Luke 6:27-36; Romans 5:1-5; Luke 6:43-45; 1John
1John 3:1,16-24 - putting our heart at rest.
The proof is in the “putting”... We put our hearts at rest in God, when we join Him, by His Spirit, in the cultivating of the “good tree”. Obedience is the expression of love, having been loved, and in turn having been loved by God, then having His Spirit of love poured into us, we now respond by loving God in trusting and loving obedience and this is most tangibly manifest in our loving others…
1 John 3:21-24 our heart’s condemning us has to do with our consciences revealing to us where we have or have not lived out God’s commands in love, to love - expressing the love and righteousness that He has made us to be in Jesus - the nature of His life and Spirit in us.
But, what happens if (and when) I blow it? Well, God will forgive us:
1John 4:7-21 - by loving one another, we complete God’s love - this is His love to us, in us, and through us - it is like a circuit - as God loves us and Jesus and His love dwells in us by the Spirit, as we then exercise that love, by loving another, we complete the circuit. And this is Jesus in us having loved us, (now) doing His work through us, with us, as we say the “I love you” by cooperating with His Spirit in us, by obeying His commands…
And His commands are not burdensome… Why? Because He doesn’t leave us alone to do this in our strength, remember (they are not burdensome because) “...God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5
1John 5:1-5 - what we should see is progression from where we began with Jesus to where we are today; where we were this morning to where we are by evening…
We bear “good fruit”, not because we are good on our own, but we bear good fruit, or do good, because in Christ we are good, because God has made the tree good (Matthew 12:33; Eph 2:8-10) and all this good is of Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to the glory of the Father! (Matthew 5:16; John 15:8; 1Peter 2:12)
And all of this builds our confidence.
As we see God working on us and in us, and we cooperate as to yield to His Spirit, to submit our will to His, to place our trusting (sometimes wobbly) faith in Him and work with Him who is in us, we see God in action through us - accomplishing His purposes! And this builds our faith, it assures us, it increases our hope - as the love the pours in and through us is further and continued evidence of the life of Christ in us. (Col 3:1-3, 12-17)
