Preached 10/9/22
1 John 1:1-3
[audio]
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever met someone who profoundly changed the direction of your life for the better? I remember a few in my life. Back when I was in 7th grade I once got a report card with 4 D’s* on it. I was at a point that I just did not care much about school. My best and really only good friend had moved away at the end of the previous school year and the only other friend (who was a fair-weather friend at best) was not interested in school. I was pretty much alone at a bigger, new school, at the bottom of the totem pole (and constantly in terror of initiation at the hands of eighth graders), so I pretty much gave up on trying hard that year. But I met a new friend that year (who later became my best man when I got married) who was the opposite. He was completely obsessed with getting the best grades in his classes. In eighth grade I got straight A’s for the first time, and maintained close to that through high school. I’m sure my parents were overjoyed that I had found such a friend. Of course, that pales in comparison to the girl I met during the later years of high school who brought love into my life and introduced me to Jesus. That was pretty spectacular. Oh! And I met Jesus! He paid for my sins, reconciled me to God, and gave me eternal life. That was even more spectacular! But I have yet to meet Him personally – which I am looking forward to by the way.
Well, imagine what it must have been like to meet Jesus personally, face to face on earth, before being saved! Of course, not all people who met Jesus had their lives changed for the better. Many rejected Him – even one from among his twelve apostles. But the author of the book we will be looking at definitely did. And that meeting was as precious to him 60-70 years later as it was at the beginning. Of course the person we are talking about is the apostle John.
He was a fisherman who lived and worked on the northern shore of the
John stayed true to the end of his life, which was very long indeed. After all the other apostles had been martyred for their faith John was still caring for others. He became known as “the apostle of love” due to his constant repeating of Jesus’ command to love one another. He remained humble, not even mentioning his own name in the gospel he wrote or in his first epistle. In his gospel, he merely refers to himself as “the apostle whom Jesus loved”. Now he wasn’t claiming any special status with that moniker – but it was the thing about Jesus that amazed him the most (as it should be with us). Knowing Jesus loved him was enough for him. This is certainly a change from the early days when he and his brother (and their mother) were asking Jesus for special positions in His kingdom! In the end, the one for whom Jesus’ love was enough (and who related the humility Jesus showed at the last supper) showed his love for others, which we see in his first epistle where he tenderly refers to Christians in his care as “my beloved children”. This leads us to “First John”. (or “one John” as it is evidently called in
- - - - - - - -
I John is a book that defies easy analysis. It lacks the straightforward flow from one point to another that we have been accustomed to in Paul’s epistles. While Paul arranges his arguments in logical order, building arguments upon arguments, John’s first epistle has frustrated many preachers and commentators. John MacArthur admitted that this book was more difficult of any of the other NT books to make an outline for. One commentator noted over 50 years ago that the difficulty in systematically preaching through the book had led in his time to a paucity of systematic treatments of it.
In spite of this, the book is very relevant. As one of the last NT books written, it gives us a picture of the changing challenges faced by the church at the end of the first century AD. By the time John wrote his epistles and the book of Revelation he was the only apostle still alive, all the others having been martyred long before in service of their Lord. I John fills an important place in our understanding of the doctrine of salvation, though different from Paul. I think that it actually makes a good companion to the book of James – which was not written by John’s brother James who was half-brother to Jesus according to the flesh, which has at least some similar themes. We can think of Paul’s epistles as teaching us about
- How to become saved, and
- How we should act once we become saved,
While John and James might be said to talk about
- What we should have been doing if we say that we are saved.
This may seem to be a minor distinction, but it is very important. Many preachers choose this as the first book to preach from when they begin ministering in a new church. It is also often preached through by ministers who have been called in to help failing churches recover and become healthy, functioning, biblical churches again. It is an essential book of the bible for every Christian to read, know, and apply to one’s life. But beware - it is like fire, and we will either be burned or refined to gold by it.
The style of John stands out. MacArthur calls him the apostle “of Black and White”. While Paul logically deals with arguments that might be raised against his points and deals with thorny real-life issues and what we might refer to as “grey areas”, John speaks here in terms of absolute truth. They may seem to be disagreeing with each other if we don’t take into account that Paul is often speaking of individual acts while John is speaking of habits and overall direction of life. Yet in reality they don’t clash – Paul does warn us to evaluate our salvation (2 Cor 13:5) and John does deal with the fact that we still do actually sin (1:8-10).
John is actually a very practical book. Like James challenges Christians to show their salvation by their works (or be proven as frauds), John gives us actual tests. Reading and understanding Paul’s writings requires us to pray for illumination to understand the mysteries of the gospel. But reading John requires prayer for a pliable, humble and obedient heart to obtain any benefits. In the end, our prayers before reading 1 John should match those by David in the Psalms:
Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.
Psalm 26:2 Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind.
Psalm 139:23-24 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
Psalm 19:12-14 12 Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. 13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
I The Purpose of I John:
When trying to discern the purpose of a book in the bible, it helps if the author actually tells us. But seldom does the author write it out specifically. Jude certainly did, in his short book, when he wrote:
Jude 1:3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
John was even more specific than Jude. But before we read that, let’s consider the relationship between I John and the gospel written by John. When we read the two books, we see that they go together very well. Both start “at the beginning” with “the word”. Both exalt Jesus. John’s gospel ends with a statement that he was a witness of Jesus’ ministry, and the epistle starts with a statement of his being not only an eyewitness but also having heard and touched Him and therefore “testifying” and “proclaiming” that which he knew by experience. The gospel of John ends with this statement:
John 20:30-31 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
…whereas the epistle ends with this purpose statement:
I John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
So John wrote his gospel to unbelievers to draw them to Christ and be saved, while he wrote his first epistle to professing believers to give them assurance of their salvation. As such, the gospel of John is filled with “signs”, whereas 1 John is filled with tests. There is another interesting difference between these two books of the bible, and it has to do with the person of Christ Himself. The gospel of John argues for the divinity of Jesus – that as the God-Man He was fully God in the flesh, specifically the Son of God. The epistle of John starts with Jesus as the Son of God and argues that Jesus was fully man. This assures us that not only both of these are true, but important. It also shows us the different types of opposition that the early church experienced during the first century. (More about that later).
If you read through I John, you will notice that instead of laboriously building a long logical argument through the five chapters of the epistle, John instead cycles repeatedly through a few points. Each cycle gets more detailed and pointed, but John is never vague or ambiguous. Often the tests follow this form:
- First, a claim that might be made by a false believer containing some version of “say”, like “If we say” (ch1), “Whoever says: (ch2), or “If anyone says” (ch4)
- Second, a life characteristic that will not be true if the claim was true, like “walking in darkness” and refusing to call sin sin, not keeping his commandments, falling away from the faith (and the church), or hating our brother, sinning habitually or not loving our brother, not confessing the deity of Christ (that he is the Son of God) or His humanity (that He came in the flesh).
- And third, a declaration that the profession of faith was false. John is not shy – to those whose testimony does not match their profession, John calls them “liars”, “self-deceivers”, being “in the darkness” and even names like “antichrists”, “murderers” and “children of the devil.”
But before we despair (or write off John as a judgmental meanie), remember that his purpose was that we should have assurance. His other main purposes can be seen in 1:4 and 2:1:
I John 1:4 … we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
I John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.
The tests of true salvation in John are expressed over and over, but basically come down to three:
- Belief in the truth about Jesus (the doctrinal test),
- Love toward our brothers (the social test), and
- Obeying His commandments (the moral test).
These three points are summarized in the first two verses of chapter 5 of the epistle, which state
1 John 5:1-2 1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
So John wants us to believe, love and obey, and his purposes are that we will have joy, assurance, and holiness.
II The Occasion of 1 John (vss1-2)
Now it is easy for us to understand the need for the importance of the doctrine of the deity of Christ, and also why that would be a stumbling block to potential believers (as it was for the Jews of Jesus’ day). But it seems perhaps a bit strange that John would be concerned about the doctrine of Jesus’ humanity. The people that Jesus spoke to during his earthly ministry had no problem with his being human. And John had spent little time in his gospel addressing that, though he did make it clear in the first chapter:
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
So why the emphasis here, at the dawn of the second century, does John write an entire letter with the humanity of Jesus as a major theme that he calls part of a real, saving faith? The answer is the collision between the gospel and something called Gnosticism. I am not going to go too much into the history of Gnosticism, but it is important to know that one part of this doctrine went all the way back to the Greek philosopher Plato. Plato had taught that all matter was evil and spirit was good. This led to different schools of thought by the first century. One extreme taught that since the spirit was good and the body was evil, the way to righteousness was to deny the lusts and emotions (sort of like Star Trek Vulcans) where others believed that they could indulge the flesh while the mind was separately pursuing high and lofty thoughts (or something like that). But the important doctrine was the fact that matter was corrupt and unredeemable.
So when Greeks became Christians there was a serious conflict. They could believe that Jesus was a supernatural being, but the idea that He was a man was repugnant to their native philosophy. We don’t know much about their faith. James Boice writes this about them: “The Gnostics put themselves forward as being “the knowing ones”, which is the essential meaning of the word Gnostic, while at the same time insisting that salvation is primarily by knowledge, that is, by an initiation into the mystical and allegedly superior knowledge they possessed. In most forms of Gnosticism this meant that the importance of moral conduct was denied. The Gnostic might say that he had no sin, or that what he did was not sin, or that he could have fellowship with God even though he continued sinning.”[1] As we read through I John we will see him refute this doctrine specifically and he will talk about what we know about Jesus, himself being a physical witness.
But Gnosticism was so ingrained as a philosophy that many tried to reconcile the gospel with it. The infiltration of Gnostic teaching into professed Christianity as it spread was one of the first crises of the church, and John, the last living apostle of Jesus Christ Himself, wrote this letter to the churches to specifically refute and condemn its teachings. Imagine having been appointed by Jesus to spread the gospel and then finding people who called themselves converts to Christianity trying to incorporate ideas and practices that denied major tenets of this young movement.
Why would the humanity of Christ be important? Consider this: Jesus as a man was the descendent of David and heir to his throne. He took a body to be able to die as our substitute on the cross. His death was real, as was his resurrection, which was a proof of our salvation. Consider what Paul writes:
1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 17-19 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ... 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Or what the writer of the book of Hebrews wrote:
Hebrews 4:14-16 14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
But the Gnostics taught that God could never have taken a body upon Himself and that the idea of the incarnation was impossible. The “Christian Gnostics” explained the life of Christ by saying that the spirit of God temporarily rested on Jesus but left Him before the crucifixion. So how does John address this? STRAIGHT ON:
I John 1:1-2 1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us--.
John says “Hey! I was there! We heard Him, we saw Him, and we TOUCHED Him even.” In other words, the Word that he had introduced in his gospel, that was in the beginning, and was with God, and was God, was manifested to us. Manifested here means to make evident or to make real. Is Jesus real to you? Francis Schaeffer once put it this way:
- Do you believe that God exists and that He is a personal God, and that jesus Christ is God – remembering that we are not talking of the word or idea god, but of the infinite-personal God who is there?
- DSo you acknowledge that you are guilty in the presence of this God – remembering that we are not talking about guilt-feelings, but true moral guilt?
- Do you believe that Jesus Christ died in space and time in history on the cross, and that when he died His substitutional work of bearing God’s punishmet against sin was fully accomplished and complete?
- On the basis of God’s promises in His written communication to us, the Bible, do you (or have you) cast yourself on this Christ as your personal Saviour – not trusting in anything you yourself have ever done or ever will do?[2]
III The Goal of 1 John (and Salvation): Fellowship (vs3)
The goal of this epistle is given in verse 3. “Fellowship”. Remember that the biblical concept of death is one of separation. God told Adam about the tree in the garden that “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”. Now Adam and Eve lived many years after they ate, but they were immediately separated from their Creator by their sin, as evidenced by their hiding from Him and then being banished from the garden. Paul wrote to the Ephesians about their state before salvation “you were dead in trespasses and sins”. But then he described salvation as “God, being rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ”. Without this life, our final destination would be “eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,” (2 Thess 1:9b)
In answer to that, John says “We saw and touched the Word of Life. We are proclaiming this Word to you with the end result that we will have fellowship with you and we all together will have fellowship with God the Father and God the Son, forever!” Look again at the flow of the text of the first three verses of the book:
I John 1:1-3 1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us-- 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
Based on our usage of the word fellowship, we might assume that John is saying that he is joyfully looking forward to us getting together for a potluck and a movie night, right? Or could it mean more? Well, the word translated fellowship here does not mean socializing. It refers more to the concept of partnering. The goal of the gospel is to build the body of Christ.
Jesus prayed for nothing less as He prepared himself to go to
John 17:20-24 20 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, [are] in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
This is the true meaning of the fellowship that we have in Christ. John wants none of his beloved children in Christ to fall short of this. This eternal, joyful unity and togetherness is the goal of salvation. The alternative to being unified in the light is to be alone in the dark, and John wrote to his spiritual children to be together in joy forever.
III Conclusion
So the real question we have as we approach and read through this letter – have you had a life-changing encounter with the real, living, Lord Jesus Christ? Well, John suggests some areas for self-examination.
- Do you love your brethren in Christ? Or do you find excuses to spend as little time as possible with them or prefer the company of those who do not know Jesus?
- Have you degraded Jesus to be a creation of your own design – inoffensive to your own philosophy but ultimately impotent to save you or bring you to God?
- Is your life one of unrepentant, habitual slavery to sin? Has your conscience been blunted by the sin in the world until you just don’t care? Are you keeping the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ, or are you coasting and living your own life for yourself with some idea that “God loves me so it doesn’t matter what I do?”
It is interesting, given our modern evangelism, that nowhere in 1 John did John include the test “did you pray the words of a canned prayer once?” or “did you raise your hand at a meeting when everybody’s eyes were closed and immediately pull it back down lest someone see you?” or even “did you join a church?” Actually you will find none of these in the entire Bible.
Remember, the point of 1 John is not to exclude anyone, it is to give you joy and assurance. John wrote with great love and care. As he wrote: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” His point will be to exalt Jesus, to cause believers to examine their hearts, and to purify the church.
Have you met Jesus? Are you in fellowship with Him? Partnering with Him?
No comments:
Post a Comment