Picture Perfect
Notes
Transcript
Picture Perfect
Picture Perfect
Study of 1 John
We are excited to be in a new series in 1 John. This is an important letter, The Epistle of John is a wonder Apologetic document. You will see what I mean by that momentarily.
John, who walked with Jesus, saw Jesus teaching and doing miracles and experienced the Word “dwelt among us” writes to us about the same word of life now with a different tone.
John is writing to encourage some early followers of Christ to stand firm in the faith in the midst of persecution and uncertainty.
This persecution and uncertainty comes by way of false teaching and individuals who disassociated themselves from the word of God and moved to a new form of teaching. John has to reassure followers of Christ that they indeed followed the one True and Living God.
This is why when you read this letter, the phrase “so that you know” come up multiple times. John wants them to know that they know what they need to know concerning the Person and Work of Christ.
John Labors to defend the person of Christ. . . he labors to fight silly myths that started to pull people out of the fellowship. John will say later in chapter 2 that those who left were not truly believers: They went out from us but was not “Of Us”.
you have the truth, there’s no need for you to drift into other beliefs, no need to mix and match doctrines and faith traditions.
God has given us the Portrait of Christ, Join the Party and Proclaim Him to the WORLD.
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. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
Portrait of Christ
Portrait of Christ
verse 1
1 john 1:1 “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—”
Image is everything, Thirst is another! Sprite used this slogan in a campaign with famous athletes to express the reliability of their refreshing product.
During this era of commercials and branding, companies knew the formula that led to success. No matter how great the Product, putting the right Person on the commercial, produces huge pay outs.
Customers see Michael Jordan on shoes- got to have it. Kobe drinking sprite- i must drink this.
Jimmy Buffet with a guitar, in Key West, Florida- I got to go to Margaritaville.
Image is important and has huge implications on success.
In our text, John doesn’t have a product to sell. He is not trying to create a marketing campaign. He only has the truth about Christ who preached the kingdom, lived the kingdom, and secured that kingdom on calvary.
John doesn’t have anything flashy or technologically advanced. . . He paints a picture for us, and this picture is the person of Christ.
This picture he paints for us, is one to fight against of of the erroneous schools of thought that began to infiltrate the fellowship of Believers. It Called Gnosticism.
Gnosticism- means knowledge. This gnosticism was a combination of pagan mysticism and Greek philosophy. This is problematic for several reasons:
They taught the way of salvation was through secret superior knowledge granted to those who are recipients of it.
They said that all matter was evil, but spirit is good.
the physical body is bad, the soul is good.
this false teaching led to different extremes: Ascetism- the punishment of the body. the body is bad, so beat the body to free the Spirit.
and
licentiousness- live anyway you want. it doesn’t matter what you do to the body, use it however you chose. Over indulge in all the drug, alcohol, sex, do whatever. . . Live your Life.
John had to speak to this because of the practical errors; you can do whatever you like. John partners with Paul when he says: after you are a part of the body of christ, that you life is not your own. You carry the spirit of God in you.
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
John had to speak to this because of the practical errors; but there were Doctrinal errors at stake too.
The two major Doctrinal errors Gnosticism gave way to was: Docetic and Cerinthus Gnosticism.
Docetic denies the incarnation of Jesus: body evil and good spirit can not align together.
Cerinthus- denies the deity of Jesus. . . . said he had a real body and was an ordinary dude. Not God in the flesh. The spirit of God came on Him for three years and left him at death.
With this on his mind; John begins to paint the Perfect Picture of our Perfect Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
With gnosticism as the backdrop, John says that which was from the beginning, which we Have Heard, which we Have Seen with our own eyes,
john probably had relatives from Memphis because after he said seen with our own eyes. . . he says: we looked upon, we touched with our hands
concerning the word of life.
Can you see that picture?
Jesus, the living word, who was with God from the beginning, and dwelt among us. The One who all things were made for, in Him was life, and that life was the light of men. And that word became Flesh dwelt among us. The Law came by Moses; Grace and Truth through Jesus.
John says I know what I saw and heard and what I saw and heard is still ringing loud and clear, I can remember like it was yesterday. I had an experience with God.
If you ever get the chance to go to Paris, it has some amazing places to see. Tower, Crepes, Arc de triumph and my favorite. . .
The Le Louvre (lou-vare)!!
It’s not my favorite for the reasons you may think; but I like the museum. Most times of the year, thousands can be parading through the museum to see the beautiful artwork. Paintings and murals are all over the place. Left turn, right turn, down the stairs. . . right turn and left turn. . . hours later you get to the place that is worth the price of Admission. No other area this particular day had lines and rows of people lined up to see this painting.
the awe and excitement, i’m wondering what is this madness all about. As my group get closer, we see it, with our own eyes. . . the Mona Lisa!
The picture of grand beauty, the picture that has been in hundreds of songs to describe, artistically, the beauty of their lover:
The late great Nat King Cole: “are you warm are you real mona lisa, or just a cold and lovely work of art.”
i stand before the picture and i am not impressed. Le Louvre is filled with incredible art and this Mona Lisa did not fill me with the joy I thought.
But i saw it, i experienced it, was close enough to touch it. Not off of what someone else said but what i experienced.
John fights the detractors with their own fallacies. Jesus is the incarnate God and I saw and touched him, i heard his voice. John saw the 100% God 100% Man, John saw the hypostatic union. He could debate at the councils many years after John’s death and argue on behalf of the homousis of Jesus, that he was not a similar substance But the Same Substance of God the father.
That from the beginning- Jesus was begotten and not made
we have heard- John says the Voice of Jesus is still audible in my ear.
we have seen with our own eyes- the disciples had 3 years of watching Jesus teaching and living.
we looked upon- seeing the resurrected Lord
We have touched with our hands-
39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
John uses historical facts to fight against heresy.
We who are followers of Christ must use the facts to fight against false teachings surrounding the person of Christ.
We live in a society which choses anything other than Christ to fill the voids in their restless souls.
Society loves to mix in new practices, new teachings , new theologies, new ideologies,
in the end, year after year, generation after generation- there is still a hole in their soul.
John’s solution for this Christ, who is the word of life.
We have the portrait of Christ, Now we see the proclamation of Christ.
Proclamation of Christ
Proclamation of Christ
verse 2-3
1 john 1:2-3 “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.”
John tells us now, once you get the picture right and have downloaded it in our minds.. we have to Proclaim Christ to the world.
This is why John, Peter and the other disciples wrote and preached. They had to tell somebody. There’s no use of keeping the good news to ourselves we have to tell it to someone.
It’s preaching, evangelism, discipleship. We are fortunate at 2PC to be around individuals who are working tirelessly to equip us to Proclaim Christ. Through our spiritual formation team lead by Todd, the goal is to build up the man/woman to proclaim Christ to the nations. Through Sunday school, Bible study- we want to give you the tools you need to stand firm. Mary Willson Hanah and her team are training women to study and teach the word to others.
all of this to Flow into the Parishes, Brian Lewis, to reach the lost in our neighborhoods and communities.
This will not happen unless we make Verbal proclamations and Visible proclamations.
For John, he saw the life of Christ and Verbal and Visible demonstrations of the kingdom of God.
heard preaching, saw feeding
heard teaching, saw healing
This is what we are to do. Verbal and Visible.
Teaching and Living.
Must have the Boldness to Teach, and the courage to Live what we are teaching.
The old saints at the little church in Orange Mound I grew up in sang this old song that seemed too simple to have strong theological understandings.
“This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine. This little light if mine, I’m going to let it shine. Everywhere I go, I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.”
We must let our light shine, everywhere we go. . so that the light and life of Christ can be witnessed and experienced by others.
It’s our duty, we get to be a part of what the Lord is doing.
what are we proclaiming?
paul emphatically says it’s Christ.
28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
warning- the wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life
teaching- basic Christian doctrine
So all can be mature.
and experience fellowship with God and fellowship with others
we have the Portrait of christ, we proclaim christ now we party because of Christ.
Party because of Christ
Party because of Christ
verse 4
1 john 1:4 “4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”
I’ll never forget the first time I ran the cooper/young 4 miler. The training, getting everything ready, made sure my shoes looked good, had my headbands on, ipod nano clipped on. I was ready. This is my first official run ever and My wife and Bill Garner were both like “you need to pace yourself.”
i scoffed at that and had my sights on winning. As history makes note of this, I did not win and because i shunned instruction i barely made it to the end.
As I approached the finish line, I noticed something strange. The folks who had been running ahead of me, in pain and sweating and applying ice to their knees and hips were having a Party.
celebrating the joy of completion, the joy of crossing the finish line.
John rounds third and heads for home with a seemingly selfish desire. Our Joy be made complete.
All I’m writing about is so we can have joy, so i can celebrate. John says: after our fellowship with God obtained and we good with our fellowship… this brings me joy.
John uses this a few more times in his letters
2 john 12 “12 Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.”
3 john 4 “4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
He’s really concerned with this joy.
John uses this as the explanation mark on all he shared so far. Remember earlier he reminded us of his encounter with Jesus. . . this is John showing off.
John, a beloved disciple of Jesus remembers His Lord being concerned with Joy.
the disciples are realizing Jesus time is coming, jesus preparing them for life without him on earth:
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
Jesus telling his disciples that the world would hate them
22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
in the high priestly prayer
11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
He remembers Jesus desire for them to have joy regardless of the circumstances.
Our joy as believers is different from worldly joy. Worldly joy is dependent on outward circumstances: health, finances, ole miss winning and gaining more yards than every team except one....
our joy is the inward reality of what christ has done on our behalf, He died in our place and for our sin. The spirit of God lives in us.
We have supernatural strength to get through anything that tries to knock us off track.
this joy we have, the world did not give and the world can’t take it away.
do you have joy? Have you experienced joy lately.
life is tough, life can be unfair at times. things happen we sometimes will not understand.
But when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all He has done for me, my soul cries out with JOY. . . hallelujah. . thank god for saving me.
The table we are about to experience brings us joy and hope in what Christ has done for us. Since we have been justified by faith, we now have peace with God.
Lets pray
portrait, proclaim, party