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From Duty to Delight · In the Stillness Podcast

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  Hey y'all, welcome back to In the Stillness.
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  This is friendly. Happy Thursday everyone.
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  I'm super excited for today's episode.
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  We are starting the last chapter of First John chapter 5, and
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  this portion of scripture is honestly so foundational to our
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  faith. Your eternity, your salvation,
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  ultimately your destiny, all hinges on what you believe about
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  Jesus Christ. Not just believing that he
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  existed, not just believing that he was a good teacher or some
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  good prophet and moral example, but believing that Jesus is the
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  Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the Son of God.
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  And I think it's so important to address because a lot of people
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  today, even entire religions, will acknowledge Jesus to a
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  certain extent, but they stopped short of surrendering to him as
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  their Lord and Savior. Some say that he is a Son of
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  God, but not the Son of God. Some say that he was a wise and
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  compassionate person. But scripture is so clear about
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  who Jesus Christ is. So let's go ahead and dive into
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  first John chapter 5. Today we're going to be reading
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  through verses 1 to 5. Everyone who believes that Jesus
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  is the Messiah is God's spiritual child and has been
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  fathered by God himself. And everyone who loves Father
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  God loves his children as well. This is how we can be sure that
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  we love the children of God, by having a passionate love for God
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  and by obedience to His commands.
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  True love for God means obeying His commands, and His commands
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  don't weigh us down as heavy burdens.
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  You see, every child of God overcomes the world, for our
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  faith is the victorious power that triumphs over the world.
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  So who are the world conquerors defeating its power?
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  Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
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  OK, I love this so much because John does not waste time in his
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  writing. He immediately connects belief
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  with love, obedience, and with victory.
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  Your faith, it matters eternally.
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  Romans 10 says we are saved by confessing Jesus as Lord and
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  believing in our hearts that God raised him from the dead.
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  In First Corinthians one Paul talks about Christ being a
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  stumbling block to many people because ultimately the world it
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  craves spirituality but not always surrender.
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  They want the inspiration without true repentance.
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  They want a savior that fits their preferences and what they
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  expect instead of the actual Jesus that is revealed in
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  scripture. But Jesus does not leave room
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  for neutrality. Guys.
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  He is either Lord of your life or he is not.
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  And this truth should make us both bold and compassionate.
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  Bold because we don't have to water down the gospel.
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  It is clear cut what it is. But also compassionate, because
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  people are genuinely spiritually lost without Jesus.
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  There are so many people desperate for the truth.
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  The gospel divides because truth divides.
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  Light exposes the darkness. And to those receiving Jesus,
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  the gospel is good news. It brings life.
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  But to those who are choosing to reject him, it confronts their
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  very thing that they're holding onto apart from God.
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  So maybe a thing to reflect on here is, do I genuinely believe
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  Jesus is who he says he is? Not just intellectually, not
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  just head knowledge, but heart knowledge with my entire life.
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  Genuine belief changes you. And John then moves into
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  something really convicting. If we love God, we will love His
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  children. So how we treat fellow believers
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  in the faith, it reflects something deeper about how we
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  feel towards God and about our relationship with Him.
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  I want us to think about these things honestly.
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  How do you speak about your fellow brothers and sisters in
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  Christ? Are your combos full of life and
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  encouragement? Or more, with degrading comments
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  or gossip. How do you think about them?
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  Are you harvesting bitterness in your heart?
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  Being overly competitive? Are you constantly jealous or
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  envious? I want to pause here because
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  envious so dangerous. Not only because it leads to
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  comparison, and comparison really is the thief of all joy
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  and peace, but also because it places pressure on another
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  person to be someone that they were never meant to be for you.
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  God created each person uniquely and in His own image, so you
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  don't need to become someone else to feel valuable, and they
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  don't need to shrink for you to feel secure.
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  Also, how are you acting toward believers?
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  Are you serving them actively? Are you praying for them?
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  Celebrating them? Showing up for them?
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  A good reflection question that I'm also thinking about is do
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  the people around me feel loved by God through the way that I
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  treat them on the day-to-day? Love is not just a feeling, it
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  is visible through our actions. Scripture says that faith
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  expresses itself through love. And then John says something
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  huge. True love for God means obeying
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  His commands. The root of love is obedience.
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  Think of a plant as an example. Obedience is not just some
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  random branch attached to Christianity.
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  It's not a surplus. It is the root system.
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  Everything else grows from there.
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  And I say this knowing that obedience is not always the
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  easiest option. Sometimes obedience looks like
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  staying in and spending quality time reading the Word of God or
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  going to a worship night, being around Christian community
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  instead of going out and just getting drunk at a bar.
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  Sometimes obedience looks like denying your flesh's desires and
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  pursuing holiness and purity over instant pleasure.
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  Sometimes obedience looks like discernment over distraction or
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  forgiving someone. When everything in you is
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  craving revenge, oftentimes it's in the smallest daily decisions.
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  What music you're listening to, what you're watching TV shows,
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  movies, how you are spending your money, even what you choose
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  to eat and how you steward your body.
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  Colossians 3 verse 23 says whatever you do, work at it with
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  all your heart as working for the Lord.
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  Everything becomes worship when it is surrendered to Him.
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  And I think one of the healthiest questions that we can
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  regularly ask ourselves is this. What is most glorifying to God
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  in this moment? Not what is most comfortable,
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  not what gets approval from people or makes you feel good,
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  but what glorifies God most. Here is the beautiful part to
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  this question. God does not ask us to obey Him
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  without empowering us to do it. John quite literally says that
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  His commands are not burdensome. Why?
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  Because God gives us the Holy Spirit, which gives us the power
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  to obey. In obedience.
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  It then transitions from a duty to our delight.
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  Psalm 37 four says delight yourself in the Lord and He will
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  give you the desires of your heart.
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  I think most of us have probably heard this verse, and this is
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  not because God is some genie just handing out every worldly
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  craving that we have, but it's because when you truly delight
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  yourself in Him, your desires become aligned with His desires.
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  He transforms your heart and with that what you want.
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  I've honestly been reflecting on this a lot lately.
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  God is such an abundant giver. He does not just barely provide
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  enough. Ephesians 3 verse 20 says He
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  does immeasurably more than all we ask or can even imagine.
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  God delights in blessing His children, and it's not always in
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  the timing that we expect. It can stretch us to wait on His
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  blessings, but it is always in the timing that is best because
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  He knows when we are ripe for the blessing, when we are
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  prepared enough to receive the fullness of what He wants to
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  give. And every time that you leave
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  behind something unhealthy, simple, distracting, or
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  something that is simply less than God's best because of
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  obedience to Christ, you are not losing.
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  You are making room for something that is far better,
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  far more rewarding, Whether it is a relationship, a habit, a
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  lifestyle, maybe it is a mindset.
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  Whatever it is, God honors obedience because He is good, He
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  is perfect. And I just imagine the Father's
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  heart when He sees His child, choosing him, the better
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  portion, choosing worship, purity, patience, choosing
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  surrender. It's not because he's
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  controlling us, but because He knows where life is found.
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  Righteous living produces peace, joy, love, all the fruits of the
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  Spirit. Life is still going to have its
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  hardships. Obviously, following Jesus does
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  not mean that life just becomes easy.
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  But it does become simpler when you're living for an audience of
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  one because you get to stop performing for yourself or for
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  other people. You stop chasing constant
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  validation and exhausting yourself trying to prove your
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  worth because God already approves of you in Christ Jesus.
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  He already loves you so deeply. You are already accepted.
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  And then John ends with this incredible truth that every
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  child of God overcomes the world overcomer becomes synonymous to
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  your identity as a son or daughter of Christ.
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  It is not just a goal that you're striving towards someday.
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  It is who you are now as a believer.
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  You are a conqueror. You are a victor.
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  You are a triumphur, a child of God, so you do not have to climb
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  a ladder to earn your victory. Jesus already won it at the
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  cross, and it's now that you live from victory, not for
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  victory. So my charge for y'all is own
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  that identity. Live with it out of a humble
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  heart posture, but with confidence.
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  Walk in faith today. Walk in obedience, walk in joy,
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  because you belong to Jesus and that should change everything in
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  your life. Let's go ahead and pray.
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  Jesus, thank you. Thank you that you are the true
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  Messiah, the Son of God. You are our Savior who brought
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  us from death to life. You have rescued us from the
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  grave. Thank You that it is through
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  faith in You alone that we become children of God and
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  overcomers. I pray that you would help us to
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  walk in genuine love. May we have joyful obedience.
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  Give us a deeper surrender to your will, to your plans, to
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  your timing. I pray that we would desire what
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  glorifies You most and that we would trust that Your plans are
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  always better than our own. Would you fill us with courage
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  to live boldly for you and to love others well?
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  We love you so much. Jesus.
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  We praise you, we thank you. May we honor you with our lives.
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  In your precious name we pray. Amen.
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  OK guys, that was a little longer than I was planning, but
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  there were so many good things to unpack and I really love this
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  quiet time with the Lord. So I hope that it blesses y'all
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  as well. And I will see y'all on the next
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  podcast episode.