Скачать или смотреть Men Bible Study - 1 John

1 John 5:21, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”

1. At first, this final verse seems to provide an odd, blunt and sudden conclusion to this intimate letter that reads tenderly and sternly at different points. However, on closer examination we find this warning provides a fitting end to John's letter. This is the seventh time John uses the phrase "Dear children" in this letter, indicating that he viewed his readers as his own spiritual children.

2. Although most Gentile believers in the days of the early Church had previously worshipped idols, we can infer that the term “idols” refers both to physical idols people worship or anything else that becomes a higher priority than Christ in our lives.

3. This final warning to stay away from idols is a reminder that we should serve only Jesus Christ. False teachings ultimately take our eyes off Jesus Christ and lead back to installing idols in our lives. Therefore, John’s warning to keep "from idols" and remain focused on Jesus as the Son of God helps us stay focused on our reason for our being in life: Jesus Christ.

Application:

Brothers, when we consider John’s purpose in writing this letter – to combat the rising influence of false teachings from the Gnostics which cast doubts that Jesus Christ became man and that humans could behave immorally as God only cared about their “pure spirit” – his warning to keep away from idols is effective as a parting word to believers both in his era and today.

The Gnostics were one of many philosophies distorting the truth in the era of the Early Church. Today, the systems of the world, modern beliefs/philosophies, other religions and cultures continue to test the Truth encapsulated in Scripture. From believing in our own capabilities to tapping into “good energy”, to prosperity and any other “gospel(s)”, all sorts of “gurus” and experts are influencing unwitting churches.

Many Christians do not know the Word, let alone test what they hear against what Scripture says. As a result, they ignorantly replace the Truth with lies, put themselves or something else on the throne of their hearts and become what Paul describes in Timothy 3:5 – men “having a form of godliness but denying its power.”

We cannot accept this in our lives! We must guard against the influences advocating that we become lovers of ourselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to our parents (physical and spiritual), ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure (2 Timothy 3:2-4).

Today, let’s take a hard look at the idols in our lives, the influences that seek to dislodge Christ as the center and priority of our lives, and commit ourselves to the Lord once again. May we be men that hunger and thirst for God, seek Him out and encourage one another as we confidently step out in faith to do as He calls!