We feel enormously uncomfortable distinguishing between those who are Christian and those who are not within the church. John doesn’t. In fact, he has left the church tests by which to identify genunie Christianity from false. The reason this matters … Read more
Tag: Love
1 John 4.13-21. Love, truth & fear (Trinity)
Perfect love drives out fear. In this part of his letter John gives the struggling Christian church assurance about the signs they belong to Jesus namely: the Spirit of God has led them to believe the truth that Jesus is … Read more
1 John 4.7-12. Love is not love (Pentecost)
Love is our most powerful and most abused four letter word. The poet W. H Auden in his famous poem about love wrote: ‘Law like love I say. Like law we often weep, like law we seldom keep.’ Which is … Read more
1 John 3.18-24. Love, not hate
Michael Flynn
In a world of moral ambiguity it is hard to decide who are the good, the bad or the good-bad or even the bad-good guys. It all leaves us unsure, especially about ourselves! John writes to a church … Read more
1 John. Reprise. Keep yourself from idols
John wants uncertain and damaged communities to have certainty, assurance in God. The certainty that John wants Christians to have is a discerning and tested assurance – not an unexamined fundamentalism. His path to certainty and assurance are truth (about … Read more
Matthew 7.1-12. How to evaluate others
Imagine using our judgment of others to serve them rather than ourselves. Imagine instead of categorising people so we can feel better, we see our wrongs clearly enough to lay aside self-righteousness so we may better serve the people we … Read more
1 Thessalonians 4:1-12. Living to please God
Sex, work and death are the topics that Paul goes on to address as he begins to “make up what is lacking in your faith” (3:10). What resonates with us in Melbourne is, for Paul, love is a reason for … Read more