Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The First Epistle of John: Lesson Thirty-One

"He came to His own



and His own did not receive Him.






John 1:11






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Good day! Let's seek the Lord together...






"Father God, today we come before You to worship You through the study of Your word. I pray, Lord, that You will guide us and reveal to us more about Yourself and Your attributes that we may be blessed. I pray that in our lesson today, we will learn more about what it means to be a follower and true believer in Your Son, Jesus Christ.






I seek forgivness of my sins this day. I know that I have sinned and fallen short of Your plan and purpose for my life. Help me to remember that my life is now Yours. Cleanse me this day and renew a steadfast spirit within me, Lord. I pray that You will fill me to overflowing with Your Holy Spirit.






I lift up to you each lady reading this study. May she be blessed through the reading of Your word. May we all be liked minded and intent on one purpose: to further the gospel message. I pray that each lady here will be given understanding through the Son and a fellowship with one another as we are partakers of the heavenly calling. I pray that You will encourage her to hold fast to the confidence and rejoicing of hope in Jesus Christ.






In Jesus' name.....amen."






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In today's lesson we will look at what it means to be righteous in the sight of the Lord. Those of you who participated in the Virtuos Wife study here at this blog last year will recognize the Prov 31 verses we will read together.






It is good to revisit these verses as a reminder of our calling to holiness.






John wants to remind his readers that they have been called to righteousness so we are to practice righteousness as Jesus did. Remember, the Gnostics were trying to deceive his readers to believe that there is no sin and only material things were evil. They were being led away from the gospel message.






1 John 3:7






"Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is is righteous, just as He is righteous."






To know Jesus Christ is the greatest thing of all. Remember why God created? TO BE KNOWN.






Please read:



Jer 31:33-34






Jer 9:23-24






The Lord delights in those who know Him and practice righteousness. No wonder His Son pleased Him so.....






Mark 9:7






Oh that the Lord would be able to say that about us!






So how do we practice righteousness? One way is to read about others who have done so:





Prov 31:10





Prov 12:4



Prov 19:14




Ruth 3:11






Oh to be called a Virtuous Woman! What praise indeed. Something every Christian woman should aspire to someday achieve.




What about our Savior? What example did He give us?




Luke 2:41-50




Here we read about Christ as a 12 yr. old boy. Jesus had lingered behind His parents in Jerusalem. After three days, Mary and Joseph found Him in the Temple. Which means Jesus, for those few days, had to find a place to sleep and food to eat all by Himself and in a way that was pleasing to the Father. This 12 yr. old boy went to the Temple everyday to listen to and talk with the elders.




Luke 2: 47: "And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers."




At Passover time in Jerusalem, it was said there could be up to one million people in this small walled city during that special week. Instead of panicking and being frightened, Jesus went to where His Father was and knew He would be taken care of because He knew His Father.




What an example for us to follow....and from a 12 yr. old!




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"Little children, let no one deceive you....."




Remember who John's readers were: fellow believers living among false religions.




The Gnostics taught that salvation was for the soul only making our bodily behavior irrelevant. They declared that God isn't interested in what our bodies do, only our souls. They did not see wrong behavior causing damage to one's soul. Sin was an anomaly to them. They did not know God personally.




We Christians know that we are to keep the law of God even though we are under grace. Christ did not come to do away with the law but to fulfill it.




Rom 3:31




1 Cor 6:9-11




Rom 13:8-10




God gave us moral laws to help us know how righteous He is. By keeping those moral laws, we can know true love: the Love of God.




I remember I had to teach a group of 5th graders at Nathan's school about Martin Luther and John Calvin. They were reading about these two men in their history class. Luther was described as a man who saw only the love and mercy of God and Calvin saw only the justice and holiness of God.




I was able to go through the attributes of God during that lecture and it was wonderful to hear the students ask questions about God. When we finished, we all saw that both men were accurately describing the God they loved: He is merciful and loving as well as just and holy.




As Christians, we can know more about who God is by reading His laws. We can know God personally. As our opening verse said, God came down as a man unto His creation and His own people did not receive Him.




We know Jesus. We know who He is and we have received Him. And we know that He is righteous.




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Life Application




"He came unto His own...."




Translated, this verse says that God came down to His own things or domain as Jesus.


He gave us the example to follow: what He ate, what He did with His days, and how He treated others.




As believers, we have that example to follow:




"He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous."




Take time today to stop and thank Him for giving us that example. Now we know what it means to be righteous and to pracitce that righteousness.




Prov 31:12




Doing our husbands good and not evil shows the Lord our hearts and the motive for all we do. What we do in our home and how we treat our home shows our husband how much we love him. Making our home his respit from a hard day reveals to him our love for him.




Prov 31:13-20




Working to make our household safe and secure is what we are to do as wives and mothers. Making sure needs are met and things are in order reveals to our household that we care. It takes wisdom and maturity in Christ to know these things....and that comes from being in God's word daily.




Prov 31: 23




Remembering that our husbands have a reputation among people is most important as wives and mothers. Showing respect for our husbands is the greatest thing we can teach our children.



Prov 31:28-31




The rewards for trusting the Lord are great...both here on earth and in heaven.


May we strive daily to be called a virtuous woman by the Lord. We were called to holiness and righteousness.....just as He is righteous. May we never forget it.






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Until next time....



"The expression of Christian character is not good doing, but God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit Divine characteristics in your life, not good human characteristics. God's life in us expresses itself as God's life, not as human life trying to be godly. The secret of a Christian is that the supernatural is made natural in him by the grace of God, and the experience of this works out in the practical details of life, not in times of communion with God. When we come in contact with things that create a buzz, we find to our amazement that we have power to keep wonderfully poised in the center of it all."


-Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest, 1936, September 20 Devotion)







Blessings,


Ruth











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