Tommy Bailey, Associate Pastor
The Letters of John: That You May Know…
The Message of 1 John:
God wants you to rejoice in the knowledge of His love for you, which has been displayed vividly in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
1 John 4:1-6
Three aspects of the Holy Spirit in 1 John:
- The person of the Holy Spirit
- The presence of the Holy Spirit
- The power of the Holy Spirit
Three categories of evidence for true Christian faith:
- Theological evidence: belief that Jesus is the Christ
- Moral evidence: obedience to His commandments
- Social evidence: love for one another
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
– Soren Kierkegaard
The battle between truth and falsehood is not between two equals.
“…Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”
– 1 John 4:4
Discussion Questions
- How has your church background influenced your thinking on the role of the Holy Spirit in your life?
- The story about Abe Lincoln and the dog ended with, “Calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg.” Are there any “tails” in your life that you are trying to convince yourself are “legs?” Is there such a thing as absolute truth?
- “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”– Soren Kierkegaard / How can you be sure that what you are seeing and hearing is the truth? Are you using God’s word as a filter for what you believe? Do you depend on the Holy Spirit (who is with you and for you) for this or your own intellect?
- Have you ever prayed to the Holy Spirit? Have you ever asked him to reveal himself to you? To illuminate God’s word for you? To show you the truth? He is waiting…
“The Bible never offers a drink from shallow waters. There, you do not find a set of petty maxims, but the everlasting love of God; you do not find any shallow views of sin, but a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And that is the secret of the Bible’s permanence — when our little systems have ceased to be… it gives us drink ‘as abundant as the seas.’”
– George Herbert Morrison
“So, why church? The short answer is because the Holy Spirit formed it to be a colony of heaven in the country of death… Church is the core element in the strategy of the Holy Spirit for providing human witness and physical presence to the Jesus-inaugurated kingdom of God in this world.”
– Eugene Peterson, Practice Resurrection
Contrasts in 1 John 1-4:
- Light / dark (1:5)
- Truth / lie (1:6)
- Righteousness / sin (1:8-9)
- New Commandment / Old Commandment (2:7)
- Love / hate (2:10-11)
- Christ / antichrist (2:18)
- Love of God / love of the world (2:15)
- Life / death (2:25)
- From God / from the world (4:1, 5)
- The Holy Spirit / the spirit of the world (4:4)
- Spirit of truth / spirit of error (4:6)
“The chief actor in the historic mission of the Christian church is the Holy Spirit. He is the director of the whole enterprise. The mission consists of the things that He is doing in the world. In a special way it consists of the light that He is focusing upon Jesus Christ.”
– John V. Taylor