5.6.45 10.2.2022 1 John 2.18-29 From Distortion to Discipleship

Start

Entice: With John things can get dense and theological really quick. Last week we looked at a passage that was clear, articulate, brief and to the point. You may have been shocked that I preached about 18 minutes. Well, the water deepens a bit this week. Partly because somethings sometimes cannot be

simplified   

or reduced

to soundbites

or converted into

memorable memes.

My goal is to help you understand what is written, not to simplify it to what we wish it says. I understand that there are times discipleship feels like work. Welcome to discipleship!

Engage: Having said that, there really is nothing so practical as the truth. Contemporary Christian culture loves to pretend like there is some magical world where practical, down-to-earth discipleship exists outside of the norms of Biblical revelation. That approach not working all that well. It transforms the Church into a populist movement which determines its direction by what boosts numbers or popularity with no real foundational reason or demonstrable link to the Biblical text. In the real world most people want reasons for what they do. If those reasons are not Biblically and doctrinally sound they eventually will create a church culture that is not robust. Instead it will be compromised and constantly in danger of being fractured. On the other hand, when the truth is told accurately and lovingly and fits snuggly into a correct Biblical context it shines through the fog of bad, contemporary solutions to the same old problems. It is that clarity which breeds confidence.

Clarity Breeds Confidence

Unfortunately getting there is where the work comes in.

Expand: The doctrinal heart of Christianity is the incarnate deity of Jesus and His relationship to the Father. There were always some who saw Jesus as just a good teacher and nothing more. They thought that a compromised, culturally acceptable Jesus, who was less than God broadened the appeal of His message and the impact of His Church. The problem? It was not what Jesus taught. Nor the earliest Church. In the name of pragmatic effectiveness the heart of the faith was cut out. It was like doing heart surgery by just cutting it out and disposing of it! However, the heart is not an appendix. Such teachings caused confusion and division and even split the Church.

Excite: Our fallen culture needs to see the Church work. To see it effective. To see it loving the least, the lost, and the loveless. We cannot get to where we need to be by abandoning the Jesus of the Bible and by redefining discipleship. We live in an age which desperately needs to feel the practical consequences of correct, well-articulated theology. That's my job in this pulpit, in this sermon, in my ministry. To lift up the Jesus who Himself became incarnate to show us God.

Explore:

A different gospel, with a different Jesus fractures the unity the Church needs to be an effective witness.

Explain: This pure faith in Christ advances from fracture to focus.

Body of Sermon: First we must encounter the fracture brought about by

1. Divisive Confusion.

1 John 2:18–20 ESV

18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.

There are several factors which contribute to confusion and move us away from it.

1.1 Iminent opposition.

Antichrist. Those who oppose what the NT says about Jesus, His deity, and relationship to the Father.

This bad theology leads to

1.2 Evident abandonment.

The Church has always been plagued by those who abandon faith and define a Jesus who is less than He revealed Himself to be. That exodus by those who compromise is plain. They leave the faith, regardless of their claims to remain.

Fortunately, when we understand their opposition and abandonment we can find real, abiding

1.3 Confident encouragement.

In in the Holy Spirit and by the word.

To move beyond fractured relationships, we regain focus through

2. Decisive Clarity.

1 John 2:21–27 ESV

21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. 26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

we have clarity when we

2.1 Know the Truth. 21

This truth for Christianity is very specific. It means that we

2.2 Accurately Acknowledge Father and Son. 22-23

2.3 Residency. 24

Abiding in the truth means we are abiding in the Father and in the Son.

This insures

2.4 Victory. 25

Because the only way to receive the promise is to cling to the truth.

This ensures that we have

2.5 Integrity 26-27

Allowing us to live by the anointing of the Spirit discerning the truth from lies.

Only this kind of doctrinal clarity moves us beyond just understanding allowing to focus on discipleship with

3. Distinctive Confidence.

1 John 2:28–29 ESV

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

Real confidence means

3.1 Abiding in Him. 28

Furthermore, real confidence comes from

3.2 Practicing Righteousness. 29

Not to fulfill some legalistic obligation, but because that is the sure sign of new birth.

Shut Down:

(Intellectual) The life of discipleship that John describes is more than feelings and intuition. Confidence is built upon Clarity. Clarity comes from removing the Confusion which comes from those who would realign the church or remove themselves from it when then don't get their way. You can be certain of your salvation. That certainty begins with understanding who Jesus is, His relationship to the Father, and the danger in not accepting the Biblical testimony. Antichrists are not the monsters of popular imagination. They are far more dangerous. They undermine clear doctrine and confident living by causing us to doubt the redeeming, incarnate presence of Jesus.

(emotional) How you feel about it does not need to define nor drive the experience. True things are not actually up for a vote. How you feel about it is in a sense, irrelevant. Except when the corroding decay of doubt or confusion clouds your heart. This is not just a commercial for Church, it's more like one of those weather announcements that basically says, "RUN FOR SHELTER NOW!" The Church should be that shelter. It is the job of the Church, all of us filled with God's Spirit to live lives of obedient discipleship so that the confused see the model of discipleship which prepares us for His coming.

(volitional) We must choose to believe, choose to follow, choose to fellowship, choose to obey, choose the real, Biblical Jesus over false Antichrists who would lure us to destruction. Practice righteousness every day, and the "game" will be easy.