Believing At All Times || The Jesus Connection #4

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.” – John 15:5-6

What does it mean to remain in Jesus? How can we connect with Jesus to have a strong relationship with him? This is what our new series will be about. In this series, we will examine different statements we believe in as Christians regarding understanding who Christ is. This series is called “The Jesus Connection” because I aim to strengthen your connection to who Jesus is and what believing in him can do for your life.

This blog shows that Christians continue to believe in the Good News.

1 John 2:24-25

24           So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and the Father.

25           And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he promised us.

These Christians heard the Good News, very likely from John himself. A couple of things to point out first. The Good News refers to the teachings of Jesus and what they knew as the Bible at this time. John isn’t John the Baptist because John the Baptist died earlier than this text was written. This is John, the disciple. John had a brother named Jesus. John and James were known as the Sons of Thunder. I’ll have to do a series on the twelve disciples later, but back to the passage.

The Christians knew that Christ was God’s Son. They knew that Christ died for their sins and was resurrected to give them a new life. They knew that Christ would return and establish his Kingdom in its fullness. This is the core doctrine of Christian beliefs. It’s easy to say and believe this straightforward statement. Yet, it’s also tricky when many other people try to provide contradicting evidence.

The Christian’s relationship with God was being infiltrated by false leaders and teachers who were denying these fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. Some of the believers were in danger of succumbing to their false teachers. It’s hard to understand who a false leader is and what the incorrect doctrine is. Here’s my experience to help you. I’ve witnessed churches preach and teach scripture in a way that feels contradictory to itself or avoids topics because of the sensitivity in our current world. It’s hard to walk away from those teachings with a complete understanding. This means it’s time to look deeper into their teachings to see what is happening and why it felt contradictory. Then, you might see that your leader taught you incorrect information based on what you’re seeing, so now you don’t know what you’re believing. What do you do? Pray for God’s discernment. Find the commonalities between their teaching and what you studied. Build your foundation. Please return back to that person to hear them again. See if their teaching finds contradictions again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. If it happens three or more times, it might be time to find a new leader because they may be teaching a false narrative.

John encouraged his audience to hold on to the truths the apostles had taught them from the beginning of their walk with Christ. For us, that means to hold on to the truths taught to us through the teachings of the Bible. Typically, that starts with the Gospel stories because that is our covenant. We need to grow in the Lord’s correct knowledge, deepen our understanding through careful study, and teach each other the truth. Jesus’ commands surround these two thoughts: Love God with all we are and love each other as we love ourselves. Everything Jesus did surrounds these two commands. No matter how much we learn, we must always keep the fundamental truth about Christ in his Word. Jesus will always be the Son of God. The benefits of his sacrifices for our sins will never change. Don’t accept any doctrine that contradicts those two things in the Bible.

1 John 5:1-2

1             Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too.

2             We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments.

When we become Christians, we become part of God’s family, with fellow believers as our brothers and sisters. God determines who the other family members are, not us. We are called to accept and love them. Say that to yourself: I am called to accept and love them. There’s a person that popped into your mind. It could be an actual family member, an old friend or boss, or an ex. These people may have wronged us. These people may have bullied us. These people could have abused us. They created severe scars on our lives, and we have vowed never to have the right relationship with them. It’s a completely valid feeling. HOWEVER! (And I’m sure you were waiting on this.) You can still love and respect them. You can hate every part of their being and personality, but you can still love and respect them. They are human, just as you are. They are God’s children, just as you are. God calls us to treat others how we want, even those who didn’t do that initially.

2 John 1:9

9             Any who wander away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son.

Don’t wander away from this. The teaching of loving others, even your enemies, is challenging. It goes against everything the world teaches. Yet these truths remain forever.

In the next one, we wrap up our series by discussing how Christians relate in love to the community of believers. Until then, stay blessed!