Believe It | Live It - Week 3 - TRUTH

Anglican Church of Noos April 25, 202 1 John 2:15-29 - TRUT As we’re looking at this great little letter, the overarching word today is TRUTH TRUTH is something that Christians love. Truth is something that Christians believe in, cling to, and have a conviction about. There is certainly historical truth based on Jesus’ bodily life, death and resurrection. And there is also experiential truth, which is personal, and that’s based on our response to the historical truth, and it bears witness to the solid basis of that historical truth For truth per se to have a basis, historical truth and experiential truth need to always be connected. These days, truth is so often confused and confusing We have relative truth seemingly ghting with absolute truth This is what happens when we separate history from experience. We need both. But, when we separate them, we fall into the trap of claiming something to be true which actually may not be true When we make the claim that experiential truth is the truth, we create this great fallacy called relative truth. What’s true for you, isn’t necessarily true for me But what we hold to as Christians to be truth, is different We experience to be true, that which historically is true So when we say that we live by TRUTH, what we mean is that we know it to be so intellectually, we know it to be so experientially, those two interact, and we adjust and change our living to express that truth Now that’s a fairly heady way to start when I want to keep today fairly simple And the reason is that I don’t believe this passage needs to be any more complicated than it is. John thought it was simple, so that’s where we should start Today I want to ask two questions, and re ect on a decision that is needed by all of us 1. Isn’t the world good 2. Who or what is antichrist I’ll come to the decision at the end 1. Isn’t the world a good place John is telling us here not to love the world. Isn’t that odd? At creation, God himself, uses the repeated phrase, “It was good. John is using the words ‘world’ and ‘ esh’ in a different sense In his letters, John uses ‘the world’ to refer to everything that is not of God. When he writes ‘everything in the world’ in v.16, he doesn’t mean mountains, rivers, trees and the beach! But what he is talking about are the spiritual impulses that come from living without reference to God. The word ‘ esh’ refers to what is purely human, as opposed to what is divine. . . . . ” . . . . . . . fl fl . fi ? ? a H ? . . 1 fl Page 1 of 3 So often we try and meet ordinary, human needs in ungodly ways. Advertisers know how to suck us in. They know we are captivated by outward appearance - the ‘lust of the eyes’ Digital marketing has made us particularly susceptible to this When John talks about the ‘pride of life’ he is referring to the sense of security that we get from worldly things - our job, bank balance, insurance, home. These are all good things, but not if we forget that they have no eternal value and they obscure our need for God John’s overall theme is still love, but it comes here with a warning, a real caution. If love for God and others is the goal, then the lust of the esh, and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, are the antithesis of that. And that is because the don’t come from the Father but from the world You can hear the fatherly advice and wisdom of John coming through here. It’s as if he’s saying ‘I know these things are attractive, but they’ll actually destroy your life’ The values of this world should not be the things that de ne us. Our lives should be de ned by the values of Jesus And what did he teach? - deny yourselves, take up your cross and follow Him The Apostle Paul encourages a similar method … the beginning of Romans 12 - Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will. Answer to the question - isn’t the world good? a resounding ‘yes’! But if we love the creation over and above the creator, there are serious consequences. Focus on the eternal, not on the temporary 2. What is the antichrist It’s such a shame that the word antichrist has been made so much more complex than it needs to be. It’s been associated with the paranormal, with prophecies trying to identify a person, or a nation as “The Antichrist”. There is absolutely no need to give the word antichrist in this passage any greater de nition than people who are anti-Christ And the interesting thing is that the term ‘antichrist’ ONLY occurs in John’s letters. It’s nowhere else in the Bible, and it refers to those who have taken a stance of opposition to Christ. John mentions the word ve times. Twice in 2:18, 2:22, 4:3, and once in his second letter in v.7 Now it’s true that Jesus taught that many would come claiming to be the messiah, but they are false prophets. And it’s also true that it seems that the early church was expecting that there could be a gure of evil who would appear at the end of time. 2 Thessalonians mentions the 'man of lawlessness’. And of course, the vision of Revelation which John had in his late life, shows that there will be battle, but the battle is between good and evil, between light and darkness. And, we know that in this letter, John uses the analogy of light and darkness, love and hate, truth and lie, to explain the realities of living in this world. It’s no more complex than that. When John uses the word antichrist or antichrists, the de nition is simple. It’s about anyone who is anti-Christ. Not necessarily about a huge gure in a dark cloak, or a nation, civilisation, empire or leader, caricatured into a symbolic force It is about a stance/attitude of being anti Christ . fi fi . ’ . . . fl fi fi . . . fi . . ? fi fi . . Page 2 of 3 What John is doing rather than refuting the beliefs of those who are anti-Christ, he sets out to strengthen the Christians in the basic fundamentals of what they already know There are repeated and prominent instances of words like light, love and truth, encouraging the believers in what they already know. These are simple words, yet so powerful and profound He’s combating those who were trying to lead the believers astray, through the teaching that Jesus is not the Christ/Messiah. These people had previously been part of these Christian communities, - alluded to that last week They’ve now left the fellowship, but still having in uence on people, and John is calling them antichrists and liars. He exposes their methods by calling them liars, and he taught the believers how to cope and what to do And now about a decision that we all need to make John’s encouragement to the christians here is that they know what they know v.20 begins with an encouraging word. — BUT He’s been talking about the lie propagated by the antichrists, and here he says BUT you know the truth And the reason they know the truth, is because they have been anointed by the Holy One, and that is just another way of saying that they have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit lives within us, he resonates with our spirit in af rming the truth about Jesus. That is the Spirit’s role. To always be pointing to Jesus and af rming his sonship with the Father, his life-giving work on the cross, and his resurrection and glorious ascension back to the Father John is saying to them, you know this truth! I’m not writing to you because you don’t know it. I’m writing to you because you do know it, and lies have nothing to do with truth This is a battle for truth, and it’s the Holy Spirit who leads the ght. Remain in Him The thrust of v.21 is to hold on to what you already know. Don’t give up ground to some new speculation or teaching which actually denies the essentials. The essentials that you’ve been taught, and have been af rmed by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the gift of Jesus to us John nishes this chapter with an encouragement to his readers, and an encouragement to us He says, dear children, the anointing remains in you, so you, remain in him. That’s the decision we need to make Continue in him, so that when he appears we may be con dent and unashamed We need one another, not to boost morale, but to encourage one another in the things that matter most With all our imperfections, frailties, with all our sin, we need each other, we belong to each other because we belong to him. As we continue in the gracious gifting of the Holy Spirit to us, what we believe matters, and how we live matters Yes we need to be realistic about false teaching, about lies, about the enemy, but the joy is that our true reality is con dence in our Saviour The Holy Spirit, resonates with us, declaring the truth in our inner being. We put the world in its right perspective, we recognise the lies and put them in their right perspective, and that enables us to believe and live in the truth. . . . . . . . . . fi fi fi fi fi . fl . ! . . . fi . . . fi . Page 3 of 3