Belonging & Discerning

Introduction

There was a show that came on TV entitled Doomsday Preppers. Often times these individuals were looked at as extremist as they took time to prepare for a world that looks vastly different than what we see today. One of the closest notions of such would be our actions as it pertained to the beginning of the pandemic, people through fear hoarded daily essentials as a means to and end. We bought masks, toilet paper and water in bulk. Many of the things we hoarded now collect dust in our garages. It’s a testament to the fact that preparation is deeper than material things. No matter how much we save or buy, God still has a final say so on how long we live and how this earth continues to spin on it’s axis.

Thus Ignatius, (Eph. xi.) writes; “These are the last times (ἔσχατοι καιροί). Henceforth let us be reverent; let us fear the longsuffering of God, lest it turn into a judgment against us. For either let us fear the wrath which is to come, or let us love the grace which now is.”

As a collective, truth be told we are all hanging in the balance of the wrath of God and the grace that the Love of God provides for us. Timing is one of the most profound pieces to the puzzle that God is. His time is unlike our idea of time. We live in a span of seconds, hours, days, months and years and God lives under the idea of being the creator and sustainer of time from a space of eternity. God is the soveriegn being that controls time in every regard. How long we live is dependent upon God.

Furthermore the wrath of God can shorten our life and destory our eternity with Him and on the other hand the grace of God can lengthen our life and provide space for us to spend eternity with Him.

John provides us with a pertinent reminder of the time in which we are living in, Children it is the last hour, and you have heard that the antichrist is coming. It provides a raised awareness of how serious we should take every moment here on earth. On the other hand it’s also a testament to the fact that some people will use time wisely in effort to be sincerely attached to the mission of God and others will utilize the time to seek power, influence and a false sense of authority through false teaching, selfish motives, and irresponsibile uses of power and influence. As it pertains to the antichrist it’s a testament to the fact that enemies are more than just a person who talks behind your back, intentionally looks for ways to hurt and abuse you mentally, spiritually and physically. An enemies is also someone who would lie to you, present themselves to be something that God never anointed them to be, or spread a sense of heresy to confuse Christians as we are on this journey of faith.

The End is Near

Life is such a fragile thing. It’s something that we have little to no control over as it pertains to time. We have no idea how long we will be on this earth, nor did we chose in what timeframe we would be born. What makes the unknown profound is the fact that we hang in the balance of understanding the moment and knowing that each day could be our last. That should promote or prompt us to live with purpose. It should promote us to utilize the time we have to walk in the worthy call provided to us by God. One another note, the unknown prompts some people to greed, manipulation and dishonesty. The fact that the end is near is layered in so many ways. Not only do we not know when life should end for us indiviudally we have no idea when this world should come to an end.

It’s not a matter of pushing people to live in fear but it is a testament to the fact that we should take advantage of every moment to glorify God through our actions.

God’s timing and our timing are not the same. God sees time with the end in mind, nonetheless the hustle and bustle and life can frustrate us to a place of misuing our time wisely. Time can be a difficult construct to understand. Think about how a day is navigated from the perspective of a child versus the perspective of a mature adult.

I do not want you to think from a place of fear that this is simply it but I do want us to understand that the only thing left is the return of Christ to judge the world.

John is exclaiming that this is the last hour, essentially that the world ends but the power of God last forever. Furthermore it should add a since of genuine sincerity to our daily life.

Hebrews 10:26 “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,”

1 John 2:18 “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.”

We fight this ongoing battle of navigating our life in a righteous way meanwhile discerning between what is truth and what is the antithesis to the truth.

1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

Actions will prove if they belonged to us in the first place. We do not have to be judge, jury and executioner.

What is meant by the last hour? Essentially an undefined period of time in a day, in this text more so a period of time. We know and understand that we are living in the last days because of what we see here on earth. Tomorrow is not promised, even furthermore we do not know when things shall come to and end. Therefore it’s imperative that we get our life right and our affairs in order while we have time.

What is the Anti-Christ

John sets the stage of understanding who belongs and who doesn’t by the utilization of the term anti-christ. What is the antichrist?

It’s not simple an opponent of Christ.

it’s not just a person that mocks Christ or a false Christ.

It includes the act of opposition and counterfeiting. This idea of being in opposition but presenting yourself as the same authoritative figure with the same type of power.

During this time individuals were taking advantage of the lack of knowledge of new converts by spreading a lie that Jesus had not came nor been crucified for our sins.

Matthew 24:23–24““Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

If anyone is to proclaim such we know that it is a lie, the word of God proclaims in Matthew 3:17 “And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.””

It’s irresponsible to live as if we have an unlimited amount of time just as it is to live in error by moving in fear because of some immediate expectation of the coming of Christ.

Living in fear is not living at all just as living recklessly is a testament to a lack of respect for the God that controls every second we spend on this earth.

John strengthens this point in verse 19 by suggesting that these individuals were never a part of us in the first place. This is much deeper than the person who refuses to prioritize worship and fellowship and doesn’t come to church. The sole goal of these false teachers was to manipulate the body of Christ in hopes to gain influence for themselves. This shows us that they had no real intention of fellowship with the church to begin with, there was no real sympathy or empathy it was all a ploy to ensure they achieved this sense of illegitimate power they so desperately desired.

John is not suggesting that Christians cannot fall away, that’s shown in the attempt to persuade us not to love the world, and to abide in Christ. This is a another declaration that apostasy is possible but only for the people that never really accepted Christ or gave themselves fully to Him. These individuals were only hear for selfish gain and ulterior motives.

Belonging Begins with Anointing

1 John 2:20 “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.”

Anointing isn’t just for specific people, we all have been anointed by the Holy One. That anointing is sustained by seeking knowledge from God through the Holy Word.

Anointing is sustained by abiding:

1 John 2:27 “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”

Anointing isn’t based on position, it’s based on function! Each position has a practice attached to it. It’s hypocritial to thing that you can operate in a position without practicing the proper ethical behaviors attached to the position. Anointing is nothing more than to be given a special tasks. With every task from the Holy One a Holy behavior is attached to it.

Luke 4:18 ““The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;”

I can have the task of preaching the gospel but if I can’t treat the poor with respect, be compassionate for the broken hearted, fight for justice for the oppressed my liberty, my anointing is nothing more than an empty talent that I’m just blessed to have.

Belonging to the Truth

To accept Jesus means to accept his truth. To believe that Jesus is the son of God, to know that He died for my sins and conquered death by raising from the dead.

I belong to the truth based on what I do know and how my faith has sustained me. John isn’t suggesting that we don’t know these things, he’s writing to us because we know it but the truth must be reinforced in our actions and encouraged through reminders.

Here’s where we get caught up. Often times we can get so busy trying to figure out who is lying that we lose sight of teaching the truth to those who needed. The beautiful part of this epistle is the fact that John isn’t writing to teach but writing to confirm.

Belonging to the truth and and understanding the truth doesn’t make us exempt from the fact that we need encouragement on protecting the truth. Not only must we continue in development of defending and protecting the truth but understand that it takes work to distinguish between a truth and lie. When we get to a place where we believe that we have all the knowledge we need and no one can teach us anything we become like the anti-christ. Pride is just as dangerous as lying.

What we defend today is what Jesus was killed for. His proclamation of being the son of God pushed Him to face treason and a heinous death of crucifixion. His willingness to stand in His calling even unto death should encourage us to spread the truth even more and hold fast to the faith that was given to us.

True we are in the last days, but it shouldn’t evoke fear but a sense of understanding that everyone needs Jesus and to be absent from this earth is to be present with God.