1 John 5:9-15
Rejoice in the knowledge of our risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Who hasn't played whisper down the lane at least once? The person at the head of the line might start out with a simple phrase; the hare is leaving his lair. And the person at the end of line might be surprised to hear that Mr. Laird has receding hair.
Or as in a 1950 British suspense movie, the government is preparing to evacuate London because of a threat to detonate an atomic bomb in the center of the city. In one scene two gentlemen are discussing the preparations they have observed as they sit at a table in a club the scene occurs before the government releases an official statement on the preparations. A waiter overhears one man saying to the other, they are rushing about like back in the war. The waiter then goes to the bartender and tells him the Russians are going to war.
I'm pretty sure that most of the time I can't even quote myself accurately ten minutes after I said something. Its part of the human condition that we fail to perceive our world accurately. Our sinful nature affects our ability to pass on what we observe with precision.
How many different variations of the history of the world or even just our country have you read or heard? Man's abilities of reason and perception are far from perfect.
Many academic's doubted the accuracy of the Bible until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Among the many scrolls found was the Isaiah Scroll. The Isaiah Scroll, found relatively intact, is 1,000 years older than any previously known copy of Isaiah. The important thing about this find is that the two copies, 1,000 years in age difference, were virtually identical. The scribes were so exacting in preserving the Word of God, that the many hand written copies made over a 1,000 years were essentially the same.
What's my point? God has preserved His Word throughout time so that we can we have an accurate text to refer to in learning about His role in history and the relationship He wants to have with us. Not only did He preserve His inspired Word but He worked through man to do it.
Having said all that, who should we trust? The Word of the Lord or the word of man?
Referring back to the Epistle, John says, "We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater." Is anything more absurd than to doubt the truth of Christianity and to allow human logic and words to guide us in our everyday affairs? It may sound absurd based on what we talked about so far, but every one of us does it at least part of the time. Our human nature says we can do it on our own. Our Christian nature sees these failings, sees our guilt, and mourns our misery. Much of our suffering is because we allow the wisdom of man to guide us rather than that of God. Our Christian nature knows that we need a Savior that loves us regardless of our sinfulness to guide us in our walk.
Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. One of the best attacks Satan can bring to bear is to make us feel as though we are too bad to serve God. Well we are unworthy that is true. But then so was every hero of the bible except Jesus Christ. We allow ourselves to be defined by our past we doubt the testimony of God rather than trusting in the One who sacrificed His Son so that we are acceptable to Him.
If we allow ourselves to be defined by our past we make God out to be a liar. We are denying the testimony of God. God is using each of to fulfill His will regardless of whether we recognize it to be so. God has not set a specific time in our lives that we must accept His testimony only that we do it. Stepping out of the past we define ourselves by and into the light of Christ is a humbling and exhilarating experience.
He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. Think about what John is saying here. When we trust in Christ we have hope, not just the hope of eternal life but also have the hope of a friend that is always with us in this life. It means we don't continue to make foolish decisions based on the guidance of man. We make better decisions because our hope in Christ intercedes in our thinking. Thus our lives improve and we have a better outlook on the trials we encounter.
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. Is He going to grant everything we pray for? Of course not. God will not grant us something that is bad for us or will help us to harm someone. Would you allow your child to jump off a high wall into your arms if you weren't certain you could catch them? (Okay, maybe it depends on the child.) When you were a child did you have the assurance your parent would catch you if you jumped? God is a loving Father and will guide us through trials if we care to listen to him.
The best part of such confidence is that personal connection we have with Jesus. He said to the disciples whoever comes to Him like a child is blessed. Can you say you have that confidence? Would such confidence break down barriers and allow you to do things you never thought you could? It has for me. I know that if I only listened to the wisdom of man I wouldn't have attempted half of the things I have tried. And I also can see now that some things I've done were based on the confidence in man alone and they didn't have pleasant consequences.
John is reassuring us in the confidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. John was a witness to this truth. And now we are witnesses to this truth through the Word He has preserved for us.
In whom do we trust, the Father or man?
In the name of our risen Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
