. The reverse would be lying and showing distrust of Christ.

The Revealer of Our Devotion (1 John 2:2)

A liar among us


There are certainly liars among us today and they will be exposed.

This is what today’s text shows us, in the 1st epistle of John.

Reminder Jesus


In very few verses, the apostle John showed
• the pre-existence,
• the creative capacity,
• the divinity,
• the holiness,
• the transparency,
• and the truth
of Jesus Christ, son of God.

• The greatness of His work of salvation, compared to the horror of sin that dwells in us.

Reminder for us


The beginning of the epistle invites us to live
• in the light of God,
• in transparency with Him with the help of the Holy Spirit,
• in transparency with all,
and to leave what is
• trouble,
• dark,
• hidden,
• concealed and the intangible subjects that we hold dear, but that we have withdrawn from the light of God.

Jesus our defender


If unfortunately, we have yielded to it, the work of Christ is constant and present for all His children who return to Him through forgiveness

Lecture


In view of what Christ has done for us, what response of gratitude can we give?

First Epistle of John, Chapter 2, verses 3 to 6.
3 If we keep the commandments of Christ,
we know by that that we have known him.
4 Whoever claims to have known him when he does not keep his commandments is
a liar,
and the truth is not in him.
5 But the love of God is truly perfect in him who keeps his word:
it is by this that we recognize that we are in him.
6 He who claims to abide in Christ must also live as he himself lived.

Living according to the Word of God demonstrates our attachment to Christ
(Attachment implies our knowing Christ)

John explains

• what it is to know God,
• then the illusion of this knowledge

Knowing God:
keeping, obeying His commandments, His word.

Knowing
Why does he stop at knowing?
Is it so important?

Despicable body, deified ideas
At the time of the apostle, religious and philosophical habits put in a box all that was
• belief,
• reflection,
• intellectual,
• metaphysical revelation.
And in another box,
• daily life,
• relationship,
• food,
• the body.

Champions were recognised as those that had theoretical knowledge of God. The rest (for example practical life) was secondary.

Thus, neglecting
• everyday life,
• the body.

Consequences:
• some were ascetics, cut off from reality
• or conversely, it was orgies,
since the body and reality are secondary…

Altered notion
This could lead to people or even brothers and sisters who could lead a shocking life while being “straight in their boots” and saying with great aplomb that they knew God!
This is why the apostle encourages consistency between the affirmation of the mouth and the visible reality.

Living by the Word of God demonstrates our devotion to Christ

Consistency
Consistency between what I believe and do, if I am ill and convinced of the effectiveness of the medicine prescribed to me but I do not take it, there is something wrong between what I believe and what I do. It is exactly the same between
• believing but not practising;
• practising without knowing the mind of God in the Bible.

• There was hardly any coherence between what I say I am in Christ and daily reality.

What is to know?
Overview

In our conversations, we can use the word “know” to different degrees:
knowledge of the cultural order: I know the writer Frison Roche because I read his biography “le versant du soleil”; but we certainly know more deeply,
• our dads, moms,
• brothers and sisters,
• the person we love.
It is this force that is used in today’s text.

Biblical design

This implies that knowing God is more than what is appreciated
• intellectual,
• theoretical,
• cultural,
but
• experimental,
• lived,
• which starts from the heart.

In biblical language, it is a relationship of intimate communion.
“To know” is almost synonymous with loving, becoming attached, being bound, and being in communion. More than being on the same wavelength but thinking, and acting in the place of the other as the other would have done himself.

What are the visible signs of someone who knows God?
• It is not enough to say that I love, that I am attached in communion if that cannot be seen.
It’s not believable, it’s even weird…

There are unmistakable signs when we see people who are close, attached and have affection for each other. Two people whose feelings of love are born, release many converging signs of their very great affection, there is an eel under a rock; on the other hand, when there is friction in the relationship between two people, it is difficult to make them work in a constructive way: one will especially not want to do what the other has said and vice versa…

It is these truths that the apostle points out here:
To know Jesus,
• is not to know that a certain Jesus lived 2000 years ago,
• and that He died for the sins of the world,
• this is not even knowing that He has risen from the dead,
it is being made alive by contact with Him.

Tangible contact:  This contact is tangible by being closer to the laws that God transmits.

Keep/obey:

  • commandments (not options)
    The apostle John speaks of one who keeps the commandments of God.
    It’s not just a question of options, of advice, but of commandments.

No team wins a prize if everyone does what they want, if they don’t apply the coach’s strategy they can’t win.
Ditto, the same goes for work, the chain of care in a hospital.

God, by His word, created the earth, He set up thousands of laws
• physical,
• chemical,
• thermodynamic laws,
• and many others.
If one of the laws is not respected, it is chaos.

• From the same person, from the same mouth, God communicated laws so that our lives can really express themselves and that they are not without issues.

Contained in His Word

• These laws, these commandments, it is not up to us to reinvent them, to judge them “are we trying to make them good because we are intelligent? « .

The Bible


God’s laws are contained in His Word, the Bible.
What is contained in the Word is not implanted in us by downloading them but rather by attachment to God, we must at least be aware of this to eradicate excuses for disobedience.

What are the benefits?
Two benefits are emphasized here that flow from a life that tries to obey God’s commandments.

God’s love comes into it


5 But the love of God is truly perfect in him who keeps his word:

1 John 2. 5

The original scripture does not define whether it is
• the love of God
• or our love for God.

In fact, the two are linked.
The love of God shines completely when it finds an echo in the one who receives it and honours it.

The love poured out by children towards their gifts for mothers will have another echo
• if it is neglected
• or if it is opened, unwrapped, or contemplated.

Unconditional grace – love that demands an echo
God’s grace is unconditional (it rains on the good and the bad), I’m not sure the same can be said of God’s love…

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son John 3. 16. Does the verse end there? He gave it for something, that there would be an answer:
That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life John 3:16.

The love of God is not a black box which would emit for nothing. He waits for an echo.

God’s love awaits an echo

  • the first echo is accepting His Son, Christ. What He did for us on the cross;
  • the other is to walk as Christ walked, following His laws of life.

Take advantage of God’s love
If you are distant,
• from what God loves,
• from His commandments,
you will only peck at the crumbs of all the love that God shows you, but if you live by His commandments, you will continually increase in the measure of God’s love.

Testimony of our belonging in Him.
And you will have the testimony that you are His child:
it is by this that we know that we are in him.

1 John 2. 5

There is rarely any doubt
• of the presence of God,
• of His love,
• of knowing if I am His child,
among people who spend time (Bible/prayers/brothers and sisters) with God.

On the other hand, this question is frequently asked when we distance ourselves.
If you doubt your attachment to Him, follow Him and everything will be clear! Living by the Word of God demonstrates our devotion to Christ. Claiming to know God without keeping, but disobeying His commandments, His word.

They are liars to other brethren because their lives demonstrate the opposite: it’s sad and pathetic.

A lover does not do the opposite of what the one he claims to love appreciates, nor does he do what his lover doesn’t love! Otherwise, he’s a boor and the parody of love won’t go far…

 

Can it be different with God?

A child can’t do anything that the parents can’t do much better than him. We are much smaller still before God. Our loving response is demonstrated by our obedience. We do not acquire salvation, we do not improve it more, we just say thank you, by demonstrating our obedience.

6 He who claims to abide in Christ must also live as he himself lived.

1 John 2. 6

We are all part of condemnable liars but we have an Advocate who helps us to go towards our goal.
It is not new and it is not the first time that we are confronted with this subject.

Worship, Worship
We are in worship to worship. The first step in worship is, I believe, to live under the guidance of God, daily.

In any season of life
These tips that we have just seen are not only for the young or the old as if there were a sensitive category and the others immune.

In each season of life, it is always the time to show our gratitude to God not just through small or big ways, but through constant signs of our attachment to Him.

May our gratitude, our love, be read in our lives as much as in our words.

To Him the glory because it is He who can make it possible in our lives.

Bible Passages

1 John 2:3 / ASV
3. And hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

John 3:16 / ASV
16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Related Links / Notes

1st John Sermon Series

Study Notes are translated from the original French version prepared by the pastor Patrice Berger. The orginal French notes are in « note » form, and are not a direct transcription of the video, however they are quite close the original text preached at the church. The notes provided here follow that form, and are detailed enough to help provide a deep understanding of the texts in the epistle 1st John.

All services as well as some of the bible studies are streamed on the channel  YouTube église AB Renens-Lausanne.  Also visit the You Tube channel of the Swiss Action Biblique Youth Groups (JAB Suisse Romande)/ Facebook.

Bible verses in the study link to the ASV bible. In addition to the ASV Bible , other versions of the Bible are also available on our website.

The King James Version is available as an audio bible Podcast which can be accessed below.

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Keywords

  • Consistency
  • Obedience
  • Bible
  • Armour