Saturday 31 May 2014

Introduction to the Epistles of John Series

Good day
After a longer break than anticipated my fingers started dancing on the keyboard again. I was not totally unproductive during this time, though. We have gotten involved with a wonderful fellowship and are working with them at some teaching projects, one of which is training children in basic spiritual truths.
I felt the Lord has asked me to continue with this blog and will therefore write as the Holy Spirit leads, but at least weekly. Please just remember that all the other posts are still awaiting your reading in the menu to the right of this teaching.
We are going to look at the letters (epistles) of John. John was the disciple of love. The Bible describes John as the disciple that Jesus loved. During the Passover meal we read in John 13:23: “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.” It is generally accepted that it was John, maybe since he did not mention his own name. John’s gospel and his letters to the church speak of love for and understanding of the Lord. They are just so much different from and more intimate than the rest of the New Testament.
The Lord entrusted John with revelation about Father God and the love relationship He desires with His children. John understood it because of his own intimate relationship with Jesus. We have not been there to observe his relationship with our Lord, but it is easy to picture the relationship between a couple, two friends or a parent and child who are really in love with one another. I am sure that when the other disciples were bantering with one another during relaxing times in Jesus’ ministry, John probably was sitting chatting with Jesus, getting to know Him better, sharing with Him intimate secrets, enjoying Jesus’ personality and so did Jesus John’s. He seems to have bonded more than the others with Jesus.
Because of this relationship and special love, John would have heard more of Jesus’ heart that of His words when He taught. Due to all of this John were able to teach with authority on the subject of Father’s love, because he understood it. This why he was able to write in John 14:21, 23: “‘He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. Jesus answered and said to him, “if anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.’”
The deeper our relationship with Jesus is and the more we love Him by living strictly in obedience to His spoken and written Word, the deeper our understanding of Him will be and we will be able to live out our particular gift with authority; be it teaching, evangelism, caring, serving, leading and so on.
The epistles of John in particular provide much teaching about a love relationship with Father God and we are going to see what we can learn from them in the next number of posts.
I will write as the Lord instructs, but will try to keep it short. Next time we will delve into the first epistle of John.


Lord please guide our hearts as we learn from you.