1 John 3:11-18

so… the heart of this week’s text is found in verses 16-18:

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 anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

if there is one thing people think they know about, it’s love.  we love stuff.  cars, dogs, enchiladas, television shows, over-stuffed chairs, electronic gadgets, football teams, air conditioning, chocolate chip cookies.  we love this stuff, right?   we know all about love, right?

could it be that our understanding of love is so warped, so shaped, so twisted by culture’s definitions that we just can’t see it for what it is?  this is love:  jesus laying down his life for us.  that’s what love is.  love is not a feeling.  love is not an impulse.  love is not an expression.  love is not an urge.  love is not a sensation.  love is selfless action taken in the best interest of another person.  love is doing what another person needs.  period.

as long as you have the stuff of life (the world’s possessions…breath and energy), you can love people.  you can disregard your own selfish interests and seek the higher good for another.  you can do it any time, any place, to anyone.

all you need is a little splangkna.  (compassion that moves to action)

• is this your view of love?  why or why not?
• is this too black and white?
• are you a hater or a lover?
• what would life a north point really be like if we started loving each other with laying-it-down-jesus-style kind of love?

1 John 3:1-10

pretty simple lesson yesterday, don’t you think?  you’re a child of god.  act like it.  here’s a few highlights from my week of study:

• i feel like i tread on hallowed ground when i openly challenge the translation of the bible.  it’s sacred.  bible translators are people far smarter and of greater renown (or any renown) than i have ever established.  but i just don’t think the niv translators got the beginning of this passage right. 

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1 NIV

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.  1 John 3:1 KJV


• “behold” is a call to wake up.  it screams pay attention…this is really big stuff.  
• it’s completely missing in the niv.
• “manner of love” is a specific descriptive term that john uses to tell his readers that no matter what they think or know of love, the love of god is different.  the word he uses means from another country or from another location.  
• it’s completely missing in the niv.
• “bestowed” is simply the common word for give or given.
• there is no question that god lavishes his love on us, but it doesn’t not say that in this text.
• it this all just a small issue?  i don’t think so.  
• the power of this passage resides in the fact that god’s love is so different, so profound, so life-changing…it changes us.  
• it has the power to change our identity.  to change our orientation.  to draw us from a spiritual orphanage to belonging to a family.  
• this is no small issue.  this is the heart of relationship.  this is what the love of god does.
• this is why john can say: you are a child of god.  act like it.

 

what do you think about bible translation?  what questions do you have?
what translation of the bible do you use?  do you use more than one when you study?
how serious are you taking your study of god’s word these days?

1 John 2:18-29

there sure is a lot dialogue in christian circles about end times, prophecy, and the second coming.  i don’t know if there is more now than when i was younger, but it sure seems like it.  i don’t know of a more hotly debated and potentially divisive subject in the church.  there are brothers who simply break off fellowship with other brothers because one side cannot agree with the other side.

i have to admit that after years and years of listening, reading, studying, and reflecting, i can honestly tell you that i am not positive about what i believe the end of the world is going to look like.  i think that opposing interpretations make logical and persuasive arguments.  the fact that there are not just two sides (there are at least nine or ten distinct, identifiable interpretations of end-time prophecy in the bible) makes the confusion even more jumbled.  

there are good-hearted, wise, and deeply committed disciples of jesus who stand confidently and intelligently on each of those interpretive positions…calling one of them their own and unashamedly rejecting all the others.  pretty heady stuff.  i’m grateful for the debate, but often very frustrated over the superior and judgmental attitudes that seem to accompany some of the particular positions…and deeply frustrated when those attitudes result in loss of friendship and fellowship.  enough of that.

from my study this past week, though, i am convinced that all this stuff about the “antichrist” runs the risk of being blown out of proportion.  the only place that the word “antichrist” appears in scripture is in this letter written by john…and only four different references are made.  (there is a reference to the man of lawlessness by the apostle paul in second thessalonians 2:3-12…and a similar reference in the gospels…some conclude that these must be the “antichrist”).  the cool thing about john’s letter is that he doesn’t just refer to the “antichrist”, but he defines who it is and where he will come from.  there is no confusion.  there is no speculation.  

we know that the “antichrist” will be one of many throughout history.  they will always start out as one of us.  they will then become overly consumed with themselves…believing that they have an anointing that is more special than the one that all the rest of us received…and then they will start to give out new and better insights and healings and interpretations and leadership…seeking to draw a following.

john’s message?  beware of anyone who claims to have a special anointing and remain close to the true anointed one…jesus.

great passage.