Sunday
Morning Bible Study
September
2, 2012
Introduction
Baptism
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it speak to the
broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a
decision Is the church loved?
Background
Just about
everyone holds to the idea that this letter was written by the apostle John,
the same guy who wrote the gospel of John and the book of Revelation.
It’s hard to put an exact date on John’s letters, other than being towards
the end of his life.
The early
church fathers wrote that John wrote these while he was living in Ephesus.
One possible scenario of the historical order of John’s writings would go
like this:
In his later
years, John made his way to Asia (modern Turkey), where he became the pastor of
the church in Ephesus, the church that Paul had started some twenty years
earlier. This was when Paul wrote his
gospel of John.
After being
arrested and exiled to the island of Patmos, John received the Revelation.
After his
exile, John was allowed to return to Ephesus where he lived out his last years,
and where he writes the three letters (1,2,3 John)
Real Issues
I see John’s letter addressing two areas of concern.
The Real Jesus
John was concerned that the church was beginning to slip into various
heresies, and he will correct some of their bad theology.
The heresy of
Gnosticism taught that everything spiritual was good and everything material
was bad.
Some
of these teachers even taught that Jesus was just a ghost floating around the
land of Israel, that He couldn’t have had a physical, fleshly body, that He
only “appeared” to have a real body.
Another heresy
pushed by a guy named Cerinthus, who lived in John’s day.
Cerinthus
taught that Jesus was just a normal guy, born from Joseph and Mary’s marriage,
and that the “Christ” spirit came on Him at His baptism, but left just before
the crucifixion.
John is going to correct some of the bad teachings about Jesus.
The Real Christian
There were some pretty goofy ideas going around as to what a real Christian
looked like.
Some people
thought that real Christians no longer commit sin.
Others taught
that it didn’t matter if you sinned, that God didn’t care if you did evil
things.
Some made
excuses as to why they could love God and hate people.
John is going to correct the bad teachings of what it means to be a
Christian.
Lesson
Getting real
A lot of us have our own notions of what a perfect world looks like, our
“Perfect Fantasy World”.
Don’t misunderstand
me – I’m not saying it’s wrong to have fun, play games, or dream silly dreams.
The problem comes when more and more of our world becomes based on fantasy
and not on reality.
Some people live their whole lives under a delusion.
They have wrong
ideas about what God is like.
Some
people think that God is so angry with them that they are going straight to
hell and there’s no chance of that changing.
Some
people think that God is nothing but warm and fuzzy and that He only exists to
make people feel warm and fuzzy.
What if some of your ideas about God are wrong?
What if God isn’t what you’ve made Him out to be at
all? What if He’s very different from what
you think?
Would you be willing to listen to the truth?
Some people
have carefully constructed ideas about who they are as people.
They
have their reasons and excuses carefully laid out as to why they behave like
they do.
They
might claim that they are genetically predisposed to be angry all the time, or
to be drunk all the time.
They
might think that because of the painful things they’ve experienced in life,
that they will forever be marred and incapable of doing certain things right.
But what if the stories you tell yourself, or the
conclusions you draw about yourself aren’t completely true?
Would you be open to learning about the truth?
The Date
It’s really hard to put a date on John’s letters. When Paul writes, he often gives us clues as
to who he is writing to, and often puts little historical clues in his letters
that help us date them.
John doesn’t have these kinds of clues.
There are several different views as to when John wrote his three
epistles.
Some have thought that John wrote his gospel first, letters second, and
then the Revelation.
Some have suggested that John wrote his gospel first, then was exiled
to the island of Patmos where he received the Revelation. After coming back from exile, John wrote the
letters that we’re going to study.
Whether John wrote 1John before or after Revelation, it’s interesting
to think of the letter from Revelation where Jesus speaks to the Ephesian
church:
(Re 2:2–5 NKJV) —2 “I know your works, your labor, your
patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested
those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have
patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. 4 Nevertheless I have this against
you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore
from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come
to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
Jesus addressed the ideas of doctrinal purity and of losing their
“first love”, themes that will pop up in our letter as well.
John’s stated purposes in writing the letter:
1)Fellowship
(1 Jn 1:3 NKJV) —3 that which we have seen and heard we
declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our
fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
2)Joy
(1 Jn 1:4 NKJV) —4 And these things we write to you that
your joy may be full.
3)
Stopping sin
(1 Jn 2:1 NKJV) —1 My little children, these things I
write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
4)
Security
(1 Jn 5:13 NKJV) —13 These things I have written to you who
believe in the name of the Son of God, that
you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to
believe in the name of the Son of God.
1:1-4 The Introduction
:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled,
concerning the Word of life—
:2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare
to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—
:1 beginning – arche
– beginning, origin
:1 heard – akouo –
to hear
Perfect tense
:1 seen – horao –
to see with the eyes
Perfect tense
:1 looked upon – theaomai
– to behold, look upon, view attentively, contemplate (often used of public
shows); of important persons that are looked on with admiration
:1 hands – cheir –
hand
:1 handled – pselaphao
– to handle, touch and feel
:1 concerning – peri
– about, concerning, on account of, because of, around, near
:1 word – logos –
word
The same word (logos) that John used to describe Jesus in his gospel:
:1 life – zoe –
life
:2 life – zoe –
life
:2 seen – horao –
to see with the eyes
Perfect tense
:2 bear witness – martureo
– to be a witness, to bear witness, i.e. to affirm that one has seen or
heard or experienced something, or that he knows it because taught by divine
revelation or inspiration
Present tense
:2 declare – apaggello
– to bring tidings (from a person or a thing), bring word, report; to
proclaim, to make known openly, declare
:1 That which was
from the beginning
This reminds us of how John started his gospel, talking about Jesus.
(Jn 1:1–2 NKJV) —1 In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in
the beginning with God.
One of Jesus’
titles is “The Word”.
As God, Jesus
has always existed… from the beginning.
:2 the life was
manifested
manifested
– phaneroo – to make visible or known
what has been hidden or unknown
This also reminds us of John’s gospel:
(Jn 1:14 NKJV) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth.
The Word
(Jesus) was manifested or “made visible” when He took on human flesh and was
born as a baby in Bethlehem.
Lesson
Real Testimony
What John is telling us about is based on reality.
He has heard,
seen, and even touched Jesus.
There is no make-believe or fantasy here.
Yes, there is an element of faith required in the Christian life.
We don’t see Jesus now, and we don’t always understand
what God is doing.
But our faith is based on a truth, on reality.
In our court
system, we establish truth based on the testimony of witnesses.
The apostles had lived with Jesus for three years. They were there when Jesus taught and when
Jesus did amazing miracles.
Play
“Miracles of Jesus” clip.
The apostles
were there watching in horror when their Teacher was arrested, beaten, and
crucified.
It is the testimony of these men that Jesus didn’t stay
dead. He rose from the dead.
They had trouble believing at first, but were eventually
convinced by Jesus Himself as He made multiple appearances to them over a
period of forty days (Acts 1:3; 1Cor. 15:5-8).
Some have suggested that perhaps there was some sort of “mass-hysteria”
occurring, but the events don’t support this.
The disciples weren’t expecting Jesus to have been alive
(Mark 16:11), in fact they didn’t believe the women Jesus appeared to first.
One of the disciples, Thomas, refused to believe the other
disciples, yet Jesus appeared to Thomas, and the skeptic believed (John
20:24-29).
This wasn’t just some sort of vision either, John’s
testimony was that they heard, saw, and touched.
It doesn’t make sense that these men had concocted some
sort of ruse.
This was a group of men that had fled at Jesus’ death
because they feared for their own lives.
After the resurrection, they eventually all split up and
went to various parts of the world, and every one of them went to their grave proclaiming
that they had seen Jesus come back to life.
Every one of them except for John ended up dying horrible, painful
deaths because of their testimony, yet not one of them ever changed their
story.
In addition to the twelve, Jesus
appeared to others as well.
Jesus’ brother
James had not been one who believed in Jesus during His earthly ministry (John
7:5), but after the resurrection (1Cor. 15:7), James became one of the leaders
of the church (Acts 15:13), proclaiming Jesus’ resurrection.
Jesus even
appeared to Saul of Tarsus (1Cor. 15:8; Acts 9), a man who was definitely NOT a
believer, but a man who had been involved in having Christians put to
death. Saul was forever changed by
meeting the resurrected Jesus and we know of him as Paul the apostle.
Paul records that
Jesus appeared to upwards of 500 people (1Cor. 15:6). If this had not been true, it could have been
refuted in Paul’s day when he made that claim, but it was not.
What we believe is not a fairy tale, but an historical fact based on
eyewitnesses. This is real.
:3 that which we
have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with
us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus
Christ.
:3 may have – echo
– to have, i.e. to hold
Present subjunctive
:3 may have fellowship with us
The reason John is sharing what he is, is so the readers might possibly
wake up and realize the potential of what is available to them – knowing God,
having a relationship with God.
Lesson
Real Fellowship
fellowship
– koinonia – fellowship, association,
community
The word is
based on the word for “common” (koinos),
and has the idea of describing what we “have in common”.
A “community”
can be based on a common following of a particular sports team, like the
“fellowship” that Angel fans might have.
Play
Baseball Intro clip
A “community”
might be based on working at the same place of employment. Like it or not, the people you work with have
a sort of “fellowship” with you.
Play
“The Office” intro
clip.
A “community”
might be based on people that drink at the same bar or nightclub.
Play
“Cheers”
TV intro clip.
The problem
with all these kinds of “fellowship” is that even if they’re pretty harmless
(like work or baseball), they’re
based on things that aren’t going to give you ultimate satisfaction.
The kind of community
that John is inviting his readers into with him is a “fellowship” with God.
It’s in a relationship with God, in knowing God, that you will find that
ultimate satisfaction that the other kinds of fellowship can’t begin to
approach.
If you want to
have “fellowship” with God, then you must base your ideas about God in truth,
in reality.
John is writing this letter to get his readers connected to the “truth”,
the reality of who God is and who we are.
Jesus said,
(Jn 4:24 NKJV) God is Spirit, and those
who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
A relationship with God involves your “spirit” connecting
with God’s Spirit, and to be doing it in truth.
If you have the wrong ideas about who God is, or the wrong
ideas about who you are, there are going to be problems.
Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman, a woman whose
culture worshipped God based on twisted truths.
Jesus was encouraging the woman to embrace truth rather than the
perversions of the truth.
We have come to
find out that the way we come into a relationship with God is by believing in
Jesus, believing what He did for us.
When He died on the cross, He did it for a reason. He died to pay for our sins. Now we simply have to believe.
(Jn 3:16 NKJV) For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
:4 And these things
we write to you that your joy may be full.
:4 we write – grapho
– to write
:4 full – pleroo
– to make full, to fill up, to fill to the full; to render full, to
complete
:4 that your joy
may be full
John is clueing us in to one of the reasons behind the writing of the
letter.
Lesson
Real Joy
What is “joy”?
I have to confess that some of us preachers get a little confused about the
subject. We don’t want people to have a
faith based on emotions, so we can sometimes try to redefine the word “joy”.
I’ve heard preachers
even say that you can have “joy” deep in your heart even when you are really,
really sad, and that joy is deeper than what’s on the surface.
Frankly that doesn’t sound like “joy” to me.
joy – chara – joy, gladness
It comes from the word chairo, which means
to be glad; to rejoice exceedingly; to be well, thrive
It sounds like being a little bit like Snoopy.
Play
“Happy Dance” clip
Just to be honest, not everyone can pull off the Snoopy
thing.
Play
“Brian
doing Snoopy Dance” clip
But
you do get the idea, don’t you?
Look at some of the things that the Bible says ought to give us “joy”
(Ps 16:11 NKJV) You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is
fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Being
in God’s presence ought to overwhelm us with joy.
(Lk 15:7 NKJV) I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over
one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no
repentance.
Seeing
a person come to Christ ought to give us great joy.
(Jn 16:24 NKJV) Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will
receive, that your joy may be full.
Having
an answer to prayer.
(Ro 14:17 NKJV) for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Some
of us find a bit of joy in our food, but there is a better joy that comes from
the Holy Spirit.
Here, John is cluing us in to one of his reasons for writing this letter,
for us to experience “full” joy.
If John’s letter is all about bringing us back to “reality” and what is
“true”, then he’s saying here that we will find fullness of joy when we learn
to live in God’s truth, in God’s reality.
We will find fullness of joy when we experience real fellowship with God.