What does it mean to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ in this world? That’s what we are reflecting on this week and will explore further on Sunday. Leave a comment,follow the conversation,and join us on Sunday.
1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Messiah is a child of God;and whoever loves a father loves his child also. 2 This is how we know that we love God’s children:it is by loving God and obeying his commands. 3 For our love for God means that we obey his commands. And his commands are not too hard for us,4 because every child of God is able to defeat the world. And we win the victory over the world by means of our faith. 5 Who can defeat the world? Only the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
6 Jesus Christ is the one who came with the water of his baptism and the blood of his death. He came not only with the water,but with both the water and the blood. And the Spirit himself testifies that this is true,because the Spirit is truth.
We no longer live in a world where Christian faith can be taken for granted or is commonly held. We live in a world much more like that in which John was writing to his fellow disciples. Belief or faith or trust (all connotations of the Greek word ‘pistis’),as John saw it,is the recpetion and living of the love that God offers in Jesus Christ. It involves abiding in Jesus Christ by God’s grace and being that kind of energy in and for the world. We are known to each other and to everyone we encounter in our communities by our love. It’s not primarily about doctrine or piety,but about love. What we believe and how we act out our faith must –no exceptions –be determined by the love of God as seen in Jesus Christ. That’s what we strive to understand and practice more faithfully week after week at Brentwood. You would bless our community by your presence.