Sermon Tone Analysis

Ascending the Mountain - God’s Love and our Purity

18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

We have this morning a break in the argument that John has been making.

Jared took us last week through the idea of antichrists.

John has been constantly talking about opposites trhoughout his talk.

Light and dark, and now the antichrist / christ is the focus.

in fact, Jesus is the star right throughout our passage.

The three verses break up very evenly into three separate thoughts.

I describe these three thoughts.

But firstly, I want to just draw your attention to the verse that precedes our passage, and that follows our passage:

v29 Everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.

3:4

Introduction:

We have now reached the halfway point of the book of 1 John.

John started us off talking about Jesus as the Word that had been revealed to the world.

And the first metaphor that helped us understand the implications of Jesus as the Word was “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all”.

John then has taken us through various implications of us walking in the Light of Jesus.

Last week Jared took us through a description of the antichrists - those seeking to take the church back into darkness.

v22 of Chapter 2 says “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?

He is the antichrist”.

But then John moves on to describe the antichrist as the one who denies the Father and the Son in v23.

All the way to this point Jesus has been woven into our text.

we have had many teachings about what it means to “live in the light”.

John is going to both continue with Jesus woven into the text, but he is now going to focus on something that has been in the background since the start of Chapter 1 - the focus on Jesus as the Son.

Let me show you two ways that John is continuing this discussion rather than just starting a fresh section: Jesus is not referred to at all in our passage in name but only by pronoun.

THE FIRST WAY: In Chapter 3 v1 - The world did not know HIM.

The Him is the Jesus as the Christ, and Jesus as the Son way back in v22 that I mentioned above.

In Chapter 3 v1 - The world did not know HIM.

The Him is the Jesus as the Christ, and Jesus as the Son way back in v22 that I mentioned above.

Similarly in Verse 2 - 4 times He and Him are mentioned, referring to Jesus.

Then in verse three - another Him and He.

So Jesus is referred to 7 times in our three verses, not by name, but by pronoun.

It will be the same in Brandon’s section next week, all the way until verse 8 when he is mentioned as the Son of God.

THE SECOND WAY that we can see that John is continuing his argument can be seen by the verse before our passage and the verse after:

“everyone who practices righteousness . . . . .

.”

“everyone who makes a practice of sinning . . . . .

“

So our section begins and ends very deliberately by John in a very much down-to-earth way.

Christianity is no mental exercise for John even when writing after 50 years of life as a leader of the church.

Christianity is fulfilled in the everyday practice of our life.

But what John does for us, is give us a little mountain top experience in the midst of the every day practice.

I am calling it - Ascending the Mountain, because for me, it reminds me a bit like what happened for John on the Mount Transfiguration.

In Mark Chapter 8, Jesus is in with the crowds, teaching them, and starts to mention that he will be crucified.

Then Jesus takes Peter James and John up on the mountain, and they see Jesus in His Glory.

It is one of the few times in Scripture when God Speaks, and John was a part of it.

Then they come down of the mountain and Jesus is back with the crowds again, having compassion on a little boy who had the evil spirit that made him mute, and rebuking the disciples for their discussion on who is the greatest.

In these three verses John gives us a mountain top experience.

It is not an end in itself - John will return to the same themes that he has mentioned before, just as in the gospel story, Jesus continues to work in the ordinariness of Galilean life.

But once we see the view from the top today, then my prayer is that when we come back down, we will know the direction that we need to head from here on.

And that is the advantage of being in a high place, isn’t it?

It is the difference between being in a little Holden Barina, stuck in a traffic jam trying to get into the city, vs being in a open-topped double decker bus around London, like mum did last year - and seeing not just why you are stuck, but you can see above, to the city skyline.

So let us ascend the mountain together in these three verses: (for reasons that will become apparent, I am quoting them in both the ESV and NIV)

(ESV)

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. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

And that is what we are!

The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.

But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

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. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

(NIV)

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

And that is what we are!

The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.

But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

There are three verses here that nicely split themselves into our three main points this morning.

The wonderful love:that makes us His Children now (Verse 1)

The wonderful destiny: that makes us like His Son Jesus then

The wonderful path: the way of purity from now to then.

We we have three wonders to consider wonderful love, wonderful destiny and wonderful path: Let’s get started!

A Wonderful Love Verse 1.

I have included the text of our section from both the ESV and NIV.

The ESV might be accurate in words, but it is not a good translation to transmit the force of emotion that John is conveying.

The NIV gives a better rendering

Let me explain by including the new 2011 version of the NIV so we can compare:

First of all is the word SEE.

Even that is a little wishy-washy, and I find myself preferring the New King James Version with BEHOLD.

We sing it as a song sometimes - Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the sons of God.

Behold is more like - step back and take it all in!

The reason that I like Behold is because of the second word in the sentence.

It is a greek word that is only used seven times in the New Testament, but it is only ever used in situations that indicate a marvel - something just out of this world.

The one that I am most thinking of is in .

Jesus Calms a Storm

Jesus Calms a Storm

23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.

24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.

25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.”

26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”

Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

The word is the one from V27 - what sort of man is this?

We are meant to be astonished by this love.

so when the ESV says, ‘see what kind of love’, it is kind of a ridiculous understatement.

John Stott, in his commentary, explained it this way:

The Father’s love is so unearthly, so foreign to this world, that [John] wonders from what country it may come.”

God’s love is foreign to humankind in that we cannot understand the magnitude of such love.

It astonishes, amazes, and creates wonder within those who properly reflect upon it.