Sermon Tone Analysis
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*1 John 1:1-4*
Ø Many people think of Christianity as the Historic Profession of Belief in Jesus Christ
· That is to say – it is the historic movement – or religion – that has unified around some common beliefs about Jesus
- But rather than speaking of Christianity as the Historic Profession of faith in Jesus – it would be better to speak of it as the Profession of the Historic Jesus
· That may not sound like much of a difference to you – but in reality – there is a huge difference between those two perspectives
- Because history has proven that many, many people are willing to profess belief in Jesus – as long as they are able to redefine Him however they wish
· And so you have cults – through the years – who have wanted to be regarded as essentially Christian
- simply because they profess a belief in Jesus
- yet it is a Jesus of their own making
- you have – of course – Islam that makes some profession of faith in a Jesus of their own definition
Ø And back in the third century of the church – you had the heresy of Gnosticism – which professed a faith in Jesus…
· but it was a Jesus defined by their Gnostic assumptions
- which first of all meant that Jesus could not have had a physical body
· In many cases – theirs was a phantom Jesus – a mere vision or spirit – who appeared before people – as though he walked on the earth – but in reality it was only an appearance
Ø For Gnostics – physical and material things were inherently evil – so for Jesus to be God and also to have a human body was impossible
· They professed faith in Jesus but it was a Jesus of their own making
Ø And there have been those through history who profess faith in what you might call a “secular” Jesus
· That is a Jesus who has been stripped of what they think are all the “myths” and “legends” surrounding Him
- particularly myths related to Him having miraculous powers – or rising from the grave
- their Jesus is the embodiment of a sort of “warrior” for some social or political cause
§ or a teacher of moral principles alone
· And so they claim a belief in Jesus – and they make a claim to being a part of historic Christianity
Ø We might add a group here – whose claim of faith in Jesus is more mystical than anything else
· For them – their faith in Jesus is little more than a preoccupation with their subjective experiences
- The Jesus they worship is not so much the one who is revealed on the pages of Scripture as it is the one who conforms to their personal desires
- He is little more than a divine “good luck charm” – or “magic spell”
Ø Against all these claims of faith in Jesus of some sort – is the profession of faith in the Historic Jesus
· The Jesus revealed in the flesh – validated by miracles – verifies by the testimony of multiple witnesses
\\ Ø This is the Jesus that John is concerned with in the book of 1st John
· and his concern is that this is the Jesus we profess
- His great burden – as he writes this book – is to deal with those who have begun to profess a different kind of Jesus than the one declared by the apostles – in their NT writings
- And John’s concern is for those who have fallen prey to false notions of Jesus
§ He wants to call them back from chasing whatever experiences they may be chasing
§ and to call them to a clear profession of the true Jesus – because it is only through that clear profession of faith in the right Jesus that people can truly experience the salvation and spiritual blessings He brings
Ø Now we will see this concern of John right from the beginning of the book of 1st John – in the first 4 verses
· as John opens up this letter – not with the standard greetings that you find in most other NT letters
- but with a straight-forward declaration of the Christ whom he and the other apostles had declared to the world
· If you ever want to know the main point of a passage of Scripture – you normally look for the main verb
- And in the opening verses of 1 John – the main verb is found in (v. 3) – “*we proclaim*” to you
§ Everything else in these opening verses sort of modifies that statement
· This – then – is a statement about what the apostles proclaim
- This is a definition of their proclamation
§ A definition of their message
§ A clarification statement of their gospel
Ø As I said – John bypasses the standard greeting that you will find in all other NT letters
· even the greetings found in John’s other letters
- so that he can go directly into this definition of the gospel
· And his urgency here would seem out of place to people who think the gospel – and the message of Christ – doesn’t need that attention given to its definition
- They are comfortable with what I call “ball park” theology
§ That is – “as long as you are ‘in the ball park’ somewhere – as long as you believe something about Jesus – it doesn’t matter whether your definition is precise or not
· Or John’s urgency here wouldn’t make sense to people who think that you can spend too much time examining the gospel
- I mean – didn’t John write a whole gospel account and record of Jesus’ life to clarify the gospel about Jesus
§ And it doesn’t make sense to them that John would then write yet another book to clarify this message
§ To them – perhaps the gospel has become mundane – or less than central
\\ Ø But to John – it was a matter of continual urgency
· And it demanded continual attention…
- not only so that it can be defended
- and not only that it might be preached
- but so that – by it – Christ can be worshipped and adored
Ø So – with this urgency – John opens this letter with Four Fundamental Realities .
that Define the Apostolic Gospel
· The Eternal Habitation of Christ
· His Historic Manifestation
· The Apostolic Proclamation
· The Joyous Reconciliation
The first of these is…
*1. **The Eternal Habitation of Christ*
Ø John begins this book – in a very similar way to how he began his gospel
· He speaks of “that which was from the beginning”
- And because John doesn’t use the personal pronoun “he”
§ Some people think he is talking about the “gospel” that was from the beginning
§ Or the gospel that was first preached by the apostles
Ø But we shouldn’t stumble over the fact that John didn’t use the personal pronoun “He”
· Its obvious as you look at these opening verses – that he is talking about the Lord Jesus
- He says at the end of verse one – that his subject is “the Word of Life”
- And at the beginning of verse 2 – this “*life was manifest, and we have seen it*”
- This “life” that John is talking about – is the Lord Jesus Christ
§ He is the One who said in John 14 – “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”
Ø John opens his epistle – the same way he opened his gospel account – by establishing the eternal pre-existence of Jesus Christ
· He is “from the beginning”
- It is the same phrase he uses over in chapter 2:13, 14 to speak of believers who “*know him who is from the beginning*”
· John is talking about the beginning of all things
- The beginning of the universe
- The pre-existent one
· And – as we said a few weeks ago – when we looked at the opening words of John’s gospel…
- bound up with this idea of “pre-existence” is the idea of “self-existence”
- that is – Christ did not derive His life from anyone else
- he possessed it through all eternity
\\ Ø Consequently – He can rightfully take upon himself the title “Lord of life”
· He has life in Himself
- He is one and the same with the “Living God”
- And that is why John goes on to call Him the “Word of Life” here
· Jesus Christ gives life – and He is able to give life – eternal life… because He is the source of life
- Life doesn’t come from outside of Him
- He is the Source of it
· He is the eternal one
- Who existed before all things
- And gives life to all things
Ø John emphasizes this at the beginning of his gospel
· He emphasizes it here at the beginning of His epistle
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