Here For It: Wk 1

Intro:

Excited to be back together...

Reflect on Last Year:

Normally, as we enter a new year, the emphasis is on things going differently, or better than the year before. And of course we always want things to improve, and we want to be a part of God doing something new and bigger and better in our lives. However, as I reflected on last year and was thinking about the year ahead, that’s not what stood out to me.

We had a great year last year, God did some amazing things in our ministry! We saw 10 people saved just on Wednesday nights alone and 6 students were baptized from our ministry! Guys, even if that was all the happened, that is an AWESOME year! But on top of that, you guys brought tons of your friends out to everything we did! We grew deeper with each other throughout the year and saw God help many students repent of sin, take a step of obedience, and even begin to get clarity on God’s calling on their life for the future! God was at work in our midst last year, and now we get to start a new year together. So, while I realize I’m sure some of you feel like you need some things to get better this year, I think for our ministry as a whole, the focus is on continuing what God began in us last year! That’s why, to kick off this year together, we will be in this series “Here For It.” Because we need to remember who we are and why we are here, so we can launch into this school year together as a family and be a part of what God is doing in our midst! And in order to be a healthy growing family of Christians we must understand something very important.

Main Point: A community of love must have Jesus at it’s center.

Throughout this series we will be in the book of 1 John because it is one of the most powerful books of the bible for addressing biblical community for Christians!

You can grab your Bible and turn to 1 John now and we’ll begin to see how A community of love must have Jesus at it’s center.

CONTEXT:

As you turn there I want to set us up with what’s going on, who is writing, and what we are about to read.

There is some debate about who wrote this book of the bible, but it shares a lot of similar writing and language to 2 john and 3 John which both have a clear author who calls himself John, so most scholars believe this was also written by that John. And again, the majority of those scholars agree this was the same john who wrote the Gospel of John! We will see as we begin to read, the intro to this book is very similar to the intro to the gospel of John!

So we have a letter written by John, a very close disciple of Jesus.

He was likely writing in Ephesus to a group of house churches that were meeting around that city. They apparently had just had some serious crisis that caused some of the members of those churches to leave and even begin teaching false teachings about Jesus and their faith and trying to lead the remaining church members away!

So, John is writing to encourage these Christians by reminding them of what really matters!

Now, one final note before we read, this book is technically a letter but it doesn’t read like a typical letter. It is more like a really artistically written sermon. It is full of repetition building on the same few points. All with the purpose of calling these christians to remain faithful and continue living as a growing community of Jesus Followers.

So, let’s read together in chapter one as John begins his message ...

1 John 1:1–4 (CSB)

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

We’ll stop there for tonight.

I know what you may be thinking right now. WHAT DID HE JUST SAY??? At first glance it appears that John has that big run on sentence to start his message and uses a whole bunch of words to not say anything specific.

But we have to actually slow down and look back at the text to understand what is going on here. So, go back through it with me.

He says on two occasions here, in verse 2 and 3 that he is proclaiming, or declaring, something to them. That’s the main verb in this passage ok? Every other verb throughout the sentence is used in a passive tense, or past tense. But proclaim or declare is present and active here. That’s how we get to the root of what a passage is about, we single out the main verb that is in the sentence, then we can make sense of what is all around it.

So, he is proclaiming/declaring something, but what?

Well keep working our way backwards and he says in verse 2 he is testifying and declaring about the eternal life that was revealed to them from the Father. Now, it’s all coming together. John is proclaiming and declaring Jesus to them.

Remember he is writing in response to the crisis of false teaching that these christians were dealing with. So, he is proclaiming who Jesus is to them. And they would’ve loved to hear this from John of all people because of who he is.

That goes back to the long list in verse 1! What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen, what we have observed, what we touched…

John is reminding them that HE and THEY have personally experienced Jesus in their lives. He was there and many of them likely were with Jesus while he walked on the earth!

John is saying, hey remember this! We have heard Jesus speak, we have seen him walking around, we have touched him with our hands, and we continue to declare and testify to the world that Jesus came to us! He came to us from the Father to save us from our sins and provide eternal life for us!

This is the charge and reminder these christians needed right off the bat in their discouraged state and division. Remember, we all saw and were with Jesus! He is Lord and we have all experienced him personally.

Main Point: A community of love must have Jesus at it’s center.

John knows that genuine, healthy, Christian community is dependent on true experiences of Jesus. John is tying it all back to their real experiences with Jesus, to counter the LIES of the false teaching around them.

But it is for a purpose!

This gets to the focus of the passage in the last few lines. The word John uses here is Fellowship!

In greek this word is Koinonia.

Fellowship: communion, sharing, participation. A term that conveys a sense of commonality, solidarity, and shared responsibility among households or individuals. The act of sharing in the activities or privileges of an intimate association or group; especially used of marriage and churches.

For the early Christians koinonia was not the frilly ‘fellowship’ of church-sponsored bi-weekly outings. It was not tea, biscuits and sophisticated small talk in the Fellowship Hall after the sermon. It was an unconditional sharing of their lives with the other members of Christ’s body.

Ronald J. Sider

So, it’s not just being together, or talking. It’s Doing life together as we follow Jesus as a family!

That is difficult and messy and we have to commit to do life together, help each other, and build each other up as followers of Jesus!

John says he is declaring Jesus to them so that they can have fellowship with each other!

The church is meant to be the family of God, doing life together, following Jesus together, and worshiping God together as a community!

So it makes sense. A community of love must have Jesus at the center to have fellowship with one another.

Because: Our lives will be fully defined by what we believe about Jesus.

If we have personally encountered Jesus and follow Him as Lord- that will impact every thing we do, every word we speak, and every decision we will make.

If you were at VBS this year, Following Jesus Changes Everything!

So, you get a whole bunch of people whose lives are defined by following Jesus as Lord, and you have them start doing life together, well you get a community of Love because Jesus is at the center!

Let’s put it another way.

Right belief in Jesus (coming from experiencing Him personally), leads to right Obedience to God’s commands, which results in a growing community of love!

When we trust Jesus as Lord, we follow Him obediently, then we realize that God’s commands bring life to the fullest. It leads to a good, full, joyful life with God and people!

Who Jesus is is everything for us, individually and as a community. We have to have that right from the start, or the community will not last and it won’t be loving. Illustration:

So, we’ve all played Jenga and we know its made up of all these pieces. But for a moment let’s pretend it’s not Jenga, it is a community of Christians. We know the parts of it. People, beliefs, traditions, practices, ministries, programs… some necessary some not. But like in a Jenga tower what matters most is the foundation. Sure, if you pull a bunch of stuff out other parts can fall but all i have to do is start to pull away the foundation and in no time the rest of the tower will fall. Following Jesus as Lord must be the foundation for the Church, that is the only way we will have fellowship with one another.

Main Point: A community of love must have Jesus at it’s center.

So, if we want to experience God continue to grow us this year, continue to make us a community of love, continue to bring students, save students and grow students-

Our ministry must be focused on Jesus.

But not just as a ministry. It must be true individually as well.

Our fellowship is with one another and with God- the Father and the Son, through the Spirit.

Look at this picture.

SHOW TRIANGLE!

This is biblical fellowship!

Each of us in a relationship with Jesus, doing life together with one another. If we try to take any part of that triangle out, fellowship is BROKEN!

We must each have Jesus at the center of our lives, in order for us to have fellowship with one another.

Because- a community of love must have jesus at it’s center! Then, as John says, our joy will be complete. We will be living a life of right relationship with God and with others!

That is a community worth inviting people into, that is a community that will lead the people around them to come follow Jesus. That is a community of love! That is the FAMILY OF GOD!

Let’s respond to this together. Bow your heads and close your eyes with me.

MATT CAN COME UP.

I want to ask you a few questions to help you respond during this time.

Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? Clearly, that is what everything hinges on. Have you turned from your sins, believed in Jesus as Lord, and even, have you been baptized? If any of those answers are no, let’s change that tonight. God loved you so much that even though you were walking in sin, separated from Him, he sent his one and only son Jesus into the world to save you. He died on the cross in your place to pay for your sins, and rose from the grave ! He invites you to find life in HIM! Turn from your sin tonight, follow Jesus and experience life with GOD! Is there anyone here tonight that hasn’t been saved, your life isn’t built on and centered around Jesus right now, and you want to get that right now? I want to pray for you, if you’d raise your hand for me to see you.

If you do, is your foundation firmly built on Jesus as you begin this year? Is there any sin you need to confess and repent from? Is Jesus truly the center of your life every day or have you been drifting and taking your focus off of him? Confess those things to God tonight and ask Him to help you be rooted in Him this year. Like John I urge you tonight, REMEMBER Jesus, how he saved you, how much he loves you, and how he calls you to follow Him and he will give you LIFE!

Finally, Are we as a ministry, united in fellowship around the person of Jesus? Now, of course everything I do and lead us in will be focused on Jesus, but I mean, are we all here for it?

Are we commited to showing up as consistently as we can this year so we can be a part of what God is doing here?

Do we love each other, check on each other and pray for each other as a community?

And finally, are we participating in this community together? Worshiping together, sharing with each other, serving, leading,…) That is fellowship! Doing life together as we follow Jesus as a family!

As we sing this song to close, I want to invited you to respond however you need to. Pray, talk to one of the leaders in here, maybe you need to talk to someone beside you about how you can be committed to fellowship with each other this year.

PRAY and close.

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