We search for it everywhere.  In songs and stories.  From parents and friends.  Through the varied pathways that we hope will lead to betrothal.  And through the tumultuous journey from “I do” until “death do us part.”  We all long for perfect love.  A love that satisfies all the aches loneliness inflicts.  A love that fixes all that is broken in our hearts by life in a fallen world.

Perhaps it is only as we age that we fully grasp the truth that love, as good as it can be, is never perfect in the songs, stories, places and people where we seek it.  The expectations we place on all the creaturely objects of our love are unrealistic and unfair.  Our spouses, our parents, our friends, and our special places can never meet the burden of our expectations for perfect love.  And likewise, we can never meet the burden of their expectations.

Yet God has made us with a longing for perfect love.   The only thing not declared ‘good’ at creation was the loneliness of man.  And so, God formed Eve to be a companion for Adam, perfectly suited for him.  Adam’s declaration we he first sees her reveals his expectations that Eve would satisfy all that was missing as he cries out “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” 

In the space of only a few verses, however, sin enters the world and injects blame and doubt into Adam and Eve’s perfect love story.  The places and people made for Adam and Eve are no longer perfect.  Yet their longing for perfect love remained.  Just as it does for us.  But where will we find it now? Where can we find a love that meets the burden of all our expectations?  

In the Apostle John’s first letter, he writes to believers struggling with assurance.  Anti-Christs, false teachers, gnostic heretics were denying the authoritative teaching of the Apostles.  They promised a knowledge of God through mystical, personal experience which made no moral or social demands.  They broke fellowship with the Church and encouraged others to do the same.  

So, John wrote a brief but powerful letter to encourage Christians in all times, places, and circumstances in our assurance.   John’s letter describes a series of tests that provide assurance.  John’s tests were theological, moral, and social.  The theological test was to trust in the Apostolic witness as the source of truth about the person and work of Christ.  The moral test was to live a transformed life in obedience to the commandments of Christ.  And the social test was to love our brothers, not just in words, but in deeds. 

Nowhere in scripture are we exhorted more to love one another than in chapter 4 of 1 John.  Twenty-nine times in this short chapter, John uses some form of the word ‘love.’  But it is important to note that while believers are instructed to love one another, the only perfect love John describes in this passage is the love God has for us.  A love that empowers and enables us to love one another.   John writes, “We love because he first loved us.”  And “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”

Our love for one another can never be perfect.  But God’s love for us is always perfect.  And that perfect love has remarkable effects in the lives of believers.   Join us as we examine 1 John 4:13-21 and discover the power of God’s perfect love upon his children. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join our livestream on YouTube. 

My friends were more novel.  This year a cowboy.  Last year a ghoul.  Probably next year a mutant ninja turtle.  But my Halloween costume strategy never varied.  I was a tiger every year.  I can’t really remember why.  I liked tigers well enough, but I don’t remember being fixated on them.  Perhaps I thought consistency would be the key to my concealment.  Surely my neighbors would not be able to guess that the portly tiger was the youngest Wheeler.

Maybe my strategy was not so surprising.  After all it is hardly uncommon for people to try to conceal their identity, personality or perceived shortcomings through a consistent costume of inauthentic speech, feigned behavior, or false conformity.  Therapists’ calendars are full of clients wanting to identify as everything except themselves. 

But it is fair to note that we all struggle with who we really are.  We all love to play “dress up.”  Even Christians.  Especially Christians.  Our identity struggle is rooted in assurance.  Are we really believers?  Or merely self-deceivers?  Is our faith mere intellectual assent? Or mere emotionalism?  Is it a mile wide but an inch deep?  Are we really “in-Christ?”  Are we really abiding in him and is he really indwelling us by the Spirit that bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God?”

All Christians struggle with this internal turmoil at some time or another.  But in God’s gracious providence this was also a major issue in the churches that made up the Apostle John’s beloved little flock. Anti-Christs, false teachers, gnostic heretics were denying the authoritative teaching of the Apostles.  They promised a knowledge of God through mystical, personal experience which made no moral or social demands.  They broke fellowship with the Church and encouraged others to do the same.  

So as a faithful pastor, the Apostle John wrote a brief but powerful letter to his flock and to us to encourage Christians in all times, places, and circumstances in our assurance.   To move us to confidence, assurance and clarity, the Apostle John writes them a series of tests to teach Christians how to grow the assurance of their faith as they learn to abide in Christ. 

John’s tests were theological, moral, and social.  The theological test was to trust in the Apostolic witness as the source of truth about the person and work of Christ.  The moral test was to live a transformed life in obedience to the commandments of Christ not the pattern of the world.  And the social test was to love our brothers, not just in word and talk, but in deed and in truth. 

Nowhere in scripture are we exhorted more to love one another than in chapter 4 of 1 John.  Twenty-nine times in this short chapter, John uses some form of the word ‘love.’  In a world where it is easy to dress up in the costume of false spirituality or live in fear that we are self-deceivers rather than believers, John comforts us by showing how our love for one another reveals the reality of our abiding faith in Christ and fellowship with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Francis Schaeffer noted, “brotherly love is the “final apologetic” for the Christian faith.”  But even more, it is powerful evidence of an abiding, saving faith in Christ. 

Join us as we examine 1 John 4:7-12 and consider how brotherly love reveals the reality of our Christian faith to ourselves and others.  We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join our livestream on YouTube. 

Anxiety, fear, insecurity, and failure.  Testing can bring out all these things.  But it can also reassure, bring relief, boost confidence, and create clarity.  As a child testing was a curious mix of anxiety and confidence.  I was a good test taker.  Both in having a solid grasp of the material and an effective strategy for test taking, I did well on most tests.  There were of course exceptions.

Typing was one of those.  I was a slow typist in a class where speed and accuracy were the metrics of success.  My father made me take typing because he foresaw that the keyboard would be the pen of my generation.  And he was exactly right!  But I was slow.  My motor memory and my hand-eye coordination were not great.  And this elective class threatened my GPA.  Graciously I could divide by 2 which in the day of the typewriter was necessary for centering and formatting.  My teacher made a deal.  If I would assist the other students with formatting, she would view my timed tests with a curved grace.

The other type of tests that tested me sorely were lab tests.  Academics were cut and dried, but lab work never seemed to produce the expected results in the expected quantities.  On paper, I knew the math and chemistry.  But lab tests tested me severely.  We all have some type of testing that tests us, that creates anxiety, fear and uncertainty.  But even those tests when successfully navigated and completed bring confidence, certainty and clarity.

The churches of Asia Minor were facing uncertainty, fear, and insecurity at the hands of false teachers who were testing their commitment to the teaching of the Apostles about the person and work of Christ and proper fellowship in the Church.  And so, to move them to confidence, assurance and clarity, the Apostle John writes them a series of tests to teach them how to grow the assurance of their faith as they learn to abide in Christ.  John’s tests were theological, moral, and social. 

The theological test was to trust in the Apostolic witness as the source of truth about the person and work of Christ.  The moral test was to live a transformed life in obedience to the commandments of Christ not the pattern of the world.  And the social test was to love our brothers, not just in word and talk, but in deed and in truth.  But in addition to the tests John applies to his “little flock” he challenges them to test the false teachers who have caused so much trouble.

John reminds the believers that God has caused his Holy Spirit to indwell them.  And that this Holy Spirit gives them discernment to test false teachers and grade their test with clarity and certainty.  They are not only to discern and avoid the false teaching of the antichrists, but they are to call them out and expose them by putting them to a simple set of tests.  Test that show that what they teach is not from the Holy Spirit but the spirit of the age.

Who are you listening to?  Who is speaking into your life? Are you testing the spirits of those whose counsel you seek and follow?  How do you know you can trust what you are hearing?  And who are you listening to?  John warns us not only to test our theology, our behavior and our love, but to test the spirits who speak into our lives. 

Join us as we examine 1 John 4:1-6 and consider how to test the spirits that seek to guide us.  We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join our livestream on YouTube. 

We all have it.  Even those that have it all have it too.  Everyone has anxiety.  Especially those we think should not have it.  We think we can make it go away by resolving the dilemma at its root.  But we never seem quite able to root it out.  King Solomon had it all from the world’s standards; riches, relationships, hobbies, success in his work, wisdom.  You name it, he had it, but there was still a nagging anxiety regarding purpose and permanence that kept him awake at night.

As an aging Solomon reflected on his accomplishments, he wrote in melancholy terms,

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
    vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What does man gain by all the toil
    at which he toils under the sun?

And even more shocking and angsty.

Sorrow is better than laughter,
    for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
    but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

For all Solomon had, he still struggled with anxiety.  The ultimate anxiety.  What does life come to?  Where is its purpose and permanence?  What will it all amount to when it comes to its end?  Is there life after death? And what will it look like?  How will I ever explain my life and choices to a Holy Judge?  Solomon knew that nothing brought deep reflection and surfaced anxiety like sorrow and “the house of mourning.” 

How do I stand before God?  Have I believed enough?  Done enough? Been enough? Loved enough?  Grace, for all its gifts, sometimes makes us anxious.  It seems too free, too easy, too… gracious.  We know that the answers to all the questions above would always be ‘No.’  We will never believe, do, be, love enough to merit God’s favor apart from the work of the Spirit working faith in Christ in our heart.  But still, we are unsure if we are safe and sure in Christ.

The antichrists in the Apostle John’s Day said, “don’t sweat it.”  Live your life however you want.  Don’t worry too much about Jesus, after all he was just a teacher and example, nothing more.  You can know God through secret knowledge not through faith in Christ as taught by the Prophets and Apostles.  But those tempted by such false teaching found no assurance in it but also struggled with assurance as true followers of Christ.

So John writes to them to believe in the person and work of Christ as taught by the Apostles and to love one another as Christ has loved each of them.   But what if they have not believed enough?  Or loved enough?  What if they have fallen short in those things which are marks of Chrisitan assurance?  What relief is there from this anxiety?  How do I find assurance in the face of my doubts about myself and my faith?

Join us as we examine 1 John 3:19-24 and consider John’s comforting words to those struggling with doubt.  We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join our livestream on YouTube.