How to keep from stumbling!

How to keep from stumbling.

Question of the day:  When was a time or a moment in your life that you really felt loved?

Good morning class.  

This morning we are continuing in 1 John chapter 2.  This section is challenging.  I pray that God will guide and direct us.  I pray that our eyes will be opened to His will and our hearts will receive it!

READ: 1 John 2:3-11

3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister[b] is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister[c] lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

In someways this passage is particularly difficult to teach without reading the entire book.  1 John was not meant to be broken up and I think there is great danger in taking a verse or two and extracting it from the rest of the text and "living" by that verse.  It needs the surrounding passages to bring the clear picture of what John is trying to say.  Keeping that in mind, as we dive into each paragraph remember it doesn't stand on it's own.

VERSES 3-6

1. What does verse 3 say to us about who he is speaking to? 

This is not a passage for those who have just met Jesus and given their lives to Him.  This is for those who say they know Him.  

2. What word stands out and is repeated several times in this passage?

3. Why is that word important?

There is no question obedience is important.  However I would argue that it is not the obedience that is the focus as much as the KNOWING.  We KNOW we KNOW if we obey.  Obedience is the result of knowing.  It is the evidence of knowing.  God does call us to obey, and that obedience is the evidence of KNOWING.  So if we are having a problem with obedience, do we grit our teeth and keep trying harder to obey or spend more time getting to KNOW God? 

4. What does verse 6 say to you?  

How did Jesus live? What are some defining characteristics of how He lived?

Let's list some.

Again an important aspect of this verse is that to live as Christ did you have to KNOW how He lived.  You have to have KNOW Him.  

All of this KNOWING points to a very important aspect of this passage.  This is written for those claiming to know.  This is written not for the new convert.  The KNOWING must come first.  We can't live as He lived without knowing how He lived.  I would also argue that it isn't about just knowing His actions.  If it were just His actions then I need to be raising people from the dead, walking around in the holy land, finding twelve disciples, etc.  That is not what this passage is asking of us.  So to  live like Him we need to KNOW him.  

This word "know" is a very important word.  This is not just understanding, but to intimately know.  It is the same word Mary used when telling the angel, that she didn't "know" Joseph.  Meaning sexually.  So this know is a very intimate know.  It is something that must come from personal experience.  So if we are to KNOW Him then we have to have a relationship with Him. 

VERSE 7 and 8.

These two verses at first blush are confusing and contradicting of each other.  This is where it is extremely important to read it with the other verses.... so just a couple questions here.

1. What is the *NEW* part of this message he is giving?

"its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining."

So what  is the true light that is already shining?

What is seen in Him and in us?

What makes the darkness pass?

We need to read verse 9 to get it...

VERSE 9-11.

This next passage is very near and dear to my heart.  Almost 10 years ago now my then 30 year old brother told me he was gay.  My brother was born when I was 9 years old.  I spent many all nighters, rocking him through his colic.  I bonded with this boy like I hadn't bonded with my other siblings.  The bond and close relationship is still there to this day.  He is part of me!  MINE.  As you can imagine him coming out to me, brought up all kinds of questions.  Many times we talk about this subject and many others from a head place and not a heart place.  I couldn't do that here.  He is so much part of my heart, I didn't know how else to approach it.  

I heard phrases like, "If you do ___________ then you are condoning what he is doing." or "You don't want to be a stumbling block."  "You don't want to lead him down the wrong path."

This passage made it all very clear to me.  

The only way to have clarity.  The only way to keep from stumbling.  The only way to KNOW.... is to what?

It is the lack of love, that makes us fumble around in the dark, not the presence of it!

Love for God first and then my love for others, is the only way to figure out these tough questions. 

I once had someone say to me, "The problem is when your love for someone changes your theology.  Then there is something wrong."

I argue, the best way to make sure we are not stumbling around in theological darkness is to KNOW and love God and our fellow man!  Let's be real.  We are capable of getting it wrong!  If we want to get it right, if we want to walk in the light, then we better lead with love.  

I realize it isn't simple.  

LOVE NEVER IS!

To love is complicated at best.

It is the walk and the journey of learning to love our Savior, our God that is the real work.  It is the hardest thing we will ever do.  Learning to love includes obedience, knowledge, forgiveness, self denial, sacrifice, joy, and so much more. 

I am sure if we opened up the floor and discussed what loving my brother would look like, what it would mean, we would have quite a discussion.  (We will not be having that discussion today!)

That is the life work for all of us. 

How do I love my children?

How do I love my husband?

How do I love sister Suzie Q who has hurt me terribly?

How do I love my pastor?

How do I love my neighbor?

What does that look like?

Well, first clue.  

Get to KNOW Jesus!

Spend more time understanding how HE loves you!

That will illuminate your path and you won't stumble! 

When in question, choose LOVE!

When you KNOW, choose LOVE!

NOW GO AND LOVE WELL!!!!!!