Sunday
Morning Bible Study
October
21, 2012
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church loved?
Announcement: For
the sake of the carpet … Starting
November 18th we will be serving coffee outside in front of the kitchen and would
like to keep all food and beverages (except water) outside.
This is a book
about Real Issues
What’s real?
What’s the truth?
The challenge about truth will be seen in words like “know” (to challenge what
you “know”) and “manifest”
(something that is revealed as the truth)
We’ve been addressing issues like:
Who is God? What
is He really like?
What is a Christian?
What is a Christian really like?
We are going to look at what can be a difficult passage for some. How important is it that a Christian stop sinning? Read
the passage …
2:28 – 3:10
Practice, Practice, Practice
:28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that
when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His
coming.
:28 little children – teknion
– a little child; in the NT used as a term of kindly address by teachers to
their disciples
:28 abide – meno
– to remain, abide; to continue to be present
Present active imperative
:28 He appears – phaneroo
– to make manifest or visible or known what has been hidden or unknown,
whether by words, or deeds, or in any other way
Aorist passive subjunctive
This word was translated “made
manifest” in 2:19
(1 Jn 2:19 NKJV) They went out from
us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have
continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were
of us.
:28 we may have – echo
– to have, to hold
Present active subjunctive
:28 confidence – parrhesia (“all” + “utterance”) – freedom in speaking;
boldness, assurance
:28 not be ashamed – aischunomai
– to disfigure; to dishonor; to suffuse with shame, make ashamed, be
ashamed
Aorist passive subjunctive
:28 coming – parousia
– presence; the coming, arrival, advent
Perhaps this is not just about His
second coming, but the fact that when He comes, we will be in His presence.
Lesson
Just stay close
The idea of “Abiding in Him” is simply to stay close to Jesus.
If I stay close to Jesus in this life, then when I see Him, I won’t be
ashamed.
:29 If you know that He is
righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.
:29 you know – oida
– to see; to know, understand, perceive
Wuest: “know in an absolute manner”
Perfect active subjunctive
:29 righteous – dikaios
– righteous, observing divine laws
:29 you know – ginosko
– to learn to know, come to know, knowledge based on experience
Present active indicative
:29 who practices – poieo – to make; to do
Present active participle
This is a
present tense, carrying the idea of continually doing something.
We are going to be seeing forms of this word throughout the passage (7 times!). It’s
not always translated “practice”, and sometimes it seems invisible, but it’s a
key word to getting this passage right.
:29 righteousness – dikaiosune
– the condition acceptable to God; integrity, virtue, purity of life
:29 is born – gennao
– to be born; to be begotten
Perfect passive indicative
3:1 Behold what
manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children
of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
:1 Behold – horao
– to see with the eyes; to see with the mind, to perceive, know
Second Aorist active imperative
:1 what manner of – potapos
– from what country, nation or tribe; of what sort or quality (what manner
of)
:1 love – agape
– brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence
:1 has bestowed – didomi
– to give
Perfect active indicative
:1 we should be called
– kaleo – to call; to call by name; to give a
name to
We’ve been given God’s name. He’s
adopted us and now we have God’s last name as our own.
Aorist passive subjunctive
:1 does not know – ginosko
– to learn to know, come to know, knowledge based on experience
Present active indicative
:1 did not know – ginosko
– to learn to know, come to know, knowledge based on experience
Aorist active indicative
:1 what manner of love
Lesson
Undeserved Love
Our love for one another is so often conditional.
We tend to “love” people who are loveable, people who are nice to us.
Illustration
A man
was dining in a fancy restaurant and there was a lady sitting at the next
table. He had been admiring her since he sat down, but lacked the nerve to talk
with her. Suddenly she sneezed and her glass eye came
flying out of its socket
towards him. Through reflex he reached out and grabbed it out of the air, and
handed it back to her. “Oh my, I am so sorry,” the woman said as she popped her
eye back in place. “Let me buy your dinner to make it up to you.” They enjoyed
a wonderful dinner together, and afterwards the woman invited him to the theater. After paying
for everything, she asked him if he would like to come for breakfast the next
morning. The next morning, she cooked a gourmet meal with all the trimmings. The guy is
amazed!! Everything has been incredible! “You know,” he said “you are the
perfect woman. Are you this nice to every guy you meet?” “No” she replies, “You just happened to
catch my eye.”
God’s love for us is quite different.
I guess you could say we “caught His eye”,
but we didn’t do anything to deserve His marvelous love.
He doesn’t love us because of how good we are.
He loves us despite who we are.
(Ro 5:8
NKJV) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were
still sinners, Christ died for us.
And then He goes and calls us His children.
:2 Beloved, now we are
children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know
that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
:2 Beloved – agapetos – beloved, esteemed, dear, favorite
Note the kinds of words that John uses to describe his readers. He’s going to have some difficult things to
say, but he calls them his “little children” and “beloved”.
:2 been revealed – phaneroo
– to make manifest or visible or known what has been hidden or unknown, to
manifest, whether by words, or deeds, or in any other way
Aorist passive indicative
:2 we shall be – eimi
– to be, to exist, to happen, to be present
Future indicative
:2 we know – oida –
to see; to know, understand, perceive
Wuest: “know in an absolute manner”
Perfect active indicative
:2 He is revealed – phaneroo
– to make manifest or visible or known what has been hidden or unknown, to
manifest, whether by words, or deeds, or in any other way
Aorist passive subjunctive
:2 like – homoios –
like, similar, resembling
:2 we shall see – horao
– to see with the eyes; to see with the mind, to perceive, know
Future middle indicative
:2 we shall be like Him
Lesson
Our future
This is what is up ahead for us.
We may not have all the specs on what life will be like when we get to
heaven, but one thing we can know for sure is that we will be like Him.
We will have glorified bodies with special abilities just like His
glorified body.
Last Sunday an amazing feat took place.
Play
Felix Baumgartner Record
clip.
For
us with our glorified bodies, we won’t need a spacesuit or a balloon. We’ll be able to fly.
We will also no longer have sin in our lives
:3 And everyone who has
this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
:3 who has – echo –
to have, i.e. to hold
Present active participle
:3 hope – elpis –
expectation of good, hope
:3 purifies – hagnizo
– purify; ceremonially, morally
Present active indicative
:3 pure – hagnos –
pure; chaste, modest; pure from every fault, clean
Related to hagios (holy)
:3 purifies himself
Lesson
Cleaning up my act
If I am a person who is looking forward to meeting Jesus Christ face to
face one day, my life will be impacted.
My relationship with Jesus results in a desire to clean things up in my
life.
Some of it
comes from God’s work in my life, as I allow Him the freedom to work in my
life.
His “seed”, the Holy Spirit, is in me to help me.
Some of it
comes from my effort.
I don’t just lie back on the sofa and watch Him clean me up.
I take part in the choices I make.
I make efforts to do the right things.
:4 Whoever commits sin also
commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
:4 sin – hamartia – to miss
the mark; to miss or wander from the path of uprightness
The concept of “sin” is to go off of God’s road. It’s kind of like “off-roading”.
As fun as it is to go “off-roading”, things aren’t always that fun.
:4 commits – poieo – to make; to do
Again, present tense in both places, speaking of a continual
action.
Present active participle (1st
time), Present active indicative (2nd time)
The same word was translated “practices” in 2:29
You could translate
this “whoever continually practices sin continually practices lawlessness”
:4 lawlessness – anomia
– the condition of without law; contempt and violation of law, iniquity,
wickedness
:5 And you know that He was
manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.
:5 you know – oida
– to see; to know, understand, perceive
Wuest: “know in an absolute manner”
Perfect active indicative
:5 He was manifested – phaneroo
– to make manifest or visible or known what has been hidden or unknown
Translated “revealed” in verse 2.
Aorist passive indicative
He was manifested when
He, Jesus, took on human flesh, lived among us, and died on the cross to pay
for our sins.
:5 to take away – airo
– to raise up, elevate, lift up; to take upon one’s self and carry what has
been raised up; to bear away what has been raised, carry off
:5 in Him there is no sin
There is nothing “just a little off” about Jesus.
He is totally pure.
:6 Whoever abides in Him
does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
:6 abides – meno –
to remain, abide
Present active participle
:6 sin … sins – hamartano – to miss the mark; to miss or wander
from the path of uprightness and honor (off roading)
Present active indicative (1st time), Present active
participle (2nd time)
Both times the
word is present tense, speaking of continuous, habitual sinning.
:6 seen – horao
– to see with the eyes or the mind, to perceive
Perfect active indicative
:6 known – ginosko
– knowledge based on experience
Perfect active indicative
If you are continuing in sin, it shows you have not come to understand or really
know Him.
:7 Little children, let no
one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is
righteous.
:7 Little children – teknion
– a little child; in the NT used as a term of kindly address by teachers to
their disciples
:7 deceive – planao –
to cause to stray, to lead astray, lead aside from the right way; to lead away
from the truth, to lead into error, to deceive
Present active imperative
:7 practices – poieo – to make; to do
Again, that key word, present tense, speaking of a continual “doing”
Present active participle
Same word translated “practices” in 2:29
Lesson
Cautious Fruit Inspection
(Mt 7:15–20 NKJV) —15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to
you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do
men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good
fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot
bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good
fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore
by their fruits you will know them.
Bad trees bear bad fruit. Good trees bear good fruit.
Be careful about going overboard with fruit inspection.
If you’re not careful, you will start criticizing every little thing in
another person’s life.
You will come to the conclusion that there are only two
people saved in this room, me and you, and I’m beginning to wonder about you…
John’s warning here is about not throwing babies out with the bath
water.
Yes, there will be people in a fellowship who say they
are Christians, but who exhibit a life filled with continual unrepentant sin –
and they are not only trying to fool other people about their relationship with
the Lord, they are fooling themselves.
But you have to be careful that you don’t throw out the
“righteous” who are trying to follow the Lord, even if they have areas of their
lives that need some work.
:8 He who sins is of the
devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of
God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
:8 He who sins
poieo – to make; to do
This
is the word that has been translated “commits” or “practices”, and it is also
again a present tense, continual “doing”
Present
active participle
hamartia – sin, to miss the mark; to miss or wander from the path of
uprightness (off roading)
It
might be better in light of how the rest of the passage has translated “poieo” to translate it like this: “He who is continually practicing sin is of
the devil”
It’s not the act of committing a sin that makes you “of the devil”, but the
idea of continual practicing of sin that makes a person of the devil.
:8 devil – diabolos –
prone to slander, slanderous, accusing falsely
:8 has sinned – hamartano
– to miss the mark; to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and
honor
Present active indicative
:8 the devil has sinned from the beginning
Literally, “the devil is continually sinning from the beginning”
:8 was manifested – phaneroo
– to make manifest or visible or known what has been hidden or unknown, to
manifest, whether by words, or deeds, or in any other way
Aorist passive indicative
:8 He might destroy – luo
– to loose any person (or thing) tied or fastened; to do away with, to
deprive of authority, whether by precept or act; to loose what is compacted or
built together, to break up, demolish, destroy; metaph., to overthrow, to do
away with
(Mt 18:18 NKJV) “Assuredly, I say to
you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose
on earth will be loosed in heaven.
We sometimes think of the “binding” being of Satanic forces and the
“loosing” being the release of the Holy Spirit, but what if they both have to
do with the defeat of the devil?
:8 He who sins is of the devil
Lesson
You need help
I want to talk for a minute to those of you who live your life “off-roading”.
I’m not talking to those of you who want to please God, but who find it a
struggle, and you even fail from time to time.
If you are living a life of “offroading”,
continually, purposefully going off of God’s path, then the Bible says that you are
“of the devil”.
Do you think that you’re “not a bad person”? You are wrong. You have been
deceived and you are firmly in the clutches of Satan himself.
You need help.
We know where to find help.
We are no better than you, but we have found where there is help. There is someone stronger
than the devil – Jesus.
Those of us who are living our lives trying to serve the Lord have a
mission from God:
(2 Ti 2:24–26 NKJV) —24
And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all,
able to teach, patient, 25 in humility
correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them
repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and
escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do
his will.
:8 that He might destroy the works
of the devil
Lesson
God’s victory
Jesus didn’t just come to pay for your sins and give you a ticket to
heaven.
He came to destroy the works of the devil.
He came to give you the power you need to defeat the work that Satan wants
to do in your life.
Look at some of the things that Satan does in our lives:
Temptation
(Mt 4:1 NKJV) Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted by the devil.
You don’t have to give in every time you are tempted.
Lies
(Jn 8:44b NKJV) …When he
speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the
father of it.
God wants to expose the lies you’ve swallowed about
yourself and help you learn to live in truth.
Condemnation
(Re 12:10b NKJV) …for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God
day and night, has been cast down.
For the Christian, there is no more condemnation (Rom.
8:1).
:9 Whoever has been born of
God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he
has been born of God.
:10 In this the children of God and the children of
the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God,
nor is he who does not love his brother.
:9 has been born – gennao
– to be born; to be begotten
Perfect passive participle
:9 does not sin
Just like in
verse 8, there are two Greek words used to translate this, and a better
translation would
be to say “whoever has been born of God
does not continually practice sin”
poieo – to make; to do
This is the word that has been
translated “commits” or “practices”
Present active indicative
hamartia – sin, to miss
the mark; to miss or wander from the path of uprightness
:9 seed – sperma – seed
It’s a word that is used for plant seeds, and human “seed” (sperm).
I’ve been told
that you can see some of me in my three sons.
They have my “seed” in them.
As believers,
we have God’s “seed”, the Holy Spirit in us.
There will be some sort of family traits passed on.
:9 remains – meno –
to remain, abide
Present active indicative
:9 he cannot – dunamai
– to be able to do something; to be capable, strong and powerful
Present middle indicative
:9 sin – hamartano
– to miss the mark; to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and
honor
Present active infinitive
:9 has been born – gennao
– to be born; to be begotten
Perfect passive indicative
:10 manifest – phaneros
– apparent, manifest, evident, known
Related to phaneroo, to make
manifest or visible
:10 are – esti –
to be
Present indicative
:10 does not practice – poieo – to make; to do
This is a present tense, continual action.
Present active participle
:10 does not love – agapao
– to feel and exhibit esteem and goodwill to a person, to prize and delight
in a thing.
Present active participle
We will be dealing with the issue
of loving next week…
:9 Whoever has been born of God
Lesson
Born Again
How is a person born of God?
One evening Jesus
said to a man named Nicodemus:
(Jn 3:3 NKJV) …“Most
assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God.”
Jesus began to explain to Nicodemus that He was talking about a spiritual
birth, a birth that takes place in the person who makes a choice to put their
trust in Jesus.
(Jn 3:16 NKJV) For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
This choice involves recognizing you have a need for
God. It involves a realization that you
are a sinner like the rest of us, and that your sin has separated you from God.
The choice involves realizing that Jesus died on a cross
in order to pay for your sins.
The choice is to trust in Jesus, to trust that He is the
way for God to deal with your sin.
When you make that choice, God’s Spirit comes into your
heart and you are “born again”. You have
a new life.
Have you made this choice?
:9 Whoever has been born of God
does not sin
This is part of the family trait of those who have God’s “seed” in them.
Lesson
Does a Christian sin?
We’ve already laid a foundation for this question back in chapter one:
(1 Jn 1:8 NKJV) If we say
that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Real
Christians commit sin.
The truth is that there will be times when real Christians
stumble and blow it.
When we sin, we have a way to receive forgiveness, by
confessing our sins to God.
One of the
questions we have to ask ourselves is: How much sin is okay in my life?
No sin is
“okay” in my life.
The
issue I have to face in this section is about “practicing”
Most musicians
will tell you that the secret to playing good music is practicing. The musician
that doesn’t practice is the musician that doesn’t sound very good.
What are you practicing? Are you practicing righteousness or are you practicing sin?
The issue isn’t whether you are a virtuoso at righteousness, but whether
you are practicing it.
If you have failed lately, it might mean you need to
practice a little harder, or try something different to figure out how to live
this life.
If you are practicing at sin, you are heading in a dangerous direction.
What does it look like to be “practicing sin”? It means
that you aren’t doing anything to change.
Are you involved in a sin and are unwilling to take the
steps you need to change?
Paul wrote,
(2 Co 13:5 NKJV) Examine yourselves as
to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know
yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
Lesson
The Proof is in the Practice
When you go
back over the passage and look for the “practice” (poieo)
you see this. When you add the other important “present tenses” that show
continual action, it looks like this.
(1 Jn 2:28–3:10 NKJV) —28 And now, little children, abide in
Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him
at His coming. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born
of Him. 1 Behold
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called
children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know
Him. 2 Beloved,
now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be,
but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see
Him as He is. 3
And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is
lawlessness. 5
And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in
Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides
in Him does not sin.
Whoever sins has
neither seen Him nor known Him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is
righteous. 8 He who sins is of the
devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of
God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever
has been born of God does not sin,
for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 10 In this the
children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness
is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
Becoming born again doesn’t happen when you stop sinning, it happens when
you start believing.
The proof of
whether your belief was sincere or not comes when changes take place in your
life, moving away from a life of sin and moving towards a life that pleases
God.
All through the passage the emphasis is consistent.
It’s all about what the continual practice is of a person’s life, not a one time stumble.
If a person’s life is centered on the practice of sin, then they are of the
devil.
If a person’s life is centered on the practice of righteousness, then they
are born of God.