Living Assured in Christ

At my church we are going through the book of 1st John. I have found this series to be challenging yet also freeing at the same time. Anytime you approach the Word of God it is hard to come to to it with an attitude of humility. What I mean is this; when we read the word of God we tend to apply our opinions, experiences, emotions and thoughts to what we are reading rather than allowing the Word of God to shape these things.

Studying 1st John I have had to confront this challenge, and by doing that I have actually found freedom. John tells us that he writes these things so that we may know that we have fellowship with the Father, Son, and with each other. This is how we can be assured, take the text of 1st John 2.3 for example:

"And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments"

Martyn Lloyd Jones calls this a test of our assurance in Christ. If we say we know him we necessarily obey the commandments. Dr. Jones says it is not that we are making ourselves Christians by our obedience but if we are Christians we live that life.

So part of the personal challenge is this; do I obey? My obedience is actually very revealing of my relationship with Christ. I find myself many times in life not doing what I should do, and on the flip side of that doing things I should not do. This is sin either way you look at it. It is living a life of disobedience. It could be as simple as watching TV when there are far more greater things to do with the limited time that I have, or it could be as blatant as I lie I tell in order to protect myself. Reading first John I have found myself asking "am I assured"? Instead of applying my own personal opinions to the text like "God understands my heart" or "I have seen other people do a lot worse" I look at my sin at face value and stand corrected by a loving heavenly Father. When we live in this way we allow the Word of God to shape our lives, rather than misapplying our own faulty belief system to the text.

The freedom we experience comes from the verses following what we just looked at when John says this; 1 John 1-3

"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."

Obedience does not mean we will live a sinless life, but that we put our trust in the one who has lived a sinless life. Obedience does not mean we work harder to be a better Christian, but that we allow Christ's finished work to be the mark of our hope. It means that because of what Christ has done for us we live as he lived and we obey. This is our assurance; because we love Christ we obey his commands.

Are you assured in Christ? Do you live a life obedience to the Father?