The eternal Jesus who calls us to live in the light
Today I am starting a new sermon series on the books of 1, 2 & 3
John. Over the coming weeks, I will be looking at one chapter a week for
my sermon and I will be pulling out the main points.
I will also
be doing a companion Bible study that flows on from the sermon. This is
just a simple study with about 8-10 questions that will help us to
further engage with the Scriptures and reinforce the sermon main points.
As you can see on the screen, the title of this first message is,
“The eternal Jesus who calls us to walk in the light”.
Introduction to 1 John
Before I read our text for today
I want to give us some background to the Book of 1 John.
First
John was written by John, one of Jesus’ original 12 disciples who also
wrote the Gospel of John. There are similarities in the style of
writing, the words used, and themes in both this epistle and the Gospel
of John, so there is no real arguments about who was the author.
There is also external evidence that John is the author. Polycarp, a
close associate of John, makes reference to this epistle in a letter to
the Philippians at the beginning of the second century.
John was
referred to as “the disciple Jesus loved” (John 21:20), and along with
Peter and James, he had a special relationship with Jesus. Most scholars
agree that this letter was written between A.D. 85 and 90 from Ephesus,
before John’s exile to the island of Patmos (Revelation 1:9).
While 1 John is not addressed to anyone in particular, we know that
Jerusalem had been destroyed in A.D. 70, and Christians were scattered
throughout the empire. So by the time John wrote this letter,
Christianity had been around for more than a generation. It had faced
and survived severe persecution.
The main problem confronting
the church at this time was declining commitment: Many believers were
conforming to the world’s standards, failing to stand up for Christ and
compromising their faith. False teachers were plentiful, and they were
accelerating the church’s downward slide away from the Christian faith.
John wrote this letter to put believers back on track, to show
the difference between light and darkness (truth and error), and to
encourage the church to grow in genuine love for God and for one
another.
He also wrote to assure true believers that they
possessed eternal life and to help them know that their faith was
genuine—so they could enjoy all the benefits of being God’s children.
So now we have a bit of background, let’s have a look at our
first reading…
Bible Reading - 1 John 1:1-10
We proclaim to you the One who existed from the beginning, whom
we have heard and seen. We saw Him with our own eyes and touched Him
with our own hands. He is the Word of life.
2 This One who is life
itself was revealed to us, and we have seen Him. And now we testify and
proclaim to you that He is the One who is eternal life. He was with the
Father, and then He was revealed to us.
3 We proclaim to you what we
ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship
with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus
Christ.
4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share
our joy.
5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare
to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all.
6 So
we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in
spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.
7 But if we are
living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship
with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all
sin.
8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and
not living in the truth.
9 But if we confess our sins to Him, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
wickedness.
10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a
liar and showing that His word has no place in our hearts.
Main points
Today I want to being out three main
points in my sermon.
1. John wanted us to know Jesus is
eternal
John begins this letter in a very similar way to
how he begins the Gospel of John.
In 1 John 1 he says in verse
1-2, “We proclaim to you the One who existed from the beginning, … 2
This One who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen Him.
And now we testify and proclaim to you that He is the One who is eternal
life. He was with the Father, and then He was revealed to us.”
At
the start of the Gospel of John he says, “In the beginning the Word
already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He
existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through Him,
and nothing was created except through Him (John 1:1-3).
John is
very strong in his description of Jesus being eternal and there before
the creation of this world. This is to counter many of the false
teachings that were spreading around the church. Some tried to deny the
deity of Christ and say He was just another created being, but John
tells us emphatically this is not the case.
This doctrine is
known as the doctrine of eternal Sonship among Bible scholars. The
doctrine of eternal Sonship simply affirms that the second Person of the
triune Godhead has eternally existed as the Son. In other words, there
was never a time when He was not the Son of God, and there has always
been a Father/Son relationship within the Godhead. This doctrine
recognizes that the idea of Sonship is not merely a title or role that
Christ assumed at some specific point in history, but that it is the
essential identity of the second Person of the Godhead. According to
this doctrine, Christ is and always has been the Son of God and always
has been eternal.
Today many false religions and scholars try to
deny the deity of Christ, they try to say He did not really die on the
cross or He was raised in spirit only. Some even try to prove that Jesus
never existed. John and the other writers of the New Testament affirm
that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, who was there from the
beginning.
This is what John is trying to get across to his readers.
2. John talked about what he had seen and heard
One thing I really noticed at the start of 1 John is the phrase
“seen and heard”. John uses it several times in the start of chapter
one. He is saying we have seen and heard Jesus ourselves and touched Him
in the flesh.
He wants us to know he is an eye witness and he
knows who Jesus is. He knows He is the Christ, the Messiah, and the Son
of God. He knows He is eternal and there from the beginning.
John
also wanted his readers to know these things so they would have
fellowship together and that their joy may be complete. We see this in
verses 3 & 4:
“We proclaim to you what we ourselves have
actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our
fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are
writing these things so that you may fully share our joy”.
John
wanted his readers to understand he was actually there as a witness to
all Jesus said and Jesus did. Unlike the book of Luke which was written
as an orderly account through research and careful study, John was there
first hand. Because he was so close with Jesus he was a reliable witness
to pass on who Jesus was, the things Jesus did and what Jesus wants us
to do.
For us today, a simple testimony of what I have seen and
heard in the Bible, in church, in my life or the lives of others can
help people come to Christ. A testimony can bring the Bible to life. I
have found that people love hearing stories of how God has done great
things for you.
When I share about my testimony I touch on three
main areas. These three things really help me to structure my story and
how Jesus’ story impacted and changed my life.
My life
before Christ – I share things like how I felt, my illness,
what sort of things I was in to, my upbringing and the sense of
emptiness I had inside. These things set the scene.
My
conversion – I then share how I came to Jesus. I talk about how
I was feeling in the year before coming to Jesus, the people who helped
me and the story of Jesus coming to die on the cross for me.
How my life has changed – In this final section I share
how knowing Jesus personally has changed my whole life and outlook. I
talk about the love, acceptance, hope, joy and purpose I now feel
inside.
You can also share things some of the things that God has
done for you. I actually have several short testimonies that I share
with people depending on the situation. If it is someone who is
suffering with a long term illness, I might share my story of living
with Rheumatoid Arthritis and how God has worked in my life through it.
If they are lonely or depressed I share the difference Christ has made
in my life and how that I never feel alone any more. If they can't see
anything good in the future or have lost hope, I share how Christ has
given me hope, direction and a purpose for living.
Like the
Apostle John, we can tell other what we have seen and heard and testify
to God’s goodness. We can share what God has done so they will have
fellowship with Jesus and us.
3. John calls us to live
in the light
In the next section 1 John 1:5-10 is titled
“Living in the light”.
Verse 6 says, “So we are lying if we say
we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we
are not practicing the truth."
At the time of writing false
teachers who practiced an early form of Gnosticism had infiltrated the
church and John was partly writing to address that.
The various
false teachers taught that the physical body was evil and they took one
of two approaches.
a. Live in strict discipline to deny the body and hence defeat evil, or
b. Give in to it and live a life of lust. They reasoned that since
the body was evil you can give in to it. This approach was popular to
many.
The problem was that we can’t live in the light if we are
walking in darkness at the same time. If we do we are not walking with
God and practicing the truth. John goes on to share a truth that helps
us to live in the light – confession. Verse 9 tells us that if we
confess our sin God is faithful and will forgive and purify us.
As a Christian man, I long to live right before God and walk in the
truth. But there are times when I fail in word, thought or deed. Rather
than beat myself up, I simple go to God, confess and ask forgiveness.
Sometimes I feel a huge flood of relief in my soul knowing I am
forgiven. Other times I don’t really feel anything but I know from His
Word that I am forgiven and purified.
When I do this I know I am
free and I can walk in the light with God. I know my sin is covered by
Jesus’ blood and I am in fellowship with Him.
Story
A number of years ago I read a story about a young boy. It is
called, “Saints that shine”.
A couple took their young son with
them on a trip to Europe where they visited many of the large churches
and cathedrals on the tourist trek. When they returned home the little
boy’s Sunday school teacher asked him, “Did you learn what a saint is?”
He remembered the many stained glass windows which depicted the
Christian saints so beautifully, and he said, “A saint is a person who
the light shines through.”
A saint is someone the light shines
through. This is what God wants from us. He wants us to walk in the
light as He is in the light and He wants us to let our light shine. As
it says in Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before
others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in
heaven.”
Closing summary
So today as I
close the first message in the series. I want to remind us of the three
things the Apostle John wanted us to know from this first chapter of his
letter.
1. That Jesus is the eternal Son of God who was there from the
beginning.
2. That John simply shared with others what he has seen
and heard. He did this so they would have fellowship with God and one
another.
3. That John calls us to live in the light because God is
light and He wants us to shine our lights to others.
Amen
By Dave Quinn
Founder of PASSIONAustralia.org
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