1 John: Strikes and Gutters - Audio
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We're continuing in 1 John, the shameless self-plug, if you would like to get a preview of what we're doing, you can buy my book on 1st through 3rd John, and we're just going right through. We're just picking up where we left off last year, and so we're in 1 John 3, and today we have to deal with a reality that we all experience that, well, it's like this. You guys remember Big Lebowski, great film. In Big Lebowski, and near the end of the movie, I think I have a picture of Big Lebowski here. Near the end of the movie, the dude has just gone through some crazy stuff, like there's been kidnappings and toes cut off, all kinds of insanity, bribes, and all of that. And he's sitting there, sipping his white Russian at the bowling alley, and Sam Elliott is like, hey, dude, how's it going? And he responds by saying strikes and gutters, ups and downs, good and bad. Now, this is, in contrast to what he's just been, we're looking at a character who is so mellow, so chill, that the craziest adventures don't throw him off his game. He's able to weather all the storms. He recognizes that life is filled with strikes and gutters, ups and downs, but he's in a place where he's able to navigate that. Now that's, you know, in the world, what John is going to tell us today is that happens in our spiritual lives as well. There are times in our lives, in our life where our spiritual condition is bad, gutter time, and it might train records if we're not careful. There are times when our spiritual life is on point, all strikes, bowling 300, and John's going to give us some hints for what to do when that happens. So let's take a look at whatever you come today, wherever you're at, if you're in a strike or in a gutter, there's something here for you. This is 1 John 3. This is how we will know that we have our origins in the truth and persuade our hearts before God whenever our hearts condemn us. God is greater than our hearts and knows all things. Dear friends, when our hearts don't condemn us, we have confidence before God. And whatever we ask from him, we receive since we are obeying his commands and doing what pleases him. And this is his command that we believe in the name of his son, Jesus the Messiah, and love one another just as he commanded us. The one who keeps this command has union with God and God has union with him or her. This is how we know that he remains in union with us from the spirit that God gave us. Well John wants to start out with people who are in the gutter. This is how we will know we have our origins in the truth. This is, in my commentary, they asked me to do a fresh translation from the original Greek. What you'll get in most translations is that we are of the truth. But really John's concerned with origins. Who's your father, what family are you a part of? And so we sometimes might wonder if we're part of the truth family, the God family. Maybe we might doubt that at some point. And how are we going to persuade our hearts before God? How are we going to know, when we talk about hearts, we tend to think about feelings, right? Like you might feel like, and you can feel a lot of different things. But really in the Greek and Roman world, and certainly for Jewish people, the idea of
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When we are in sync with the Father (by trusting and loving), we ask for what He wants to give.