The Overcoming Victory of our Faith
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
“and this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith.” What an encouraging and iconic verse of Scripture. However, it has the danger of becoming one of those verses the is quoted so much it turns into a corny cliche and it’s true meaning can be lost on us. How many times has this verse been quoted on pictures, calendars, FB posts and other places without the context that gives it it’s meaning. If we take that verse alone without understanding what the rest of the text is saying we can come to not only an empty conclusion but a dangerous one. However, if we understand what the Apostle John is intending for us to understand this becomes one of the deepest and richest encouragements for us in Christ.
It’s been a while since we’ve been in the book of 1 John so we’ll have a very quick review of the main themes we covered in the letter. Thankfully, these themes are summarized well in our text today. John heart in this letter is that we have confidence in our knowledge of God, and that this confidence will propel us to seek him more devotedly without doubt or fear. We saw how this book pushes us to have assurance of salvaton, but also that this assurance be based on realistic, biblical criteria. If we don’t have this assurance, we won’t be able to grow in our faith and doubt will cripple us.
So how do we get this assurance of salvation? John gives us the answer to that in 1 John 2:28-29
English Standard Version Chapter 2
28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
The answer is to abide in Christ and we abide in Christ when we walk in the righteous works of Christ. As Ephesians 2:10 says,
English Standard Version Chapter 2
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Good works do not save us, and they do not bring us closer to God. We are brought closer to God by abiding in Christ by faith alone. But that faith produces a righteous lifestyle that is the evidence of our salvation. 1 John 1:8 makes it clear that this does not mean we have perfected ourselves, but it does mean that the more we abide in Christ, the more we walk in righteousness, and therefore the more confident we will be to walk even closer to Christ.
What does it mean to overcome the world
What does it mean to overcome the world
So as we try to discern how those general themes connect with our text today, it’s always good to begin by asking some basic questions about our text. So lets start with the question, what does it mean to overcome the world? If we are to understand what it means to say that our faith overcomes the world, we need to first understand what ‘overcoming the world’ means to John. Thankfully, this is not the only place in John’s writings that the phrase is used. In the Gospel of John 16:33 we have another famous verse,
English Standard Version Chapter 16
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Because John often uses similar language form his Gospel in the Epistle of 1 John and seems to reference it often, this is a good place to go to get the context for what John means in our text. So what is Jesus referring to here? What parts of the world did Jesus overcome and how did he overcome it? Jesus mentions tribulation specifically, that is, troubles that originate from the world. Jesus is not speaking broadly, but directly to his disciples by saying “in the world you will have tribulation.” That is, you who are citizens of heaven on the mission of Christ in this world will experience all kinds of hardships and troubles while fulfilling that task. But the comfort comes from Jesus’ claim that he has overcome the world. So while we will have this trouble from the world, Christ has overcome the source of that conflict and trouble, the world. The world here doesn’t refer to planet earth but to the systems and values of this sinful world. These tribulations include everything from results of the fall, such as disease, to persecution and they are what we will face while in this world that we don’t belong to. While a person of the world feels at home in the world, a Christian knows they are not which is why we saw John’s warning back in 1 John 2:15 to not love the world or the things in the world. To the worldly the things in the world are natural and at home, but for us the world is the city of destruction and the place we once found ourselves at home is how like a hostile planet full of temptations and troubles that take us away from our true place of belonging in Christ.
Faith in Christ the Foundation of Overcoming Faith
Faith in Christ the Foundation of Overcoming Faith
So how does Christ, and our Faith, overcome the world? In our text in verse 5 we are told that the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God has overcome the world. The reason our faith has overcome the world is because it is faith in he who has actually overcome the world, and that is Christ. Some have taken verse 4 to put the glory in human strength and will rather than on divine power and grace. It is not my ability to produce some magical substance called “faith” that overcomes the world. It is not me who overcomes the world. It is Jesus Christ who overcomes the world and I share in that victory through faith in Christ. This is not a self-help verse, it’s a Christ-pointed verse.
So in what way is the world overcome by Christ and through our faith? The worldly system still exists and we still live in it. Christ has not come a second time and brought the new earth to this old creation, so in what way has our faith overcome the world? There are a few ways:
Our faith has overcome our worldly citizenship with a heavenly one. Eph 2:1-2
English Standard Version Chapter 2
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3
Our faith has overcome temporal pleasures with eternal ones.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Our faith has overcome the god of this world with the One True God.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Our faith has overcome self-seeking values with God-glorifying ones.
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
Our faith has overcome the wages of sin with the rewards of Christ.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Fruit of Faith
The Fruit of Faith
Verse 4 says that everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. Overcoming the world is not optional, it’s not a second level of Christianity, it’s true of every Christian. Part of what Christ has won for his people is victory over the world in all the ways I’ve just mentioned. We’ve looked at what the world refers to, we’ve looked at what overcoming the world means, and we’ve looked at faith in Christ being the way that the world is overcome, because it is Christ, and not us, that overcomes the world. Now, the final question we will look at this evening is, in what way does our faith overcome the world? This is what the first three verses of our text focus on. In those verses we see the three areas that the book has continually focused on when it comes to growing in confidence and applies them to overcoming the world. This is because overcoming the world is part of how we gain confidence in our faith. These three areas are not fully separated, they intertwine to create a holy vortex in our lives causing us to grow closer to God through faith in Christ and thus overcome the world.
Those who love the Father love the children of God
Those who love the Father love the children of God
First in verse 1 we read, “everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.” If you are in a team sport competition, you know that one of if not the most effective way to insure victory is good teamwork and team building. As we fight to experience a fully measure of victory over the world, we can only do so by loving those born of God. Who are those born of God? “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.” So that is all Christians. If we are in Christ we abide in love for God. Chapter 4 went to great lengths to make that point, particularly in verses 15-16
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
So how do we know that we love God? According to our text tonight we know e love God because everyone who loves the Father loves those born of him, other Christians. All other Christians.
Those who love the Children of God love the Father
Those who love the Children of God love the Father
So how do we know if we love other Christians? Verse 2 answers that for us,
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
So how does this make sense? If order to know we love God we need to love his children, and in order to know we love his children we need to love God. Sounds like circular reasoning doesn’t it? How are we supposed to know either?
Those who love the children and the Father keep his commandments
Those who love the children and the Father keep his commandments
Thankfully, verse 3 gives us the completion to this perfect storm of confident faith,
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
There are two parts to this. First, it should be clarified that we do not create love for God by keeping his commandments, nor does our obedience make God love us. Rather, our love is proved by our obedience to the commandments in the same way a spouse’s tenderness, affection, and fidelity prove their love. When we think about the two great commands, they both correspond to how we act towards God and how we act towards one another. Love the Lord your God and love your neighbour as yourself. So obedience becomes our way out of the circular reasoning we ran into in verse 2 and also brings love for God out of the hypothetical and into what is tangible and experiential. If you love other Christians, that love will show itself through obedience to the word of God when it instructs us in how we are to behave towards each other. If you love God, this will also show itself in obedience to His Word in all things, including how we worship and live our lives.
Second, “his commandments are not burdensome.” As a father, I am displeased when my son disobeys me. But I am even more displeased when he obeys me in a sour, resistant, or grumbling manner. God isn’t looking for forced obedience or even unfeeling robotic obedience, he wants joyful obedience. When a child disobeys he is acting like a rebel, when he obeys unwillingly he is acting like a slave. Only when he obeys with joy does he act like what he truly is: a son. This willingness is due to our confidence, once again, in what we know we will have through Christ. This is why the word “for” is there at the beginning of verse 4. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.” Do you see the connection? The word “for” tells us that the reason his commandments are not burdensome is because everyone who is born of God overcomes the world. In other words, we can obey willingly and joyfully because that gives us confidence in our faith in Christ, and we know that our faith in Christ assures us victory over the world. So in the end, the argument is this:
Everyone who believes in Jesus has been born of God.
Those born of God love the Father.
Because those born of God love the Father, they also love other people who are born of God because they are their spiritual siblings.
Their love for God and their love for each other is displayed and proved by their obedience to those two all-encompassing commands to Love God and Love your neighbour and all the practical implications that entails.
That obedience is done joyfully because is strengthens our confidence in a faith which overcomes the world.
In overcoming the world, we are serving both our own deepest ends, eternal happiness in heaven with God, and God’s greatest end, his eternal glory displayed forever and ever.
Conclusion
Conclusion