Last night’s Bible study (the last till September, as there are no midweek meetings during August) looked at 1 John 3:19-24. So far in this chapter, we have looked at
- God’s lavish love (1 John 3:1)
- who we are in God (‘children of God’ 1 John 3:1-2)
- doing what is right (‘The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous’ 1 John 3:7)
- developing the family likeness (‘God’s seed remains in them’ 1 John 3:9)
- practising love in action (1 John 3:11-18)
Now, John reminds us that when our actions match our beliefs, there are 3 benefits we receive:
- Assurance (1 John 3:19-20)
- Answered prayer (1 John 3:21-22)
- Abiding (1 John 3:23-24)
Assurance
Loving with actions and in truth means we know that we belong to the truth. Truth can only characterise the behaviour of those whose very character originates in the truth, so that it is by our loving others ‘in truth’ that we know we belong to the truth. The outward actions reflect the inward reality of our relationship with God. Truth, of course, is a topic that is much debated nowadays, with the idea of absolute truth scorned by our humanistic society. Nonetheless, truth remains unchanged (see Is 45:19, John 14:6) and is found in God’s Word (John 17:17) and is a key topic in this letter (see also 1 John 1:8, 1 John 2:4, 20-21).
Sometimes our hearts condemn us and leave us fearful and doubting. If this arises from sin, John has already given us the strategy to deal with this. (1 John 1:8-9) We need to be able to distinguish between true and false guilt (2 Cor 7:10), for sometimes false guilty arises – either from our own hearts, from the condemnation of other people or from the lies of the enemy, who is the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:10), the slanderer (the meaning of ‘devil’) who accuses us daily (see Job 1 & 2, Zech 3:1). At such times, we appeal to God’s omniscience and trust to His mercy.
Answered Prayer
Taken out of context, 1 John 3:22 may seem to promise us anything we want, but we need to understand that answered prayer results from our relationship to God; it is not something that can be demanded! Answered prayer is a great blessing from God, resulting from the confidence and boldness we have in approaching God as our loving Father (see Luke 11:1-11.) We don’t ‘earn’ the answers to prayer because of our love. However, our love means we are fulfilling God’s law (Rom 13:8-10) and so obeying Him and therefore He is able to answer these requests, for love is the fulfilment of the law. Answered prayer results from our abiding in Christ (John 15:7), from our relationship to God.
Abiding
Abiding in Christ (see John 15:1-4 and 1 John 2:27) is key to our spiritual growth. This results from our faith toward God and love toward men, which are two sides of the same coin. God’s requirements for us are to believe in His Son and to love others, something He enables us to do through the gift of His Spirit (see John 14:16).