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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
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.
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.
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:
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
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.
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,
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:
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:
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.
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