1 John 3.22-24.
The previous passage was about
1 John 3.22-24 KWL 22 Whatever we might ask,- we should receive from God,
- for we keep his commands
- and we do pleasing things before him.
23 This is God’s command:- We should trust the name of Christ Jesus his son,
- and we should love one another,
- just as he gave the command to us.
24 One who keeps God’s commands- remains in him,
- and he in them.¹
- This is how we know he remains in us:
- By the Spirit whom he gives us.
Problem is, whenever Christians talk about God’s will for our lives, we nearly always don’t talk about God’s commands or Jesus’s teachings. Nor the prophets’ exhortations, nor the apostles’ instructions, nor the sages’ wisdom. We talk about “God’s special plan for my life.” We wanna know that. Phooey on all that other noise.
Which, once you’ve read the bible and think about that a bit, is insane. Noise? Didja read how important the prophets and apostles and Jesus and his Father considered those commands? Didja read how upset the L
“But we’ve been freed from the burden of the Law!” True, but I don’t think the people who raise that objection, understand what the “burden” actually is. It’s not the burden of obeying it. It’s the burden of suffering the consequences when we don’t obey it. It’s the burden of having to pathetically attempt to atone for ourselves, through inadequate ritual sacrifices. It’s the burden of a fractured relationship with God because we’ve been
Christians act as if the “burden of the Law” is the Law of Moses itself, and forget: Y’all wanted to know what God’s will is. Well, here it is. Right there in black, white,
Again, it’s already been revealed in the bible! But when they say, “What does he want me to do?” they’re not at all talking about a godly lifestyle to adopt. They want a walkthrough to life.
Gamers know what a walkthrough is: It’s how to work your way through a video game so you can win. When you’re wandering a deserted castle, don’t go into this room or that room, or some bad guy will smite or kill you. Instead, go into that room and this room, where you’ll find treasure and potions, and weapons so you can more easily defeat the unexpected bad guys in future rooms.
Aren’t walkthroughs a type of cheating? When you’ve not played the game before, and haven’t learned this stuff on your own, yes they absolutely are. But people who want walkthroughs don’t wanna play the game; they wanna win the game.
And that’s what these Christians want from God: They don’t want to go through life, depending on God day by day. They wanna win. They don’t see inheriting God’s kingdom as the win; they see wealth and success, as defined
We gotta rebuke that self-seeking attitude, and steer ’em back to the proper goal: That relationship with God. And if you legitimately do wanna remain in God, and he in you… do as he said!
John’s top two commands.
You recall Jesus identified his top two commands when prompted by a Pharisee lawyer
Mark 12.29-31 KJV 29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:30 and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:Dt 6.4-5 this is the first commandment.31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.Lv 19.18 There is none other commandment greater than these.
However, the gospel of John never tells that story. Never has Jesus identify the top two commands. Partly because John was there when Jesus identified the top two commands, and the other gospels already told the story, so John didn’t feel he needed to repeat it. And partly because in today’s passage of 1 John, John identified what he thought were the top two. Note how both of ’em are in his gospel.
John 6.29 KJV - Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
John 13.34-35 KJV 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Do these two outweigh the two Jesus identified? I don’t believe so. Nor do I think John believed so. But these two were the commands his readers needed to hear at that particular point in history. They weren’t trusting Jesus; they weren’t loving one another.
And Christians at this particular point in history kinda need to prioritize these two commands as well. Too many of us have put far too much trust in other things than Jesus—our money, our favorite politicians, law enforcement, our own guns and self-defensive abilities, our intelligence and wisdom and cunning, our favorite pundits; Christians have plenty of idols we prioritize above God. And because of what those idols demand, we don’t love our fellow Christians like we ought. Times have changed, but human nature never does.
If we want to remain Christian—if we want to abide in Jesus, and he in us—these are two commands we have to uphold and obey. If we’d rather not, and figure liking Jesus an awful lot will count when the Son of Man returns to take his throne… well, maybe Jesus will be gracious, but maybe our dismissive attitude towards his priorities reveals we never really did repent and turn to him for salvation. We trusted that other stuff more. And it’s going into the fire. Hope we aren’t going in there with it.
