Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What We Know About Victory | New Testament | 1 John 5

Episode Date: November 28, 2023

Humans are hardwired for victory. It's good for you to desire victory. But what does true victory look like? Money? Fame? In today's episode, Tanya looks at 1 John 5 to discover where true victory comes from. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Prepare your heart to celebrate Jesus. Sign up to have the 'I Am Your God' Advent Devotional delivered directly to your inbox starting Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 John 5

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth. So today I'm going to tell you a victory story. It might be one that you've heard before, but I don't know that you've heard it from this perspective. So there are certain names in our culture that are synonymous with victory, and Michael Jordan is one of them. So a few stats you probably already know. Jordan had 30 games with the Bulls where he scored 50 or more points.

That's impressive. He appeared in 179 playoff games. That's really impressive. He reached six NBA finals. I think one of the most impressive things about all of that is that in those playoff years, he only missed six regular season games. Michael Jordan, well, he knows victory. But when he signed with the Bulls, he had three shoe brands competing for his contract.

They were Converse Adidas and Nike. Which one of those got the true victory? See, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were all with converse. So they said, hey, Michael Jordan, if you want to be great, you need to come join the ranks of these guys. Now, Nike was essentially a no name in the basketball industry at the time. But there was a recruiter from Nike who was kind of obsessed with game film and watched enough of Jordan playing in college to believe that he would be great. So Nike competed for a contract against the big dogs. And they went all in on Jordan.

They offered him their only basketball endorsement. And of course, they also threw in a shoe designed for him and named for him. They even offered to pay the fines that he would receive every single game when he wore a shoe that wasn't at least 51% white. Now, Michael Jordan's family didn't take the safe route. They turned down Converse and Adidas. They even turned down Nike's offer of $250,000 a year and a brand new car. and they actually proposed something a little riskier. They said they wanted to receive a portion of all the Air Jordan shoes sold instead

of a certain amount of money. Well, obviously, that worked out pretty well. Air Jordan sold $126 million in the first year, with Jordan receiving 10% of that. And today, it is still a billion dollar annual industry. Now, we love stories like this because we want to be in on the action. Maybe you're old enough to remember what it was like to watch Jordan play. Maybe you had a pair of Air Jordans. Maybe you want to be like Phil Knight, who developed a company like Nike.

Maybe you want to be like the shoe designer that came up with the Air Jordan logo. We're hardwired for victory, and it's good to dream of being victorious. When the Apostle John wrote his letters, he was writing to people that had been through hardship and needed to be reminded of a victory story. It was a story about a man named Jesus, a man who came into the world as a baby and grew up without sin. A man who loved the world so much, he gave up his life for everyone. A man who was crucified but resurrected.

A man who appeared to the disciples and let them touch the scars in his hands. Jesus was victorious over death. So the people who were reading John's letters wanted to be part of the people. of that victory also. And John was reminding them that they were. When we believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, we become God's children. And our whole lives change from that point on. How do we know we are victorious in Jesus? I'm going to read just a couple of verses from 1 John 5, and then we're going to talk about some signpost that he gives us. So the verses say, this is how we know that we love the children of God by loving and carrying out his command.

and his commands are not burdensome for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the son of God. Okay, so John gives believers signposts, and we're going to kind of boil it down to this. Do you love God? Do you love his commands? And do you love your neighbor?

Those are all the things he just addressed in those verses. So God's love was revealed in his son Jesus. This assurance that John is offering is fundamentally about Christ. Do you cling to Jesus? Do you run to Jesus? Now, if I'm looking at those questions for assurance, I have to admit that running to Jesus isn't always my first response, when I need help, or when I feel depleted,

or when I've received something I don't deserve. but I do know that when I have actually been depleted and defeated and in a place of true grief, Jesus was the only hope I had. And when I felt his love in those times, I understood the victorious love of Jesus. What about the next question? Do you love His commands? If people want to be light and participate in life with Jesus, they need to keep Jesus commands. This is how God's people have victory over sin. Take a listen to 1 John 518. It says, we know that God's children do not make a practice of sinning, for God's son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.

Again, if I'm honest, I actually love sinning when I'm doing it. But when we have what I like to call capital F forgiveness or assurance that Jesus has atoned for all our sin at the cross, then the sin in my life leads me to come to him for forgiveness instead of continuing in it. Hebrews tells us that Christ is at the right hand of the Father and lives to make intercession for our sin. Now, this is hard to do to say that we're just supposed to stop sinning or not continue in the practice of sinning. But when God's children fail, Jesus atones for them. And this is what it means that the evil one cannot touch them. Instead of being careless about sin or being weighed down with sin and guilt,

God's children run to Jesus for forgiveness, and they get up in his assurance. All right. What about the last question? Do you love your neighbor? At the last supper, Jesus talked about both an old and new command to love one another the way he loved them. Victory over the world is knowing how much God loves you and allowing that love to be what you build your life around.

So the first readers of this letter were thinking of the first readers of this letter, we're thinking of the love evidenced by Jesus on the cross. And we should too. Those who know Jesus are children of the true God. So they should be characterized by sacrificial love, by sacrificially giving up their lives from one another. Pursuing what we love feels good in the moment. But pursuing others in God's love makes a lasting impact. When God's people do this, darkness passes away. Hate, destruction, and evil are all diminished by the light of God's people. First John ends with this. Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts. See, as God's children, as God's child, you are on the path to victory. You don't want to let things that aren't going to

last get a hold on your life. What are the things that you love that won't last? What are the things that might try to side rail you today. Victory doesn't come from the things that can only promise to make us feel okay right now. Victory comes from having our lives grounded in the love and promises of Jesus to keep us for all of eternity.