1 John 1
Notes
Transcript
Announcements
Announcements
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Intro
Intro
We are starting a new series this week on the book of 1 John
1 John is a short book, with a lot of important messages jam-packed into it
Over the next 5 weeks we are going to do a deep dive study into the book
John’s prologue
John’s prologue
1 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— 2 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— 3 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. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
In the intro the letter John starts off by talking about the message they have heard from the beginning
Mainly the message of the Gospel - what Jesus did (dying on cross, raising from dead, offering forgiveness)
John tells them that this message is true because he, just like the other apostles, witnessed all of it
Not only did they witness it, but that the message is to bring them back into fellowship with one another
The Gospel will create Unity and help brothers and sisters from all over be unified
Then he finishes it off by saying he is doing this to make our joy complete
That writing 1 John, preaching the Gospel, sharing with believers - it was all for our joy
That leads to the first takeaway
We must be others focused
Everything we do should done out of joy for others
John wrote 1 John not for him to be celebrated, he did it so we could receive joy
The joy was from God and is a right standing relationship with God
Everything we do in life must be born out of a desire for others to receive that same joy
We experience joy all the time by staying in fellowship with God
We should be sharing with our friends, seeking them, and pointing them to God so that they too can receive that same joy
Anything else is just secondary
Walking with God
Walking with God
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
John then continues 1 John 1 by telling us a key detail about God
That God is light, and there is no darkness in Him
Light and dark are themes that John uses all throughout his gospel, and his letters
When John calls something light it is good, and darkness is evil or wicked
Light is often perfection, or holiness, following God
Darkness is sin, evil, or going against God
So when John tells us that God is light and there is no darkness in Him, what he is saying is God is perfect and Holy, and there is no sin or evil or wickedness in Him
That God is the picture of perfection and goodness
So John said, if we claim we are a believer in Jesus - that we are Christian, but are not walking in Light, we cannot be a believer
To truly have fellowship with God, and be with God, we must walk in the light
Here’s the second thing that John is teaching us
We must walk in the light
If we claim to be a Christian we must walk in the light
We must walk in the manner that Christ is calling us to walk in
That means we are putting away our sin
We are killing our pride
We are striving to flee from everything in the world that is pushing us to evil and instead walk in the light
The reason is people are watching us
If you name the name of Christ, people are watching you, you have a target painted on your back and they are waiting on you to mess up
They are waiting on a reason to look down on God, and if you claim Jesus but are constantly living in sin, walking in darkness you are only hurting the name of Jesus’
Listen to how Jesus puts it to the church at Laodicea
15 “ ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
He said if we are lukewarm, we are doing damage to Jesus’ name
In essence if we claim to know Jesus and believe in Jesus, but don’t live like Jesus we are hurting the name of Christ, and pushing people away from God
If you claim to know Jesus your actions matter
You must walk in the light
Confess sin
Confess sin
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
John finishes off chapter one by talking about our sin
He says that if we say we have no sin we are lying to ourselves
We all sin and we all mess up
Even though we are called to walk in the light, there are times when we are going to fall into darkness
There are times we are going to sin
When that happens John tells us to confess our sins
That if we confess them that he will cleanses us from our sins
Here’s the last thing
We must confess your sins
We must confess our sins
Confession doesn’t mean we just apologize for our sins
Apologies do nothing they are just empty words
Instead confession means to admit our sins with the intent of changing or turning from them
We are to confess our sins to God first since our sins are ultimately against him
Then we are to confess our sins to those we have wronged
Confession of sins, admitting our sins with the intent to turn from them is the only way we can move from darkness back into the light
It is the only way we can come back and have fellowship with God
Confession of sin is the only way we can be connected with God, and the only way our relationship with others can come back
John closes out chapter one by telling us we must confess sin, God is faithful to forgive them, we just need to confess
Conclusion
Conclusion
1 John 1 starts out the book by showing us that we need to focus on our relationships
We need to focus on our relationship with others - being other focused and seeking out their joy
We need to focus on our relationship with God - walking the light
We need to focus on our relationship with God and man - confessing sin