Who is the 'Antichrist'? (1 John 2:18-27)

To my shame I don't mind listening to a quick blast of Slayer now and again. They're a thrash heavy metal band and the drums and energy of the music is incredible! The tragic thing is that pretty much every Slayer album is about how much they hate Christians. Their album 'God Hates us All' is full of songs like this and contains phrases like 'I keep the Bible in a pool of blood so that none of its lies can affect me'. Blimey! They just haven't got anything good to sing about. It's quite sad. All they can sing about is how against Christ they are. They don't seem to be FOR anything.

Thankfully most people aren't into Slayer but there are so many people that are against Christ (or they're not FOR him, which amounts to the same thing actually) and today John speaks about the difference between those who are for and those who are against Jesus...

1 John 2:18-27

There's been a lot of talk about 'antichrists' over the years. At various times throughout history, people in the church have asserted that they know who it is. They've been waiting for an incredibly evil figurehead to pin it on. People used to say it was Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, MacDonald's, Waitrose, the Pope, and the list goes on!

John doesn't tell us to look out for one evil figure. He's a lot more real than that. John basically says that anyone who's not for Jesus is against him. They prove it by their actions because they have no time for him in their lives. They go off on their own way and live life exactly as they want to, with themselves in the driving seat and calling all the shots.

The stunning verse in the middle of this bit is where John tells us who the real liars are (strong words). He says the real liars are the ones who flatly deny that Jesus is the Messiah (or chosen one of God). Blimey!

The thing is, I think God has made it so obvious he loves us and he's spoken with so much clarity to show us that he's real and loves us but people still fail to recognise it. Creation itself, conscience, ethics, guilt, compassion, creativity, love, anger at death, logic. All these are clear reasons we have that God is real. Then we have historical evidence about Jesus. The evidence for his existence is unquestionable and the evidence for his resurrection is overwhelmingly compelling. The empty tomb, the 500 witness, the eye-witness accounts in the gospels (written within living memory of Jesus), the martyrs that died for the story of what happened, the dead body that was never found. It's very obvious that Jesus was and is someone uniquely special that came to save us. Maybe he really was and is the only Son of God who came to save us from our sin - but tragically most people ignore it or hate it so much that they agree with Slayer!

What about you? What do you say about Jesus? Have you explored the evidence or just pushed it to the back of your mind or gone along with what most people believe? The dangerous thing about following common sense is that it's becoming increasingly less common and you might end up missing out on the one truth that could save your life.

Or maybe you've made your mind up already and you're a Christian living for Jesus. John's words are, 'remain in him' (v27). Stay put. Don't stop thinking but also don't forget the biggest truth that you've been shown. Live in it and share it with others who need to know but do so with an open and thinking mind and in a way that shows people what Jesus is like rather than being arrogant and clouding people's vision of who Jesus really is.

Is our world really that bad? (1 John 2:15-17)

What do you think of our world?  Sometimes I love it here - the beauty of tree, the power of the sea, the compassion of people!  Other times it sucks to be in this world - the evil there is - wars, violence, greed, destruction.  How does God feel about the world?  And how should we feel about it? 

1 John 2:15-17


John's words here make it sound like God hates the world but we know from what John says elsewhere that God 'so LOVED the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him shall not die but have eternal life'.  God loves the world he made and the people in it but that's not what the word 'world' means here.  He's talking about the sinful and evil WAYS of the world that is in opposition to God. 

God made our world to be good and in the beginning it was perfect.  But these days it doesn't take a genius to figure out that something's gone very wrong and there is plenty of evil around in our world today. Just watch the news or scan the front pages of the papers and we'll see stories of real evil stuff that is destroying lives all around us. And (perhaps on a smaller scale but no less serious) if we're honest with ourselves we can see the same destructive, selfish tendencies at work in our own minds and lives. Much as we might try to always do the right thing, sometimes we are selfish, lazy, rude or whatever.

John mentions 3 areas where we often go wrong:

1. The lust of the flesh - this is obviously about sex and all the ways we're tempted to be ruled by our sexual appetites, rather than by the one who gave them to us.

2. The lust of the eyes - this is about materialism and coveting or wanting more and more money and stuff.  It's a real distraction from what truly matter is life.

3. The pride of life - this is about running our own lives with our own priorities and ambitions with no reference to the God who made us and loves us.

These are just examples of what is wrong with our world.  It's sin: S-I-N:
Shove off God.
I'm in charge.
No to your commands.

John says the world and its desires will pass away.  Everything and everyone that's in opposition to God will go in the end.  And John says that followers of Jesus shouldn't be tempted to love the things this rebellious world loves. As Christians we're likely to stand out a bit if we're living life the way it's made to be lived.

It's about where our focus is. If we focus on only the here and now (like most people do) then we'll probably be concerned with things like money, jobs, houses, families, cars, etc. All these things can be excellent and precious but if this is all that our lives are about then we've missed the point - God. The eternal God (no beginning, no end) has to feature in our agenda in this life. In fact, he deserves to be no less than number one. Unless we put him first in our lives and receive his forgiveness and hope - we will die with this world and be away from him forever. God wants to give us so much more than what we can see now! He wants to give us himself. He wants to give us eternity with him! Life to the full and life forever. A fresh start. Forgiveness. Hope, help, comfort and love like we've never known. Security, peace and joy.

Let's take our eyes off this world for a minute and fix them on God. Stop for a minute and rest. Close your eyes and ask God to show you what he has for you! Don't just read this - try it! God might want to surprise you!

KNOW You Are (1 John 2:7-14)

Do you remember the Matrix films where Morpheus is training Neo (in the first film) to fight? All the time he's training Neo to 'free his mind' and use the bendy rules of the matrix to his advantage, rather than being bound by them. He says things like 'Stop trying to hit me and HIT ME!' and is generally rather annoying and smug as he beats him up with ridiculous anti-gravity karate. Morpheus' point is that Neo needs to stop trying so hard and remember the truth. 

Something similar is going on when Christians try in their own strength to follow Jesus rather than letting Jesus live in and through them.  John writes to remind Christians of who they really are so their identity can shape their activity...

1 John 2:7-14

John says that what he's writing is not some new fad or trend but it's the same old God who has been around since forever.  Jesus is this God.  So he's not new, even though John's readers were new to Jesus.  John wants his Jewish readers to know that trusting and following Jesus is exactly the way they can obey the commands of God they've grown up with.  Their scriptures point to Jesus because Jesus is the same God who wrote them.  So he's not new.

On the other hand, John says, perhaps it IS new in a way because for his first readers, the fresh expression of God's light and love in the person of Jesus Christ was a brand new experience altogether. And the idea that God's Spirit is living in all Christians was a brand new concept too! He says this truth is seen 'in him but also in you'!  It's the same God that they had known all along but now a new depth of personal intimacy with that God was available and this would have blown them away.  This was the new bit for John's readers.  Trusting and following Jesus means that he lives in us!

John then talks about what it means to be walking in the light in terms of loving others, especially other believers and he says anyone who hates their brother or sister is still stumbling about in the dark.  Isn't it sad that Christians so often squabble and fall out or judge each other and stay away from each other?  Aren't we family because of Jesus?  We should ask ourselves who it is that we will enjoy eternity with and then start practicing now!  Why should we exclude those whom God has included?  Why should we draw lines where God hasn't?  Family isn't always easy, but if we're Christians, we ARE family and we should be learning to live like it more and more, refusing to give up on one another.  This is part of what it means to be in the light, John says.

John reminds his readers (who are Christians) who they are in Christ so they can live from this knowledge as people of the light.  He says Christians are a bit like children, a bit like fathers and a bit like young men:

• We're loved like children because we're forgiven by God
• We're wise like fathers because we know God who knows everything
• We're strong like young men because Jesus lives in us

So thankfully, it's not quite like the Matrix but this is the stuff Christians need to remember if they are to free their minds and live well.  Who we are determines what we do.  Identity before activity.

Living in the Light (1 John 2:1-6)

Nearly six years ago I got married to Chrissi and we're very happy together and we have lots of fun! It probably wouldn't surprise you to know that I'm far from a perfect husband! I do plenty (and forget to do plenty) that makes Chrissi upset or cross or whatever. In short, I'm trying to be the best husband I can be, but I frequently need Chrissi's patience, forgiveness and help. Of course, it works both ways and as we work things out, we realise this is what the adventure of marriage is all about. Loving each other in relationship through all sorts of situations life brings - and bringing God glory in the process.

Today's passage speaks of the relationship we have with God if we're Christians, how our mistakes affect that relationship and how our lives are increasingly affected by that relationship...

1 John 2:1-6

If Chrissi wanted to divorce me every time I made a mistake, our marriage wouldn't last five minutes! It would be ridiculous if we had to be perfect in order to continue loving each other. It's a bit like this with our relationship with God, except that God is perfect and we're the ones who aren't.

When we make mistakes, the relationship isn't over and God doesn't disown us. This is because the basis of a relationship with God is forgiveness, not performance. This is something that many people don't realise and many Christians are tempted to forget! John reminds us that Jesus has paid the sacrifice that has set us free to be in relationship with God. He has paid the price for our forgiveness and this means we can love God and be loved by him without our mistakes getting in the way.

The thing is, we're still changing. We're still not perfect and we're learning, bit-by-bit to become more like Jesus. We don't have to be like Jesus in order to be friends of God, we just have to ask for forgiveness. After this, we're FREE to learn to grow to become more like the God who has forgiven us. We can make mistakes (forgiven mistakes) and we can grow without any pressure.

John speaks clearly about living as Jesus did and this should be the intention of every believer. The problem is that some people haven't joined up their faith and relationship in God to certain parts of their life. They have areas that are off-limits to God. John challenges this way of living. It's not a real relationship with God unless we have willingly surrendered our whole life to him. Sure, we're not going to become perfect overnight but we ought to be naturally heading in the right direction by opening our lives up to his grace more and more. Remember the 'light' thing from yesterday? It's like that. We may not be as light as Jesus but we should be getting brighter by spending more time with him shining on and in and through us!

Ask God to help you to accept his offer of forgiveness and then enjoy living for him in freedom!

Come into the Light! (1 John 1:5-10)

It's really quite sad when someone is lying to themselves. I remember being very little at school and my class were all making Easter cards. I saw some of my friends' cards and they looked amazing to me and I wished I could draw as good as them but I wasn't patient enough and I didn't think mine was that good. Later on, the teacher was holding them up, one-by-one and asking who's they were. I was so embarrassed by mine that I didn't want to put my hand up. I wanted mine to be one of the nice ones that looked really cool but the reality was that mine was the one with thick black scrawl all over it and it looked pretty ugly. I think I must have gotten into a right strop about it too, because I'd convinced myself it wasn't mine. I was lying to myself. What a sad day!

1 John 1:5-10

I love the logic of what John says about the light and darkness, truth and lies. It's not difficult to see the sense in what he's saying if we take a minute to work it through...

John's met with Jesus and he's talking about him. He's seen, heard and touched eternity and he's passing on the message that Jesus is the light. Let's think through what John says about this. Light dispels darkness. Switch on a light in a dark room and all the darkness goes instantly. You can't have both at the same time. It's the same with Jesus. He is the perfect bright light (perfect/righteous/pure) and there can be no darkness (wrongness/sin) in him.

Then John talks about people. If we claim that we're friends of Jesus or Christians or whatever you want to call it, then it follows that our lives should be fairly well 'lit up'. If we're still fumbling around in darkness, making the same old dim mistakes, how can we say we're friends of Jesus? Our habits should be changing because if we've switched the light on, how can our lives still be dark? It's about having a REAL relationship with Jesus, the light of the world, rather than just pretending that we're anything to do with him. It's impossible to encounter Jesus at all and not change! If we say we're Christians and our lives don't look different, John's basically saying that we're liars!

Conversely, if we ARE walking in the light and we DO have a real relationship with Jesus, then not only will our lives be increasingly well lit up but we will be able to see each other more clearly too and our relationships with others will be lighter and better because all the secrets are gone!

John says we should fess up and be honest about our sin, our mistakes, our darkness. And if we do this there's an AMAZING promise from God (and he never breaks them!). If we own up to our sin (mistakes, darkness, badly drawn Easter cards, etc!) then God absolutely promises to forgive us AND more than this, he promises to purify us. That means he'll give our conscience a good scrubbing too so we don't need to feel guilty any more! Absolutely not! This means we can be full of light (full of Jesus!) once more and be walking in light continually, even though we will make mistakes again and again. We don't need to be stumbling around lost in the dark. It's about confession and getting real with God. It RULES! He offers a completely fresh start and the light to walk on into. Let's make sure we do it and not lie to ourselves any more!

Is Seeing Believing? (1 John 1:1-4)

Most people today won't believe anything without clear evidence to support it. They want to see truth, touch it, taste it before they make a decision, especially if it's a decision about their own life. They would agree that seeing is believing. And all this sounds quite reasonable to me.

1 John 1:1-4

John seems to think he has overwhelmingly strong tangible evidence and experience of something. He's talking about something that he says he's seen with his own eyes, heard with his own ears and that he's touched with his own hands. This sounds like some solid evidence. The amazing and incredible bit though, is that this thing he's talking about is something eternal! It's not something we would normally expect to be able to see, hear and touch physically. It's not just something godly - John is talking about God himself! John is saying something amazing - that he has seen, heard and touched God himself! He's saying he's had a real encounter with the Creator of the universe - the one who was there in the beginning of time - the one who appeared in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ - the one who gives life to all, the one who offers us eternal life - the one who wants to have a friendship with us all. Blimey!

How can John be so sure? I think it's about two main things:

1. Reasonable and logical evidence. Most historians agree that the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were all written within living memory of Jesus. If you read the start of Luke's gospel, you can see the care they took over getting their sources right. Saying something false and wildly wrong about Jesus in the gospels would have been discredited very quickly. It would be the same as writing a biography about John Lennon and claiming that he could fly like a bird and grow a pink beard! People would laugh at it because they knew him personally or knew people who knew him personally and they would know that it was a load of made up rubbish. The gospels were written this quickly after the life of Jesus and so any ridiculous statements about him would never have lasted for 2000 years!
2. Personal experience. John's writing on a personal level. He's not just got his sources right but he's had a personal encounter with Jesus himself. In John's day, this could have meant that he actually and physically met Jesus Christ in the flesh while he was living on earth 2000 years ago. In our day, people have a similar kind of encounter on a spiritual level and they would say that this is just as real and vivid as meeting him physically.

What evidence do you have for God? Have you got your sources right? Have you carefully examined the story? What are you convinced about? What are you not convinced about?

Have you met God? What experiences have you ever had of him? What conclusions have you come to?

John's point is not to cause arguments or intellectual debates but to bring his readers joy and to 'complete' their joy! What joy do you have from understanding and encountering the living God? Think and pray on this!

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