Faith, Love , Obedience I John 5:1-5

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 I John 5:1-5   Born of God and believing results in Faith, love and obedience

As we continue through Advent,  means "coming"---the weeks before the birth of the Christ Child, it is a time of preparation and self-examination.  We are not very good at this really.  It may need a lot of quiet, turning off our devices and talking with a trusted confidant about our lack of love and compassion for others rooted in God's Word.  John has a comment for us in his letter about this whole area of not going with the flow of the world:

" The real link between the three tests is seen to be the new birth. Faith, love and obedience are the natural growth which follows a birth from above..."  John R. W. Stott , The Epistles of John

I John 5:1 "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God."

( the fact is that the verb tense in the original language betrays the true meaning here.....present tense- action in the believes word ; perfect tense in the is born of God .  Perfect tense means past action with continuing results)

" It shows clearly that believing is the consequence, not the cause of the new birth . Our present , continuing activity of believing is the result, and therefore the evidence, our our past experience of new birth by which we became and remain God's children." Stott

Vs. 4 " For whatever is born of God overcomes the world..."

Are we  born of the Spirit of God?

2.  The world is opposed to the powers of God and His Word. Listen to a previous generation comment about this:

"This world, according to St. Paul, has a spirit of its own, opposed to the Spirit of God; and there are "things of the world" opposed to "the things of God"; and rudiments and elements of the world which are not after Christ; and there is a "sorrow of the world that worketh death," as contrasted with a "godly sorrow unto repentance, not to be repented of"; so that, gazing on the Cross of Christ, St. Paul says "that by it the world is crucified to him, and he to the world" — so utter is the moral separation between them. To the same purpose is St. James's definition of true religion and undefiled, before God and the Father; it consists not only in active philanthropy, but in a man's keeping himself unspotted from the world. And there is the even more solemn warning of the same apostle, "that the friendship of the world is enmity with God."  Canon Liddon

3.  The below Scripture caught my eye ,and I think it is the true idea of love which has its origin in God Himself.

" By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God,,," I John 5:2

Our love is spiritual of course at its root for love of God which is revealed in the Word of God.  " Love is love"--- I hear but people are trying to redefine love.  Love is not love but obeying and living in the light of God, and comes from God and His Holy Revelation, the Bible.

" Love for God is not an emotional experience so much as moral obedience."  Stott

"The true Christian  born from above, believes in the Son of God, loves God and the children of God, and keeps the commandments of God.  ..Belief, love and obedience are marks of the new birth. .."  Stott

The yoke of Jesus is easy and His burden is light, but the world has turned love for others into emotional love  , andwithout true love which has its origin in the God who sent His Son, sacrificially into the world to be its Saviour.

Continue to live a life of love, faith and hope reflected in the obedience to God and we will be happy, not as the world sees it, but in God, which in the end is all that matters.  Blessed Advent.

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