Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 1 John 5:1-5.
For this is the
love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous
(1 John 5:3).
The apostle John
calls here for obedience to Christ’s commands as an indicator that one knows
the love of God. We sometimes call this the ethical or moral test of assurance.
As Christ himself taught, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15;
cf. John 15:14).
John concludes
at the end of v. 3: “and his commandments are not grievous.”
One thinks of
Christ’s teaching of his disciples in Matthew 11, when he told them, “Come unto
me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall
find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (vv.
28-30).
Did you
ever consider that the things that Christ commands of us, like personal
righteousness, holiness, and uprightness, only appear to be “grievous” to us
because of our fallen condition?
I was
reading recently a little booklet addressing the topic of Christians and sexual
purity. At one point the author wrote:
Imagine a juicy burger on your dinner plate. Now imagine that you
know the meat is saturated with E. coli bacteria. Would you eat it anyway just
because it looks good and would satisfy your hunger? Of course, you wouldn’t.
Every rational person knows that having a full stomach isn’t worth eighteen
hours of vomiting and perhaps a trip to the emergency room. Instead you’ll
throw the whole thing in the trash and scour the plate with hot water and
strong soap.
The author
then adds:
Pornography is E. coli for your soul (Daryl Wingerd, Delivered
By Desire, 25; you can read a
free pdf of this booklet online here).
Let us
consider: When Christ gives us commands to live holy and righteous and upright
lives, when he commands us through his apostle, “Flee fornication” (1
Corinthians 6:18a), is he telling us something that is meant to be “grievous”
to us? Or is he telling us what will lead us to health and well-being, to avoid
sickness and death, and we are just too influenced by the remaining corruption
of sin in us to recognize this?
The
immediate context in 1 John is not a negative admonition as to what to avoid,
but a positive admonition as to what to pursue. It will be to the glory of God
and to the spiritual benefit of ourselves and others if we will love the
brethren as Christ has loved us. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to
love one another” (1 John 4:11). This should not be grievous to us.
Grace and
peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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