I John 4:13-15

Sons;

One of the versus I often use is this one, I John 4:13-15 - "By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has give us of His spirit.  We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the World.  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God."  John, also the writer of the Gospel of John and Revelations, is doing something he often does - making a very simple restatement of salvation.  When we have the Holy Spirit in our lives, that is the sign to us that we do indeed "abide" - live with - God.  This, as James tells us in his book, will be seen in what we do and how we act.

John also makes a more subtle point.  He has "been there and done that" with Jesus, from almost the very beginning of Jesus' ministry.  So, when he says he can testify that Jesus is Savior, he knows what he's talking about.  Then comes the subtlety: "Whoever confesses that Jesus is...."  We often seem to think that that means a knowledge of Jesus' position, but there's much more to it than that.

In the first chapter of Mark, Jesus is in Capernaum teaching, and a possessed man comes up to him and says (no doubt freaking out the audience), "What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have You come to destroy us?  I know who You are, the Holy One of God!" Jesus then proceeds to tell the demon to (essentially) shut up and get out. Point - even the demons know who Jesus is, but they don't confess it.  That is the difference - we not only have the knowledge of Jesus, but we accept His sacrifice and salvation; so, we can confess it both in word and in deed.  

This serves as a reminder of what we're up to when we say we're Christians - it's more than knowledge, it's an belief of the heart with tremendous implications and a lifetime of applications.  As men, we have to have that belief and application if we are going to be leaders.

Love,

Dad