Assurance

Well, I hesitate to write about this because I know I won’t be able to express myself fully, nor do I feel qualified to delve into the complex doctrine this topic entails. However this subject has been hitting hard (in a good way) the last couple weeks as I’ve studied 1^st John. Today, while listening to one of MacArthur’s sermons I finally decided to start typing and do my best.

John is very clear on the subject of assurance, and his letter is full of it. Listing all the references that touch on assurance would be impossible. The specific verse that I was learning about today is 1^st John 3:19: And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 

There are several pieces to this verse, but the central one is that we know we are of the truth. It is hard to realize how comforting this simple phrase is until you have a firm understanding of just how amazing salvation truly is. God, no matter what we do, has promised that we are in his family forever, because of the work of Christ on the cross. We have been saved from inexpressible torments, and saved to be part of His glorious work in the world. Our minds can’t even comprehend how awesome salvation is, yet we can KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that we are saved for all eternity. 

The next part of the verse is in someways even more surprising: we shall assure our hearts before Him. It is no wonder many Christians doubt their own salvation: it is hard to believe that an absolutely holy God can accept us, when we know how sinful we are. Yet John declares that we can be sure of our position even when standing in the presence of God Himself. 

Of course, the question remaining is, “How?” to answer this, it is necessary to look at the rest of the epistle briefly, since the explanation given in the verse itself is only by this. These two words refer both to the immediate context of the surrounding verses and to the previous chapters. In 3:18, we see that loving in deed and truth is one way to know that we are of the truth and there are many other clues in chapters 2 and 3:

2:3 If we keep his commandments

2:4 keep his word

2:10 loves his brother

2:15 not loving the world

2:21 knowing the truth

2:23 acknowledging the Son

2:28 abide in Him

2:29 practice righteousness

3:3 purifies himself

3:6 does not sin

3:7 practices righteousness

3:9 does not sin

3:10 practices righteousness, loves his brother

3:14 loves the brethren

Some of these raise more questions, but overall they are a good way to know one is a christian.

Let not the Wise Man Glory in His Wisdom

Jeremiah 9:23 ¶ Thus says the LORD:

“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,

Let not the mighty man glory in his might,

Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 

Jeremiah 9:24 But let him who glories glory in this,

That he understands and knows Me,

That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.

For in these I delight,” says the LORD. 

This passage is one of my all time favorites, and it is a perfect summary of our mission statement as participators in the Bible Bee. We are not supposed to be in this to be able to impress everyone with our incredible amount of Bible knowledge, ability to memorize, or even our ability to study through critical thinking and analyzing to rightly divide the word of truth by the end of the summer.

Not that we always study during this season with the true purpose in mind. We have been brought up to love learning, love information, and love knowledge for their own sakes. This is very helpful, because for us learning is already a way of life that we enjoy, so we don't have to work against the prejudice of thinking that learning is a pain and avoiding it whenever possible. But when it comes to Jeremiah 9, we do tend to glory in the wisdom that we are accumulating itself rather than the objective of that wisdom. Wisdom is very important to pursue

Proverbs 4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing;

Therefore get wisdom.

And in all your getting, get understanding.

but having the wisdom is not the only end to getting it. The reason to get wisdom is found here in Jeremiah 9:24: to understand and know God, that He is the LORD, exercising lovingkindness judgment and righteousness in the earth, for in these He delights. 

Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,

And the knowledge of the Holy One  is understanding. 

1st John

As evinced by Megan's enthusiastic post a few days ago, we are both thoroughly excited to be studying 1st John this summer. We received our study materials today, and have just started what the Sword Study calls an "Arial View" of the book. This means that we are looking at the big picture: major themes and patterns. Part of this "Arial View" is reading through the whole book once a day. 

John tends to write with many parallels and repetitions, which makes it fairly easy to pick out the important words. An obvious example is "love", used 46 times (counting loves and loved) in only 105 verses. John tells his readers to love God, each other, and not to love the world. Other key words I've found so far are truth, light, and commandments. 

Another aspect of the "arial view" which I'm enjoying is learning the background of the author. John is a fascinating character in the gospels. He is very close to Jesus, often participating with Peter and James in activities the others miss out on (like the transfiguration). Jesus even has a nickname for him! He calls James and John "Sons of Thunder". Sounds pretty exciting to me. 

The next things to study out will be the historical background, and John's reason for writing this book. I can't wait to learn more about these aspects of 1st John as well. 

THE BIBLE BEE BOOK FOR THIS YEAR IS FIRST JOHN!

We are so excited about this year's Bible Bee. 
Last year was it was wonderful to learn about Paul and Timothy's special relationship, and Paul's dedication to the end. We just found out what book we will be studying for this year: 1st John! The life of the apostle that Jesus loved will be fun to research for context, but for application the key word of 1st John is something that I really struggle with: love. God's love that we are supposed to show. Is this really challenging and scary for me? Yes. But I've started to see these Bible Bees as what they are supposed to be. A chance --almost an excuse-- to grow in Christ. So I can say with 110% of my heart:
WELCOME 2013 BIBLE BEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!