Know Our Home
Notes
Transcript
We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Scripture: 1 John 5:18-21
Sermon Title: Know Our Home
Brothers and sisters in Christ, during our times in seminary we come to know quite a bit or at least hopefully we do. We come to know different languages, we know a bit about the history of the church and the world it formed in, we know about different forms of worship practice, about theology, about disciplines, being leaders, about congregations or youth groups or other areas that it is beneficial to have a basic understanding of as we move forward past a degree. It is easy to go through this educational process that is training and shaping us for what is ahead, but it won’t necessarily amount to much unless we know something about Home.
When I say home, I am talking about a space that we consider a part of who we are. A home is much more than a structure—a home is founded upon certain values, it is shaped by experiences and those who interact with you in that place, and a home has identity that fills it. Those of you who have gotten married in the last year or maybe you can think back on it can probably recall a transitioning of homes as you went from living by yourself or with friends to moving in with your new bride or new husband. One of the values my home as a bachelor was founded upon was watching sports whenever I wanted, my home was shaped by those who I could talk about teams and sports with, and this influenced how I planned my days. My wife was living at home with her parents and searching for work before we were married, which allowed her home to be founded upon watching movies, shaping how she spent much of her time when I was off doing school work, and filling her home with characters and stories. When we got married, things changed a little bit. Now my wife did allow me to watch quite a bit of the Olympics, however, I have watched very few college basketball games this season. My wife now with work watches way fewer movies. Our new home calls us to do things differently; our values are founded upon something else, our schedules and interests are re-shaped, and our home is no longer the independent lives cohabitating, but rather a place of mutual fulfillment.
John has written this letter, which is more of an instructional guide intended to encourage his audience about certain matters. Much of his teaching has to do with sin and love, with darkness and light. The passage we read is the conclusion of 1 John, and it could function as a summary. If I could paraphrase with a little interpretation—“We know those born of God are not to sin, but God offers protection against our enemy. We know we are God’s children, he is in control, but yet the world is controlled by sin and the evil one. We have assurance and confidence about the promises of God because he has given them to us, and we have a home in the Truth, Jesus Christ, who is God and through whom there is eternal life.” When we read verse 20, we read “we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ.” This morning I am wondering if we can take that idea of “being in Christ” and consider this tangible metaphor, that Christ would be our home.
The metaphor arises out of the language that we find in the John’s gospel as well as earlier in this epistle. In the gospel, Jesus uses this language to invite the disciples and all believers to “Abide in me.” Earlier in this epistle, at the end of chapter 2, John incorporates that same language for the believers and disciples that he is encouraging—“abide in him.” The Greek term that gets used is meno, which means “to remain, to stay, to wait, to dwell.” To abide in a place or abide in someone seems to me to be about being in a place of familiarity, where we are known, and do not want to leave. To abide “in him who is true, in the Son Jesus Christ,” while this text doesn’t use the word abide, I think it is what John intends to communicate. Notice the developmental language that gets used—born of God, God’s children, receiving understanding—those are developments that take place in the home.
If we are to take serious for our lives and our ministries not just that we know facts and stats and theories, but we know what it is to live in Jesus, to find our home in the Son of God who gave himself for us, our lives our changed. What’s a deeper foundation than my sports values? How about that God has founded this home—I don’t have to come up with the values, you don’t have to figure out what makes this work, because God has already set up and described what he wants, and he will protect us. What’s a purer shaping for this home than fellow sports’ fans and memorabilia of my favorite teams? How about finding our identity in God—we are his children, under his care, he will not fail us or allow anything to break in what he is forming. What’s a fuller way for the home to be (filled…)? How about knowing that God and his grace is at work in our world, in our lives, in our ministries, and he shares himself with us that we might know truth in a world that is in great need of exactly that.
Brothers and sisters, we can take hold of the promise that Christ has gone to prepare a place for us, to make a perfect home where we will live in the beauty of the kingdom coming, but what if we also take hold of the home being offered to us in part right now? Are we willing to know our home, where we can live, invited by God to be in Christ Jesus—abiding in him as he is already abiding in us? Let us not just exist in the house together but let us actively seek to live in his presence, abiding in and with him that he may shape our values and our lives. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all God’s people said, Amen.