1 John 3:23
“And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.”
Jesus simplified all of the commandments into two: love God and love others. John, in like manner, states the requirements of God are both simple and straight forward. He writes, God is commanding us to believe on Christ and love each other.
Belief is commanded because it is the requirement for entrance into heaven. When individuals looks at the cross, they realizes they are sinners, Christ is the Savior, they put their trust in Him, and are saved. The sins that once kept us from God are washed away in the blood of God, and our names are written on Heaven’s scroll. All the religious activities, social work, or random acts of kindness, are incapable of doing what simple faith in Christ accomplishes. If you are yet to put your trust in Christ, do so now, and watch as He transforms your life.
Love for one another is the chief evidence that we have truly believed in Christ. It is not the only evidence, but it is the greatest. After years of walking with the Lord, encountering others who have put their faith in Him, and lived lives transformed by Him, John concludes that more than anything else, a person who has met Christ should love others. That is not too difficult to comprehend when we examine the life of Christ, and see it was marked by a continual, even growing, love for others. We read that having loved His own, He loved them to the end. (John 13:1)
One of the greatest ways to testify to the reality of Christ, is to go out of your way to express love to others. As you go about your day, keep your eyes open as to how you might express the love of Christ to others in a needy world.
Pastor Jim
After the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar’s forces, the inhabitants of Judah began to look to Egypt as a place of refuge. Jeremiah warned them that fleeing to Pharaoh would result in further death and destruction. The same people who refused to listen when the prophet told them to willingly go to Babylon, are the people who are now fleeing to Egypt. On the one hand, the Word of God told them to go, on the other, it told them to stay. In both cases they chose to disobey. It is not the commands of God that are the problem, but the will of men. Disobedience is always driven by self-will.
A few years back I attended a men’s conference where this verse was shared during a worship session. Like most, I was encouraged by the sentiment of it, until I recalled the context. You see, as beautiful as the verse is, it is declared by a group of people who have no real intention of doing what the Lord says. The verse might better read, “we will obey as long as the Lord tells us what we want to hear.”
During the 8th century B.C., Ethiopia was a powerful nation, stretching across much of North Africa. Ethiopian forces were a stronghold against the rising threat of Assyria. It would be easy for Judah to think their safety could be secured by an allegiance with Ethiopia, in a stand against Assyria. Instead, God stirs Isaiah to speak a proclamation against Ethiopia, as a means of deterring Judah from placing their trust in things which cannot help them.
Recently, I was driving with some friends, some of whom were from California, and others from Florida. It did not take long for the subject of hurricanes to come up. As we described our experiences of boarding up windows, stocking up on supplies and even evaluating our homes, one of the Florida folks said, “but at least we know they are coming, unlike those California earthquakes.” As you can imagine the conversation then switched to what it is like to have the ground we believe to be solid, suddenly begin to roll underneath your feet. Fortunately, we reached our destination before the conversation became more grave. Suffice it to say, it is a pretty eerie feeling when, what we believe to be solid, suddenly begins to shake; proving our foundations are not what we thought them to be.
Prayer is the great privilege of the Christian. With it, we are given access to the throne of God. Every care, no matter how small, can be cast at His feet. Every mountain, no matter how large, can be removed through prayer. Prayer was a daily activity in the life of Christ. He rose early for prayer; stayed up late into the night praying. He prayed before making decisions, facing obstacles or simply to give thanks to the Father for what He had provided.
Job was confused. He did not understand how God could allow so much suffering in his life. When God finally speaks to Job, He asks a simple question, “How long is the pregnancy of a deer or a goat?” These are not difficult questions. They could easily be answered by observing nature. Yet, it seems Job did not have the answer. To be quite honest, I didn’t know either, and had too look it up. Why would God ask him that question? What does the birth cycle of wild animals have to do with the trials Job was facing? I think the answer is found in a question Jesus asked Nicodemus.
As Paul was writing this letter, conditions in Jerusalem were very difficult. Persecution, famine, and perhaps a bit of mismanagement, had left the church in Jerusalem financially destitute. In order to help those in need, Paul assisted in organizing a financial gift from the gentile churches. This passage lays out the guidelines for the giving and receiving of that gift. The principles Paul presents should help to govern our giving, which we often refer to giving as tithing. The word “tithe” means tenth and refers to the Old Testament Law where the children of Israel were required to give a tenth back to the Lord. The New Testament, while not requiring a tenth, does clearly teach the need to “give back” to the Lord.
I am sure each of us has felt this way at one time or another. We might be going through a particularly difficult season of life, and it seems God is hiding in the shadows. We may look in all the obvious places and not seem to be able to find His purposes in what we are facing. I think it is valuable to notice that righteous Job, not only experienced this same dilemma, but gives us the steps he took along the way. There are four important steps he took when it seemed God was hiding.
Jim Gallagher 