John The Authoritative Apostle Series

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https://www.npbc.org.au/podcasts/media

1 John 1:1-4

“John the Authoritative Author”

This morning is the first in a 12 week sermon series on John’s Epistles.

At the beginning of a series like this it helps to have an understanding of the historical background and the context into which these letters were written.

The date is somewhere between 80-95AD.

By this time most of the original 12 disciples, and also Paul, are dead.

But John is still going strong.

John the brother of James.

John the disciple who Jesus loved.

John the author of the Gospel and Revelation.

John the author of 1 John.

John who calls himself the elder in 2 and 3 John.

They are all the same people.

In the closing decades of the first century, John is looking around at the culture and the church. And John is concerned.

One of John’s concerns is the ongoing impact of the persecution which Christians have been enduring at the hands of the Romans. This persecution has been going on for over 30 years.

Sometimes it is localised. Sometimes it was wide-spread.

There were some Roman Emperors who were incredibly ruthless.

This persecution meant that many believers were put to death … sometimes very painful and gruesome deaths.

Yes it is true that persecution can strengthen the faith of believers.

But … there were also Christians who were asking, “Is it worth it?”

Is the promise of eternal life with Jesus worth the sacrifice that is required?

John is concerned that believers were tempted to compromise on their faith … or give up on their faith entirely.

A social situation that added to the temptation to compromise or to give up on their faith was the fact that the Roman Empire was very happy to support religious pluralism.

When it came to practicing your own religion, the Roman Empire was quite happy for you to be a Christian … as long as could also say that Caesar is the son of a god.

Caesar is divine—that is what was written on all the coins.

The Christians who were suffering for their faith. They didn’t need to stop being Christians. They could follow any Christian practise they want to.

Just say, “Ceasar is the divine son of a god.”

Just make a small compromise and you can do what you like.

It was very tempting

Adding to the temptation was the fact that many false teachers were rising up and encouraging people to move away from the fundamental truths of the Gospel.

These false teachers were saying things like …

Jesus is not fully divine.

Sin is not as bad as the apostles say it is.

Eternal life is able to be secured by believing in Jesus … but also by believing in other truths as well.

The false teachers were teaching a belief system which made it much easier for Christians to fit into the society of the time.

You don’t have to stand out. You can be a Christian and just fit in.

It was a very compelling … and very tempting … argument.

And the fact that there were so few apostles … this made it easier for the false teachers to spread their heresy.

Ongoing persecution.

Religious Pluralism.

False Teaching replacing Apostolic Truths.

The combined effect of these issues was having an impact.

Believers were giving up on their faith.

False teachers were causing schisms and division within the church.

The uniqueness of the Gospel as the only way of salvation was being questioned.

Moral and ethical compromise was being encouraged.

There was a general spiritual confusion that was creating doubt and fear.

And then here is John

… old John who is the last Apostle standing.

… John looks at this and says “I’ve got to write to these people and tell them.”

When John writes to them, John also writes to us.

The reality is that, despite the distance of nearly 2000 years, not much has changed.

Just like the believers in the first century, we face ongoing persecution.

It is different … more subtle.

For us it is not resulting in death—yet.

But it is a push to get us to comprise … or to give up.

As an example if all Christians were to say, “You know what we have decided that homosexuality is not a sin.” A huge area of persecution disappears over-night.

Society is pretty clear on the agenda towards Christians. They want us to just fit in and be quiet.

But because we are so to say we are the only ones to have the way of salvation … well we only have ourselves to blame for the persecution and suffering. That is what society says.

So we do face persecution … it is a persecution which flows out of a culture of Religious Pluralism.