1 John 5:1-12, Listen for Life
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I want to tell you something of a fairy tale. This is an old tale about a man and a woman who were granted favor by a king. This king granted them a dwelling in a beautiful garden. Everything they needed was at hand, and their sole responsibility was to tend the garden and raise a family. If they would simply listen to king’s voice, and obey every word, his words to them would be a tree of life, and they would have a long and fruitful life.
But as in all gardens, there were other creatures living there. And one day a particularly beautiful creature, all shiny and smooth, came and began to speak with the woman. He was clever, and he challenged the woman’s way of thinking about the king and his words. Why listen to him and have to obey the heavy burden of his words, when they could make their way, and gain their own wisdom, and have a good life without being ruled by a king? They could rule themselves.
And for the first time, the woman chose not to listen to the king, and listened to the voice of the beautiful and clever creature. And she spoke with her husband, and for the first time, he chose not to listen to the king, but listened to the voice of his wife. And they chose the cleverness of the creature over the wisdom of the words of the king.
Obviously this changed their relationship with the king. The man and the woman began to avoid him. The king was loving, and he sought them out, and found them hiding from him in shame. The full confession came out, and the woman admitted she had listened to the voice of the creature, and the man admitted he had listened to the voice of his wife, and they were forced to listen to the voice of the king as he pronounced the consequences.
They were granted what they had chosen. They could use their cleverness and make their own way in the world. But because the king loved them, he made them a promise. One of their descendants, born into their line, would one day overcome the beautiful and clever creature that had ruined everything. He would choose wisdom over cleverness, and would fulfill the obedience to the king’s words that the man and woman had failed to fulfill. His obedience and victory would open the way once again to the garden and the tree of life for all of his descendants, and the king would share with him his rule and reign.
The king visited generation after generation of the children of the man and woman and made them an offer. If they would listen to his voice and obey his words, His words would become a tree of life to them, and they would have a long and fruitful life. Some did well for a time, but each one failed to fully obey. And each generation was defeated by giving in to the cleverness of the beautiful, slick creature. And his influence over the world grew.
Until one day, one of the children in this line prevailed. He was tested over and over again, and consistently chose to listen to the voice of the king and obey his every word. And one day the hardest test came. To fulfill the promise made to the woman in the garden, the king required this young man to die in the place of a whole generation of criminals, hardened by the cleverness that ruled their world, to love them and die as one of them, even though he was the only one of this line that had lived his life with his heart wide open, full of wisdom and obedience to the king. And he obeyed this time too. He was executed as a criminal, though he was innocent.
Because of this ultimate obedience, the king, who had the power of eternal life, raised this man to life, and granted him all authority in his kingdom to also grant life to whoever would believe in him. As everyone found out, this young man was actually the son of the king himself all along, who had chosen to love the people and live and die as one of them to fulfill the promise made so many generations before. For anyone that would believe that he was the true son and the chosen heir and victor over the clever enemy, they were granted a sonship in the kingdom as well. They would be given a new spirit by the king, so that they would obey the words of the king, and find a new fruitful life, and they each would be able to overcome cleverness with wisdom. They would not find the words of the king a heavy burden, but a delight and joy.
We’ve spent the last couple of weeks listening to John talking about loving one another. He told us that we should love one another because love comes from God, and God is love. We would ask, how do I love like God? Then he told us that if God abides in you, He will give you a love for others that you would not love naturally. The next question we could ask would be, how do I know that I am loving others in the way the God desires?
John answers this question this week by bringing us back to the biblical story of God’s relationship with humanity as a story of a great struggle for the souls of people with the power that dominates the world. God is the king who speaks words of life. If we will just obey them, we will prosper. We will love God, we will love others, and we can bring justice, righteousness, peace, and all good things to our world. But the very first man and woman chose to listen to the voice of the serpent, and every generation since has done no better. Jesus is the child, descended from the man and woman who could right their wrong. His obedience to the voice of God was the greatest act of love the world had ever seen.
So John tells us, if you want to know that you love others the right way, go back to the beginning. Listen to the voice of God.
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
But we know love can feel like a great burden. When we love, our concern can weigh on us heavily, and we make sacrifices. In fact, we take the burdens of others when we love them. But this is why John points us back to Jesus. Jesus loves in ways we never could. His love is complete and perfect. He has demonstrated God’s perfect love on a human level. He came in flesh and blood and loved the unlovable, loved His enemies. Because He was born of God.
John tells us,
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
It is not your love that overcomes the world. It is your faith in Jesus that overcomes the world. Jesus does all the heavy lifting. When you find it hard to love, when it’s too heavy a burden, come to Jesus who said,
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
So I must come to Jesus believing Him. This is where God’s mercy shines bright. We live in a world that does not see believing in Jesus as wise. But, these days, worldly wisdom is to go to an expert. So, if we just follow that clever thought, I go to the highest authority. God Himself has testified about who Jesus is.
The first testimony came at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, at His baptism. When Jesus came up from the water, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove, and God the Father spoke from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Mt 3:17.
The second testimony came at the end of Jesus’ ministry. On the cross, God covered the sky with dark clouds, sent an earthquake, and a Roman centurion was led to testify, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” Mk 15:39. But the blood that came from Jesus’ side was a testimony of the perfect sacrifice, acceptable to God, for the sin of the world.
So John says,
This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
When the Holy Spirit that had descended on Jesus at His baptism also descended on the disciples of Jesus after Jesus had ascended into heaven, a sign that the testimony of Jesus as God’s Messiah was being granted to them. But the testimony belongs to God. Most people will accept the testimony of a person they trust, these days an expert. So John says,
If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son.
In a world dominated by clever deceptions that lead to death, how do any of us overcome? We believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the one anointed by God to restore us to life. That faith is itself a victory in this world of cynicism and arrogant cleverness. But the real test of our faith is not that we say we believe in Jesus. The real test is, will we listen to His voice. This is the test that goes back to the beginning. Will we love others in His name? Starting with one another.
This is the test for this year. Will we choose to love others, even when the world’s wisdom is to protect ourselves against others. You will be told in the news by clever journalists, and by clever politicians, and by clever bloggers and podcasters, and by social media with all their clever memes, to be afraid of people who are not like you. Will you believe that Jesus, who has demonstrated divine love in the human realm, can give you victory over that fear to love them?
What is the end of our fairy tale? The king’s son has done what we could not. But the king, our God, continues to speak to us.
And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Do you have the Son of God, or do you have a very clever argument why this can’t be done? If you give your heart to God in love, and listen to His voice, and obey His commandments, He will tell you to trust in Jesus.
Questions for Discussion
Is there anything you took away from last week’s passage that you were able to put into practice?
Who are some experts people listen to these days? What are they leading us to believe?
What are ways the voices in our culture shape our thinking about identity, and how does John address our identity in 5:1?
What do we learn about God in this passage?
What kind of people does John say we should love in this passage, and why do you think John focuses on this group?
What does overcoming the world look like in practical terms?
What are ways that God has testified about the identity of Jesus that you find helpful in forming your faith?
What is one way you can respond to this passage this week?
Who is someone you could share this passage with this week?