July 24, 2022
THE LETTERS OF JOHN: THE MARKS OF A BELIEVER
July 24, 2022
Charles Billingsley
We are known to make snap judgments, especially upon first meeting people, aren’t we? We decide instantly whether we like or don’t like someone. What do you base your decision on in those first moments of meeting strangers?
Today we continue the series on the Letters of John, the last remaining apostle who had been with Jesus. As we enter 1 John 5, John sums up the life of a person who has become a Christ-follower: they believe Jesus is the Son of God, He paid for our sins by dying in our place, was crucified, buried, and three days later rose from the grave, giving us eternal life and the hope of spending eternity with God and all believers who have died in the faith. John’s last words spoken to the believers in the Ephesian church was simple: “Love one another!” When asked why this was all he said, John replied: “If that’s all they do, it will be enough.”
Focal Passage: 1 John 4:20-21, 5:1-13.
We love God
· Read 1 John 5:1. What is the first mark of a believer? What does it mean to believe that Jesus is the Christ? What is our faith based on? Can someone explain the difference between faith and trust? If we have faith in Jesus, and trust Him with our heart, how will that effect our actions?
· What are some of personal indications that we love God? Read 1 John 4:19. How do you know that God loves you with a personal love? How can you love God whom you’ve never seen?
We love God’s Son
· Why do we love Jesus Christ? What are some things He has done for you? If you feel your love for Jesus is insufficient, what are some ways you can choose to cause it to grow?
· Love is an action verb. Can you decide to love in a way that will give glory to Jesus Christ? Where must that start?
We love God’s Children
· Can we serve other people “in the name of the Lord, as doing it for Him,” asking God to let His love for them flow through us? Will it? If this is your mind set, after a while will you find you are truly loving them? Why must love be what we do, not how we feel?
· Read Eph. 5:1-2. As we put actions to our love, what does God consider those actions to be? Do you feel you are giving God “sacrifices and
offerings” by your actions? How can we teach our hearts to see other believers as God sees them?
We obey His commandments
· Read 1 John 5:2. What is the purpose of God’s commandments? What two statements are all the commandments able to be summed up as?
· Read verse 3. Why does God say His commandments are not meant to be a burden to us? Read John 14:20-21. The longer we serve and obey God, the more our love will grow. Can you look back a few years and see you have moved closer to God? Why or why not?
We are overcomers of this world
· Read verse 4-5. What does John mean, to “overcome the world”? What is the one thing that enables us to overcome the world and its lusts? If we love Jesus Christ, why is it that we will overcome the world?
· Read John 15:4-5. Has anyone grown a garden this year? What happens to the produce when it is plucked from its vine? How is that analogous to our lives if we don’t stay “attached” to God?
We live in confidence
· Read 1 John 5:6-13. What is the source of our life? What is meant by the “testimony”? Why has God given us eternal life? What can break that fellowship that we have with God?
· Can you have eternal life without acknowledging that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?
Close:
Do you normally search your heart and examine your life regularly to see that you are serving God more gladly, loving Him more deeply, talking to Him more often, and seeking His presence more constantly than you were last year, or the year before? It is a joyful thing to see your soul prosper and grow in the Lord!
John was a remarkable—but ordinary—man who was used by God to do amazing and extraordinary things. When he and his brother James (the first apostle to be martyred for the Christian faith), came to Jesus as disciples, they were possibly a little “hot-headed.” Jesus actually called them “The Sons of Thunder.” Later, their mother sought Jesus to beg Him to allow them to sit on either side of Him in heaven, making the other disciples quite irate. Toward the end of John’s life, he was boiled in oil by the emperor, but God miraculously preserved him just as He had once saved Daniel from lions, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace. John was then sent to the Isle of Patmos, where God wanted him. There, he received revelations that he wrote as The Revelation of Jesus Christ—the last book of the Bible. May we all have the grace to grow from the thunderous child to the child entrusted with God’s precious promises!