Pastor Jim Thomas
There is a God and He wants us to rejoice in the knowledge of His love for us, expressed vividly in the person and work of Jesus Christ. God also wants us to share His love with one another.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
– Socrates
Three categories of evidence for authentic, saving faith:
- The theological test: do we believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God?
- The moral test: are we growing in personal holiness?
- The social test: are we increasing in our love for one another? (v. 5-8)
3 John
- What is your greatest joy? (v. 4)
- What does faithfulness look like in your life? (v. 5)
- What are you doing for the sake of the Name? (v. 7)
- Who/what are you imitating? (v. 11)
Discussion Questions
- In all of his letters, John reminds us again and again that we can KNOW the love of God for us. Do you ever struggle at times to believe this? Have these studies of John 1-3 helped you believe the truth of God’s love more?
- “The unexamined life is not worth living”- Socrates
How does one go about examining their life? How is this different for a believer in Christ? - Jim described Diotrephes as “addicted to ambition and autonomy.” How do we personally counter this temptation?
- God wants to stir you up to greater faithfulness and keep you from being satisfied with simply being warmed and affirmed. Where are you being stirred?
“One ship drives east and another drives west
With the selfsame winds that blow;
Tis the set of the sails and not the gales
Which tells us the way to go.”
– Ella Wheeler Wilcox
“When we begin to live for God and follow His will, we find that we are actually becoming who we were meant to be, realizing our original design. We are a sailboat finally being put out into deep water. Someone may object that freedom should be doing what we really want to do. The Christian offer, however, includes this. It is not merely complying with the proper regulations of our creator; it also consists of a new, growing, inward passion to love and know our redeemer.”
– Tim Keller, Making Sense of God
“Authentic Christianity is not a safe, smug, cozy, selfish, escapist little religion… It is an explosive, centrifugal force, which pulls us out from our narrow self-centeredness and flings us into God’s world to witness and to serve.”
– John Stott
“Our high and privileged calling is to do the will of God in the power of God for the glory of God.”
– J.I. Packer, Rediscovering Holiness
“Our imitation of God in this life… must be an imitation of God incarnate; our model is the Jesus, not only of Calvary, but of the workshop, the roads, the crowds, the clamorous demands and surly oppositions, the lack of all peace and privacy, the interruptions. For this…is the Divine life operating under human conditions.”
– C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
“The challenge to us now is how much are we really prepared to let Jesus Christ change us. Is it to be my will or His? On this will depend the ultimate verdict, whether we prove to be frauds or followers. Who is at the center of our lives? Is it ‘self’ with its longing to be first, to be number one? Or is it Christ, enabling us to keep faithful and to continue walking in the truth? There is still no issue with greater or more far-reaching implications for the church or for the Christian.”
– David Jackman