This sermon about victory talks about the key ingredient of a victorious life. A victorious life starts with a life born of God and the rest will follow.
Text: 1 John 5:4
Some of us are probably asking how can we be victorious in this life? How can we say that we have overcome the world?
In our passage we can see two main things that must be present for us to be victorious.
One must be born of God (v.1) “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well”
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[s2If current_user_is(s2member_level1) OR current_user_is(s2member_level2)]Our very first question must be, “how can we be born of God”. John directly answered this question. All we need to do is to believe in Jesus Christ. If we believe in Jesus Christ, then we are born of God.
Not that we have a literal birth that we came from God, but one has been “born again” (John 3:3). We are only born again when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
“…loves his child as well” The evidence of our love to the Father is loving his Son. John here is reasoning that if we do love the Father, it should be normal that we will also love the Son. We cannot say that we love the Father, yet we hate His Son.
Now we have to be clear of what it means to be “born of God” or to be “born again” Christians. Of course, we will be able to see changes in those people who have been born again. From loving the darkness, they will now love the light. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2Corinthians 5:17).
Behind all these changes, what John was pointing out here is the driving factor of those who are “born of God” which leads to our next point.
One must be loving God (v.2) This should be the main driving factor why changes in our lives become visible, we love God. Loving God is easily understood by the expression of words. But how do we really love God? There are two things that were emphasized by John in loving God.
Loving his children (v.2) Trying to read the second part of chapter 4 of the book of 1John, it seems like John was addressing the Christian community. So here, being consistent in his audience, he is referring mainly to the Church, the Christian community. But does it mean that we don’t have to love those people who are outside the Christian community? The answer is “no”. We still have to learn to love other people.
But going back to the context of our passage, loving other people particularly fellow believers is something that we have to learn. Loving one another within the community of believers promote peace, unity, solidarity in cause, and encouragement. This is why it is so essential to learn to love one another.
It is important for us to love those people outside the community of believers. But if we do love them, how much more should we love the community of believers who are our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Our co-heirs, co-worker, co-laborer. People that God gave us to grow mature in Him.
Keeping his commands (v.2) The second part of loving God is keeping His commands. The Bible is full of God’s teachings, commands, instructions and life principles. Some of us are puzzled with how are we going to do all these things. We have to remember that everything starts with our love to God. When we love God, everything becomes easier for us to do. Look at verse 3 “And his commands are not burdensome,”
God’s commands are burdensome to those who are disobedient and are opposing God. But for those who love and honor God, it is not burdensome but a privilege and a joy. It’s the feeling that you are experiencing when you do the right thing and you know that it will prosper.
We easily get discouraged with various things. However, we should be focusing our attention to our Lord Jesus Christ. We should be setting our eyes on Him.Paul encourages us in Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Challenge:
Everything starts in loving God. When you love God, it will be easier to love other people and to obey His commands. And you will also find it enjoyable.
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