Rightful Fellowship
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Introduction: Introduce self, pray
2 Tim 4.3-4, Romans 16.17-18
For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things.And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on the other hand they will turn aside to myths.
Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who create dissensions and obstacles contrary to the teaching that you learned. Avoid them! For these are the kind who do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By their smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of the naive.
How do we know who is right? Who are we to trust? With whom ought we have fellowship with and why?
(text) 1 John 1:1-4
We’ll talk about background of 1 John, then we will read our passage for today and I pray that we will know how to discern with whom we ought to share with in fellowship.
Introduction to 1 John
Introduction to 1 John
Author
Author
The Apostle John - per tradition the letter itself is anonymous
Son of Zebedee & brother of James (Mk 1:19-20)
Author of the Gospel of John, 1, 2, and 3 John, as well as Revelation
Why John?
Author claims to be an eyewitness 1 John 1:1-3
Internal evidence
Vocabulary (especially, parakletos, only five times in Scripture all five in the Gospel of John and this letter)
Syntax (how it is written)
Theology
All very similar to the Gospel of John
51 parallel references in 1 John and his Gospel have been identified
External evidence
Early church ascribed this epistle to the apostle
the Didache
Clement of Rome
Both late in the 1st century, maybe early 2nd
The Epistle of Barnabas (2nd century)
Polycarp (a disciple of John)
Papias born around 60 AD
First one to make a specific reference to the letter as a work of the Apostle
Irenaeus does likewise, though later in the 2nd century
Strong evidence for the Apostle John as the author of 1 John… 2 and 3 John not as strong… probably due to their brevity and lack of use in the early church… we’ll talk more as we get to each of those
Date
Date
In Irenaeus work Against Heresies, he tells us that John wrote his gospel in Ephesus and stayed there until the time of Trajan.
Trajan was a Roman emperor from 98-117 AD...
Thus the letter had to be written obviously before his death
so 85-98 AD is a reasonable dating
A later dating is preferred as to allow enough time for the issues of which John addresses to develop and become an issue worthy of address.
In case you are wondering which came first… it is believe by many, not all, that the Gospel was written first, then this letter… which again will push the date closer to around 90 AD
Structure & Purpose
Structure & Purpose
Lacks the usual formal characteristics of a letter unlike 2 & 3 John
1 John is best understood as an address or even a sermon written for a specific church or churches
Why?
False teaching and heresies were influencing these churches
Especially in the area of Christology...
These were people who came from the body of Christ, making it all the more deceiving…
These teachers had left the church, though were still influencing the church
In what ways were they leading believers astray?
One commentator sums up the long list into three areas:
Doctrinally
Gnostic undertones by emphasizing the spirit over the flesh
Their understanding of who Christ was… and their specific denial of Jesus as human being the Christ…
Their understanding of the atonement
Morally
Minimized the significance of sin
Especially in regards to how it impacts our fellowship with God
Socially
Their spiritual pride resulted in a lack of love for one another...
All of this will get spelled out for us as we make our way through the letter…
There’s another purpose though
The purpose behind the purpose...
John writes to refute false teaching to reassure the believers of their faith
Most people follow false teaching for a variety of reasons
What has been taught they don’t understand
Or perhaps it’s too hard
Or perhaps it’s not tangible enough for them
Or b/c they lack faith and as Jesus says they look for signs from Heaven, they want more than what has been given them...
This letter, if you have never gone through it, will be eye-opening...
The many false teachings and heresies that exist within the American church, I pray, will become evident
How we ought to engage with such false teachings should as well… especially in 2 John where he tells us not to even greet them.
Understanding John’s public opposition to a false teacher Cerinthus, a Docetist (they believed Jesus only seemed to be human but was actually just a spirit), helps I think with insight to this letter… Irenaeus of Lyons writes about this in his writings title “Against Heresies”...
There are also those who heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, “Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within.” And Polycarp himself replied to Marcion, who met him on one occasion, and said, “Dost thou know me?” “I do know thee, the first-born of Satan.” Such was the horror which the apostles and their disciples had against holding even verbal communication with any corrupters of the truth;
Irenaeus of Lyons, “Irenæus against Heresies,” in The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, vol. 1, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 416.
I pray that as a church, as we work through these letters, that we will consider how we associate, how we engage, and how we deal with false teaching and those of which the teachings come from....
From the books we read, the podcasts we listen to, and the songs we either listen to personally, or the songs we sing here at church. May we be faithful to God’s will in accordance to His Word… and faithful to the teachings of the Apostles as it has been modeled for us and instructed to us in this matter.
Please remember, that I do not stand up here to give you my word or my opinion, but strictly the Word of God and how it ought to be obeyed.
READ 1 John 1:1-4
The Prologue of his letter
Similar to His Gospel (John 1:1-18)
In these 4 verses
Why they should listen
Why he writes
Eternal Life Revealed
Eternal Life Revealed
He’s a Witness to the Word of Life
He’s a Witness to the Word of Life
He was in the beginning with the Word of Life
From the start of the ministry of the Good News w/ Jesus
He heard the Word of Life
He saw the Word of Life
He touched the Word of Life
The Word of Life which has been revealed is Jesus
Jesus is both the messenger and the message
Who do you listen to?
Who is your source on the matters of eternal life?
Who do you let your children and family listen to and be influenced by?
Were they there in the beginning?
Did they personally hear Him teach?
Have they seen Jesus in the flesh?
Have they touched Jesus?
John has… so why not listen to him… but he goes on to tell us why this important and why they proclaim what they know… (they = apostles)
Proclaimed for Fellowship
Proclaimed for Fellowship
The apostles share this - Proclaim it, Preached it…
So they can have fellowship with them
Accepting their teaching fully means to share in fellowship with them
Fellowship - means to share in something common with others
Fellowship with the apostles means fellowship with God
Specifically, the Father AND the Son
Fellowship with the false teachers does not mean fellowship with God…
This fellowship is what completes their joy...
The heart of rebuking false teaching is for the good of the church
Not to be right, not to be heard… but for rightful fellowship
Any fellowship apart from the apostles and apart from God… is wrong fellowship… fellowship that leads to Hell… for only rightful fellowship contains eternal life.
The author recognises that his own joy in Christ cannot be complete if fellow believers for whom he feels some responsibility are in danger of departing from the truth by becoming involved in another koinōnia, one which he will soon prove to be bogus because it does not really involve koinōnia with the Father and the Son (vv. 5–7). In 2 John 4 and 3 John 4 a similar sentiment is expressed: The elder’s joy comes from knowing that others walk in the truth. - Colin Kruse, The Letters of John, PNTC
I have no issue if the sheep given to my care by God tend to gather with other sheep from another flock… as long as that flock is healthy...
But it is my charge, given by God, to ensure that His sheep are as healthy as possible and are protected from the wolves that roam out there looking to devour sheep who might be lost, weak, or wandering for any reason.
This responsibility echoes that of the watchman in Ezekiel 33 as we spoke about last week.
In 1 John 5:13
I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
John tells us that the same things he has written in regard to us having rightful fellowship with the apostles and God...
Are the same things that should lead us to have confidence in knowing that we have eternal life…
We need nothing else beyond what has been given to us via the Word...
Stop looking elsewhere!
Feast on the Good News!
And do not tolerate anything, that tells you otherwise.
This is why I harped on the reading plans last week...
You struggle to understand Scripture… keep reading it explains itself!
Don’t understand the OT? Read the NT more.
Don’t understand the NT? Read the OT more.
Still struggle? Ask a brother, a sister, myself, or one of the elders.
The Word was given to us so that we might be saved through the name of Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection. As we receive forgiveness of sins… thus giving us confident knowledge we are saved.