Belief, Behavior, Beholding

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.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

John’s Writings

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.

Gospel

Epistles

Revelations

John wrote 5 books in the New Testament and in each one he clearly spells out his purpose in doing so

- In his gospel he states it near the end

John 20:30–31 ESV

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

He wrote his gospel with the clear purpose to convert the souls of sinners.

In the book of Revelation, he states his purpose at the beginning:

Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.

Revelation 1:19 ESV

19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.

He wrote down as instructed to coronate the second coming of the savior

In his first epistle he scattered his purpose statements throughout his letter, but the main purpose is found toward the end of the letter:

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

He wrote his epistle to confirm salvation of the saints.

He focuses on three avenues of confirmation of salvation.

These three themes will continuously emerge as we work our way through his letters:

1. Belief

2. Behavior

3. Brotherly love

John’s secondary implied purpose is to also help expose those who don’t believe.

By focusing on these 3 themes he will expose those who say they believe but do not really know Christ, and give assurance of salvation to those who do believe but doubt their salvation.

Ira Wagler

In Growing up Amish Ira Wagler tells his story of growing up in the Old Order Amish community.

His father founded “Family Life” magazine, which is widely read in both the Amish and Mennonite communities.

He describes in detail all of the rules that he had to follow, many of which vary from settlement to settlement and are dependent upon the proclivities of the resident bishop.

It’s well known that they don’t use cars, don’t own televisions, and can’t have phones in their houses. But that barely scraps the surface of the extent of the rules, which are ingrained in the culture and life of the Old Order Amish.

No wire-rimmed glasses. No farm equipment with an engine. What he describes is a life of penance. Working to make yourself as uncomfortable as possible in order to please a mean, angry, and vengeful God.

He left the community three times as he wasn’t able to bare all the rules and regulations. Not because they were hard, necessarily, but because there was never any hope. No hope that his works were ever enough, no hope that he could ever please God, no hope of salvation.

After attempting to live life on the outside, and failing to fit in or connect with anyone, he eventually went back and met a man that had converted to Old Order Amish after having grown up in normal society.

This man introduced him to the gospel and shared with him what Christ had done for him.

It was the first time in his life that he had ever heard that Christ had paid for all of his sins.

For the first time in his life he knew true freedom from condemnation.

For the first time in his life he knew he was saved. Because he understood the person of Jesus Christ, who he is and what he did.

Belief in Jesus Christ

Our faith rests on having a proper Christology. That is, our salvation depends on having a right theological understanding of who Jesus is.

There are only so many options when dealing with the person of Jesus:

1. You can say that it’s all a made-up story. A mythology concocted so that his few followers could live as poor vagabonds and face gruesome deaths.

2. You could say that he’s crazy and his so-called miracles are the work of a charlatan.

3. You could say that he’s a God but not the God.

4. You could say that he really is the Son of God, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, and his miraculous birth, wonderful life, gruesome death and saving resurrection are all proof of this claim.

John doesn’t specifically call out heretical teachers here, but we can see that even back then, only a short ~60 years after Jesus’ resurrection, he was already having to clarify the truth of the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is human

- If Jesus didn’t come in the flesh then he couldn’t have been our representative sacrifice for our sin.

Jesus is divine

- If Jesus wasn’t divine/eternal, then his sacrifice wouldn’t have been permanent.

Jesus is divine

John says that Jesus:

v.1 “was from the beginning”

v.2 “the life… which was with the Father”

v.3 is the Son of God

There never was a time that Jesus was not, and there never will be a time when he will not be.

John’s teaching the same thing about Jesus that Jesus said of himself:

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

1. Here he is harking back to when God appeared to Moses and said to him “I am who I am”.

2. In Jesus claimed that He and the Father are one

3. In he tells Philip:

“Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

Clearly, Jesus believed and taught that he was God and John is doing the same.

Jesus is human

At the same time John is defending Jesus’ divinity he does the same for Jesus’ humanity. He reiterates that his account is a first-hand account. It’s not a game of telephone whereby the message is changed along the way.

He says:

v.1 “we heard”, “we have seen with our own eyes”, “we looked”, “(we) touched”

v.2 “we have seen it”

v.3 “we have seen” “we have heard”

He’s giving a first-person account. It’s not a story that he heard and is proclaiming. It’s not a misunderstanding that he’s attempting to defend.

It’s his own eye-witness account of Jesus’ miraculous works and ministry.

For three years he followed him, intently watching him perform miracles and teach the masses the path to eternal life.

John is writing against the early Gnostic heretics which were split into two camps:

1. One group believed that everything material was evil so Jesus was really just a ghost or a spirit.

2. The other group claimed that he was human but that the “Christ-spirit” entered him at his baptism and left him at his death.

John deals with the first group here and with the second later on in the letter. For us, the recipients of the letter, we can see that it must be imperative that we get our Christology right because we can see that John is spending so much time defending his view.

Jesus wasn’t a myth, he wasn’t a ghost, he wasn’t a vessel for God to enter and leave. He was all human, and all divine.

This is why I don’t like the song “away in a manger”.

Away in a manger

No crib for His bed

The little Lord Jesus

Lay down His sweet head

The stars in the sky

Look down where He lay

The little Lord Jesus

Asleep on the hay

The cattle are lowing

The poor Baby wakes

But little Lord Jesus

No crying He makes

Really!? “No crying he makes”

This is gnostic bull crap.

Little heresy leads to bigger heresy

It builds in us a view of Jesus that is more in line with what we think a God should be like as a baby; but it provides a basis for misunderstanding the person of Christ which could lead to heresy.

It makes Jesus into more of a myth than a real person.

Ricky Bobby

To quote the esteemed Ricky Bobby: “Dear Eight Pound, Six Ounce, Newborn Baby Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant, so cuddly, but still omnipotent.”

It’s easier to believe that Jesus was a baby or that he wasn’t completely God or human because if he is then what he said becomes truth.

If he was who he says he was than we are all have broken God’s law, then we can’t make things right with our own efforts, then we have to believe/trust/and follow him.

The point

You see, the hard part of accepting proper Christology (that Jesus is fully human and fully divine) isn’t the theology it’s the obedience. That’s the stumbling block. Faith is easy, faith in action is hard.

When we accept that Jesus is God who became flesh it means that the Bible isn’t just another in a long line of religious texts, it is THE ONLY true religious text. It means that we Must obey him.

It means that we can no longer be the gods (little “g”) of our own lives but must bow in worship to the one true God (big “G”).

We can no longer claim to “be good enough” but must lay aside our self-sufficiency.

We can no longer depend on our own wisdom to find the purpose of life but must find that meaning in who Jesus is.

Benjamin Franklin sums up the aversion to a god-man in a letter he wrote to a friend (Ezra Stiles):

As to Jesus of Nazareth . . . I think the system of morals and his religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity; tho’ it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now.

Akin, Dr. Daniel L.. Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (Kindle Locations 174-177). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

“Needless to busy myself with it now”? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

If I said “Under one of your seats is a check for a million dollars” how many of you wouldn’t look because it would be “needless to busy myself with it now”

- The problem wasn’t that he didn’t know if it could be true, the problem was that he didn’t want it to be true. If it was true it would mean his whole reason for being would be upended.

- It would mean having to follow the teachings of this Jewish carpenter that lived thousands of years ago. Ignorance is bliss, until it isn’t.

Jesus changes lives

Encountering Jesus is a life-changing experience. The proud are humbled, the rich are made poor, and the self-sufficient are disabled.

Freedom in Christ means a healed relationship with our heavenly father. Whereby the downtrodden are made glad, the poor are made rich and the broken are made whole.

JOY

- There is joy to be found in the person and work of Jesus. A joy that surpasses understanding.

- A joy beyond circumstances and trials and this life.

- There’s hope for tomorrow, and not because things are looking up or things are going to get better but because THEY ARE ALREADY BETTER.

- Jesus doesn’t make things better, Jesus IS THE better.

- Through him we have the promise of eternal life in perfect communion with our creator and nothing on earth, good or bad, can measure up to that promise.

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.

Fellowship for everyone:

1. Horizontal: with one another together here on earth

2. Vertical: with God the Father and God the Son

This fellowship is so good, so pure, so filling that John and his followers can’t not tell others about it.

I have to admit something to everyone: My name is Anthony Crum and I’m a Cleveland Browns fan.

Last night at the Rorabaugh’s house I sat down for a minute to watch the game and within 5 minutes the Browns scored a touchdown. I left from the couch and said quietly “touchdown”. I think it may have been one of the very few times in my life that I was actually able to see the Browns score a touchdown.

Man, that was joy. Pure joy. You all probably have that feeling a lot more than I do, but it pales in comparison to the joy found in a true saving knowledge of the person of Jesus Christ.

Fixed Relationships

Unlike every other religion in the world, Christianity brings us into a close relationship with our creator. A God who is both our judge and our savior. He is a perfect Savior and a perfect Father.

In addition, we get a whole bunch of brothers and sisters too. “From every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. (). We should welcome one another, celebrate with one another, cry with one another and help one another.

Story of LZ.

Prayer: God help us to find joy in you, not just what you can do for us but in who you are. Show us the ways we fail our brothers and sisters, forgive us, change us. Amen.

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