1 John 5
Letters of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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I’m sure you’ve heard these names before in the world of extreme sports:
John Roberts
Ben Gibbons
Christopher Allan Jowsey
Jason Blair.
I don’t have to tell you this but these are all trophy winners of a sport called.
Extreme Ironing.
You may wonder, what is extreme ironing? And I would answer, exactly what it sounds like, .
Play video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fd6NBQ8ego
you may wonder at least I did what would cause someone to create a sport or compete is a sport like this?
We love it when we win,
We love it when we celebrate
So much so that we find any and every reason to do so.
We think about that idea all the time. Victory.
We think about winners and winning.
We think about this particular word so much that it is even in our the clothes we buy.
The word for victory, or overcoming is nikea.
That is where the brand name Nike got it’s inspiration.
We are heading into an election season in which all we will be thinking only about who wins and who loses.
we think about it in the sports we watch or play.
in our jobs
and it’s when we begin the think about victory in our relationships and in our personal lives that things get a bit tricky
It becomes one of the core ideas we think about. How can I get ahead? How can I make sure I get what I need?
Victory is what happens after all the hard work is done.
The training is completed.
You are being seen and celebrated for it.
The hours are in. You have given blood, sweat, tears, the whole bit, to whatever it is you were working out.
Victory is the hopeful response because
it is the other end of figuring things out. It is the moment where everything we had worked for and hoped for and relied on has come together.
We love the idea of overcoming and victory because it is a moment when everything we had hoped for works.
We are all looking for it, hoping to win at something.
We love victory in games, because for a moment, we have figured it out.
That’s why video games are as popular as they are. They are a way to figure things out when we can’t figure them out in real life.
That is why there are so many life hacks out there. We want to win at life. We want to go through life with ease because we have “figured it out.”
And so we are all leaning into a sense of wanting to be able to figure it out.
Don’t you want to figure life out?
It is because our lives are filled with unknowns and uncertainty that we want to figure things out.
What if I told you victory is about figuring it all out. Just not on our own. Because on our own we are only as clear as our most recent victory. We need a more thorough victory. We need someone with better victory
John’s letter that we have been exploring details what it means to live in God and understand His love in our lives in such a way that we live it out.
He is reminding the church what God is like and what we are called to be like.
So when we hear in this last chapter that those who are born of God overcome the world, and that we have victory, these aren’t new truths to think about, or things to look forward to, but they are realities that we are being called to consider and live into now.
The idea we are looking at this morning is that
to Overcome is to know what Christ Jesus has overcome in our lives
to Overcome is to know what Christ Jesus has overcome in our lives
John tells us to keep God’s commandments, which are not burdensome, and we can do this because of Christ’s victory in the world. And His shared victory in our lives.
So what does it mean for Christ to promise victory?
Christ has promised victory in that He has entered into our lives
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— 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—
He has acted on our behalf
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
He has changed our relationship with Him
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
So that we can love one another
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
we will always want things clean and neat and figured out. But we will never be able to get there on our own, or on the promises of others.
This is why faith is our victory
Pause: Transition
let’s look at how we live in Christs victory
Christians begin at the end. We start with victory.
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
Because faith is the gift from God to have confidence that He is working in our lives and in the world.
That doesn’t mean that God shortcuts us to the finish line and we don’t have to do anything. But it means that we start from a different place entirely. We start from knowing how it will end because of what Christ has done.
When Jesus said, it is finished, He proclaimed victory at the cross.
And so from that point, if your faith is in Christ, everything comes from the strong proclamation in Jesus.
We can trust that He has brought us to where we need to be. We are freed because we are formed in His victory. And His will last.
We are all tempted to hope for victory, that someone or something will get us to where we want to be.
The world makes a lot of promises.
I know what’s coming in November. There are going to be a lot of promises.
Whatever next product or relationship you are considering will make a lot of promises.
But all of them are based in what may or may not happen. A promise isn’t based on hope. A promise is based on action. On what will actually happen.
That political party, that product, that relationship cannot fullfill the promises they have made. They can’t.
Christ has fulfilled what He has promised. We already start ahead when we trust in Him.
We love as if everything God said would become true is true today.
Pause: Transition
Managing our own burdens
That’s not to say we run around yelling we’re number 1! all the time. It doesn’t mean that we are without our own burdens.
Victory is not shaking everything off and pretending our burdens don’t exist.
Victory is taking all of those things that hurt.
Our past hurt, current hurt.
Relationship hurt. Church hurt. Time when trust has been betrayed
Our depression, sadness, anxiety. Those things are burdens and don’t always feel like victories.
What victory in Christ means is not that we are without burden, it’s that we know how it all gets used. We know where everything is ending up.
We know someone who has figured it out and can do something about it.
It causes us to take all of those things more seriously. We are called as Christians,
In complete victory, not to ignore the things that have hurt us or are currently hurting us, but rather, to stare into them.
To do so is to see Christ Jesus staring back.
Victory is not the removal of the things that are too hard to carry but the realization that someone will carry them with us.
to do this well is to live in the victory of Christ
For the Christian, we experience the generosity of God and participate with Him. So to love the most God centric way, the most human way, is to love people well.
Look at Titus 3:3-6
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
Your life as a Christian is a picture of victory. Meaning that you have been given the gift of salvation, that which is complete reconciliation, and have been offered the means to live in reconciliation with others.
That means that, when you exhibit love to another. Love as embrace and wisdom, you are showing a glimpse of the victorious life.
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. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
We have to learn to see that we don’t wait to live out Christ’s life in our own, we are called to do it today. Called to see His victory as enough for us to be carried and changed.
His victory is enough for repentance and change.
His Victory is enough to be able to find joy in difficulty. To find peace in anxiety.
I want to show you an image of what a victorious life in Christ looks like.
But it is definitely not on the mountain top.
John Crist is a comedian who is also a Christian. For years he was making the Christian comedian church circuit and was releasing some really funny videos. His fame rose and Netflix reached out to do a comedy special. Right before that was released,
It was revealed that John, a single guy, was involved in some sexual misconduct. He entered into rehab, removed himself from shows, they were cancellled. The Netflix special was pulled.
Crist entered into a deep valley, seeming the farthest side from victory.
6 months ago Crist gave an interview with Carey Nieuwhof, it is well worth your time to watch the whole thing but I want to show you a two minute clip that shows the victory of Christ in the church.
He is talking about shame in his life and talks about the moment where the story came out of his impropriety. It is the lowest moment, a non victorious moment. But listen for the moment of victory.
John Crist:
John Crist on moral failure
The body of Christ.. saved my life, 1000%. 1000%. publicly I was getting crushed but privately just I felt like the analogy was like me laying and like keeping like my body alive (making cpr actions over a dead body) or something like that...everybody was privately texting me...we love you, anything we can do for you...privately Christians... saved my life, 100%
48:20-50:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cmWFm0W1Hg
This is the picture of victory.
When we trust Christ, we overcome. He is sufficient.
to understand Christs victory is to understand His sufficiency in our lives
where do you see that sufficiency? Where do you need to see it?
Where is the place in your life that doesn’t feel figured out? That doesn’t feel like victory?
John tells us that there is confidence in Christ, not that we would have everything figured out, but that He does. And He has entered into our lives.
Maybe you know someone whose life doesn’t feel like victory. What does it mean for you to love them in the name of Jesus?
Christ gave everything in such a way that we gain everything. His will is accomplished in our lives through that. We are not waiting for victory, we are called to live in it.
How can you experience that this week?