Overcome
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Next week we’re going to begin the first two parts of an intermittent series I’m calling, Sanctuary Light. A friend of mine, Nicole Parker, wrote a book by this title that she says is for “children of all ages.” Like the book, we’re going to explore the story of the sanctuary and how the various services illustrate and propel the gospel story in the everyday life of the ancient Israelite. And as we explore their experience we’re going to find out more about the gospel Jesus told his disciples to share, and that we should be sharing with the world today. These first two messages tell the story of the daily and the monthly services.
Today lets finish the series from 1 John that I’ve been sharing over the past few weeks.
Keep Yourself From Idols
Keep Yourself From Idols
In John’s day there were idols everywhere. His Home-town of Ephesus was home to a temple dedicated to a goddess, and hosted images of many other gods in the pantheon. Yet, when John says, ”My little children, keep yourself from idols” as the very last statement in his first letter to the churches, it doesn’t appear that he’s talking about images of metal and stone. This is the first mention of idolatry in the whole letter. And yet, it’s not.
To understand his meaning we need to look at the whole letter in context.
This is the fifth part of the series of studies on the book of 1 John, and if you’ve been with us the whole time, you’ll know that this letter is filled with contrasts.
God is light, but we live in darkness.
God is love, but we are filled with selfishness and even hate.
John contrasts righteousness and sin.
He contrasts knowing Jesus, the Son of God and the Savior, with knowing false teachings and false messiahs—knowing one is life, knowing the other is doom.
Now in chapter 5 John elaborates on another contrast — born of God vs “of the world.”
At first glance you might think that the issue of idols and these contrasts are unrelated, but let’s explore this chapter and see if we can uncover what John is really saying.
1 John 5:1–2 (ESV)
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
This first option is nothing new. He’s been talking about it since the first chapter when he said his goal for us is that we have fellowship with God—abiding with Jesus. And all throughout this letter John has been telling us about the benefits of being born of God. They include receiving the spirit, and being transformed by God’s love so that we love in return. And now, John points to the Ten Commandments—the law of love—reiterating that the result of being born of God is a transformation in our hearts that leads to obedience.
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
When obedience is a loving response it is not a difficult burden. And we know that we love because he first loved us. His love, instilled in us through His spirit, transforms us so that we love back.
Then, John says that EVERYONE who is born of God overcomes the world.
Do you want to be an overcomer? John says that if you been born again in Jesus then you are an overcomer.
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
If you believe in Jesus, then You are an overcomer!
But what does John mean by “the world?” That’s something he defined for us back in 1 John 2:16:
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
When I hear people talking about “worldliness” its always outward facing stuff like the music we listen to and the clothes we wear. Maybe the food we eat, or the movies we watch. The world is whatever political party we’re not aligned with. It’s all the gender confusion or the moral corruption. We want to think that the world is all that stuff out there that isn’t culturally aligned with our Christian values.
And while John might agree, to some extent, what he does is cut past the outward stuff to the heart of all sin—greed, selfish desires and pride.
These were the problems that Lucifer had in heaven. He wanted a position that God had not given him, and He thought he deserved it because he was so beautiful and talented. Greed, selfish desire, and pride were the beginning of all evil in the universe.
We have to keep in mind that Lucifer didn’t have all the outward things that we describe as worldliness, and yet he defined the category of worldliness. He lived in the perfect culture, and yet he still had these things in his heart. And that’s where John wants us to look too—at our hearts. Are we surrender to Jesus, or clinging to ambition, greed, selfishness and pride? Are we born of God, or children of the world?
When John says, “keep yourself from idols,” I think John is asking us to check our hearts and see if WE are our own idol. Have we, like Lucifer, elevated ourselves to pursue our own interests? Or have taken up our cross to follow Jesus?
Testimony
Testimony
From the beginning of the letter John has been building our confidence in our salvation. He repeatedly points us to Jesus as the source of our salvation, and therefore the source of our confidence. He is the son of God who came in the flesh to save you and me. If we confess he will forgive and cleanse. He is our advocate. He is our salvation.
And in verse 5 he says that the one who overcomes is the one who believes that Jesus is the son of God. He is our confidence. But how can we know that He’s really the savior? The next several verses give us the evidence we need.
This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.
Let’s break this down:
Jesus Christ came by water — that’s what happened when he was baptized.
and blood — that’s what he shed on the cross.
And to separate Jesus from the crowd that got baptized on that day, the Spirit testified that He is the son of God when he came down like a dove. And the spirit testified that Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient when he came down on the disciples on the day of Pentecost.
These are the evidences that John experienced. The disciples saw Jesus get baptized. They saw him crucified. They saw Him resurrected. They experienced the outpouring of the holy spirit. But what about you and me today? What is our experiential evidence?
1 John 5:9–10 (ESV)
If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.
If we believe in Jesus, then we have this testimony in ourselves—the water, the blood and the Spirit.
To John, being born again is inseparable from baptism.
Remember, this is the John who wrote John 3:16, and in that same chapter he quoted Jesus as saying,
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
So, if you’ve been born of God, then you’ve been baptized. And therefore, you have the testimony of the water in your own life.
And not only that, but you have the testimony of the blood too. Jesus shed his blood, you can’t do that for yourself, but you can do this:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Every time we confess our sins we take advantage of the blood of Jesus, and his blood cleanses us from all sin.
Jesus said it this way:
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
That’s the water, and the blood, but what about the Spirit?
Peter says this about the conversion experience:
Acts 2:38 (ESV)
38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit is a gift that God gives us when we are baptized. Not that the spirit hasn’t been involved in our conversion experience before baptism, but when we tell the world that our life belongs to God we give the Spirit permission to fill our lives in a new way.
And when the spirit is in your life, the promise God makes is that he will write his law of love in your heart and in your mind. The evidence of the spirit working in you is the fruit of your life. Are you growing in kindness and patience goodness and love and joy? These are evidences of the spirit in your life.
And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
The contrast couldn’t be more clear:
We either are born of God and have life,
Or we are children of the world, and do not have life.
Pray for each other
Pray for each other
Have you ever been a part of a church that has a strong gossip culture? You know that if you tell so-and-so then within a few days everyone is going to know.
And people only really gossip about the juicy stuff.
That‘s a problem that John was well aware of. In his day people gossiped about who was caught in the temple burning incense to the emperor, or who was caught shopping at the vendor that sold meat that had been offered to an idol. Or who is going out with who.
John is about to suggest something that will completely undercut any gossip, and has the benefit of transforming our experience with Jesus. Pray for each other.
If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
If you see your brother or sister committing sin, pray to God to help them. And the promise is that ”God will give them life.” What a powerful promise!
But mixed in here are these two categories—sin that leads to death and sin that does not lead to death. And what we want to do is start making lists.
One Christian tradition has divided sins into venial sins and mortal sins. In that kind of thinking there are sins that aren’t good — like flipping someone off who pulls in front of you in traffic— and sins that will lead to hell-fire — like gluttony or murder.
Let’s be perfectly clear, there is no sin that does not lead to death. The wages of sin—all sin—is death. With one exception:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The only sin that does not lead to death is the sin that we bring to God in confession and repentance.
I believe that what John is saying is that we need to pray for victory for our brothers and sisters who are truly desiring to follow God, but struggling with a temptation. Don’t throw them under the bus through gossip. Give them grace and pray for them, and God will give them life! Our prayers protect our brothers and sisters.
What about those who are committing sins that lead to death? These are the people who choose not to bring their sin to God in confession. They are just fine, thank you. John seems to suggest that we shouldn’t pray for these people.
It’s not that we shouldn’t pray for them. But John‘s saying that we shouldn’t be asking God to give them victory over temptation, that won’t help since they have no desire to surrender their lives to Jesus. What we SHOULD be asking God to give them is a desire to follow Jesus.
Conclusion
Ok, John, you’ve given us all these contrasts, what should we do with all this?
We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
We know. Know what? That we are born of God. That we are in Jesus who is the true God, and our eternal life.
And because we know this:
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
We have confidence to go to Jesus in prayer.
To pray for forgiveness
To pray for our church family that they will have victory and life
To pray for God’s will in our lives in and for others
The promise is that he hears us and gives us whatever we ask.
Is there something you need from God? Jesus is your advocate. Just ask. Go to God in prayer, and ask.
After our closing hymn we’re going to spend some time in prayer right here in the front. After the prayer we are going to go down to the school cafeteria for a fellowship lunch.
Our closing hymn will be, Standing on the Promises (#518).