Mythbusters

Opening Story/Illustration: There’s a popular show on Television that you’ve probably seen where the two hosts use the scientific method to test out claims. Their goal is to find out if something is true or a myth. I remember one such episode where they tested out to see if a soprano opera singer could sing at such a high pitch that she could break glass. I think they determined that in the right set of circumstances, she could. This show is quite popular - It’s been on the air for over 15 seasons.

Transition to the Text: The Apostle John wrote several letters to churches and individuals. These letters make up the New Testament books of 1, 2, and 3 John. In 1 John, The Apostle John is concerned with busting up some myths. Evidently some false teachers have been spreading some myths among the people of the church. John, being a good pastor, writes to correct these false teachings.

Text:

Transition to Points: Most of these myths are still around today. They may have shifted in their form some, but the essence is still around. This morning I want to look at several of these myths and see what John has to say about them.

Points

Myth 1: Jesus is simply a good teacher

This is a very popular myth in our time.

Jesus was a good man and a good teacher, but he wasn’t anything more than that.

People will say they like Jesus and his teaching, but to them, he’s nothing more than a mere mortal who had some good things to say.

The problem with this view is what the Bible has to say about Jesus and what Jesus has to say about himself.

Jesus did not die because he said nice things and taught people to love one another.

Jesus died because he, himself, claimed to be God.

Illustration: Several years ago we were at the old church and we had put up on the sign outside this question - “Who is Jesus to you?” I was inside the church lobby working that day with one of our students and this man walks in. He says, “Hey, I saw your sign outside and as one of Jehovah’s witnesses, I wanted to ask you - “Who is Jesus to you?” So I replied that He’s God. this made the man upset. I pointed him to a couple of scriptures and he got mad and left.

We live in a time where there is a lot of confusion over who Jesus was and is.

C.S. Lewis, in His book, “Mere Christianity,” Said this: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

For us today, believing Jesus to be God is difficult. For John’s readers, some of them had issues with Jesus being fully human.

Truth: Jesus is God

For us today, believing Jesus to be God is difficult. For John’s readers, some of them had issues with Jesus being fully human.

In the first century, False teachers had come in and were spreading lies that Jesus couldn’t possibly have been a real human being.

There was a popular false doctrine floating around called gnosticism - some believe this is what John was combating in the writing of this letter.

Basically it said the material world was bad and that God couldn’t become human because he would have contaminated himself.

There were groups that believed that Jesus wasn’t really human - That he was some sort of spiritual being that Just appeared to be real.

John counters this teaching by saying that they had seen, touched, and heard Jesus. Let’s look at what he says.

1 John 1:1–4 NLT

We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

When our struggles become our excuse, we have a problem.

Notice that the emphasis isn’t just on Jesus’ humanity here. He says Jesus was:

From the begining

Life made manifest

The eternal life, which was with the father

In other words, Jesus is God made flesh.

He is the fullfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy - He is Immanuel, God with us!

Jesus was not simply some spiritual being nor was he simply a man, he was 100% God and 100% man.

This morning I want to challenge you - You have to make up your mind about Jesus. You must decide for yourself who he is. If he is who he claims to be, then he deserves your life!

Myth 2: Jesus is simply my ticket to heaven

For many people, Jesus is simply a get out of Hell free card.

There is this belief among many that I don’t really have to change anything - If I come to church, walk an aisle, and say a quick prayer, then I’m good.

The problem is that this view is not scriptural.

Following Jesus isn’t simply a way to escape hell and get to heaven.

It’s more than a prayer that you pray once - It’s giving him your life.

Illustration: Imagine for a moment that my wife and I had gotten married. We went through the wedding and then we went our separate ways. We went back to living life as normal. She went to her house, I went to my house. Nothing changed. We might have had a wedding, but we don’t have much of a marriage. Marriage means my life had to change.

Many people do this with Jesus.

They come down and aisle and say a prayer and then they expect to go back out and live life they way they want to.

But it’s not about asking Jesus in your heart simply so you can go to heaven - It’s about making Jesus the center of your world.

Many people hang on to their hang ups and sins and think that Jesus is ok with that because they said a prayer asking him to forgive them - Jesus didn’t come to simply forgive you, he came to change you!

We have redefined sins to make them more acceptable

We excuse our sins by saying it’s just a struggle

We excuse our struggles until our struggles become our excuses.

The issue is this - The direction of our Hearts!

Here’s a good test - Listen to how you ta

Here’s a good test: Listen to how you talk about your struggle. If you talk about it like God’s excusing it, then you need to check yourself. If you talk about it like God can help you with it, then you’re moving in the right direction.

Stop making excuses, Let Jesus help you overcome it.

sometimes this means toalking

Truth: Following Jesus means following his commands

John Tells us in If we claim to know him, but don’t keep his commandments, we are a liar.

John 2:4 NLT

“Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”

1 John 2:4–6 NLT

If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

1 John 2:4 NLT

If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.

Myth 3: Jesus is simply interested in me being a good person

He’s pretty bold here - If you think you’re following saved, but you aren’t following His commands, you better check your heart!

Truth: Following Jesus means loving others

He goes on in chapter to hit this even more in depth

1 John 3:7–18 NLT

Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God. This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them. We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.

So My question this morning is this - Are you really obeying Jesus? Do you really love people?

Some of you sound like this “Of course I’m following His commands” - But you’re mean!

Notice John tells us following Jesus changes us - It empowers us to obey God’s commands and it gives us a love in our hearts for others.

Are these present in your life?

Conclusion

Restate the Main Idea: Following Jesus means following his commands and loving others.

So What? I want to challenge you this week take some time to examine your life. Where do you need to grow? Where are you making excuses?

Now What? This morning, first of all, If you don’t know Jesus at all, I want to invite you to know him. Secondly, if you say, I really love Jesus but there’s some stuff I need to deal with.