1 John 2:3-6

Recap (1 John 1)

Hello everyone! Welcome back to the Anchor! I want to give you guys a quick recap so we are all caught up with where we are at in 1 John.

John invites us to join the fellowship/community of God and the church family, proclaiming to us the truth of the good news of Jesus Christ. Last week we explored a little bit more about how to answer the question: what does a relationship with God look like?

Well God is light (1 John 1:5) and in order to have fellowship with Him we also have to walk in the light. When we say we are good and sinless we lie and are of the darkness, however, when we acknowledge that we are broken, messed up people and ask God for His forgiveness, we are brought into the light! His blood cleanses us from our evil!

So what does it look like to have a relationship with God: walking in the light and telling God our mistakes/asking for His forgiveness.

Pass out Bibles

Can someone read 1 John 2:3-6 for me please?

Prayer

1 John 2:3 ESV

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

Okay so John begins to use a new phrase here, he wants to help the church know that we can know God. We can have assurance of knowing!

When I grew up I would be scared that I somehow wasn’t really saved. I would pray certain prayers over and over again, fearful that I couldn’t really know. Well John’s writing here can remove that fear: we can know!

Throughout this letter we will see a few different reasons of why we can know for sure that we know God.

Here John writes we can know we know God when we keep His commandments!

What do you guys think the commandments of God are?

Write on the board what they think

(1 John 3:23)

We are going to see what His commandments are a bit later, but keep a mental bookmark of this in your mind.

Let’s continue

1 John 2:4 ESV

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,

Let me give you an example of what this would be like:

Have you guys ever hung out with a group of friends a whole lot and then started to speak like them and maybe even act like them? Or maybe you say certain things that your parents say.

Well the more we spend time with God, the more we look and speak like Him. For those of us who are saved, we naturally over time, as we get to know Him keep His commandments more and more.

If we didn’t slowly begin acting like him more, well, I don’t believe we would really know Him.

Let’s continue

1 John 2:5 ESV

but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:

Okay, let’s pause. Wait the love of God is perfected in us if we keep His word?

What do you guys think the love of God perfected in us means?

God’s love should be the motivation for us to love others. When we keep His word, as one writer says, God’s love achieves its purpose.

1 John 2:5–6 ESV

but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

Okay whoever says he Abides in him ought to walk in the same which in which Jesus walked.

What does Abide mean?

to stay, to remain, to continue

So back to our question from earlier, what is the commandments?

Well lets look at what 1 John 3:23 says

1 John 3:23 ESV

And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

That we believe in Jesus, His son, and love one another. That’s our calling!

How are we to love one another? As Jesus loves us!

1 Corinthians 13:4–8 ESV

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

So let’s recap:

Key Takeaways:

If we know God we will keep His commandments.

God’s love is perfected in us when we keep His word.

God’s commandment is to believe in Jesus Christ and love one another.

Questions for the week:

What does it mean to keep God’s commandments practically?

Do the commandments sound easy or hard?

Have you heard of this before? What do you think?