Working to believe that God loves us, because He is love – and there we rest.
But, there is a do to be done – joining God in cultivating the “good tree, bearing the good fruit”: love as we've been loved: putting our hearts at rest: 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 our love to God in growing trust of His Person and word,
…having been loved, receiving that love, learning to trust that love,
and in turn...
...having been loved by God, having His Spirit of love poured into us... (Rom 5:5)
...we now respond by loving God - in trusting and loving obedience to His commands…
...and the truth of God’s love in us is most tangibly manifest in our loving others…
3:21-24 “...when our heart condemns us…” 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
1John 4:7-21 - by loving one another, we complete God’s love - this is the fruit of His love to us, in us, and through us - the resulting “good fruit” is like the completion of a circuit: as God loves us and His love dwells in us by the Spirit, as we then exercise that love, by loving (one) 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 “I love you” by cooperating with His Spirit in us, by obeying His commands… (overcoming our own self’s desires Gal 5)
1John 5:1-5 – putting our hearts at rest, building our confidence. What should we be looking for?
What we will begin to see is progression – as we are works in progress, you know. That progression will be from…
1. First for salvation - victory with Jesus over sin and death - where we began with Jesus to where we are today
2. Second for continuing day-to-day of Christian living - where we were this morning to where we are by evening… that is, coming to love God, self and others as we love ourselves progressively – more and more.
“make the tree good and the fruit will be good…”
We bear “good fruit”, not because we are good on our own, but we bear good fruit, or do good, because Christ is good in us, so in Christ we are good, as God has worked to “make the tree good” (Matthew 12:33; Eph 2:8-10). So, all this good is of Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to the glory of the Father! (Matthew 5:16; John 15:8; Rom 5:5-11; 1Peter 2:12)
And all of this builds our confidence. As we see God working on us and in us, and as we cooperate by yielding to His Spirit, submitting our will to His, placing our trusting (sometimes wobbly) faith in Him and work with Him who is in us, we begin to see God in action in us, and through us - accomplishing His purposes!
Seeing the fruit of this interaction builds our faith, assures us, and increases our hope - so the love of God pouring in and through us is further and continued evidence of the life of Christ in us. (Col 3:1-3, 12-17)
But, what happens if (and when) I blow it? Well, God will forgive us: 1John 1:8-10; 21-2
Lest we be confused – there is a difference between a believer committing a sin and one who “lives in sin”. 1John 3:7-10 “...the one who does right is righteous, just as He is righteous…” why? Because He has made us righteous. (Rom 4:24; 1Cor 1:30; 2Cor 5:21; 1Phil 3:9; 1Peter 2:24)
1John 3:7 “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil” but… what if I sin? We will sin. We may even struggle with repeated or habitual temptation and sin, but the key here is “the struggle” with sin (as to not rejoice in our sin or the sin of others - Rom 1:32; 1Peter 2:8.) This “life of sin” John speaks of here is a matter of loving, embracing and celebrating wickedness (the opposite of “blessed are those who mourn” Matt 5:4) So, the idea of “No one born of God will continue to sin” has to do with a person’s heart’s affections being staid on sin and finding joy in their sinfulness. NOT “if you or I sin”. That is different.
For a child of God, or one who is righteous, to commit a sin, is for a believer in Jesus to fail to live out the righteousness (of Christ) that they have been made, disobeying the Spirit’s leading and guiding and “doing what I want” (Gal 5)... the mark of the believer being righteous in Jesus, but committing a sin, is the “heart condemning us” or our conscience convicting us, in light of the Spirit in us and God’s truth as expressed in His commands, telling us that we have disobeyed and sinned. (choosing to love one’s self and the desire of self over God and others)
But remember: “God is Greater than our hearts”!! Our “heart’s condemning” is the Holy Spirit in us calling to our heart to repent, or, come back to God and His way of love.
This is not in any way to condone sin or sweep it under the rug, but, in light of our humanity, to allow for sin’s presence in our lives and give us a way of restoration when our sin has grieved our God and Father, our savior, friend and brother - Jesus, and the Holy Spirit who is us. As well as those with whom we walk that we may have offended, hurt, and sinned against.
“This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, not is anyone who does not love their brother or sister”
1John 3:11-15 (Genesis 4; Prov 29:10; Heb 11:4)
