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Don Filcek, In the Light - 1 John; 1 John 1:1-4 Witnessing the Cosmic Glory
Welcome to Recast Church in Madawan, Michigan, where we are growing in faith, community, and service. This is a message from the series called In the Light out of the book of 1 John by Pastor Don Filsek.
If you'd like more information about our church, please visit us on the web at www .recastchurch .com. Here's Pastor Don. A.
Question kind of as we introduce the the the next book first John. We're gonna be jumping into that this week, and we're gonna be in that for probably about 10 weeks or so so that's kind of the direction that we're going but just.
Fundamental question as we get started how how many of you like really how often really is the question how often in a given day? Do you consider the meaning of the universe? Like it probably all just it's probably like just right up front in your mind.
It's probably one of the first questions you ask yourself when you get up in the morning. When you go to bed, you're thinking man. What is this all about? What is life for you know and then all throughout the day it just keeps hitting you right?
It's just like what is life about is that probably not so much right? I'm being a little bit sarcastic like we probably don't think at that level very often now. Should we think at that level should we be thinking like what is life about and what am I here for and what is this?
What is this all about and what's going on? Yeah, we should we should and let me just answer for those of you who are familiar with the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. The answer is not 42. Okay, the answer to the universe is not 42 there's something else and The disciple John one of the followers of Jesus is going to give us in his opening to a letter to the churches.
During his era the answer to what he sees as the center point of the universe. What is the cosmic reality? What is the most important thing and he's going to declare that to us? He's going to suggest that he was an eyewitness to a cosmic event that has an impact on every single human being and that every human being ought to be aware of and be thinking about and Contemplating it ought to be one of the first things that we wake up thinking about.
It ought to Impact us all throughout the day it ought to be one of the last things that we are thinking about as we go to bed at night. What he witnessed was nothing less than eternal life. Stepping into history and walking among us.
Is that a pretty big deal? That's it. That's huge and John was compelled to share that cosmic glory with everyone that he saw. He was a witness of it and he proclaimed it. John is proposing that he has an ultimate answer for ultimate things and he starts his letter in dramatic fashion pointing to Jesus as the very Word of Life as The message of God to humanity and the key to fellowship with our Creator.
So I want you to open your Bibles, please to first John now, we've been in Genesis. We've been like around the teens right 16 17 18. I'm gonna ask you to turn to page 877 clear the other end of your Bible page 877 in the seat back Bible in front of you.
You can find first John there. We're used to reading pretty long chunks of Scripture. We are going to read or there's a typo by the way on the front of your brochure. We're not taking all four chapters the first four chapters of first John.
We are taking first John 1 1 through 4 4 verses so Follow along as I read just kind of a shorter section of Scripture the introduction to the letter of first John. That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes.
Which we looked upon and have touched with our hands. Concerning the Word of Life the life was made manifest and we have seen it and Testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.
That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you. So that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be Complete.
Let's pray as the band comes to lead us this morning Father we just get an indication even just from reading this short section of Scripture that this is going to be a dense tight-packed a lot of theology in a very Short section of Scripture that first John is just very very tight in its composition and there's a lot to it and father I pray that we would not get lost in the grammar and lost in the semantics and lost in the word studies and miss the main point of the glory of Jesus Christ.
Father may this word have an impact on our hearts and on our lives and as we contemplate and consider that Jesus Christ is the center of history. He is the main thing. He is the word that it was spoken by you.
He is an an extension of you in this world. That we might really know you that we might really proclaim you and that we might be transformed by having fellowship with you and Father may we worship this morning.
May our voices combine together and in our hearts. Maybe we as individuals Join together in corporate worship with one another. Lifting you high because you are Savior. You are the God who came up with this awesome plan to send Jesus to save us and may our hearts Genuinely be moved to worship you.
May it not just be an exercise again of our vocal cords. Not just an exercise of Reading words on a screen and singing them in certain tunes to notes and things like that but ultimately it would be that our hearts would be moved and that the quality of our singing would not be the point that we would be moved to sing because we love you and we Recognize who you are and that you are worthy of it.
This is in Jesus name Jesus is Lord. Amen. Amen. Well, I encourage you to get comfortable and that means that if you need to get up at any time get more coffee or juice Or doughnuts during the message feel free to do that.
Encourage you to have your Bibles open in front of you if you brought your own open it to first John 1 1 through 4 just the first four verses of that Tiny book way at the back of the Bible if you're gonna use the paperback Bible in the seat back in front of you.
You can turn to page 877. That's where you're gonna find it there and recognize that it kind of filled in after I read so many of you weren't here when I read the text earlier taking advantage of the weekend.
We need some introduction to this book don't we anybody agree with me we need a little bit of introduction. I mean some of you have read it some of you have studied it some of you know a little bit about it.
But we need an introduction to the author. But also a little bit of shifting gears because we've been in the book of Genesis for a while. We've been in an Old Covenant book kind of thinking about the Old Testament and the Old Covenant and the promises that were made.
And so we need we need an introduction to this book. We need an introduction to the author and part of that is because it's easy for us to ignore the history of a biblical Writer and just focus strictly on what he's written right, but we but something about who's writing it matters to us.
There's a fact of the matter is we've been talking Old Covenant things in the Old Testament. And now we shift gears to New Covenant thinking from the New Testament. That is the Old Covenant being promises given.
Have you seen that so far in the book of Genesis? Have we been covering promises given and now the New Testament the New Covenant is a backwards-looking. Promises fulfilled or a present depends on where you're at in the Gospels we're talking about the present promises being fulfilled in Jesus Christ and then an Explanation of those promises being fulfilled in the remainder of the Old Testament in these letters that are written.
And so that's kind of where we're coming from. But it adds to the richness to this text to remember who John was. John was a follower of Jesus. John was the brother of James and Peter and what was their trade?
They were fishermen and one day the three of them with their father Zebedee were out in a boat. As a matter of fact, they weren't out in the boat. They were on the shore in the boat. Mending their nets they had spent the night fishing and there's they're there in the boat and a teacher a rabbi comes along the shoreline.
And a crowd is following him and he's having a hard time speaking to this large crowd because they can't hear him very well. So he he commandeers their boat. He says, can I use your boat? And can you push it out?
Please just a little bit further from shore. He gets kind of the echo off the lake and is able to speak to the crowd using their boat. Well there they're mending their nets. They've been fishing. Apparently they are mending the nets and they haven't caught much and then at the end of his speech this rabbi Says to the fishermen who's the profession professionals here who knows how to fish?
The if anybody knows how to fish its fishermen, right? That's what they do for a trade Peter James, but he says push out a little bit further into deeper water and throw your nets over the other side and They throw their nets out and they bring in this huge haul of fish.
They immediately recognize that this rabbi how many of you would maybe at that point go this rabbi is something else. Okay, he's pretty amazing they're they're like in all of him and he's and he says I want you three to come and Follow me and you will no longer be fishermen, but you'll be fishers of Men.
You'll now you're no longer in the business of catching fish. You're in the in the business of catching the souls of men. They drop their nets. Now. What's what's in their nets? One of the biggest hauls of fish they've ever taken they leave that to daddy Zebedee is gonna end up cleaning all those fish.
How do you like to clean fish? I mean, I like catching fish. I just don't like cleaning him. So he they leave their father. They live their trade. They leave their business and then they begin to follow him and that is the introduction of John the author of our book to Jesus Christ now.
Every indication is that John was a simple man a simple man with a good trade now being a fisherman in those times. At least he had a means of income, right? Many people were poor and it was an area with a lot of poverty under Roman rule.
He was not particularly trained to be a minister. He was likely a man of little education as a matter of fact. The book of first John is the first book that anybody in seminary learns to translate because the language is very repetitive.
It's very simple. You don't have to memorize huge chunks of vocabulary in order to translate first John. He uses some of the same words over and over again for things and so it's easier to translate a pretty simple guy.
Like I said not particularly trained to be a minister, but for three years he would he was with Jesus Christ every day and everywhere. He was there when Jesus walked on the water. He took part in the feeding of the 5 ,000.
He was there during the transfiguration when Jesus revealed only to those three Peter James and John when he revealed his full glory. As if stripping back his humanity and showing and shining forth the glory of God and he and he was almost blinding to them in that event.
He received power. John received power to go out and perform miracles. He had probably healed people and cast out demons in the power of Jesus Christ. He was there in the upper room during the Last Supper with Jesus.
Experiencing that foot washing and that ultimate humility of his rabbi his teacher his master. Not only that but he was there in the garden on the night of betrayal. Supposed to be praying supposed to be praying.
He stood at the foot of the cross and John is the disciple to whom Jesus from the cross said take care of my mom. He was entrusted with that. Are we seeing a signal? Is this a significant author? Is it significant to understand who this author is?
What kind of life experience he has when we read the words that he penned to the church? We need to remember the context of who this guy is and what he had experienced and what he had done. This is our author uneducated by the world's standards a simple man with a simple trade.
Trapping fish in nets day in and day out was his business before he met Christ. And this is our author a man privileged to spend three years of his life learning at the feet of the most important teacher to ever walk this planet.
Uneducated but experienced in what matters most. As he starts with he starts here in the text with simple and profound wisdom in his letter to the churches. The letter is likely written to a specific church.
Because there's issues and specific issues that come up like he's gonna say something to this church later on in the letter I know that some have left you well, he's had he has a specific church in mind and some scholars think he's it's Ephesus.
There's some indication that around AD70 when Jerusalem was destroyed and Emperor Titus rolled in with his troops the Roman Emperor Titus Destroyed the temple and scattered the Jews that that John Scattered to Ephesus and there's indication from that from tradition and history.
And so some people think he actually wrote this to the church in Ephesus. It's unclear but I would suggest to you that regardless of what church we can know something about that church. We don't know the name of it.
But what we what we do know is that this letter is so practical that he might as well have just written it to recast. As we go through this letter, it's going to feel at times like he's writing to you and me.
It's gonna feel like oh that this is kind of personal and that's one of the power of Scripture. Have you identified that before where you've actually read it and it's like this is creepy because it's like the author knows me.
Right. Well, he really does because it's not just John that's the author but John as the Holy Spirit moved him. With his hands to the pen and the quill writing the Spirit moving in him to write that which is beneficial to.
Not just the church in Ephesus or whatever church it might have been not just the church in his day and age. But the church here and now you and me. Just like the gospel that John wrote. We know that you knew that John wrote a gospel.
Then he wrote 1st John 2nd John 3rd John and the big book at the end of the New Testament revelation. But just like he starts off the book of John that I mean the gospel of John he starts in the beginning and he spends the entire first verse describing something and we only find out by the end of the verse what he's describing and so because of the way that John is writing we have to have our thinking caps on right away when we start that which was Beginning which we've heard and when we start reading this he's saying engage your minds people put your thinking caps on.
He's being subtle and he's requiring us to do our own detective work. It's like the book of the letter of John starts off like a biblical game of 20 questions. Okay? I've got something in my mind. Have you ever played 20 questions got something in my mind.
You're gonna ask me questions. I'm gonna tell you some things about it and then you're gonna guess what it is. And that's kind of the way that John starts this whole thing out. He's got he's okay, I've got it in my mind.
It was something that existed in the beginning of time. Okay, so right, you know, he's like write these things down. It's something that beginning be that existed before time began. John says I personally have heard it.
So I've heard it with my ears. My ears have taken it in. I I have experienced it with my ears. John then says my physical eyes have seen it. It was with God before the beginning. It was it was before time began.
I've heard it. My eyes have seen it. I have gazed upon this thing in another way of saying I've studied it. Okay, and I have also touched it with my very hands and this thing by the way. Then he gives it a title.
He says we could rightly call this thing the word of life. Okay? Does anybody anybody have any guesses what he's talking about? Any guesses. Jesus Jesus. Maybe he needed a little bit more explanation.
But hopefully it's clear to you as it is to me that he's talking about Jesus Christ the word of life. Certainly he's speaking of Jesus the one who is declared in his gospel. He calls him the word. So he's wrote that first the gospel came first and now this letter comes later.
Some people even think as an explanation to his letter and there's so much common out I mean to his gospel and there's so much commonality between these that it's like he's he's he's. Reemphasizing some of the same themes he calls in in John chapter 1 the gospel.
He calls Jesus the word. And he calls Jesus the life and here he calls him The word of life. Is there any any doubt that he's talking about Jesus Christ here that that's what he intends for us to be. Thinking about when he says the word of life.
So he combines the two concepts from his gospel the first chapter into one term. Now there are two levels to this text that we need to keep in mind. One level is the straightforward declaration of who Jesus Christ is and then there's also the second level.
Which is what John's trying to accomplish by sharing this with us. So he's ultimately starting off by the straightforward declaration of who Christ is. John is calling Jesus Christ eternal. He's saying he is eternal.
He is calling him the expression of God by calling him the word now. How many of you if you're honest the the phrase the word like we just sang it. We sang the word logos in our in the text of one of these songs.
Did you catch that? What does that mean? Like how many of you in all honesty if you're just being directly honest I want you to raise your hand if you're being honest. That's been a fuzzy concept to you that why would something or someone be called a word like a like a word?
Anybody just to be honest kind of go what is that about? Okay, five of us were honest and the rest of us have it just locked tight. We've got theological concept of logos. Just just. Let's try that one more time.
How many how many honestly you're just kind of like a little bit fuzzy on it. And it's like okay more of you woke up. But some of us are just kind of asleep and saying don't pester me Don. Just just leave me alone.
It's still the morning. And the coffee hasn't settled in yet or something. Well, if we're honest we don't think like Greeks think and because we don't always think just locked tight with Greek philosophy and things like that.
How many of you just you know, you just study Greek philosophy just for fun regularly probably not many of us and so what we need to understand is that to the Greek mind a spoken word was considered to be a part of the essence of the person who conveyed it a A a word is a part of a person.
In other words, that was their thinking to the Greek mind. Our words were seen like our ears and our noses. Are you is your are your ears a part of you? Yes, is your nose a part of you. Yes, are your spoken words a part of you.
Yes. We don't think of it that way but they are. As a matter of fact, they're more powerful than ears and noses. Ears and noses don't do a whole lot except for us. But words are to the Greek like an emissary sent out to represent you to show others who you are and how many of you know that I can I can hang around with you and I can observe your life and I can I can See that and I can know something about you by the way, you live your life.
Would you agree with me on that if I never hear you open your mouth, but I just observe you I learn something. But how many of you know that once you open your mouth, I begin to get more concrete information about you.
Would you agree with me on that? When I hear your words when I hear your values when I hear the things that you choose to use to express yourself I learn a lot more about you more quickly than just watching you.
I learn what's motivating you. I learn what drives you. I learn more about your heart, right? Are you getting what I'm saying in this? It really is such a powerful reality. Which is a reality that's really quickly lost on us in our modern culture particularly an American culture where the world has shifted now to the point where communication is often just status updates and Quick sound bites and things like that we live in a world that posts everything online quickly and believes that authenticity is giving vent to every frustration and whim of our Emotions and so we just think that if we're honest, we'll just share it all.
Right, isn't that I mean in honesty. Do we live in a culture? That's a very much like that. Just just vomit on the screen, right? It's and it happens often, right? And so are we careful about what we're letting out to represent us into.
But then in all honesty, then the question is If we're if we're just being honest and we're typing then that a lot of that stuff is gonna come out right because it's oh. It's about what's in our heart.
Jesus identified. Ultimately that we can know a person's heart by what comes out of them by what they produce and. So Jesus Christ in that sense is called the Word of God. Because he is the ultimate emissary of God.
He is the one that is sent out from the heart of the father. To show us who God is. Does that make sense to you. Does that does that lock down the word the phrase Logos Word of Life Word of God that he is the representative of the true life of eternal life.
He is the representative of God in the world in perfectly revealing to us. What the heart of the father is like. You want to know what the father is like? Listen to the son. Pay attention to the son. Study the son.
Get to know him. Then you will know the father. He is the Word of God. Now some may be confused because the Bible is called the Word of God and so is Jesus. Has that ever been kind of like. Okay, which if I if I just were to stand up in front of everybody say the word of what is the Word of God?
I'd probably get a couple different answers. Some of you now because I've just talked about Jesus you'd say Jesus some of you would say the scriptures. The Bible is the Word of God. Well, I love it because Hebrews 1 in Hebrews 1 the very start of that letter Hebrews 1 verses 1 and 2 says this you don't need to turn there unless that helps you.
My Hebrews 1 1 and 2 says this long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke Words word to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world.
The author of Hebrews clearly communicates that the Bible is as revealed to prophets is indeed the Word of God. It does represent him. It does show us him. But now in these last days he's given us a more perfect expression of him more accurately and more aptly called the word Who is Jesus Christ and that is the ultimate expression of the father is his son?
So the Bible is indeed rightly called the Word of God, but Jesus Christ is also indeed the Word of God as well. But there's another level to this. There's what he's directly stating about Jesus by calling him the word and by talking about him being before in the beginning is he his eternal Quality, but there is another level and that is the trustworthiness that John himself is driving for in the presence of his readers.
He's actually writing this at the intro to his letter to say trust me. I'm asking you to trust me on this. John spent time with the word of life. I spent time with him. He says I heard from his mouth.
I observed him with my eyes. I Studied him which is different to look upon him is different than just see him with his eyes. He's actually like I studied him I got to know him and I touched him with my hands and I want to point out that this is just not this is not just a listing of The senses.
Okay. It's not just strictly a sense list, you know. You saw him you heard him you touched him, you know all of those things. But there's a there's a little bit of a difference here. And I think we're it's gonna really come out later in the in the letter, but it's not just that he spent time with him.
But he heard him as well. So that's a different category altogether. Hearing him is actually hearing the heart of God. There's there's a difference between just observing him and hearing him. John wants to be crazy clear that if you understand anything about his credibility.
It is that he was an eyewitness to the life that was manifest that was revealed from the father. John called Jesus the source of life in a very true sense without Jesus. There would be no life Paul Paul the Apostle also makes this clear in Colossians when he declares that in Jesus all things hold together and In verse 2 John says that he has seen the cosmic glory of God revealed in flesh and is just merely testifying to that which he Experienced in true life says I was there.
I saw it and I'm testifying to that which I experienced and saw and heard. Now I want to testify That I've met a lot of people in life. How many of you would say I've met some people. Have you have you met a few people and I found you know, I've met some pretty neat.
I've met some people who are pretty neat, right? Have you met some people who are kind of neato? Few people good. Maybe you wouldn't use that word for it. Last week I went to the funeral of a mentor and a friend somebody that I worked with in the past in ministry.
It's cool to be able to call somebody in their 80s your friend. There's something that I love about that and he was he was a genuine friend. I want to say this and I and I and I want you I want you to.
This might be even hard for you to believe. But I can say this with all honesty. And so I just you just gonna have to trust me that this is true. This man I worked with him for four years four years off and on I was he had an office two doors down from my office at Berean Baptist Church a Godly man and I can honestly say That he never once ever had to apologize to me for anything.
I am unaware. I This man ever committed I Am never aware of any scenario or situation in which this man had to apologize to somebody else that's the type of integrity that at least or the This the secretiveness of this man.
I don't I don't know how you look at it but I mean, that's that's the way that this man lived his life before me a Godly example a man who have you any of your experience that in life? I feel just privileged to have known the man.
Have you have you experienced that where something and I'm gonna say I'm building this up because it's astonishing to me as I reflect on his life and my interaction with him that I never I Can honestly say I was never personally aware of any sin on his part.
But I do not for a moment Have any delusions that he was Divine. I do not for a moment think that he was without sin because I didn't experience that and what I want to point out is that observing somebody's life is one thing and Hearing them testify and he would testify very clearly to me.
I'm a sinner. He told me he was a sinner. I never experienced him as a sinner. But you know, are you getting are you getting what I'm saying on this? I Don't for a moment think that he was God incarnate.
That he existed in the beginning with God because I did not experience his sin nature. So, how did how did John come to the conclusion? That Jesus was in the beginning with God. He observed his life like I observed this other gentleman's life.
And I mean some of you might go. Well, if that's really the case, maybe you know, maybe you should call him divine too or whatever. Is it the experience of Jesus's life that brought John to the conclusion?
Well, I saw him and I never saw him sin. So I guess he must he must have been perfect. John came to this conclusion not just merely based on his observation of the life of Jesus not just his personal experience of Jesus, but listen to me carefully but by what Jesus taught about himself Coupled with his experience of Jesus's life.
Now if this man that I'm talking about this this mentor of mine had actually Declared himself God and then I experienced his life that way that that'd be a little bit creepy, right? That'd be weird. I Have to deal with that and process that in a different way.
But that's that's what Jesus did. It isn't like Jesus lived his life and then left his identity up to his disciples to determine and they kind of just decided. You know, hey, let's get together all 12 of us or 11 of us after Judas and let's get together and vote and decide.
Did you think that he was God? Did you think he was God and boy? It was just confusing to them and they were kind of like well, we're unsure but. Yeah, I guess that one won by like a six to five vote or something, you know, and that's the way that it went.
No Jesus slowly over time taught them in ways that they could understand that he and the father were one Jesus's words not John's words. He declared the father in him and he in the father. Unified together.
Common purpose in eternity past. That's the kind of teaching that Jesus gave and that's why I'm trying to say. It's not just what John saw with his eyes but it's also what he heard Jesus directly teach him that led him to the conclusions that he was with God in the beginning and.
That he is the very Word of Life. John was privileged to behold Eternal life in flesh he tells us and the word manifests that occurs in verse 2. It occurs there twice is a very loaded theological word.
Now the word manifests isn't a word that we use regularly routinely. But it in that word is conveyed the pre-existence of Jesus Christ. That he existed with the father before. For something to be made manifest it must exist and then be revealed.
Picture a bit the big reveal the curtain. The curtain across the stage. Okay, and somebody's somebody's made a sculpture now a sculpture is there. But you can't see it because of the curtain the way that that sculpture is made manifest is they pull back the curtains, right?
But does it mean that it didn't exist before the curtains were pulled back? No, it's for something to be made manifest. It has to already exist and Just be revealed. Are you getting what I'm saying? And so the word the use of the word manifest.
Like she was just made manifest. She was like there. No, the curtains are you getting what I'm saying by the by how the word manifest explains that she existed. Or that he existed prior to. Yes, I was rattled just there for us just a second that Jesus existed pre-existed in eternity with God.
He was with the father and he came to earth to show us who God is. Now we're speaking about cosmic huge time-altering events here. We're talking about big things here. John is. John is zeroing in right off the bat at his intro about huge things.
The fact that we keep our calendar according to the word becoming flesh. That is his his birth and his becoming one of us shows that in history at least humanity got one thing, right? Now we're trying to undo that one right thing that we got and try to come up with different Systems of of dating things in BCE and we're trying to make all kinds of things, but it's still about Jesus.
The calendar is still centered on him and I don't picture that shifting anytime soon. Although I'm sure we're trying our best to get him out of the center but what we have here is nothing less than God taking the glorious amazing and beautiful condescension and Becoming one of us.
I Don't believe John is boasting that he got to see it. But I think he was indeed in awe that he was one privileged to hear with his ears. See with his eyes touch with his hands the very Word of Life.
And now after all of this let me share you with you something that's funny about John's writing. So we go through verse 1. We go through verse 2 we get down to verse 3 and we finally get to the subject and verb of the sentence.
Now I just said subject and verb and I might as well said adverb and Prepositional phrase to some of you and I lost you when I mentioned any part of speech because English was like your nemesis and you Hated that in school.
And so just bear with me for a second I can I can actually land this with a Star Wars illustration. So so be be prepared for that. It's coming so but all of verses 1 2 are Serving the purpose of just strictly Defining the direct object of this sentence.
Verses 1 2 do not get past the direct object. Now some of you are going what in the world is a direct object. It's the action. It's the thing that takes the action of the verb. We don't get the verb until verse 3.
Okay, that's the way that John writes and it's kind of like dramatic and It's a lot like Yoda. Okay, Yoda loves to speak direct object. Subject verb. So what John the the the disciple of Jesus says here is the Word of Life to you we proclaim.
He goes Yoda on us. Okay, the Word of Life that which was from the beginning. We proclaim to you. Okay. Are you getting what I'm saying? So the the direct object comes first and it's an extensive complex drawn-out grammatical tangle of a direct object.
That ends up with the verb we proclaim the subject we the verb proclaim. But as much as John highlights Jesus in this text the main point still is that Jesus the Word of Life is the message that we proclaim to others.
John like Paul says I have no other message. The message that I have to bring to you is Jesus Christ that which was from the beginning the Word of Life. That's what I have to share with you. I don't I don't have another message.
What I have for you is Jesus take it or leave it. I don't. I don't have anything else. Paul said it this way. But we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles. We still preach it people don't get it.
Jews. Jews stumble over it to the Greek ear. It sounds like stupidity. But we just keep preaching Christ. Because we don't have another message. We we could invent one and then maybe it wouldn't be quite so such a stumbling block to the Jews.
We could invent one and then our co-workers would like it better. We could come up with one and our neighbors might like us more. We could come up with one in our culture and all the agendas that are out there would like us more.
If we could just tweak it a little bit or alter it or make a new message. Are you getting what i'm saying? But there's one message. And that message has the potential to offend a certain segment of society.
Has a has the potential to make make us sound stupid to another segment of society. Are you getting what i'm saying? There's one message. It's jesus christ. He is the message his life his sacrifice. His resurrection his grace his mercy his forgiveness his love.
His eternal reign over his eternal kingdom is The message and everything wrapped up in jesus christ. That's it that's what we have. He is eternal life. Jesus christ is eternal life. As a matter of fact john said as much in his gospel.
He said this and this is eternal life. I'm going to define for you eternal life. That they may know you this is by the way. These are the words of jesus. John is recording this and this is eternal life that they may know you the only true god and Jesus christ father whom you have sent.
That's eternal life. What is eternal life? That you might know god. Through his son through his expressed word through the emissary that god has chosen to send out that we might know his heart. That jesus Is He is the answer to life.
He is the point of the universe because he brings the best knowledge of our creator to life. On this planet. And he shows it to us. And john is motivated to share this message that he was an eyewitness to.
So that others can join in fellowship with those who share the status of eyewitnesses. Now we are not eyewitnesses. Would you agree with me on that? Were you there? We weren't there. I would love to have been.
But we are in fellowship with all others who have identified christ as the answer. All who know him as lord and savior are unified together in him. And then therefore the call out to others Is to come join us in christ.
That's that's the message that we proclaim. Come to jesus. There's one central call that we as a church and the church is the people. It's not it's not the formal interaction that we have with the community.
It is you interacting with the community. It is the people of god interacting with the community. And we have a message and it's come to jesus with us. Come to jesus with us we're weird. Does that settle with you we're weird.
They're weird. Jesus is awesome. Come join us in our weirdness together. That's our message come on in. And I've said often that the thing that binds us together here at recast. Is this common fellowship that we have in jesus christ that it that that many of you if we're honest.
We may have run into each other at meyers at one point. You may have been there looking at the veggies at the same time as me. And maybe you were in my way and I said excuse me or I was in your way and you said excuse me and we Didn't even know at that point that we had any common bonds in christ.
But now what has brought us together we might not have been best friends if we met each other in high school. We might not have wanted to spend time together. But now god has brought us together in love in christ and now we are family.
That's what produces fellowship. That's what fellowship really is. Fellowship is not getting together and talking about the game as fun as that is go tigers. It's it's not just standing around. A dunk tank, although that was pretty fun, right for some of you.
It was really cold. I wasn't exaggerating you can ask kyle. Um, It's not even defined as a potluck meal with the church. A lot of times you're talking about let's go get some fellowship. So who's gonna make some casserole?
Right, uh, that's that's not the definition of fellowship. Fellowship is the deep abiding unity that says when I come together with other christ followers. I am home. I'm home here. Do you have that sense of home at church?
I I love it that god uses the illustration of family because that lets us know that we don't have to always be okay With each other because that's that's my experience of family, right? Is that I mean, isn't that a human.
I mean using using a human illustration god knows. Okay, he's gonna call us a family and we know what that means. Not that means that not every time I walk through these doors do I feel at peace with everybody?
But we're committed to working through it together. We're going to talk it through we're going to work it through. We're going to be a family together. That means we're going to have some things out and we're going to we're going to get on the same page.
And there's going to be apology and confession. Like I said, uh a few sermons ago. That's a part of any healthy human relationship. It's confession and forgiveness. Without confession and forgiveness.
You do not have a healthy relationship with whoever. Because those are an essential part if you if we spend time with each other. We're going to offend one another and that's going to happen. Fellowship is that deep abiding unity that says we're we're home.
And the fact of the matter is the source of our fellowship. Is that your heart Has been captured by the same one who has captured my heart. That's the source of fellowship. That we are in love with the same one.
That we understand what that one has done for us and we've been captured. We have something in common if we have been captured by the same love. And that's fellowship. And our fellowship is not just with each other according to this text.
That's awesome. But our fellowship begins with an amazing truth. Our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus christ. We are united with the sovereign god of the universe if we are in christ.
I don't know which amazes me more in the text. I don't I I mean you you can wrestle with us. Which one amazes you more that the one who was from the beginning came down here to be handled and heard and seen with us.
Does that amaze you? That's that he who experienced the privileges of heaven with his with his father would choose to Come down here and be one of us and experience pain and suffering. Does that anybody anybody go?
That's that's amazing. Rob, thank you for that. Rob is amazed. I am too rob. I'm with you. Um. Or what about this one? That he has reconciled us into fellowship with him through his death both pretty amazing.
What we're really talking about is easter or christmas, which is more important. Which is more important easter or christmas? Well, you probably have your favorite which one of those you like and it has something to do with cultural expression and tradition and stuff.
Like that, but when we're talking about christmas. We're talking about the ultimate condescension of the second person of the trinity coming down in flesh being born here in this messy world. What are we talking about on easter what we're talking about good friday his sacrifice for us and then on easter his resurrection on our behalf.
That seals us as hope. Hopeful that he will indeed raise us in the same way that jesus was raised but without christmas easter is impossible. And without easter christmas is pointless both awesome and amazing.
Both are crazy amazing mysteries and both are found in john's introduction here in veiled terms that as you study it. They're drawn out. The church has one message of hope to the world and it is jesus christ.
John is proclaiming this so that others will come into fellowship. Some even within the church and so there's been some controversy about first john and just the notion of who is his intended audience.
And and I really didn't get to the bottom of the controversy in my study in preparation for this I'm still going to be working on it over the next few weeks. But I think in in context, it's very clear throughout the later chapters of the book that he's talking to believers.
So why is he asking for people to put their trust in jesus to call them into the center? And say you can have fellowship with us and you can have fellowship with the father if these people that he's writing to are already Christians, well, I think there's a reality that we all have seen in our lives some even within the church can slip From the moorings of jesus if you does that word moorings mean anything to you?
How many of you when I use that word? It's it's it's being anchored to the dock. A mooring is is where you where you where you put your boat and you actually make sure the rope. Any of you ever let a boat go?
Have you ever done that? That's that's kind of embarrassing when you actually don't have the rope in the boat slides out and you get it. Whatever. Um, nobody even knows what i'm talking about here um but having your more.
Being moored to the dock of jesus christ being attached to him and held firmly to him and having a short leash. So to speak from jesus, but it's very possible. Would you agree with me? It's very possible for a follower of jesus to become un unmoored from him and kind of start to drift.
Start to drift away. I think that's possible. We can be swept into all kinds of fringe doctrinal arguments and even off into worldly pursuits. But john wants to call all People whether you've been in the church since infancy or this is your first time through the doors of a church.
Come into fellowship with us through fellowship with the father, which is only available through fellowship with his son. Jesus. And the byproduct of that fellowship is true and complete joy according to verse 4.
Our joy encompassing everyone. It's joy for the author. It's joy for me. It's joy for you joy for anyone who would come into fellowship. Through the one whose life was witnessed by the disciple john. We've covered some intense and meaty doctrine.
And I and hopefully you can see where i've gotten these things from the text as you as you look down. You don't think i'm fabricating this out of thin air, but it's it's there in these first four verses.
But let me boil down a couple of these things for our world. Where we live right now this week the first thing john would call us. First and foremost my first application trust his testimony. Trust him.
We're going to be we're going to be walking with him for 10 weeks. Moving forward. We're going to be spending time with him. We're going to be studying him. We're going to be getting to know jesus through him and he says trust me.
Now so then the question that i'm going to pose to you. This morning and I want you to. I want you to think about it. I want you to answer it flippantly or quickly. Do you trust this writing? Do you trust john?
He saw he heard he observed and studied he handled. The one that he's speaking about. And the byproduct of all this close life contact with jesus was a firm conviction that this guy Jesus christ was the expression of the eternal one God in flesh.
John's conclusion. Saw him. Heard him experienced his teaching. Experienced his life and said what this guy preaches and teaches matches up with his life and the miracles and the things i've seen of him.
I believe him. But don't answer the question whether you believe john flippantly. Don't be flippant about it. It's possible that some of us gather together each week and are unconvinced of the unique claims of jesus christ that that john is going to pose to us.
Maybe you've let other things crowd out the central role of jesus in your faith. Maybe the busyness and stuff of earth has crowded out your vision of jesus in the center. Maybe you've considered yourself if you're honest in your heart.
I doubt any of us would be brash enough to state it this way. But if you were really to boil down your life. Some of you have considered yourself graduated on from jesus and you've moved on to other debates and concerns of the faith even some of the the the third tier things that are out here that just are kind of the hot button issues and.
Boy, I I just that's my specialty is to debate these things. My call to all of us is to come back to the center believe john. And come back to jesus. Come back to the center of our faith. The second is to consider then our role in calling others to fellowship.
John was doing here the main verb after all in the entire text is anybody remember proclaim. The main verb in this entire four verses is proclaim. And tying this in with the previous point. What should we be proclaiming?
Don't make me start this over again. I can just flip back and we can start the whole sermon again if you guys aren't with. That was a rude threat. I'm, sorry. I won't do that to you, but maybe. Let me throw it.
Let me Slow pitch this one into the wheelhouse. Who should we be proclaiming? Yes, thank you and and now I get the most interaction because i've threatened to start over again, so maybe i'm on to something here, um.
We we have a tendency to muddle the gospel at times. We we can tend to be the gospel's enemy in the sense that we can confuse the world about what our message is. Because we can bring in all kinds of baggage with us when the message is jesus christ.
You can only share the message in as much as you know, jesus get to know him. Has he saved you? Is he your savior if he's your savior? Then you've got a message to share. He saved me and all I can tell you all I can testify is that I was blind and now I see I was lost and now I'm found.
Who found me? Who healed my sight? Jesus. Let me tell you about him. That's our message. That's what we have to bring To the world. The average unbeliever probably thinks that the church is all about good works.
Would you agree that that's a common problem in our culture? Why? Why is that? Well, we are to the world a bunch of goody two-shoes because in quite quite honestly, we often act that way. I think a lot of this is because the message we often proclaim is the gospel of ourselves.
Gospel in quotes good news. It's as if our message is like this. Hey world good news. If you act like me god will love you, too. That's not good news. That's not the gospel. If we try to win people only through acts of kindness that is all they will ever hear is your kind.
That's the message that we share with our life when we act good or better yet. I mean you're brown noser. You're just you're just trying to make everybody like you and then people hate you because they think you're Too good to be true and there's some truth to that.
Should we do kind things? I'm, not trying to throw the baby out with the bathwater and say don't do nice things then we should be doing kind things. But words are required to explain that jesus is the answer.
We must proclaim. Not just live it proclaim the truth. Proclaim the word of life. Let's be sure that we're keeping jesus at the center of our message. And at the center of our church and then lastly and briefly let me highlight again that the ultimate result of proclaiming jesus As the center for our fellowship together with god Is according to verse 4 joy.
And not just joy. But look at how joy is modified in verse 4 and we are writing these things so that our joy may be what? Complete. Complete joy, that's not how do you think that's that's an awesome phrase.
Complete joy sounds good to me. A life of joy requires christ at the center. The text says nothing by the way about passing happiness. I can get that from a gadget. Okay, a new car a new toy a new something to play with a new tv I can get.
I can get passing happiness from some strange places, right? It's not talking about passing happiness. It's talking about complete joy. A deep alive transforming joy that says come what may I have hope.
Come what may I have purpose. An abiding hope that says and was expressed by paul. To the extent that he said this for to me to live is christ. And to die is gain a complete joy that says Whatever happens in life joy.
And if it's death great joy. Is that is that a complete joy. Paul says it covers it all for me to live christ. Yes for me to die. Awesome to die is gain. Does that put life in perspective the complete joy.
Let's come to communion with joy this morning. I I want to I want to just say this and you know, just by saying it just by opening up. I'm a pretty direct guy and I like to just kind of open these open these things up and just say exactly what i'm thinking.
And then I recognize it has sometimes the by dissecting something you have the potential to destroy it. But we're a north american church that preaches the bible and therefore it can be pretty academic and when we first started we did communion in a way that we had some tables set up in the back and some tables set Up in the front and we used to get up and how many of you remember that?
Some of some of you were here when we did that we used to get come up and take communion as you as you you know felt led and and uh. Then the the church grew. And we ended up putting more chairs in here and the structure changed and it's become I would say more formal because we passed the juice and we passed the the cracker.
And so now I think it's it's kind of turned into a little bit more of a formal feel to it and um I think that that's part of it. I think it also is partly because we're a north american church and we're very academic and so.
So what i'm trying to say is communion tends to be from my perspective kind of somber kind of serious. I look around and everybody's just kind of you know, maybe a little bit some sweat beads on your brow or something and it's just like.
And we're working through this. Now that is it a serious thing? It is. But let me just suggest to you that I would love for it to be serious about joy. I would love for it to be a a thing. I I would love it.
If I saw somebody take the juice and just pump their fist a couple times. Whoo Jesus died for me. And i'm free. Or even and I recognize we express joy in different ways to even see tears of joy as I eat that cracker just recognizing.
That he took my place my substitute. My lord and my god substituted himself and suffered and died. The one privileged to be at the right hand of the father came down and took that for me. Glory. Is that an amazing thing that we're celebrating as we come together for communion?
It's a glorious thing now. Should we seriously be looking at our lives and kind of going i'm not worthy of this. But then we move past the i'm not worthy of this to he did it. I'm, not worthy of it. Yes.
Yeah, I see that there's there's a moment for me to kind of go. Whoo, this is heavy. But the burden has been lifted. Joy and rejoicing and glory. That we have an opportunity together with god's people in fellowship with those whose hearts have been won by jesus to rejoice to walk in the light with others in him.
Jesus is the point He was in the beginning. He was revealed and made manifest. And our hope for fellowship Together is bound up in his sacrifice. So three things. You should think about these three things as you walk through this week.
Keep him at the center. Call others to join you at the center and rejoice. There have a little party there at the center. Rejoice complete joy in your savior. Let's pray father, I thank you so much for.
For complete joy in you. I thank you for the sacrifice of jesus. I thank you that that he came down here as one of us was made manifest to us. That our fellowship is tied up in him. Not tied up in our ability to please you not tied up in our ability to keep laws and rules and regulations but ultimately our.
Our fellowship with the father with you is through your son jesus and it's a way that he has provided for us. Father, would you help us to be faithful to proclaim this to those that we know need it? I recognize that everybody in this room knows someone who does not know.
Know you that needs a proclamation of the glory of jesus christ. Maybe we would not be a people who are ashamed of the name of jesus. I know that that can cause all kinds of interesting conversations and even we fear that the result of it is going to be Marginalization or loss of friendship or being pushed away or a loss of a brother or a sister or whatever.
And you say that the result of it will be complete joy. So maybe we believe what your word says and not what our not. What our Brains are confusing and telling us are is going to be the result. But we really trust that complete joy is the result of a life of proclaiming you to others.
And you give us complete joy as we have an opportunity to remember. This awesome sacrifice that we're not worthy of but you did on our behalf and it's in jesus name. I pray.