Sermon Tone Analysis
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INTRODUCTION
Notice all of the reason’s that John gives for writing to the Church.
I am writing because your sins are forgiven.
I am writing because you know Him who is from the beginning.
(written 2 times)
I am writing because you have overcome the evil one.
I am writing because you know the Father.
I am writing because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you (you have overcome the evil one) (John 16:33)
(1) Notice the dramatic declaration of the accomplishment of the community of believers.
(2) Next you have an exhortation to live free from the world.
(3) Finally you have a contrast of the world and the believer (v.17).
The three are in the indicative (something real or certain), the imperative (a command of something to be done).
The author is skillfully interwoven what realities have been established by God and what demands upon humans emerge as a result of those realities.
Note: The overarching theme is that there is a kind of love that God hates, and that love is the love for this world.
There are three things John wants us to realize
(1) We belong to God
(2) We know Him as Father
(3) We are part of His family.
For John it is inconceivable that after knowing these three things that we would give our heart and affections to the things of this life, this world.
BIG IDEA: Those who love and follow Christ must not fall in Love with this World.
There are two things we must know in order to embrace our status as a child of the King.
1.
We must know what we are in Christ.
Six times John says that he “has written.”
Notice that he addresses each one of these sections to 3 different stages of life or the human experience are used to identify the audience.
We see the Father, children, and young men.
Each group is identified twice for emphasis.
Perhaps he has in mind that he wants to reach out to all believers - new, old, or somewhere in between.
However, there are other place in 1 John where he refers to his audience as his children.
I think the better way to interpret this is that he has a deep affection for all of those in the Church and does not want to alienate anyone.
he may have thought perhaps so as not to alienate anyone maybe I should also add in the oder more mature Christian and the young men who have conquered and need encouragement.
C.S. Lewis said it well (Mere Christianity, 56)
“Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms.”
*You are Forgiven
Now this may sound like a no brainer to those who have been followers of Christ for any amount of time.
However, John chooses to start his identification of who we are in Christ with “I am writing to you because your sins are forgiven.”
Remember at the beginning of chapter 2 John says that he is writing to his audience so that they may not sin, but if they do, they can rest assured that they have an advocate before the Father.
John states that we are forgiven because of
Jesus name.
“Jesus name speaks to both the person and work of Christ, especially his perfect atoning death on the cross.
If we are free from the penalty of sin and death then why do so many Christians live bound up by the guilt of our sin?
Have you ever heard someone say that they do not feel forgiven?
(Remember Satan loves to use our past sin as a weapon to throw back in our face.)
Remember in 1 John 1:7 it say’s that he is faithful to cleanse us from all sin and unrighteousness.
I think the bigger issue is we fail to trust that God is faithful.
We fail to trust that God is big enough to handle our sin.
How do we know that He is faithful.
Remember that John has come testifying to what he has heard, seen, and experienced.
What motivated and pressed John to get up every morning and continue to trust in God and his forgiveness for sins.
Especially towards the end of his life while in exile on the island of Patmos.
We hold onto the word of the testimony that we have received, and the one that is being written on our hearts.
*You Know the Father
The mark of maturity as a Christian is seen as a deepening of the knowledge we have in Christ.
Twice John writes to them because they have known him who is from the beginning.
John again takes us back to the beginning of time, to the pre-incarnate Christ.
John is appealing to the maturity of believers, because you know him who is from the beginning.
John continues to drive home that he is speaking to those who know or should know Jesus and his character.
We are not surprised when the world acts like the world, because that is it’s nature, however, it is shocking according to John when the children of the light masquerades as children of the darkness.
How can we grow in the Knowledge and Understanding of God?
What am I currently doing to Know God?
There are basically three different levels of knowledge.
(1) Intellectual Knowledge (Head)
We must engage our minds, stop checking your mind at the door of the Church and at the door of this world.
For most people God starts out as an intellectual pursuit.
We must engage our minds because it is there where we process information that helps us begin to understand who God is.
However, for you to really know God, it must become more than merely academic.
This is why the Pharisees were able to quote Scripture and knew the law, but missed who Jesus was.
Their knowledge was merely intellectual and never moved beyond this point.
(2) Experiential Knowledge (Heart)
The second level we engage is experiential.
Part of growing in our understanding of God is not just learning facts and information; you must experience who he is.
When you experience who God is, it takes the facts that you have learned and it makes them come alive.
They move from the place of your mind to the heart.
The heart of stone now becomes a heart of flesh.
(3) Spiritual Knowledge (Hands)
The third level we engage God is spiritual, and this is where true communion with God happens.
While it involves our mind as part of the experience, we commune with God in relationship when our spirit connects with his spirit.
The broken sham-ah from the garden now is reconciled through Jesus Christ.
Note: Remember it is the combination of all three of these stages that we understand more of who God is.
We cannot grow in knowledge of God if our mind is not engaged in the process.
*You are overcomers through faith.
John now turns to young warrior in the faith who are now experiencing victories over their foes as the experience the power of God.
Our ability to defeat the evil one on the battles field has a two fold battle plan.
(1) The work of Christ working in our lives.
Have you ever felt like God seems to be answering everyone else’s prayer but not yours?
And speaking of Facebook, doesn’t it seem like everyone else’s life is so much better than yours?
The vacations they take, the cars they buy, their kids who get all A’s and help old ladies across the streets.
C’mon, man, and the churches they pastor and lead all seem to be experience tremendous growth.
But it never seems to be you!
What in the world is God doing?
Is it possible He has forgotten about you, your circumstances, and your difficulties?
No.
There may be unique combination of punctuation, science, and a story from the New Testament that will shed some light on this issue.
What does Punctuation Say?
The problem is that while we are living in the … of life, we tend to give up, stop praying, and stop believing we can’t see anything happening.
Do you know what the purpose is of the “ellipsis” in the sentence structure.
What it means is that something is missing or incomplete.
It can be used at the end of a sentence to indicate it is unfinished.
Maybe that is what is happening with your prayers, sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes the answer is no, but sometimes the final chapter is yet to be written.
We forget the continuing work of Christ in our lives.
The Eclipse of Life:
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