Tommy Bailey, Associate Pastor
1 John 2:1-17
“…the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life…”
– 1 John 1:2a (ESV)
Questions to help diagnose my spiritual condition:
- Where is my attention?
- Where are my affections?
- What is my direction?
“And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
– John 17:3 (ESV, emphasis added)
“If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million of enemies. Yet the distance makes no difference; He is praying for me.”
– Robert Murray M’Cheyne
“Sometimes ‘struggling’ is a nice word for ‘postponed obedience.’”
– Elisabeth Elliot
Evidence of knowing God:
- When I say, “I know Christ” (2:4)
Evidence: Obedience to the word of Christ (2:5) - When I say, “I abide in Christ” (2:6)
Evidence: Bears the likeness of Christ (2:6) - When I say, “I am in the light” (2:9)
Evidence: Reflects the love of Christ (2:10)
Discussion Questions
- Take a moment to diagnose your spiritual condition using the questions from the sermon notes. How can you turn your attention, affections, and direction more towards Christ in your daily life? What is currently capturing your attention, affections, and direction?
- Do you see personal evidence of knowing God through obedience, bearing his likeness, and reflecting God’s love? What are some practical ways that you can obey, bear His likeness, and reflect His love?
- In verse 16, John describes all that is in the world as “the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and pride of life.” What does this mean? Can you think of examples in your own life?
“The greatest single secret of spiritual development lies in the personal, humble, believing, obedient response to the Word of God. We live and grow by His Word.”
– John Stott
“You can’t crowbar your way into change. You can only be melted.”
– Dane Ortlund, Deeper
“All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me.”
– J.I. Packer, Knowing God