1 John intro

INTRO

Good morning everyone, if you have your Bible this morning you can turn to 1 John where we will be starting a series of walking through this short, but dense book.

Something that I do every time we go through new book is to give you some background, or context, of that book so that we can all understand it better. And while I know this may feel academic or laborious to cover the who, what, where, when and why’s of a letter, it helps us to remember that the Bible was written for us but it was not written to us.

Meaning, in this letter there will be no statement towards myself, Living Rock church, or any cultural events. However, there are truths in this text that were written to certain people in a certain place at a certain time that still pertain to us. Do you see the difference? One makes the Bible all about me the other make the Bible about what God wants it to be.

So with all that being said, if you don’t have the notes you can grab some on the back table there because we will be going through some important stuff that hopefully you can hand onto through this series.

But before we do all of that why don’t we take a moment to pray for our hearts to be ready and open to hear what God has for us today.

PRAY

BODY

So, before we read the text this morning, lets learn a little about the world and the people that this letter was written to. So our first question to understand this letter is,

Who wrote it? John the apostle.

Who is this John the apostle, well he was the brother of James and they were called sons of thunder. He was called by Jesus to follow Him, was the only disciple to be recorded at the crucifixtion (possibly because he was so young). He became a leader in the early church where his brother James was one of the first martyrs of the faith. That is, he was killed for following Jesus. He moved to Ephesus in 67ad after Peter and Paul were both executed and most scholars and theologians believe he wrote this letter, the Gospel of John, and 2 and 3rd John around 90 a.d. So, why do I share all of this with you? Because John has is old. He is around 80 years old here, has seen a lot in his life, and is wanting to pass on to the coming generation who Jesus is. John who once was called a son of thunder is the one who penned years later that he was “the disciple that Jesus loved” in the Gospel that he wrote. He is an old man with a lot of wisdom, but able to explain it so that little children can understand it.

What kind of letter is this? An Amplification letter

If you have read through 1 John before, you know that it is not your traditional letter like Paul or Peter wrote. Where they say Paul, a servant of Christ, writing to so and so and then goes into a body and conclusion. John basically takes two or three concepts and just circles around those to make sure you understand, in light of Jesus and the present circumstances going on, whay they actually are. So the two themes that John amplifies and circles around are light and love. So why would he be focused on those two things?

Why did he write this letter? Possible heresies infecting the church

I say possible because we are not 100% sure why John wrote these letters. Just being honest with you. However, from other letters and other documents we do know that there were a lot of new ideas and believes being formed that were causing serperation in the church. So the heresies that were starting to take form in this time were the following:

Gnosticims

Matter is evil, spirit is good.

Believe to have a higher knowledge than others.

So just to give a little insight into this belief I want to read to you this description of Gnosticism by theologian and apologist Wesley Huff. He describes Gnosticim in this way

Although there were many competing ideas within the umbrella of what we today consider “ancient Gnosticism” the common theme between all of them focused on an original perfect divinity and lesser divine beings (known as Aeons) that radiate out from the one pure divinity. Essential to Gnosticism is the idea that the physical world is evil and the spiritual world is pure. Gnostics believed that this world was created by an evil god (known as the Demi-Urge) who trapped spiritual beings within evil physical realities. To escape from this physical world one must realize, through secret knowledge (γνῶσις - gnosis in Greek, of where we get the group’s namesake) that they too are divine, and by this realization (knowledge revealed to humanity by Aeons) people can break free and release their divine spirit.

So from this beliefe that all matter is bad and spirit is good, another heretical teaching was starting to spread of about Jesus and that was called,

Docetism: The claim that Jesus only appeared to have a body and never actually suffered pain and death on a cross.

So, just think about ho that would affect not only Christianity, but John, who literally saw this rabbi, teacher, friend and Lord brutally persecuted. Probably wouldn’t sit well would it?

And neiother did this last herecy that was rising up called,

Cerinthiansim: Jesus was just a man upon whom the “Christ” descended at his baptism and departed before His crucifixion.

You know, almost like an alien invasion or like agent smith in the Matrix. And once again, as we will see when we read this how John counterattacks these herecies all throughout his book to keep the truth of Jesus.

Who did he write it to? Churches around him

Well that is vague Josh, yup! And that’s okay because John, as an elder and one of the last surviving apostles, he probably had a lot of influence. But most theologians and commentators say he was writing to the churches in Ephesus and possibly other churches in other towns such as the ones that he wrote to in the book of Revelation. However, it is important that we see John was writing to believers who could be in trouble by starting to believe some interesting things. Not that that would ever happen today in our incredibly evolved world that we live in, right? I mean, we have everything figured out and wouldn’t dare to believe the ideas of Gnosticim in the church today would we?? I don’t think there is anything new under the sun, so this is why it is good to open the word and see how we can learn.

Okay, I know that was a lot but hopefully it helps you get into the world of John and the readers that received his message. So now we can read through 1 John 1:1-4 to understand what John is writing.

English Standard Version Chapter 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— 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—

That which was from the beginning. Is John talking about the beginning of time or the beginning of the start of Christianity? Yes. The beginning is Jesus, for both creation and Christianity. John 1 tells us that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and is God. So John is talking about Jesus, the beginning is someone that he and the apostles heard. I imagine John remembering his best friend here. He remembered the texture and the tone of his Rabbis voice. Not just the messages he preached but the 3 1/2 years of walking with him, sitting with him, following him. And this very Jesus John saw, and even touched. Big bear hugs man! John was reclining on Jesus at the last supper, and he knows that this Jesus is fully God. Do you see how he is already opposing the false teaching of Gnosticim here? He is like, “You think matter is bad and that Jesus was just some kind of spirit? Ya, I walked with him, talked with him and he is the one who created all things. He is the living God that I was able to listen to, see and maybe even had a secret handshake with.”

He was made manifest, he is the eternal life which was with the father and manifest to us. Meaning to the apostles. The disciples knew that Jesus was fully God and fully man and they believed in him. But look at what John does next. He could have been like the Pharisees or the Gnostics saying, and we are the only ones with this knowledge. We are the ones that have the secret revelation and understanding because we walked with him. You didn’t. haha! No, look what he says next.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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.

The Jesus that John the apostle fellowshipped with is the Jesus that you and I fellowship with. Let that sink in for a minute. Unless you have bought into the form of Gnostic Christianity that thinks Jesus is just this far off God, he is just kind of out there and he somehow forgave my sins. Or, you believe that the same Jesus that John walked with, that he saw ascend into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father, is the same Jesus that you can walk in fellowship with today.

John is showing the inclusiveness of Christianity where we are all welcomed into the fellowship with Jesus and the God the father. That word Fellowship is key throughout the book of John and it’s important to highlight here.

Fellowship means Communion, good relationship, and intimacy.

Now, that sounds pretty intense does it not? John wants you to have good relationship, communion and intimacy with the one who is from the beginning. Why he wants that, he shares throughout the rest of the book. But I think it would be good to pause here, and ask this simple question:

Do you have fellowship with God?

Or, do you have a passive relationship? He is talking and your not listening. He has shown up and worked in powerful ways but we are unresponsive. And could that be because we have a Gnostic view of him, that he didn’t really suffer and die, he didn’t really walk on this earth. I’m just believing in this idea of Jesus that will take me off into a spiritual heaven someday. We think God wants us to get spiritual, he wants us to get physical. Physical in that he wants you to be in relationship, deep, deep relationship with him. Because he is real. It’s more than a prayer to pray, a church to attend, and a couple memory verses to have memorized. It is a relationship that is real, deep and is evident.

How is our fellowship evident? John tells us in the last verse.COMPLETE JOY.

No, this version says our joy can be complete, a couple other versions say your joy. So can we trust the Bible or what is going on here? I’ll spare you the debate and discussion of why this is written but both are evident that someone is getting joy. And usually joy is pretty contagious. So whether it be John getting joy or the readers recieving joy, we got joy baby! Why do we have joy? Because we have fellowship with the living God! He who did not spare his own son, how will he not give us everything else. If God be for us, who can be against us? You have the almighty God alive inside of you. That’s got to move your face a little bit from frown to smile? Maybe even a little bit of a joy even in the diffiuclty?

John is an old man here. Been through a lot. And yet, even after seeing his own brother die, Romans tear down Jerusalem, he is still filled with joy because of the fellowship with His rabbi. And he is saying, you and I can have the same. How do we do that? We will continue to explore that through this series.

CONCLUSION

I will end with this. I would encourage you to read through this little book this week, from start to finish. It doesn’t take long. But as you read it, just ask yourself, am I walking in this fellowship that John is talking about? And if not, how can I start walking in it?

Let’s pray.