Abide in Christ

Abide in Him, Children of God

Completion of our mutual joy through unity in Belief, Obedience, and Love.

John writing for “our” collective joy 1 John 1:4

Abide 23 times in 1 John

Abide 14 times in John. Not every time has the sense of abiding n God or Christ.

Abide only used 3 other times outside of John. 1 Co 13:13; Heb 10:34; 1 Peter 1:23. Not used in the same sense that John uses it.

Illustrations/Dallas/Juice/Haddon

What does it mean to abide?

Belief

1 Jn 2:23-25. Confessing that Jesus is the Son of God is the foundational aspect of what it means to abide in Christ.

Practice Righteousness/Obedience

1 Jn 2:29. Let your life be reflection of who God is. Therefore, our lives should be a reflection of who Jesus is. We know that God is perfectly righteous and we should practice who we are in Christ.

1 Jn 3:7. Doing righteousness that is founded in Christ and belief in him.

1 Jn 3:10

Why?

1 Jn 3:8. Jesus came to destroy the works of the Devil. Therefore, no one continues to practice what Jesus came to destroy.

1 Jn 3:9. Anyone born of God does not continue to make a practice of sinning.

Illustration of going to basketball or football practice. Committed to it.

Love One Another

1 Jn 3:11. Message from the beginning that we should love one another.

Example

Cain 1 Jn. 3:12.

What is love?

1 John 3:16 He laid down his life for us.

Why?

1 John 3:14-15

Love is Practical.

1 Jn 3:16-18

Using two different tests, (Righteousness, Love), John Contrasts Children of God and those of the Devil.

Born of God/Children of God

The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary 1. Christ’s Future Appearing (2:28–3:3)

The expression how great translates potapēn which meant originally ‘of what country’. It is as if the Father’s love is so unearthly, so foreign to this world, that John wonders from what country it may come.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

How could they know him if the love that he shows is other worldly?

Test: Of Christ or of the Devil/World? Eternal Life, or Death?

1 Jn 3:8. Devil has been sinning from the beginning.

1 Jn 3:10 Children of God or devil. Practice righteousness or not.

1 Jn 3:12 Cain was of the Evil One.

1 John 3:14 World hates you.

1 Jn 3:15 No one who hates his brother has eternal life abiding in him.

Commandment and assurance that we are abiding in him.

1 John 3:23-24