Gospel Stewardship
1 John 4:14-16 • Sermon • Submitted
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Passage- 1 John 4:14-16
Attention-
John is meddeling again
John is challenging how well we biblically love
Matt from Accurate Fab
Talked about the Bible
Talked about God
Never made the conscience choice to confront him with the gospel
Drove home one night on a motorcycle and died in a head on collision with a semi
This is why we need to respond in biblical love
Our love is not sufficient
Introduction-
Throughout 1 John we are given several reasons for Christians to live a life of love
We have already looked at three and will explore another today.
4:7-8 we live in love because God is love
4:9 we live in love becaus eJesus is our example of love
4:12 we live in love because love is the framework for the message of our lives
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
Main truth-
Our stewardship of the gospel reveals the character of our heart towards God and others
In the verses we will study today John is sharing that we live in love because of the hope that lies within us.
What are we doing with the gospel message that has been entrusted to us?
Transition #1-
What is being taught? (Explain the passage and draw out the 1st century truth)
Verse 14…we have seen and do testify
For John “seeing” was much more than just seeing
It involves an engaged mind
Moved emotions
Seeing was having your senses awakened in an impressive and even an astonishing way
Like that person at the art museum that doesn’t just let his eyes pass across the painting or sculpture
They stay and they stare at it
Contemplate it
Soak it in
They just stand there gazing at it
Why? To understand the piece of artwork, the creator of it, the message they want to send
John uses the word “see” in that sense
But not just having seen, the verb tense expresses that the act of seeing was not just a momentary thing…it was ongoing as well
Not only have they seen but have testified and confessed
They have given witness
To what?
The realities of the Gospel
That the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world
The truth that Jesus was born, died, rose on the third day, and ascended to the Father all for the purpose of giving us the opportunity to be reconciled to our creator.
So, verse 15 follows another of our threads that make up the tapestry of 1 John
We are seeing the reasons that Christians live in love but here in verse 15 John intertwines the theme of the marks of a true believer
A true believer confesses the truths of Jesus
John writes that those who confess Jesus dwell in God and God in them
It is a mark that you are truly a child of God
Verse 16…We have known
Remember that when John refers to knowing he is not refering to knowing your multiplications facts or that you can recite verses
John is refering to knowing through experiences…through biblical meditation
That biblical understanding of the love of God results in a love for others that compels us to share the gospel with them.
Transition #2-
How do we understand this in our context? (Bridge 1st century truth to today)
What are we doing with the gospel?
What is the gospel
Aside from the death, burial, and resurrection.
Is it something that you receive and enjoy to the exclution of others?
Is it God working in your life just so you could have a good life?
Is there nothing more to the gospel than what we get out of it?
Whats the point here?
When is the last time we confronted others with the truths of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for the forgiveness of sin
You say…I told them that I accepted Jesus
Great, but thats not necessarily the confrontation they need
They need to know that:
They are image bearers of God…that He created them
He desires a personal relationship with them
They are sinners
Sin is what has broken that relationship
They cant do anything about it
They need to accept Jesus’ sacrifice
That’s the confrontation that the gospel brings
Anything short of that is just telling them a story about your life
When is the last time we confronted with the gospel?
Pastor you don’t understand
I know I don’t know the details of the situation
If I confront them they may never talk to me
If you don’t they may spend an eternity in hell
When I talk about the gospel I just don’t know what to say and feel dumb.
You don’t need to have everything figured out ahead of time
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.
The God of this universe can intervene and give us the wisdom, the message, and the words to say
But first I need to prepare myself to love others enough to confront them with the truths of the person and work of Jesus…the gospel
Transition #3-
How do we live this out in our context? (Application of the biblical truth to us personally)
How should this change my thinking. (Mental understanding and/or reasoning?)
The first step to loving biblically is to come to the understanding that my love for others fall far short of how I am exhorted to love in the Bible
I need to realize that I need to love through the strength and mind of Christ
How do I do this
Think like Jesus
How? Study Him…learn how He loved
But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.
So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.
The rich young ruler Mark 10:21
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Philippians 2…Jesus loved the whole world to the point of dying on the cross for our sins
How should this change my whole being? (Behavioral change)
When I come to a biblical understanding of what love is it will not only frame the message of my life in an overarching sense
It will impact specific daily relationships
I will love them enough to give them the gospel message they NEED to hear
I will be less concerned with their initial response and more concerned with their eyernal destiny.
When we understand the love of Jesus towards us we will have no other response but to share the gospel
To go beyond vauge discussions about God and church
We will be compelled to confront sin and share the truth that Jesus died for those sins
Conclusion
Review-
So study Jesus
Study how he love
How he confronts
Study his compassion
Prepare your heart to love like Jesus
To confront like Jesus
To show compassion like Jesus
Jesus; love, confrontation, and compassion were always linked to that persons spiritual condition
Thats why he came to die for us
Our spiritual condition compelled him to love us to the point of death
Do we love others enough to set aside ourselves to love them
To confront them
To compassionaltely lead them to a relationship with their savior
Is the gospel another thing for us to consume for ourselves like money and things?
Or is the gospel just as much about stewardship as our money and stuff?
Call to action-
Lets stop consuming the gospel on ourselves and start giving the gospel
Lets be goods stewards of the gospel
Closing song-
142- The Wonder Of It All