Not just a church thing
Sometimes my boss sends me the following text: “Lane, please call me.” Such a text only means that conversation, not text, is best. It is not a loaded request. My brain, though, always jerks when that comes across. “Uh oh.” Do you know what? Time and again the conversation is amicable, diplomatic, friendly; it has a Lane-interested flavor. It is an, “Oh, ok,” not an “Uh oh.”
By this stage, having experienced his character, the jerkiness should have dissolved, but it hasn’t. I more than know his character, but there still is miscellaneous fear. Now disentangling efforts are at work in the corridors of my mind, but it remains a work in process. Perhaps I could say there is a sign-painter in my brain steadily painting a billboard above the streets of my brain. The phrase being painted is not yet firm, its brush strokes still wet on the canvas, but it goes something like this, “You know his character. Don’t fear him; relax.” Is it working? Oh, probably a little bit or I would not be unwrapping it as part of my lesson on John.
In the operating room, I have a staff member who sets up and works with me throughout my cataract surgeries. Do you know what? She is good. Guess what else? She does not think she is good. Tension rises in her before every case only to relax by case end. Will her actions harm anybody? No. She is just handing me and my staff different things. The main downside to any difficulty she might have is that the case might go a little (a tiny bit actually) slower. Do I get upset with her? Nope. In fact, I try hard to allay her fears. Is it working? Maybe, but not very fast.
And now back to John & the doubting Christians
John’s approach to the fearful Christians is to lead them to the true nature of God. He wants to allay their fears. Considering them to have the same God-connection as he does he points out what they know. “You know who God is; don’t pick up the old worries; live out what you know. Rest there.”
What they knew #1: Done with sin
“…We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning…” (Jump to full passage above)
The person who has committed their life to Jesus Christ, that is, they are “born of God,” has a renewed way of life. The temptations of the natural person have been categorized as off-limits. Old instincts remain, but they have a cage around them with a “no trespassing sign.” The cage is not inviolate and the Christian can still trespass, but a barrier has been erected around it.
John is pointing to the experience of the Christians he is writing to. “You know,” he says, “that when you are born of God that you don’t just keep up the old ways.” He does not even pose this as an inquiry but states it as fact.
There were those who were not born of God embracing the natural ways. They kept on sinning. No matter what type of argument or situation was around the church those in the church intrinsically perceived that sin was wrong, against God, and did not do it. This was their lifestyle. There were done with sin.
Disclaimer:
This passage should never be construed to say that a true believer never sins. The phrase “does not keep on sinning” means they do not engage habitually, volitionally in ungodly ways. Sin here and sin there will be the mark of life before we depart this tent of the body. That is what grace is for. The trajectory of the life, however, will be one of progressive sanctification.
Think of the invisible fences put up to keep our dogs in the yard. They can still leave the yard, but doing so results in an unpleasant consequence. In fact, just trying to leave is accompanied by that discomfort.
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