God's Fellowship

Final Words, Final Warning

1 John 5

In this last chapter, John circles back to his main themes:

faith
love
obedience
trust
victory
fellowship

He ties them all together, showing how each one relates to the other.

And then he does something unexpected. Instead of ending with a grand and glorious statement about love, a main theme of the whole book, he gives a warning:

Dear children, keep away from idols.

Or more directly:

Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts.

It feels harsh and abrupt after all the talk about love and light and faith, doesn’t it? But maybe John knew enough about human nature to know that even the most loving and obedient Christian is always in danger of loving and obeying something or someone other than God.

Read & Reflect

1 John 5

What things have taken God’s place in your heart? Why do those specific things have such a strong pull on you?
How can you protect yourself from those things and keep God front and center in your heart?
Write a new personal ending for verse 21. “Dear Myself: Keep away from (fill in the blank.) “
What do you learn about God in these verses? (When Paul writes "God" he almost always means the Father.)
What do you learn about Jesus in these verses? (When Paul writes "Lord" he almost always means Jesus).
What do you learn about the Holy Spirit in these verses?
What do you learn about humanity and yourself in these verses?

Extra Info

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The first two laws God gave to his people were:

You must not have any other god but me.

You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind. (See Exodus 20.)

God gave his laws to Moses on the top of a mountain while the people waited below. And while the people waited below, they grew impatient. And because of their impatience, they ... made an idol! (See Exodus 32 for that story.)

God knows the human heart. He knew people would be tempted to make idols. And they proved him right.

Extra Verses

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Psalm 135:13-18

1 Corinthians 10:10-15

Extra Things

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2103 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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