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Welcome & Announcements: Daniel
Sunday School: This coming Sunday is the first week of Sunday School.
We will be spending the first week doing an overview and introduction.
Please read the "Introduction" section for January 9th.
There will be a brief volunteer training time before Sunday School this week.
Small Groups: Next Thursday (January 13th @ 6:30 pm), we will be meeting at Daniel & Lynette's new house.
Content: We will be watching a series called, Gentle & Lowly.
This series is based on the book (which I linked below).
This is an amazing book and I am excited to be able to study the Scriptures together in our home.
Fellowship Sunday: We will be having a Fellowship Sunday after service on January 23rd.
Call to Worship in Song:
Blessed Assurance
How Great Thou Art
Scripture Reading: Someone Needed
Old Testament Text: Deuteronomy 6:4-9
New Testament Text: John 13:31-34
Offering & Pastoral Prayer: Daniel
Adoration
Confession
Thanksgiving
Supplication
Marian Mason (Kaye)
Bill Shillingburg (Kaye)
Prayer
This week, we are covering an introduction and brief overview of the book of 1 John.
As we consider jumping into a book, it is important that we grasp the big picture of what John is doing before we dive into the individual pieces.
The Book of 1 John as a Medical Examiner
I want you to picture every time we come together for the next several months like John is hooking you and I up to a monitor that you would find in an operating room.
You would find in any hospital room, machines which measure vitals on the human body.
They measure things like heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, and blood oxygen levels.
These instruments only have ONE function, and that is to report what is already existing.
These instruments (TYPICALLY) do not produce the vitals, but only measure to see if life is present.
In the same way that medical instruments measure vital signs, 1 John is seeking to measure our vital signs as Christians.
Purpose
One of the purposes of this book is this very test.
John is NOT giving false assurance.
Nor is he simply trying to puff us up and show how good we are.
The Epistles of John: An Expositional Commentary (Christian Assurance)
“In his first epistle, his purpose is to lead those who already believe to a deeper understanding of the faith and to confidence in that which they already possess.”
He is seeking to give an accurate assessment that we may know the joy of fellowship with God and one another.
This entire book is truly centered upon this reality, joy.
How can a person who claims to be a believer truly know they are a Christian?
John is putting the profession of the believer to the test.
In a day and time that people wonder, “What really is a Christian?”
If you were to just poll a person on the street and ask them, “What is a Christian?”
They would give you a myriad of answers, mostly being incorrect.
But John is writing to Christians whose faith has been shaken because of people who have recently departed from their gathering.
It becomes clear as you read the letter that John is addressing the Christian’s in a particular place who have become unsettled by false teaching among them.
John is confronting people who have departed from their gathering and are really causing a major stir.
Naturally many of the other members of the church were confused.
Were the new teachers right?
Was the old teaching to be abandoned?
Where did the truth lie?
Had they been Christians all along, or were their former beliefs only a preparation for this higher and only authentic form of Christianity?
In short, how could one know when he was truly a child of God?
How could a believer know when he was born again?
Can a person really know anything for certain in such circumstances?
Are there any absolutes?
Is there anything that will be true, not only today, but tomorrow and the day after that as well?
John replies that in spiritual matters, which are the most important anyway, there can be certainty.
And if this is true, then this is obviously a message that our age (as well as every other age) needs to hear.
In a day and age when there is so much confusion, we need clarity.
We need the book of 1 John.
He gives several tests to determine if there is any life in the person.
The first test is....
Believing Test: Do you believe the right things?
This means that God is a God of truth.
He is not the God of deception.
He is not concealing Himself, but has clearly made Himself known.
It also continues to affirm a slogan which has been said around Gospel Life for a long time now, “Our theology drives our practice.”
Basically, what we believe determines what we do.
And for John, he is simply asking, do you believe the right things?
You must believe that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God come in the flesh.
I want to introduce you to a term which is uncommon but important and will be referenced often throughout this letter...
Esoteric Gnosticism
This first term means to be understood “specially” or by a limited number of people.
The second term comes from the greek word for “knowledge”
Likely what was happening was there was a group which was claiming that they had some kind of “special knowledge”
This group also believed that the physical body was in some way “bad” or “evil” and they elevated a hyper-spirituality.
This group which had broke off from the church as a whole was saying that they were able to have an experience with God because of some “secret” knowledge.
These gnostics were unsettling the Christians in that place because they were rejecting Jesus in some way and looking down on people who did not have this “special” experience.
If you read this book you will continue to hear the words...
They were elevating themselves and their experiences and diminishing the person of Jesus.
Part of the lie that these gnostics were believing is that Jesus didn’t really come in the flesh, because they believed the flesh was evil.
They believed that the Messiah came upon Jesus at his baptism and then left at the crucification.
This is because they believed the body was evil.
Now you may wonder, “What does esoteric gnosticism have anything to do with me?”
Great question!
Have you ever separated your intentions from your actions?
Have you ever said, “I would like to read my Bible” or “I would like to pray”, but when it comes to your actions you do nothing.
But as someone asks your status spiritually, you say you’re doing well because you intended well...
Listen to how John confronts these haters of the body who denied the incarnation....
John is trying to be abundantly clear, the ONE whom we SAW, the ONE whom we HEARD, and the ONE whom we TOUCHED.
The Historical Grounds of Our Faith
This was not some half-flesh Jesus, but a fully human and fully God, Jesus.
This fully man, and fully God, Jesus came at a real time and in a real place.
And what we have seen, heard, and touched; we have told you about.
John is very clear that this group of believers had the truth at the founding of their community.
This group that has broken off from you, they are the ones who are liars.
For John, the believing test is not something we relegate to the back halls of our church assembly.
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