HAIKU - "Cries"

(From Psalm 61:1-4)

I cry from world's end;
Ah, the friendly talons grasp.
Come rest! Come eyrie!

(Summer 2020)

“The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men"

Excerpts taken by Dennis Evans from a sermon by John Witherspoon. The Reverend John Witherspoon was a Scottish Presbyterian and missionary in the American British Colonies. He was the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence.

"A sermon preached at Princeton, on the 17th of May, 1776. Being the general fast appointed by the Congress through the United Colonies.”

Scriptures: Psalm 76:1-12; Acts 4:23-31

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee; the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” Psalm 72:10

There is not a greater evidence either of the reality or the power of religion, than a firm belief of God’s universal presence, and a constant attention to the influence and operation of his providence. It is by this means that the Christian may be said, in the emphatical scripture language, “to walk with God, and to endure as seeing him who is invisible.”

            The doctrine of divine providence is very full and complete in the sacred oracles. It extends not only to things which we may think of great moment, and therefore worthy of notice, but to things the most indifferent and inconsiderable; “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing,” says our Lord, “and one of them falleth not to the ground without your heavenly Father”; nay, “the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

            It extends not only to things beneficial and salutary, or to the direction and assistance of those who are the servants of the living God; but to things seemingly most hurtful and destructive, and to persons the most refractory and disobedient. He overrules all his creatures, and all their actions. Thus, we are told, that “fire, hail, snow, vapor, and stormy wind, fulfill his word,” in the course of nature; and even so the most impetuous and disorderly passions of men, that are under no restraint from themselves, are yet perfectly subject to the dominion of the Lord. They carry his commission, they obey his orders, they are limited and restrained by his authority, and they conspire with every thing else in promoting his glory. There is the greater need to take notice of this, that men are not generally sufficiently aware of the distinction between the law of God and his purpose; they are apt to suppose, that as the temper of the sinner is contrary to the law of God, so the outrages of the sinner are able to defeat the purpose of God; than which nothing can be more false. The truth is plainly asserted, and nobly expressed by the psalmist in the text, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee; the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.”

            In discoursing on this subject, it is my intention, through the assistance of divine grace: 1.) To point out to you in some particulars, how the wrath of man praises God. 2.) To apply these principles to our present situation, by inferences of truth for your instruction and comfort, and by suitable exhortations to duty in the important crisis.

            In the first place, the wrath of man praises God, as it is an example and illustration of divine truth, and clearly points out the corruption of our nature, which is the foundation stone of the doctrine of redemption. Nothing can be more absolutely necessary to true religion, than a clear and full conviction of the sinfulness of our nature and state. Without this, there can be neither repentance in the sinner, nor humility in the believer.

            Justly does our Savior say, “The whole have no need of a physician, but those that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Those who are not sensible that they are sinners, will treat every exhortation to repentance, and every offer of mercy, with disdain or defiance. But where can we have a more affecting view of the corruption of our nature, than in the wrath of man, when exerting itself in oppression, cruelty and blood?

            Secondly, the wrath of man praiseth God, as it is the instrument in his hand for bringing sinners to repentance, and for the correction and improvement of [God’s] own children. What ever be the nature of the affliction with which he visits either persons, families, or nations; what ever be the disposition or intention of those whose malice he employs as a scourge; the design on God’s part is, to rebuke men for iniquity, to bring them to repentance, and to promote their holiness and peace.

            Thirdly, the wrath of man praiseth God, as he sets bounds to it, or restrains it by his providence, and sometimes makes it evidently a means of promoting and illustrating his glory. There is no part of divine providence in which a greater beauty and majesty appears, than when the Almighty Ruler turns the counsels of wicked men into confusion, and makes them militate against themselves. The scripture abounds with instances, in which the designs of oppressors were either wholly disappointed, or in execution fell far short of the malice of their intention; and in some they turned out to the honor and happiness of the persons or the people, whom they were intended to destroy.

            From the New Testament I will make the choice of that memorable event on which the salvation of believers in every age rests as its foundation: the death and sufferings of the Son of God. This the great adversary, and all his agents and instruments, prosecuted with unrelenting rage. When they had blackened him with slander, when they scourged him with shame, when they had condemned him in judgment, and nailed him to the cross, how could they help esteeming their victory complete? But oh the unsearchable wisdom of God! They were but perfecting the great design laid for the salvation of sinners. Our blessed Redeemer, by his death, finished his work, overcame principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in his cross. With how much justice do the apostles and their company offer this doxology to God, “They lift up their voice with one accord, and said, Lord thou art God which hast made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is; Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the Heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth, against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.”

            (In our own example) The violent persecution, which many eminent Christians met with in England from their brethren, who called themselves Protestants, drove them in great numbers to a distant part of the world, where the light of the gospel and true religion were unknown. Some of the American settlements, particularly those in New-England, were chiefly made by them; and as they carried the knowledge of Christ to the dark places of the earth, so they continue themselves in as great a degree of purity, of faith, and strictness of practice, or rather a greater, than is to be found in any protestant church now in the world. Does not the wrath of man in this instance praise God? Was not the accuser of the brethren, who stirs up their enemies, thus taken in his own craftiness, and his kingdom shaken by the very means which he employed to establish it?

            Proceed now to the second general head, which was to apply the principles illustrated above to our present situation, by inferences of truth for your instruction and comfort, and by suitable exhortations to duty in this important crisis.

            In the first place, I would take the opportunity on this occasion, and from this subject, to press every hearer to a sincere concern for his own soul’s salvation. There are times when the mind may be expected to be more awake to divine truth, and the conscience more open to the arrows of conviction, than at others. A season of public judgment [such as this day of fasting declared by the Continental Congress] is of this kind, as appears from what has been already said. Can you have a clearer view of the sinfulness of your nature, than when the rod of the oppressor is lifted up, and when you see men putting on the habit of the warrior, and collecting on every hand the weapons of hostility and instruments of death? I do not blame your ardor in preparing for the resolute defense of your temporal rights. But consider I beseech you, the truly infinite importance of the salvation of your souls. Is it of much moment whether you and your children shall be rich or poor, at liberty or in bonds? Is it of much moment whether this beautiful country shall increase in fruitfulness from year to year, being cultivated by active industry, and possessed by independent freemen, or the scanty produce of neglected fields shall be eaten up by hungry publicans [tax collectors]? While the timid owner trembles at the tax gatherers’ approach? And is it of less moment my brethren, whether you shall be the heirs of glory or the heirs of hell? Is your state on earth for a few fleeting years of so much moment? And is it of less moment, what shall be your state through endless ages? Have you assembled together willingly to hear what shall be said on public affairs, and to join in imploring the blessing of God on the counsels and arms of the united colonies, and can you be unconcerned, what shall become of you forever, when all the monuments of human greatness shall be laid in ashes, for “the earth itself and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up.”

            I beseech you in the most earnest manner, to attend to “the things that belong to your peace, before they are hid from your eyes.”

            You may rest assured that there is no time more suitable, and there is none so safe, as that [time] which is present, since it is wholly uncertain whether any other [time] shall be yours. Those who shall first fall in battle, have not many more warnings to receive.

            Suffer me to beseech you, or rather to give you warning, not to rest satisfied with a form of godliness, denying the power thereof. There can be no true religion, till there be a discovery of your lost state by nature and practice, and an unfeigned acceptance of Christ Jesus, as he is offered in the gospel. I do not speak this only to the heaven-daring profligate, or groveling sensualist, but to every insensible secure sinner; to all those, however decent and orderly in their civil deportment, who live to themselves and have their part and portion in this life; in fine to all who are yet in a state of nature, for “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The fear of man may make you hide your profanity; prudence and experience may make you abhor intemperance and riot; as you advance in life, one vice may supplant another and hold its place; but nothing less than the sovereign grace of God can produce a saving change of heart and temper, or fit you for his immediate presence.

            It would be criminal inattention not to observe the singular interposition of Providence hitherto, in behalf of the American colonies.

            How many discoveries have been made of the designs of enemies in Britain, and among ourselves, in a manner as unexpected to us as to them, and in such season as to prevent their effect [and success]? What surprising success has attended our encounters in almost every instance? Has not the boasted discipline of regular and veteran [British] soldiers been turned into confusion and dismay, before the new and maiden courage of [our own] freemen, in defense of their property and rights? In what great mercy has blood been spared on the side of this injured country?

Some important victories in the south have been gained with so little loss. The signal advantage we have gained by the [British] evacuation of Boston, and the shameful flight of the army and navy of Britain, was brought about without the loss of a man. To all this we may add, that the counsels may say with truth, that there is hardly any step which they have taken, but it has operated strongly against themselves, and been more in our favor, than if they had followed a contrary course.

            I am satisfied that the confederacy of the colonies has not been the effect of pride, resentment, or sedition, but of a deep and general conviction, that our civil and religious liberties, and consequently, in a great measure, the temporal and eternal happiness of us and our posterity, depended on the issue.

The knowledge of God and his truths have from the beginning of the world been chiefly, if not entirely confined to those parts of the earth where some degree of liberty and political justice were to be seen, and great were the difficulties with which they had to struggle from the imperfection of human society, and the unjust decisions of usurped authority. There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver [our] conscience into bondage.

            I shall now conclude this discourse by some exhortations to duty, founded upon the truths which have been illustrated above, and suited to the interesting state of this country at the present time.

            First, suffer me to recommend to you an attention to the public interest of religion, or in other words, zeal for the glory of God and the good of others.  …What I have in view is to point out to you the concern which every good man ought to take in the national character and [national] manners, and the means which he ought to use for promoting public virtue, and bearing down impiety and vice.

            Second, I exhort all who are not called to go into the field [of war], to apply themselves with the utmost diligence to [work]. [Work} is a moral duty of the greatest moment, absolutely necessary to national prosperity, and the sure way of obtaining the blessing of God.

            In the last place, suffer me to recommend to you frugality in your families, and every other article of expense. [When this spirit of frugality] pervades a people in general, they are fit for every duty, and able to encounter the most formidable enemy.

            Upon the whole, I beseech you to make a wise improvement of the present threatening aspect of public affairs, and to remember that your duty to God, to your country, to your families, and to yourselves, is the same [identical duty]. True religion is nothing else but an inward temper and outward conduct suited to your state and circumstances in providence at any [given] time. And as peace with God and conformity to him, adds to the sweetness of created comforts, while we possess them, so in times of difficulty and trial, it is in the name of piety and inward principle, that we may expect to find the uncorrupted patriot, the useful citizen, and the invincible soldier. God grant that, in America, true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable, and that the unjust attempts to destroy the one may, in the issue, tend to the support and establishment of both. 

 

"Mindful Silence": A Study of a Book by Phileena Heuertz

 

A LESSON ON - “MINDFULL SILENCE: THE HEART OF CHRISTIAN CONTEMPLATION” (Phileena Heuertz, Author, Intervarsity Press)

Scripture Verses on At-One-Ment with God

Behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” Luke 17:21

He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, “Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water. Jn7:38

But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you. Rom. 8:10-11

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no long I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  Galatians 2:20

Excerpts from the Book, and Some Questions.  

Contemplative spirituality is a way of seeing…. Contemplative practices are those that create margins to pay attention to and observe our life…. It involves some introspection --- not for the sake of inner knowledge, but for the sake or living a more skillful life… Contemplative prayer offers an antidote.  Through contemplation we find alleviation of our personal suffering, and we discover how to minimize our infliction of suffering on others. Over time, as we engage in contemplative practice, we become less self-absorbed and able to be of greater service to others. (pp. 7-8)

What lesson from God has made you more skillful about living?

I wondered, “If people are basically victims victimizing, and God created us, then surely God must answer for this. God must be to blame. I thought, “Perhaps God is not all that good after all… Father Thomas’ teaching… helped me realize that I didn’t need to be troubled or discourage by God’s felt absence and grueling silence… I found courage to give myself to the silence with all of its darkness, questions, doubt, and pain. And it was there, in the great deafening silence, that I woke up. (pp.12-13)

How have you wrestled with God’s silence?

Eventually, as we stay faithful to the dark night of prayer, God will uncover the root of our sickness. There a wound of separation from God and others is exposed that can now receive healing. Finally, our defenses are dismantled and the burning flame of God’s love breaks though our consciousness. We realize we are in God and God is in us. (p. 92)

How have you experienced the healing of the wound of separation?

We just have to learn how to open to the grace that overcomes the obstacles that keep us from knowing God’s presence. We do this, not by our own willpower, but by responding to grace and cooperating with the divine. When we practice letting go of all thoughts, feelings, distractions, and preoccupations of the mind, we then learn to overcome the obstacles that keep us from God and our true self. Then we can move by faith into a state of unknowing, a state of open and receptive awareness, where direct encounter with God is more likely. (p. 156)

When do you most need to have a quiet mind?

Your family and community need you to be a courageous pilgrim on the spiritual journey. God knows our world needs your bravery too. The more of us who commit to the contemplative path – the path of seeing, observing, and taking responsibility of our life through meditative practice – the more possible it will be to experience God’s presence in the center of our being. From that center, we can build the world we all want to live in. (p. 173)

Where do you exhibit a God-given courage?

Where do you experience “at-one-ment?

A POEM BY THE AUTHOR

Let it be done to me according to your Word

Let me be a womb for you

Come Lord

Be conceived in me anew

Fill me with your presence

And then break me open in your process of redeeming* the world.

(*referring to “at-one-ment/return to unity)

“The Miracle of Trust: The Drowning”

 

Feather River, near Live Oak, CA

(Written ’21 March 2021)

(Psalm 69:1-3a)

It was early June, 1969, the week before High School Graduation in Live Oak. It was “Senior Skip Day” when the bus took our class for a fun day-off at a reservoir called Camp Far West, in the Sierra Nevada foothills, near Beale Air Force Base.

I launched myself, alongside one of my best friends, to swim to the floating platform out from the beach. It was pretty far and, although I knew how to swim, I got tired and began to sink below the surface of the lake. I struggled against this, but down I went. I tried to relax, and float back up, but down I went.

I was scared to death. I thought: “God I’m dying!”. God planted a thought in my head: “Trust me!”.

Then I thought that, if only I could make myself sink far enough, then I could kick myself up from the bottom. I could see bottom. (Later I learned that bottom was probably about 12 or 15 feet below the surface.) My feet touched mud. I let myself sink even lower so I could really kick hard.

All this happened in less than the longest time a normal seventeen-year-old kid can hold his breath. Yes! I started going up. Yes! But my lungs hit their limit. So help me, I just couldn’t hold it in any longer. I just couldn't do it, no matter how hard I wanted to hold back.

I had to inhale, and I knew that it would have to be my last breath. Before I could reach the top, I took it in, and everything went suddenly black.

Then, everything went bright. I was like a bullet, or a rocket, shot into a blinding, blue, brightness. I was afraid, now, because I was going so fast; but there was no way to stop myself. There was nothing to hold onto; and I had no hands, no body. On I went, and, suddenly, I was belly down on the beach, coughing up water, while coach Clark was shoving on my back to resuscitate me. (Later, I learned that Charlie Lucas had swam up to the spot where I was and had caught hold of me and swam me back to shore.

I told everyone, when asked, that I wanted to spend the rest of the day with them. I took a swell, exciting ride in the Graham’s speed boat. Picnicked with the others, and came home on the bus late that afternoon.

My friends commented on how purple I had been when Charlie had gotten me out of the water. I walked the half mile home, although a bunch of people offered me a ride. I got home exhausted. My Mom asked me how it was. I said “Fine” as I went straight to my room.

I took out the old King James Bible that had been my Dad’s in Sunday School, although he had never shown much interest in it. I opened the Bible at random, and the first words I read were Psalm 69:1-3a.

“Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, and there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; I am worn out calling for help. . . “

These, being the first words that I read after drowning, hit me like a wonderful slap on my back; and in the depths of my heart. These words seemed suddenly like a greater miracle than having been saved from drowning. Or else, these words made the fact of my being alive again into the confirmation that I was truly cared for by the One I could truly trust. 

Also, it was a life lesson about what it could mean when God tells me to trust him.

Bible Study: 1 John, Introduction

Bible Study 1 JOHN: INTRODUCTION

CENTRAL THEME: Stated in the introductory verses and restated in the concluding verses:

1. John 1:2-3 “...and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

2. John 5:20 “We know also that the Son of God has come and given us understanding so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true— even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”

TWO HINGES OF THE LETTER:

1. God is light. (1:5)

2. God is love. (4:8,16)

AUTHORSHIP: Although neither the letters of John nor the Gospel of John refer to the apostle John by name, their common authorship was virtually universally accepted, and credited to John from traditions that come from the earliest part of the second century.

DATE OF AUTHORSHIP: The Letters of John were probably written during the late first century, about 85-95 AD, based upon the issues addressed by the letters. We know from reliable historical sources (Polycarp, and others) that John lived into the reign of the emperor Trajan (ruling from 98 - 117 AD).

WHERE WAS IT WRITTEN?: John probably wrote his letters from Ephesus where he lived most of his later life.

WHAT WAS ITS DESTINATION: It has no address and it was probably addressed in general to the people of Asia Minor (what is now western Turkey) of which Ephesus was the capital.

WHY WAS IT WRITTEN?: John wrote this letter to tell Christians to have confidence in the faith in the form that it was first taught them. Toward the end of the first century there was a trend by some to use Jesus as the center of a false mysticism (GNOSTICISM) that had had nothing to do with the traditions or covenants of the Old Testament, or the original teachings of the apostles. These mystical thinkers claimed to possess an “advanced form” of the teachings of Jesus that would only be comprehensible and welcomed by people who were more highly endowed, spiritually, than the average person. John said that there was no elite Christianity. The Christianity they had been taught from the beginning was the heart and core of the matter. Anything else was false teaching.

JOHN TAUGHT THAT SOME THINGS ALWAYS BELONG TOGETHER:

1. Truth and virtue.

2. The inseparable humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

3. Love of God and love of others.

4. Faith and fellowship.

JOHN TAUGHT THAT SOME THINGS ALWAYS ARE IRRECONCILABLE. 

1. Love of God and hatred of other believers.

2. Light and darkness.

3. Love of God and love of the world.

4. Children of God and sin.

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE FALSE TEACHINGS?

1. Gnostics taught that there was a difference between Jesus and “The Christ/Son of God.” John taught: “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?” (1 John 1:22)

2. Gnostics taught that the Christ, the Son of God, did not really become Jesus, or become human. John taught: “Every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God.” (1 John 4:2,3)

3. Gnostics believed that Jesus and Christ were joined together at the point of Jesus’ baptism and that they separated before Jesus was crucified. John taught: “This is he who came by water and  blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only but with the water and the blood.” (1 John 5:6)

4. The Gnostics taught that, if you had enlightened knowledge, your spirit was free and it didn’t matter what your body did. John taught: “The man who says ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar...” (1 John 2:4)

5. The Gnostics taught that even if an enlightened person did break the commandments, for the enlightened person it would not be a sin. John taught: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8)

6. The Gnostics taught that there were special people who had “the seed of the Spirit” and these were able to grasp the hidden truths, these were an eternal elite to which ordinary Christians, with ordinary beliefs, could never rise, because they could never be truly spiritual beings. The Gnostics held that it was right to despise such as these. John taught: “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.” (1 John 2:9)

LITERARY STRUCTURE OF 1 JOHN: “Before we turn to the text we need to recognize the problems of analyzing John’s writing in a systematic way. Unlike Paul, John seldom argues a case, so it is difficult to trace a linear, logical progression of thought. The links between ideas are not always clear and the transition is usually very gradual.” David Jackman “The Message of John’s Letters” InterVarsity Press, p. 17. Jackman suggests we think of the letter as an inverted pyramid or cone based on the point of 1 John 1:1-4, or as a tour of a great hall of a splendid building united by an immense spiral staircase. 

I think John is comprehensible if you relax and look for the big picture. The pieces of the picture are like pearls or jewels on a long string, each different, each having something in common with the others. John uses endless repetition with variations, and especially explores the differences between absolute self-contradictions and elegant, revelatory, inspired paradoxes.

Bible Study: 1 John, Chapter 5

The First Letter of John

Chapter 5

Read 5:1-12.

1. When a person is born of God, who becomes the object of that person’s love?

2. What are God’s commands? (See 3:23.)

3. What is the content of John’s faith? What does faith do? What does faith receive? Or what is the spiritual environment of the people of faith?

4. What do water and blood refer to in the story of Jesus? To what do they testify concerning the identity of Jesus or the mission of Jesus?

5. How does the Spirit extend the “testimony” to us?

6. Verse 10 describes two kinds or conditions of people. What are they?

Read 5:13-21.

7. In verses 13-15, what kind of attitude does John what believers to have?

8. What does John say is the ideal relationship between the believers and God in prayer? (Also check one thing Jesus said about prayer in the Gospel of John 14:14.)

9. Might as well look into “the unpardonable sin”. (See Matthew 12:31-32, and parallels. Look at 1 John 1:7 seeing if it excludes any sin from forgiveness. Relate 1 John 1:18 to the issue of whether a Christian will be allowed by God to practice a sin that ends with death. Does 1 Jn. 5:16 say, specifically, that a Christian may be the one committing a sin that ends in death?)

10. How are verses 18 and 20 an answer to the problem presented in verse 19? (John is teaching here using the technique called “chiasm”, an ancient Jewish thought form.)

11. What is our relationship with Jesus in verse 20? And who is Jesus in this verse? Again, what does it mean, here, to “know” him?

12. An idol is a fabricated god, a god created by human imagination, based on human desires or ways of understanding things. Jesus, according to John, is the true representation of God. How does devotion to Jesus keep us from pursuing false goals, or putting other things before the true God? 

Bible Study: 1 John, Chapter 4

The First Letter of John

Chapter 4

Read 4:1-6.

1. (Notes: A. The term “every spirit” means every person moved by a spirit to speak “prophetically”. Such persons might be inspired by the “Spirit of God” or else they might be inspired by a false, demonic spirit. B. The term “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” means that the man Jesus of Nazareth and the everlasting Son of God are one and the same person, in the flesh, not merely in appearance.) Imagine what would be implied by saying that, looking at Jesus Christ, we were either: not seeing the true God becoming truly human, or not seeing in Jesus the true God. What would that say about “The Gospel”.

2. How would the anti-Christ, anti-God, find an advantage in the false version of who Jesus Christ is?

3. Why would “the world” prefer the false message over the true one?

4. What does it mean to overcome the false prophets? (In what we believe and what we do?)

5. How does verse 6 say that we can also tell the Spirit of truth from the spirit of falsehood?

Read 4:7-21.

6. How does our love of one another relate to the message of the Spirit of Truth in the first six verses of this chapter? How does our love test the genuineness of our relationship with the truth?

7. What does verse ten say about God’s level of involvement in human life? And what is the reason for this?

8. What does verse thirteen mean in light of Romans 8:15-16?

9. In verses 1 John 4:15-16, how does the identity of Jesus enable us to rely on the love of God?

10. How does love of others make us like Jesus and so cast out fear? For one thing, was Jesus ever afraid of his Father?

11. How is not loving our brothers and sisters in Christ the biggest and easiest of sins?

12. What is the cure for this? (Think about this before you look at 1 John 1:8-9.

13. What does this chapter teach us about God’s love? 

14. What does it teach us about Jesus Christ?

Bible Study: 1 John, Chapter 3

The First Letter of John

Chapter 3

Read 3:1-10.

1. In verses 1-3, what does it mean for us to be “children of God”?

2. How does the concept of being children of God help us understand what John means by lawlessness?

3. In verse 5, what did Jesus come to do? And how did he accomplish this? What does this say about how he deals with the presence of sin in us?

4. Use what you learned in 1 John 1:8-9 to understand what John says about those who are born of God do not continue to sin.

5. How does 1 John 1:8-9 help us understand what it must be like to be “children of the devil”?

6. Consider the phrase: “Be what you are.” Apply it to this passage.

Read 3:11-24.

1. Why is it easy to be a murderer? Think of a couple of the countless ways one can carry out murder by John’s definition.

2. Why did Cain hate his brother? Have you ever known an example of that? What is the normal reason we think of for hating someone? What are Christians to do about the antagonism of the world toward us?

3. What inspires, motivates, and teaches a Christian how to love? How is this like or different from the standard models for love in this world?

4. What does verse 20 imply about God’s mercy?

5. Verse 23 tells us what gives us confidence before God. What is it?

6. Think of some alternate words for “believe.” What does 1 John 3:16 teach us about believing in Jesus Christ? How is this different from other ideas about “believing”?

7. How do John’s brand of believing and loving go together? What would one be like without the other?

8. What comes from this believing and loving (3:24)?

9. How, or by what means, do we experience God in us and ourselves in God?

Bible Study: 1 John, Chapter 2

The First Letter of John

Chapter 2

Read 2:1-6.

1. John frequently uses the phrase “little children” to address his people. What might this say about their relation to him? (Identify a possible double meaning here. I mean, by “double meaning” that some of John’s thoughts and the thoughts of scripture in general have two meanings: “a plain and a spiritual” sense, or “at temporal and an eternal” sense.)

2. What is the motivation or the actual power that Christians have to leave sin behind? (Use these six verses. Possibly refer back to the first chapter.)

3. (Terminology Note: 1. Advocate: a defender or mediator in court; Atonement: a sacrifice made that brings mercy and a new life and a reconciled relationship) Discuss this basic role of Jesus on our behalf. (Possibly refer to Isaiah 53)

4. What evidence do you find in these verses to counter the claim that, if you belong to Christ, it doesn’t matter what you do?

Read 2:7-14.

5. “From the beginning” may have a double meaning. Consider what that might be. Relate Leviticus 19:18 to this double meaning.

6. So, in John’s thinking, why is this commandment old, and why is it new? (Not so much to do with time, you see.)

7. Look at the condemnations in 2:4 and 2:9. What is the connection between being a liar and being in darkness?

8. Look at verses 2:10-11 and see what light and darkness are also equivalent to.

9. In verses 12 through 14, what if the three ages described three levels of Christian experience? What if each Christian is somehow all three? (The tripling and doubling are for poetic emphasis.)

Read 2:15-17. 

10. A lesson on the word “world”: consider how the following passages relate to the various meanings of the word “world”: John 1:3-4; Matthew 6:25-30; John 1:10-11; John 3:16-19. How does John define the world in 2:15-17 and how does his warning against loving the world fit among these various ways of seeing the world?

Read 2:18-25.

11. What do verses 18-19 teach about the antichrists?

12. What do verses 22-23 tell us about what those antichrists taught?

13. What does “abiding” or “remaining” mean in verse 24?

14. Verse 25 indicates that “abiding” and “remaining” may have a double meaning. What would that be? Perhaps “eternal life” also has a double meaning?

Read 2:26-29.

15. Compare 2:27 with John 14:26 and John 16:13. From whom do Christians get there understanding of the truth? So what does 1 John 2:27 say about the anointing of the Holy Spirit?

16. Very importantly, how does this anointing with the Holy Spirit’s witness to the truth relate to what Paul is doing in 1 John 1:4; 2:1; 2:7; 2:12-14; 2:21?

17. What kind of abiding or remain does John want us to do in 2:27? What will be the consequences of this abiding or remaining (see 2:28-29)?

18. What is the equivalent of John’s waiting/abiding in Matthew 24:42-44?

19. Why would abiding/remaining in Jesus give us confidence at the prospect of his appearing or our appearing before him?

Bible Study: 1 John, Chapter 1

The First Letter of John

Chapter 1

Read verses 1-4.

1. What is the subject of this letter and how does the author claim to have the authority to write about this?

2. Why is John writing this letter?

3. What specific things are said about “the Word of Life” or “The Eternal Life” in these verses?

4. Is “The Word of Life” a word (or message) or a life (a being)? See the Gospel of John 1:1-14.

5. Where can “The Word of Life” be located? What is our relationship with this Word? And what comes from having a relationship with this word?

Read verses 5-7.

6. John says “God is light.” How do these relate to ‘God is light”...to say that we are to walk by the light, live by the truth, be purified from all sin? How does having fellowship with one another relate to this way of life?

7. How do these relate to “God is Light”...to walk in darkness, to lie and not live by the truth, and to lack being purified from all sin?

8. What are the two kinds of fellowship described in these verses?

Read verses 8-10.

9. Verse 7 said that Jesus purifies us from all sin. Verse 8 says that we cannot truthfully claim to have not sin. Can both be true? How?

10. What is the condition of a person who says they have not sin, or that they do not sin?

11. If this chapter was your only source for knowing about Jesus Christ, what would it tell you about him?