Sunday Morning Bible Study

September 2, 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?

Play Thanksgiving video.

This is a book about Real Issues

What’s real? What’s 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?

One of the big issues we face as believers is the subject of “assurance”.

How do we know that we are “saved”?  How do I know if I really am a Christian?  How do we know that we will one day indeed be in heaven?  How do I know that I am really connected to God?

A big concept that is tied to assurance and connection is the idea of “abiding” in Christ. You see Jesus outlining this concept as He said,

(Jn 15:1–11 NKJV) —1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. 9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

When you as a branch are “connected” to the vine (“abide”), then you will produce fruit.

If you don’t want to be a branch that withers and is cast into the fire, you simply need to “abide” or stay “connected” to Jesus.

How do we know we are really “abiding” in him?  How do we know that we are truly “connected” to Christ?

The key to understanding our passage this morning is by tracking the word “Abide”, used five times in our passage.

4:12-16 Loving Assurance

Read the entire passage…

:12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

:12 at any time – popote – ever, at any time

:12 has seen – theaomai – to behold, look upon, view attentively, contemplate (often used of public shows); to view, take a view of; to learn by looking, to see with the eyes, to perceive

Perfect passive indicative

:12 we love – agapao – to love, to feel and exhibit esteem and goodwill to a person, to prize and delight in a thing.

Choosing to assign great value to another person.

We looked at this word a lot last week.

Present active subjunctive

:12 one another – allelon – one another, reciprocally, mutually

:12 abides – meno – to remain, abide

Present active indicative

:12 love – agape – brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence

:12 has been perfected – teleioo – to make perfect, complete; to bring to the end (goal) proposed

Perfect passive participle

:12 No one has seen God at any time

Paul tells us that God is invisible.

(1 Ti 1:17 NKJV) Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

God told Moses,

(Ex 33:20 NKJV) But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”

Jesus is the visible image of God.

(Col 1:15 NKJV) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

(Jn 1:18 NKJV) No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

So here’s the big question – how do you know if you’ve really gotten connected to an invisible God or not?

:12 If we love one another … His love … perfected

Lesson

Loving others connects me to God’s love

Experiencing the love that God has for us is not a static experience.

It is not uncommon for a person who opens their life to Christ to experience an overwhelming sense of God’s love for us.

But the amount of God’s love that you sense as a new believer ought to continually be growing the longer that you know him.

It’s not that God loves you more, but that you grow in your capacity to comprehend and experience God’s love.

Our sense of God’s love “matures”

has been perfected – teleioo – to make perfect, complete; to bring to the end (goal) proposed

How do we grow in our sense of knowing God’s love?

We are to “love one another”

one another – allelon – one another, reciprocally, mutually

It is both about me learning to love others as well as me learning to allow others to love me.

One of the difficult things of agape love is the component called “patience”.

(1 Co 13:4 NASB95) Love is patient, love is kind…

The word translated “patient” is all about being patient with difficult people.  It means that you learn how to put up with them and how to respond to them.

Usually we just give up on difficult people.

Play Fishing and Whining Girlfriend video

Some people are faced with incredibly challenging circumstances in their relationships, but they find a way to keep loving anyway.  One such instance is Dick Hoyt, whose son Rick was born disabled…

Play Dick and Rick Hoyt video.

What I love about this story is that this dad has not given up loving his son, even when it’s difficult.

As we grow in loving others and allowing them to love us, the “invisible God” becomes a little less invisible.

Illustration

Frightened by the clamor of thunder in the night, a little girl cried out.  Holding her securely in his arms, her father explained that she needn’t fear.  God would take care of her because He loved her greatly.

“I know God will take care of me and love me,” she replied. “But right now, Daddy, I want someone with skin on to love me.”

:13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

:13 we know – ginosko – to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive, feel; to know by experience

Present active indicative

:13 we abide – meno – to remain, abide

Present active indicative

:13 He has given – didomi – to give

Perfect active indicative

:13 He has given us of His Spirit

Lesson

The Holy Spirit

A second thing that assures us of our connection to the invisible God, is the work of the Holy Spirit.

When we put our trust in Jesus to be our savior, the Holy Spirit came to dwell in us.

One of the things the Holy Spirit does in our lives is work to assure us that we belong to God.

(Ro 8:15–16 NKJV) —15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…

This is kind of hard to quantify, and can seem a bit “touchy-feely”, but the Holy Spirit is at work in the believer to reassure us that we belong to God.

Part of that work includes the “Daddy” connection, learning to look at God as our “Daddy”, our “Abba”.

When the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives, He will produce things in us, He will produce “fruit” in us.

(Ga 5:22–23 NKJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control…

The Holy Spirit, like the Father, is also “invisible”.

But when He is at work in our lives, He leaves behind something that is very visible, His “fruit”.

Did you see that the “fruit” includes “love”?

Don’t miss that the fruit also includes “self-control”

Self-control doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit takes over your body like a possessed person and you become a robot that always does the right things.

Self-control means that he gives YOU the ability to learn how to make the right choices.

For those of you who struggle with your weight – don’t do what I did for twenty years and just stop trying.  Stop leaning on your excuses on why you can’t succeed.  Get back at it.  Try a different diet.  Try a new program.  If the Holy Spirit is in you, you have exactly what you need to start making a change, the ability to find self-control.  You can do it.

:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.

:14 we have seen – theaomai – to behold, look upon, view attentively, contemplate (often used of public shows); to view, take a view of; to learn by looking, to see with the eyes, to perceive

Perfect passive indicative

:14 testify – martureo – to be a witness, to bear witness, i.e. to affirm that one has seen or heard or experienced something, or that he knows it because taught by divine revelation or inspiration

Present active indicative

:14 has sent – apostello – to order (one) to go to a place appointed

Perfect active indicative

:14 we have seen and testify

The apostles may not have “seen God”, but they saw Jesus.

The apostles were called to be the witnesses to the world of what they had seen.  They had lived with Jesus for three years.  They watched Him die.  They saw Him after the resurrection.  Jesus told them:

(Ac 1:8 NKJV) But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

:15 confesses – homologeo – to say the same thing as another, i.e. to agree with, assent; to confess; declare; to profess; to declare openly, speak out freely

Aorist active subjunctive

:15 abides – meno – to remain, abide

Present active indicative

:15 Whoever confesses

Lesson

Confessing Jesus

Here’s the third thing that assures us of our connection with God.

confesses – homologeo – to say the same thing as another, to agree with, to profess; to declare openly, speak out freely

The word has to do with speaking up about what you believe.

Paul said that your public “confession” is tied into the process of salvation.

(Ro 10:9–10 NKJV) —9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Salvation comes because of our faith, putting our trust in Christ.

If your faith in Jesus is the real deal, then you will speak up about believing in Jesus.

Jesus said,

(Mt 10:32–33 NKJV) —32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

With the new Bond film out, I imagine that some of you know a thing or two about secret agents…

Play Johnny English video clip

Christians don’t make very good “secret agents”. 

It may be scary to speak up.  You don’t have to be a preacher.  But you need to be open about your faith.

Your “confession” about Jesus is part of the evidence that you are connected to the invisible God.

:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

:16 we have known – ginosko – to learn to know, to know by experience

Perfect active indicative

:16 believed – pisteuo – to think to be true, to be persuaded of, place confidence in

Perfect active indicative

:16 the love – agape – brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence

:16 for us – literally “in us”

Westcott:  “Believers are the sphere in which the love of God operates.”

:16 abides – meno – to remain, abide

Present active participle (1^st time), Present active indicative (2^nd time)

:16 the love that God has for us

Lesson

His love for us

This is the fourth thing that assures us of our connection to God.

John uses two words to describe our relationship with God’s love:

we have known – ginosko – to learn to know, to know by experience

believed – pisteuo – to think to be true, to be persuaded of, place confidence in

Both words are in the “perfect” tense, meaning that we have “known and believed” in the past, and the results have continued on into the present.

John has already told us about what clarifies God’s love toward us:

(1 Jn 3:16 NKJV) By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.

(1 Jn 4:9 NKJV) In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

Jesus said it this way:

(Jn 15:13 NKJV) Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

Why was Jesus’ death on the cross an act of “love”?

Because He was taking our place.

We are the ones who ought to be condemned to death because of our sin, yet He was the one who paid the penalty so we could live.

Have you come to “know” that God loves you?

Have you found yourself “confident” in His love for you?

When you “connect” to the love that God has for you, you have connected to God.

This is part of your “assurance”.

Illustration

"John, Greg and The Drawbridge"

John Griffith was a Missouri man who was the controller of a great railroad drawbridge across the Mississippi during the Great Depression.  One fine summer day in 1937, John decided to take his 8 year old son, Greg, to work with him.  At noon, John raised the bridge to allow transit to any ships that might pass by and sat on the observation deck to with Greg to eat their lunch.  The minutes passed lazily as the noon day beat down on them.  Suddenly, John was jolted by the sound of shrieking train whistle in the distance.  He quickly looked at his watch.  It was 1:07 and the Memphis Express, with 400 passengers was roaring toward the raised bridge!  He leaped up from the observation deck and ran back to the control tower. Before throwing the master lever, he looked down to see if any ships were passing below.  The sight he saw caused his pounding heart to leap into his throat.  Greg had slipped from the observation deck and had fallen into the massive gears that operate the bridge.  His left leg was caught in the cogs of the two main gears!  Desperately, John’s mind raced to device a rescue plan.  The seconds were quickly ticking away and he knew there wasn’t enough time for him to rescue his son before the train reached the bridge.  Again, with alarming closeness, the train’s shrill whistle cut through the summer air.  He could hear the wheels as they clicked along on the tracks. That was his son trapped below!  Yet there were 400 passengers on the train. John knew what he had to do, so he buried his head in his left arm and pushed the lever forward to lower the bridge.  Just seconds after the massive bridge settled into place, the Memphis Express, with its 400 passengers barreled across the river.  When John lifted his tear-streaked face, he looked into the passing windows of the train.  There were businessmen casually reading their newspapers; finely dressed ladies in the dining car sipping coffee; and children eating bowls of ice cream.  No one looked at the control tower.  No one saw the great gear box.  With wrenching agony, John Griffith cried out at the retreating steel monster, “I sacrificed my son for you people!  Don’t you care?”  The train let out one parting whistle and then sounds that were left were the sobs of the broken man and the clicking wheels fading in the distance.

This story is an illustration of the Father’s love for you.  He was willing to sacrifice His Son for you.  But it’s not a complete illustration because not only was the Father willing to sacrifice, the Son was also willing to sacrifice Himself.

God really, really loves you.  He has paid the price for your sin.

Will you say “yes” to following Him?

Give an invitation to know Christ